MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are two types of noncoding RNAs involved in developmental regulation, genome maintenance, and defense in eukaryotes. The activity of Dicer or Dicer-like (DCL) proteins is required for the maturation of miRNAs and siRNAs. In this study, we cloned and sequenced 66 candidate rice (Oryza sativa) miRNAs out of 1,650 small RNA sequences (19 to approximately 25 nt), and they could be further grouped into 21 families, 12 of which are newly identified and three of which, OsmiR528, OsmiR529, and OsmiR530, have been confirmed by northern blot. To study the function of rice DCL proteins (OsDCLs) in the biogenesis of miRNAs and siRNAs, we searched genome databases and identified four OsDCLs. An RNA interference approach was applied to knock down two OsDCLs, OsDCL1 and OsDCL4, respectively. Strong loss of function of OsDCL1IR transformants that expressed inverted repeats of OsDCL1 resulted in developmental arrest at the seedling stage, and weak loss of function of OsDCL1IR transformants caused pleiotropic developmental defects. Moreover, all miRNAs tested were greatly reduced in OsDCL1IR but not OsDCL4IR transformants, indicating that OsDCL1 plays a critical role in miRNA processing in rice. In contrast, the production of siRNA from transgenic inverted repeats and endogenous CentO regions were not affected in either OsDCL1IR or OsDCL4IR transformants, suggesting that the production of miRNAs and siRNAs is via distinct OsDCLs.

BackgroundThe citrus red mite is a worldwide citrus pest and a common sensitizing allergen of asthma and rhinitis. It has developed strong resistance to many registered acaricides, However, the molecular mechanisms of resistance remain unknown. we therefore used next generation sequencing technology to investigate the global transcriptomes between resistant strains and susceptible strains.ResultsWe obtained 34,159, 30,466 and 32,217 unigenes by assembling the SS reads, RS reads and SS&RS reads respectively. There are total 17,581 annotated unigenes from SS&RS reads by BLAST searching databases of nr, the Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) with an E-value ≤ 1e-5, in which 7,075 unigenes were annotated in the COG database, 12, 712 unigenes were found in the KEGG database and 3,812 unigenes were assigned to Gene ontology (GO). Moreover, 2,701 unigenes were judged to be the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) based on the uniquely mapped reads. There are 219 pathways in all annotated unigenes and 198 pathways in DEGs that mapped to the KEGG database. We identified 211 metabolism genes and target genes related to general insecticide resistance such as P450 and Cytochrome b, and further compared their differences between RS and SS. Meanwhile, we identified 105 and 194 genes related to growth and reproduction, respectively, based on the mode of action of Hexythiazox. After further analyses, we found variation in sequences but not in gene expression related to mite growth and reproduction between different strains.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first comparative transcriptome study to discover candidate genes involved in phytophagous mite resistance. This study identified differential unigenes related to general pesticide resistance and organism growth and reproduction in P. citri. The assembled, annotated transcriptomes provide a valuable genomic resource for further understanding the molecular basis of resistance mechanisms.

Human water regulation, groundwater lateral flow, and the movement of frost and thaw fronts (FTFs) affect soil water and thermal processes, as well as energy and water exchanges between the land surface and atmosphere. Reasonable representation of these processes in land surface models is very important to improving the understanding of land‐atmosphere interactions. In this study, mathematical descriptions of groundwater lateral flow, human water regulation, and FTFs were synchronously incorporated into a high‐resolution community land model, which is then named the Land Surface Model for Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS‐LSM). With a series of atmospheric forcings and high‐resolution land surface data from the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) program, numerical simulations of the period 1981–2013 using CAS‐LSM with 1‐km resolution were conducted for an endorheic basin, the Heihe River Basin in China. Compared with observations, CAS‐LSM reproduced the distributions of groundwater, evapotranspiration, and permafrost reasonably and well matched the temporal changes in ground temperature, heat fluxes, and FTFs. Results illuminate the temporal and spatial characteristics of frozen soil and the changes in the land‐atmosphere exchange of carbon, water, and energy. The permafrost and seasonally frozen soil were distinguished. In the seasonally frozen areas, the maximum soil frost depth increased by 0.65 mm/year within natural areas and decreased by 2.12 mm/year in human‐dominated areas. The active layer thickness increased 8.63 mm/year for permafrost. In the permafrost zone evapotranspiration and latent heat flux increased, and the sensible heat flux declined. In the human‐dominated areas water use raised the latent heat flux and reduced the sensible heat flux, net ecosystem exchange, and streamflow recharging to the eco‐fragile region in the lower reaches. Results suggested that the land surface model CAS‐LSM is a potential tool for studying land surface processes, especially in cold and arid regions experiencing human interventions.

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In this paper, we present a quantum-key-distribution (QKD)-based quantum private query (QPQ) protocol utilizing single-photon signal of multiple optical pulses. It maintains the advantages of the QKD-based QPQ, i.e., easy to implement and loss tolerant. In addition, different from the situations in the previous QKD-based QPQ protocols, in our protocol, the number of the items an honest user will obtain is always one and the failure probability is always zero. This characteristic not only improves the stability (in the sense that, ignoring the noise and the attack, the protocol would always succeed), but also benefits the privacy of the database (since the database will no more reveal additional secrets to the honest users). Furthermore, for the user's privacy, the proposed protocol is cheat sensitive, and for security of the database, we obtain an upper bound for the leaked information of the database in theory.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

In this study, the concentration of eight dissolved heavy metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Mo, Sb, and Ba) in 42 water samples from the Jiulongjiang River, southeast China, were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Multivariate statistical methods, including correlation analysis (CA) and factor and principal component analysis (FA/PCA), were analyzed to identify the sources of the elements. Water quality index (WQI) and health risk assessment, including hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), were used to evaluate water quality and the impacts on human health. Our results were compared with the drinking water guidelines reported by China, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), revealing that Ti, Mn, and Sb were not within approved limits at some sites and might be the main pollutants in the drainage basin. Based on the spatial distributions, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo showed good similarity, indicating that they might come from similar sources along the river. The CA results also showed that Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo had a high correlation coefficient. The FA/PCA results identified three principal components (PC) that accounted for 79.46% of the total variance. PC 1 suggested that a mixed lithogenic and urban land source contributed to Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo; PC 2 showed that Cr, Ni, and Mo were influenced by the discharge of industrial effluents; Sb had a strong loading on PC 3, which was controlled by mining activities. The results of the WQI indicated that the water in the Jiulongjiang River was basically categorized as excellent water, but the water quality levels in site W5 and N4 were poorer due to urban land use. Hazard quotient and HI values showed that Sb was a potential threat to human health, indicating that preventive actions should be considered in regard to mining activities in the upper reaches of Beixi stream.

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Chang'e‐4 (CE‐4) achieved the first farside landing in Von Kármán crater. In the landing site, linear features have been identified previously from SLDEM and considered to be ejecta from the neighboring Finsen crater. The 5 cm grid spacing digital elevation model of the landing site, generated from the rover's panoramic images, provides more details of the rugged terrain. We further interpret the superimposition of NE‐SW ejecta from Finsen crater on the underlying SE‐NW dome‐like surface relief from Alder crater. The landing site is ~70 m higher than the mare basalts within Von Kármán crater. Numerical simulations predict ~30 and ~35 m ejecta deposited at the landing site from Finsen and Alder craters, respectively. The good agreement between the digital elevation model data and ejecta predicted thickness reveals the topographic evolution of Von Kármán crater, indicating that the rover‐measured material is excavated from Finsen crater with possible contributions from Alder crater.