HURDLES AND HOPES: AN ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF MIGRANT CHILDREN IN CHINA

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Polygenic Basis and Variable Genetic Architectures Contribute to the Complex Nature of Body Weight —A Genome-Wide Study in Four Chinese Indigenous Chicken Breeds

Body weight (BW) is one of the most important economic traits for animal production and breeding, and it has been studied extensively for its phenotype–genotype associations. While mapping studies have mostly aimed at finding as many loci as possible that contributed to the variation in BW, the role of other factors in its genetic architecture, including their frequencies in the population and their interactions, have been largely overlooked. To comprehensively characterized the genetic architecture of BW, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) both at the single-marker and haplotype level on birds from four indigenous Chinese chicken breeds (Chahua, Silkie, Langshan, and Beard), rather than studying crosses between two founder lines. Additionally, samples from two more breeds (Red Junglefowl and Recessive White) were included to better reflect variable genetic characteristics across populations. Six loci were mapped in this study, revealing the polygenic basis underlying BW. Moreover, by further examining the frequencies of the significantly associated haplotypes in each subpopulation and their effect sizes, most of the loci were found to affect BW in the Beard chicken breed alone. Two loci in GGA9 and GGA27, however, had a common effect on BW across subpopulations, showing that different underlying genetic mechanisms contribute to the phenotypic variability. These findings, particularly the variable genetic architectures found in different loci, improve our understanding of the overall genetic contributions to the large variability in BW among Chinese indigenous chicken breeds. These findings thus will have important implications for future chicken breeding

Copy number variants in locally raised Chinese chicken genomes determined using array comparative genomic hybridization

BACKGROUND: Copy number variants contribute to genetic variation in birds. Analyses of copy number variants in chicken breeds had focused primarily on those from commercial varieties with nothing known about the occurrence and diversity of copy number variants in locally raised Chinese chicken breeds. To address this deficiency, we characterized copy number variants in 11 chicken breeds and compared the variation among these breeds. RESULTS: We presented a detailed analysis of the copy number variants in locally raised Chinese chicken breeds identified using a customized comparative genomic hybridization array. We identified 833 copy number variants contained within 308 copy number variant regions. The median and mean sizes of the copy number variant regions were 14.6 kb and 35.1 kb, respectively. Of the copy number variant regions, 138 (45%) involved gain of DNA, 159 (52%) involved loss of DNA, and 11 (3%) involved both gain and loss of DNA. Principal component analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering revealed the close relatedness of the four locally raised chicken breeds, Shek-Ki, Langshan, Qingyuan partridge, and Wenchang. Biological process enrichment analysis of the copy number variant regions confirmed the greater variation among the four aforementioned varieties than among the seven other breeds studied. CONCLUSION: Our description of the distribution of the copy number variants and comparison of the differences among the copy number variant regions of the 11 chicken breeds supplemented the information available concerning the copy number variants of other Chinese chicken breeds. In addition to its relevance for functional analysis, our results provided the first insight into how chicken breeds can be clustered on the basis of their genomic copy number variation

MoS2/Au-Sensitized TiO2 Nanotube Arrays with Core-Shell Nanostructure for Hydrogen Production

Herein, a TiO2 NTAs-Au-MoS2 core–shell photoanode was constructed with the intention to fulfill the efficient transfer of photo-generated carriers to the photoelectrode’s surface. Au nanoparticles were decorated by a drop casting method, and the MoS2 layer was deposited above the Au nanoparticles using a photoreduction-annealing process. Au nanoparticles were well dispersed on the inner wall of the TiO2 nanotubes and covered by the MoS2 layer, forming a core–shell nanostructure. The MoS2 layer significantly improved the attachment between Au nanoparticles and TiO2 NTAs, resulting in increased PEC stability and performance. Attributed to the excitation of Au nanoparticles’ localized surface plasmon resonance effect and visible light utilization of MoS2, the TiO2 NTAs-Au-MoS2 core–shell photoanode exhibits greatly enhanced photocurrent density. An increase from 67[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/cm2 to 234[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/cm2 under Xe lamp illumination and from 2.6[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/cm2 to 12.6[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/cm2 under visible light illumination ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]nm) compared with the TiO2 NTAs was observed. </jats:p

Plasmonic enhanced Cu2O-Au-BFO photocathodes for solar hydrogen production

Abstract A novel Cu2O-Au-BFO heterostructure photocathode was constructed which significantly improved the efficiency of photo-generated carrier transfer for solar hydrogen production. A BiFeO3 (BFO) ferroelectric film was synthesized on top of a Cu2O layer by a sputtering process. The BFO layer acted to protect the Cu2O layer from photochemical corrosion, increasing photoelectrochemical (PEC) stability. The p–n heterojunction between Cu2O and BFO layers enhanced the PEC properties by suppressing charge recombination and improved interfacial charge transfer efficiency. When Cu2O and BFO are interfaced by Au Nanoparticles (NPs) the PEC performance was further enhanced, due to hot-electron transfer at the plasmonic resonance. After positive poling, the depolarization field across the whole volume of BFO film drove electrons into the electrolyte solution, inducing a significant anodic shift, Vop of 1.01 V vs. RHE, together with a significantly enhanced photocurrent density of −91 μA/cm2 at 0 V vs. RHE under 100 mW/cm2 illumination. The mechanism was investigated through experimental and theoretivcal calculations