Identification of Milk Component in Ancient Food Residue by Proteomics

Proteomic approaches based on mass spectrometry have been recently used in archaeological and art researches, generating promising results for protein identification. Little information is known about eastward spread and eastern limits of prehistoric milking in eastern Eurasia.In this paper, an ancient visible food remain from Subeixi Cemeteries (cal. 500 to 300 years BC) of the Turpan Basin in Xinjiang, China, preliminarily determined containing 0.432 mg/kg cattle casein with ELISA, was analyzed by using an improved method based on liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS to further identify protein origin. The specific sequence of bovine casein and the homology sequence of goat/sheep casein were identified.The existence of milk component in ancient food implies goat/sheep and cattle milking in ancient Subeixi region, the furthest eastern location of prehistoric milking in the Old World up to date. It is envisioned that this work provides a new approach for ancient residue analysis and other archaeometry field

Prediction and functional analysis of GGDEF/EAL domaincontaining proteins in Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571

[Objective] c-di-GMP,an important second messenger regulating multiple functions of bacteria,is generally synthesized and hydrolysed by proteins containing GGDEF or EAL domain.In this study,we analyzed the genome-wide GGDEF/EAL domain-containing proteins of Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571,and selected three GGDEF-EAL composite proteins (AZC_3085,AZC_3226 and AZC_4658) for functional analysis.[Methods] SMART and CLUSTALW were used for prediction and multi-alignment of GGDEF/EAL domain-containing proteins.Mutants were constructed by homologous recombination.Phenotypes including cell motility,exopolysaccharide (EPS) production,biofilm formation and nodulation with legume host were investigated.[Results] There were 37 GGDEF/EAL domain-containing proteins in A.caulinodans ORS571.Mutant Delta4658 showed deficiency in cell motility,while its EPS production and biofilm formation were higher than that of wild type.Mutant Delta4658 showed stronger competitiveness than wild type in competitive nodulation assay.The loss of AZC_4658 led to the increase of intracellular c-di-GMP level.Mutants Delta3085 and Delta3226 did not show obvious difference in comparison with wild type.[Conclusion] The vast number of GGDEF/EAL domain-containing proteins suggested that c-di-GMP may play an important role in signal transduction of ORS571.The GGDEF-EAL composite protein AZC_4658 was involved in cell motility,EPS production,biofilm formation and nodulation of A.caulinodans ORS571.</p

Using Channel and Network Layer Pruning Based on Deep Learning for Real-Time Detection of Ginger Images

Consistent ginger shoot orientation helps to ensure consistent ginger emergence and meet shading requirements. YOLO v3 is used to recognize ginger images in response to the current ginger seeder&rsquo;s difficulty in meeting the above agronomic problems. However, it is not suitable for direct application on edge computing devices due to its high computational cost. To make the network more compact and to address the problems of low detection accuracy and long inference time, this study proposes an improved YOLO v3 model, in which some redundant channels and network layers are pruned to achieve real-time determination of ginger shoots and seeds. The test results showed that the pruned model reduced its model size by 87.2% and improved the detection speed by 85%. Meanwhile, its mean average precision (mAP) reached 98.0% for ginger shoots and seeds, only 0.1% lower than the model before pruning. Moreover, after deploying the model to the Jetson Nano, the test results showed that its mAP was 97.94%, the recognition accuracy could reach 96.7%, and detection speed could reach 20 frames&middot;s&minus;1. The results showed that the proposed method was feasible for real-time and accurate detection of ginger images, providing a solid foundation for automatic and accurate ginger seeding

Ginger Seeding Detection and Shoot Orientation Discrimination Using an Improved YOLOv4-LITE Network

A consistent orientation of ginger shoots when sowing ginger is more conducive to high yields and later harvesting. However, current ginger sowing mainly relies on manual methods, seriously hindering the ginger industry’s development. Existing ginger seeders still require manual assistance in placing ginger seeds to achieve consistent ginger shoot orientation. To address the problem that existing ginger seeders have difficulty in automating seeding and ensuring consistent ginger shoot orientation, this study applies object detection techniques in deep learning to the detection of ginger and proposes a ginger recognition network based on YOLOv4-LITE, which, first, uses MobileNetv2 as the backbone network of the model and, second, adds coordinate attention to MobileNetv2 and uses Do-Conv convolution to replace part of the traditional convolution. After completing the prediction of ginger and ginger shoots, this paper determines ginger shoot orientation by calculating the relative positions of the largest ginger shoot and the ginger. The mean average precision, Params, and giga Flops of the proposed YOLOv4-LITE in the test set reached 98.73%, 47.99 M, and 8.74, respectively. The experimental results show that YOLOv4-LITE achieved ginger seed detection and ginger shoot orientation calculation, and that it provides a technical guarantee for automated ginger seeding

Direct conversion of metal organic frameworks into ultrafine phosphide nanocomposites in multicomponent plasma for wide pH hydrogen evolution

Benefiting from tailorable properties through electronic states, chemical composition and crystal structures, transition metal phosphides (TMPs) present a great impetus for electrocatalytic water splitting. However, most TMP nanostructures are prepared via rigorous synthetic methods and harmful precursors, restricting their applications. Meanwhile, the rational design of structural characteristics and surface modification of TMPs needs to be considered to improve their catalytic activity and durability in both alkaline and acidic media. Here we report a simultaneous MOF decomposition and phosphorization strategy in multicomponent NH3 plasma to prepare nickel phosphide encapsulated in N-doped carbon layers (Ni12P5@NC). The combination of the high chemical reactivity and low thermal effect of plasma enables low-temperature phosphorization with red phosphorus as the P source. Carambola-like Ni12P5@NC exhibits low overpotential (50 mV in alkali and 82 mV in acid, 20 mA cm-2) and superior operational stability, showing promising application toward water electrolysis.</p

Novel compound heterozygous pathogenic variants in the SLC3A1 gene in a Chinese family with cystinuria

Abstract Background Cystinuria is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a cystine transport deficiency in the renal tubules due to mutations in two genes: SLC3A1 and SLC7A9. Cystinuria can be classified into three forms based on the genotype: type A, due to mutations in the SLC3A1 gene; type B, due to mutations in the SLC7A9 gene; and type AB, due to mutations in both genes. Methods We report a 12-year-old boy from central China with cystine stones. He was from a non-consanguineous family that had no known history of genetic disease. A physical examination showed normal development and neurological behaviors. Whole-exome and Sanger sequencing were used to identify and verify the suspected pathogenic variants. Results The compound heterozygous variants c.898_905del (p.Arg301AlafsTer6) is located in exon5 and c.1898_1899insAT (p.Asp634LeufsTer46) is located in exon10 of SLC3A1 (NM_000341.4) were deemed responsible for type A cystinuria family. The variant c.898_905del was reported in a Japanese patient in 2000, and the variant c.1898_1899insAT is novel. Conclusion A novel pathogenic heterozygous variant pair of the SLC3A1 gene was identified in a Chinese boy with type A cystinuria, enriching the mutational spectrum of the SLC3A1 gene. We attempted to find a pattern for the association between the genotype of SLC3A1 variants and the manifestations of cystinuria in patients with different onset ages. Our findings have important implications for genetic counseling and the early clinical diagnosis of cystinuria

A Novel Protein Is Lower Expressed in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Engrailed-2 (EN2) has been identified as a candidate oncogene in breast cancer and prostate cancer. It is usually recognized as a mainly nuclear staining in the cells. However, recent studies showed a cytoplasmic staining occurred in prostate cancer, bladder cancer and clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The inconsistency makes us confused. To clarify the localization and expression of EN2 in renal cell carcinoma, anti-EN2 antibody (ab28731) and anti-EN2 antibody (MAB2600) were used for immunohistochemistry (IHC) respectively. Interestingly, we found that EN2 detected by ab28731 was mainly presented in cytoplasm while EN2 detected by MAB2600 was mainly presented in nucleus. To further investigate the different patterns observed above, lysates from full-length EN2 over expression in HEK293T cells were used to identify which antibody the EN2 molecule bound by western blot. Results showed ab28731 did not react with the lysates. For this reason, the novel specific protein detected by ab28731 was not the EN2 molecule and was named nonEN2. Then using the renal carcinoma tissue microarray and renal tissues, we found that the protein expression levels of nonEN2 in kidney tumor tissues was significantly lower than that in kidney normal tissues (p &lt; 0.05), so was in renal cell lines. Taken together, nonEN2 is lower expressed and may play an important role in renal cell carcinoma