Flower development and sexual dimorphism in Vernicia montana

The mu oil tree(Vernicia montana Lour.) is a dioecious species, but the genetic mechanisms underlying its phenotypic sexual dimorphism are unclear. In this study, we determined two pivotal phases of sex differentiation of mu oil tree via morphological and histological analyses of unisexual flowers:(Ⅰ) differentiation of male or female primordia to produce staminate flowers(SFs) or transient hermaphrodite flowers(HFs),and(Ⅱ) complete abortion of stamens in transient HFs to generate pistillate flowers(PFs). A total of 1621 sex-biased genes were identified by comparative transcriptome analysis which exhibited elevated rates of protein evolution than unbiased genes. The female-biased genes were enriched in the production of defense compounds while male-biased genes were focused on the production of viable pollens. Transcriptomebased analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes(DEGs) between PFs and SFs in phase Ⅰ involved in abscisic acid(ABA), auxin(AUX), cytokinin(CK), ethylene(ET), and gibberellin(GA) biosynthesis and signaling showed higher expression levels in males than in females in general, whereas the DEGs involved in jasmonic acid(JA) and salicylic acid(SA) pathways displayed opposite expression patterns. Moreover,differentially expressed endogenous ABA, AUX, GAs, JA, and SA exhibited consistent biased expression patterns with the DEGs by UPLC-MSbased analysis. Exogenous application of an anti-ethylene plant growth regulator could promote the development of stamens in PFs and generated HFs. Comparative transcriptomic and hormonal analyses of PFs and SFs in phase Ⅱ indicated an increase in ET concentration when abortion of stamens in PFs occurred. This study suggested that phytohormones play key roles in sex dimorphism and ET may determine the development of stamens in PFs of mu oil tree, which provides an insight into plant sex differentiation mechanisms.

Rapid Prototype Development Approach for Genetic Programming

Genetic Programming (GP) is an important approach to deal with complex problem analysis and modeling, and has been applied in a wide range of areas. The development of GP involves various aspects, including design of genetic operators, evolutionary controls and implementations of heuristic strategy, evaluations and other mechanisms. When designing genetic operators, it is necessary to consider the possible limitations of encoding methods of individuals. And when selecting evolutionary control strategies, it is also necessary to balance search efficiency and diversity based on representation characteristics as well as the problem itself. More importantly, all of these matters, among others, have to be implemented through tedious coding work. Therefore, GP development is both complex and time-consuming. To overcome some of these difficulties that hinder the enhancement of GP development efficiency, we explore the feasibility of mutual assistance among GP variants, and then propose a rapid GP prototyping development method based on πGrammatical Evolution (πGE). It is demonstrated through regression analysis experiments that not only is this method beneficial for the GP developers to get rid of some tedious implementations, but also enables them to concentrate on the essence of the referred problem, such as individual representation, decoding means and evaluation. Additionally, it provides new insights into the roles of individual delineations in phenotypes and semantic research of individuals.

Genetics, Development, and Application of Cytoplasmic Herbicide Resistance in Foxtail Millet

The effect of cytoplasmic herbicide resistant gene in millet plants was studied. The heterozygous populations and isogenic lines with homocaryotic alloplasmic genes were obtained by crossing and reciprocal crossing of cytoplasmic herbicide resistant plants with susceptive plants of foxtail millet. The characters of F1, F2, backcross and composite cross groups, and the growth and development of isogenic lines were compared. The cytoplasmic herbicide resistant gene slowed the development of seedling, delayed heading, and shortened the milking stage in the foxtail millet plant. Yield capacity and main agronomic characters were all affected by the cytoplasmic herbicide resistant gene in most of the backcross, composite cross, and F2 populations. However, there was stronger hybrid vigor in F1. The backcrosses, composite crosses, and F2 populations were widely separated and some of them had good characters similar to those of susceptive groups. The plant characters and development of foxtail millet were negatively affected by the cytoplasmic herbicide resistant gene. The authors proposed a method of using hybrid vigor to obtain high yield and avoid the negative effects of herbicide resistance cytoplasm in plant growth. The expected results could be obtained by selecting individuals in separate populations of fast developed seedlings, well-developed roots, and with capacities of early heading and fast milking. Guided by the principal mentioned above, many high yield lines and hybrid crosses of foxtail millet with herbicide resistant cytoplasm were obtained.

Genetics Research and Advance on Development and Utilization of Wild Boars

Wild boar is one of the most important beast resources. It plays an important role in the maintenance of biological diversity. The genetic resources of wild boar can not only protect the genetic resources, but also improve the formation of new breeds in pigs. This paper summarized the advance on the main biological characteristics of wild boars, evolutionary origin between wild boars and domesticated pigs, and development and utilization of wild boars aimed to provide further insight into wild boar＇s genetic research and its resource protection.

Identification and genetic mapping of four novel genes that regulate leaf development in Arabidopsis

Molecular and genetic characterizations of mutants have led to a better understanding of many developmental processes in the model system Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the leaf development that is specific to plants has been little studied. With the aim of contributing to the genetic dissection of leaf development, we have performed a large-scare screening for mutants with abnormal leaves. Among a great number of leaf mutants we have generated by T-DNA and transposon tagging and ethylmethae sulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis, four independent mutant lines have been identified and studied genetically. Phenotypes of these mutant lines represent the defects of four novel nuclear genes designated LL1 (LOTUS LEAF 1), LL2 (LOTUS LEAF 2), URO (UPRIGHT ROSETTE), and EIL (ENVIRONT CONDITION INDUCED LESION). The phenotypic analysis indicates that these genes play important roles during leaf development. FOr the further genetic analysis of these genes and the map-based cloning of LL1 and LL2, we have mapped these genes to chromosome regions with an efficient and rapid mapping method.

Pf-Dmrt4,a potential factor in sexual development in the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata

The mechanisms of sex determination and sex differentiation in the pearl oyster P inctada fucata are currently poorly understood. We therefore investigated the roles of orthologs of the D mrt gene family, key players in male gonad differentiation in mammals, in P. fucata sex diff erentiation and sexual development. Pf-Dmrt4 exhibits features typical of the D mrt family, and displays significant homologies to the DMRT4 cluster. Pf-Dmrt4 mRNA expression in the gonads during a gametogenic cycle, measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, was maximal in mature individuals. P f-Dmrt4 expression, demonstrated by in situ hybridization, was localized in the spermatozoa, spermatids, oocytes and vitellogenic oocytes. Knockdown of Pf-Dmrt4 with double-stranded RNA resulted in decreased mRNA expression levels. And Pf-Dmrt4-dsRNA-injected groups showed spawning-stage male gonads, with ruptured follicles and released spermatozoa. Our results enhance the understanding of sex determination and differentiation in P. fucata and suggest that Pf-Dmrt4 could be involved in male gonadal development, and maintenance of male gonadal function.

Earlier Menarche Can Be an Indicator of More Body Fat:Study of Sexual Development and Waist Circumference in Chinese Girls

Objective This paper aims to study the relationship between body fat and sexual development in Chinese girls with different waist circumference.Methods Six thousand one hundred and fifty six girls aged 6-19 were sampled.Their body weight,height,waist circumference,percentage of body fat and secondary sex characteristics were measured.All the subjects were divided into three groups：low class waist circumference,moderate class waist circumference and high class waist circumference.The menarche percentages were analyzed by using the status method.The menarche ages were analyzed by using the retrospective method.Estimates for mean age at entry into a pubertal stage and menarche were calculated by a probit analysis.Results The incidences of moderate class and high class waist circumstance were 20.94% and 25.27%,respectively.The sexual development of the former was earlier than that of the latter.The percentages of the menarche were detected as high classmoderate classlow class.The menarche ages were expressed as high classmoderate classlow class.Conclusion A close association is found between the waist circumference and sexual development,especially the menarche age.Girls with high class waist circumference are more vulnerable to earlier menarche and excess body fat.It is important to control the occurrence of central obesity through monitoring the change of waist circumference in puberty for girls＇ health.

Molecular Diagnosis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders in Burkina Faso

Sex development anomalies represent a group of congenital pathologies in which chromosomal, gonadal and anatomical sex differentiation is atypical. The aim of our study was to use molecular biology techniques to elucidate sex in cases of anomalies of sexual differentiation in Burkina Faso. This cross-sectional study took place from March 2023 to June 2023. Oral and blood samples were collected respectively using sterile swabs and stored on Swab Kits and NUCLEIcardTM (https://www.copangroup.com/product-ranges/nucleic-card/) were used to determine gonosome profiles. Extraction was carried out using the DNA Swap solution Kit and the DNA IQ System Kit, and a PowerPlex? 21 kit (Promega) for amplification. The Applied Biosystems 9700 thermal cycler was used for PCR followed by 36 cm capillary electrophoresis in the Applied Biosystems 3130 prism sequencer. Sequence files were analyzed using GeneMapper IDX v. 3.2 software. Seven (07) patients were registered during the study period. There were 4 cases of XX DSD or 46, XX DSD and 3 cases of XY DSD or 46, XY DSD. The median age of our patients was 16 years. Civilian sex was male in 4 cases and female in 3. The most frequent reason for consultation was micropenis in 3 cases, followed by primary amenorrhea and sex ambiguity. There were 03 cases of discrepancy between genetic sex and civil sex. The accessibility of molecular diagnosis is little known to clinicians. XX DSDs or 46, XX DSDs were the most frequent (4/7) in our study. The problem facing this situation is early diagnosis to help prevent complications in Burkina Faso.

The molecular genetics of PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway in the malformations of cortical development

Malformations of cortical development(MCD)are a group of developmental disorders characterized by abnormal cortical structures caused by genetic or harmful environmental factors.Many kinds of MCD are caused by genetic variation.MCD is the common cause of intellectual disability and intractable epilepsy.With rapid advances in imaging and sequencing technologies,the diagnostic rate of MCD has been increasing,and many potential genes causing MCD have been successively identified.However,the high genetic heterogeneity of MCD makes it challenging to understand the molecular pathogenesis of MCD and to identify effective targeted drugs.Thus,in this review,we outline important events of cortical development.Then we illustrate the progress of molecular genetic studies about MCD focusing on the PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway.Finally,we briefly discuss the diagnostic methods,disease models,and therapeutic strategies for MCD.The information will facilitate further research on MCD.Understanding the role of the PI3K/PTEN/AKT/mTOR pathway in MCD could lead to a novel strategy for treating MCD-related diseases.

Common Childhood Masturbation, But Different Sexual Attitudes in Three Male-at-Birth Adolescents: Possible Implications for Sexual Development

Although the child masturbation is recognized as not uncommon behavior, our understanding of normative sexual development in humans is fairly limited. To investigate the possible relationship between early childhood masturbation and subsequent sexual cognition, we retrospectively researched three adolescents who had been reared male and who masturbated in early childhood in similar ways, but had different subsequent sexual cognition. The three young people all recalled primary sexual pleasure from masturbation at age 4 or 5. Their distinctive sexual attitudes could be discerned at age 15 to 20. One was transgender, one was homosexual, and one was heterosexual. Combining recent findings of the neural mechanisms of sexual pleasure and cognition, it can be inferred that the early sexual pleasure in preschoolers might have little significance for the development of sexual cognition in adolescence.

Review of Problems of Adolescent Sexual Behavior and the Role of Millennium Development Goals 4, 5 and 6 in Nigeria

Introduction: The problems of adolescents’ sexual behavior are grave and far-reaching. Methods: Review of exiting literature via Google scholar, AJOL, Pubmed, HINARI and other relevant data bases on the common problems of adolescents’ inappropriate sexual behavior. Result: Adolescent sexual behavior could result in adolescent pregnancy which prevalence varies widely throughout Nigeria perhaps due to differences in culture and development. Abortion, the willful termination of pregnancy is another problem which is often undertaken for pregnancies resulting from incest and sexual abuse. Also common is trans-generational sex which occurs when an adolescent has non-marital sex in the last 12 months with a man who is at least 10 years older than her. Also related to this, is transactional sex found in both committed and casual relationships. It is not always done for survival because in some cultures, sex for favor is carried out for reasons other than subsistence. Furthermore, multiple sexual partners are the engagement in sex with more than one partner over a particular time frame. It may be sequential or concurrent. The high prevalence of these problems in Nigeria raises a question of the possibility of achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6 specifically targeted at reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases respectively. Conclusion: Policies and strategies such as family life and HIV/AIDs education (FLHE) curriculum on adolescent reproductive health should be pursued with greater vigor in our secondary schools in addition to establishing HIV counseling centers and vocational training programs for out-of-school adolescents. WHO support and commitment to key action areas for countries and member states will build and strengthen their capacity to improve reproductive and sexual health.

Industry Development and Genetic Resources Protection of Animal Husbandry in the World Selenium Capital Enshi Prefecture

Agricultural genetic resource is an important component of agricultural intellectual property. The protection of livestock genetic resources is related to sustainable development of animal husbandry and biodiversity. Enshi Prefecture enjoys a reputation of ＂world selenium capital＂, and has the important animal genetic resources of Enshi yellow cattle, Enshi black pig, Enshi horse-head goat, Jingyang chicken, Enshi bee, silkworm, etc. The prefecture is the best place for natural selenium-euriched livestock products. This paper introduces genetic resources and industry of animal husbandry in the prefecture, analyses the countermeasures of genetic resources protection and industry development, and further puts forward some constructive suggestions.

Effects of "Products of Chicken Embryo" on Growth and Sexual Development in Rats

Products of Chicken Embryo (PCE) such as Ji-Pei-Jing is a kind of food for Chinese children prepard from chicken embryo. Female rats on 21 days were administered with aqueous solutions of Ji-Pei-Jing (1. 2 %, 3 %, 12%, and 48%, respectively) by gavage up to their onsets of puberty.The rats in the control group were treated with distilled water. However, Ji-Pei-Jing treatment exerted some effects on sexual mauration in the immature female rats. Essentially, the effects showed a dose-response tendency with an inverted 'U' shape.The age of vopnal opening for gnup treated with Ji-Pei-Jing was significantly earier than that to the control. Its uterus weight/b. w. ratio also significantly increased on day 30 and at the first estrus. There were significantly increases in the adrenal weight/b. w. raio of 30-day-old rats that were treated with 3%, 12%, and 48% Ji-Pei-Jing. The rats treated with 48% Ji-Pei-Jing had significantly lesser ovary weight.b.w. radio on day 30, too. The rats treated with Ji-Pei-Jing could normally ovulate at the first estrus, and no significant differences were observed during estrous cycles.The effects of PCE on serum levels of K, P, LH in 30-day-old nds and FSH in 28-day-old ras were elevated significantly by 3 % Ji-Pei-Jing treatment. It appeare that the effects of PCE result from interaction of contained complex physiologically active substances. Steriods, especially estradio-17β,possibly Play a key role, and polpeptide hormones may also exert important effects.

Development Prospects of Genetic Engineering Pharmaceuticals

Human science and technology continue to advance over time.In the future,universal drugs will gradually fade out of our lives with the accumulation of time.With the advancement of genetic engineering,future genetic engineering drugs will be based on each difference and due to It differs from person to person,and the development of genetic engineering pharmaceuticals will make breakthroughs.

Genetic and Environmental Effects on the Bone Development of the Hand and Wrist in Chinese Young Twins

We assessed genetic and environmental effectson bone development of the hand and wrist, andon key anthropometric measures in Chinese youngtwins. In total, 139 monozygotic and 95 dizygotictwin pairs aged from 5 to 18 years were recruited.The twin correlations of total hand and wrist scoresfor monozygotic （MZ） and dizygotic （DZ） twins were0.71 and 0.36, respectively. Bivariate modelanalysis showed moderate genetic correlations onlyfor total skeletal maturity vs. weight and totalskeletal maturity vs. waist circumference （r, 0.51and 0.46, respectively）. Our findings demonstratedthat genetic factors played important roles in bonedevelopment of the hand and wrist in Chineseyoung twins, and that these genetic effects mightbe distinct from those influencing anthropometricmeasures.

Effects of the Integrated TCM-WM Treatment of Nephrotic Syndrome on Growth and Sexual Development

Fifty children with nephrotic syndrome were treated by using herbal drugs for nourishing yin to reduce pathogenic fire, strengthening qi and tonifying the kidney, and promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis in combination with glucocorticoid and immunodepressant. The body height, secondary sex characters, age of the first spermatorrhea for male and of menarche for female children, bone age measured with roentgenograms on the left wrist in 50 cases of the treatment group were compared with those in 31 cases of the control group treated by glucocorticoid and immunodepressant. The results showed that the delay of growth and sexual development as side-effects of glucocorticoid and immunodepressant were markedly reduced by the integrated TCM-WM treatment.

Selection of reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis of Phenacoccus solenopsis(Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) sex-dimorphic development

Mealybugs, such as Phenacoccus solenopsis, are highly sexually dimorphic. Winged adult males present such remarkable morphological differences from females that, to the untrained eye, conspecific adults of both sexes of P. solenopsis may be considered as two different insect species. A method to investigate sex-dimorphic mechanisms is by evaluating gene expression using RT-qPCR. However, the accuracy and consistency of this technique depend on the reference gene(s) selected. In this study, we analyzed the expression of 10 candidate reference genes in male and female P. solenopsis at different development stages, using common algorithms including the ?Ct method, NormFinder, geNorm, BestKeeper, and a web-based analysis tool, RefFinder. The results showed that EF1-β, RP-L32 and RP-18 S were selected as the most stable genes by both the ?Ct method and NormFinder; TUB-α was the most stable gene identified by BestKeeper; and RP-L40 and RP-L32 were the most stable genes ranked by geNorm. RefFinder, a comprehensive analysis software, ranked the ten genes and determined EF1-β and RP-L32 as the most suitable reference genes for the various developmental stages in male and female P. solenopsis. Furthermore, the two most suitable reference genes were validated by examining expression of the juvenile hormone acid O-methytransferase(JHAMT) gene. Results of the validation portion of the study showed that JHAMT expression was sex-biased towards males and exhibited a dynamic and classic expression pattern among the P. solenopsis developmental stages. The results can help further our knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying sexual dimorphic development in P. solenopsis.

No evidence for a genetic association between female mating preference and male secondary sexual trait in a Lake Victoria cichlid fish

Sexual selection by female mating preference for male nuptial coloration has been suggested as a driving force in the rapid speciation of Lake Victoria cichlid fish. This process could have been facilitated or accelerated by genetic associations between female preference loci and male coloration loci. Preferences, as well as coloration, are heritable traits and are probably determined by more than one gene. However, little is known about potential genetic associations between these traits. In turbid water, we found a population that is variable in male nuptial coloration from blue to yellow to red. Males at the extreme ends of the phenotype distribution resemble a reproductively isolated species pair in clear water that has diverged into one species with blue-grey males and one species with bright red males. Females of the turbid water population vary in mating preference coinciding with the male phenotype distribution. For the current study, these females were mated to blue males. We measured the coloration of the sires and male offspring. Parents-offspring regression showed that the sires did not affect male offspring coloration, which confirms earlier findings that the blue species breeds true. In contrast, male offspring coloration was determined by the identity of the dams, which suggests that there is heritable variation in male color genes between females. However, we found that mating preferences of the dams were not correlated with male offspring coloration. Thus, there is no evidence for strong genetic linkage between mating preference and the preferred trait in this population [Current Zoology 56 （1）： 57-64 2010].

Comparative Study on Effects of Low Energy N^+ Implantation and γ-ray Radiation on Heredity and Development of Arabidopsis Thaliana

In order to compare the contemporary and genetic variation effect on Arabidop-sis thaliana treated with N+ implantation and 7-ray radiation, the authors did some statistical comparison on the germinating rate and the development period, and analyzed the content of soluble proteins, the activity of some enzymes, isoenzymes profile, and along with the variation in genome DNA of two generations by RAPD. With N+ implantation there was an analogical 'saddle model' relationship between doses and the plant development, soluble proteins, the activity of some enzymes and isoenzymes profile. A certain connection might exist between the similar dose-effect relations among enzymes activity, isoenzymes profile and content of soluble proteins. Maybe, there also exists a certain connection between the mutants of development period and that of DNA variations, between the hereditability of the effect of N+ implantation on the isoenzymes, the activities of enzymes and the hereditability of DNA variations. So it is presumed that the implanted ions, maybe, have participated in metabolism process of organism including that of genome DNA, to consequently affect vital process, such as the changes of gene structure, gene expression manner and gene repair mechanism, and finally result in mutation on phenotype and molecular level. Furthermore, the results definitely showed that mutagenic mechanism induced by N+ implantation is very complicated and is much different from that induced by traditional 7-ray radiation.