Decoupling the downstream effects of germline nuclear RNAi reveals that H3K9me3 is dispensable for heritable RNAi and the maintenance of endogenous siRNA-mediated transcriptional silencing in Caenorhabditis elegans

Additional file 9: Table S2. Oligonucleotides and other sequences used in this study

Histone Lysine Methyltransferase SDG8 Is Involved in Brassinosteroid-Regulated Gene Expression in Arabidopsis thaliana

Citation: Wang, X., Chen, J., Xie, Z., Liu, S., Nolan, T., Ye, H., et al. (2014). Histone lysine methyltransferase SDG8 is involved in brassinosteroid- regulated gene expression in arabidopsis thaliana.The plant steroid hormones, brassinosteroids (BRs), play important roles in plant growth, development and responses to environmental stresses. BRs signal through receptors localized to the plasma membrane and other signaling components to regulate the BES1/BZR1 family of transcription factors, which modulates the expression of 4,000-5,000 genes. How BES1/BZR1 and their interacting proteins function to regulate the large number of genes are not completely understood. Here we report that histone lysine methyltransferase SDG8, implicated in Histone 3 lysine 36 di- and tri-methylation (H3K36me2 and me3), is involved in BR-regulated gene expression. BES1 interacts with SDG8, directly or indirectly through IWS1, a transcription elongation factor involved in BR-regulated gene expression. The knockout mutant sdg8 displays a reduced growth phenotype with compromised BR responses. Global gene expression studies demonstrated that SDG8 plays a major role in BR-regulated gene expression as more than half of BR-regulated genes are differentially affected in sdg8 mutant. A Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiment showed that H3K36me3 is reduced in BR-regulated genes in the sdg8 mutant. Based on these results, we propose that SDG8 plays an essential role in mediating BR-regulated gene expression. Our results thus reveal a major mechanism by which histone modifications dictate hormonal regulation of gene expression

Electric Field-Enhanced Cadmium Accumulation and Photosynthesis in a Woody Ornamental Hyperaccumulator—<i>Lonicera japonica</i> Thunb.

The multi-system of electro-phytotechnology using a woody ornamental cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulator (Lonicera japonica Thunb.) is a new departure for environmental remediation. The effects of four electric field conditions on Cd accumulation, growth, and photosynthesis of L. japonica under four Cd treatments were investigated. Under 25 and 50 mg L−1 Cd treatments, Cd accumulation in L. japonica was enhanced significantly compared to the control and reached 1110.79 mg kg−1 in root and 428.67 mg kg−1 in shoots influenced by the electric field, especially at 2 V cm−1, and with higher bioaccumulation coefficient (BC), translocation factor (TF), removal efficiency (RE), and the maximum Cd uptake, indicating that 2 V cm−1 voltage may be the most suitable electric field for consolidating Cd-hyperaccumulator ability. It is accompanied by increased root and shoots biomass and photosynthetic parameters through the electric field effect. These results show that a suitable electric field may improve the growth, hyperaccumulation, and photosynthetic ability of L.japonica. Meanwhile, low Cd supply (5 mg L−1) and medium voltage (2 V cm−1) improved plant growth and photosynthetic capacity, conducive to the practical application to a plant facing low concentration Cd contamination in the real environment

Identification of Key Factors Involved in the Biosorption of Patulin by Inactivated Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) Cells.

The purpose of this study was to identify the key factors involved in patulin adsorption by heat-inactivated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) cells. For preventing bacterial contamination, a sterilization process was involved in the adsorption process. The effects of various physical, chemical, and enzymatic pre-treatments, simultaneous treatments, and post-treatments on the patulin adsorption performances of six LAB strains were evaluated. The pre-treated cells were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that the removal of patulin by viable cells was mainly based on adsorption or degradation, depending on the specific strain. The adsorption abilities were widely increased by NaOH and esterification pre-treatments, and reduced by trypsin, lipase, iodate, and periodate pre-treatments. Additionally, the adsorption abilities were almost maintained at pH 2.2-4.0, and enhanced significantly at pH 4.0-6.0. The effects of sodium and magnesium ions on the adsorption abilities at pH 4 were slight and strain-specific. A lower proportion of patulin was released from the strain with higher adsorption ability. Analyses revealed that the physical structure of peptidoglycan was not a principal factor. Vicinal OH and carboxyl groups were not involved in patulin adsorption, while alkaline amino acids, thiol and ester compounds were important for patulin adsorption. Additionally, besides hydrophobic interaction, electrostatic interaction also participated in patulin adsorption, which was enhanced with the increase in pH (4.0-6.0)

Design of the Circuit for IPMC Micro-force Sensor and Testing

The IPMC has perceived performance, so it can be used for making micro-force sensor. But its sensing signal is very weak, a greater influence on perception from the environmental noise signals. In the paper, we design a micro-force sensor system based on IPMC. The current signal conversion of analog circuit, voltage signal amplification, signal processing and other key parts are introduced, meanwhile, the calibration to micro-force sensor is completed

Immunomagnetic separation combined with polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in apple juice.

A combination of immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris (A. acidoterrestris) in apple juice. The optimum technological parameters of the IMS system were investigated. The results indicated that the immunocapture reactions could be finished in 60 min and the quantity of IMPs used for IMS was 2.5 mg/mL. Then the combined IMS-PCR procedure was assessed by detecting A. acidoterrestris in apple juice samples. The agarose gel electrophoresis results of 20 different strains showed that the IMS-PCR procedure presented high specificity to the A. acidoterrestris. The sensitivity of the IMS-PCR was 2×10(1) CFU/mL and the total detection time was 3 to 4 h. Of the 78 naturally contaminated apple juice samples examined, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of IMS-PCR compared with the standardized pour plate method were 90.9%, 97.0% and 96.2%, respectively. The results exhibited that the developed IMS-PCR method will be a valuable tool for detecting A. acidoterrestris and improving food quality in juice samples

Hormesis Responses of Growth and Photosynthetic Characteristics in <i>Lonicera japonica</i> Thunb. to Cadmium Stress: Whether Electric Field Can Improve or Not?

“Hormesis” is considered a dose–response phenomenon mainly observed at hyperaccumulator plants under heavy metals stress. In this study, the effects of electric fields on hormesis responses in Lonicera japonica Thunb. under cadmium (Cd) treatments were investigated by assessing the plant growth and photosynthetic characteristics. Under Cd treatments without electric fields, the parameters of plant growth and photosynthetic characteristics increased significantly when exposed to 5 mg L−1 Cd, and decreased slightly when exposed to 25 mg L−1 Cd, showing an inverted U-shaped trend, which confirmed that low concentration Cd has a hormesis effect on L. japonica. Under electric fields, different voltages significantly promoted the inverted U-shaped trend of the hormesis effect on the plant, especially by 2 V cm−1 voltage. Under 2 V cm−1 voltage, the dry weight of the root and leaf biomass exposed to 5 mg L−1 Cd increased significantly by 38.38% and 42.14%, and the photosynthetic pigment contents and photosynthetic parameters were also increased significantly relative to the control, indicating that a suitable electric field provides better improvements for the hormesis responses of the plant under Cd treatments. The synergistic benefits of the 5 mg L−1 Cd and 2 V cm−1 electric field in terms of the enhanced hormesis responses of growth and photosynthetic characteristics could contribute to the promoted application of electro-phytotechnology

Study of the sealing performance of tubing adapters in gas-tight deep-sea water sampler

Tubing adapter is a key connection device in Gas-Tight Deep-Sea Water Sampler (GTWS). The sealing performance of the tubing adapter directly affects the GTWS’s overall gas tightness. Tubing adapters with good sealing performance can ensure the transmission of seawater samples without gas leakage and can be repeatedly used. However, the sealing performance of tubing adapters made of different materials was not studied sufficiently. With the research discussed in this paper, the materials match schemes of the tubing adapters were proposed. With non-linear finite element contact analysis and sea trials in the South China Sea, it is expected that the recommended materials match schemes not only meet the requirements of tubing adapters' sealing performance but also provide the feasible options for the following research on tubing adapters in GTW

Scanning electron micrographs of untreated heat-inactivated LAB cells (Type <i>A</i>) and the heat-inactivated cells pre-treated with NaOH (Type <i>F</i>), formaldehyde (Type <i>G</i>), methanol (Type <i>I</i>), lysozyme (Type <i>P</i>) and the solvent control (Type <i>p'</i>).

<p>Magnification 20,000×. Bar, 2.0 μm.</p