Effects of Exogenous Substances Treatment on Fruit Quality and Pericarp Anthocyanin Metabolism of Peach

In this study, the two peach cultivars ‘Baifeng’ and ‘Weiduanmihong’ were used as experimental materials, and their fruits were sprayed with different concentrations of L-glutamic acid, brassinolide, and sucrose to study the effects of these three exogenous substances on fruit quality and anthocyanin metabolism of peaches. The results showed that the appearance quality (average single fruit weight, fruit firmness, and peel color difference), nutritional quality (soluble solids, soluble sugar, titratable acid, anthocyanins, total phenols, flavonoids, etc.), peel anthocyanin-related enzyme activity, and related gene expression of ‘Baifeng’ and ‘Weiduanmihong’ peaches treated with three different exogenous substances were different from those of the control. Higher-concentration treatments could significantly improve the appearance of peach fruit, the nutritional quality of peach fruit and the activity of anthocyanin-related enzymes in peel, as well as promote the expression of related genes. Treatment with 400 mg/L L-glutamic acid significantly promoted the average fruit weight of ‘Baifeng’ peaches. Treatment with 800 mg/L L-glutamic acid significantly promoted the increase in PAL enzyme activity and the expression of PpPAL and PpF3H in the two peach varieties and significantly promoted the expression of anthocyanin metabolism genes PpF3′H and PpGST1 in ‘Baifeng’ peach peel and anthocyanin metabolism gene PpUFGT in ‘Weiduanmihong’ peach peel. Treatment with 34 mg/L sucrose significantly increased the fruit firmness of ‘Baifeng’ peaches and the soluble sugar content of ‘Weiduanmihong’ peaches. Treatment with 51 mg/L sucrose significantly promoted the increase in flavonoid content and PpUFGT expression in ‘Baifeng’ peach fruit and significantly promoted the expression of anthocyanin metabolism genes PpDFR and PpANS in ‘Weiduanmihong’ peach peel. Treatment with 0.6 mg/L brassinolide significantly promoted the increase in soluble solids (TTS), soluble sugar, anthocyanin, total phenol content, PAL enzyme activity, UFGT enzyme activity, and the expression of anthocyanin metabolism genes PpDFR and PpMYB10.1 in ‘Baifeng’ peach fruit, and it significantly increased the average single fruit weight, fruit hardness, anthocyanin content, and UFGT enzyme activity of ‘Weiduanmihong’ peach fruit and promoted the expression of anthocyanin metabolism genes PpF3H and PpGST1 in ‘Weiduanmihong’ peach peel. The comprehensive effect of 0.6 mg/L brassinolide treatment on improving peach fruit quality and increasing anthocyanin content produces the best results and could be popularized in production practices

Elastic, mechanical, electronic, and defective properties of Zr-Al-C nanolaminates from first principles

By means of first principles calculations, Zr-Al-C nanolaminates have been studied in the aspects of chemical bonding, elastic properties, mechanical properties, electronic structures, and vacancy stabilities. Although the investigated Zr-Al-C nanolaminates show crystallographic similarities, their predicated properties are very different. For (ZrC)(n)Al3C2 (n=2, 3, 4), the Zr-C bond adjacent to the Al-C slab with the C atom intercalated in the Zr layers is the strongest, but the one with the C atom intercalated between the Zr layer and Al layer is the weakest. In contrast, the situation for (ZrC)(n)Al4C3 (n=2, 3) is just the opposite. For Zr-Al-C nanolaminates, the calculated bulk, shear and Young's modulus increase in the sequence of Zr2AlC<Zr3AlC2<Zr2Al4C5<Zr3Al4C6<Zr2Al3C4<Zr3Al3C5<Zr4Al3C6. The (ZrC)(n)Al3C2 (n=2, 3, 4) series exhibit the most outstanding elastic properties. In the presence of the external pressure, the bulk and shear moduli exhibit a linear response to the pressure, except for Zr2AlC and Zr3AlC2, both of which belong to the so-called MAX phases. The two materials also exhibit very distinct properties in the strain-stress relationship, electronic structures and vacancy stabilities. As the intercalated Al layers increase, the formation energy of V-Zr and V-Al increases, while the formation energy of V-C decreases

Original Article Detection of COL4A5 gene mutations in Chinese patients with Alport’s syndrome

Background. Mutations in the COL4A5 gene, encoding the 5 chain of type IV collagen, are responsible for X-linked Alport’s syndrome (XLAS), a progressive nephropathy characterized by glomerular basement membrane abnormalities and usually associated with progressive hearing loss and ocular lesions. Methods. In this study, we analysed all 51 exons of the COL4A5 gene in 20 Chinese patients with XLAS or suspected XLAS from 16 families by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) DNA sequencing. Results. Five gene mutations identified in five families were considered to be pathogenic, including one nonsense mutation in exon 1 (266C!T, Gln22Term), two missense mutations in exons 31 (2757G!T, Gly852Val) and 43 (4142C!T, Pro1314Ser), and two splice site mutations in introns 1 and 25 just next to the 30 end of their respective exons (283þ1G!T, 2150þ1G!T). According to GenBank, these five mutations have not been reported previously. All male patients have typical clinical manifestations and pathological findings that closely correspond to the effects of the mutations. Furthermore, seven gene polymorphisms were detected in introns 18 and 10 and exons 20, 27, 29, 39 and 46. Only the substitution in intron 18 (1234þ25G!A) had a gene frequency significantly higher in patients than in normal individuals. Conclusion. Our study demonstrated the critical role of COL4A5 gene mutations in the pathogenesis of XLAS. The linkage of the polymorphism to AS is still unknown

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Na⁺ Ionic Doped LiF Crystals in Fluoride Eutectic Salt by Solid-State NMR

In this study, it was demonstrated that Na+ ionic doped crystals could be formed during the solidification of FLiNaK melts. The ionic adulterating behavior between Li+, Na+, and K+ ions was investigated in detail by using various 1D/2D solid-state NMR methods and theoretical calculations. 2D 19F–23Na and 19F–7Li HETCOR NMR showed that the Na+ ions could be doped into LiF and KF crystals to generate new adulterating phases. Furthermore, the doped ionic Na+ ions exhibited different dynamics in LiF and KF crystals, which is correlated to the bonding length of the lattice and the Na–F coordinated interactions. This study provides more insights into the ionic doped crystal phase formation in such simple alkali metal fluorides, which may be of greater significance in the application as optical devices