The transcriptome sequencing analysis reveals immune mechanisms of soybean fermented powder on the loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) in response to Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) infection

The loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), a small commercial fish that is widely cultivated for its high-quality protein, vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acid, is a member of the genus Misgurnus and the family Cyprinidae. In this study, we gave the LPS-injected loach fermented soybean meal and used transcriptome sequencing to investigate the impact of the fermented soybean powder on the loach’s immune system. 3384 up-regulated genes and 12116 down-regulated genes were found among the 15500 differentially expressed genes, according to the results. The differentially expressed genes were shown to be involved in cellular processes, metabolic processes, cellular anatomical entities, and binding, according to the Go functional annotation. Meanwhile, the KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that the soybean fermented powder treated groups showed significant differences in DNA replication, Nucleotide excision repair, Fanconi anemia pathway, and Base excision repair pathways, suggesting that these pathways are closely related to the enhancement of the immune function of loach by soybean fermented powder. The particular conclusions not exclusively can provide a new conception for the rational utilization of soybean fermented powder but also can provide theoretical guidance for the subsequent healthy breeding of loach

Flavor Wheel Development and Sensory Quantitative Descriptive Analysis of Chinese Brewed Soy Sauce

Based on sensory descriptors developed by a sensory evaluation panel for 48 commercial Chinese brewed soy sauce samples, a flavor wheel of Chinese brewed soy sauce with 55 descriptors in the dimensions of aroma and flavor was developed for the first time. Meanwhile, a lexicon of sensory descriptors for brewed soy sauce containing reference samples with different intensities was established, and 20 brewed soy sauce samples of different grades and from different geographical origins were subjected to sensory evaluation by quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) using this lexicon. The results showed that the characteristic flavor attributes of soy sauce were soy paste-like, salty, umami, Chinese herbal, and cooked soybean-like aromas. Through analysis of variance (ANOVA), principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis (DA), it was found that there were significant differences in sensory properties among soy sauce of different grades and from different regions. This study can provide a methodological reference for sensory quality analysis of Chinese brewed soy sauce

Analysis of the effect of different withering methods on tea quality based on transcriptomics and metabolomics

Withering is very important to the quality of Wuyi rock tea. In this study, transcriptomics and metabolomics were used to analyze the effects of different withering methods on tea quality formation. The results showed that sunlight withering (SW) was most beneficial in increasing the gene expression of ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis (ko00130), pyruvate metabolism (ko00620), starch and sucrose metabolism (ko00500), and tryptophan metabolism (ko00380) pathways, and increasing the content of nucleotides and derivatives, terpenoids, organic acids and lipids, thus enhancing the mellowness, fresh and brisk taste and aroma of tea. Withering trough withering (WW) was most beneficial in increasing the gene expression of glutathione metabolism (ko00480), phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (ko00940) pathways, increasing the content of phenolic acids and flavonoids, thus enhancing tea bitterness. A comprehensive evaluation of the metabolite content and taste characteristics of tea leaves showed SW to be the best quality and charcoal fire withering (FW) to be the worst quality. This study provided an important basis for guiding the processing of Wuyi rock tea with different flavors

The Ratio and Concentration of Two Monoterpenes Mediate Fecundity of the Pinewood Nematode and Growth of Its Associated Fungi

The pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, vectored primarily by the sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus, is an important invasive pest and causal agent of pine wilt disease of Chinese Masson pine, Pinus massoniana. Previous work demonstrated that the ratios and concentrations of α-pinene∶β-pinene differed between healthy trees and those trees containing blue-stain fungus (and M. alternatus pupae). However, the potential influence of the altered monoterpene ratios and concentrations on PWN and associated fungi remained unknown. Our current results show that low concentrations of the monoterpenes within petri dishes reduced PWN propagation, whereas the highest concentration of the monoterpenes increased PWN propagation. The propagation rate of PWN treated with the monoterpene ratio representative of blue-stain infected pine (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.8, 137.6 mg/ml) was significantly higher than that (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.1, 137.6 mg/ml) representative of healthy pines or those damaged by M. alternatus feeding, but without blue stain. Furthermore, inhibition of mycelial growth of associated fungi increased with the concentration of the monoterpenes α-pinene and β-pinene. Additionally, higher levels of β-pinene (α-pinene∶β-pinene = 1∶0.8) resulted in greater inhibition of the growth of the associated fungi Sporothrix sp.2 and Ophiostoma ips strains, but had no significant effects on the growth of Sporothrix sp.1, which is the best food resource for PWN. These results suggest that host monoterpenes generally reduce the reproduction of PWN. However, PWN utilizes high monoterpene concentrations and native blue-stain fungus Sporothrix sp.1 to improve its own propagation and overcome host resistance, which may provide clues to understanding the ecological mechanisms of PWN's successful invasion

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Carbon Emission Reduction between Government and Enterprises under Carbon Quota Trading Policy

As one of the most efficient means of emission reduction policies, carbon quota trading has a far-reaching impact on the carbon emission reduction of enterprises. Firstly, a two-party evolutionary game model of enterprise and government and a three-party evolutionary game model of enterprise–enterprise–government are constructed based on the multi-agent driving mechanism, evolutionary game theory, scenario simulation, and other methods. Then, we conduct a series of policy simulations for carbon emission under different scenario models and various enforcement strengths. Lastly, the behavioral strategies and system evolution trajectories in enterprises and government carbon trading are comprehensively investigated. The results show that in the two-party and three-party evolutionary game models, the carbon trading behavior is affected by the joint action of the enterprise and the government. The difference in initial willingness mainly affects the speed of the subject’s convergence to the steady state. Based on this, policy suggestions are proposed, such as reducing the cost of carbon emission of enterprises, enhancing the vitality of carbon emission reduction of enterprises, and stimulating the power of government regulation and responsibility performance, which can provide suggestions for the development of the carbon market

Road Extraction from High-Resolution SAR Images via Automatic Local Detecting and Human-Guided Global Tracking

Because of existence of various kinds of disturbances, layover effects, and shadowing, it is difficult to extract road from high-resolution SAR images. A new road center-point searching method is proposed by two alternant steps: local detection and global tracking. In local detection step, double window model is set, which consists of the outer fixed square window and the inner rotary rectangular one. The outer window is used to obtain the local road direction by using orientation histogram, based on the fact that the surrounding objects always range along with roads. The inner window rotates its orientation in accordance with the result of local road direction calculation and searches the center points of a road segment. In global tracking step, particle filter of variable-step is used to deal with the problem of tracking frequently broken by shelters along the roadside and obstacles on the road. Finally, the center-points are linked by quadratic curve fitting. In 1 m high-resolution airborne SAR image experiment, the results show that this method is effective