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<p>Chinese cherry [Cerasus pseudocerasus (Lindl.) G.Don] is a commercially important fruit crop in China, but its structure patterns and domestication history remain imprecise. To address these questions, we estimated the genetic structure and domestication history of Chinese cherry using 19 nuclear microsatellite markers and 650 representative accessions (including 118 Cerasus relatives) selected throughout their natural eco-geographical distributions. Our structure analyses detected no genetic contribution from Cerasus relatives to the evolution history of Chinese cherry. A separate genetic structure was detected in wild Chinese cherries and rough geographical structures were observed in cultivated Chinese cherries. One wild (wild Chinese cherry, WC) and two cultivated (cultivated Chinese cherry, CC₁ and CC₂) genetic clusters were defined. Our approximate Bayesian computation analyses supported an independent domestication history with two domestication events for CC₁ and CC₂, happening about 3900 and 2200 years ago, respectively. Moderate loss of genetic diversity, over 1000-year domestication bottlenecks and divergent domestication in fruit traits were also detected in cultivated Chinese cherries, which is highly correlated to long-term clonal propagation and different domestication trends and preferences. Our study is the first to comprehensively and systematically investigate the structure patterns and domestication history for Chinese cherry, providing important references for revealing the evolution and domestication history of perennial woody fruit trees.</p

Adverse effects of chronic exposure to nonylphenol on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in male rats

<div><p>Endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) has been thought to play a role in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the toxic effects of Nonylphenol (NP), an EDC, on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have never been elaborated. This study aimed to investigate whether exposure to NP could induce NAFDL, a promoting effect of high-sucrose-high-fat diet (HSHFD) on the adverse effects caused by NP was evaluated. Fourth eight male rats were assigned to four groups and each group was treated with a specific testing sample: normal-diet (ND) control group (C-ND); normal diet plus NP (180mg/kg/day) group (NP-ND); high-sucrose-high-fat-diet control group (C-HSHFD); HSHFD plus NP (180mg/kg/day) group (NP-HSHFD). At the age of 80 day, sonogram presents diffusely increased hepatic echogenicity in the NP-HSHFD group. The oblique diameter of liver in the NP-HSHFD group was significantly bigger than that in both the C-ND and NP-ND groups. At the age of 90 day, exposure to NP-HSHFD and NP-ND caused a significant increase in NP concentration in liver as compared to the C-ND group. The rats in the groups treated with NP+ND, HSHFD and NP+HSHFD produced significant increases in the body weight, fat weight and FMI, respectively, when compared to the C-ND group. The liver weight and hepatosomatic indexes (HIS) of rats in the NP-HSHFD group are higher than those in the C-HSHFD group. Exposure to NP-HSHFD induced the increases in plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) as compared to the C-ND group. Morphological examination of liver tissue from rats exposed to NP+HSHFD shown steatosis with marked accumulation of lipid droplets, hepatocellular ballooning degeneration and inflammatory cell infiltration. Chronic exposure to NP might induce NAFLD in male rats. The high-sucrose-high-fat diet accelerates and exacerbates the development of NAFLD caused by NP exposure.</p></div

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<p>Chinese cherry [Cerasus pseudocerasus (Lindl.) G.Don] is a commercially important fruit crop in China, but its structure patterns and domestication history remain imprecise. To address these questions, we estimated the genetic structure and domestication history of Chinese cherry using 19 nuclear microsatellite markers and 650 representative accessions (including 118 Cerasus relatives) selected throughout their natural eco-geographical distributions. Our structure analyses detected no genetic contribution from Cerasus relatives to the evolution history of Chinese cherry. A separate genetic structure was detected in wild Chinese cherries and rough geographical structures were observed in cultivated Chinese cherries. One wild (wild Chinese cherry, WC) and two cultivated (cultivated Chinese cherry, CC₁ and CC₂) genetic clusters were defined. Our approximate Bayesian computation analyses supported an independent domestication history with two domestication events for CC₁ and CC₂, happening about 3900 and 2200 years ago, respectively. Moderate loss of genetic diversity, over 1000-year domestication bottlenecks and divergent domestication in fruit traits were also detected in cultivated Chinese cherries, which is highly correlated to long-term clonal propagation and different domestication trends and preferences. Our study is the first to comprehensively and systematically investigate the structure patterns and domestication history for Chinese cherry, providing important references for revealing the evolution and domestication history of perennial woody fruit trees.</p

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<p>Chinese cherry [Cerasus pseudocerasus (Lindl.) G.Don] is a commercially important fruit crop in China, but its structure patterns and domestication history remain imprecise. To address these questions, we estimated the genetic structure and domestication history of Chinese cherry using 19 nuclear microsatellite markers and 650 representative accessions (including 118 Cerasus relatives) selected throughout their natural eco-geographical distributions. Our structure analyses detected no genetic contribution from Cerasus relatives to the evolution history of Chinese cherry. A separate genetic structure was detected in wild Chinese cherries and rough geographical structures were observed in cultivated Chinese cherries. One wild (wild Chinese cherry, WC) and two cultivated (cultivated Chinese cherry, CC₁ and CC₂) genetic clusters were defined. Our approximate Bayesian computation analyses supported an independent domestication history with two domestication events for CC₁ and CC₂, happening about 3900 and 2200 years ago, respectively. Moderate loss of genetic diversity, over 1000-year domestication bottlenecks and divergent domestication in fruit traits were also detected in cultivated Chinese cherries, which is highly correlated to long-term clonal propagation and different domestication trends and preferences. Our study is the first to comprehensively and systematically investigate the structure patterns and domestication history for Chinese cherry, providing important references for revealing the evolution and domestication history of perennial woody fruit trees.</p

Comparison in the oblique diameter of liver in different treatment group.

<p>NP concentration in liver was ng/ml supernatant fraction of a liver homogenate. All values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 12) * NP-HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; ^# NP-HSHFD vs NP-ND, <i>p</i><0.05; ^ΔNP-HSHFD vs C-HSHFD, <i>p</i><0.05.</p

Liver ultrasound imaging.

<p>The hyperechogenicity of liver parenchyma (arrowheads). C-ND: normal-diet control; NP-ND: normal-diet plus NP; HSHFD: high-fat-diet control; NP- HSHFD: high fat diet plus NP.</p

Comparison in liver weight in different treatment groups.

<p>All values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 12) * NP-ND vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; ** HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; *** NP-HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05.</p

Morphological changes of the liver tissue.

<p>Lipid droplets in liver cells (Arrowheads) at the NP dose of 180mg/kg/day.</p

Comparison in fat mass index in different treatment groups.

<p>All values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 12) *NP-ND vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; **HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; *** NP-HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05.</p

Comparison in fat weight in different treatment groups.

<p>All values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (n = 12) * NP-ND vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; ** HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05; *** NP-HSHFD vs control, <i>p</i><0.05.</p