The impacts of BSMV on vegetative growth and water status in hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum) in VIGS study

Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) is an established and extensively used virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) vector for gene function analysis in monocots. However, the phenotypes generated by targeted gene silencing may be affected or masked by symptoms of BSMV infection. To better understand the potential effects of BSMV-VIGS in hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum), the accumulation pattern of BSMV and its impacts on vegetative growth and water status were investigated. The results indicated that the vegetative growth of infected plants was significantly and continuously impacted by BSMV from 10 to 40 days post inoculation (dpi). When the accumulation of BSMV was extremely high (7 to 11 dpi), infected plants displayed twisted leaf tips with an increased water lose rate (WLR) and decreased water content (WC). Virus accumulation declined and stabilized after 25 dpi, at this stage, the WLR and WC were unaffected in the infected plants. The efficiency of VIGS was tested by the silencing of Phytoene desaturase (PDS). RT-qPCR indicated that BSMV-VIGS can be sustained with good efficiency for up to 40 dpi under an altered condition with lower temperature (22 ±1°C) and higher relative humidity (70 ±10%). It was concluded that 25 to 40 dpi was the appropriate time zone for drought-related gene analysis by BSMV-VIGS under such condition

COVID-19 vaccine uptake and its determinants among teenagers and their parents in Zhejiang, China: An online cross-sectional study

Objective: To examine COVID-19 vaccine uptake and its determinants among teenagers and their parents in Zhejiang, China. Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of teenagers in Zhejiang, China from May 1 to 31, 2022. Data were interpreted via univariate and multivariate analyses using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) program. Results: A total of 11115 (96.11%) participants and 11449 (99.00%) of their children in Zhejiang, China had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Children whose parents did not receive COVID-19 vaccination were 19 times (aOR 18.96, 95%CI 12.36-29.08) more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts. In addition, children with no previous influenza vaccination, those whose parents doubted the COVID-19 vaccine’s safety or effectiveness, were 6.11 times (aOR 6.11, 95%CI 2.80-13.34), 8.27 times (aOR 8.27, 95%CI 5.33-12.83), and 2.69 times (aOR 2.69, 95%CI 1.11-6.50) more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts, respectively. COVID-19 vaccine uptake varied between different sociodemographic groups. However, the odds of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine decreased as age and education level increased. The main refusal reasons claimed by participants were that they had medical conditions that may not qualify them for vaccination (53.78%), followed by safety concerns about the vaccine (13.56%), not knowing where to get vaccinated (6.44%), and concerns about fertility issues (5.56%). Conclusions: Despite a highly encouraging level of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Zhejiang, China, the elderly and highly educated people had lower COVID-19 vaccine uptake. It is suggested that tailored health education strategies should be taken to increase the COVID-19 vaccine uptake in such groups. Furthermore, with vaccination rates at such a high level, the pandemic is still ongoing, and public confidence in vaccines may decline. Thus, sufficient evidence-based information regarding COVID-19 vaccines should be provided to the public

The draft genome of Tibetan hulless barley reveals adaptive patterns to the high stressful Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum), also called "Qingke" in Chinese and "Ne" in Tibetan, is the staple food for Tibetans and an important livestock feed in the Tibetan Plateau. The diploid nature and adaptation to diverse environments of the highland give it unique resources for genetic research and crop improvement. Here we produced a 3.89-Gb draft assembly of Tibetan hulless barley with 36,151 predicted protein-coding genes. Comparative analyses revealed the divergence times and synteny between barley and other representative Poaceae genomes. The expansion of the gene family related to stress responses was found in Tibetan hulless barley. Resequencing of 10 barley accessions uncovered high levels of genetic variation in Tibetan wild barley and genetic divergence between Tibetan and non-Tibetan barley genomes. Selective sweep analyses demonstrate adaptive correlations of genes under selection with extensive environmental variables. Our results not only construct a genomic framework for crop improvement but also provide evolutionary insights of highland adaptation of Tibetan hulless barley