Chamaecyparis formosensis is an endemic species of Taiwan, threatened from intensive use and illegal felling. An individual identification system for C. formosensis is required to provide scientific ...evidence for court use and deter illegal felling. In this study, 36 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers were developed. By applying up to 28 non-linked of the developed markers, it is calculated that the cumulative random probability of identity (CP
) is as low as 1.652 × 10
, and the identifiable population size is up to 60 million, which is greater than the known C. formosensis population size in Taiwan. Biogeographical analysis data show that C. formosensis from four geographic areas belong to the same genetic population, which can be further divided into three clusters: SY (Eastern Taiwan), HV and GW (Northwestern Taiwan), and MM (Southwestern Taiwan). The developed system was applied to assess the provenance of samples with 88.44% accuracy rate and therefore can serve as a prescreening tool to reduce the range required for comparison. The system developed in this study is a potential crime-fighting tool against illegal felling.
Chamaecyparis taiwanensis is an endemic plant suffering illegal logging in Taiwan for its high economic value. Lack of direct evidence to correlate stump and timber remains a hurdle for law ...enforcement. In this report, 23 polymorphic Genomic Simple Sequence Repeat (gSSR) and 12 Expressed Sequence Tag (EST)-SSR markers were developed and their transferability was assessed. The individual identification system built from selected non-linkage 30 SSR markers has a combined probability of identity as 5.596 × 10
equivalents to identifying an individual in a population of up to 18 million C. taiwanensis with 99.99% confidence level. We also applied the system in an actual criminal case by selecting 19 of these markers to correlate illegally felled timbers and victim trees. Our data demonstrate that molecular signals from three timbers hit with three victim trees with confidence level more than 99.99%. This is the first example of successfully applying SSR in C. taiwanensis as a court evidence for law enforcement. The identification system adapted advanced molecular technology and exhibits its great potential for natural resource management on C. taiwanensis.
Key message
Plant-deleterious microbial volatiles activate the transactivation of hypoxia, MAMPs and wound responsive genes in
Arabidopsis thaliana
. AtMKK1 and AtMKK3 are involved in the ...plant-deleterious microbial volatiles-induced defense responses.
Microbial volatile compounds (mVCs) are a collection of volatile metabolites from microorganisms with biological effects on all living organisms. mVCs function as gaseous modulators of plant growth and plant health. In this study, the defense events induced by plant-deleterious mVCs were investigated.
Enterobacter aerogenes
VCs lead to growth inhibition and immune responses in
Arabidopsis thaliana
.
E
.
aerogenes
VCs negatively regulate auxin response and transport gene expression in the root tip, as evidenced by decreased expression of
DR5::GFP
,
PIN3::PIN3-GFP
and
PIN4::PIN4-GFP
. Data from transcriptional analysis suggests that
E
.
aerogenes
VCs trigger hypoxia response, innate immune responses and metabolic processes. In addition, the transcript levels of the genes involved in the synthetic pathways of antimicrobial metabolites camalexin and coumarin are increased after the
E
.
aerogenes
VCs exposure. Moreover, we demonstrate that MKK1 serves as a regulator of camalexin biosynthesis gene expression in response to
E
.
aerogenes
VCs, while MKK3 is the regulator of coumarin biosynthesis gene expression. Additionally, MKK1 and MKK3 mediate the
E
.
aerogenes
VCs-induced callose deposition. Collectively, these studies provide molecular insights into immune responses by plant-deleterious mVCs.
This paper reports on a sensor based on multi-element complementary split-ring resonator for the measurement of liquid materials. The resonator consists of three split rings for improved measurement ...sensitivity. A hole is fabricated at the centre of the rings to accommodate a hollow glass tube, through which the liquid sample can be injected. Electromagnetic simulations demonstrate that both the resonant frequency and quality factor of the sensor vary considerably with the dielectric constant and loss tangent of the liquid sample. The volume ratio between the liquid sample and glass tube is 0.36, yielding great sensitivity in the measured results for high loss liquids. Compared to the design based on rectangular split rings, the proposed ring structure offers 37% larger frequency shifts and 9.1% greater resonant dips. The relationship between dielectric constant, loss tangent, measured quality factor and resonant frequency is derived. Experimental verification is conducted using ethanol solution with different concentrations. The measurement accuracy is calculated to be within 2.8%, and this validates the proposed approach.
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a serious limiting factor for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain yield and end-use quality. Identification of reliable molecular markers and PHS-resistant germplasms is ...vital to improve PHS resistance by molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS), but the effects of allelic variation and haplotypes in genes conferring PHS resistance in winter wheat cultivars are less understood. Resistance to PHS was tested in 326 commercial winter wheat cultivars for three consecutive growing seasons from 2018-2020. The effects of alleles and haplotypes of 10 genes associated with PHS resistance were determined for all cultivars and were validated by introgressing the PHS-resistance allele and haplotype into a susceptible wheat cultivar. High level of phenotypic variation in PHS resistance was observed in this set of cultivars and 8 of them were highly resistant to PHS with stable germination index (GI) of less than 25% in each individual year. Allelic effects of nine genes and TaMFT haplotype analysis demonstrated that the haplotype Hap1 with low-GI alleles at five positions had the best PHS resistance. This haplotype has the priority to use in improving PHS resistance because of its high effectiveness and rare present in the current commercial cultivars. Among 14 main allelic combinations (ACs) identified, the AC1 carrying the haplotype Hap1 and the TaSdr-B1a allele had better PHS resistance than the other classes. The introgression of Hap1 and TaSdr-B1a is able to significantly improve the PHS resistance in the susceptible cultivar Lunxuan 13. The effectiveness of alleles conferring PHS resistance in winter wheat cultivars was determined and the useful alleles and haplotypes were identified, providing valuable information for parental selection and MAS aiming at improving PHS-resistance in winter wheat. The identification of the PHS-resistant cultivars without known resistance alleles offers an opportunity to explore new PHS-resistant genes.
Abstract
Cryptography promises four information security objectives, namely, confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation, to support trillions of transactions annually in the digital ...economy. Efficient digital signatures, ensuring integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation of data with information-theoretical security are highly urgent and intractable open problems in cryptography. Here, we propose a high-efficiency quantum digital signature (QDS) protocol using asymmetric quantum keys acquired via secret sharing, one-time universal2 hashing and a one-time pad. We just need to use a 384-bit key to sign documents of lengths up to 264 with a security bound of 10−19. If a one-megabit document is signed, the signature efficiency is improved by more than 108 times compared with previous QDS protocols. Furthermore, we build the first all-in-one quantum secure network integrating information-theoretically secure communication, digital signatures, secret sharing and conference key agreement and experimentally demonstrate this signature efficiency advantage. Our work completes the cryptography toolbox of the four information security objectives.
A new paradigm of quantum digital signatures is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, improving the efficiency by hundreds of millions of times and making it as practical as quantum secure communication.
Randomness, mainly in the form of random numbers, is the fundamental prerequisite for the security of many cryptographic tasks. Quantum randomness can be extracted even if adversaries are fully aware ...of the protocol and even control the randomness source. However, an adversary can further manipulate the randomness via tailored detector blinding attacks, which are hacking attacks suffered by protocols with trusted detectors. Here, by treating no-click events as valid events, we propose a quantum random number generation protocol that can simultaneously address source vulnerability and ferocious tailored detector blinding attacks. The method can be extended to high-dimensional random number generation. We experimentally demonstrate the ability of our protocol to generate random numbers for two-dimensional measurement with a generation speed of 0.1 bit per pulse.
Rhizosphere bacterial community structures and their determining drivers have been studied in a variety of marine and freshwater ecosystems for a range of plant species. However, there is still ...limited information about the influence of habitat on microbial communities in seagrass beds. This study aimed to determine which factors (habitat and plant species) have crucial roles on the rhizospheric bacteria associated with two tropical seagrass species (
and
) that are dominant at Xincun Bay and Tanmen Harbor in Hainan Island, South China. Using Illumina HiSeq sequencing, we observed substantial differences in the bacterial richness, diversity, and relative abundances of taxa between the two habitats, which were characterized differently in sediment type and nutrient status. Rhizospheric bacteria from sandy sediment at the eutrophic Xincun Bay were dominated by Desulfobacteraceae and Helicobacteraceae, which are primarily involved in sulfate cycling, whereas rhizosphere microbes from the reef flat at oligotrophic Tanmen Harbor were dominated by Vibrionaceae and Woeseiaceae, which may play important roles in nitrogen and carbon fixing. Additionally, we speculated that host-specific effects of these two seagrass species may be covered under nutrient-rich conditions and in mixed community patches, emphasizing the importance of the nutrient status of the sediment and vegetation composition of the patches. In addition, our study confirmed that Proteobacteria was more adapted to the rhizosphere environment than to low-carbon conditions that occurred in bulk sediment, which was primarily dominated by well-known fermentative bacteria in the phylum Firmicutes.
Nutrient and heavy metal (Fe, Mn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd and As) concentrations in porewater in sediment cores and their diffusive benthic fluxes were investigated in Daya Bay, South China, to study ...the accumulation and transfer of nutrients/metals at the sediment-water interface, and to discuss the impact of human activities on nutrients/metals. Nutrients and heavy metals displayed different profiles in porewater, which was mainly attributed to the distinct biogeochemical conditions in sediments. Total mean fluxes of nutrients (except NO3 and NO2) and metals in study area were positive, indicating nutrients and metals diffused from the sediment to overlying water, and sediment was generally the source of nutrients/metals. Human activities and the weak hydrodynamic force made nutrients/metals accumulate in sediment, so the sediment should be paid more attention to as the endogenesis of contamination in Daya Bay waters.
•Porewater nutrient/heavy metal distribution profiles varied according to location.•Nutrient/metal diffused from sediment to water column indicated by positive fluxes.•Human activities & weak hydrodynamic force resulted in nutrient/metal accumulation.•Sediment should be paid more attention to as the endogenesis of contamination.
α-conotoxin AuIB is the only one of the 4/6 type α-conotoxins (α-CTxs) that inhibits the γ-aminobutyric acid receptor B (GABABR)-coupled N-type calcium channel (CaV2.2). To improve its inhibitory ...activity, a series of variants were synthesized and evaluated according to the structure–activity relationships of 4/7 type α-CTxs targeting GABABR-coupled CaV2.2. Surprisingly, only the substitution of Pro7 with Arg results in a 2–3-fold increase in the inhibition of GABABR-coupled CaV2.2 (IC50 is 0.74 nM); substitutions of position 9–12 with basic or hydrophobic amino acid and the addition of hydrophobic amino acid Leu or Ile at the second loop to mimic 4/7 type α-CTxs all failed to improve the inhibitory activity of AuIB against GABABR-coupled CaV2.2. Interestingly, the most potent form of AuIBP7R has disulfide bridges of “1–4, 2–3” (ribbon), which differs from the “1–3, 2–4” (globular) in the isoforms of wildtype AuIB. In addition, AuIBP7R(globular) displays potent analgesic activity in the acetic acid writhing model and the partial sciatic nerve injury (PNL) model. Our study demonstrated that 4/6 type α-CTxs, with the disulfide bridge connectivity “1–4, 2–3,” are also potent inhibitors for GABABR-coupled CaV2.2, exhibiting potent analgesic activity.
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