Zinc plays a role in many aspects of plant growth and development. However, excessive zinc and zinc deficiency can lead to physiological and biochemical disorders, forming zinc stress. Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play an important role in regulating plant growth and development and responding to stress. In this study, the full length of the potato (Solanum tuberosum) StbZIP10 gene (GenBank No. XM_006359636.1) was 1 653 bp with an CDS of 819 bp, encoding 272 amino acids. Bioinformatics analysis showed that StbZIP10 was a hydrophobic transmembrane protein with a relative molecular mass of 29.68 kD and had a typical bZIP conserved domain. The subcellular localization results showed that StbZIP10 protein was mainly expressed in the nucleus and cell membrane. The tissue-specific expression analysis of potato StbZIP10 gene was carried out by qRT-PCR. The results showed that the expression level of StbZIP10 gene was the highest in potato roots and the lowest in leaves, and there were significant difference among different plant tissues (P<0.05). The expression pattern of StbZIP10 in different plant tissues under zinc deficiency was the same, and the expression level in roots was the highest between 'Atlantic' and 'Longshu 7'. Under zinc deficiency treatment, the expression of StbZIP10 in both varieties was increased, but the expression of 'Longshu 7 ' was significantly higher than that of 'Atlantic' (P<0.05), and the trend was basically the same in the 3 time periods. The results could provide a theoretical basis for further elucidating the function of the potato StbZIP10 gene.

Maize (Zea mays) husk coverage is associated with the resistance to Aspergillus and Gibberella ear rot, also affects the mechanical harvesting of maize grain. Thus, the identification of genetic loci for husk coverage will provide available targets for maize molecular breeding. In this study, a set of 204 recombinant inbred lines developed from the T877×DH4866, was phenotypically evaluated under 5 field environments, and was genotyped using Axiom^® Maize56K SNP Array. A total of 9 QTL for husk coverage were detected by individual environmental QTL mapping, of which 8 QTLs were putatively novel loci, the phenotypic variance explained by single QTL ranged from 4.70% to 17.00%. In addition, 26 additive QTL-by-environment loci were detected by joint environmental QTL analysis. The phenotypic variance explained by single additive QTL ranged from 0.73% to 4.77%, and the contributions of interaction between each additive QTL and environment ranged from 0.10% to 4.55%. qHC4.09, a stable QTL for husk coverage, was colocalized with the genomic region for maize resistance to Aspergillus and Gibberella ear rot, suggesting that this locus might be a pleiotropic QTL for maize husk coverage and resistance to ear rot. These results could provide theoretical basis for elucidating the genetic basis of husk coverage and available marker for maize molecular breeding.

Pepper (Capsicum annuum) is an important horticultural crop. NRT2 (nitrate transporter 2) gene families play a crucial role in nitrate absorption and transport. In order to explore the role of NRT2 gene in pepper growth and development, 8 pepper NRT2 genes were identified in this study using published pepper genome data and bioinformatics analysis methods. CaNRT2s family members were distributed on 4 chromosomes. There were some differences in protein structure and physical and chemical properties. According to phylogenetic analysis, CaNRT2s members were divided into 4 subfamilies, which were close to tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and potato (Solanum tuberosum) in evolutionary relationship. All members had MFS-1 conservative domain. Promoters contain a large number of hormone responsive elements, stress responsive elements and plant growth and development related elements. The expression of CaNRT2s were different in the developmental stage and tissue. CaNRT2.4 and CaNRT2.5 were highly expressed in roots, and CaNRT2.2 and CaNRT2.3 were highly expressed in multiple tissues and fruits during color transformation. The study found that the expressions of CaNRT2.1/2.2/2.3/2.8 were very low under various abiotic stresses and hormone treatment. The expressions of CaNRT2.4/2.5/2.6/2.7 were down regulated in leaves and up regulated in roots. CaNRT2.4/2.5/2.6/2.7 were up-regulated in leaves and roots after nitrogen deficiency treatment. The results were deduced that these 4 genes might be the key genes regulating nitrate transport in pepper. The research results provide theoretical basis for the cloning and functional study of NRT2 gene of NO₃^- absorption and transport in pepper.

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is an allopolyploid crop, and its complex genetic background leads to a more complex regulation mechanism of sugarcane genes. The ScGAI (sugarcane gibberellic acid insensitive) gene encodes a DELLA protein involved in sugarcane stem development. Previous studies of our research group's found that the ScGAI gene is located on Chr 1B and Chr 1C chromosomes of S. spontaneum genome, and is regulated by 2 promoters with different lengths. Sequence analysis showed that the main difference in the upstream 1.1 kb regions of the 2 promoters was that compared with the more extended promoter, there were 2 fragment deletions in the -982~-496 region of the shorter promoter. The prediction of cis-acting regulatory elements in this study found that the deleted fragment contained multiple cis-acting elements related to expression regulation, such as TATA-box and CAAT-box. Thus, the 2 promoters of the ScGAI gene might have different regulation effects on ScGAI expression. The plant expression vectors of the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene driven by the promoters of the ScGAI gene or maize (Zea mays) ubiquitin (UBI) gene were constructed and transferred into Arabidopsis thaliana. GUS staining analysis of T₃ transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana at different growth stages and tissues showed that the longer ScGAI gene promoter was expressed in all tissues of Arabidopsis thaliana. In contrast, the shorter ScGAI gene promoter was mainly expressed in leaf veins and weakly expressed in roots and stems. This study provides important scientific basis for the subsequent functional study of the ScGAI gene.

Astragalus sinicus has been identified as one of the most important green manure for paddy fields in the south of China. It is vital to the sustainable utilization of soil resources. Based on different farming systems, selecting flowering varieties is an important breeding target of A. sinicus. Flowering time is regulated by the circadian clock in response to the external environment. Late elongated hypocoty l (LHY) is a key biorhythm clock gene. In the present study, in order to explore the function of the LHY gene in A. sinicus, the Illumina and rapid-amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) technology were performed to obtain the sequence of LHY in A. sinicus; the expression profiles of the LHY gene in tissues of A. sinicus were subsequently analyzed by qRT-PCR; the function of LHY gene of A. sinicus is verified by the transformation of LHY gene into Arabidopsis. The full-length cDNA of the LHY gene (GenBank No. OP455117) was isolated in A. sinicus, which was 2 865 bp in length and containing the ORF of 2 259 bp, encoding 752 amino acid polypeptide. The encoded amino acid sequence is highly homologous to the LHY proteins of Medicago truncatula, Cicer arietinum, and Glycine soja with a more than 75% similarity. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that the LHY gene had the highest expression accumulation in leaves, flowers, and flower buds of Astragalus sinicus. The LHY-overexpression transgenic Arabidopsis lines showed a significant late flowering phenotype. The bolting days and flowering days of transgenic Arabidopsis lines were 18.36 and 20.72 d later than that of the wild-type respectively. This study provides important implications for genetic modification of flowering in A. sinicus.

Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), the first key enzyme in the secondary metabolic pathway of plants, which plays an important role in the biosynthesis of anthocyanin and lignin, and the stress and disease-resistance in the plants, at present, there is no related report on PAL gene of Impatiens uliginosa. In this study, the flower organs of I. uliginosa were utilized as the experimental materials, IuPAL were cloned by rapid-amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) technologies and the gene sequence analysis and qRT-PCR expression analysis were performed. The results showed that 3 fragments of PAL genes were amplified from I. uliginosa, named as IuPAL1, IuPAL2 and IuPAL3 respectively. Their full lengths of cDNA sequences were 2 154, 2 145 and 2 136 bp, encoding 717, 714 and 711 aa, respectively. Both IuPAL1 and IuPAL2 genes contain 1 intron, while IuPAL3 without intron. It was found that all 3 IuPAL proteins were stable hydrophilic proteins with α helix as the main secondary structure by using the bioinformatics software. The result of gene homology comparison showed that IuPAL proteins of I. uliginosa had high homology with those of other plants, which reached more than 80%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that IuPAL1 and IuPAL2 were clustered into one branch, while IuPAL3, IuPAL1 and IuPAL2 were co-polymerized into a large branch, which suggested that 3 genes were orthologous. On the basis of the qRT-PCR results, it showed that 3 IuPAL genes were expressed in 4 different flower colors and 4 different periods flowers of I. uliginosa, among which IuPAL1 and IuPAL2 were the highest in deep red flowers , while IuPAL3 was the highest in pink flowers. Meanwhile, IuPAL1, IuPAL2 and IuPAL3 were the lowest in whiteflowers. It's speculated that the 3 copies of PAL genes were involved in the anthocyanins synthesis of I. uliginosa. In addition, there existed redundancy among them, in which PAL1 and PAL2 were the major genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway of deep red flowers. The above results provide some basic data and theoretical basis for further understanding the flower color variation mechanism and new variety cultivationof PAL gene in I. uliginosa.

Polysaccharide is one of the main medicinal components in Anoectochilus roxburghii. To further understand the biosynthetic pathway of A. roxburghii polysaccharides, the phosphomannomutase (PMM) gene was cloned and prokaryotic expressed in this study. In addition, the bioinformatics, subcellular localization, and expression regulation were analyzed. The results showed that the ORF region of ArPMM gene was 759 bp in length, encoding 252 amino acids, and the molecular weight of fusion protein expressed by prokaryotes was 30.75 kD. Bioinformatics prediction showed that the PMM protein belonged to the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily, and was a stable hydrophilic protein without a signal peptide and transmembrane structure. The ArPMM protein was found, for the first time, located in the nucleus by transient expression method, although the PMM was believed located in the cytoplasm in previous reports. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that ArPMM protein was closely related to Dendrobium officinale, D. huoshanense, and Phalaenopsis equestris. The result of gene expression experiment revealed that the ArPMM gene was expressed in multiple tissues, and the highest relative expression level was detected in flowers while the lowest expression was found in stems. The ArPMM gene was up-regulated by salt stress, and it was speculated that ArPMM might catalyzing the transformation of mannose-1-phosphate to mannose-6-phosphate. Meanwhile, the ArPMM gene was also regulated by temperature, both high and low temperatures inhibited its expression, and ArPMM gene was sensitive to high-temperature treatment. This study provides basic materials for further research of ArPMM gene participating in the mannose metabolism pathway of A. roxburghii.

Myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) is an important member of myocyte enhancer factor family, which plays an important role in the process of muscle genesis and regeneration. In this study, the CDS region of the MEF2A gene was amplified and the overexpression vector pEGFP-C1-MEF2A was constructed. The gene sequence and protein structure of MEF2A were analyzed. The expression characteristics of MEF2A in various tissues of Guanling cattle (Bos taurus) at different stages were detected by qRT-PCR. Meanwhile, the overexpressed vector was transfected into Guanling bovine myoblasts, and the effect of the overexpressed vector on the proliferation and growth of the myoblasts was investigated by flow cytometry and cell growth analyzer. The results showed that MEF2A gene could be expressed in multiple tissues of 3-days-old cattle and 30-months-old cattle, and the difference of expression level was extremely significant (P<0.01). MEF2A gene expression was extremely significantly up regulated after transfection of overexpressed vector into cells (P<0.01), MEF2B, MEF2C and MEF2D were extremely significantly up-regulated (P<0.01); The expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) was not significantly different, the expression of cell cycle protein A2 (CCNA2) was extremely significantly up-regulated (P<0.01). Compared with pEGFP-C1 group, the cell cycle of pEGFP-C1-MEF2A group was extremely significantly shortened, and the proliferative activity of myoblasts in pEGFP-C1 group was extremely significantly higher than that in pEGFP-C1 group at 6 h (P<0.01), indicating that MEF2A overexpression vector transfected into Guanling bovine myoblasts can effectively up-regulate MEF2A gene expression and change gene expression pattern. In this study, pEGFP-C1-MEF2A overexpression vector was successfully constructed to detect the effect of MEF2A gene on the expression of quality-related genes in Guanling cattle. This study provides basic data support for further exploring the regulatory mechanism of MEF2A gene on quality traits in Guanling cattle.

Endometrial epithelial cells are important in the uterus, and their biological function changes affect the occurrence of pregnancy in female animals. To investigate the effect of over-expression of N-myc downstream regulatory gene 1 (NDRG1) on biological function of primary endometrial epithelial cells in sheep (Ovis aries), the primary of sheep endometrial epithelial cells were purificated and NDRG1 over-expression vector was transfected into primary endometrial epithelial cells by transient transfection, and the establishment of transient cell model was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The expression of cyclin D1 (CCND1), CCNB1, and CCNA1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes was detected by qRT-PCR. CCK-8 assay was used to detect cell proliferation and scratch assay was used to detect cell migration. The purification effect of primary cells was good and could be used for subsequent experiments. The expression of NDRG1 and its protein in PCDNA3.1-NDRG1 group were extremely significantly increased (P<0.01). The expression of CCND1 decreased extremely significantly (P<0.01). The expression of E-cadherin was extremely significantly increased (P<0.01), and that of Vimentin was extremely significantly decreased (P<0.01); CCK-8 results showed that proliferation was inhibited in PCDNA3.1-NDRG1 group. The results of scratch treatment showed that pcDNA3.1-NDRG1 group inhibited cell migration. NDRG1 over-expression inhibited cell proliferation, blocked cell cycle G1/S transition, inhibited the process of EMT, and also inhibited cell migration ability to some extent, which provides a theoretical basis for studying the promotion of successful early pregnancy in sheep.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis (HPO) is an important neuroendocrine regulatory center in mammalian reproduction. microRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. However, the miRNA-mRNA interaction network of the reproduction-related HPO axis in Hu sheep (Ovis aries) remains understudied. In this study, the hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary tissues of Hu sheep during follicular and luteal phases in different estrous cycles were studied, and differentially expressed miRNAs were screened by small RNA-seq (sRNA-seq) sequencing technology using bioinformatics analysis. qPCR was used to detect the expression levels of miRNAs in Hu sheep tissues, to predict their target gene intersection and functional enrichment analysis, and dual luciferase reporter gene to detect target relationships. The results showed that a total of 849 known miRNAs and 632 novel miRNAs were detected in different estrous cycles (follicular and luteal phases), among which 64 differentially expressed miRNAs (30 up-regulated and 34 down-regulated) were found in the hypothalamus group during the follicular and luteal phases. There were 5 differentially expressed miRNAs (4 up-regulated and 1 down-regulated) in the follicular and luteal pituitary groups, and 43 differentially expressed miRNAs (25 up-regulated and 18 down-regulated) in the follicular and luteal ovarian groups. Functional enrichment annotation analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG differentially expressed miRNAs by R package showed that the target genes were mainly involved in Notch signaling pathway, signal transduction, cellular communication, innate immune response and amino acid metabolism. Notch signaling pathway, pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis and metabolism, and amino acid metabolism play an important role in the regulation of reproduction in Huyang sheep. In addition, the relationship between differentially expressed miRNAs and target genes was analyzed by constructing miRNA-mRNA interaction networks. oar-miR-432, oar-miR-29a, oar-miR-200 and their target genes phospholipase A2 group 3 (PLA2G3), cytochrome P450 3A24 (CYP3A24), dopamine receptors 2 (DRD2), and signal transducers and activators of transcription 2 (STAT2) were enriched in signaling pathways such as brain neurotransmission, ovarian follicle growth and steroid hormone synthesis and metabolism, and may be involved in regulating the biological process of ovarian transition from follicular phase to luteal phase. The results of dual luciferase reporter gene assay showed that oar-miR-432 has a target relationship with the target gene STAT2. In this study, key miRNAs for seasonal estrus traits were screened to provide basic information for analyzing the mechanism of estrus and accelerating the selection and breeding of new strains of Hu sheep at the level of post-transcriptional regulation.

Canine bacterial diarrhea is a common diarrhea disease caused by pathogenic bacteria in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Antibiotics are often used in clinical treatment, which also increases the incidence of drug-resistant bacteria. Qinlian Qinpi Decoction has good effect in the treatment of bacterial diarrhea in young children. In order to explore the therapeutic mechanism of Qinlian Qinpi Decoction in canine bacterial diarrhea, this study used semi-bionic enzyme extraction method to extract the effective components of Qinlian Qinpi Decoction, and the antibacterial effect of the extract was detected by punching method, the cytotoxicity was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), and dog intestinal epithelial cells were infected with Escherichia coli. The levels of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), interleukin 1β (IL1β), IL6, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl2) and Bcl2-associated X (Bax) gene and protein were detected by qRT-PCR, Western blot and ELISA, and the cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL method. Finally, the clinical therapeutic effect of the extract on canine bacterial diarrhea was determined by observation method. The results showed that the extract effectively inhibited the growth of E. coli in a certain concentration range and time without cytotoxicity. In canine intestinal epithelial cells infected with large intestine, the extract effectively inhibited the transcription levels and protein expression of TLR4 and NF-κB, and inhibited the transcription levels and cell secretion levels of IL-1β and IL-6. At the same time, the extract had obvious effects in anti-apoptosis and promoting cell proliferation. The results of in vivo experiments showed that the extract was effective for canine bacterial diarrhea, and when combined with ceftriaxone sodium, the treatment time could be shortened on the basis of effective treatment. The above results showed that the extract of Qinlian Qinpi Decoction could be applied to the treatment of bacterial diarrhea in dogs and helped to reduce the use of antibiotics in clinical treatment. This study provides basic data for the application of Qinlian Qinpi Decoction in the clinical treatment of bacterial diarrhea in dogs.

The Zhijin white goose (Anser cygnoides orientalis) is a local breed developed through long-term artificial selection and terroir domestication, and it possesses the traits of tough feeding resistance and great adaptability. To investigate the accurate genetic information and to screen the loci associated with body size traits in Zhijin white goose, in this study, microsatellite technology was used to analyze the genetic diversity within the Zhijin white goose population and performed multiple comparisons of different genotypes in loci related to body size, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the conservation and development of germplasm resources of Zhijin white goose. A total of 101 Zhijin white geese were measured, and 15 pairs of microsatellite primers with good polymorphism were selected from 52 pairs of microsatellite primers. There were 63 alleles detected; The average number of valid alleles was 2.066 5; The CKW21 locus contained the most valid alleles. The observed heterozygosity of each locus ranged from 0 to 0.969 7 and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.265 7 to 0.676 2, with the lowest expected heterozygosity value for locus Ans17 and the highest expected heterozygosity value for locus CKW21. The Shannon index ranged from 0.539 2 to 1.307 4, and the CKW21 locus had the highest Shannon's information index. The polymorphism information content of each locus ranged from 0.248 9 to 0.620 2, with the Ans17 locus having the lowest polymorphism information content and the CKW21 locus having the highest polymorphism information content. The mean value of the inbreeding coefficient was 0.197 2. The loci 5A5397, 5A265164, Ans21, Ans25, CKW10, CKW48, and TTUCG2 were found to deviate from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium significantly by chi-square test. The correlation analysis revealed that in male geese, 5 loci were correlated with body weight, body oblique length, chest width, sternum length, pelvic width and shank length, respectively; In female geese, 10 loci were correlated with different body size indexes except body oblique length. The results of the study can provide some reference for the molecular marker-assisted breeding of Zhijin white goose.

Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) including leucine, isoleucine and valine, affect the production efficiency and product quality of poultry industry. In order to further explore the molecular mechanism of BCAAs imbalance hindering the growth and development of poultry, this study established a duck (Anas platyrhynchos) embryo egg feeding model by embryo egg injection technology, analyzed its phenotype and incubation time. Furthermore, ELISA, paraffin section and qPCR techniques were used to examine the effect of valine on liver fat deposition in duck embryos. The results showed that valine treatment significantly shortened the incubation time, significantly changed the breast weight, male pancreas weight and female gonad (ovary) length of ducklings, as well as the level of insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in the serum of embryos at different stages of development (P<0.05). The number of lipid droplets in the treatment group increased significantly. The expression level of IGF-1 pathway and adipogenesis related genes also changed significantly (P<0.05) and had sex specificity. To sum up, duck embryo valine treatment can affect its growth and development, promote liver fat synthesis. This study provides a new research perspective and material for the impact of BCAAs imbalance on poultry production.

Listeria monocytogenes has been increasingly studied as a delivery vector in various cancer and infectious disease immunotherapies, as it can induce robust immune responses in the host. In this study, the tumor vaccine strains, LM-Ag85B and LM-ESAT6 were constructed by fusing the Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens Ag85B (Antigen 85B) and ESAT6 (6 kD early secreted antigen target) with the virulence factor listeriolysin O (LLO), which served as the basis in the preliminary laboratory experiments. The Western blot was employed to confirm the fusion expression and normal secretion of antigens with LLO. The in vitro growth capability and hemolytic activity of LM-Ag85B and LM-ESAT6 were investigated using bacterial infection biology methods. The therapeutic effects of combined application of LM-Ag85B and LM-ESAT6 with LM-E7 (expressing cervical cancer-related antigen E7) were evaluated in a mouse model of cervical cancer. The results revealed that LM-Ag85B and LM-ESAT6 were able to express and secrete the carried Ag85B and ESAT6 antigens, respectively. The in vitro growth capability of LM-Ag85B and LM-ESAT6 showed no significant difference compared to the wild-type strain, while their hemolytic activity was lower than that of the wild-type strain. In the mouse model of cervical cancer treatment, the experimental groups receiving combined application of LM-Ag85B, LM-ESAT6, and LM-E7 exhibited significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to the control group, indicating favorable therapeutic effects. This study demonstrates that the Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens can provide enhanced tumor therapeutic efficacy for the LM-E7 based cervical cancer, which significantly promotes future applications of bacterial-based tumor immunotherapy..

Rich in refractory cellulose is the key limiting factor restricting the resource utilization efficiency of silkworm excrement by composting. Screening the cellulose-degrading bacteria will provide high-quality strains for harmless and rapid decomposition treatment of silkworm excrement. In this study, 16 cellulose-degrading bacteria were screened from silkworm (Bombyx mori) excrement substrates and intestinal samples of housefly larvae (Musca domestica) in the system of high-efficiency conversion of silkworm excrement waste via housefly larvae. Firstly, the strains were preliminarily screened by CMC-Na culturing method and Congo red dyeing and re-screened with filter paper enzyme activity test. A strain C-19 with the highest cellulose-degrading ability from the intestinal of housefly larvae was identified by morphological observation, physiological and biochemical tests, and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence. The result showed that the C-19 strain was short rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria, its colony was milky white, mucus-like, smooth surface, and opaque shape. Physiological and biochemical assays showed positive for the Voges-Proskauer test (V-P test), indole production, salt tolerance, and starch hydrolysis test; negative for methyl red test and gelatin liquefaction test. Molecular biological identification results showed that the length of the 16S rRNA gene sequence from the strain C-19 was about 1 500 bp, and it was 99% similar to Klebsiella pneumoniae (GenBank No. MH111429), clustered on one branch in the phylogenetic tree. Combining morphological and physiological biochemical features, the strain C-19 was identified as K. pneumoniae. Then, the enzyme production conditions of C-19 were optimized by a single-factor experiment, and the cellulase activity of strain C-19 was studied by the DNS (3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid) method. The result demonstrated that the optimum temperature and pH of strain C-19 were 60 ℃ and 5, respectively. Under the optimum conditions, the filter paper enzyme activity (FPase), carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) activity, and exonuclease (Avicelase) activity reached up to 16.89、13.86, and 14.30 U/mL, respectively. Finally, in order to evaluate the practical application effect of this strain in a complex environment, the bioaugmentation effect of C-19 on silkworm excrement cellulose in housefly larvae vermicomposting systems was also investigated. The degradation rate of cellulose in silkworm excrement was 61.2% after strain C-19 supplemented housefly larvae vermicomposting system (6 d), which was significantly higher than that of the control group (54.6%, P<0.05). In summary, the strain C-19 was an acid-resistant and heat-resistant cellulose-degrading strain, and its cellulase activity was high, which had a bioaugmentation effect on silkworm excrement cellulose in housefly larvae vermicomposting systems. It had the potential to be prepared as microbial inoculum, which can be applied to harmless quick composting of silkworm excrement. This study has a guiding role in the development and application of microbial agents for the harmless treatment of silkworm excrement and provides a new choice for the application of strains for rapid ripening and decomposition of silkworm excrement and resource treatment.

Excessive abdominal fat deposition in broiler chickens (Gallus gallus) hinders feed conversion rate, meat quality, egg production performance, fertility and hatchability, resulting in feed waste and environmental pollution. Therefore, on the basis of maintaining good growth performance of broilers, it has become a major problem to be solved in broiler industry to improve the excessive abdominal fat deposition and cultivate lean broilers. This paper mainly reviewed the genetic rule of abdominal fat trait, reviewed the candidate genes and non-coding RNAs responsible for abdominal fat deposition, and discussed the key points and future perspectives of molecular breeding of lean broilers, so as to provide references for the genetic selection of lean broiler breeding.

Gametogenesis is the process by which primordial germ cells differentiate into sperm or eggs through mitosis and meiosis, and these physiological activities are precisely regulated by stage-specific genes. CircRNA has a special closed loop structure, which is more stable than linear RNA, and plays important biological functions by regulating gene transcription, acting as a miRNA sponge, and participating in protein translation. Current studies have shown that circRNA is dynamically expressed during gamete occurrence in livestock and is an important new regulator of gamete occurrence. In this paper, the formation and biological functions of circRNA and the role and mechanism of regulating gametogenesis in domestic animals were reviewed, and the research direction of circRNA in gametogenesis was prospected. This review provides scientific basis for further exploring the potential mechanism of circRNA regulating gametogenesis in livestock.

In mammalian spermatogenesis, spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) possess the characteristics of stem cells or progenitor cells. SSCs can not only conduct self-renewal to maintain the stem cell pool, but also conduct differentiation to maintain the continuous production of sperm. Therefore, the regulatory mechanism of self-renewal and differentiation of SSCs is crucial for the development of male germ cells. At present, the regulation of SSCs has become an important topic in the reproduction and stem cell research. As a multifunctional transcription factor, the highly conserved promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) protein has been proved to be necessary for the self-renewal of SSCs. This review focuses on the advances of biological characteristics and functions of PLZF, and the regulatory mechanism of PLZF on SSCs, which will provid a reference for exploring the gene regulatory network of PLZF and its role in the development of male germline stem cells (mGSCs).

Color-leafed Cinnamomum camphora is an ornamental plant variety with colored leaves in spring. Although these varieties have broad market prospects, a technology system for distinguishing them effectively has not yet been established, which affects the protection of new variety rights and market circulation. In this study, in order to rapidly identify 3 color-leafed varieties, their fingerprints were constructed using SSR markers derived from the transcriptome of C. camphora. The transcriptome of C. camphora 'Yongjin' was sequenced using the Illumina high-throughput sequencing platform, and a total of 129 175 Unigenes were obtained, with a total length of 92 429 171 bp. The SSR search of the transcriptome sequences by MIcroSAtellite identification tool (MISA) revealed that 28 895 sequences contained 36 430 SSR sites, with an average of 1 SSR per 2 537.2 bp and a frequency of 22.37%. Mononucleotide repeats (accounting for 49.74%) were the most abundant, followed by dinucleotide (29.12%) and trinucleotide (19.93%). Fifty-four primer pairs were randomly selected for PCR amplification, and 39 of them were successfully amplified. In total, 32 primer pairs were polymorphic in 23 C. camphora germplasms. In addition, unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means (UPGMA) cluster analysis showed that the similarity coefficients of 23 germplasms ranged from 0.69 to 0.88. At the similarity coefficient of 0.70, these germplasms could be classified into 3 major groups. Finally, 6 primer pairs (c117334, c90845, c108367, c115142, c49114 and c101928) were selected to construct the fingerprints, which could effectively distinguish the 3 new varieties from their offsprings and other germplasms from different geographical sources. The results could provide technical support and theoretical basis for new variety identification, intellectual property protection and molecular assisted breeding of C. camphora.

Simmental cattle (Bos taurus) and its related breeds are the main dual-purpose breeds and beef breeds in China. In recent years, multiple genetic defects, causing early embryonic death, newborn calf defects, reduced fertility and other problems and resulting in economic losses to farms, have been identified in Simmental cattle populations using genomic technologies. This study aimed to develop an accurate and efficient method based on kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) assays to screen 9 genetic defects in Simmental cattle, including Dwarfism, Arachnomelia syndrome, Syndactyly, Thrombopathy, Zinc deficiency-like disorders, Bovine male subfertility, Brown Swiss haplotype 2, Fleckvieh haplotype 2 and Fleckvieh haplotype 4. The call rate was 100% for the 96 tested samples, and carriers were detected on 7 genetic defects. This study provides a technical tool for screening and management of harmful genes during the importation of genetic materials, selection of sires and mating programs of cows in China.