Effects of Inoculants (Chlorobium limicola and Rhodopseudo-monas palustris) on Nutrient Uptake and Growth in Cucumber

Rhizobacteria is a prosperous for promoting plant growth for the superiority of reducing environmental damages. Two Strains of Chlorobium limicola and Rhodopseudomonas palustris were supplied in the experiment as potential inoculants for cucumber. Significant enhancement of the availability of macronutrient elements N, P and K were observed in soil, and further improvement on the uptake of them was also obtained in cucumber plants. Accumulation of essential micronutrients of Fe and Zn were detected both in roots and in shoots. The two stains increased chlorophyll and carotinoid synthesis, plant height, stem diameter, wet weight and dry weight. Various dose has significantly effect on plant growth stimulation, C. Limicola with 107 cells mL-1 and R. Palustris with 108 cells mL-1 seem to be better on the whole

An 852 nm Faraday laser with 8 kHz linewidth based on corner-cube retroreflector

A single-mode Cs atom 852 nm Faraday laser based on the corner-cube reflector feedback is first demonstrated to our best knowledge. Using the corner-cube reflector as external cavity feedback in Faraday laser, the robustness can be greatly improved. This Faraday laser can always achieve laser oscillation unless the angle between incident light and the optical axis of corner-cube retroreflector is beyond the plus or minus 3{\deg} range. Furthermore, the Faraday laser achieves single-mode operation within the current range of 100 mA , and its output wavelength is automatically limited to the vicinity of the Cs atomic transition lines. The wavelength fluctuation range is limited to plus or minus 1.2 pm within 9 hours under +3{\deg} rotation angle. Moreover, the most probable linewidth is 7.97 kHz measured by heterodyne beating. The Faraday laser with high robustness as well as narrow linewidth can be widely used in quantum precision measurement fields including quantum optics, atomic clocks, atomic magnetometers, cold atoms, and atomic gravimeters, etc

Cold-atom optical filtering enhanced by optical pumping

Atomic optical filters such as Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filters (FADOFs) or similar technologies can achieve very narrow optical bandwidth close to the scale of atomic linewidth, which can be greatly reduced in cold atoms. However, limited by the number of cold atoms and the size of the cold atomic cloud, the number of atoms interacting with the laser is reduced, and the transmission remains as low as 2%. In this work, we introduce the optical pumping into the cold atomic optical filter to solve this problem. Circular polarized optical pumping can produce polarization of the atomic ensemble and induce dichromatic as well as the Faraday rotation. We demonstrate a cold-atom optical filter which operates on the 87Rb 52S1/2 (F=2) to 52P3/2 (F′=2) transition at 780 nm. The filter achieves an ultranarrow bandwidth of 6.6(4) MHz, and its peak transmission is 15.6%, which is nearly 14 times higher than that of the cold-atom optical filter realized by Faraday magneto-optic effect. This scheme can be extended to almost all kinds of atomic optical filters and may find applications in self-stabilizing laser and active optical clock

Genetic dissection of QTLs for oil content in four maize DH populations

Oil is one of the main components in maize kernels. Increasing the total oil content (TOC) is favorable to optimize feeding requirement by improving maize quality. To better understand the genetic basis of TOC, quantitative trait loci (QTL) in four double haploid (DH) populations were explored. TOC exhibited continuously and approximately normal distribution in the four populations. The moderate to high broad-sense heritability (67.00-86.60%) indicated that the majority of TOC variations are controlled by genetic factors. A total of 16 QTLs were identified across all chromosomes in a range of 3.49-30.84% in term of phenotypic variation explained. Among them, six QTLs were identified as the major QTLs that explained phenotypic variation larger than 10%. Especially, qOC-1-3 and qOC-2-3 on chromosome 9 were recognized as the largest effect QTLs with 30.84% and 21.74% of phenotypic variance, respectively. Seventeen well-known genes involved in fatty acid metabolic pathway located within QTL intervals. These QTLs will enhance our understanding of the genetic basis of TOC in maize and offer prospective routes to clone candidate genes regulating TOC for breeding program to cultivate maize varieties with the better grain quality

Reference genome of wild goat (<i>capra aegagrus</i>) and sequencing of goat breeds provide insight into genic basis of goat domestication

BACKGROUND: Domestic goats (Capra hircus) have been selected to play an essential role in agricultural production systems, since being domesticated from their wild progenitor, bezoar (Capra aegagrus). A detailed understanding of the genetic consequences imparted by the domestication process remains a key goal of evolutionary genomics. RESULTS: We constructed the reference genome of bezoar and sequenced representative breeds of domestic goats to search for genomic changes that likely have accompanied goat domestication and breed formation. Thirteen copy number variation genes associated with coat color were identified in domestic goats, among which ASIP gene duplication contributes to the generation of light coat-color phenotype in domestic goats. Analysis of rapidly evolving genes identified genic changes underlying behavior-related traits, immune response and production-related traits. CONCLUSION: Based on the comparison studies of copy number variation genes and rapidly evolving genes between wild and domestic goat, our findings and methodology shed light on the genetic mechanism of animal domestication and will facilitate future goat breeding. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1606-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Diammonium Glycyrrhizinate Upregulates PGC-1α and Protects against Aβ1–42-Induced Neurotoxicity

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of beta-amyloid (Aβ)-induced neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and is considered an early event in AD pathology. Diammonium glycyrrhizinate (DG), the salt form of Glycyrrhizin, is known for its anti-inflammatory effects, resistance to biologic oxidation and membranous protection. In the present study, the neuroprotective effects of DG on Aβ1–42-induced toxicity and its potential mechanisms in primary cortical neurons were investigated. Exposure of neurons to 2 µM Aβ1–42 resulted in significant viability loss and cell apoptosis. Accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 were also observed after Aβ1–42 exposure. All these effects induced by Aβ1–42 were markedly reversed by DG treatment. In addition, DG could alleviate lipid peroxidation and partially restore the mitochondrial function in Aβ1–42-induced AD mice. DG also significantly increased the PGC-1α expression in vivo and in vitro, while knocking down PGC-1α partially blocked the protective effects, which indicated that PGC-1α contributed to the neuroprotective effects of DG. Furthermore, DG significantly decreased the escape latency and search distance and increased the target crossing times of Aβ1–42-induced AD mice in the Morris water maze test. Therefore, these results demonstrated that DG could attenuate Aβ1–42-induced neuronal injury by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress and improved cognitive impairment in Aβ1–42-induced AD mice, indicating that DG exerted potential beneficial effects on AD

Virtual-Lattice Based Intrusion Detection Algorithm over Actuator-Assisted Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to the lack of a physical line of defense, intrusion detection becomes one of the key issues in applications of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs), especially when the confidentiality has prime importance. However, the resource-constrained property of UWSNs such as sparse deployment and energy constraint makes intrusion detection a challenging issue. This paper considers a virtual-lattice-based approach to the intrusion detection problem in UWSNs. Different from most existing works, the UWSNs consist of two kinds of nodes, i.e., sensor nodes (SNs), which cannot move autonomously, and actuator nodes (ANs), which can move autonomously according to the performance requirement. With the cooperation of SNs and ANs, the intruder detection probability is defined. Then, a virtual lattice-based monitor (VLM) algorithm is proposed to detect the intruder. In order to reduce the redundancy of communication links and improve detection probability, an optimal and coordinative lattice-based monitor patrolling (OCLMP) algorithm is further provided for UWSNs, wherein an equal price search strategy is given for ANs to find the shortest patrolling path. Under VLM and OCLMP algorithms, the detection probabilities are calculated, while the topology connectivity can be guaranteed. Finally, simulation results are presented to show that the proposed method in this paper can improve the detection accuracy and save the energy consumption compared with the conventional methods

Non-interfacial self-assembly of synthetic protocells

Abstract Background Protocell refers to the basic unit of life and synthetic molecular assembly with cell structure and function. The protocells have great applications in the field of biomedical technology. Simulating the morphology and function of cells is the key to the preparation of protocells. However, some organic solvents used in the preparation process of protocells would damage the function of the bioactive substance. Perfluorocarbon, which has no toxic effect on bioactive substances, is an ideal solvent for protocell preparation. However, perfluorocarbon cannot be emulsified with water because of its inertia. Methods Spheroids can be formed in nature even without emulsification, since liquid can reshape the morphology of the solid phase through the scouring action, even if there is no stable interface between the two phases. Inspired by the formation of natural spheroids such as pebbles, we developed non-interfacial self-assembly (NISA) of microdroplets as a step toward synthetic protocells, in which the inert perfluorocarbon was utilized to reshape the hydrogel through the scouring action. Results The synthetic protocells were successfully obtained by using NISA-based protocell techniques, with the morphology very similar to native cells. Then we simulated the cell transcription process in the synthetic protocell and used the protocell as an mRNA carrier to transfect 293T cells. The results showed that protocells delivered mRNAs, and successfully expressed proteins in 293T cells. Further, we used the NISA method to fabricate an artificial cell by extracting and reassembling the membrane, proteins, and genomes of ovarian cancer cells. The results showed that the recombination of tumor cells was successfully achieved with similar morphology as tumor cells. In addition, the synthetic protocell prepared by the NISA method was used to reverse cancer chemoresistance by restoring cellular calcium homeostasis, which verified the application value of the synthetic protocell as a drug carrier. Conclusion This synthetic protocell fabricated by the NISA method simulates the occurrence and development process of primitive life, which has great potential application value in mRNA vaccine, cancer immunotherapy, and drug delivery. Graphical Abstrac