Comparative analysis of morphometric traits of farmed sugar kelp and skinny kelp, Saccharina spp., strains from the Northwest Atlantic

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Umanzor, S., Li, Y., Bailey, D., Augyte, S., Huang, M., Marty-Rivera, M., Jannink, J., Yarish, C., & Lindell, S. Comparative analysis of morphometric traits of farmed sugar kelp and skinny kelp, Saccharina spp., strains from the Northwest Atlantic. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, (2021), https://doi.org/10.1111/jwas.12783.Our team has initiated a selective breeding program for regional strains of sugar kelp, Saccharina latissima, to improve the competitiveness of kelp farming in the United States. Within our breeding program, we also include an endemic putative species, Saccharina angustissima, locally referred to as skinny kelp. We crossed uniclonal gametophyte cultures derived from 37 wild‐collected blades representing five sugar kelp strains and one skinny kelp strain to produce 104 unique crosses. Each cross was outplanted on a near‐shore research farm located in the Gulf of Maine (GOM). After the first farming season, our results indicated that sugar kelp and skinny kelp were interfertile, and produced mature and reproductively viable sporophytes. Morphological traits of individual blades varied depending on the parental contribution (sugar vs. skinny), with significant differences found in progeny blade length, width, thickness, and in stipe length and diameter. Despite these differences, wet weight and blade density per plot showed no statistical differences regardless of the cross. Given their published genetic similarity and their interfertility shown here, S. angustissima and S. latissima may not be different species, and may each contribute genetic diversity to breeding programs aimed at meeting ocean farming and market needs.Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, ARPAe MARINER project contract number DE‐AR0000915 and DE‐AR0000911, AgCore Technologies of Rhode Island, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, AmplifyMass Program

Improvement of resistance to rice blast and bacterial leaf streak by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis of Pi21 and OsSULTR3;6 in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food in many countries around the world, particularly in China. The production of rice is seriously affected by the bacterial leaf streak and rice blast, which can reduce rice yield or even cause it to fail to be harvested. In this study, susceptible material 58B was edited by CRISPR/Cas9, targeting a target of the Pi21 gene and a target of the effector-binding element (EBE) of the OsSULTR3;6 gene, and the mutants 58b were obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated method. The editing efficiency of the two targets in the T0 generation was higher than 90.09%, the homozygous mutants were successfully selected in the T0 generation, and the homozygous mutation rate of each target was higher than 26.67%. The expression of the edited pi21 and EBE of Ossultr3;6 was significantly reduced, and the expression of defense responsive genes was significantly upregulated after infected with rice blast. The lesion areas of rice blast and bacterial leaf streak were significantly reduced in 58b, and the resistance of both was effectively improved. Furthermore, the gene editing events did not affect the agronomic traits of rice. In this study, the resistance of 58b to rice blast and bacterial leaf streak was improved simultaneously. This study provides a reference for using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9) to accelerate the improvement of rice varieties and the development of new materials for rice breeding

NF-κB and Snail1a coordinate the cell cycle with gastrulation

The cell cycle needs to strictly coordinate with developmental processes to ensure correct generation of the body plan and different tissues. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the coordination remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigate how the cell cycle coordinates gastrulation cell movements in zebrafish. We present a system to modulate the cell cycle in early zebrafish embryos by manipulating the geminin-Cdt1 balance. Alterations of the cell cycle change the apoptotic level during gastrulation, which correlates with the nuclear level of antiapoptotic nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). NF-κB associates with the Snail1a promoter region on the chromatin and directly activates Snail1a, an important factor controlling cell delamination, which is the initial step of mesendodermal cell movements during gastrulation. In effect, the cell cycle coordinates the delamination of mesendodermal cells through the transcription of Snail1a. Our results suggest a molecular mechanism by which NF-κB and Snail1a coordinate the cell cycle through gastrulation

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

Spatial Distribution Characteristics of Plastic Failure and Grouting Diffusion within Deep Roadway Surrounding Rock under Three-Dimensional Unequal Ground Stress and Its Application

To explore the bolt-grouting method of the deep roadway under three-dimensional unequal ground stress, a unidirectional coupling model of surrounding rock plastic failure and grouting diffusion considering the influence of excavation disturbance stress was established. Spatial evolution characteristics of plastic failure and grouting diffusion, and the impact of the spacing and row spacing of grouting bolts/cables on grout diffusion, were simulated by using the numerical method. The results revealed that the horizontal ground stress perpendicular to the axial direction of the roadway was the main factor inducing roadway damage. Moreover, the more significant the difference of the ground stress in three directions, the larger the plastic zone of the roof corner and floor corner of the roadway. Under different lateral pressure coefficients, the grout diffused can be approximate ellipsoid and cylinders. Furthermore, the larger the ratio of lateral pressure coefficients perpendicular to and parallel to the axial direction of roadway, the larger the diffusion length of grout in each spatial direction in the surrounding rock. In bolt-grouting support, the length of the grouting bolts/cables should be greater than the plastic zone of the surrounding rock, and the optimal relationship between their spacing and row spacing and diffusion length of grout is determined. The research results were applied in the bolt-grouting engineering for the three-level main roadway in the Haizi Coal Mine, and a good support effect was achieved. This can provide technical guidance and a method of reference for the design and parameter optimization of bolt-grouting support for roadways under deep high ground stress

Government Subsidy Strategies Considering Greenness on Agricultural Product E-Commerce Supply Chain

Based on the Stackelberg game theory, this paper explores the incentive effects of five government subsidy strategies on agricultural products in e-commerce. A two-tier e-commerce supply chain of one farmer and one e-commerce platform is constructed to examine the impact of five different government subsidy strategies on the greenness of an agricultural product, the wholesale price, the selling price, and the profit of the supply chain. The results show that the effect of offering government subsidies is significant. Also, the direct subsidization from the government to a farmer has the maximum effect on the sales and greenness of the agricultural product. The results of this study provide policy implications for governments in establishing a sustainable mechanism through direct subsidization

Plastic failure zone characteristics and stability control technology of roadway in the fault area under non-uniformly high geostress: A case study from Yuandian Coal Mine in Northern Anhui Province, China

In order to explore the effective support method for deep broken roadway, based on the in situ stress test results, the analytical and numerical solutions of the stress and the range of plastic failure zone (PFZ) in a circular roadway subjected to non-uniform loads were obtained using analytical and finite difference numerical methods based on the elastoplastic theory, respectively. Their comparison results show that the analytical and numerical methods are correct and reasonable. Furthermore, the high geostress causes the stress and range of PFZ in roadway roof and floor to increase sharply while those in roadway ribs decrease. Moreover, the greater the difference of horizontal geostress in different horizontal directions is, the larger the range of PFZ in roadway roof and floor is. The shape of PFZ in roadway varies with the ratio of horizontal lateral pressure coefficient in x-direction and y-direction. Finally, according to the distribution characteristics of PFZ and range of PFZ under the non-uniformly high geostress, this paper has proposed a combined support scheme, and refined and optimized supporting parameters. The field monitoring results prove that the roadway deformation and fracture have been effectively controlled. The research results of this paper can provide theoretical foundation as well as technical reference for the stability control of deep broken roadway under non-uniformly high geostress

Shear Strength and Re-Failure Characteristics of Intact Red Sandstone and Grouting-Reinforced Body of Fractured Red Sandstone under Different Shear Angles

To reveal the strengthening mechanism and re-failure mechanism of grouting on fractured rock, the variable-angle shear tests, real-time acoustic emission (AE) tests and VIC-3D (non-contact full field strain measurement system) tests were carried out on intact red sandstone (IRS) and grouting-reinforced body of fractured red sandstone (GRBFRS). The results show that the peak shear strength of IRS and GRBFRS decreases with the increase of shear angle. Grouting reinforcement mainly increases the cohesion of GRBFRS to improve its shear strength, but its reconstructability decreases with the increase of shear angle. In the whole process of shear deformation, the shear micro damage and shear fracture of GRBFRS are more than those of IRS. Although the shear re-failure before and after the peak stress stage is the most notable, its intensity or degree is reduced. When the shear angle is 45°, both IRS and GRBFRS undergo shear-splitting failure. However, when the shear angle is large, the IRS and GRBFRS only occurs shear failure. Moreover, the larger the shear angle, the more likely IRS and GRBFRS is to produce secondary shear cracks. The low strength of the rock–grout interface in GRBFRS is the main inducer of shear re-failure