Effects of bagging treatment on fruit quality and pesticide residues of ‘Donghong’ kiwifruit

In this study, the effects of bagging treatment on fruit appearance and internal quality, including fruit shape index, single fruit weight, fruit vitamin C, soluble solids, titratable acid, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, were studied by using ‘Donghong’ kiwifruit as experimental material. Meanwhile, the pesticide residues of bagged and non-bagged (NB) kiwifruit were compared and analyzed. Results showed that the pericarp color of bagged kiwifruit is lighter in green than that of NB group, with uniform color, cleaner appearance and no scabs and spots. Single fruit weight and transverse meridians of bagged kiwifruits were significantly increased. Interestingly, we found single bagging treatment had little effect on the internal quality of ‘Donghong’ kiwifruit. After pesticide treatment, the fruit shape of kiwifruit was rounder, significantly increased the weight, chlorophyll content of fruit, and decreased the content of vitamin C and carotenoids. In addition, bagging + pesticide treatment had additive effect on these characters. After bagging, the residues of pyraclostrobin and β-cypermethrin in ‘Donghong’ kiwifruit were significantly lower than those in the control. However, the residue of difenoconazole residues did not show significant difference. Bagging treatment has the ability to improve the appearance and reduce the residue of some pesticides. Meanwhile, the application of some pesticides can improve the single fruit weight and fruit quality. Therefore, bagging is a scientific and effective cultivation method in the green production of ‘Donghong’ kiwifruit

Structure-Based Rational Design of a Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Decoy Receptor with High Binding Affinity for a Target Protein

Repeat proteins are increasingly attracting much attention as alternative scaffolds to immunoglobulin antibodies due to their unique structural features. Nonetheless, engineering interaction interface and understanding molecular basis for affinity maturation of repeat proteins still remain a challenge. Here, we present a structure-based rational design of a repeat protein with high binding affinity for a target protein. As a model repeat protein, a Toll-like receptor4 (TLR4) decoy receptor composed of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules was used, and its interaction interface was rationally engineered to increase the binding affinity for myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD2). Based on the complex crystal structure of the decoy receptor with MD2, we first designed single amino acid substitutions in the decoy receptor, and obtained three variants showing a binding affinity (KD) one-order of magnitude higher than the wild-type decoy receptor. The interacting modes and contributions of individual residues were elucidated by analyzing the crystal structures of the single variants. To further increase the binding affinity, single positive mutations were combined, and two double mutants were shown to have about 3000- and 565-fold higher binding affinities than the wild-type decoy receptor. Molecular dynamics simulations and energetic analysis indicate that an additive effect by two mutations occurring at nearby modules was the major contributor to the remarkable increase in the binding affinities

The Immune Subtypes and Landscape of Advanced-Stage Ovarian Cancer

Immunotherapy has played a significant role in the treatment of a variety of hematological and solid tumors, but its application in ovarian cancer (OC) remains unclear. This study aimed to identify immune subtypes of OC and delineate an immune landscape for selecting suitable patients for immunotherapy, thereby providing potent therapeutic targets for immunotherapy drug development. Three immune subtypes (IS1–IS3) with distinctive molecular, cellular, and clinical characteristics were identified from the TCGA and GSE32062 cohorts. Compared to IS1, IS3 has a better prognosis and exhibits an immunological “hot”. IS3, in contrast, exhibits an immunological “cold” and has a worse prognosis in OC patients. Moreover, gene mutations, immune modulators, CA125, CA199, and HE4 expression, along with sensitivity either to immunotherapy or chemotherapy, were significantly different among the three immune subtypes. The OC immune landscape was highly heterogeneous between individual patients. Poor prognosis was correlated with low expression of the hub genes CD2, CD3D, and CD3E, which could act not only as biomarkers for predicting prognosis, but also as potential immunotherapy targets. Our study elucidates the immunotyping and molecular characteristics of the immune microenvironment in OC, which could provide an effective immunotherapy stratification method for optimally selecting patients, and also has clinical significance for the development of new immunotherapy as well as rational combination strategies for the treatment of OC patients

Recent advances in non-precious group metal-based catalysts for water electrolysis and beyond

As the demand for green hydrogen (H-2) rapidly increases, the development of water electrolysis technology has been receiving great attention. Indeed, recent remarkable advances in catalyst materials increased the feasibility of water electrolysis for a future H-2 economy and technology. In this review, we summarize representative non-precious group metal-based materials for achieving active and stable water electrolysis performances. Our comprehensive range of the state-of-the-art catalysts includes doped carbon catalysts, metal borides, metal carbides, metal oxides, metal phosphides, metal sulfides, and single-atom catalysts. For each class of materials, we focus on the synthesis and catalytic performances of the state-of-the-art materials toward water electrolysis and present the current challenges and outlooks of such materials, along with prospective insights to develop and realize practical systems

Glioma Association and Balancing Selection of <i>ZFPM2</i>

<div><p><i>ZFPM2</i>, encoding a zinc finger protein and abundantly expressed in the brain, uterus and smooth muscles, plays important roles in cardiac and gonadal development. Abnormal expression of <i>ZFPM2</i> in ovarian tumors and neuroblastoma has been reported but hitherto its genetic association with cancer and effects on gliomas have not been studied. In the present study, the hexamer insertion-deletion polymorphism rs71305152, located within a large haplotype block spanning intron 1 to intron 3 of <i>ZFPM2</i>, was genotyped in Chinese cohorts of glioma (n = 350), non-glioma cancer (n = 354) and healthy control (n = 463) by direct sequencing and length polymorphism in gel electrophoresis, and <i>ZFPM2</i> expression in glioma tissues (n = 69) of different grades was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. Moreover, potential natural selection pressure acting on the gene was investigated. Disease-association analysis showed that the overall genotype of rs71305152 was significantly associated with gliomas (<i>P</i> = 0.016), and the heterozygous genotype compared to the combined homozygous genotypes was less frequent in gliomas than in controls (<i>P</i> = 0.005) or non-glioma cancers (<i>P</i> = 0.020). <i>ZFPM2</i> mRNA expression was negatively correlated with the grades of gliomas (<i>P</i> = 0.002), with higher expression levels in the low-grade gliomas. In the astrocytoma subtype, higher <i>ZFPM2</i> expression was also correlated with the rs71305152 heterozygous genotype (<i>P</i> = 0.028). In addition, summary statistics tests gave highly positive values, demonstrating that the gene is under the influence of balancing selection. These findings suggest that <i>ZFPM2</i> is a glioma susceptibility gene, its genotype and expression showing associations with incidence and severity, respectively. Moreover, the balancing selection acting on <i>ZFPM2</i> may be related to the important roles it has to play in multiple organ development or associated disease etiology.</p></div