Molecular cloning and functional analysis of a flavanone 3-hydroxylase gene from blueberry

<p><i>Vaccinium corymbosum</i> (blueberry) is touted as a superfood with numerous health benefits due to its high levels of flavonoids. Flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) is a key regulatory enzyme of the flavonoid pathway. In this study, we cloned the full-length cDNA of <i>F3H</i> (designated <i>VcF3H</i>) from young blueberry leaves using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The cDNA contained a 1080-bp open reading frame that encoded a 359-amino acid protein. The deduced VcF3H protein showed high similarities to other plant F3Hs. Conserved amino acid motifs required for ferrous iron binding (HXD) and 2-oxoglutarate binding (RXS) were identified in VcF3H, VcFLS (flavonol synthase), and VcANS (anthocyanidin synthase). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that <i>VcF3H</i> was expressed in all tissues tested, with particularly high expression in young leaves, fruits (pink and blue), and stems. Anthocyanins accumulated mainly in fruits, whereas flavonols were found mainly in leaves and stems. Furthermore, the expression pattern of <i>VcF3H</i> was similar to that of <i>VcCHS</i>, <i>VcDFR</i>, and <i>VcANS</i> in various tissues. Heterologous expression of <i>VcF3H</i> in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> increased the anthocyanin content in leaves, but did not affect the flavonol content. Thus, <i>VcF3H</i> seems to be involved in anthocyanin synthesis in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway when ectopically expressed in <i>Arabidopsis</i>.</p

Methane Emissions from Non-producing Oil and Gas Wells and the Potential Role of Seismic Activity: A Case Study in Northeast British Columbia, Canada

Increasing seismic activity due to fluid injections for oil and gas production may be contributing to leakage along non-producing oil and gas wells and emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, the extent to which nearby seismicity may drive or exacerbate methane emissions and cause well integrity issues is unknown. Therefore, we analyze field evaluations at 448 non-producing oil and gas wells in Northeast British Columbia (NEBC) and geospatially analyze oil and gas well and fluid injection data alongside locations of 3515 earthquakes from 2001 to 2021 and 130 faults. Through analysis of ground and helicopter-based field evaluations of non-producing wells in NEBC, we show that methane emission rates of non-producing wells average at 8301 mg/h/well but vary by 10 orders of magnitude. We find that higher methane emission rates (milligrams of methane/h/well) are observed at wells with larger flowing pressures at the wellhead during completion (kPa) and with shorter distances (m) to earthquakes, particularly at plugged wells. These results imply that seismicity may increase the likelihood of non-producing well integrity issues and methane leakage, thereby also exacerbating groundwater contamination and environmental degradation risks

Multicomponent Polycoupling of Internal Diynes, Aryl Diiodides, and Boronic Acids to Functional Poly(tetraarylethene)s

This paper describes the development of a new three-component polymerization route to functional poly­(tetraarylethene)­s (PTAEs). The polycoupling reactions of internal diynes, aryl diiodides, and arylboronic acids proceed smoothly in the presence of PdCl₂ and NaF at 70 °C in dimethylformamide, generating PTAEs with promising molecular weights in high yields from different monomers. Most of the PTAEs are soluble in common organic solvents and are thermally stable. Some of the PTAEs exhibit the phenomenon of aggregation-induced emission: their light emission in solution is enhanced by aggregate formation. The tetraphenylethene-containing PTAE can function as a fluorescent chemosensor for detecting Ru³⁺ ions with high sensitivity and specificity. It is also a promising material for the fabrication of fluorescent pattern by photolithography process. All the PTAEs possess good film-forming ability and their thin films exhibit high refractive index (RI = 1.7751–1.6382) at 632.8 nm, whose values are higher than those of commercial polymers such as polycarbonate and polystyrene

Methane Emissions from Non-producing Oil and Gas Wells and the Potential Role of Seismic Activity: A Case Study in Northeast British Columbia, Canada

Increasing seismic activity due to fluid injections for oil and gas production may be contributing to leakage along non-producing oil and gas wells and emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. However, the extent to which nearby seismicity may drive or exacerbate methane emissions and cause well integrity issues is unknown. Therefore, we analyze field evaluations at 448 non-producing oil and gas wells in Northeast British Columbia (NEBC) and geospatially analyze oil and gas well and fluid injection data alongside locations of 3515 earthquakes from 2001 to 2021 and 130 faults. Through analysis of ground and helicopter-based field evaluations of non-producing wells in NEBC, we show that methane emission rates of non-producing wells average at 8301 mg/h/well but vary by 10 orders of magnitude. We find that higher methane emission rates (milligrams of methane/h/well) are observed at wells with larger flowing pressures at the wellhead during completion (kPa) and with shorter distances (m) to earthquakes, particularly at plugged wells. These results imply that seismicity may increase the likelihood of non-producing well integrity issues and methane leakage, thereby also exacerbating groundwater contamination and environmental degradation risks

SD-15 is evolutionarily closed to ZM-95 and had diversified sequence homology with other BVDV-1 subgenotypes.

<p>The complete genome (A), 5’-UTR (B), E2 (C) and NS5B (D) nucleotide sequences of SD-15 were aligned with different BVDV-1 subgenotypes by the DNASTAR software. Sequence identities of SD-15 genes with other BVDV-1 subgenotypes were shown beyond the bars, respectively.</p

The pestivirus strain used for alignment and phylogenetic analysis.

<p>The pestivirus strain used for alignment and phylogenetic analysis.</p

Enhancing Photodynamic Therapy Efficacy by Using Fluorinated Nanoplatform

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a noninvasive therapeutic modality with fast healing process and little or no scarring. The production of reactive oxygen species is highly dependent on oxygen concentration, and thus, the therapeutic efficacy of PDT would be retarded by inefficient oxygen supply in hypoxic tumor cell and the oxygen self-consuming mechanism of PDT. It is well-known that perfluorocarbons are endowed with properties of enhanced oxygen solubility and transfer capacity. Herein, we prepared a series of nanoplatforms of spherical micelles with different ratios of pentafluorophenyl to porphyrin in the core and utilized these micelles as models to examine the influence of content of fluorinated segments on the PDT effect of porphyrins. It was found for the first time, as far as we are aware, that the production efficacy of singlet oxygen increased with the rising in the ratio of pentafluorophenyl to porphyrin. Thus, this work presents a new avenue to improve PDT efficacy by enhancing oxygen solubility and diffusivity of nanoplatforms with the incorporation of perfluorocarbon segments

Palladium-Catalyzed Cyclization Reaction of Oxime Acetates and Aryl Iodides: Syntheses of 2‑Imidazolines

A novel and versatile method for the synthesis of 2-imidazolines has been developed via the Pd-catalyzed cyclization reaction of readily available homoallenyl oxime acetates with aryl iodides. This protocol is performed under mild reaction conditions and needs no additives or ligands

Phylogenetic analysis of SD-15 isolates based on 5’-UTR sequences.

<p>Phylogenic relationship of SD-15 to pestiviruses was generated by analyzing the 5’-UTR sequences from 36 representative BVDV isolates using neighbor-joining method. SD-15, together with BVDV ZM-95 and JX0927 was clustered to BVDV-1m subgenotype and marked as solid triangle.</p

Unique amino acid and linear epitope mutations revealed in the SD-15-encoded E^rns protein.

<p>Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of SD-15-encoded E^rns was performed to explore the variability of linear epitopes in relation to known BVDV-1 strains. Out of seven linear epitopes of E^rns mapped, six were conserved among BVDV-1 genotypes and one was variable. Unique amino acid mutations and linear epitope mutations were also observed only in BVDV-1m subgenotype and highlighted.</p