Targeted mutagenesis of amino acid transporter genes for rice quality improvement using the CRISPR/Cas9 system

High grain protein content(GPC) reduces rice eating and cooking quality(ECQ). We generated OsAAP6 and OsAAP10 knockout mutants in three high-yielding japonica varieties and one japonica line using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Mutation efficiency varied with genetic background in the T_0 generation, and GPC in the T_1 generation decreased significantly,owing mainly to a reduction in glutelin content. Amylose content was down-regulated significantly in some Osaap6 and all Osaap10 mutants. The increased taste value of these mutants was supported by Rapid Visco Analysis(RVA) profiles, which showed higher peak viscosity and breakdown viscosity and lower setback viscosity than the wild type. There were no significant deficiencies in agronomic traits of the mutants. Targeted mutagenesis of OsAAP6 and OsAAP10, especially OsAAP10, using the CRISPR/Cas9 system can rapidly reduce GPC and improve ECQ of rice, providing a new strategy for the breeding cultivars with desired ECQ.

Construction and Application of Knowledge Graph for Quality and Safety Supervision of Transportation Engineering

Knowledge graph technology play a more and more important role in various fields of industry and academia.This paper firstly introduces the general framework of the knowledge graph construction,which includes three stages:information extraction,knowledge fusion and knowledge processing.In order to improve the efficiency of quality and safety supervision of transportation engineering construction,this paper constructs a knowledge graph by acquiring multi-sources heterogeneous data from supervision of transportation engineering quality and safety.It employs a bottom-up construction strategy and some natural language processing methods to solve the problems of the knowledge extraction for transportation engineering construction.We use the entity relation extraction method to extract the entity triples from the multi-sources heterogeneous data,and then employ knowledge inference to complete the edges in the constructed knowledge graph,finally perform quality evaluation to add the valid triples to the knowledge graph for updating.Subgraph matching technology is also exploited to retrieve the constructed knowledge graph for efficiently acquiring the useful knowledge about the quality and safety of transportation engineering projects.The results show that the constructed knowledge graph provides a practical and valuable tool for the quality and safety supervision of transportation engineering construction.

Novel metabolic and physiological functions of branched chain amino acids: a review

It is widely known that branched chain amino acids（BCAA） are not only elementary components for building muscle tissue but also participate in increasing protein synthesis in animals and humans. BCAA（isoleucine, leucine and valine） regulate many key signaling pathways, the most classic of which is the activation of the m TOR signaling pathway. This signaling pathway connects many diverse physiological and metabolic roles. Recent years have witnessed many striking developments in determining the novel functions of BCAA including：（1） Insufficient or excessive levels of BCAA in the diet enhances lipolysis.（2） BCAA, especially isoleucine, play a major role in enhancing glucose consumption and utilization by up-regulating intestinal and muscular glucose transporters.（3）Supplementation of leucine in the diet enhances meat quality in finishing pigs.（4） BCAA are beneficial for mammary health, milk quality and embryo growth.（5） BCAA enhance intestinal development, intestinal amino acid transportation and mucin production.（6） BCAA participate in up-regulating innate and adaptive immune responses.In addition, abnormally elevated BCAA levels in the blood（decreased BCAA catabolism） are a good biomarker for the early detection of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. This review will provide some insights into these novel metabolic and physiological functions of BCAA.

Determination of nitrogen reduction levels necessary to reach groundwater quality targets in Slovenia

Within a collaborative project between Slovenian Environment Agency （ARSO） and Research Center Jfilich （FZJ）, nitrogen reduction levels necessary to reach groundwater quality targets in Slovenia were assessed. For this purpose the hydrological model GROWA- DENUZ was coupled with agricultural N balances and applied consistently to the whole territory of Slovenia in a spatial resolution of 100 x 100 m. GROWA was used to determine the water balance in Slovenia for the hydrologic period 1971-2000. Simultaneously, the displaceable N load in soft was assessed from agricultural Slovenian N surpluses for 2011 and the atmospheric N deposition. Subsequently, the DENUZ model was used to assess the nitrate degradation in soil and, in combination with the percolation water rates from the GROWA model, to determine nitrate concentration in the leachate. The areas showing predicted nitrate concentrations in the leachate above the EU groundwater quality standard of 50 mg NO3/L have been identified as priority areas for implementing nitrogen reduction measures. For these ＂hot spot＂ areas DENUZ was used in a backward mode to quantify the maximal permissible nitrogen surplus levels in agriculture to guarantee a nitrate concentration in percolation water below 50 mg NO3/L. Model results indicate that additional N reduction measures should be implemented in priority areas rather than area-covering. Research work will directly support the implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive in Slovenia, e.g., by using the maximal permissible nitrogen surplus levels as a framework for the derivation of regionally adapted and hence effective nitrogen reduction measures.

Multiyear analyses of ground-level air contaminants over Paris metropolitan region using real-time observations and air mass backward trajectories

For the years 2008-2013, particles of diameter 〈 10 and 2.5 μm （PM10 and PM2.5, respectively）, NOx, SO2, and O3 concentrations at urban, suburban, rural, and traffic sites in the Paris metropolitan area were analyzed. Strong spatial variability at traffic and rural sites and relatively uniform profiles at urban and suburban sites for PM10, PM2.5, and O3 were observed. The O3 weekend effect was induced by lower NOx emissions during the weekend, and favored volatile organic compounds （VOCs）-limited atmospheric conditions. In conJunction with low ambient temperature, these conditions could also favor increased formation of secondary particulate nitrates in winter. Winter air pollution events were associated with multiple pollutants, whereas those observed in spring were caused by high PM10 and PM2.5 levels. Back- ward trajectory analyses showed the contribution of sources in Western and Central Europe on days with high PM10, PM2.5, and O3, and a local/national comvonent for NOx and SO2.