Progress of nanoparticle drug delivery system for the treatment of glioma

Gliomas are typical malignant brain tumours affecting a wide population worldwide. Operation, as the common treatment for gliomas, is always accompanied by postoperative drug chemotherapy, but cannot cure patients. The main challenges are chemotherapeutic drugs have low blood-brain barrier passage rate and a lot of serious adverse effects, meanwhile, they have difficulty targeting glioma issues. Nowadays, the emergence of nanoparticles (NPs) drug delivery systems (NDDS) has provided a new promising approach for the treatment of gliomas owing to their excellent biodegradability, high stability, good biocompatibility, low toxicity, and minimal adverse effects. Herein, we reviewed the types and delivery mechanisms of NPs currently used in gliomas, including passive and active brain targeting drug delivery. In particular, we primarily focused on various hopeful types of NPs (such as liposome, chitosan, ferritin, graphene oxide, silica nanoparticle, nanogel, neutrophil, and adeno-associated virus), and discussed their advantages, disadvantages, and progress in preclinical trials. Moreover, we outlined the clinical trials of NPs applied in gliomas. According to this review, we provide an outlook of the prospects of NDDS for treating gliomas and summarise some methods that can enhance the targeting specificity and safety of NPs, like surface modification and conjugating ligands and peptides. Although there are still some limitations of these NPs, NDDS will offer the potential for curing glioma patients

Effect of Ge Nanocrystals on 1.54 μm Photoluminescence Enhancement in Er2O3:ZnO and Ge Co-Sputtered Films

Photoluminescence (PL) of Er and Ge co-doped ZnO films synthesized by radio frequency magnetron co-sputtering was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed that the annealing process at 400–800 °C led to the formation of nanocrystal (nc) Ge. Samples containing nc-Ge showed a strong visible PL with a peak at 582–593 nm, which was consistent with the calculated energy of the exciton of the ~5 nm-sized nc-Ge, according to the quantum confinement effect. The formation of nc-Ge could greatly enhance the 1.54 μm emission, and it is considered that the 1.54 μm PL enhancement may come from a joint effect of both the energy transfer from nc-Ge to Er3+ and the local environment change of Er3+

Saxifraga damingshanensis (S. sect. Irregulares, Saxifragaceae), a new species from Guangxi, China

Saxifraga damingshanensis (Saxifragaceae), a new species from Damingshan Nature Reserve in Guangxi Province, is described and illustrated. A morphological comparison between the new species and its putative relatives, S. mengtzeana and S. luoxiaoensis, is presented. The new species is morphologically similar to S. mengtzeana, but it can be easily distinguished by its non-peltate leaf, both surfaces of mature leaf blade covered with white glandular trichome, petals 3-veined and margin entire. Phylogenetic analysis, based on two chloroplast DNA regions (matK and psbA-trnH), confirmed that the new species belongs to S. sect. Irregulares. The new species is currently only known from Damingshan, Guangxi and we assign it an IUCN Red List preliminary status as Data Deficient

Isolation and identification of EST‐SSR markers in Ixonanthes chinensis (Ixonanthaceae)

Premise Ixonanthes (Ixonanthaceae) consists of between three and 19 species, among which I. chinensis and I. khasiana are considered vulnerable. Here, 58 microsatellite markers were developed for further conservation of these two Ixonanthes species. Methods and Results RNA transcripts of I. chinensis were sequenced and assembled into 19,545 unigenes, and 994 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were identified from 920 contigs. Based on these, 106 primer pairs were designed, 58 were successfully amplified, and 12 demonstrated polymorphism among five populations. The number of alleles per locus varied from three to 10, and the levels of observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and 0.000 to 0.844, respectively. Further assessment of the transferability of the 58 amplifiable primers reported 30 being successfully cross‐amplified in I. icosandra and three in Erythroxylum sinense. Conclusions These novel SSR markers will be useful for future genetic conservation studies on these Ixonanthes species

A new species of Eriobotrya (Rosaceae) from Yunnan Province, China

Eriobotrya laoshanica, a new species of Rosaceae from Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated. The new species is easily distinguished from the most similar species E. malipoensis K. C. Kuan by its longer petioles (2–5 vs. 0.5–1 cm); indumentum on the lower leaf surfaces (densely tomentose vs. glabrous); much fewer flowers (15- to 30-flowered vs. 50- to 100-flowered) on the panicle; larger flowers (2.5–3 vs. 1.5–2 cm in diameter); and non-angulated (vs. angulated) young fruits

Pecan kinome: classification and expression analysis of all protein kinases in Carya illinoinensis

Protein kinases (PKs) are involved in plant growth and stress responses, and constitute one of the largest superfamilies due to numerous gene duplications. However, limited PKs have been functionally described in pecan, an economically important nut tree. Here, the comprehensive identification, annotation and classification of the entire pecan kinome are reported. A total of 967 PK genes were identified from the pecan genome, and further classified into 20 different groups and 121 subfamilies using the kinase domain sequences, which were verified by phylogenetic analysis. The receptor-like kinase (RLK) group contained 565 members, which constituted the largest group. Gene duplication contributed to the expansion of pecan kinome, 169 segmental duplication events including 285 PK genes were found, and the Ka/Ks ratio revealed they experienced strong negative selection. The RNA-Seq data of PK genes in pecan were further analyzed at the subfamily level, and different PK subfamilies performed various expression patterns across pecan embryo development or drought treatment, suggesting PK genes in pecan are involved in embryo development and drought stress response. Taken together, this study provides insight into the classification, expansion, evolution, and expression of pecan PKs. Our findings regarding expansion, expression and co-expression analyses lay a good foundation for future research to understand the roles of pecan PKs, and more efficiently determine the key candidate genes

Identification, Expression and Co-Expression Analysis of R2R3-MYB Family Genes Involved in Graft Union Formation in Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)

Plant R2R3-MYBs comprise one of the largest transcription factor families; however, few R2R3-MYB genes in pecan have been functionally analyzed due to the limited genome information and potential functional redundancy caused by gene duplication. In this study, 153 R2R3-MYB genes were identified and subjected to comparative phylogenetic analysis with four other plant species. Then, the pecan R2R3-MYB gene family was divided into different clades, which were also supported by gene structure and motif composition results. Fifty-two duplication events including 77 R2R3-MYB genes were identified in this gene family, and Ka/Ks values showed that all of the duplication events were under the influence of negative selection. Expression levels of pecan R2R3-MYB genes during the graft union formation process were further investigated using RNA-seq with four different timepoints after grafting, namely, 0, 8, 15 and 30 d. Sixty-four differentially expressed R2R3-MYB genes were identified and showed different expression patterns after grafting. Co-expression networks were further constructed to discover the relationships between these genes. The co-expression networks contained 57 nodes (R2R3-MYB genes) and 219 edges (co-expression gene pairs) and CIL1528S0032 contained the maximum number of edges. Fifteen genes contained more than 10 edges; the majority of these were up-regulated during graft union formation and verified by qRT-PCR. This study provides a foundation for functional analysis to investigate the roles that R2R3-MYBs play in graft union formation in pecan and identify the key candidate genes

Controls of Seasonal and Interannual Variations on Soil Respiration in a Meadow Steppe in Eastern Inner Mongolia

Understanding long-term seasonal and interannual patterns of soil respiration with their controls is essential for accurately quantifying carbon fluxes at a regional scale. During the period from 2009 to 2014, an automatic measurement system (LI-8150, Licor Ldt., Lincoln, NE, USA) was employed for the measurement of soil respiration in a meadow steppe of eastern Inner Mongolia. We found that the seasonal pattern of soil respiration was controlled mainly by the soil temperature, which explained about 82.19% of the variance. Annual soil respiration varied between 391.4 g cm−2 and 597.7 g cm−2, and significantly correlated with soil moisture, suggesting that soil moisture was the most predominant factor controlling the annual variations of soil respiration in this meadow steppe. A double factorial exponential model including both soil temperature (TS) and soil water content (SWC) (y = 6.084 × exp(0.098 TS × SWC) − 5.636) explains 72.2% of the overall variance in soil respiration. We also detected a temporal inconsistency of 2–3 months in the effects of precipitation on soil respiration versus canopy biomass production, which was presumably a main mechanism explaining the weak relationships between soil respiration and phytomass components in this ecosystem. Our findings have important implications for better understanding and accurately assessing the carbon cycling characteristics of terrestrial ecosystems in response to climate change in a temporal perspective

Chromosome-scale genome assembly and annotation of Cotoneaster glaucophyllus

Abstract Cotoneaster glaucophyllus is a semi-evergreen plant that blossoms in late summer, producing dense, attractive, fragrant white flowers with significant ornamental and ecological value. Here, a chromosome-scale genome assembly was obtained by integrating PacBio and Illumina sequencing data with the aid of Hi-C technology. The genome assembly was 563.3 Mb in length, with contig N50 and scaffold N50 values of ~6 Mb and ~31 Mb, respectively. Most (95.59%) of the sequences were anchored onto 17 pseudochromosomes (538.4 Mb). We predicted 35,856 protein-coding genes, 1,401 miRNAs, 655 tRNAs, 425 rRNAs, and 795 snRNAs. The functions of 34,967 genes (97.52%) were predicted. The availability of this chromosome-level genome will provide valuable resources for molecular studies of this species, facilitating future research on speciation, functional genomics, and comparative genomics within the Rosaceae family

Rice straw increases microbial nitrogen fixation, bacterial and nifH genes abundance with the change of land use types

Soil microorganisms play an important role in soil ecosystems as the main decomposers of carbon and nitrogen. They have an indispensable impact on soil health, and any alterations in the levels of organic carbon and inorganic nitrogen can significantly affect soil chemical properties and microbial community composition. Previous studies have focused on the effects of carbon and nitrogen addition on a single type of soil, but the response of soil microorganisms to varying carbon and nitrogen inputs under different land soil use types have been relatively understudied, leaving a gap in our understanding of the key influencing factors. To address this gap, we conducted a study in the tropical regions of Hainan province, focusing on four distinct land use types: natural forest soil (NS), healthy banana soil (HS), diseased banana garden soil (DS), and paddy soil (PS). Within each of these environments, we implemented five treatments: CK, RS (rice straw), RSN (rice straw and NH4NO3), RR (rice root), and RRN (rice root and NH4NO3). Our aim was to investigate how soil bacteria response to changes in carbon and nitrogen inputs, and to assess their potential for biological nitrogen fixation. The results showed that the addition of rice straw increased the absorption and utilization of nitrate nitrogen by microorganisms. The addition of rice roots (RR) did not increase the absorption capacity of inorganic nitrogen by microorganisms, but increased the content of poorly soluble organic carbon. Most importantly, the addition of rice straw increased microbial respiration and the utilization efficiency of N2 by microorganisms, and the further addition of ammonium nitrate increased microbial respiration intensity. With the change of soil type, the rice straw increases microbial nitrogen fixation, bacterial and nifH genes abundance. Meanwhile, microbial respiration intensity is an important factor influencing the differences in the structure of bacterial communities. The addition of inorganic nitrogen resulted in ammonium nitrogen accumulation, reduced microbial richness and diversity, consequently diminishing the soil microorganisms to resist the environment. Therefore, we believe that with the change of soil types, corresponding soil nutrient retention strategies should be devised and incorporated while reducing the application of ammonium nitrogen, thus ensuring healthy soil development