GPSR: Gradient-Prior-Based Network for Image Super-Resolution

Recent deep learning has shown great potential in super-resolution (SR) tasks. However, most deep learning-based SR networks are optimized via pixel-level loss (i.e., L1, L2, and MSE), which forces the networks to output the average of all possible predictions, leading to blurred details. Especially in SR tasks with large scaling factors (i.e., ×4, ×8), the limitation is further aggravated. To alleviate this limitation, we propose a Gradient-Prior-based Super-Resolution network (GPSR). Specifically, a detail-preserving Gradient Guidance Strategy is proposed to fully exploit the gradient prior to guide the SR process from two aspects. On the one hand, an additional gradient branch is introduced into GPSR to provide the critical structural information. On the other hand, a compact gradient-guided loss is proposed to strengthen the constraints on the spatial structure and to prevent the blind restoration of high-frequency details. Moreover, two residual spatial attention adaptive aggregation modules are proposed and incorporated into the SR branch and the gradient branch, respectively, to fully exploit the crucial intermediate features to enhance the feature representation ability. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed GPSR outperforms state-of-the-art methods regarding both subjective visual quality and objective quantitative metrics in SR tasks with large scaling factors (i.e., ×4 and ×8)

A New Way of Rice Breeding: Polyploid Rice Breeding

Polyploid rice, first discovered by Japanese scientist Eiiti Nakamori in 1933, has a history of nearly 90 years. In the following years, polyploid rice studies have mainly focused on innovations in breeding theory, induction technology and the creation of new germplasm, the analysis of agronomic traits and nutritional components, the study of gametophyte development and reproduction characteristics, DNA methylation modification and gene expression regulation, distant hybridization and utilization among subspecies, species and genomes. In recent years, PMeS lines and neo-tetraploid rice lines with stable high seed setting rate characteristics have been successively selected, breaking through the bottleneck of low seed setting rate of polyploid rice. Following, a series of theoretical and applied studies on high seed setting rate tetraploid rice were carried out. This has pushed research on polyploid rice to a new stage, opening new prospects for polyploid rice breeding

Sphingomyelin is involved in regulating UCP1-mediated nonshivering thermogenesis

Adipogenesis is one of the major mechanisms for adipose tissue expansion, during which spindle-shaped mesenchymal stem cells commit to the fate of adipocyte precursors and differentiate into round-shaped fat-laden adipocytes. Here, we investigated the lipidomic profile dynamics of ex vivo-differentiated brown and white adipocytes derived from the stromal vascular fractions of interscapular brown (iBAT) and inguinal white adipose tissues. We showed that sphingomyelin was specifically enriched in terminally differentiated brown adipocytes, but not white adipocytes. In line with this, freshly isolated adipocytes of iBAT showed higher sphingomyelin content than those of inguinal white adipose tissue. Upon cold exposure, sphingomyelin abundance in iBAT gradually decreased in parallel with reduced sphingomyelin synthase 1 protein levels. Cold-exposed animals treated with an inhibitor of sphingomyelin hydrolases failed to maintain core body temperature and showed reduced oxygen consumption and iBAT UCP1 levels. Conversely, blockade of sphingomyelin synthetic enzymes resulted in enhanced nonshivering thermogenesis, reflected by elevated body temperature and UCP1 levels. Taken together, our results uncovered a relation between sphingomyelin abundance and fine-tuning of UCP1-mediated nonshivering thermogenesis

Correlation, Regression and Path Analyses of Seed Yield Components in Crambe abyssinica, a Promising Industrial Oil Crop

In the present study correlation, regression and path analyses were carried out to decide correlations among the agro- nomic traits and their contributions to seed yield per plant in Crambe abyssinica. Partial correlation analysis indicated that plant height (X1) was significantly correlated with branching height and the number of first branches (P <0.01); Branching height (X2) was significantly correlated with pod number of primary inflorescence (P <0.01) and number of secondary branches (P <0.05) and negatively correlated with number of first branches (P <0.01); Number of first branches (X3) was significantly correlated with number of secondary branches (P <0.01), pod number per plant and 1000-grain weight (P <0.05); Number of secondary branches (X4) was significantly correlated with seed yield per plant (P <0.05); Pod number per plant (X7) was significantly correlated with seed yield per plant (P <0.01) and negatively correlated with 1000-grain weight (P <0.01); 1000-grain weight (X8) was significantly correlated with seed yield per plant (P <0.01). Stepwise regression and path analyses indicated that only pod number per plant and 1000-grain weight contributed significantly to seed yield per plant at P <0.01 and P <0.05, respectively. The regression formula for contributions of pod number per plant (X7) and 1000-grain weight (X8) to seed yield per plant (Y) is Y = 0.006 X7 + 1.222 X8 - 7.191. The path coefficient of pod number per plant to seed yield per plant was 0.967 and that of 1000-grain weight was 0.194. The determination coefficient of pod number per plant and 1000-grain weight to seed yield per plant was 0.983 and the determination coefficient of other agronomic traits was 0.130. Coefficient of variance indicated that the length of primary inflorescence showed the greatest variation, followed by seed yield per plant, pod number per plant, number of secondary branches, branching height, pod number of primary inflorescence, number of first branches, seed yield per plot, 1000-grain weight and plant height. It was suggested that seed yield per plant in Crambe might be improved by increasing the pod number per plant through selection or cultivation, but the negative correlation between pod number per plant and 1000-grain weight also needs to be considere

Polyploidization Increases the Lipid Content and Improves the Nutritional Quality of Rice

Plant polyploidization is frequently associated with changes in nutrient contents. However, the possible contribution of metabolites to this change has not been investigated by characterizing the metabolite contents of diploid and tetraploid forms of rice (Oryza sativa L.). We compared the metabolites of a group of diploid–tetraploid japonica brown rice and a group of diploid–tetraploid indica brown rice based on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. In total, 401 metabolites were identified; of these, between the two diploid–tetraploid groups, 180 showed opposite expression trends, but 221 showed the same trends (147 higher abundance vs. 74 lower abundance). Hierarchical cluster analysis of differential metabolites between diploid and tetraploid species showed a clear grouping pattern, in which the expression abundance of lipids, amino acids and derivatives, and phenolic acids increased in tetraploids. Further analysis revealed that the lipids in tetraploid rice increased significantly, especially unsaturated fatty acids and phospholipids. This study provides further basis for understanding the changes in rice nutritional quality following polyploidization and may serve as a new theoretical reference for breeding eutrophic or functional rice varieties via polyploidization

Integration of small RNA, degradome and proteome sequencing in Oryza sativa reveals a delayed senescence network in tetraploid rice seed.

Seed of rice is an important strategic resource for ensuring the security of China's staple food. Seed deterioration as a result of senescence is a major problem during seed storage, which can cause major economic losses. Screening among accessions in rice germplasm resources for traits such as slow senescence and increased seed longevity during storage is, therefore, of great significance. However, studies on delayed senescence in rice have been based mostly on diploid rice seed to date. Despite better tolerance have been verified by the artificial aging treatment for polyploid rice seed, the delayed senescence properties and delayed senescence related regulatory mechanisms of polyploid rice seed are rarely reported, due to the lack of polyploid rice materials with high seed set. High-throughput sequencing was applied to systematically investigate variations in small RNAs, the degradome, and the proteome between tetraploid and diploid rice seeds. Degradome sequencing analysis of microRNAs showed that expression of miR-164d, which regulates genes encoding antioxidant enzymes, was changed significantly, resulting in decreased miRNA-mediated cleavage of target genes in tetraploid rice. Comparisons of the expression levels of small RNAs (sRNAs) in the tetraploid and diploid libraries revealed that 12 sRNAs changed significantly, consistent with the findings from degradome sequencing. Furthermore, proteomics also showed that antioxidant enzymes were up-regulated in tetraploid rice seeds, relative to diploids