Constructive postmodernism is based on the monism of mind and matter, and proposes an organic philosophy which highlights the process and pan-empiricism. Chinese pre-Qin Daoist philosophy on the ...materiality, dynamism, and information of the Way (Dao) and human intuitive knowledge can be used as the basis for the above-mentioned statements of organic philosophy and pan-empiricism and further answer their unaddressed questions, and can manifest that the pre-Qin Daoist philosophy also has the potential to provide intellectual resources for the discussion of the philosophical mind–matter relationship. This may contribute to the further development of human science and technology.
Numerous studies have focused on the regulation of gene expression in response to salt stress at the transcriptional level; however, little is known about this process at the post-transcriptional ...level.
Using a diploid D genome wild salinity-tolerant cotton species, Gossypium davidsonii, we analyzed alternative splicing (AS) of genes related to salt stress by comparing high-throughput transcriptomes from salt-treated and well-watered roots and leaves. A total of 14,172 AS events were identified involving 6798 genes, of which intron retention (35.73%) was the most frequent, being detected in 3492 genes. Under salt stress, 1287 and 1228 differential alternative splicing (DAS) events were identified in roots and leaves, respectively. These DAS genes were associated with specific functional pathways, such as "responses to stress", "metabolic process" and "RNA splicing", implying that AS represents an important pathway of gene regulation in response to salt stress. Several salt response genes, such as pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS), K
channel outward (KCO1), plasma membrane intrinsic protein (PIP) and WRKY33 which were involved in osmotic balance, ion homeostasis, water transportation and transcriptional regulation, respectively, were identified with differential alternative splicing under salt stress. Moreover, we revealed that 13 genes encoding Ser/Arg-rich (SR) proteins related to AS regulation were differentially alternatively spliced under salt stress.
This study first provide a comprehensive view of AS in G. davidsonii, and highlight novel insights into the potential roles of AS in plant responses to salt stress.
Aquaporins (AQPs) are integral membrane proteins from a larger family of major intrinsic proteins (MIPs) and function in a huge variety of processes such as water transport, plant growth and stress ...response. The availability of the whole-genome data of different cotton species allows us to study systematic evolution and function of cotton AQPs on a genome-wide level.
Here, a total of 53, 58, 113 and 111 AQP genes were identified in G. arboreum, G. raimondii, G. hirsutum and G. barbadense, respectively. A comprehensive analysis of cotton AQPs, involved in exon/intron structure, functional domains, phylogenetic relationships and gene duplications, divided these AQPs into five subfamilies (PIP, NIP, SIP, TIP and XIP). Comparative genome analysis among 30 species from algae to angiosperm as well as common tandem duplication events in 24 well-studied plants further revealed the evolutionary conservation of AQP family in the organism kingdom. Combining transcriptome analysis and Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) verification, most AQPs exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns both in G. raimondii and G. hirsutum. Meanwhile, a bias of time to peak expression of several AQPs was also detected after treating G. davidsonii and G. hirsutum with 200 mM NaCl. It is interesting that both PIP1;4 h/i/j and PIP2;2a/e showed the highly conserved tandem structure, but differentially contributed to tissue development and stress response in different cotton species.
These results demonstrated that cotton AQPs were structural conservation while experienced the functional differentiation during the process of evolution and domestication. This study will further broaden our insights into the evolution and functional elucidation of AQP gene family in cotton.
Cotton is an important industrial crop worldwide and upland cotton (
L.) is most widely cultivated in the world. Due to ever-increasing water deficit, drought stress brings a major threat to cotton ...production. Thus, it is important to reveal the genetic basis under drought stress and develop drought tolerant cotton cultivars. To address this issue, in present study, 319 upland cotton accessions were genotyped by 55,060 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from high-density CottonSNP80K array and phenotyped nine drought tolerance related traits. The two datasets were used to identify quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) for the above nine traits using multi-locus random-SNP-effect mixed linear model method. As a result, a total of 20 QTNs distributed on 16 chromosomes were found to be significantly associated with six drought tolerance related traits. Of the 1,326 genes around the 20 QTNs, 205 were induced after drought stress treatment, and 46 were further mapped to Gene ontology (GO) term "response to stress." Taken genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis, RNA-seq data and qRT-PCR verification, four genes,
encoding a response to desiccation 2 protein,
encoding a homeobox-leucine zipper protein,
encoding a plasma membrane intrinsic protein 2, and
encoding a protein phosphatase 2C, were proposed to be potentially important for drought tolerance in cotton. These results will deepen our understanding of the genetic basis of drought stress tolerance in cotton and provide candidate markers to accelerate the development of drought-tolerant cotton cultivars.
Abstract
Background
In eudicots, germination begins with water uptake by the quiescent dry seed and is greatly related to the permeability of micropyle enriched callose layers. Once imbibition ...starts, seeds undergo a cascade of physiological, biochemical, and molecular events to initiate cellular activities. However, the effects of callose on water uptake and following seed metabolic events during germination are largely unknown. Cotton (
Gossypium hirsutum
) is a eudicot plant with natural fiber and edible oil production for humans. Here, we addressed this question by examining the role of
GhGLU19
, a gene encoding β-1,3-glucanase, in cotton seed germination.
Results
GhGLU19 belongs to subfamily B and was expressed predominately in imbibed seeds and early seedlings. Compared to wild type,
GhGLU19
-suppressing and
GhGLU19
-overexpressing transgenic cotton lines showed the higher and lower seed germination percentage, respectively. Callose was enriched more at inner integument (ii) than that in embryo and seed coat in cotton seeds. In
GhGLU19
-suppressing lines, callose at ii of cotton seeds was greatly increased and brought about a prolonged water uptake process during imbibition. Both proteomic and transcriptomic analysis revealed that contrary to
GhGLU19
-overexpressing lines, the glycolysis and pyruvate metabolism was decreased, and abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis related genes were downregulated in imbibed seeds of
GhGLU19
-suppressing lines. Also, endogenous ABA was significantly decreased in
GhGLU19
-suppressing line while increased in
GhGLU19
-overexpressing line.
Conclusions
Our results demonstrate that suppression of
GhGLU19
improves cotton seed germination via accumulating callose of inner integument, modulating glycolysis and pyruvate metabolism, and decreasing ABA biosynthesis. This study provides a potential way for improving germination percentage in cotton seed production, and other eudicot crops.
Atrazine (ATR), a widely used triazine herbicide, is an environmental endocrine disruptor that can cause health problems. However, whether there are multi/trans-generational reproductive impacts of ...ATR have not been studied. Therefore, in this study, Caenorhabditis elegans was used as a preferable model organism to identify the multi/trans-generational reproductive toxicity of ATR. Only parental C.elegans (P0) were exposed to different concentrations (0.0004–40 mg/L) for 48 h and the subsequent offspring (F1–F5) were grown under ATR-free conditions and ATR conditions.The results showed that ATR exposure during P0 decreased fecundity, including a reduction in fertilized eggs, oocytes, and ovulation rate, delayed gonadal development, and decreased the relative area of gonad arm and germ cell number. Furthermore, continuous ATR exposure (P0–F5) causes a significant increase in reproductive toxicity in subsequent generations, although no significant toxicity occurred in the P0 generation after exposure to environmental-related concentrations, suggesting that ATR exposure might have cumulative effects. Likewise, parental exposure to ATR caused transgenerational toxicity impairments. Interestingly, only reproductive toxicity, not development toxicity, was transmitted to several generations (F1–F4), and the F2 generation showed the most notable changes. QRT-PCR results showed that genes expression related to DNA methylation 6 mA (damt-1, nmad-1) and histone H3 methylation (mes-4, met-2, set-25, set-2, and utx-1) can also be passed on to offspring. The function of H3K4 and H3K9 methylation were explored by using loss-of-function mutants for set-2, set-25, and met-2. Transmissible reproductive toxicity was absent in met-2(n4256), set-2(ok952), and set-25(n5021) mutants, which suggests that the histone methyltransferases H3K4 and H3K9 activity are indispensable for the transgenerational effect of ATR. Finally, the downstream genes of DNA methylation and histone H3 methylation were determined. ATR upregulated the expression of ZC317.7, hsp-6, and hsp-60. Mitochondrial stress in parental generation dependent transcription 6 mA modifiers may establish these epigenetic marks in progeny.
•ATR could induce multi/trans-generational reproductive impacts.•Only reproductive toxicity, not developmental toxicity, was transmitted to several generations after ATR exposure.•DNA methylation 6 mA and histone methylation involved in multi-/trans-generational reproductive effects.
Silica aerogels are considered as the distinguished materials of the future due to their extremely low thermal conductivity, low density, and high surface area. They are widely used in construction ...engineering, aeronautical domains, environmental protection, heat storage, etc. However, their fragile mechanical properties are the bottleneck restricting the engineering application of silica aerogels. This review briefly introduces the synthesis of silica aerogels, including the processes of sol–gel chemistry, aging, and drying. The effects of different silicon sources on the mechanical properties of silica aerogels are summarized. Moreover, the reaction mechanism of the three stages is also described. Then, five types of polymers that are commonly used to enhance the mechanical properties of silica aerogels are listed, and the current research progress is introduced. Finally, the outlook and prospects of the silica aerogels are proposed, and this paper further summarizes the methods of different polymers to enhance silica aerogels.
Tamarind shell is rich in flavonoids and exhibits good biological activities. In this study, we aimed to analyze the chemical composition of tamarind shell extract (TSE), and to investigate ...antioxidant capacity of TSE in vitro and in vivo. The tamarind shells were extracted with 95% ethanol refluxing extraction, and chemical constituents were determined by ultra-performance chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The free radical scavenging activity of TSE in vitro was evaluated using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method. The antioxidative effects of TSE were further assessed in 2,2-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-stimulated ADTC5 cells and
-butyl hydroperoxide (
-BHP)-exposed zebrafish. A total of eight flavonoids were detected in TSE, including (+)-catechin, taxifolin, myricetin, eriodictyol, luteolin, morin, apigenin, and naringenin, with the contents of 5.287, 8.419, 4.042, 6.583, 3.421, 4.651, 0.2027, and 0.6234 mg/g, respectively. The ORAC assay revealed TSE and these flavonoids had strong free radical scavenging activity in vitro. In addition, TSE significantly decreased the ROS and MDA levels but restored the SOD activity in AAPH-treated ATDC5 cells and
-BHP-exposed zebrafish. The flavonoids also showed excellent antioxidative activities against oxidative damage in ATDC5 cells and zebrafish. Overall, the study suggests the free radical scavenging capacity and antioxidant potential of TSE and its primary flavonoids in vitro and in vivo and will provide a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of tamarind shell.
To improve the compatibility between flame retardant and epoxy resin (EP) matrix, amino phenyl copper phosphate-9, 10-dihydro-9-oxygen-10-phospha-phenanthrene-10-oxide (CuPPA-DOPO) is synthesized ...through surface grafting, which is blended with EP matrix to prepare EP/CuPPA-DOPO composites. The amorphous structure of CuPPA-DOPO is characterized by X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images indicate that the agglomeration of hybrids is improved, resisting the intense intermolecular attractions on account of the acting force between CuPPA and DOPO. The results of thermal analysis show that CuPPA-DOPO can promote the premature decomposition of EP and increase the residual amount of EP composites. It is worth mentioning that EP/6 wt% CuPPA-DOPO composites reach UL-94 V-1 level and limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 32.6%. Meanwhile, their peak heat release rate (PHRR), peak smoke production release (PSPR) and CO
production (CO
P) are decreased by 52.5%, 26.1% and 41.4%, respectively, compared with those of EP. The inhibition effect of CuPPA-DOPO on the combustion of EP may be due to the release of phosphorus and ammonia free radicals, as well as the catalytic charring ability of metal oxides and phosphorus phases.
Fenitrothion (FNT), an organophosphorus insecticide, is widely detected in the living environment. The reproductive and endocrine toxicity of FNT to biological communities has been ever reported, but ...potential mechanism and reproductive toxicity dose effect remain unclear. In our study, we constructed Caenorhabditis elegans model to analyze the reproductive toxicity mechanism of FNT based on metabolomics and evaluated its reproductive toxicity dose effect using benchmark dose (BMD)method. Our results showed that FNT exposure significantly reduced brood size, number of germ cells, and delayed gonadal development in nematodes. Non-targeted metabolomics revealed that FNT exposure caused significant metabolic disturbances in nematodes, leading to a significant reduction in the synthesis of cortisol and melatonin, and the latter played a mediating role in the effects of FNT on number of germ cells. We further found that the levels of these two hormones were significantly negative correlated with the expression of the androgen receptor nhr-69 and affected the meiosis of germ cells by regulating the nhr-69/ fbf-1/2 /gld-3 /fog-1/3 pathway. Meanwhile, the study found the BMDL10s for N2 and him-5 mutant were 0.411 μg/L by number of germ cells and 0.396 μg/L by number of germ cells in the meiotic zone, respectively, providing a more protective reference dose for ecological risk assessment of FNT. This study suggested that FNT can affect androgen receptor expression by inhibiting cortisol and melatonin secretion, which further mediate the meiotic pathway to affect sperm formation and exert reproductive toxicity, and provides a basis for setting reproductive toxicity limits for FNT.
•FNT causes reduced nematode fertility, with the most sensitive number of germ cells.•FNT caused a dose-dependent decrease in cortisol and melatonin(MT) in nematodes.•Cortisol and MT played a mediating role in the effect of FNT on number of germ cells.•FNT affected spermatogenesis by regulating nhr-69-mediated germ cell meiosis.•The BMDL10 0.396 ug/L provides a reference dose for ecological benchmark of FNT.
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