Counteranion-Controlled Ag₂O‑Mediated Benzimidazolium Ring Opening and Its Application in the Synthesis of Palladium Pincer-Type Complexes

We report a new approach to synthesize palladium complexes through Ag₂O-promoted hydrolytic ring opening followed by palladium coordination. The novelty of Ag₂O-promoted hydrolysis in comparison with the commonly used base-mediated hydrolysis lies in the anion-controlled product selectivity in the synthesis of pincer-type palladium complexes. Moreover, these palladium complexes have been tested in the Suzuki reaction using aryl bromides in methanol and H₂O, respectively. In comparison with palladium complexes with normal coordination, the palladium complexes generated from the hydrolytic ring-opening coordination demonstrate excellent catalytic activity

Alterations in SiRNA and MiRNA Expression Profiles Detected by Deep Sequencing of Transgenic Rice with SiRNA-Mediated Viral Resistance

<div><p>RNA-mediated gene silencing has been demonstrated to serve as a defensive mechanism against viral pathogens by plants. It is known that specifically expressed endogenous siRNAs and miRNAs are involved in the self-defense process during viral infection. However, research has been rarely devoted to the endogenous siRNA and miRNA expression changes under viral infection if the resistance has already been genetically engineered in plants. Aiming to gain a deeper understanding of the RNA-mediated gene silencing defense process in plants, the expression profiles of siRNAs and miRNAs before and after viral infection in both wild type and transgenic anti-<i>Rice stripe virus</i> (RSV) rice plants were examined by small RNA high-throughput sequencing. Our research confirms that the newly generated siRNAs, which are derived from the engineered inverted repeat construct, is the major contributor of the viral resistance in rice. Further analysis suggests the accuracy of siRNA biogenesis might be affected when siRNAs machinery is excessively used in the transgenic plants. In addition, the expression levels of many known miRNAs are dramatically changed due to RSV infection on both wild type and transgenic rice plants, indicating potential function of those miRNAs involved in plant-virus interacting process.</p></div

The total clean sRNA, siRNA and miRNA reads among 4 libraries.

<p>The percentage of miRNA/siRNA is calculated by dividing the total miRNA/siRNA reads with the total clean sRNA reads.</p><p>The total clean sRNA, siRNA and miRNA reads among 4 libraries.</p

Pie charts of sRNA distribution for four datasets.

<p>All sRNAs are annotated to a specific category, including miRNA, siRNA, exon_sense, intron_sense, rRNA, repeat sequence, tRNA, unannotated sRNA and so on.</p

Identification of siRNA origin by mapping different miRNA species to rice genome and RSVCP sequence.

<p>A. Classification of siRNA among all four libraries when m = 0. Based on its origin, siRNA are classified into three groups, unmapped siRNA, rice derived siRNA and RSVCP derived siRNA. B. Un-mapped sequences analysis using GSNAP with different parameter settings among four datasets.</p

The venn diagram for the shared novel miRNAs among four libraries.

<p>The venn diagram for the shared novel miRNAs among four libraries.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Genetic diversity and phylogenetic characteristics of viruses in lily plants in Beijing.docx

Lily (Lilium) is an important bulbous perennial herb that is frequently infected by one or more viruses. To investigate the diversity of lily viruses, lilies with virus-like symptoms in Beijing were collected to perform small RNA deep sequencing. Then, the 12 complete and six nearly full-length viral genomes, including six known viruses and two novel viruses were determined. Based on sequence and phylogenetic analyses, two novel viruses were considered to be members of the genera Alphaendornavirus (Endornaviridae) and Polerovirus (Solemoviridae). These two novel viruses were provisionally named lily-associated alphaendornavirus 1 (LaEV-1) and lily-associated polerovirus 1 (LaPV-1). Based on sequence, phylogenetic and recombination analyses, strawberry latent ringspot virus (SLRSV) in the genus Stralarivirus (Secoviridae) was identified for the first time in China, and shown to exhibit the highest nucleotide (nt) diversity among the available full-length SLRSV genome sequences, with the highest identities of 79.5% for RNA1 and 80.9% for RNA2. Interestingly, the protease cofactor region in RNA1 was 752 aa in length, whereas those of the other 27 characterized isolates ranged from 700–719 aa in length. The genome sequences of lily virus A (Potyvirus), lily virus X (Potexvirus), and plantago asiatica mosaic virus (Potexvirus) exhibited varying degrees of sequence diversity at the nucleotide level compared with their corresponding characterized isolates. In addition, plantago asiatica mosaic virus (PlAMV) tended to cluster on a host species-basis. One identified lily mottle virus (Potyvirus) isolate was detected as a recombinant, and which clustered in a different group with four other isolates. Seven identified lily symptomless virus (Carlavirus) isolates, including one recombinant, were clustered into three clades. Our results revealed the genetic diversity of lily-infecting viruses, and sequence insertion, host species and recombination are factors that likely contribute to this diversity. Collectively, our results provide useful information regarding the control of viral disease in lily.</p

Facilitation or disengagement? Attention bias in facial affect processing after short-term violent video game exposure

<div><p>Previous research has been inconsistent on whether violent video games exert positive and/or negative effects on cognition. In particular, attentional bias in facial affect processing after violent video game exposure continues to be controversial. The aim of the present study was to investigate attentional bias in facial recognition after short term exposure to violent video games and to characterize the neural correlates of this effect. In order to accomplish this, participants were exposed to either neutral or violent video games for 25 min and then event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during two emotional search tasks. The first search task assessed attentional facilitation, in which participants were required to identify an emotional face from a crowd of neutral faces. In contrast, the second task measured disengagement, in which participants were required to identify a neutral face from a crowd of emotional faces. Our results found a significant presence of the ERP component, N2pc, during the facilitation task; however, no differences were observed between the two video game groups. This finding does not support a link between attentional facilitation and violent video game exposure. Comparatively, during the disengagement task, N2pc responses were not observed when participants viewed happy faces following violent video game exposure; however, a weak N2pc response was observed after neutral video game exposure. These results provided only inconsistent support for the disengagement hypothesis, suggesting that participants found it difficult to separate a neutral face from a crowd of emotional faces.</p></div

Carbon Dioxide Microbubble Bursting Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Aerosols generated by bubble bursting have been proved to promote the extraction of analytes and have ultrahigh electric fields at their water–air interfaces. This study presented a simple and efficient ionization method, carbon dioxide microbubble bursting ionization (CDMBI), without the presence of an exogenous electric field (namely, zero voltage), by simulating the interfacial chemistries of sea spray aerosols. In CDMBI, microbubbles are generated in situ by continuous input of carbon dioxide into an aqueous solution containing low-concentration analytes. The microbubbles extract low- and high-polarity analytes as they pass through the aqueous solution. Upon reaching the water–air interface, these microbubbles burst to produce charged aerosol microdroplets with an average diameter of 260 μm (8.1–10.4 nL in volume), which are immediately transferred to a mass spectrometer for the detection and identification of extracted analytes. The above analytical process occurs every 4.2 s with a stable total ion chromatogram (relative standard deviation: 9.4%) recorded. CDMBI mass spectrometry (CDMBI-MS) can detect surface-active organic compounds in aerosol microdroplets, such as perfluorooctanoic acid, free fatty acids epoxidized by bubble bursting, sterols, and lecithins in soybean and egg, with the limit of detection reaching the level of fg/mL. In addition, coupling CDMBI-MS with an exogenous voltage yields relatively weak gains in ionization efficiency and sensitivity of analysis. The results suggested that CDMBI can simultaneously accomplish both bubbling extraction and microbubble bursting ionization. The mechanism of CDMBI involves bubbling extraction, proton transfer, inlet ionization, and electrospray-like ionization. Overall, CDMBI-MS can work in both positive and negative ion modes without necessarily needing an exogenous high electric field for ionization and quickly detect trace surface-active analytes in aqueous solutions

N2pc amplitudes.

<p>(A) Comparison of N2pc amplitudes in response to different facial affect images in task A. (B) Comparison of N2pc amplitude in response to different facial affect images in task B. Error bars indicate one standard error.</p