Responses of Manila Grass (Zoysia matrella) to chilling stress: From transcriptomics to physiology.

Manila grass (Zoysia matrella), a warm-season turfgrass, usually wilts and browns by late autumn because of low temperature. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms regarding Manila grass responses to cold stress, we performed transcriptome sequencing of leaves exposed to 4°C for 0 (CK), 2h (2h_CT) and 72h (72h_CT) by Illumina technology. Approximately 250 million paired-end reads were obtained and de novo assembled into 82,605 unigenes. A total of 34,879 unigenes were annotated by comparing their sequence to public protein databases. At the 2h- and 72h-cold time points, 324 and 5,851 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, respectively. Gene ontology (GO) and metabolism pathway (KEGG) enrichment analyses of DEGs indicated that auxin, gibberellins, ethylene and calcium took part in the cold signal transduction in the early period. And in the late cold period, electron transport activities, photosynthetic machinery and activity, carbohydrate and nitrogen metabolism, redox equilibrium and hormone metabolism were disturbed. Low temperature stress triggered high light, drought and oxidative stress. At the physiological level, cold stress induced a decrease in water content, an increase in levels of total soluble sugar, free proline and MDA, and changes in bioactive gibberellins levels, which supported the changes in gene expression. The results provided a large set of sequence data of Manila grass as well as molecular mechanisms of the grass in response to cold stress. This information will be helpful for future study of molecular breeding and turf management

Further confirmation of MBP-induced neurotoxicity

Original data of statistical graph in Figure S

Data from: Myelin basic protein induces neuron-specific toxicity by directly damaging the neuronal plasma membrane

The central nervous system (CNS) insults may cause massive demyelination and lead to the release of myelin-associated proteins including its major component myelin basic protein (MBP). MBP is reported to induce glial activation but its effect on neurons is still little known. Here we found that MBP specifically bound to the extracellular surface of the neuronal plasma membrane and induced neurotoxicity in vitro. This effect of MBP on neurons was basicity-dependent because the binding was blocked by acidic lipids and competed by other basic proteins. Further studies revealed that MBP induced damage to neuronal membrane integrity and function by depolarizing the resting membrane potential, increasing the permeability to cations and other molecules, and decreasing the membrane fluidity. At last, artificial liposome vesicle assay showed that MBP directly disturbed acidic lipid bilayer and resulted in increased membrane permeability. These results revealed that MBP induces neurotoxicity through its direct interaction with acidic components on the extracellular surface of neuronal membrane, which may suggest a possible contribution of MBP to the pathogenesis in the CNS disorders with myelin damage

Data from: Myelin basic protein induces neuron-specific toxicity by directly damaging the neuronal plasma membrane

The central nervous system (CNS) insults may cause massive demyelination and lead to the release of myelin-associated proteins including its major component myelin basic protein (MBP). MBP is reported to induce glial activation but its effect on neurons is still little known. Here we found that MBP specifically bound to the extracellular surface of the neuronal plasma membrane and induced neurotoxicity in vitro. This effect of MBP on neurons was basicity-dependent because the binding was blocked by acidic lipids and competed by other basic proteins. Further studies revealed that MBP induced damage to neuronal membrane integrity and function by depolarizing the resting membrane potential, increasing the permeability to cations and other molecules, and decreasing the membrane fluidity. At last, artificial liposome vesicle assay showed that MBP directly disturbed acidic lipid bilayer and resulted in increased membrane permeability. These results revealed that MBP induces neurotoxicity through its direct interaction with acidic components on the extracellular surface of neuronal membrane, which may suggest a possible contribution of MBP to the pathogenesis in the CNS disorders with myelin damage

Radar-Derived Internal Structure and Basal Roughness Characterization along a Traverse from Zhongshan Station to Dome A, East Antarctica

The internal layers of ice sheets from ice-penetrating radar (IPR) investigation preserve critical information about the ice-flow field and englacial conditions. This paper presents a new detailed analysis of spatial distribution characteristics of internal layers and subglacial topography of the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) from Zhongshan Station to Dome A. The radar data of 1244 km along a traverse between Zhongshan Station and Dome A of EAIS were collected during the 29th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE 29, 2012/2013). In this study, the Internal Layering Continuity Index (ILCI) and basal roughness were taken as indicators to provide an opportunity to evaluate the past internal environment and dynamics of the ice sheet. Except for the upstream of Lambert Glacier, the fold patterns of internal layers are basically similar to that of the bed topography. The relatively flat basal topography and the decrease of ILCI with increasing depth provide evidence for identifying previous rapid ice flow areas that are unavailable to satellites, especially in the upstream of Lambert Glacier. Continuous internal layers of Dome A, recording the spatial change of past ice accumulation and ice-flow history over 160 ka, almost extend to the bed, with high ILCI and high basal roughness of the corresponding bed topography. There are three kinds of basal roughness patterns along the traverse, that is, “low ξt low η”, “low ξt high η”, and “high ξt high η”, where ξt represents the amplitude of the undulations, and quantifies the vertical variation of the bedrock, and η measures the frequency variation of fluctuations and the horizontal irregularity of the profile. The characteristics of internal layers and basal topography of the traverse between Zhongshan Station and Dome A provide new information for understanding the ancient ice-flow activity and the historical evolution of EAIS

Assessment of Modulus Attenuation of Cement and Lime-Fly Ash Semi-Rigid Road Base Materials

For asphalt pavement structures, semi-rigid road base course has to sustain repeated high-axle load during its service life and the performance of semi-rigid road base materials directly influences the durability of pavement structures. The dynamic compressive resilience modulus of two commonly used semi-rigid road base materials, cement stabilized aggregates (CSG) and lime-fly ash stabilized aggregates (LFSG) were evaluated at different frequencies using a Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The results showed that LFSG had higher dynamic modulus than that of CSG and the load frequency had less influence on the dynamic modulus of these two semi-rigid road base materials. The four-point bending test was applied to measure the flexural-bending strength and the fatigue life of these two semi-rigid materials. A higher flexural-bending strength of LFSG indicated its better bearing capacity than that of CSG. The fatigue life of LFSG and CSG decreased with the increase of stress–strength ratio and the LFSG performed better in terms of fatigue resistance. The fatigue damage models of CSG and LFSG based on Stress-Life (S-N) curve are established. As per incremental-recursive mechanics, a general modulus degradation model was established and verified by the results of full-scale accelerate loading test. This model cannot only be used to predict the fatigue deterioration of semi-rigid road base materials under different stress levels, but is also able to calculate the current bending elastic modulus based on its initial modulus value

Unconventional energetics of small vacancy clusters in BCC high-entropy alloy Nb0.75ZrTiV0.5

The stability of small vacancy clusters including divacancy, trivacancy and tetravacancy has been stud-ied in body-centered cubic high-entropy alloy Nb0.75ZrTiV0.5 in structures of random solid solution and short-range order by first-principles calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. Different from con-ventional body-centered cubic metals, the tightly bound configurations have a lower structural stability and are not preferred energetically in the studied high-entropy alloy. Instability of vacancy configurations leads to vacancy-atom exchanges that favor less compact configurations. The formation energy of small vacancy clusters is much smaller than its constituent elements of Nb and V due to the large structural adjustment induced by severe local lattice distortion. The difference in local lattice distortion and elemen-tal arrangement in the vacancy neighborhood leads to significant site-to-site variation in vacancy cluster energy and configuration. The formation energy has a strong correlation with the local energy state of the vacancy configuration and the extent of structural relaxation. Compared to random solid solution, the structure of short-range order has a higher stability for the most compact cluster configurations and tends to have higher vacancy cluster formation energy. According to classical molecular dynamics simu-lations of cluster diffusion at high temperature, the studied high-entropy alloy has a higher probability of cluster dissociation compared to Nb and V. The unconventional energetics of small vacancy clusters is expected to have a profound impact on their generation, diffusion, dissociation, coalescence, as well as the defect microstructure evolution during irradiation.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology

MBP interferes with the fluidity of the neuronal plasma membrane

Original data of statistical graph in Figure

Relationship between Overweight/Obesity and Social Communication in Autism Spectrum Disorder Children: Mediating Effect of Gray Matter Volume

With advances in medical diagnostic technology, the healthy development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is receiving more and more attention. In this article, the mediating effect of brain gray matter volume (GMV) between overweight/obesity and social communication (SC) was investigated through the analysis of the relationship between overweight/obesity and SC in autism spectrum disorder children. In total, 101 children with ASD aged 3–12 years were recruited from three special educational centers (Yangzhou, China). Overweight/obesity in children with ASD was indicated by their body mass index (BMI); the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) was used to assess their social interaction ability, and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) was used to measure GMV. A mediation model was constructed using the Process plug-in to analyze the mediating effect of GMV between overweight/obesity and SC in children with ASD. The results revealed that: overweight/obesity positively correlated with SRS-2 total points (p = 0.01); gray matter volume in the left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (Frontal_Sup_L GMV) negatively correlated with SRS-2 total points (p = 0.001); and overweight/obesity negatively correlated with Frontal_Sup_L GMV (p = 0.001). The Frontal_Sup_L GMV played a partial mediating role in the relationship between overweight/obesity and SC, accounting for 36.6% of total effect values. These findings indicate the significant positive correlation between overweight/obesity and SC; GMV in the left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus plays a mediating role in the relationship between overweight/obesity and SC. The study may provide new evidence toward comprehensively revealing the overweight/obesity and SC relationship

MBP binds to sialic acid on neuronal surface

Original data of statistical graph in Figure S