Argonaute (AGO) proteins are the core of the RNA-induced gene silencing complex which regulate a wide variety of processes in plants, from organ development to abiotic stress responses.  They have been identified in many plants, but little is known in longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.), and how AGO functions in the signaling pathways in plant embryos in response to changing environmental stimuli remains unclear.  In the present research, a genome-wide analysis of the AGO gene family members and their roles in somatic embryogenesis (SE), zygotic embryogenesis (ZE), tissue developmental processes, and responses to hormones, light and abiotic stress in longan were conducted.  Ten longan AGO genes were identified genome-wide and divided into four clades.  They were distributed on chromosomes 1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15, and had 2–23 introns.  The expression profiling implied that DlAGOs regulated early and middle embryogenesis, as well as developmental processes of seed, flower, and stem in longan.  In addition, the transcript levels of DlAGOs in response to exogenous hormones, light and abiotic stress showed differences in expression patterns.  These results provide the useful information for further elucidation of RNAi-mediated gene silencing in longan embryogenic callus (EC).

This study evaluated the effects of palm fat powder (PFP) and coated folic acid (CFA) on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestibility, microbial enzyme activity, microflora, hepatic lipid content and gene expression in dairy bulls.  Forty-eight Chinese Holstein bulls ((362±12.4) days of age and (483±27.1) kg of body weight (BW)) were assigned to four groups in a completely randomized design with a 2×2 factorial arrangements.  Supplemental PFP (0 or 30 g PFP kg^–1 dietary dry matter (DM)) and CFA (0 or 120 mg FA d^–1 as CFA) were mixed into the top one-third of a total mixed ration.  The study included a 20-day adaptation period and followed by a 90-day collection period.  The lower (P<0.01) feed conversion ratio with PFP or CFA addition resulted from the constant DM intake and the higher (P<0.05) average daily gain.  The higher (P<0.05) ruminal pH, ether extract digestibility, microbial α-amylase activity, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens copy, and expression of peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT1), and lower ruminal total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, acetate to propionate ratio, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility, copies of total protozoa and Ruminococcus flavefaciens, and expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP1) and acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase α (ACACA) were observed for PFP addition.  Supplementation with CFA increased (P<0.05) ruminal total VFA concentration, acetate to propionate ratio, digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein and NDF, activity of cellobiase, pectinase and α-amylase, copies of selected microbial except for total protozoa, as well as expression of PPARα, but decreased (P<0.05) ruminal pH, and expression of SREBP1 and ACACA.  The PFP×CFA interaction (P<0.05) was observed for ammonia N, hepatic TG content, and mRNA expression of CPT1 and FAS.  There had no significant difference in hepatic TG content when CFA was supplemented in the diet without PFP addition, the lower (P=0.001) hepatic TG content was observed when CFA was supplemented in the diet with PFP addition.  The higher (P<0.05) mRNA expression of CPT1, and the lower (P<0.05) mRNA expression of FAS and ammonia N concentration were observed when CFA was supplemented in diet either without or with PFP addition.  The results indicated that supplementation of CFA in PFP diet was more effective on increasing hepatic CPT1 expression, and decreasing ammonia N, hepatic TG content and FAS expression than in diet without PFP.  Supplementation with PFP or CFA improved growth performance of dairy bulls by promoting nutrient utilization, microbial enzyme activity, microflora, and hepatic gene expression.

Soil temperatures at different depths down the soil profile are important agro-meteorological indicators which are necessary for ecological modeling and precision agricultural activities.  In this paper, using time series of soil temperature (ST) measured at different depths (0, 5, 10, 20, and 40 cm) at agro-meteorological stations in northern China as reference data, ST was estimated from land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from AQUA/TERRA MODIS data, and solar declination (Ds) in univariate and multivariate linear regression models.  Results showed that when daytime LST is used as predictor, the coefficient of determination (R2) values decrease from the 0 cm layer to the 40 cm layer.  Additionally, with the use of nighttime LST as predictor, the R2 values were relatively higher at 5, 10 and 15 cm depths than those at 0, 20 and 40 cm depths.  It is further observed that the multiple linear regression models for soil temperature estimation outperform the univariate linear regression models based on the root mean squared errors (RMSEs) and R2.  These results have demonstrated the potential of MODIS data in tandem with the Ds parameter for soil temperature estimation at the upper layers of the soil profile where plant roots grow in.  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at the synergistic use of