The tea plant [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] is an industrial crop in China.  The Anhui Province has a long history of tea cultivation and has a large resource of tea germplasm with abundant genetic diversity.  To reduce the cost of conservation and utilization of germplasm resources, a core collection needs to be constructed.  To this end, 573 representative tea accessions were collected from six major tea-producing areas in Anhui Province.  Based on 60 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, phylogenetic relationships, population structure and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) were conducted.  Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the 573 tea individuals clustered into five groups were related to geographical location and were consistent with the results of the PCoA.  Finally, we constructed a core collection consisting of 115 tea individuals, accounting for 20% of the whole collection.  The 115 core collections were considered to have a 90.9% retention rate for the observed number of alleles (Na), and Shannon’s information index (I) of the core and whole collections were highly consistent.  Of these, 39 individuals were preserved in the Huangshan area, accounting for 33.9% of the core collection, while only 10 individuals were reserved in the Jinzhai County, accounting for 8.9% of the core set.  PCoA of the accessions in the tea plant core collection exhibited a pattern nearly identical to that of the accessions in the entire collection, further supporting the broad representation of the core germplasm in Anhui Province.  The results demonstrated that the core collection could represent the genetic diversity of the original collection.  Our present work is valuable for the high-efficiency conservation and utilization of tea plant germplasms in Anhui Province

The trichomes of rice leaves are formed by the differentiation and development of epidermal cells.  Plant trichomes play an important role in stress resistance and protection against direct ultraviolet irradiation.  However, the development of rice trichomes remains poorly understood.  In this study, we conducted ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS)-mediated mutagenesis on the wild-type (WT) indica rice ‘Xida 1B’.  Phenotypic analysis led to the screening of a mutant that is defective in trichome development, designated lhl1 (less hairy leaf 1).  We performed map-based cloning and localized the mutated gene to the 70-kb interval between the molecular markers V-9 and V-10 on chromosome 2.  The locus LOC_Os02g25230 was identified as the candidate gene by sequencing.  We constructed RNA interference (LHL1-RNAi) and overexpression lines (LHL1-OE) to verity the candidate gene.  The leaves of the LHL1-RNAi lines showed the same trichome developmental defects as the lhl1 mutant, whereas the trichome morphology on the leaf surface of the LHL1-OE lines was similar to that of the WT, although the number of trichomes was significantly higher.  Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis revealed that the expression levels of auxin-related genes and positive regulators of trichome development in the lhl1 mutant were down-regulated compared with the WT.  Hormone response analysis revealed that LHL1 expression was affected by auxin.  The results indicate that the influence of LHL1 on trichome development in rice leaves may be associated with an auxin pathway.

High-yield rice varieties with a suitable growth duration are required for mechanical transplanting in multiple cropping systems.  Daily yield is an appropriate criterion for the selection of machine-transplanted rice varieties.  The aim of this study was to investigate the growth characteristics and grain production in machine-transplanted medium indica hybrid rice with a high daily yield.  We conducted a field experiment on 20 medium indica hybrid rice varieties in 2017 and 2018.  Grain yield decreased significantly with growth duration between jointing and heading, but it increased with dry matter accumulation, growth rate between jointing and heading, dry matter partitioning to the stem plus sheath at heading, daily yield, and number of spikelets per panicle.  Compared with the medium and low daily yield variety types, the high daily yield variety type increased shoot biomass by improving crop growth rate and dry matter accumulation amount between jointing and heading and after heading.  The high daily yield variety type decreased the growth duration pre-heading and the proportions of dry matter partitioned to the leaf lamina at heading and maturity, but it also increased the post-heading accumulated dry matter in the grain and the remobilization of dry matter stored in the vegetative organs.  Furthermore, the high daily yield variety type significantly increased the occurrence rate of tillers, which is beneficial for the formation of a larger panicle size and an increase in the grain-filling rate.  These changes contributed to a 6.51–23.16% relative increase in grain yield of the high daily yield variety type.  In conclusion, the selection of high daily yield indica hybrid rice varieties with shorter pre-heading growth duration, greater tiller occurrence rate and spikelet numbers per panicle, higher post-jointing growth rates and stem plus sheath dry matter accumulation at heading is suitable for machine-transplanted rice.

Although it is usually latent on citrus, apple, and pear, apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) poses a great risk to many sensitive cultivars.  Since severe leaf yellow mottle mosaic (LYMM) symptoms have been observed on Huangjinmiyou (HJY) pummelos (Citrus grandis cv. Huangjinmiyou), a commercial variety that is widely cultivated in South China, high throughput sequencing (HTS) was used to find potential pathogens and only three divergent ASGV variants were identified.  The three ASGV variants shared 81.03–82.34% genome-wide pairwise identities with each other, and were separately closest to other ASGV variants from different hosts and/or geographical regions, as indicated by viral phylogenies.  However, these new variants may have developed from viral interstrain interactions, based on the results of recombination analysis.  A large-scale survey using reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) protocols designed for the three ASGV variants revealed a high incidence (92.7–100%) of ASGV in symptomatic HJY trees from 11 major citrus-producing regions in China.  None of ASGV were detected in asymptomatic trees.  Temperature treatments applied to the symptomatic HJY plants showed that ASGV is sensitive to high temperatures (30–35°C), at which not only the plants recovered, but also the viruses were not detected by RT-PCR, while at low temperatures (20–24°C), both the symptoms and viruses remained detectable.  These data show that ASGV is associated with the LYMM disease prevalent on HJY in China, and this is the significant basis especially of taking appropriate measures timely to manage the disease.  

Obesity presents a serious threat to human health and broiler performance.  The expansion of adipose tissue is mainly regulated by the differentiation of preadipocytes.  The differentiation of preadipocytes is a complex biological process regulated by a variety of transcription factors and signaling pathways.  Previous studies have shown that the transcription factor HMG-box protein 1 (HBP1) can regulate the differentiation of mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocytes by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.  However, it is unclear whether HBP1 involved in chicken preadipocyte differentiation and which signaling pathways it regulates.  The aim of the current study was to explore the biological function and molecular regulatory mechanism of HBP1 in the differentiation of chicken preadipocytes.  The expression patterns of chicken HBP1 in abdominal adipose tissue and during preadipocyte differentiation were analyzed by RT-qPCR and Western blot.  The preadipocyte stably overexpressing HBP1 or knockout HBP1 and their control cell line were used to analyze the effect of HBP1 on preadipocyte differentiation by oil red O staining, RT-qPCR and Western blot.  Cignal 45-Pathway Reporter Array was used to screen the signal pathways that HBP1 regulates in the differentiation of chicken preadipocytes.  Chemical inhibitor and siRNA for signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) were used to analyze the effect of STAT3 on preadipocyte differentiation.  The preadipocyte stably overexpressing HBP1 was transfected by the siRNA of STAT3 or treated with a chemical inhibitor of STAT3 for the rescue experiment.  The results of gene expression analysis showed that the expression of HBP1 was related to abdominal fat deposition and preadipocyte differentiation in chickens.  The results of function gain and loss experiments indicated that overexpression/knockout of HBP1 in chicken preadipocytes could inhibit/promote (P<0.05) lipid droplet deposition and the expression of adipogenesis-related genes.  Mechanismlly, HBP1 activates (P<0.05) the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway by targeting janus kinase 2 (JAK2) transcription.  The results of functional rescue experiments indicated that STAT3 signaling mediated the regulation of HBP1 on chicken preadipocyte differentiation.  In conclusion, HBP1 inhibits chicken preadipocyte differentiation by activating the STAT3 signaling pathway via directly enhancing JAK2 expression.  Our findings provided new insights for further analysis of the molecular genetic basis of chicken adipose tissue growth and development.

This study attempted to clarify the carrying-over effect of different nitrogen treatments applied to the main crop on the crop population growth and yield formation of ratoon rice under mechanized cultivation in Southeast China.  Based on the constant total nitrogen application amounts (225.00 kg ha^–1) in the main crop, an experiment with different ratios of basal and topdressing nitrogen fertilizer (the ratio of basal fertilizer:primary tillering fertilizer:secondary tillering fertilizer:booting fertilizer at 3:1:2:4 (N1), 3:2:1:4 (N2), 3:3:0:4 (N3), and 4:3:0:3 (N4), respectively, and a control without nitrogen treatment (N0)) was set up across two consecutive years in field using hybrid rice variety Yongyou 1540 as the test materials.  The results showed that the total tiller number and effective tillering percentage increased in the main crop under the N1 treatment, more nitrogen fertilizer applied in late growth stage of the main crop, and its effective tillering percentage of the main crop was the highest at up to 70.18%, which was 9.15% higher than that of conventional fertilization treatment (N4), more nitrogen fertilizer applied in early growth stage of the main crop.  The same tendency was observed in leaf area index (LAI) value of the main crop and its subsequent ratoon rice, which were 16.52 and 29.87% higher, respectively, in the N1 treatment than that in the N4 treatment at the full heading stage.  The same was true in the case of the transport rates of stem and sheath dry mater and the canopy light interception rates in both the main and its ratoon crops.  The transport rate of stem and sheath in main crop rice under N1 treatment increased by 50.57% compared with N4 treatment.  The canopy light interception rate of N1 treatment increased by 5.07% compared with N4 treatment at the full heading stage of the ratoon crop.  Therefore, the total actual yield was the highest in the main and its ratoon crops under N1 treatment, averaging 17 351.23 kg ha^–1 in two-year trials, which was 23.00% higher than that in the conventional fertilization treatment (N4).  The results showed that appropriate nitrogen treatment was able to produce a good crop stand in the main crop, which was essential for producing a good ratoon crop population and high yield especially under mechanized cultivation with low stubble height of the main crop.  The study suggested that shifting the proper nitrogen application amounts to the late growth stage of the main crop, such as N1 treatment, not only had a higher productive effect on ensuring the yield of the main crop, but also had a positive effect on the axillary bud sprouts from the stubbles for ratoon rice, resulting in an increased percentage of productive panicles and achieving the goal of one planting with two good harvests under the conditions of our study.

Myostatin (MSTN) gene negatively controls skeletal muscle development and growth, variations of which play an important role in the regulation of skeletal muscle growth in mammals.  However, study on genetic polymorphism of MSTN gene in donkey is limited.  In this study, we screened the single nucleotide polymorphsims (SNPs) of MSTN gene in 13 Chinese donkey breeds.  Four novel SNPs (g.229T>C, g.872A>G, g.2014G>A, and g.2395C>G) were detected and genotyped by sequencing and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods.  Six haplotypes (H1–H6) were analyzed, which indicated abundant haplotype diversities in Chinese donkeys.  The haplotype H1 was the most dominant and ancient in all breeds.  Xinjiang donkey displayed the highest haplotype diversity.  The Neighbour-Joining (NJ) tree of MSTN gene among different species was constructed.  The clustering result of nine species was consistent with the fact of species differentiation.  Our results will provide a reliable theoretical basis for the preservation, exploration and utilization of Chinese donkey genetic resources.

    The sclerotia of Villosiclava virens were found commonly in high altitude and the temperate regions, where the temperatures are relatively low in rice filling stage. To make sure if low temperature induce the sclerotial formation in V. virens, the inoculated rice panicles in laboratory and the diseased rice panicles cut from paddy fields were treated under different temperatures. The results showed that 3 days of night temperature at 15°C were enough to induce the sclerotial formation. The low temperature was much more effective for young balls with intact membranes. After appearance of chlamydospores on the ball surfaces, the sclerotium could not differentiate anymore. The sclerotia began to differentiate below the chlamydospore layer and gradually grew onto the ball surfaces. This suggests that low temperature in the early development stage of false smut balls is an important factor to induce the sclerotial differentiation, and rice cultivars with long growth periods are able to produce more sclerotium-bearing balls, which will produce mass of spores in paddy field in the coming year.

Rice false smut is caused by ascomycete Villosiclava virens, whose potential alternative hosts have been assumed previously. Here its potential alternative hosts were surveyed and identified from 2008 to 2013 in the main rice-growing regions in China. Two common weeds in paddy fields, Digitaria sanguinalis Scop. and Echinochloa crusgalli (L.) Beauv., were found to present the similar symptoms to smut diseases in a few individuals in 2012 and 2013 in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces of China, respectively. After the examinations of the spore morphology, their infection and extension mode in hosts, pathogen cell wall components, and molecular identification, the two pathogens were identified to be the Basidiomycetes, Ustilago syntherismae and Ustilago trichophora, respectively. So far there has been no alternative host of V. virens to be identified in China. These suggest that the alternative hosts of V. virens, if they do exist, are not possible to play an important role in the pathogen life cycle and the disease epidemics.

The complete nucleotide sequence of an isolate of Citrus vein enation virus (CVEV-XZG) from China has been determined for the first time. The genome consisted of 5 983 nucleotides, coding for five open reading frames (ORFs), had a similar genomic organization features with Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV). Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence identity of the five ORFs compared to isolate CVEV VE-1 range from 97.1 to 99.0% and 97.4 to 100.0%, these values compared to isolate PEMV-1 range from 45.2 to 51.6% and 31.1 to 45.2%. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome sequence showed that the isolate CVEV-XZG had close relationship with Pea enation mosaic virus. The results supports CVEV may be a new member of genus Enamovirus. The full sequence of CVEV-XZG presented here may serve as a basis for future study of CVEV in China.

Paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 1 (PITX1) plays an important role in pituitary development by indirectly regulating the expression of the GH and PRL genes, and therefore PITX1 gene is regarded as a potential candidate gene for building the relationship between the gene polymorphism and milk traits. The aim of this study was to explore the novel genetic variant in PITX1 gene and its effect on milk performance in dairy goats. Herein, a novel genetic variation (NW_00314033: g.201G>A or IVS1+41G>A) located at nt41 position of the first intron of the goat PITX1 gene was reported at the P1 locus, which can be genotyped by the Msp I PCR-RFLP. In the Msp I PCR-RFLP analyis, the GG variant was a major genotype, and the A variant was a minor allele in Guanzhong dairy goats which was at Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (chi-square c2=140, P<0.01). The establishment of associations between different genotypes and milk performance was performed in the analyzed population. A total of three significant associations of the polymorphism with average milk fat content (%) (P=0.045), morning milk fat content (%) (P=0.049), and afternoon milk fat content (%) (P=0.050), were found, respectively. A significant relationship between the polymorphism and average total solid content (P=0.029) was also detected. This novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) extended the spectrum of genetic variation of the goat PITX1 gene, and its significant association with milk performance would benefit from the application of DNA markers related to improving milk performance through marker-assisted selection (MAS) in dairy goats.

Visfatin, like insulin, induces phosphorylation of signal transduction proteins that operatate downstream of the insulin receptor. The present study is focused on detecting deletion of visfatin gene and analyzing its effect on growth traits in six Chinese cattle breeds (Nangyang, Luxi, Qinchuan, Jiaxian Red, Grassland Red, and Chinese Holstein) using DNA sequencing, PCR-SSCP and PCR-RFLP methods. For the first time, a 6-bp deletion of visfatin was described and two alleles were revealed: W and D. The χ2-test analysis demonstrated that all breeds were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05). The associations of the novel 6-bp deletion of visfatin gene with growth traits of Nanyang cattle at 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-mon-old were analyzed. Birth weight, 12- and 24-mon-old cattle with genotype WW had greater birth weight and average daily gain than genotype WD (P<0.01 or P<0.05). These results suggest that the deletion may influence the birth weight and bodyweight in 12 mon-old cattle.

Identification and counting of rice light-trap pests are important to monitor rice pest population dynamics and make pest forecast. Identification and counting of rice light-trap pests manually is time-consuming, and leads to fatigue and an increase in the error rate. A rice light-trap insect imaging system is developed to automate rice pest identification. This system can capture the top and bottom images of each insect by two cameras to obtain more image features. A method is proposed for removing the background by color difference of two images with pests and non-pests. 156 features including color, shape and texture features of each pest are extracted into an support vector machine (SVM) classifier with radial basis kernel function. The seven-fold cross-validation is used to improve the accurate rate of pest identification. Four species of Lepidoptera rice pests are tested and achieved 97.5% average accurate rate.

A total of 408 inbred rice cultivars bred in the last decade were analyzed for 24 SSR markers. The results showed the genetic diversity of indica cultivars was higher than that of japonica cultivars, and the genetic diversity of new cultivars raised in recent years was lower. Among the six rice cropping regions (RCRs) in China, genetic diversity was the highest in the central rice region (RCR-II) and the southwest rice region (RCR-III). Genetic differences among subpopulations of japonica were more complex than those in indica. Differentiation among seasonal ecotypes and RCRs in indica populations was unclear, but differentiation between RCR-II and northeast rice region (RCR-V) was more distinct for japonica cultivars. Considering the North rice region (RCR-IV) has very low genetic diversity among the tested cultivars, it is important to broaden the genetic background for future cultivars in rice breeding programs.

Orexin is an important neuropeptide that influences livestock’s appetite and food intake and is closely related withlivestock’s growth and development. The variations in the orexin gene 5´ regulatory region might have an influence onthe gene expression. Based on the hypothesis, five overlapped fragments including 1 794 bp of orexin gene 5´ regulatoryregion were investigated for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing in threeindigenous cattle populations. A total of five SSCP patterns observed revealed ten SNPs in the region. Two SSCP patternsgenotypes (A and B) were exhibited in O-2 fragment and three (A, B and C) were found in O-5 fragment. O-2 contained fourSNPs, viz., -583 T>C, -479 C>T, -474 A>T, and -451 A>G. In another lous O-5, six SNPs were identified (-1 610 C>G,-1 585 G>A, -1 550 T>C, -1 548 A>C, -1 438 C>T, and -1 431 C>A). Seven SNPs were found in transcription factor bindingsites and four out of them existed in the core sequences. The SNPs at -479, -474 and -451 did not change the putativerecognition core sequences of their factors. But the mutation at -583 changed the binding sequence of EVI1 into NFA andcreated one new binding site for ZFHX simultaneously. In three populations, the frequencies of A, B and C genotypesof O-2 were 0.2367, 0.4842 and 0.2791, respectively. And the A pattern of O-5 was preponderant (0.7549) and the other Bpattern was not (0.2451). But the frequencies of different SSCP variants varied across three cattle populations. Bgenotype in O-2 had significant associations to body weight (BW) and daily weight gain (DWG) in Nanyang cattle 6- and12-mon aged and might serve as one potential candidate genetic marker for growth and development.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential for normal growth in mammals, especially the ω-3 PUFAs, which play important roles in preventing several life-threatening diseases, such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the sFat-1 gene from Caenorhabditis briggsae could be functionally expressed in transgenic pigs, and whether the transgenic could synthesize high quality ω-3 PUFAs endogenously. In this study, a gene construct consisting of CMV promoter and 1.9 kb cDNA of ω-3 fatty acid desaturase gene (sFat-1) from C. briggsae was injected into the male pronucleus of pig embryos by microinjection. The piglets were screened for the transgene by PCR, Southern blot and reverse transcription-PCR analysis. Pigs that give positive results were mated with wild-type pigs to produce the next generation and the transmission of transgene was examined by PCR analysis. Fatty acids compositions of various tissues in the transgenic pigs were then analyzed by gas chromatograph. A total of 878 embryos were transferred into 42 recipients, among which 29 successfully got pregnant and gave birth to a total of 162 piglets, and 8 of them were identified to be transgenic. Fatty acid compositions in the transgenic pigs were altered, and the levels of ω-6: ω-3 ratios were decreased from 14.53 in the control to 2.62 in Fat-1 transgenic pigs. A number of primary sFat-1-transgenic pigs were bred in this study, which lays the foundation for cultivation of new varieties of transgenic pigs.

Agromyzid leafminers cause significant economic losses in both vegetable and horticultural crops, and precise assessments of pesticide needs must be based on the extent of leaf damage. Traditionally, surveyors estimate the damage by visually comparing the proportion of damaged to intact leaf area, a method that lacks objectivity, precision, and reliable data traceability. To address these issues, an advanced survey system that combines augmented reality (AR) glasses with a camera and an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm was developed in this study to objectively and accurately assess leafminer damage in the field. By wearing AR glasses equipped with a voice-controlled camera, surveyors can easily flatten damaged leaves by hand and capture images for analysis. This method can provide a precise and reliable diagnosis of leafminer damage levels, which in turn supports the implementation of scientifically grounded and targeted pest management strategies. To calculate the leafminer damage level, the DeepLab-Leafminer model was proposed to precisely segment the leafminer-damaged regions and the intact leaf region. The integration of an edge-aware module and a Canny loss function into the DeepLabv3+ model enhanced the DeepLab-Leafminer model's capability to accurately segment the edges of leafminer-damaged regions, which often exhibit irregular shapes. Compared with state-of-the-art segmentation models, the DeepLab-Leafminer model achieved superior segmentation performance with an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 81.23% and an F₁ score of 87.92% on leafminer-damaged leaves. The test results revealed a 92.38% diagnosis accuracy of leafminer damage levels based on the DeepLab-Leafminer model. A mobile application and a web platform were developed to assist surveyors in displaying the diagnostic results of leafminer damage levels. This system provides surveyors with an advanced, user-friendly, and accurate tool for assessing agromyzid leafminer damage in agricultural fields using wearable AR glasses and an AI model. This method can also be utilized to automatically diagnose pest and disease damage levels in other crops based on leaf images.