Remote sensing phenology of two Chinese northern Sphagnum bogs under climate drivers during 2001 and 2018

Boreal peatlands, of which Sphagnum bogs are one of the main types, play essential roles in the terrestrial soil carbon pool. Vegetation phenology is a sensitive indicator that reveals the underlying processes as well as responses to climate change, while currently there remain knowledge gaps in exploring and monitoring the longterm bog vegetation phenology due to insufficient remote sensing application experiences. In this study, we investigated three remotely sensed vegetation phenological parameters, the start of growing season (SOS), the end of growing season (EOS), and the length of growing season (LOS) in two bogs located in norther China by using double-logistic reconstructed MOD13Q1-EVI from 2001 to 2018, which were evaluated by the flux phenology. Also combing with meteorological data to detect interactions between vegetation phenology and climate change. The results showed that remotely sensed EOS had 8-day time lags with flux phenological date, while that outperformed SOS. Bog vegetation generally with a life pattern of SOS at the 108th day of year (doy) and EOS at the 328th doy, though the life cycle of individual vegetation groups varies among different vegetation communities. There was no significant delayed (or extended) trend in each phenological features in bogs. Precipitation and minimum temperature (monthly and annual) were the driving forces for bog vegetation growth (R2 0.9, P < 0.01), and other features presented weaker correlations. Overall, this study determined the remote sensing phenology and climate drivers in two Chinese bogs, we suggested that vegetation phenology alternation should be concerned when carry on ecological processes and carbon dynamics researches in peatlands.Peer reviewe

Epitope-optimization creates highly immunogenic alpha fetoprotein antigen to break immune tolerance and potently activates CD8 T cells to prevents autochthonous hepatocellular carcinoma

In this study, we investigated whether mouse alpha fetoprotein (mAFP), the shared self/tumor antigen of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), could be rationally engineered to create effective vaccine to break tolerance and potently activate CD8 T cells to prevent clinically-relevant carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC. We found that the computer-guided epitope-optimization created optimized opt-mAFP and that immunization with lentivector (lv) expressing opt-mAFP, but not wt-mAFP, potently activated CD8 cells specific for three novel H-2b restricted CD8 epitopes, which cross-recognized wt-mAFP epitopes naturally processed and presented by wt-mAFP+ tumor cells. Immunization with opt-mAFP-lv, but not wt-mAFP-lv, completely protected mice from wt-mAFP+ tumor challenge and effectively prevented carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC. Prime-boost with opt-mAFP-lv and vaccinia vector opt-mAFP-vv significantly increased the wt-mAFP-specific CD8 T cells that were highly responsive to emerging HCC tumor cells in the liver, enhancing prevention of autochthonous HCC. Our data demonstrate that epitope-optimization creates immunogenic opt-mAFP that is able to break tolerance and activate potent CD8 responses, which can cross-recognize wt-mAFP peptides, but also recognize and kill mAFP+ tumor cells. Our study provides a practical roadmap to develop effective human vaccines that should have a better chance of success than the current human HCC vaccines based on native wt-AFP

Impacts of Beijing Bus Rapid Transit on Pre-owned Home Values

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has gained increasing popularity worldwide in the last few decades. However, few studies have investigated BRT’s impacts on property values in Chinese cities. This research, taking BRT route 1 (BRT1) and BRT route 3 (BRT3) in Beijing as examples, showed that proximity to BRT3 stops is weakly related to pre-owned home prices along the route, whereas BRT1 has induced a significant price premium. For BRT1, the impact is not linear. Specifically, pre-owned home prices for homes within 5–10 minutes’ walking distance to BRT stations is 5.35% higher than those located closer to or farther away. The difference between the two routes can be explained by resident income differences and BRT route alignments. For homes very close to the subway route, the impacts of BRT vanish

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Chinese Brown Frogs (Genus Rana) Inferred from Partial Mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA Gene Sequences

Based on partial sequences of the 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA genes, we estimated phylogenetic relationships among brown frogs of the Rana temporaria group from China. From the phylogenetic trees obtained, we propose to include Rana zhengi in the brown frogs. Monophyly of the brown frogs was not unambiguously supported, but four well-supported clades (A, B, C, and D) always emerged, although relationships among them remained unresolved. Clade A contained brown frogs with 24 chromosomes and was split into two distinct subclades (Subclade A-1: R. chensinensis and R. huanrenensis; Subclade A-2: R. dybowskii). Polytomous relationships among populations of R. chensinensis and R. huanrenensis suggested the necessity of further taxonomic assessment. Rana kunyuensis proved to be the sister group to R. amurensis, and these two species formed Clade B. Clade C was composed of R. omeimontis and R. chaochiaoensis, and Clade D included R. sauteri, which has been placed in other ranid genera. These relationships did not change after adding published data, and monophyly of Subclade A-1, A-2, and other East Asian brown frogs with 24 chromosomes (R. pirica and R. ornativentris) was ascertained, though their relationships were unresolved. Clade C, together with R. japonica and R. longicrus, also formed a monophyletic group. Brown frogs related to Clades A and C were estimated to have dispersed from continental Asia to adjacent regions through multiple events

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Alopecurus pratensis L. (Poaceae)

Alopecurus pratensis L. is one of the most important fodder grasses distributed in sub-frigid regions of the world. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of A. pratensis was deciphered and is 136,157 bp in length. The genome includes a large single-copy region of 80,275 bp, small single-copy region of 12,830 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat regions of 21,526 bp. The GC content of the complete chloroplast genome of A. pratensis is 38.30%. Among the 134 unique genes in the circular genome, 38 tRNA, eight rRNA, and 88 protein-coding genes were annotated. We constructed the Maximum likelihood (ML) tree with 13 species from the Poaceae and found that A. pratensis was phylogenetically related to A. arundinaceus. The published A. pratensis chloroplast genome will provide useful information for phylogenetic and evolutionary study of the genus Alopecurus in the Poaceae

The complete chloroplast genome of Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult

Agropyron desertorum is one of the most important fodder grasses which distributes in the temperate regions of the world. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of A. desertorum was sequenced. The genome was 135,459 bp in length, with a large single-copy region of 79,617 bp, a small single-copy region of 12,760 bp, and two inverted repeat regions of 21,541 bp. The genome consisted of 132 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The GC contents was 38.32%. We constructed the Maximum likelihood (ML) tree with 13 species from the Hordeinae genus, and concluded that A. desertorum was closely related to plant species of the Elymus genus in the phylogenetic tree

The complete chloroplast genome of Bromus biebersteinii

Bromus biebersteinii is a perennial gramineous grass, which is mainly distributed in Southwest Asia. In our study, we obtained the complete chloroplast genome of B. biebersteinii and found it is 137,189 bp in length. The GC content of its whole chloroplast genome is 38.37%. Among the 134 unique genes in the circular genome, 38 tRNA, 8 rRNA and 88 protein-coding genes were successfully annotated. We constructed the Maximum likelihood (ML) tree with 12 species, and found that B. biebersteinii was phylogenetically close to Bromus vulgaris of the genus Bromus