Chloroplast Protein 12 Expression Alters Growth and Chilling Tolerance in Tropical Forage Stylosanthes guianensis (Aublet) Sw

Stylosanthes guianensis (Aublet) Sw. is a tropical forage legume with soil acidity tolerance and excellent adaptation to infertile soils, but sensitive to chilling. To understand the molecular responses of S. guianensis to chilling, differentially expressed genes between a chilling tolerant mutant 7–1 and the wild type were identified using suppression subtractive hybridization, and eight of them were confirmed and the regulation pattern were analyzed using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Chloroplast protein 12 (CP12) functions to regulate the Calvin cycle by forming a ternary complex with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and phosphoribulokinase (PRK). SgCP12 transcript was induced by chilling in both plants, and higher levels were observed in 7–1 than in the wild type, implying a potential role of SgCP12 in chilling tolerance. To confirm this, transgenic S. guianensis plants over-expressing or down-regulating SgCP12 were generated, respectively. Higher Fv/Fm and survival rate and lower ion leakage were observed in transgenic plants overexpressing SgCP12 as compared with the wild type after chilling treatment, while lower Fv/Fm and survival rate and higher ion leakage were found in SgCP12 antisense plants. SgCP12 overexpression plants showed promoted growth with increased plant height and fresh weight, while the antisense plants exhibited reduced growth with decreased plant height and fresh weight as compared with the wild type. The results indicated that regulation of SgCP12 expression alters plant growth and chilling tolerance in S. guianensis. In addition, higher levels of net photosynthetic rate (Pn), GAPDH and PRK activities were observed in SgCP12 overexpression transgenic plants, while lower levels in antisense plants than in the wild type under both control and chilling conditions, indicating that altered activities of GAPDH and PRK were associated with the changed Pn in transgenic S. guianensis. Our results suggest that SgCP12 regulates GAPDH and PRK activities, Pn, and chilling tolerance in S. guianensis

Efficient Lattice-Based Zero-Knowledge Arguments with Standard Soundness: Construction and Applications

We provide new zero-knowledge argument of knowledge systems that work directly for a wide class of language, namely, ones involving the satisfiability of matrix-vector relations and integer relations commonly found in constructions of lattice-based cryptography. Prior to this work, practical arguments for lattice-based relations either have a constant soundness error ( 2/3 ), or consider a weaker form of soundness, namely, extraction only guarantees that the prover is in possession of a witness that “approximates” the actual witness. Our systems do not suffer from these limitations. The core of our new argument systems is an efficient zero-knowledge argument of knowledge of a solution to a system of linear equations, where variables of this solution satisfy a set of quadratic constraints. This argument enjoys standard soundness, a small soundness error ( 1/poly ), and a complexity linear in the size of the solution. Using our core argument system, we construct highly efficient argument systems for a variety of statements relevant to lattices, including linear equations with short solutions and matrix-vector relations with hidden matrices. Based on our argument systems, we present several new constructions of common privacy-preserving primitives in the standard lattice setting, including a group signature, a ring signature, an electronic cash system, and a range proof protocol. Our new constructions are one to three orders of magnitude more efficient than the state of the art (in standard lattice). This illustrates the efficiency and expressiveness of our argument system

Adenoid lymphocyte heterogeneity in pediatric adenoid hypertrophy and obstructive sleep apnea

IntroductionAdenoid hypertrophy is the main cause of obstructive sleep apnea in children. Previous studies have suggested that pathogenic infections and local immune system disorders in the adenoids are associated with adenoid hypertrophy. The abnormalities in the number and function of various lymphocyte subsets in the adenoids may play a role in this association. However, changes in the proportion of lymphocyte subsets in hypertrophic adenoids remain unclear.MethodsTo identify patterns of lymphocyte subsets in hypertrophic adenoids, we used multicolor flow cytometry to analyze the lymphocyte subset composition in two groups of children: the mild to moderate hypertrophy group (n = 10) and the severe hypertrophy group (n = 5).ResultsA significant increase in naïve lymphocytes and a decrease in effector lymphocytes were found in severe hypertrophic adenoids.DiscussionThis finding suggests that abnormal lymphocyte differentiation or migration may contribute to the development of adenoid hypertrophy. Our study provides valuable insights and clues into the immunological mechanism underlying adenoid hypertrophy

Projection of Future Summer Precipitation over the Yellow River Basin: A Moisture Budget Perspective

The projection of future precipitation over the Yellow River Basin (YRB) is of great importance to regional climate change adaptation and mitigation. Using the historical simulations and projections under the four combined scenarios of the shared socioeconomic pathways and the forcing levels of the Representative Concentration Pathways (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5) provided by the multimodel ensemble mean of 10 models in phase six of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the projected spatial and temporal changes of future summer precipitation over the YRB and the possible physical mechanisms underlying future summer precipitation changes are investigated. Large discrepancies in precipitation exist among the four scenarios during the latter half period of the 21st century, with precipitation under SSP5-8.5 being the largest. Nevertheless, the precipitation under each of the four scenarios shows a similar spatial pattern over the YRB, with an east–west-oriented gradient. A comparison of projected moisture transport into the YRB among the four scenarios reveals two channels (westerlies and monsoon flow) under SSP5-8.5, whereas the monsoon flow from adjacent oceans is important under the other three scenarios. Further analysis of the unique features of the projected moisture flux and substantial increase in summer precipitation under SSP5-8.5 indicates that the future summer precipitation trend over the YRB can be mainly attributed to an increase in evaporation and moisture advection

Research Progress and Prospect of Alfalfa Resistance to Pathogens and Pests

Alfalfa is one of the most important legume forages in the world and contributes greatly to the improvement of ecosystems, nutrition, and food security. Diseases caused by pathogens and pests severely restrict the production of alfalfa. Breeding resistant varieties is the most economical and effective strategy for the control of alfalfa diseases and pests, and the key to breeding resistant varieties is to identify important resistance genes. Plant innate immunity is the theoretical basis for identifying resistant genes and breeding resistant varieties. In recent years, the framework of plant immunity theory has been gradually formed and improved, and considerable progress has been made in the identification of alfalfa resistance genes and the revelation of the related mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the basic theory of plant immunity and identify alfalfa resistance genes to different pathogens and insects and resistance mechanisms. The current situation, problems, and future prospects of alfalfa resistance research are also discussed. Breeding resistant cultivars with effective resistance genes, together with other novel plant protection technologies, will greatly improve alfalfa production

Effect of graphene sheet diameter on the microstructure and properties of copper-plated graphene-reinforced 6061-aluminum matrix composites

Herein, graphene with two different average sheet diameters was ultrasonically dispersed, mechanically stirred, and copper-plated. The pretreated graphene was mixed with 6061-aluminum (6061Al) powder to fabricate copper-plated graphene (0.5 wt%) reinforced 6061Al matrix composites by spark plasma sintering. The resulting composites were characterized in terms of their microstructure, tensile properties, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. The incorporation of graphene facilitated load transfer and hindered dislocation movement, thereby enhancing the mechanical properties of the composites. Notably, the composite reinforced by larger-sized graphene achieved a favorable combination of high tensile strength (218 MPa) and fracture strain (17.2 %). Moreover, the addition of graphene also ameliorated the electrical conductivity of 6061Al. The composite reinforced by the larger-sized graphene achieved the highest electrical conductivity of 47.7 %IACS, attributed to the formation of a wider range of conductive channels. Additionally, the introduction of larger-sized graphene increased the thermal conductivity of 6061Al from 161.4 W/(m·K) to 183.2 W/(m·K), whilst the smaller-sized graphene contributed to a modest enhancement of 15.3 W/(m·K). In conclusion, graphene with a larger sheet diameter exhibits a remarkable reinforcement effect on the overall performance of 6061Al

A Queuing Theory-Enabled Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Algorithm for a Wired-Wireless Converged Network

Multi-sink wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are being increasingly deployed in an ever-widening range of application scenarios, especially as they are reliable and exhibit low power consumption. Providing a backhaul for WSN traffic has become an important issue because the sensor data must usually be sent to the Internet or the core network. Passive optical networks (PONs) represent one next-generation access network technology which is appropriate for such a backhaul, however existing research appears to have concentrated on either WSN performance or PON performance, without considering the overall performance of both networks converged together. This paper proposes a new architecture which converges multi-sink WSNs and PONs, then provides a novel queuing-theory analysis of the converged network performance. Results from this analytical model are then used to motivate a new a DBA algorithm which optimizes grant size allocation. Numerical results show that this algorithm outperforms existing proposals when minimizing the system queue length in the converged network, while providing shorter end-to-end packet delay and higher throughput. We believe that this first resource allocation algorithm which considers the performance of both networks as one converged unit. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York