Knowing the diet of endangered wild animals is a prerequisite for species-specific conservation and habitat management.The Sichuan partridge Arborophila rufipectus is a globally endangered Galliformes species endemic ...Knowing the diet of endangered wild animals is a prerequisite for species-specific conservation and habitat management.The Sichuan partridge Arborophila rufipectus is a globally endangered Galliformes species endemic to the mountains of southwest China.Existing information on the diet of this species is biased and fragmented owing to traditional observation methods.Little is known about their dietary composition or how they respond to temporal variations in food resources throughout the year.In this study,a dietary analysis was performed on 6o fecal samples using DNA Metabarcoding of invertebrates and plants to determine the primary animal and plant components of the diet across 3 critical periods of adult life history(breeding,postbreeding wandering,and overwintering).Preys from the dipteran order,followed by the lepidopteran and ara-neaen spp.,were the predominant,animal-derived foods.Symplocos,Rubus,Celastrus,Holboellia,and Actinidia spp.supply a large abundance of fruits and seeds for this omnivorous bird.Substantial temporal dietary changes among the 3 periods and a general shift toward lower dietary diversity during the breeding season were observed,suggesting that the Sichuan partridge can adjust their diet according to the availability of food resources and their own needs.Characterizing the composition and seasonal changes in Sichuan partridge diets informs the habitat management of native flora(the plant taxa that can generate berries and seeds,such as Symplocos,Rubus,Celastrus,and Holboellia,which are likely of conservation interest)to achieve full life-cycle conservation.展开更多
Ultra-small nanoparticles,nanowires,and two-dimensional nanosheets have attracted much attention in acute kidney injury(AKI)treatment.However,the influence of nanostructure geometry on AKI therapy remains unknown.It i...Ultra-small nanoparticles,nanowires,and two-dimensional nanosheets have attracted much attention in acute kidney injury(AKI)treatment.However,the influence of nanostructure geometry on AKI therapy remains unknown.It is important to investigate their biodistribution,clearance,and toxicology to identify the most potential geometry for further nanomedical applications.Herein,three types of oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide(WOx)nanostructures,nanodots,nanowires,and nanosheets,with attractive reactive oxygen species(ROS)scavenging and computed tomography(CT)imaging properties are bottom-up synthesized,and their in vivo behaviors are systematically studied.The biodistribution results demonstrate that all three WO x nanostructures can penetrate from the kidney and excrete to the bladder.Interestingly,nanodots can accumulate and be cleared quickly from the kidney,while nanosheets have long retention in vivo.In marked contrast to nanodots and nanosheets,nanowires show high levels in the lung organs with significant cytotoxicity.Therapeutic experiments suggest that nanodots and nanosheets have better therapeutic effects on AKI,but the therapeutic effect of nanowires is not obvious.Furthermore,the nanosheets perform better in alleviating AKI at a lower injection dose than nanodots.This work demonstrates that nanosheets,among various geometries,have particular potential for further AKI treatment because of outstanding performance in CT imaging,renal targeting,long-time retention,and low toxicity.The“structure-function”correlations enable the reasonable design of nanoprobes for AKI theragnostic.展开更多
Extant giant pandas are divided into Sichuan and Qinling subspecies.The giant panda has many speciesspecific characteristics,including comparatively small organs for body size,small genitalia of male individuals,and l...Extant giant pandas are divided into Sichuan and Qinling subspecies.The giant panda has many speciesspecific characteristics,including comparatively small organs for body size,small genitalia of male individuals,and low reproduction.Here,we report the most contiguous,high-quality chromosomelevel genomes of two extant giant panda subspecies to date,with the first genome assembly of the Qinling subspecies.Compared with the previously assembled giant panda genomes based on short reads,our two assembled genomes increased contiguity over 200-fold at the contig level.Additional sequencing of 25 individuals dated the divergence of the Sichuan and Qinling subspecies into two distinct clusters from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.Comparative genomic analyses identified the loss of regulatory elements in the dachshund family transcription factor 2(DACH2)gene and specific changes in the synaptotagmin 6(SYT6)gene,which may be responsible for the reduced fertility of the giant panda.Positive selection analysis between the two subspecies indicated that the reproduction-associated IQ motif containing D(IQCD)gene may at least partly explain the different reproduction rates of the two subspecies.Furthermore,several genes in the Hippo pathway exhibited signs of rapid evolution with giant panda-specific variants and divergent regulatory elements,which may contribute to the reduced inner organ sizes of the giant panda.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.32270517,31872961)a grant(2019HB2096001006)the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China,and the Starting Research Fund of Sichuan Normal University(024341965,XJKY1026).
文摘Knowing the diet of endangered wild animals is a prerequisite for species-specific conservation and habitat management.The Sichuan partridge Arborophila rufipectus is a globally endangered Galliformes species endemic to the mountains of southwest China.Existing information on the diet of this species is biased and fragmented owing to traditional observation methods.Little is known about their dietary composition or how they respond to temporal variations in food resources throughout the year.In this study,a dietary analysis was performed on 6o fecal samples using DNA Metabarcoding of invertebrates and plants to determine the primary animal and plant components of the diet across 3 critical periods of adult life history(breeding,postbreeding wandering,and overwintering).Preys from the dipteran order,followed by the lepidopteran and ara-neaen spp.,were the predominant,animal-derived foods.Symplocos,Rubus,Celastrus,Holboellia,and Actinidia spp.supply a large abundance of fruits and seeds for this omnivorous bird.Substantial temporal dietary changes among the 3 periods and a general shift toward lower dietary diversity during the breeding season were observed,suggesting that the Sichuan partridge can adjust their diet according to the availability of food resources and their own needs.Characterizing the composition and seasonal changes in Sichuan partridge diets informs the habitat management of native flora(the plant taxa that can generate berries and seeds,such as Symplocos,Rubus,Celastrus,and Holboellia,which are likely of conservation interest)to achieve full life-cycle conservation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.82103057,62301351,22274106)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2024YFF0508604)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(Grant No.BK20222002).
文摘Ultra-small nanoparticles,nanowires,and two-dimensional nanosheets have attracted much attention in acute kidney injury(AKI)treatment.However,the influence of nanostructure geometry on AKI therapy remains unknown.It is important to investigate their biodistribution,clearance,and toxicology to identify the most potential geometry for further nanomedical applications.Herein,three types of oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide(WOx)nanostructures,nanodots,nanowires,and nanosheets,with attractive reactive oxygen species(ROS)scavenging and computed tomography(CT)imaging properties are bottom-up synthesized,and their in vivo behaviors are systematically studied.The biodistribution results demonstrate that all three WO x nanostructures can penetrate from the kidney and excrete to the bladder.Interestingly,nanodots can accumulate and be cleared quickly from the kidney,while nanosheets have long retention in vivo.In marked contrast to nanodots and nanosheets,nanowires show high levels in the lung organs with significant cytotoxicity.Therapeutic experiments suggest that nanodots and nanosheets have better therapeutic effects on AKI,but the therapeutic effect of nanowires is not obvious.Furthermore,the nanosheets perform better in alleviating AKI at a lower injection dose than nanodots.This work demonstrates that nanosheets,among various geometries,have particular potential for further AKI treatment because of outstanding performance in CT imaging,renal targeting,long-time retention,and low toxicity.The“structure-function”correlations enable the reasonable design of nanoprobes for AKI theragnostic.
基金supported by the National Key Program(2016YFC0503200)from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Chinaa special grant for the giant panda from the State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China+2 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of the People’s Republic of Chinathe Foundation of Key Laboratory of State Forestry and Grassland Administration(State Park Administration)on Conservation Biology of Rare Animals in the Giant Panda National Park(KLSFGAGP2020.002)the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Genome Read and Write(2017B030301011)。
文摘Extant giant pandas are divided into Sichuan and Qinling subspecies.The giant panda has many speciesspecific characteristics,including comparatively small organs for body size,small genitalia of male individuals,and low reproduction.Here,we report the most contiguous,high-quality chromosomelevel genomes of two extant giant panda subspecies to date,with the first genome assembly of the Qinling subspecies.Compared with the previously assembled giant panda genomes based on short reads,our two assembled genomes increased contiguity over 200-fold at the contig level.Additional sequencing of 25 individuals dated the divergence of the Sichuan and Qinling subspecies into two distinct clusters from 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.Comparative genomic analyses identified the loss of regulatory elements in the dachshund family transcription factor 2(DACH2)gene and specific changes in the synaptotagmin 6(SYT6)gene,which may be responsible for the reduced fertility of the giant panda.Positive selection analysis between the two subspecies indicated that the reproduction-associated IQ motif containing D(IQCD)gene may at least partly explain the different reproduction rates of the two subspecies.Furthermore,several genes in the Hippo pathway exhibited signs of rapid evolution with giant panda-specific variants and divergent regulatory elements,which may contribute to the reduced inner organ sizes of the giant panda.
