Qingdao Agricultural University

This paper reports the genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a major crop plant, and a draft sequence for its closest wild relative; comparative genomics reveal very little divergence between the two genomes but some important differences with the potato genome, another important food crop in the genus Solanum. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant and a model system for fruit development. Solanum is one of the largest angiosperm genera1 and includes annual and perennial plants from diverse habitats. Here we present a high-quality genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a draft sequence of its closest wild relative, Solanum pimpinellifolium2, and compare them to each other and to the potato genome (Solanum tuberosum). The two tomato genomes show only 0.6% nucleotide divergence and signs of recent admixture, but show more than 8% divergence from potato, with nine large and several smaller inversions. In contrast to Arabidopsis, but similar to soybean, tomato and potato small RNAs map predominantly to gene-rich chromosomal regions, including gene promoters. The Solanum lineage has experienced two consecutive genome triplications: one that is ancient and shared with rosids, and a more recent one. These triplications set the stage for the neofunctionalization of genes controlling fruit characteristics, such as colour and fleshiness.

Recent advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology radically changed the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent various diseases in all aspects of human life. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most vital and fascinating nanomaterials among several metallic nanoparticles that are involved in biomedical applications. AgNPs play an important role in nanoscience and nanotechnology, particularly in nanomedicine. Although several noble metals have been used for various purposes, AgNPs have been focused on potential applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we discuss the synthesis of AgNPs using physical, chemical, and biological methods. We also discuss the properties of AgNPs and methods for their characterization. More importantly, we extensively discuss the multifunctional bio-applications of AgNPs; for example, as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, and anti-cancer agents, and the mechanism of the anti-cancer activity of AgNPs. In addition, we discuss therapeutic approaches and challenges for cancer therapy using AgNPs. Finally, we conclude by discussing the future perspective of AgNPs.

autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

Water is vital for plant growth and development. Water-deficit stress, permanent or temporary, limits the growth and the distribution of natural vegetation and the performance of cultivated plants more than any other environmental factors do. Although research and practices aimed at improving water-stress resistance and water-use efficiency have been carried out for many years, the mechanism involved is still not clear. Further understanding and manipulating plant-water relations and water-stress tolerance at the scale of physiology and molecular biology can significantly improve plant productivity and environmental quality. Currently, post-genomics and metabolomics are very important to explore anti-drought gene resource in different life forms, but modern agricultural sustainable development must be combined with plant physiological measures in the field, on the basis of which post-genomics and metabolomics will have further a practical prospect. In this review, we discussed the anatomical changes and drought-tolerance strategies under drought condition in higher plants.

During the last two decades, there has been broad interest in RNA-based technologies for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. Preclinical and clinical trials have shown that mRNA vaccines provide a safe and long-lasting immune response in animal models and humans. In this review, we summarize current research progress on mRNA vaccines, which have the potential to be quick-manufactured and to become powerful tools against infectious disease and we highlight the bright future of their design and applications.

The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a highly destructive agricultural and ornamental crop pest. It damages host plants through both phloem feeding and vectoring plant pathogens. Introductions of B. tabaci are difficult to quarantine and eradicate because of its high reproductive rates, broad host plant range, and insecticide resistance. A total of 791 Gb of raw DNA sequence from whole genome shotgun sequencing, and 13 BAC pooling libraries were generated by Illumina sequencing using different combinations of mate-pair and pair-end libraries. Assembly gave a final genome with a scaffold N50 of 437 kb, and a total length of 658 Mb. Annotation of repetitive elements and coding regions resulted in 265.0 Mb TEs (40.3%) and 20 786 protein-coding genes with putative gene family expansions, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on orthologs across 14 arthropod taxa suggested that MED/Q is clustered into a hemipteran clade containing A. pisum and is a sister lineage to a clade containing both R. prolixus and N. lugens. Genome completeness, as estimated using the CEGMA and Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs pipelines, reached 96% and 79%. These MED/Q genomic resources lay a foundation for future 'pan-genomic' comparisons of invasive vs. noninvasive, invasive vs. invasive, and native vs. exotic Bemisia, which, in return, will open up new avenues of investigation into whitefly biology, evolution, and management.

with target miRNAs impel the generation of RNA-DNA complexes, which separated from MOFs and allowed the electroactive dyes to be released. In comparison with the case when target miRNAs are absent, two stronger signals are recorded, and dependent on target miRNA concentrations. Thus, simultaneous detection of let-7a and minRNA-21 is achieved, with detection limits down to 3.6 and 8.2 fM, respectively, comparable or lower than those of reported strategies that concentrated on single miRNA detection. Moreover, the proposed biosensor has also been successfully applied for simultaneous detection of target miRNAs spiked in serum samples. Therefore, the proposed strategy was expected to provide more information for early and accurate cancer diagnosis and was an useful application in disease diagnosis and clinical biomedicine.

Abstract Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system 1 . Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests 2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced 6 and satellite-derived approaches 2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151–363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea 2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.

Traditional peroxidase-like nanozyme-based sensors suffer from self-decomposition and high toxicity of H2O2, as well as the interference of color from nanozymes themselves and testing samples. In this work, we adopt nanozymes (two-dimension (2D) MnO2 sheets, manganese dioxide nanosheets (MnNS)) with oxidase-like and peroxidase-like properties as advanced catalysts to develop a novel homogeneous electrochemical sensor for organophosphate pesticides (OPs) using dissolved O2 as a coreactant without the interference of H2O2 and color. Owing to the large surface area and unique catalytic activity of MnNS, a large amount of tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) is catalyzed oxidation, leading to a significantly declined differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) current. Obviously, MnNS display an excellent response to thiocholine, deriving from the catalyzing hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine (ATCh) by acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which switches a homogeneous electrochemical OP detection process based on the depressing AChE activity with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.025 ng mL–1. The as-proposed strategy on using nanozymes with oxidase-like and peroxidase-like properties to develop a homogeneous electrochemical sensor will provide a new pathway for improving the performance of nanozyme-based sensors, and the established MnNS-based homogeneous electrochemical sensor will find more applications for OP residue determination in food samples.

Carbon dots have attracted a great deal of attention because of their high performance, cheap and facile preparation, and potential applications in a wide area. In order to broaden their applications, especially to meet specific requirements, surface engineering, including tailoring surface functional group coating and subsequent chemical modification as required, is an effective strategy for further functionalization of carbon dots. In this article, representative approaches to coating the surface with various functional groups, and strategies for conjugating specific materials onto the surface of carbon dots for functional modification via covalent bonds, electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds are highlighted, as well as the results from explorations of their various applications in target modulated sensing, accurate drug delivery and bioimaging at high resolution.

The emergence of human infection with a novel H7N9 influenza virus in China raises a pandemic concern. Chicken H9N2 viruses provided all six of the novel reassortant's internal genes. However, it is not fully understood how the prevalence and evolution of these H9N2 chicken viruses facilitated the genesis of the novel H7N9 viruses. Here we show that over more than 10 y of cocirculation of multiple H9N2 genotypes, a genotype (G57) emerged that had changed antigenicity and improved adaptability in chickens. It became predominant in vaccinated farm chickens in China, caused widespread outbreaks in 2010-2013 before the H7N9 viruses emerged in humans, and finally provided all of their internal genes to the novel H7N9 viruses. The prevalence and variation of H9N2 influenza virus in farmed poultry could provide an important early warning of the emergence of novel reassortants with pandemic potential.

Antimicrobial resistance leads to failure of clinical antimicrobial therapy, and has raised urgent global public health concern. Humans can acquire antimicrobial resistance from drugs through the food chain or the environment (contaminated water, air, soil, or manure). While antimicrobials have been regular supplements in animal feed that maintain health and improve productivity of livestock, their over-use in feeding forage has led to a rise in antibacterial resistance. This review summarizes the current use of antimicrobials in livestock, the harmful effects of antimicrobial resistance, and the comprehensive combat measures.

Abstract Efficient electrocatalysts are key requirements for the development of ecofriendly electrochemical energy‐related technologies and devices. It is widely recognized that the introduction of vacancies is becoming an important and valid strategy to promote the electrocatalytic performances of the designed nanomaterials. In this review, the significance of vacancies (i.e., cationic vacancies, anionic vacancies, and mixed vacancies) on the improvement of electrocatalytic performances via three main functionalities, including tuning the electronic structure, regulating the active sites, and improving electrical conductivity, is systematically discussed. Recent achievements in vacancy engineering on various hotspot electrocatalytic processes are comprehensively summarized, with focus on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), and their further applications in overall water‐splitting and zinc–air battery devices. The recent development of vacancy engineering for other energy‐related applications is also summarized. Finally, the challenges and prospects of vacancy engineering to regulate the electrocatalytic performances of different electrochemical reactions are discussed.

Implementing carbon neutrality and emission peak policies requires a high-level electric vehicle field. Lithium-ion batteries have been considered an essential component of electric vehicle power batteries. Effective state of charge (SOC) estimation for lithium-ion batteries is a critical problem that needs to be addressed at present. With the feature extraction and fitting capability, the neural network can achieve accurate SOC estimation without considering the internal electrochemical state of the battery. This article overviews the definition of SOC and the relationship with battery aging state. Then, by examining recent literature on estimating the SOC of Lithium-ion batteries using neural network methods, the methods are classified into three categories: feed-forward neural network method, deep learning method, and hybrid method. The progress of neural network methods in SOC estimation applications is systematically reviewed, including principles, advantages, disadvantages, current status, and estimation errors. Possible recommendations for next-generation intelligent battery management systems and SOC estimation are also presented. This review's highlighted insights will inspire researchers in the battery field and point the way to developing electric vehicles.

The surge of patients in the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 may overwhelm the medical systems of many countries. Mask-wearing and handwashing can slow the spread of the virus, but currently, masks are in shortage in many countries, and timely handwashing is often impossible. In this study, the efficacy of three types of masks and instant hand wiping was evaluated using the avian influenza virus to mock the coronavirus. Virus quantification was performed using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Previous studies on mask-wearing were reviewed. The results showed that instant hand wiping using a wet towel soaked in water containing 1.00% soap powder, 0.05% active chlorine, or 0.25% active chlorine from sodium hypochlorite removed 98.36%, 96.62%, and 99.98% of the virus from hands, respectively. N95 masks, medical masks, and homemade masks made of four-layer kitchen paper and one-layer cloth could block 99.98%, 97.14%, and 95.15% of the virus in aerosols. Medical mask-wearing which was supported by many studies was opposed by other studies possibly due to erroneous judgment. With these data, we propose the approach of mask-wearing plus instant hand hygiene (MIH) to slow the exponential spread of the virus. This MIH approach has been supported by the experiences of seven countries in fighting against COVID-19. Collectively, a simple approach to slow the exponential spread of SARS-CoV-2 was proposed with the support of experiments, literature review, and control experiences.

The exosome has emerged as a promising noninvasive biomarker for the early diagnosis of cancer. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop simple, inexpensive, and user-friendly biosensors for convenient, sensitive, and quantitative exosome assay. Herein, we developed a simple and cost-efficient electrochemical biosensor by combining a metal–organic framework (MOF)-functionalized paper and a screen-printed electrode (SPE) for portable, ultrasensitive, and quantitative determination of cancer-derived exosomes. In principle, the biosensor relied on recognition of the exosome by Zr-MOFs and aptamer to initiate the hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and the formation of DNAzyme for signal amplification. Benefiting from the high signal amplification ability of HCR, the label-free paper-based biosensor is capable of ultrasensitive exosome assay with a detection limit down to 5 × 103 particles/mL, which is superior to that of most reported methods. Moreover, the proposed paper-based biosensor possessed the advantages of low cost, simple operation, and high sensitivity, making it affordable and deliverable for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis in resource-limited settings.

During the past decade, biofuel cells (BFCs) have emerged as an emerging technology on account of their ability to directly generate electricity from biologically renewable catalysts and fuels. Due to the boost in nanotechnology, significant advances have been accomplished in BFCs. Although it is still challenging to promote the performance of BFCs, adopting nanostructured materials for BFC construction has been extensively proposed as an effective and promising strategy to achieve high energy production. In this review, we presented the major novel nanostructured materials applied for BFCs and highlighted the breakthroughs in this field. Based on different natures of the bio-catalysts and electron transfer process at the bio-electrode surfaces, the fundamentals of BFC systems, including enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) and microbial fuel cells (MFCs), have been elucidated. In particular, the principle of electrode materials design has been detailed in terms of enhancing electrical communications between biological catalysts and electrodes. Furthermore, we have provided the applications of BFCs and potential challenges of this technology.

Semiconducting inorganic nanowires (NWs), nanotubes and nanofibers have been extensively explored in recent years as potential building blocks for nanoscale electronics, optoelectronics, chemical/biological/optical sensing, and energy harvesting, storage and conversion, etc. Besides the top-down approaches such as conventional lithography technologies, nanowires are commonly grown by the bottom-up approaches such as solution growth, template-guided synthesis, and vapor-liquid-solid process at a relatively low cost. Superior performance has been demonstrated using nanowires devices. However, most of the nanowire devices are limited to the demonstration of single devices, an initial step toward nanoelectronic circuits, not adequate for production on a large scale at low cost. Controlled and uniform assembly of nanowires with high scalability is still one of the major bottleneck challenges towards the materials and device integration for electronics. In this review, we aim to present recent progress toward nanowire device assembly technologies, including flow-assisted alignment, Langmuir-Blodgett assembly, bubble-blown technique, electric/magnetic- field-directed assembly, contact/roll printing, planar growth, bridging method, and electrospinning, etc. And their applications in high-performance, flexible electronics, sensors, photovoltaics, bioelectronic interfaces and nano-resonators are also presented.

Intellectual capital (IC) is considered to be a wealth generator and driver of financial performance thus creating competitive advantage and sustainability in business. This paper empirically investigates the impact of IC on financial performance and sustainable growth in the Korean manufacturing industry. Multiple regression models are applied with data collected from 390 manufacturing companies listed on the Korean Stock Exchange during 2012–2016. The results of the analysis show that IC has a positive impact on financial performance and companies’ sustainable growth. In addition, companies’ performance and sustainable growth are positively related to physical capital, human capital (HC), and relational capital (RC). RC is found to be the most influencing factor. Finally, innovative capital captures additional information on structural capital (SC) which negatively affects the performance of Korean manufacturing companies. The results extend the understanding of IC in creating corporate value and building sustainable advantages in emerging economies.

Abstract It is difficult and significant to realize the aim of “one‐pot” and “nonenzyme” for traditional colorimetric detection of blood glucose. The synthesis of nanomaterials with 2D morphology is also a challenge for the bovine serum albumin (BSA)‐directed method. Here, the BSA‐directed synthesis avenue for metal oxide with 2D nanomorphology is developed. MnO 2 nanoflakes (NFs) with controllable morphology can be obtained by changing the synthesis conditions. Fortunately, not only is the glucose oxidase (GO x )‐like nanozyme (MnO 2 NFs) discovered, but MnO 2 NFs also show dual enzyme activities (GO x ‐like activity and peroxidase‐like activity) in similar pH range. That is to say, a “tandem nanozyme” (nanomaterial with tandem enzyme‐like characteristics) is presented here. Further, the one‐pot nonenzymatic strategy is proposed for the colorimetric detection of glucose, where the oxidation of glucose and the colorimetric detection of H 2 O 2 are simultaneously conducted under the catalysis of the single nanozyme (MnO 2 NFs). The method shows high sensitivity, low limit of detection, and short detection time, due to the proximity effect and in situ reaction. The as‐synthesized 2D tandem nanozyme expands the species of nanozymes, and the proposed strategy breaks traditional colorimetric detection process, accomplishing the purposes of “one‐pot” and “nonenzyme” in the true sense.