No abstract

The basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factor family is the second largest transcription factor family in plants, and participates in various plant growth and development processes. A total of 118 bHLH genes were identified from fig (Ficus carica L.) by whole-genome database search. Phylogenetic analysis with Arabidopsis homologs divided them into 25 subfamilies. Most of the bHLHs in each subfamily shared a similar gene structure and conserved motifs. Seventy-two bHLHs were found expressed at fragments per kilobase per million mapped (FPKM) > 10 in the fig fruit; among them, 15 bHLHs from eight subfamilies had FPKM > 100 in at least one sample. bHLH subfamilies had different expression patterns in the female flower tissue and peel during fig fruit development. Comparing green and purple peel mutants, 13 bHLH genes had a significantly different (≥ 2-fold) expression. Light deprivation resulted in 68 significantly upregulated and 22 downregulated bHLH genes in the peel of the fruit. Sixteen bHLH genes in subfamily III were selected by three sets of transcriptomic data as candidate genes related to anthocyanin synthesis. Interaction network prediction and yeast two-hybrid screening verified the interaction between FcbHLH42 and anthocyanin synthesis-related genes. The transient expression of FcbHLH42 in tobacco led to an apparent anthocyanin accumulation. Our results confirm the first fig bHLH gene involved in fruit color development, laying the foundation for an in-depth functional study on other FcbHLH genes in fig fruit quality formation, and contributing to our understanding of the evolution of bHLH genes in other horticulturally important Ficus species.

Exogenous nutrient elements modulate the energetic metabolism responses that are prerequisites for cellular homeostasis and metabolic physiology. Although zinc is important in oxidative stress and cytoprotection processes, its role in the regulation of energetic metabolism remains largely unknown. In this study, we found that zinc stimulated aspect in cell motility and was essential in restoring the Ochratoxin A (OTA)-induced energetic metabolism damage in HEK293 cells. Moreover, using zinc supplementation and zinc deficiency models, we observed that zinc is conducive to mitochondrial pyruvate transport, oxidative phosphorylation, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism and ultimate energy metabolism in both normal and toxic-induced oxidative stress conditions in vitro, and it plays an important role in restoring impaired energetic metabolism. This zinc-mediated energetic metabolism regulation could also be helpful for DNA maintenance, cytoprotection and hereditary cancer traceability. Therefore, zinc can widely adjust energetic metabolism and is essential in restoring the impaired energetic metabolism of cellular physiology.

A snake-like robot has flexible mobility and high stability with low center of mass. It is very useful for complex environment exploration. This article develops two types of snake-like robots with different structure, shape, and modular joints. One (named as HITSZ-Snakebot I) is composed of 10 single degree-of-freedom modular joints, and the other (called HITSZ-Snakebot II) comprised eight 2-degree-of-freedom modular spherical-shape joints. The joints of the two types of robots are arranged as the same layout, that is, ''Yaw-Pitch-Yaw-Pitch-....'' The difference lies that, for the former, each rotation axes (''Yaw'' or ''Pitch'') is designed as one modularized unit, while for the latter, two adjacent rotation axes (''Yaw'' and ''Pitch'') are designed as one modularized unit. The exterior frame of each 2-degrees-of-freedom joint is designed as a spherical structure, which is connected with the motor through two-stage reduction mechanism. Therefore, the drive torques are largely increased. Many small passive wheels are mounted along a circle of the exterior surface. Such design largely decreases the friction between the robot and the road, and it also has the effect of compensating gravity when the space simulation is applied. At last, two types of prototypes are developed and experimented. The results show that the developed robots have high mobility and flexibility.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) has many nephrotoxic effects and is a promising compound for the study of nephrotoxicity. Human renal proximal tubular cells (HKC) are an important model for the study of renal reabsorption, renal physiology and pathology. Since the induction of OTA in renal senescence is largely unknown, whether OTA can induce renal senescence, especially at a sublethal dose, and the mechanism of OTA toxicity remain unclear. In our study, a sublethal dose of OTA led to an enhanced senescent phenotype, β-galactosidase staining and senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Cell cycle arrest and cell shape alternations also confirmed senescence. In addition, telomere analysis by RT-qPCR allowed us to classify OTA-induced senescence as a premature senescence. Western blot assays showed that the p53-p21 and the p16-pRB pathways and the ezrin-associated cell spreading changes were activated during the OTA-induced senescence of HKC. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that OTA promotes the senescence of HKC through the p53-p21 and p16-pRB pathways. The understanding of the mechanisms of OTA-induced senescence is critical in determining the role of OTA in cytotoxicity and its potential carcinogenicity.

Lipotoxicity is the most common cause of severe kidney disease, with few treatment options available today. Precision toxicology can improve detection of subtle intracellular changes in response to exogenous substrates; thus, it facilitates in‐depth research on bioactive molecules that may interfere with the onset of certain diseases. In the current study, troxerutin significantly relieved nephrotoxicity, increased endurance, and improved systemic energy metabolism and renal inflammation in OTA‐induced nephrotic mice. Lipidomics showed that troxerutin effectively reduced the levels of triglycerides, phosphatidylcholines, and phosphatidylethanolamines in nephropathy. The mechanism was partly attributable to troxerutin in alleviating the aberrantly up‐regulated expression of sphingomyelinase, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, and chloride channel 2. Renal tubular epithelial cells, the main site of toxin‐induced accumulation of lipids in the kidney, were subjected to transcriptomic profiling, which uncovered several metabolic factors relevant to aberrant lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. Our work provides new insights into the molecular features of toxin‐induced lipotoxicity in renal tubular epithelial cells in vivo and demonstrates the function of troxerutin in alleviating OTA‐induced nephrosis and associated systemic energy metabolism disorders.—Yang, X., Xu, W., Huang, K., Zhang, B., Wang, H., Zhang, X., Gong, L., Luo, Y., He, X. Precision toxicology shows that troxerutin alleviates ochratoxin A‐induced renal lipotoxicity. FASEB J. 33, 2212–2227 (2019). http://www.fasebj.org

Electronic skin is an important means through which robots can obtain external information. A novel flexible tactile sensor capable of simultaneously detecting the contact position and force was proposed in this paper. The tactile sensor had a three-layer structure. The upper layer was a specially designed conductive film based on indium-tin oxide polyethylene terephthalate (ITO-PET), which could be used for detecting contact position. The intermediate layer was a piezoresistive film used as the force-sensitive element. The lower layer was made of fully conductive material such as aluminum foil and was used only for signal output. In order to solve the inconsistencies and nonlinearity of the piezoresistive properties for large areas, a Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network was used. This includes input, hidden, and output layers. The input layer has three nodes representing position coordinates, X, Y, and resistor, R. The output layer has one node representing force, F. A sensor sample was fabricated and experiments of contact position and force detection were performed on the sample. The results showed that the principal function of the tactile sensor was feasible. The sensor sample exhibited good consistency and linearity. The tactile sensor has only five lead wires and can provide the information support necessary for safe human—computer interactions.

Global data traffic is growing rapidly, and the demand for optoelectronic transceivers applied in data centers (DCs) is also increasing correspondingly. In this review, we first briefly introduce the development of optoelectronics transceivers in DCs, as well as the advantages of silicon photonic chips fabricated by complementary metal oxide semiconductor process. We also summarize the research on the main components in silicon photonic transceivers. In particular, quantum dot lasers have shown great potential as light sources for silicon photonic integration—whether to adopt bonding method or monolithic integration—thanks to their unique advantages over the conventional quantum-well counterparts. Some of the solutions for high-speed optical interconnection in DCs are then discussed. Among them, wavelength division multiplexing and four-level pulse-amplitude modulation have been widely studied and applied. At present, the application of coherent optical communication technology has moved from the backbone network, to the metro network, and then to DCs.