Body mass and behavior in Swiss mice subjected to continuous or discontinuous food restriction and refeeding

Food restriction (FR) is hypothesized to decrease body fat content of an animal and thus prevent obesity. However, the response of energy budget to a continuous (CFR) or discontinuous FR (DFR) remains inconsistent. In the present study, effects of CFR or DFR and refeeding on energy budget and behavior were examined in male Swiss mice. CFR significantly decreased the energy expenditure associated with basal metabolic rate (BMR) and activity behavior, but not sufficiently to compensate for energy deficit and thus resulted in lower body mass and fat content. DFR mice had a significantly higher food intake on ad libitum days and showed increases in BMR and activity after 4 weeks’ DFR, which might resulted in lower body mass and less body fat than controls. After being refed ad libitum, both CFR and DFR mice had similar body mass, BMR, and behavioral patterns to controls but had 95% and 75% higher fat content. This suggested that not only CFR but also DFR would be a significant factor in the process of obesity for animals that were refed ad libitum. It also indicated that food restriction interrupted many times by periods of ad libitum feeding had the same long-term effects like continuous underfeeding.     

Jasmonate induces biosynthesis of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin in apple by mediating the JAZ1–TRB1–MYB9 complex

Jasmonate (JA) induces the biosynthesis of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin. MdMYB9 is essential for modulating the accumulation of both anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin in apple, but the molecular mechanism for induction of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis by JA is unclear. In this study, we discovered an apple telomere-binding protein (MdTRB1) to be the interacting protein of MdMYB9. A series of biological assays showed that MdTRB1 acted as a positive modulator of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin accumulation, and is dependent on MdMYB9. MdTRB1 interacted with MdMYB9 and enhanced the activation activity of MdMYB9 to its downstream genes. In addition, we found that the JA signaling repressor MdJAZ1 interacted with MdTRB1 and interfered with the interaction between MdTRB1 and MdMYB9, therefore negatively modulating MdTRB1-promoted biosynthesis of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin. These results show that the JAZ1–TRB1–MYB9 module dynamically modulates JA-mediated accumulation of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin. Taken together, our data further expand the functional study of TRB1 and provide insights for further studies of the modulation of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis by JA.     

Rapid improvement of rice eating and cooking quality through gene editing toward glutelin as target

Rice eating and cooking quality (ECQ) is a major concern of breeders and consumers, determining market competitiveness worldwide. Rice grain protein content (GPC) is negatively related to ECQ, making it possible to improve ECQ by manipulating GPC. However, GPC is genetically complex and sensitive to environmental conditions; therefore, little progress has been made in traditional breeding for ECQ. Here, we report that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of genes encoding the grain storage protein glutelin rapidly produced lines with downregulated GPC and improved ECQ. Our finding provides a new strategy for improving rice ECQ.     

内蒙古大青山华北落叶松人工林乔木层碳密度年增量与气象因子的关系

以内蒙古大青山华北落叶松人工林为研究对象，通过树木年轮法和异速生长方程法，计算华北落叶松人工林生物量、碳密度及其年增量的年际变化，并分析碳密度年增量与气温、降水、湿度等气象因子的关系。研究发现：华北落叶松人工林碳密度随着林龄增加的变化曲线可用逻辑斯谛生长方程拟合，在1979—2016年，碳密度由1.05 t/hm~2增加到76.83 t/hm~2。华北落叶松人工林碳密度年增量存在显著的年际差异，总体上呈波动性的“慢-快-慢”趋势，碳密度年增量最高达到3.72 t hm^-2 a^-1,多年平均为2.05 t hm^-2 a^-1。华北落叶松人工林碳密度年增量与上年6月和当年6—8月的降水量显著正相关，与上年11月降水显著负相关；与上年11—12月、当年2月和12月的温度和大气相对湿度分别呈正、负相关；与上年7月、9月及当年8—9月的温度保持显著或极显著正相关。研究表明，温度、湿度和降水主要通过生长季的长短和土壤可利用水分及冬季的雪害冻害影响华北落叶松人工林的碳汇潜力，在未来该地区升温增湿的气候变化趋势下华北...     

基于低相干光干涉的眼睛光学生物参数测量研究

目的 眼睛的光学生物参数中的眼轴长度（AL）和角膜曲率半径（CR）可以作为预防和监测眼球近视的两个重要参数。为了提高测量眼轴长度的速度与精度和同步实现角膜曲率高精度动态测量，本文提出一种基于低相干光干涉技术眼睛光学生物参数测量的系统。方法 该系统使用旋转光学延迟线快速改变参考光的光程，利用曲率半径为8 mm的标准件标定人眼角膜顶点到靶环之间的距离，利用角膜的干涉信号对相机和数据采集卡进行触发实现同步采集，从而实现眼轴长度的快速测量和精准定位靶环到角膜顶点之间的距离，同时保证成像系统的放大倍率恒定和数据的实时采集。结果 实验结果表明，这种低相干光干涉测量系统，可以实时测量眼轴长度和角膜曲率半径，眼轴长度误差低于40 μm，人眼角膜曲率半径方差为2.082 36×10^-2 μm。结论 该系统能够快速、精准地测量AL和CR，可在近视的预防和监测中发挥重要作用。     

Using LiDAR Data to Measure the 3D Green Biomass of Beijing Urban Forest in China

The purpose of the paper is to find a new approach to measure 3D green biomass of urban forest and to testify its precision. In this study, the 3D green biomass could be acquired on basis of a remote sensing inversion model in which each standing wood was first scanned by Terrestrial Laser Scanner to catch its point cloud data, then the point cloud picture was opened in a digital mapping data acquisition system to get the elevation in an independent coordinate, and at last the individual volume captured was associated with the remote sensing image in SPOT5(System Probatoired''Observation dela Tarre)by means of such tools as SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions), GIS (Geographic Information System), RS (Remote Sensing) and spatial analysis software (FARO SCENE and Geomagic studio11). The results showed that the 3D green biomass of Beijing urban forest was 399.1295 million m³, of which coniferous was 28.7871 million m³ and broad-leaf was 370.3424 million m³. The accuracy of 3D green biomass was over 85%, comparison with the values from 235 field sample data in a typical sampling way. This suggested that the precision done by the 3D forest green biomass based on the image in SPOT5 could meet requirements. This represents an improvement over the conventional method because it not only provides a basis to evalue indices of Beijing urban greenings, but also introduces a new technique to assess 3D green biomass in other cities.     

The role of SIRT2 in vascular-related and heart-related diseases: A review

At present, cardiovascular disease is one of the important factors of human death, and there are many kinds of proteins involved. Sirtuins family proteins are involved in various physiological and pathological activities of the human body. Among them, there are more and more studies on the relationship between sirtuin2 (SIRT2) protein and cardiovascular diseases. SIRT2 can effectively inhibit pathological cardiac hypertrophy. The effect of SIRT2 on ischaemia-reperfusion injury has different effects under different conditions. SIRT2 can reduce the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which may help to reduce the severity of diabetic cardiomyopathy. SIRT2 can affect a variety of cardiovascular diseases, energy metabolism and the ageing of cardiomyocytes, thereby affecting heart failure. SIRT2 also plays an important role in vascular disease. For endothelial cell damage used by oxidative stress, the role of SIRT2 is bidirectional, which is related to the degree of oxidative stress stimulation. When the degree of stimulation is small, SIRT2 plays a protective role, and when the degree of stimulation increases to a certain level, SIRT2 plays a negative role. In addition, SIRT2 is also involved in the remodelling of blood vessels and the repair of skin damage.