Temporal and spatial regulation of biomimetic vascularization in 3D-printed skeletal muscles

In the intricate skeletal muscle tissue,the symbiotic relationship between myotubes and their supporting vasculature is pivotal in delivering essential oxygen and nutrients.This study explored the complex interplay between skeletal muscle and endothelial cells in the vascularization ofmuscle tissue.By harnessing the capabilities of three-dimensional(3D)bioprinting and modeling,we developed a novel approach involving the co-construction of endothelial and muscle cells,followed by their subsequent differentiation.Our findings highlight the importance of the interaction dynamics between these two cell types.Notably,introducing endothelial cells during the advanced phases of muscle differentiation enhanced myotube assembly.Moreover,it stimulated the development of the vascular network,paving the way for the early stages of vascularized skeletal muscle development.The methodology proposed in this study indicates the potential for constructing large-scale,physiologically aligned skeletal muscle.Additionally,it highlights the need for exploring the delicate equilibrium and mutual interactions between muscle and endothelial cells.Based on the multicell-type interaction model,we can predict promising pathways for constructing even more intricate tissues or organs.

The structures of floral organs and reproductive characteristics of an ornamental bamboo species,Pleioblastus pygmaeus

As a woody grass,bamboo has special reproductive habits with an extremely long vegetative phase.Pleioblastus pygmaeus is a kind of ornamental dwarf bamboo species with high ecological and economic value in China.There was no documentary record of the flowering of P.pygmaeus until 2015,which bloomed in the Bamboo Garden of Nanjing Forestry University.Generally,bamboo plants rarely bear fruit or have a low seed setting rate,but this species has a high seed production.This study explores developmental reasons using anatomical methods.The process of flower bud differentiation and a series of important reproductive development processes including anther wall development,microsporogenesis,megasporogenesis,male and female gametophyte development,and embryonic development were investigated sequentially.Each stamen contained three tetrasporangiate anthers and the development of anther wall was of Monocotyledonous type.The microspores finally matured into 3-celled pollen grains by two successive mitoses.The pistil was composed of three carpels,with an anatropous,tenuinucellate and bitegmic ovule in a single ovary.The formation of embryo sac belonged to Polygonum type.With three mitoses,functional megaspore developed into the embryo sac with eight nuclei within seven cells.The development of stamen and pistil was synchronous in the same floret.The development of embryo followed Grass type and the development of endosperm belonged to Nuclear type.The development of endosperm was earlier than that of embryo.The study enriches basic knowledge of reproductive biology of bamboo plants and is of great fundamental significance to furtherly explore flowering mechanism of P.pygmaeus and to cultivate bamboo plants sustainably.

The role of tsunami buoy played in tsunami warning and its application in South China Sea

The tsunami was a sudden marine disasters. Tsunami waves can quickly spread to near-shore and cause the disaster after the tsunami. So it is very important of timely monitoring and early warning of the tsunami. After several unsuccessful tsunami forecasting, the United States developed tsunami buoy specifically for the early detection of tsunami waves. Tsunami buoy can not only be able to display occurrence of the tsunami, it is real time data but also be assimilated into the tsunami warning system, to improve the accuracy of the tsunami forecasting. Several tsunami events in the recent few years have proven the important role of the tsunami buoys. Subsequently, the tsunami warning system based on tsunami buoys was into regular operation. The system accurately predicted the results on March 11, 2011 Japan tsunami event. State Oceanic Administration （SOA）, China also deployed 2 tsunami buoys in the South China Sea （SCS）, which also played an important role in the warning process of Japan tsunami on March 11, 2011. National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center/State Oceanic Administration （NMEFC/SOA） will collaborate with Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration （PMEL/NOAA） to develop assimilation method making use of real time data of tsunami buoy and build a forecasting system in SCS in the future.

Tsunami hazard and mitigation analysis for bathing beaches in China based on numerical simulations

Bathing beaches are usually the first to suffer disasters when tsunamis occur,owing to their proximity to the sea.Several large seismic fault zones are located off the coast of China.The impact of each tsunami scenario on Chinese bathing beaches is different.In this study,numerical models of the worst tsunami scenarios associated with seismic fault zones were considered to assess the tsunami hazard of bathing beaches in China.Numerical results show that tsunami waves from the Pacific Ocean could affect the East China Sea coast through gaps between the Ryukyu Islands.The Zhejiang and Shanghai coasts would be threatened by a tsunami from Ryukyu Trench,and the coasts of Hainan and Guangdong provinces would be threatened by a tsunami from the Manila Trench.The tsunami hazard associated with the Philippine Trench scenario needs particular attention.Owing to China’s offshore topography,the sequential order of tsunami arrival times to coastal provinces in several tsunami scenarios is almost the same.According to the tsunami hazard analysis results,Yalongwan Beach and eight other bathing beaches are at the highest hazard level.A high-resolution numerical calculation model was established to analyze the tsunami physical characteristics for the high-risk bathing beaches.To explore mitigating effects of a tsunami disaster,this study simulated tsunami propagation with the addition of seawalls.The experimental results show that the tsunami prevention seawalls constructed in an appropriate shallow water location have some effect on reducing tsunami hazard.Seawalls separated by a certain distance work even better.The analysis results can provide a scientific reference for subsequent preventive measures such as facility construction and evacuation.

An improved plant prime editor for efficient generation of multiple-nucleotide variations and structural variations in rice

Dear Editor,The ability to manipulate single-nucleotide variations(SNVs),multiple-nucleotide variations(MNVs),and structural variations(SVs)in rice genomes is crucial for studying gene function and improving agricultural traits.Traditionally,these manipulations were achieved mainly through homology-directed repair,which has limited efficiency in plants.

Genuine tripartite entanglement and geometric quantum discord in entangled three-body Unruh-DeWitt detector system

We studied the quantum correlations of a three-body Unruh-DeWitt detector system using genuine tripartite entanglement(GTE)and geometric quantum discord(GQD).We considered two representative three-body initial entangled states,namely the GHZ state and the W state.We demonstrated that the quantum correlations of the tripartite system are completely destroyed at the limit of infinite acceleration.In particular,it is found that the GQD of the two initial states exhibits“sudden change”behavior with increasing acceleration.It is shown that the quantum correlations of the W state are more sensitive than those of the GHZ state under the effect of Unruh thermal noise.The GQD is a more robust quantum resource than the GTE,and we can achieve robustness in discord-type quantum correlations by selecting the smaller energy gap in the detector.These findings provide guidance for selecting appropriate quantum states and resources for quantum information processing tasks in a relativistic setting.

SEC1A and SEC6 synergistically regulate pollen tube polar growth

Pollen tube polar growth is a key physiological activity for angiosperms to complete double fertilization, which is highly dependent on the transport of polar substances mediated by secretory vesicles.The exocyst and Sec1/Munc18(SM) proteins are involved in the regulation of the tethering and fusion of vesicles and plasma membranes, but the molecular mechanism by which they regulate pollen tube polar growth is still unclear. In this study, we found that loss of function of SEC1A, a member of the SM protein family in Arabidopsis thaliana, resulted in reducing pollen tube growth and a significant increase in pollen tube width. SEC1A was diffusely distributed in the pollen tube cytoplasm, and was more concentrated at the tip of the pollen tube. Through coimmunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry screening,protein interaction analysis and in vivo microscopy,we found that SEC1A interacted with the exocyst subunit SEC6, and they mutually affected the distribution and secretion rate at the tip of the pollen tube. Meanwhile, the functional loss of SEC1A and SEC6 significantly affected the distribution of the SNARE(soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complex member SYP125 at the tip of the pollen tube, and led to the disorder of pollen tube cell wall components. Genetic analysis revealed that the pollen tube-related phenotype of the sec1a sec6 double mutant was significantly enhanced compared with their respective single mutants. Therefore, we speculated that SEC1A and SEC6 cooperatively regulate the fusion of secretory vesicles and plasma membranes in pollen tubes, thereby affecting the length and the width of pollen tubes.

How did the Tonga volcanic tsunami on January 15,2022,affect Chinese coasts?

At 12:15 on January 15,2022(Beijing time),a massive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano produced violent atmospheric fluctuations,which in turn generated a global tsunami through an abrupt air pressure shock upon the sea surface.Two main components of tsunami waves,phase-locked waves and free gravity waves,were identified by significant differences in propagating speeds across the deep ocean.The phase-locked wave propagated through the ocean basin synchronously with the atmospheric Lamb wave at an average speed of approximately 306 m/s,followed by the free gravity wave at a slower speed.The locked wave reached the coast of eastern Taiwan Island at about 20:00 on January 15,in coincidence with the Lamb wave arrival.However,on the coast of Chinese mainland,tidal gauges did not record tsunami signals until at least 2 h after the Lamb wave arrivals.Theoretical analyses and numerical experiments both suggested that as a result of the incoming wave shoaling above the vast continental shelf of Chinese mainland,the locked wave was no longer trapped by the air pressure shock and gradually transformed into freely-propagating shallow water waves by slowing down its propagation.Due to the longlasting planetary atmospheric fluctuations circling the earth many times,the sea level oscillations continuously propagated onto the Chinese shelf,which resulted in the tsunami waves excited along the Chinese coasts for at least 36 h.The maximum wave amplitude recorded on the coast of eastern Taiwan Island was 44 cm at Wushi,while on the coasts of eastern and southern Chinese mainland,the maximum amplitudes were 22 cm at Shipu and 13 cm at Zhuhai.Fourier and wavelet analyses were performed to identify the major components of the tsunami waves on the Chinese coasts.The results indicated that eastern Taiwan Island was impacted mainly by the waves with periods of approximately 10-40 min.Chinese mainland was hit by the evolved shallow water waves and subsequent free waves,with periods of approximately 40-100 and 16-20 min,respectively.

Construction of coxsackievirus B5 viruses with luciferase reporters and their applications in vitro and in vivo

Coxsackievirus belongs to the Picornaviridae family and is one of the major pathogens that cause hand,foot and mouth disease(HFMD)in infants and children with potential serious complications and even deaths.The pathogenesis of this virus is not fully elucidated and no vaccine or antiviral drug has been approved.In this study,a full-length infectious cDNA clone of coxsackievirus B5 virus was assembled and the recombinant virus displayed similar growth kinetics and ability to cause cytopathic effects as the parental virus.Luciferase reporter was then incorporated to generate both full-length and subgenomic replicon(SGR)reporter viruses.The full-length reporter virus is suitable for high-throughput antiviral screening,while the SGR is a useful tool to study viral-host interactions.More importantly,the full-length reporter virus has also been shown to infect the suckling mouse model and the reporter gene could be detected using an in vivo imaging system,thus providing a powerful tool to track viruses in vivo.In summary,we have generated coxsackievirus B5 reporter viruses and provided unique tools for studying virus-host interactions in vitro and in vivo as well as for high-throughput screenings(HTS)to identify novel antivirals.

Quantification of the redox properties of microplastics and their effect on arsenite oxidation

Microplastics have attracted global concern.The environmental-weathering processes control their fate,transport,transformation,and toxicity to wildlife and human health,but their impacts on biogeochemical redox processes remain largely unknown.Herein,multiple spectroscopic and electrochemical approaches in concert with wet-chemistry analyses were employed to characterize the redox properties of weathered microplastics.The spectroscopic results indicated that weathering of phenol-formaldehyde resins(PFs)by hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)led to a slight decrease in the content of phenol functional groups,accompanied by an increase in semiquinone radicals,quinone,and carboxylic groups.Electrochemical and wet-chemistry quantifications,coupled with microbial-chemical characterizations,demonstrated that the PFs exhibited appreciable electron-donating capacity(0.264-1.15 mmol e-g^(-1))and electron-accepting capacity(0.120-0.300 mmol e-g^(-1)).Specifically,the phenol groups and semiquinone radicals were responsible for the electron-donating capacity,whereas the quinone groups dominated the electron-accepting capacity.The reversible redox peaks in the cyclic voltammograms and the enhanced electron-donating capacity after accepting electrons from microbial reduction demonstrated the reversibility of the electron-donating and-accepting reactions.More importantly,the electron-donating phenol groups and weathering-induced semiquinone radicals were found to mediate the production of H2O2 from oxygen for arsenite oxidation.In addition to the H2O2-weathered PFs,the ozone-aged PF and polystyrene were also found to have electron-donating and arsenite-oxidation capacity.This study reports important redox properties of microplastics and their effect in mediating contaminant transformation.These findings will help to better understand the fate,transformation,and biogeochemical roles of microplastics on element cycling and contaminant fate.

酵母生物多样性开发及工业应用

酵母是一类包括酿酒酵母和非常规酵母在内的多种单细胞真菌的总称,其中酿酒酵母是应用较多的重要工业微生物,广泛应用于生物医药、食品、轻工和生物燃料生产等不同生物制造领域。近年来,研究者从不同生态环境中分离了大量的酵母菌株,鉴定了多个新种,也发现了抗逆性不同以及具有多种活性产物合成能力的菌株,证明天然酵母资源具有丰富的生物多样性和功能多样性。利用基因组挖掘以及转录组、蛋白组等多组学分析研究,可进一步开发利用酵母遗传多样性,获得酶和调节蛋白的基因以及启动子等遗传元件改造酵母菌株。除了利用酵母的天然遗传多样性,还可通过诱变、驯化、代谢工程改造及合成生物学等技术产生具有多种非天然多样性的菌株。此外,对天然遗传元件也可以进行突变和定向进化,所产生的新遗传元件可用于有效提升菌株的性能。开发利用酵母的生物多样性,对构建高效酵母细胞工厂,生产生物酶、疫苗以及多种活性天然产物等产品具有重要意义。文中对酵母生物多样性的研究现状进行综述,并对未来高效开发利用酵母菌株资源和遗传资源的研究进行了展望。文中所总结的研究方法和思路也可为研究其他工业微生物的多样性及进行高效菌株的选育提供参考。

Plant Prime Editors Enable Precise Gene Editing in Rice Cells

Genome editing is revolutionizing plant research and crop breeding.Sequence-specific nucleases(SSNs)such as zinc finger nuclease(ZFN)and TAL effector nuclease(TALEN)have been used to create site-specific DNA double-strand breaks and to achieve precise DNA modifications by promoting homology-directed repair(HDR)(Steinert et al.,2016;Voytas,2013).Later,RNA-guided SSNs such as CRISPR-Cas9,Cas12a,Cas12b,and their variants were applied for genome editing in plants(Li et al.,2013;Nekrasov et alM 2013;Tang et al.,2017;Zhong et al.,2019;Ming et al.,2020;Tang et al.,2019).However,HDR relies on simultaneous delivery of SSNs and DNA donors,which has been challenging in plants(Steinert et al.,2016;Zhang et aL,2019).Another challenge for realizing efficient HDR in plants is that DNA repair favors nonhomologous end joining(NHEJ)pathways over HDR in most cell types(Puchta,2005;Qi et al.,2013).

Advanced Electrospun Nanofibrous Materials for Efficient Oil/Water Separation

The frequent occurrence of crude oil leakage accidents and the massive discharge of industrial oily wastewater not only caused huge damage and pollution to the ecosystem but also wasted a lot of precious resources.Therefore,it is urgent to solve the worldwide problem of oil/water separation.As a leader in advanced fiber materials,nanofibrous materials prepared by electrospinning have the advantages of high permeability,high separation efficiency,large specific surface area,adjustable wettability,simple preparation process,and low cost,making it attracted more attention of researchers in oil/water separation.This article mainly reviews the recent progress of various electrospun nanofibrous materials for oil/water separation field.The preparation and synthesis of nanofibrous adsorbents,nanofibrous membranes,and nanofibrous aerogels in recent years based on different applications,design principles,and separation approaches are systematically summarized.Finally,this review discusses the challenges and future development directions in oil/water separation.

Hypercompact CRISPR–Cas12j2 (CasF) enables genome editing, gene activation, and epigenome editing in plants

CRISPR-Cas9,-Cas12a,-Cas12b,and-Cas13 have been harnessed for genome engineering in human and plant cells(Liu et al.,2022).However,the large size of these Cas proteins(e.g.190 kDa for SpCas9)makes them difficult to deliver into cells via a viral vector.The development of smaller Cas proteins will lead to reduced viral vector sizes that can be more widely adopted in versatile genome engineering systems.Recently,a CRISPR-Cas12j2(CasF)system was discovered in huge phages and developed into a hypercompact genome editor due to the small size of Cas12j2(80 kDa)(Pausch et al.,2020).Unfortunately,the gene editing efficiency of Cas12j2 in Arabidopsis protoplasts using ribonucleoprotein delivery was less than one percent(Pausch et al.,2020).Further optimization of this system is clearly required if CRISPR-Cas12j2-mediated editing in plant genomes is to be adopted by the plant sciences community.