Formaldehyde oxidation reaction(FOR)is a promising reaction alternative to the anodic oxygen evolution reaction(OER)owing to its ultra-low electrolysis potential and ability to produce formate and hydrogen gas.In this...Formaldehyde oxidation reaction(FOR)is a promising reaction alternative to the anodic oxygen evolution reaction(OER)owing to its ultra-low electrolysis potential and ability to produce formate and hydrogen gas.In this work,the electrode for FOR is prepared using Ag/Ag_(2)O nanoparticles(Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs)covered with Nafion membrane as the catalysts modified onto nickel foam(NF).Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs@NF exhibits significantly higher FOR activity than Ag NPs@NF and Ag_(2)O NPs@NF.At 100 mA·cm^(-2),the FOR potential on the Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs@NF electrode is only 0.16 V(vs.RHE).Meanwhile,the Faradaic efficiencies can reach up to 100% for both formate and H_(2) produced by FOR.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations indicate that the Ag/Ag_(2)O heterostructure exhibits lower reaction energy barriers for generating formate and H2 than pure Ag and Ag_(2)O.This work introduces a new synthetic approach for developing novel FOR catalysts and offers insights into the potential application prospects of FOR.展开更多
Ovary development is a complex process involving numerous genes. A well-developed ovary is essential for females to keep fertility and reproduce offspring. In order to gain a better insight into the molecular mechanis...Ovary development is a complex process involving numerous genes. A well-developed ovary is essential for females to keep fertility and reproduce offspring. In order to gain a better insight into the molecular mechanisms related to the process of mammalian ovary development, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis on ovaries isolated from infant and adult mice by using next-generation sequencing technology （SOLID）. We identified 15,454 and 16,646 trans- criptionally active genes at the infant and adult stage, respectively. Among these genes, we also identified 7021 differentially expressed genes. Our analysis suggests that, in general, the adult ovary has a higher level of transcriptomic activity. However, it appears that genes related to primordial follicle development, such as those encoding Figla and Nobox, are more active in the infant ovary, whereas expression of genes vital for follicle development, such as Gdj~, Bmp4 and Bmpl5, is upreg- ulated in the adult. These data suggest a dynamic shift in gene expression during ovary development and it is apparent that these changes function to facilitate follicle maturation, when additional func- tional gene studies are considered. Furthermore, our investigation has also revealed several impor- tant functional pathways, such as apoptosis, MAPK and steroid biosynthesis, that appear to be much more active in the adult ovary compared to those of the infant. These findings will provide a solid foundation for future studies on ovary development in mice and other mammals and help to expand our understanding of the complex molecular and cellular events that occur during postnatal ovary development.展开更多
The emergence of next-generation sequencing （NGS） technologies has significantly improved sequencing throughput and reduced costs. However, the short read length, duplicate reads and massive volume of data make the ...The emergence of next-generation sequencing （NGS） technologies has significantly improved sequencing throughput and reduced costs. However, the short read length, duplicate reads and massive volume of data make the data processing much more difficult and complicated than the first-generation sequencing technology. Al- though there are some software packages developed to assess the data quality, those packages either are not easily available to users or require bioinformatics skills and computer resources. Moreover, almost all the quality assessment software currently available didn＇t taken into account the sequencing errors when dealing with the du- plicate assessment in NGS data. Here, we present a new user-friendly quality assessment software package called BIGpre, which works for both Illumina and 454 platforms. BIGpre contains all the functions of other quality assessment software, such as the correlation between forward and reverse reads, read GC-content distribution, and base Ns quality. More importantly, BIGpre incorporates associated programs to detect and remove duplicate reads after taking sequencing errors into account and trimming low quality reads from raw data as well. BIGpre is primarily written in Perl and integrates graphical capability from the statistics package R. This package produces both tabular and graphical summaries of data quality for sequencing datasets from Illumina and 454 platforms. Processing hundreds of millions reads within minutes, this package provides immediate diagnostic information for user to manipulate sequencing data for downstream analyses. BIGpre is freely available at http：//bigpre.sourceforge.net/.展开更多
The red palm weevil （RPW）, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Coleoptera： Cur- culionidae）, is an invasive, concealed and destructive tissue borer, and it becomes a lethal pest of the palm family of plants and has been r...The red palm weevil （RPW）, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Coleoptera： Cur- culionidae）, is an invasive, concealed and destructive tissue borer, and it becomes a lethal pest of the palm family of plants and has been reported to attack 20 palm species around the globe. Here we report a systematic transcriptomic study on embryogenesis of RPW, where we analyze the transcriptomes across five developmental stages of RPW embryogenesis, involving four embryonic stages （El, E2, E3 and E4） and one larval stage （L1）. Using the RNA-seq and next-generation platforms, we generated 80 to 91 million reads for each library and assemble 22 532 genes that are expressed at different embryonic stages. Among the total transcripts from the five embryonic development stages, we found that 30.45 % are differentially expressed, 10.10 % show stage-specificity and even a larger fraction, 62.88 %, exhibit constitutive expression in all the stages. We also analyzes the expression dynamics of several conserved signaling pathways （such as Hedgehog, JAK-STAT, Notch, TGF-β, Ras/MAPK and Writ）, as well as key developmental genes, including those related to apoptosis, axis formation, Hox complex, neurogenesis and segmentation. The datasets provide an essential resource for gene annotation and RPW functional genomics, including studies by using tools and concepts from multiple disciplines, such as development, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics.展开更多
Purified protein derivative （PPD） skin tests often yield poor specificity, so that to develop new serological antigens for distinguishing between Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Bacille Calmette-Guerin （BC...Purified protein derivative （PPD） skin tests often yield poor specificity, so that to develop new serological antigens for distinguishing between Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Bacille Calmette-Guerin （BCG） vaccination is a priority, especially for developing countries like China. We predicted the antigenicity for selected open reading frames （ORFs） based on the genome sequences of M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. boris BCG, as well as their functions and differences of expression under different stimulus. The candidate ORFs were cloned from H37Rv sequences and expressed as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. We studied the serodiagnostic potential of 11 purified recombinants by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and involving a cohort composed of 58 TB patients （34 males and 24 females）, 8 healthy volunteers and 50 PPD-negative individuals before and after BCG vaccination. For all the 11 antigens, the median OD values for the sera from TB patients were statistically significantly higher than those for PPD-negative individuals before or after BCG vaccination （P〈0.01）. They had at least 92% specificity in healthy controls and six seroantigens （Rv0251c, Rv1973, Rv2376c, Rv2537c, Rv2785c and Rv3873A） were never reported with seroantigenicities previously. Thus the approach combining comparative genomics, bioinformatics and ELISA techniques can be employed to identify new seroantigens distinguishing M. tuberculosis infection from BCG vaccination.展开更多
基金The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.22176166 and 22179034)the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province(No.ZD2023B002).
文摘Formaldehyde oxidation reaction(FOR)is a promising reaction alternative to the anodic oxygen evolution reaction(OER)owing to its ultra-low electrolysis potential and ability to produce formate and hydrogen gas.In this work,the electrode for FOR is prepared using Ag/Ag_(2)O nanoparticles(Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs)covered with Nafion membrane as the catalysts modified onto nickel foam(NF).Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs@NF exhibits significantly higher FOR activity than Ag NPs@NF and Ag_(2)O NPs@NF.At 100 mA·cm^(-2),the FOR potential on the Ag/Ag_(2)O NPs@NF electrode is only 0.16 V(vs.RHE).Meanwhile,the Faradaic efficiencies can reach up to 100% for both formate and H_(2) produced by FOR.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations indicate that the Ag/Ag_(2)O heterostructure exhibits lower reaction energy barriers for generating formate and H2 than pure Ag and Ag_(2)O.This work introduces a new synthetic approach for developing novel FOR catalysts and offers insights into the potential application prospects of FOR.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31271385)the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences of China (Grant No. KSCX2-EW-R-01-04)the National HighTech R&D Program (863 Program, Grant No. 2009AA01A 130) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China
文摘Ovary development is a complex process involving numerous genes. A well-developed ovary is essential for females to keep fertility and reproduce offspring. In order to gain a better insight into the molecular mechanisms related to the process of mammalian ovary development, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis on ovaries isolated from infant and adult mice by using next-generation sequencing technology （SOLID）. We identified 15,454 and 16,646 trans- criptionally active genes at the infant and adult stage, respectively. Among these genes, we also identified 7021 differentially expressed genes. Our analysis suggests that, in general, the adult ovary has a higher level of transcriptomic activity. However, it appears that genes related to primordial follicle development, such as those encoding Figla and Nobox, are more active in the infant ovary, whereas expression of genes vital for follicle development, such as Gdj~, Bmp4 and Bmpl5, is upreg- ulated in the adult. These data suggest a dynamic shift in gene expression during ovary development and it is apparent that these changes function to facilitate follicle maturation, when additional func- tional gene studies are considered. Furthermore, our investigation has also revealed several impor- tant functional pathways, such as apoptosis, MAPK and steroid biosynthesis, that appear to be much more active in the adult ovary compared to those of the infant. These findings will provide a solid foundation for future studies on ovary development in mice and other mammals and help to expand our understanding of the complex molecular and cellular events that occur during postnatal ovary development.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.31000561 and 30900825)the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No.KSCX2-EW-R-01-04)
文摘The emergence of next-generation sequencing （NGS） technologies has significantly improved sequencing throughput and reduced costs. However, the short read length, duplicate reads and massive volume of data make the data processing much more difficult and complicated than the first-generation sequencing technology. Al- though there are some software packages developed to assess the data quality, those packages either are not easily available to users or require bioinformatics skills and computer resources. Moreover, almost all the quality assessment software currently available didn＇t taken into account the sequencing errors when dealing with the du- plicate assessment in NGS data. Here, we present a new user-friendly quality assessment software package called BIGpre, which works for both Illumina and 454 platforms. BIGpre contains all the functions of other quality assessment software, such as the correlation between forward and reverse reads, read GC-content distribution, and base Ns quality. More importantly, BIGpre incorporates associated programs to detect and remove duplicate reads after taking sequencing errors into account and trimming low quality reads from raw data as well. BIGpre is primarily written in Perl and integrates graphical capability from the statistics package R. This package produces both tabular and graphical summaries of data quality for sequencing datasets from Illumina and 454 platforms. Processing hundreds of millions reads within minutes, this package provides immediate diagnostic information for user to manipulate sequencing data for downstream analyses. BIGpre is freely available at http：//bigpre.sourceforge.net/.
文摘The red palm weevil （RPW）, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Coleoptera： Cur- culionidae）, is an invasive, concealed and destructive tissue borer, and it becomes a lethal pest of the palm family of plants and has been reported to attack 20 palm species around the globe. Here we report a systematic transcriptomic study on embryogenesis of RPW, where we analyze the transcriptomes across five developmental stages of RPW embryogenesis, involving four embryonic stages （El, E2, E3 and E4） and one larval stage （L1）. Using the RNA-seq and next-generation platforms, we generated 80 to 91 million reads for each library and assemble 22 532 genes that are expressed at different embryonic stages. Among the total transcripts from the five embryonic development stages, we found that 30.45 % are differentially expressed, 10.10 % show stage-specificity and even a larger fraction, 62.88 %, exhibit constitutive expression in all the stages. We also analyzes the expression dynamics of several conserved signaling pathways （such as Hedgehog, JAK-STAT, Notch, TGF-β, Ras/MAPK and Writ）, as well as key developmental genes, including those related to apoptosis, axis formation, Hox complex, neurogenesis and segmentation. The datasets provide an essential resource for gene annotation and RPW functional genomics, including studies by using tools and concepts from multiple disciplines, such as development, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics.
基金supported by a grant from Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘Purified protein derivative （PPD） skin tests often yield poor specificity, so that to develop new serological antigens for distinguishing between Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Bacille Calmette-Guerin （BCG） vaccination is a priority, especially for developing countries like China. We predicted the antigenicity for selected open reading frames （ORFs） based on the genome sequences of M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. boris BCG, as well as their functions and differences of expression under different stimulus. The candidate ORFs were cloned from H37Rv sequences and expressed as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. We studied the serodiagnostic potential of 11 purified recombinants by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and involving a cohort composed of 58 TB patients （34 males and 24 females）, 8 healthy volunteers and 50 PPD-negative individuals before and after BCG vaccination. For all the 11 antigens, the median OD values for the sera from TB patients were statistically significantly higher than those for PPD-negative individuals before or after BCG vaccination （P〈0.01）. They had at least 92% specificity in healthy controls and six seroantigens （Rv0251c, Rv1973, Rv2376c, Rv2537c, Rv2785c and Rv3873A） were never reported with seroantigenicities previously. Thus the approach combining comparative genomics, bioinformatics and ELISA techniques can be employed to identify new seroantigens distinguishing M. tuberculosis infection from BCG vaccination.
