ALBERT

Description: Glycosylated volatile precursors are important, particularly in wine grape berries, as they contribute to the final aroma in wines by releasing volatile aglycones during yeast fermentation and wine storage. Previous study demonstrated that VviGT14 was functioned as a critical monoterpene glucosyltransferase in grape berry, while the transcriptional regulation mechanism of VviGT14 was still unknown. Here we identified VviWRKY40 as a binding factor of VviGT14 promoter by both DNA pull-down and yeast one-hybrid screening, followed by a series of in vitro verification. VviWRKY40 expression pattern negatively correlated with that of VviGT14 in grape berries. And the suppressor role of VviWRKY40 was further confirmed by using the dual luciferase assay with Arabidopsis protoplast and grape cell suspension system. Furthermore, the grape suspension cell ABA treatment study showed that ABA downregulated VviWRKY40 transcript level but promoted that of VviGT14, indicating that VviWRKY40 was at the downstream of ABA signal transduction network to regulate monoterpenoid glycosylation. These data extend our knowledge of transcriptional regulation of VviGT14, and provide new targets for grape breeding to alter monoterpenoid composition.

Description: Background: A Src kinase-activating phosphatase (PTPRE) is targeted by a genome-derived yellow fever virus (YFV) short noncoding RNA (vsRNA) in vitro. The vsRNA reduces PTPRE translation, which leads to reduced TCR signaling. vsRNA point mutations restore PTPRE expression and T cell function. We examined TCR signaling and PTPRE levels in individuals before and after YFV vaccination (YFVax). Methods: Fourteen individuals receiving YFVax (104.7–5.6) IM for travel prophylaxis provided written informed consent for these studies. Blood was obtained once before vaccination and four times after vaccination (days 3 to 28). Serum and PBMCs were purified and YFV was quantified by RNA and infectivity. PBMCs were assessed for activation following anti-CD3 stimulation by measuring phospho-tyrosine-394-Lck and IL-2 release. PBMC PTPRE levels were determined by immunoblot analyses (normalized to actin). A YFV-neutralizing antibody was determined by PRNT. Results: YFVax was administered alone (six out of 14 subjects) or in combination with other vaccines (eight out of 14). All subjects demonstrated reduced resting PBMC PTPRE levels and post-TCR stimulation had reduced IL-2 release between days 4 and 21 compared to pre- and day 28 samples. Phospho-Lck was reduced in all but two subjects on the same days, and both of these subjects also received an influenza vaccine. Low-level viremia was detected in 10/14 subjects, with infectious titers of 100/mL. Viremia was not detected in four out of 14 subjects. All recipients developed neutralizing antibodies by day 21. Conclusion: YFV vaccination regulates PBMC PTPRE levels 4–21 days after infection, despite the low to absent infectious YFV detected in serum, suggesting that enough YFV vsRNA is produced and released from cells to have a functional (and measurable) effect on T cell function. Studies are underway to determine if this is mediated by exosomes or defective particles containing the vsRNA that targets PTPRE. Furthermore, the association between PTPRE and TCR signaling confirms a role for PTPRE in TCR function.

Description: Background: We previously identified a yellow fever virus (YFV) genome-derived, short noncoding RNA (vsRNA) generated during infection that targets the 3’ untranslated region (UTR) of a Src-kinase regulatory phosphatase (PTPRE), reducing PTPRE translation. By contrast, a related flavivirus (Zika) did not regulate PTPRE. We assessed the role of PTPRE in YFV and Zika replication. Methods: Human PTPRE with a β -Globulin 3’UTR to remove the 3’UTR sequence targeted by the YFV vsRNA was stably expressed in Jurkat and Huh7D cells using a tetracycline-regulated promoter. YFV (17D strain) and Zika (PR strain) were used to infect the different cell lines, and viral replication was measured by viral RNA and infectivity. Attempts to knock out PTPRE by CRISPR were unsuccessful, suggesting that PTPRE may be required for cell survival. Results: The expression of PTPRE with nontargeted 3′UTR led to a 100-fold reduction in infectious virus released from Jurkat and Huh7D cells by infectivity and a 3–10-fold reduction in viral RNA levels. Infectivity was restored in cells grown in doxycycline. By contrast, nontargeted PTPRE expression had no effect on the release of infectious Zika virus. PTPRE expression did not alter YFV attachment or entry. Despite reduced infectivity of the supernatant virus produced by PTPRE-nontargeted cells, YFV envelope content in culture supernatants was similar to that released by cells not expressing nontargeted PTPRE. Electron microscopy demonstrated large, empty-appearing viral particles in YFV-infected cells expressing nontargeted PTPRE that were not present in cells not expressing nontargeted PTPRE. Conclusions: PTPRE is a novel YFV restriction factor that appears to increase the proportion of defective YFV particles released into cell culture media, potentially by preventing YFV RNA encapsidation. PTPRE’s effects on viral replication are not conserved among flaviviruses, as Zika replication was not altered by PTPRE overexpression. Understanding how PTPRE inhibits YFV may provide insight into YFV assembly and release and potentially help to identify novel drug targets.

Description: Air- and sun-dried raisins from Thompson Seedless (TS) grapes were analyzed under GC/MS to evaluate fatty acids (FAs) and their derived volatile compounds, coming from unsaturated fatty acids oxidation. A total of 16 FAs were identified in TS raisins, including 10 saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and 6 unsaturated fatty acids (USFAs). The contents of C18:0, C15:0, and C16:0 among SFAs and C18:3, C18:2 and C18:1 in USFAs were significantly higher. Furthermore, USFAs such as C16:1 and C20:1 were only identified in air-dried raisins. The principal component analysis showed the increased content of FAs and FA-derived compounds were in air-dried and sun-dried raisins, respectively. Among FA-derived compounds, 2-pentyl furan, 3-octen-2-one, 1-hexanol and heptanoic acid were more potent. This study shows that air-drying is more favorable for the production of fatty acids (SFAs and USFAs), whereas sun-drying is more advantageous in terms of fatty acid-derived volatiles.

Description: gC1qR is highly expressed in breast cancer and plays a role in cancer cell proliferation. This study explored therapy with gC1qR monoclonal antibody 60.11, directed against the C1q binding domain of gC1qR, in a murine orthotopic xenotransplant model of triple negative breast cancer. MDA231 breast cancer cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of athymic nu/nu female mice. Mice were segregated into three groups (n = 5, each) and treated with the vehicle (group 1) or gC1qR antibody 60.11 (100 mg/kg) twice weekly, starting at day 3 post-implantation (group 2) or when the tumor volume reached 100 mm3 (group 3). At study termination (d = 35), the average tumor volume in the control group measured 895 ± 143 mm3, compared to 401 ± 48 mm3 and 701 ± 100 mm3 in groups 2 and 3, respectively (p 〈 0.05). Immunohistochemical staining of excised tumors revealed increased apoptosis (caspase 3 and TUNEL staining) in 60.11-treated mice compared to controls, and decreased angiogenesis (CD31 staining). Slightly decreased white blood cell counts were noted in 60.11-treated mice. Otherwise, no overt toxicities were observed. These data are the first to demonstrate an in vivo anti-tumor effect of 60.11 therapy in a mouse model of triple negative breast cancer.

Description: The spacecraft tracking telemetering and command (TT&C) system plays an essential role in celestial and terrestrial networks, requiring relative ranging and communication, particularly in satellite formation flying networks and distributed spacecraft networks. To achieve precious ranging and high-data-rate communication in a Master/Slave satellite architecture, an integrated communication-ranging system (ICRS) is introduced. ICRS is based on the inter-satellite spread spectrum ranging and spread/non-spread spectrum communication modulated by unbalanced quadrature phase shift keying (UQPSK). In both uplink and downlink, the in-phase (I) branches and the quadrature (Q) branches undertake the tasks of ranging and communication, respectively. In addition, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) like signal is adopted in I branches for the sake of better ranging accuracy, and binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation is employed in Q branches for a higher data rate. Therefore, the key point of the ICRS design is the power resource allocation between two branches via the selection of a suitable power distribution factor (PWDF). Simulation results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed approach in ranging error and bit error rate (BER). In addition, a reasonable PWDF is recommended. Furthermore, the influence of clock offset is also taken into consideration.

Description: The future development of communication systems will create a great demand for the internet of things (IOT), where the overall control of all IOT nodes will become an important problem. Considering the essential issues of miniaturization and energy conservation, in this study, a new data downlink system is designed in which all IOT nodes harvest energy first and then receive data. To avoid the unsolvable problem of pre-locating all positions of vast IOT nodes, a device called the power and data beacon (PDB) is proposed. This acts as a relay station for energy and data. In addition, we model future scenes in which a communication system is assisted by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), large intelligent surfaces (LISs), and PDBs. In this paper, we propose and solve the problem of determining the optimal flight trajectory to reach the minimum energy consumption or minimum time consumption. Four future feasible scenes are analyzed and then the optimization problems are solved based on numerical algorithms. Simulation results show that there are significant performance improvements in energy/time with the deployment of LISs and reasonable UAV trajectory planning.

Description: Wireless sensors are limited by node costs, communication efficiency, and energy consumption when wireless sensors are deployed on a large scale. The use of submodular optimization can reduce the deployment cost. This paper proposes a sensor deployment method based on the Improved Heuristic Ant Colony Algorithm-Chaos Optimization of Padded Sensor Placements at Informative and cost-Effective Locations (IHACA-COpSPIEL) algorithm and a routing protocol based on an improved Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO) algorithm. First, a mathematical model with submodularity is established. Second, the IHACA is combined with pSPIEL-based on chaos optimization to determine the shortest path. Finally, the selected sensors are used in the biogeography of the improved BBO routing protocols to transmit data. The experimental results show that the IHACA-COpSPIEL algorithm can go beyond the local optimal solutions, and the communication cost of IHACA-COpSPIEL is 38.42%, 24.19% and 8.31%, respectively, lower than that of the greedy algorithm, the pSPIEL algorithm and the IHACA algorithm. It uses fewer sensors and has a longer life cycle. Compared with the LEACH protocol, the routing protocol based on the improved BBO extends the life cycle by 30.74% and has lower energy consumption.

Description: The Western Liaoning area, where a large number of Jurassic-Cretaceous volcanic rocks are exposed, is one of the typical areas for studying the Mesozoic Paleo-Pacific and Mongolia-Okhotsk subduction process, and lithospheric destruction of North China Craton. The identification and investigation of Early Jurassic adakitic volcanic rocks in the Xintaimen area of Western Liaoning is of particular significance for exploring the volcanic magma source and its composition evolution, tracking the crust-mantle interaction, and revealing the craton destruction and the subduction of oceanic plates. Detailed petrography, zircon U–Pb dating, geochemistry, and zircon Hf isotope studies indicate that the Early Jurassic intermediate-acidic volcanic rocks are mainly composed of trachydacites and a few rhyolites with the formation ages of 178.6–181.9 Ma. Geochemical characteristics show that they have a high content of SiO2, MgO, Al2O3, and total-alkali, typical of the high-K calc-alkaline series. They also show enrichment of light rare earth elements (LREEs) and large ion lithophile elements (LILEs), depletion of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) and high field strength elements (HFSEs), and have a high content of Sr and low content of Y and Yb, suggesting that they were derived from the partial melting of the lower crust. The εHf(t) values of dated zircons and two-stage model ages (TDM2) vary from −11.6 to −7.4 and from 1692 to 1958 Ma, respectively. During the Early Jurassic, the study area was under long-range tectonic effects with the closure of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean and the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate, which caused the basaltic magma to invade the lower crust of the North China Craton. The mantle-derived magma was separated and crystallized while heating the Proterozoic lower crust, and part of the thickened crust melted to form these intermediate-acidic adakitic volcanic rocks.

Description: Raisin aroma is a vital sensory characteristic that determines consumers’ acceptance. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in fresh grapes, air-dried (AD), pre-treated air-dried (PAD), sun-dried (SD), and pre-treated sun-dried (PSD) raisins were analyzed, with 99 and 77 free- and bound-form compounds identified in centennial seedless grapes, respectively. The hexenal, (E)-2-hexenal, 1-hexanol, ethyl alcohol, and ethyl acetate in free-form while benzyl alcohol, β-damascenone, gerenic acid in bound-form were the leading compounds. Overall, the concentration of aldehydes, alcohols, esters, acids, terpenoids, ketones, benzene, and phenols were abundant in fresh grapes but pyrazine and furan were identified in raisin. Out of 99 VOCs, 30 compounds had an odour active value above 1. The intensity of green, floral, and fruity aromas were quite higher in fresh grapes followed by AD-raisins, PAD-raisins, SD-raisins, and PSD-raisins. The intense roasted aroma was found in SD-raisins due to 2,6-diethylpyrazine and 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine. Among raisins, the concentration of unsaturated fatty acid oxidized and Maillard reaction volatiles were higher in SD-raisins and mainly contributed green, fruity and floral, and roasted aromas, respectively.