Aim
The equator‐to‐poles decline in the number of species, namely the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), is the most conspicuous pattern in biology, yet the underlying mechanisms of this pattern ...remain controversial. Species dispersal could have strong effects on large‐scale species distributions but has rarely been considered in understanding the LDG. Here we sought to examine how dispersal ability may influence the latitudinal phylogenetic patterns of woody angiosperm assemblages.
Location
China.
Taxon
Woody angiosperms.
Methods
Based on a highly supported mega‐phylogeny constructed from plastid genomes, we assessed the patterns of phylogenetic relatedness and dissimilarity of 1184 trees with three different seed dispersal modes (i.e. zoochory, anemochory and autochory) in 12 permanent forest dynamic plots covering tropical, subtropical and temperate zones in China.
Results
We found that, compared with zoochorous and anemochorous species, the less vagile autochorous trees exhibited a much weaker latitudinal pattern in phylogenetic relatedness and higher phylogenetic dissimilarity among plots. The phylogenetic dissimilarity pattern of autochorous trees was explained more by geographic distance than environmental factors, consistent with a dominant role for dispersal limitation.
Main Conclusions
Our study, for the first time, demonstrates that seed dispersal mode strongly influences the latitudinal phylogenetic patterns of woody angiosperm assemblages in China and highlights the importance of interaction between dispersal limitation and environmental filtering in determining the large‐scale distribution of forest biodiversity.
Researchers have developed various versions of scales to measure mobile phone addiction. Existing scales, however, focus primarily on the overall level of mobile phone addiction but do not ...distinguish the potential differences between different types of mobile phone addiction. There is a lack of established scales that can measure different types of mobile phone addiction. The present study aimed to uncover the specific types of mobile phone addiction and develop a Mobile Phone Addiction Type Scale (MPATS) for adolescents and young adults. Adolescents and young adults from two high schools and two universities in Central and South China participated in our study. A total of 108 mobile phone addicts (M
= 17.60 years, SD = 3.568 years; 60.185% males) were interviewed to uncover the specific types of mobile phone addiction. Data from 876 adolescents and young adults (M
= 16.750 years, SD = 3.159 years; 49.087% males) were tested for item discrimination and exploratory factor analysis. Data from 854 adolescents and young adults (M
= 16.750 years, SD = 3.098 years; 50.820% males) were analyzed for construct validity, convergent validity, criterion-related validity, and internal consistency reliability. The 26-item Mobile Phone Addiction Type Scale (MPATS) was developed with four factors named mobile social networking addiction, mobile game addiction, mobile information acquisition addiction, and mobile short-form video addiction. The four-factor, 26-item MPATS revealed good construct validity, convergent validity, criterion-related validity, and internal consistency reliability. The new scale is suitable for measuring different types of mobile phone addiction in adolescents and young adults. Limitations and implications are discussed.
Flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H), an important branch point enzyme in tea plant flavan-3-ol synthesis, belongs to the CYP75A subfamily and catalyzes the conversion of flavones, flavanones, ...dihydroflavonols and flavonols into 3',4',5'-hydroxylated derivatives. However, whether B-ring hydroxylation occurs at the level of flavanones and/or dihydroflavonols, in vivo remains unknown.
The Camellia sinensis F3'5'H (CsF3'5'H) gene was isolated from tea cDNA library. Expression pattern analysis revealed that CsF3'5'H expression was tissue specific, very high in the buds and extremely low in the roots. CsF3'5'H expression was enhanced by light and sucrose. Over-expression of CsF3'5'H produced new-delphinidin derivatives, and increased the cyanidin derivative content of corollas of transgenic tobacco plants, resulting in the deeper transgenic plant flower color. Heterologous expressions of CsF3'5'H in yeast were carried out to demonstrate the function of CsF3'5'H enzyme in vitro. Heterologous expression of the modified CsF3'5'H (CsF3'5'H gene fused with Vitis vinifera signal peptide, FSI) revealed that 4'-hydroxylated flavanone (naringenin, N) is the optimum substrate for CsF3'5'H, and was efficiently converted into both 3'4'- and 3'4'5'-forms. The ratio of 3'4'5'- to 3'4'-hydroxylated products in FSI transgenic cells was significantly higher than VvF3'5'H cells.
CsF3'5'H is a key controller of tri-hydroxyl flavan-3-ol synthesis in tea plants, which can effectively convert 4'-hydroxylated flavanone into 3'4'5'- and/or 3'4'-hydroxylated products. These findings provide animportant basis for further studies of flavonoid biosynthesis in tea plants. Such studies would help accelerate flavonoid metabolic engineering in order to increase B-ring tri-hydroxyl product yields.
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•Based on the unique attack sites of fungi on lignite, four aryl ether compounds were selected as lignite model compounds.•Biodegradation of aryl ether model compounds (AEMCs) by an ...isolated fungus was investigated through various analyses.•The adsorption of AEMCs onto fungi was confirmed to be well-fitted with a Langmuir model and be a monolayer adsorption.•The adsorption–synergic biodegradation mechanism of AEMCs was briefly illustrated.
The bioconversion of lignite under ambient conditions is a promising technology for coal processing. However, the bioconversion mechanism of lignite via microorganisms is unclear due to its complex structure. In this work, for the first time, four aryl ether model compounds (AEMCs) of lignite with three aromatic rings were selected based on the unique attack sites of fungi on lignite to explore the bioconversion performance. The results show that the biodegradation rates of 4,4′-(1,3-phenylenebisoxy) dianiline (4,4-1,3-POD), formononetin, 9,10-dibutoxyanthracene (9.10-DBO), and 6-methoxy-2-(4-methoxyphenyl) benzo b thiophene (6-M-2-B) reached 89.91%, 69.40%, 39.45%, and 83.44%, respectively. During the process, AEMCs serving as inducers increased the production of extracellular enzymes secreted by the WF8 fungus. Through analysis using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), it was confirmed that new organic compounds (OCs) were generated after biodegradation of AEMCs, wherein the UV–Vis spectra of the four AEMCs after biodegradation were fitted by 5,5,9 and 8 sub-curves and the numbers of OCs identified in GC/MS spectra were 41, 48, 33 and 35, respectively. Predominantly, these new OCs contained carboxyl, hydroxyl or carbonyl groups, indicating the involvement of hydroxyl radicals and extracellular enzymes in the process. In addition, the adsorption of AEMCs onto the fungi was well-fitted with the Langmuir model, suggesting that the adsorption process was monolayer chemisorption. Finally, it was concluded that the adsorption–synergic biodegradation process can be divided into two stages: AEMCs were adsorbed by the fungi, stimulating the production and release of fungal enzymes, and were subsequently oxidatively attacked and degraded. This study provided a theoretical basis for well understanding the biodegradation of lignite.
Although no study has directly shown the relationship between bacterial vaginosis (BV) and homocysteine (HCY), we still found some association between these two through extensive literature and data ...analysis. BV score was calculated by Nugent's method, less than equal to 6 is negative and greater than equal to 7 is positive. This article describes interrelationships we mined from data extracted by NHANES regarding BV and HCY under multiple covariates. We used two cycles of NHANES 2001-2002 and 2003-2004 in our study. We included 2398 participants in our study who recently completed the interview and the MEC tests. By investigating the relationship between BV and HCY under multivariate conditions, multiple linear regression analysis was performed. These factors may have influenced the results, such as ethnicity, age, education level, body mass index (BMI), etc. Serum vitamin B12, ferritin, percentage of segmented centrioles, and number of segmented centrioles were selected as potential covariates in our study. We observed that both the coarse model and the two adjusted models showed a high correlation between HCY and BV, and the correlation was positive. In the coarse model, OR = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10, 1.44, P = 0.0018); HCY was positively correlated with BV (OR = 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05, 1.34, P = 0.0121). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the connection between BV and HCY under multivariate settings. The results of this study indicate that HCY is positively associated with the prevalence of BV and may play an important role in the prevention and management of BV.
Empirical correlations between various key parameters have been extensively explored ever since the discovery of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and have been widely used as standard candles to probe the ...Universe. The Amati relation and the Yonetoku relation are two good examples that enjoyed special attention. The former reflects the connection between the peak photon energy (
E
p
) and the isotropic
γ
-ray energy release (
E
iso
), while the latter links
E
p
with the isotropic peak luminosity (
L
p
), both in the form of a power-law function. Most GRBs are found to follow these correlations well, but a theoretical interpretation is still lacking. Some obvious outliers may be off-axis GRBs and may follow correlations that are different from those at the on-axis. Here we present a simple analytical derivation for the Amati relation and the Yonetoku relation in the framework of the standard fireball model, the correctness of which is then confirmed by numerical simulations. The off-axis Amati relation and Yonetoku relation are also derived. They differ markedly from the corresponding on-axis relation. Our results reveal the intrinsic physics behind the radiation processes of GRBs, and they highlight the importance of the viewing angle in the empirical correlations of GRBs.
Cold is a major abiotic stress and Huanglongbing and citrus canker disease are two devastating bacterial diseases for citrus. The Ca.sup.2+-CBL-CIPK network is known to regulate different types of ...stress signalling in plants. How do CBL-CIPK signalling networks function in response to cold and infection by CLas or Xcc in citrus? Eight calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) and seventeen CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) were identified from the cold-tolerant satsuma mandarin 'Guijing2501' (Citrus. unshiu) and CLas/Xcc-sensitive sweet orange (C. sinensis). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that both CBL and CIPK family members in citrus were classified into an ancient and a recent clade according to their conserved domain characteristics and/or intron/exon structures. Genome duplication analysis suggested that both tandem and segmental duplications contributed to the amplification of the CBL and CIPK gene families in citrus under intense purifying selection, and the duplication events only existed in the recent clades. Expression comparison of the duplicated gene pairs indicated that the duplicated CBL and CIPK genes underwent functional differentiation. Further expression analysis identified that CBL1, 5, 6, and 8 and CIPK2, 8, 12, 15, 16, and 17 were significantly regulated by multiple stresses, including cold, Xcc infection and/or CLas infection, in citrus, whereas CBL2/7 and CIPK1/4/5/11/13/14 were independently highly regulated by cold and CIPK3 was uniquely responsive to Xcc infection. The combination analyses of targeted Y2H assay and expression analysis revealed that CBL6-CIPK8 was the common signalling network in response to cold and Xcc infection, while CBL6/CBL8-CIPK14 was uniquely responsive to cold in citrus. Further stable transformation and cold tolerance assay indicated that overexpression of CuCIPK16 enhanced the cold tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis with higher POD activity and lower MDA content. In this study, evolution, gene expression and protein-protein interaction analyses of citrus CBLs and CIPKs were comprehensively conducted over a genome-wide range. The results will facilitate future functional characterization of individual citrus CBLs and CIPKs under specific stresses and provide clues for the clarification of cold tolerance and disease susceptibility mechanisms in corresponding citrus cultivars.
The role played by serum folate in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of serum folate with ...NAFLD and advanced liver fibrosis (AHF). We conducted a cross-sectional study with 5417 participants using 2011-2018 NHANES data. Multiple logistic regression analysis and propensity score matching analysis were used to investigate the association of serum folate with NAFLD and AHF. In the completely adjusted model, participants in the high serum folate group had a 27% (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.62, 0.87, p = 0.0003) and 53% (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.35, 0.63, p < 0.0001) lower odds of suffering from NAFLD and AHF, respectively, compared to the low serum folate group. The similar results in propensity score matching further validated the above association. Stratified analysis showed that the negative correlation of serum folate with NAFLD and AHF demonstrated a broad consistency across populations. The results of this study indicate that higher serum folate level was associated with lower odds of NAFLD and AHF among US adults. Further prospective studies are necessary due to the limitations of cross-sectional studies.
Paclitaxel is a common chemotherapeutic agent in cancer treatment, while it often causes chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which manifested as hyperalgesia and allodynia, and its ...mechanism remains largely unknown. The previous study has shown that matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) plays a pivotal role in spinal nerve ligation (SNL) induced neuropathic pain, but its function in CIPN and exact molecular mechanisms underlying upregulation is not explored. Our present study revealed that MMP-2 is also upregulated in paclitaxel induced neuropathic pain (NP), and knockdown it by siRNA can ameliorate mechanical allodynia. Since DNA methylation is closely related to gene transcription, we explored the methylation status of the MMP-2 gene and demonstrated that MMP-2 upregulation is related to the reduced methylation level of its promoter. DNA methylation is mediated by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), and previous studies suggested that three main types of DNMTs can undergo SUMOylation. Our next study revealed that SUMO1 modification of DNMT3b is significantly enhanced. Intrathecal administration of SUMOylation inhibitor, ginkgolic acid (GA), could reverse enhanced SUMO1 modification of DNMT3b and upregulation of MMP-2 in the model rats. Further investigation suggested that DNMT3b binding activity to the promoter region of the MMP-2 gene is significantly decreased in paclitaxel treated rats, and the administration of GA can reverse these effects, which is also accompanied by changes in the promoter methylation status of the MMP-2 gene. Our study demonstrates that MMP-2 up-regulation mediated by DNMT3b SUMOylation is essential for paclitaxel induced NP development, which brings us new therapeutic options for CIPN.
Nowadays, various machine learning-based approaches using sequence information alone have been proposed for identifying DNA-binding proteins, which are crucial to many cellular processes, such as DNA ...replication, DNA repair and DNA modification. Among these methods, building a meaningful feature representation of the sequences and choosing an appropriate classifier are the most trivial tasks. Disclosing the significances and contributions of different feature spaces and classifiers to the final prediction is of the utmost importance, not only for the prediction performances, but also the practical clues of biological experiment designs. In this study, we propose a model stacking framework by orchestrating multi-view features and classifiers (MSFBinder) to investigate how to integrate and evaluate loosely-coupled models for predicting DNA-binding proteins. The framework integrates multi-view features including Local_DPP, 188D, Position-Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSM)_DWT and autocross-covariance of secondary structures(AC_Struc), which were extracted based on evolutionary information, sequence composition, physiochemical properties and predicted structural information, respectively. These features are fed into various loosely-coupled classifiers such as SVM and random forest. Then, a logistic regression model was applied to evaluate the contributions of these individual classifiers and to make the final prediction. When performing on the training dataset PDB1075, the proposed method achieves an accuracy of 83.53%. On the independent dataset PDB186, the method achieves an accuracy of 81.72%, which outperforms many existing methods. These results suggest that the framework is able to orchestrate various predicted models flexibly with good performances.
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