Isolation and characterization of cDNA encoding stilbene synthases from Chinese wild Vitis pseudoreticulata

mRNA differential display was employed to study powdery mildew disease resistance gene expression in Chinese wild Vitis pseudoreticulata 'Baihe-35-1' inoculated with Erysiphe necator (syn. Uncinula necator) under natural field conditions. A cDNA fragment T11AC/B0320-723 showing homology to stilbene synthase (STS) gene expressed more strongly at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days after inoculation of leaves than in controls was found. The full cDNA length was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Sequencing of the full length cDNA revealed cDNA sequences, sized 1288, 1411, 1468, 1492, 1506 and 1556 base pairs encoding 6 homologous polypeptides with 392 amino acid residues each, that were designated as VpSTS1, VpSTS2, VpSTS3, VpSTS4, VpSTS5 and VpSTS6 respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences shared identity of 65 %, 77 % and more than 94 % with Pinus strobus STS, Vitis vinifera chalcone synthase (CHS), and Vitis riparia, Vitis labrusca, Parthenocissus henryana, Cissus rhombifolia, Parthenocissus quinquefolia and Vitis vinifera STS, respectively.

Genetic inter-relationships among Chinese wild grapes based on SRAP marker analyses

Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to assess genetic inter-relationships among 39 grape genotypes. These included 22 indigenous Chinese grape species/varieties, the north American V. riparia and the European V. vinifera L. 'Thompson seedless' and 'Pinot noir'. Of the 72 SRAP primer combinations tested, 25 primers generated 135 reliable bands, with an average of 5.52 bands per primer pair. Further analysis shows that 106 of 135 bands were generated by 25 polymorphic primer pairs, with a polymorphism efficiency of 79 %. The similarity coefficients of SRAP polymorphism varied from 0.463 to 0.981 among the genotypes analysed. A dendrogram analysis divided the 39 Vitis accessions into 21 groups with similarity coefficients of 0.83. It reveals broadly similar genetic relationships among the genotypes examined to those previously determined using classical taxonomic methods. Our results define V. heyneana subsp. ficifolia and V. baihensis as subspecies of V. heyneana and V. bashanica, respectively. We question the placement of V. davidii var. cyanocarpa and V. davidii var. ningqiangensis as varieties in V. davidii

A review of taxonomic research on Chinese wild grapes

The taxonomy of Chinese wild grapes can be traced back to the end of the 18th century. However, most research in this field was performed in the last three decades. On the basis of the data from the Chinese wild grape germplasm collected in the last 25 years at the College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China, and publications by other scientists in China, we concluded there were 40 species, 1 subspecies, and 13 varieties of Chinese wild grapes. These were classified into 1 subgenus, 5 sections and 4 series according to FASONG WANG et al.’s systematics. The systematics on Chinese wild grapes is discussed in this paper.

The eco-geographic distribution of wild grape germplasm in China

Chinese wild Vitis species are mainly distributed in four major eco-geographic regions: (1) The Changbaishan Mountains and Xiaoxing’anling Mountains Region, (2) The Qinling Mountains Region, (3) The Mid-downstream Yangtze River Region and (4) The Guangxi Region. One, eighteen, thirty-two, and thirteen Vitis species have been found in these four regions, respectively. The Qinling Montains, the Bashan Montains, and the provinces of Jinagxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Guangxi have high Vitis diversity totaling over 30 species, indicating that these regions may be a major center of origin for Vitis. The range of distribution varies much among the species: Vitis pentagona, Vitis flexuosa, Vitis davidii, and Vitis wilsonae have a wide eco-geographic distribution; Vitis hancockii, Vitis bellula, and Vitis sinocinerea distribute more narrowly. The wild Vitis species of China are differentiated and adapted to local climates. We hope that this review familiarizes more researchers with the distribution of the wild grapes of China and will lead to more efficient collection and informed development of this germplasm.

The complex interplay of hypoxia and sleep disturbance in gray matter structure alterations in obstructive sleep apnea patients

BackgroundObstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) characteristically leads to nocturnal hypoxia and sleep disturbance. Despite clear evidence of OSA-induced cognitive impairments, the literature offers no consensus on the relationship between these pathophysiological processes and brain structure alterations in patients.ObjectiveThis study leverages the robust technique of structural equation modeling to investigate how hypoxia and sleep disturbance exert differential effects on gray matter structures.MethodsSeventy-four Male participants were recruited to undergo overnight polysomnography and T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Four structural outcome parameters were extracted, namely, gray matter volume, cortical thickness, sulcal depth, and fractal dimension. Structural equation models were constructed with two latent variables (hypoxia, and sleep disturbance) and three covariates (age, body mass index, and education) to examine the association between gray matter structural changes in OSA and the two latent variables, hypoxia and sleep disturbance.ResultsThe structural equation models revealed hypoxia-associated changes in diverse regions, most significantly in increased gray matter volume, cortical thickness and sulcal depth. In contrast, sleep disturbance. Was shown to be largely associated with reduce gray matter volume and sulcal depth.ConclusionThis study provides new evidence showing significant effects of OSA-induced hypoxia and sleep disturbance on gray matter volume and morphology in male patients with obstructive sleep apnea. It also demonstrates the utility of robust structural equation models in examining obstructive sleep apnea pathophysiology

Decision Tree Classification Model In Water Supply Network

With the service life of water supply network (WSN) growth, the growing phenomenon of aging pipe network has become exceedingly serious. As urban water supply network is hidden underground asset, it is difficult for monitoring staff to make a direct classification towards the faults of pipe network by means of the modern detecting technology. In this paper, based on the basic property data (e.g. diameter, material, pressure, distance to pump, distance to tank, load, etc.) of water supply network, decision tree algorithm (C4.5) has been carried out to classify the specific situation of water supply pipeline. Part of the historical data was used to establish a decision tree classification model, and the remaining historical data was used to validate this established model. Adopting statistical methods were used to access the decision tree model including basic statistical method, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and Recall-Precision Curves (RPC). These methods has been successfully used to assess the accuracy of this established classification model of water pipe network. The purpose of classification model was to classify the specific condition of water pipe network. It is important to maintain the pipeline according to the classification results including asset unserviceable (AU), near perfect condition (NPC) and serious deterioration (SD). Finally, this research focused on pipe classification which plays a significant role in maintaining water supply networks in the future

Trace Amounts of Triple-Functional Additives Enable Reversible Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries from a Comprehensive Perspective

Although their cost-effectiveness and intrinsic safety, aqueous zinc-ion batteries suffer from notorious side reactions including hydrogen evolution reaction, Zn corrosion and passivation, and Zn dendrite formation on the anode. Despite numerous strategies to alleviate these side reactions have been demonstrated, they can only provide limited performance improvement from a single aspect. Herein, a triple-functional additive with trace amounts, ammonium hydroxide, was demonstrated to comprehensively protect zinc anodes. The results show that the shift of electrolyte pH from 4.1 to 5.2 lowers the HER potential and encourages the in situ formation of a uniform ZHS-based solid electrolyte interphase on Zn anodes. Moreover, cationic NH4+ can preferentially adsorb on the Zn anode surface to shield the "tip effect" and homogenize the electric field. Benefitting from this comprehensive protection, dendrite-free Zn deposition and highly reversible Zn plating/stripping behaviors were realized. Besides, improved electrochemical performances can also be achieved in Zn//MnO2 full cells by taking the advantages of this triple-functional additive. This work provides a new strategy for stabilizing Zn anodes from a comprehensive perspective