A new method of gall mite management: application of artificial defoliation to control Aceria pallida

Artificial defoliant is widely applied to cotton to facilitate mechanical harvesting and successfully controls leaf diseases by blocking pathogen epidemical cycles; however, this technique is rarely used to control herbivores. Because many eriophyoid mites live and reproduce in galls, the control of these mites by pesticides is usually limited. However, the abscission of galled foliage is lethal to tiny mites with low mobility. Therefore, artificial defoliation should be effective in controlling gall mites. Here, the effects of defoliant on the control of the goji berry Lycium barbarum L. gall mite Aceria pallida Keifer were compared with those of pesticides under field conditions over 3 years. Our results showed that artificial defoliation enabled almost complete defoliation and timely refoliation. A. pallida galls fell off with the defoliation, and then regenerated foliage escaped from mite attack. After defoliant application, the densities of mite galls decreased by 84.1%, 80.3% and 80.3% compared with those found in the pesticide (undefoliated) treatment in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. Artificial defoliation achieved much better control of gall mites than pesticides

Plant-Type Trehalose Synthetic Pathway in Cryptosporidium and Some Other Apicomplexans

The trehalose synthetic pathway is present in bacteria, fungi, plants and invertebrate animals, but is absent in vertebrates. This disaccharide mainly functions as a stress protectant against desiccation, heat, cold and oxidation. Genes involved in trehalose synthesis have been observed in apicomplexan parasites, but little was known about these enzymes. Study on trehalose synthesis in apicomplexans would not only shed new light into the evolution of this pathway, but also provide data for exploring this pathway as novel drug target.We have observed the presence of the trehalose synthetic pathway in Cryptosporidium and other apicomplexans and alveolates. Two key enzymes (trehalose 6-phosphate synthase [T6PS; EC 2.4.1.15] and trehalose phosphatase [TPase; EC 3.1.3.12] are present as Class II bifunctional proteins (T6PS-TPase) in the majority of apicomplexans with the exception of Plasmodium species. The enzyme for synthesizing the precursor (UDP-glucose) is homologous to dual-substrate UDP-galactose/glucose pyrophosphorylases (UGGPases), rather than the "classic" UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGPase). Phylogenetic recontructions indicate that both T6PS-TPases and UGGPases in apicomplexans and other alveolates are evolutionarily affiliated with stramenopiles and plants. The expression level of T6PS-TPase in C. parvum is highly elevated in the late intracellular developmental stage prior to or during the production of oocysts, implying that trehalose may be important in oocysts as a protectant against environmental stresses. Finally, trehalose has been detected in C. parvum oocysts, thus confirming the trehalose synthetic activity in this parasite.A trehalose synthetic pathway is described in the majority of apicomplexan parasites including Cryptosporidium and the presence of trehalose was confirmed in the C. parvum oocyst. Key enzymes in the pathway (i.e., T6PS-TPase and UGGPase) are plant-type and absent in humans and animals, and may potentially serve as novel drug targets in the apicomplexans

Identification of floR Variants Associated With a Novel Tn4371-Like Integrative and Conjugative Element in Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates

Florfenicol is widely used to control respiratory diseases and intestinal infections in food animals. However, there are increasing reports about florfenicol resistance of various clinical pathogens. floR is a key resistance gene that mediates resistance to florfenicol and could spread among different bacteria. Here, we investigated the prevalence of floR in 430 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from human clinical samples and identified three types of floR genes (designated floR, floR-T1 and floR-T2) in these isolates, with floR-T1 the most prevalent (5.3%, 23/430). FloR-T2 was a novel floR variant identified in this study, and exhibited less identity with other FloR proteins than FloRv. Moreover, floR-T1 and floR-T2 identified in P. aeruginosa strain TL1285 were functionally active and located on multi-drug resistance region of a novel incomplete Tn4371-like integrative and conjugative elements (ICE) in the chromosome. The expression of the two floR variants could be induced by florfenicol or chloramphenicol. These results indicated that the two floR variants played an essential role in the host’s resistance to amphenicol and the spreading of these floR variants might be related with the Tn4371 family ICE

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Discovery And Validation Of Early Life Plasma Protein Biomarkers For Childhood Asthma

Asthma is a lung disease which features chronic inflammation. Multiple genetic and environmental factors increase susceptibility and provoke episodes of asthma. However, the mechanisms responsible for asthma development are not well characterized. Although allergy is associated with asthma, it has not been shown to precede or predict asthma. To date, there are no clearly established biomarkers of asthma, reflecting our less adequate understanding of asthma pathobiology. In order to identify a plasma proteomic biomarker as an indicator that plasma constituents are altered early in childhood asthma, this study employed a high-throughput antibody array technique which simultaneously profiled relative expression of 507 proteins in human plasma samples from asthma and non-asthma groups. It was hypothesized that alterations of proteomic profiles are accompanied with asthma development. Out of 444 proteins, 4 proteins (erythropoietin, sGP130, galectin-3, and eotaxin-3) were identified with differential expression between asthma and non-asthma groups. Erythropoietin and sGP130 were validated with quantitative differences, which were consistent in direction with the findings from the antibody array, between two groups after having all 4 proteins assessed by ELISAs. Erythropoietin then was assessed for its biological effects in in vivo and in vitro models. It was hypothesized that EPO has influences on acetylcholine-induced airway resistance in animals and on cytokine production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. EPO's inhibitory effect on IL-2 production and its excitatory effect on IL-6 production were demonstrated; however, the inhibitory effect of EPO on increases in airway resistance in animals was not evident. The results here suggested that asthma has identifiable components in the circulation; these plasma biomarkers may develop via distinct pathways. The demonstrated EPO's capacity of influencing on cytokine production from human immune cells, together with its systemic involvement in asthma, may reveal new opportunities for therapeutics and insights into pathogenesis of asthma

Embedding in Global Value Chains, Innovative Human Capital and China’s Manufacturing Upgrades

Since the reform and opening up, China has actively participated in the Global Value Chain (GVC) division of labor system and achieved rapid economic growth and moderate industrial upgrading. However, with the rapid development of GVC, more and more countries are participating in the global competition, and China’s manufacturing industry is facing the serious challenge of “two-way squeeze” from the return of high-end and low-end transfer. This paper constructs a theoretical framework of GVC embedding and innovative human capital accumulation affecting manufacturing upgrading, and empirically examines the impact of GVC embedding location enhancement and innovative human capital accumulation on manufacturing upgrading from the perspective of product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The findings show that innovative human capital accumulation enhances the positive effect of GVC embedding on product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The extent of this effect varies across types of industries; for product upgrading, the positive regulating effect of innovative human capital on the positive relationship between embedded location and China’s manufacturing upgrading is most pronounced in labor-intensive industries; for efficiency upgrading, innovative human capital plays a more significant positive regulating effect in capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries. Based on the above conclusions, the Chinese government should strengthen diversified investment in high-level talents and invest in the expansion of cooperative learning platforms in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the global value chain manufacturing industry, establish and improve relevant laws and regulations on intellectual property protection and transformation of innovation results, and solve the problem of deviation of talents from optimal allocation, so as to better exert the regulating effect of innovative human capital and promote the upgrading of China's manufacturing industry

Emission Characteristics of Pollution Gases from the Combustion of Food Waste

The emission characteristics of pollution gases produced via the combustion of food waste were studied through a laboratory-scale electrically heated tube furnace. The results showed that the pollution gases generated from the combustion of food waste were CO, H2 and NOx. Each emission curve of CO had a peak. When the combustion temperature rose from 400 °C to 1000 °C, the peak first increased (from 400 °C to 700 °C) and then decreased (from 800 °C to 1000 °C). However, the burnout time shortened with the increase in temperature. Therefore, food waste should be combusted at a higher temperature than 700 °C from the perspective of reducing CO emissions. The emissions of H2 were similar to those of CO. In other words, if CO emissions increased, H2 emissions also increased in the same temperature range. Some NOx emission curves had two peaks (the combustion of cooked rice at 1000 °C; the combustion of vegetable leaves in the temperature range of 600 °C to 1000 °C). The higher the combustion temperature, the higher the second NOx emission peak. NOx emissions from the combustion of cooked rice were greater in the temperature range of 400 °C to 500 °C, whereas for vegetable leaves, that temperature range was from 600 °C to 700 °C. Hence, from the viewpoint of reducing pollution gases, food waste should be combusted at a higher temperature than 700 °C