Water-saving rice systems must maintain yield targets while reducing water consumption. Applying biodegradable film to cover the soil surface reduces water loss through evapotranspiration, establishing a warmer, more humid microenvironment for rice growth compared to traditional paddy rice systems.  This study examined soil water regimes for rice production in Northeast China, comparing rice growth with and without biodegradable mulch film under continuous flooding, drip irrigation, and controlled irrigation conditions.  The implementation of biodegradable mulch film elevated soil temperature and sustained soil moisture during early rice development.  Continuous flooding with biodegradable mulch film yielded the highest rice production (9.4 Mg ha^–1) and net profit of approximately 11,800 CNY ha^–1.  Drip irrigation with biodegradable mulch film achieved maximum water efficiency, demonstrating the highest water productivity (1.25 kg m^–3) and minimum water consumption (235 mm).  Root length, weight, and surface area in the 0–40 cm soil layer exhibited positive correlations with water productivity, shoot dry matter, and yield, indicating that root morphological characteristics, particularly during the panicle initiation stage, enhanced rice production and water conservation.  The findings demonstrate that biodegradable mulch film created favorable soil conditions for root proliferation, enabling higher yields in water-saving rice systems.

Genetic improvement of meat production traits has always been the primary goal of pig breeding.  Geographical isolation, natural and artificial selection led to significant differences in the phenotypes of meat production traits between Chinese local pigs and Western commercial pigs.  Comparative genomics and transcriptomics analysis provided powerful tools to identify genetic variants and genes associated with skeletal muscle growth.  However, the number of available genetic variants and genes are still limited.  In this study, a comprehensive comparison of transcriptomes showed that ribosomal protein S27-like (RPS27L) gene was highly expressed in skeletal muscle and up-regulated in Chinese local pigs when compared with Western commercial pigs.  Functional analysis revealed that overexpression of RPS27L promoted myoblast proliferation and repressed differentiation in pig skeletal muscle cells.  Conversely, the knockdown of RPS27L led to the inhibition of myoblast proliferation and the promotion of differentiation.  Notably, a 13-bp insertion-deletion (InDel) mutation was identified within the RPS27L promoter, inserted in Chinese local breeds and predominantly deleted in Western commercial breeds.  Luciferase reporter assay suggested this InDel modulated RPS27L expression by influencing transcription factor 3 (TCF3) and myogenic differentiation antigen (MYOD) binding to the promoter.  Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between RPS27L expression and backfat thickness.  Association studies demonstrated this InDel was significantly associated with the body weight of pigs at the age of 240 d.  Together, our results suggested that RPS27L was a regulator of skeletal muscle development and growth, and was a candidate marker for improving meat production traits in pigs.  This study not only provided a biomarker for animal breeding, but also was helpful for understanding skeletal muscle development and muscular disease in humans.

Chinese cabbage is an economically important Brassica vegetable worldwide, and clubroot, which is caused by the soil-borne protist plant pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae is regarded as a destructive disease to Brassica crops.  Previous studies on the gene transcripts related to Chinese cabbage resistance to clubroot mainly employed RNA-seq technology, although it cannot provide accurate transcript assembly and structural information.  In this study, PacBio RS II SMRT sequencing was used to generate full-length transcriptomes of mixed roots at 0, 2, 5, 8, 13, and 22 days after P. brassicae infection in the clubroot-resistant line DH40R.  Overall, 39 376 high-quality isoforms and 26 270 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified from the SMRT sequencing data.  Additionally, 426 annotated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), 56 transcription factor (TF) families, 1 883 genes with poly(A) sites and 1 691 alternative splicing (AS) events were identified.  Furthermore, 1 201 of the genes had at least one AS event in DH40R.  A comparison with RNA-seq data revealed six differentially expressed AS genes (one for disease resistance and five for defensive response) that are potentially involved in P. brassicae resistance.  The results of this study provide valuable resources for basic research on clubroot resistance in Chinese cabbage.

Understanding the genetic changes behind the phenotypic variation of Chinese donkeys is helpful to the genetic improvement and breeding of donkeys. However, the population structure and novel genes associated with morphological (coat color and body size) and adaptive (high-altitude adaptation) traits of Chinese donkeys remain largely unknown. Here, we analyzed 391 whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data of Chinese donkeys. Population genomic analyses showed that Chinese native donkey breeds mainly consist of three distinct populations (Southwest plateau, North plain, and Guanzhong plain), and a newly discovered population (Guanzhong plain) was identified. Moreover, we characterized a high-confidence list of 127, 117, and 169 selective signal genes for coat color, body size, and high-altitude adaptation, respectively. We discovered ARID3B gene with strong signals of selection, which may account for coat color in Chinese donkeys. Our study identified EPAS1 as a high-altitude adaptive gene. However, the FAM184B gene shows a stronger signal in response to high-altitude environments in Chinese donkeys. The selective sweep and GWAS analysis showed that LCORL and TMEM154 genes are potentially associated with body size in Chinese donkeys. Utilizing PacBio HiFi sequencing data, this study presents 15,954 highly reliable structural variations (SVs) between large-sized and small-sized donkeys. Utilizing SV data and a graph-based method, we identified an 880-bp deletion in the TMEM154 gene in Sichuan donkeys (small-sized) compared to Guanzhong donkeys (large-sized), which was verified by PCR and is a candidate SV related to body size. Transcriptome sequencing data showed that the TMEM154 gene is highly expressed in the muscle of Guanzhong donkeys (large-sized) compared to Sichuan donkeys (small-sized). Multi-species alignment analysis revealed that the region surrounding the 880-bp deletion in the TMEM154 gene region is conserved in horse, zebra, kiang, as well as two large-sized donkey breeds (Dezhou and Guanzhong), except in in the small-sized Sichuan donkey. Furthermore, after the 880 bp deletion was transfected into 3T3-L1 and HEK293T cells, it was demonstrated that the relative luciferase activity of the mutation was markedly decreased in comparison with that of the wild type. These results suggest that this 880-bp deletion in the TMEM154 gene may play an important role in body size trait of donkey. This study provides valuable genome resources for donkey breeding and sheds light on the domestication history of Chinese donkeys.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) predominantly regulate gene expression at both the transcription and post-transcriptional levels through multiple mechanisms such as alternative RNA splicing and alternative polyadenylation. Increasing evidence indicates that RBPs are crucial regulators of myogenesis, providing a foundation for understanding the development and growth of skeletal muscle. However, the role of RBPs in regulating meat production traits in livestock remains underexplored, despite its potential benefits to the meat industry. In this review, we summarize the fundamental characteristics of RBPs, along with their functions and regulatory mechanisms in skeletal myogenesis. We also highlight the potential of RBPs on meat production traits, focusing on lean meat yield and myofiber composition in livestock. Our aim is to deepen the understanding of how RBPs govern skeletal muscle development, contributing to the improvement of meat production traits in livestock.