Cassava is a major tropical food crop in the Euphorbiaceae family that has high carbohydrate production potential and adaptability to diverse environments. Here we present the draft genome sequences of a wild ancestor and a domesticated variety of cassava and comparative analyses with a partial inbred line. We identify 1,584 and 1,678 gene models specific to the wild and domesticated varieties, respectively, and discover high heterozygosity and millions of single-nucleotide variations. Our analyses reveal that genes involved in photosynthesis, starch accumulation and abiotic stresses have been positively selected, whereas those involved in cell wall biosynthesis and secondary metabolism, including cyanogenic glucoside formation, have been negatively selected in the cultivated varieties, reflecting the result of natural selection and domestication. Differences in microRNA genes and retrotransposon regulation could partly explain an increased carbon flux towards starch accumulation and reduced cyanogenic glucoside accumulation in domesticated cassava. These results may contribute to genetic improvement of cassava through better understanding of its biology.

Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation are the primary causes of implant-associated infection, which is difficult to eliminate and may induce failure in dental implants. Chimeric peptides with both binding and antimicrobial motifs may provide a promising alternative to inhibit biofilm formation on titanium surfaces. In this study, chimeric peptides were designed by connecting an antimicrobial motif (JH8194: KRLFRRWQWRMKKY) with a binding motif (minTBP-1: RKLPDA) directly or via flexible/rigid linkers to modify Ti surfaces. We evaluated the binding behavior of peptides using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques and investigated the effect of the modification of titanium surfaces with these peptides on the bioactivity of Streptococcus gordonii (S. gordonii) and Streptococcus sanguis (S. sanguis). Compared with the flexible linker (GGGGS), the rigid linker (PAPAP) significantly increased the adsorption of the chimeric peptide on titanium surfaces (p < 0.05). Concentration-dependent adsorption is consistent with a single Langmuir model, whereas time-dependent adsorption is in line with a two-domain Langmuir model. Additionally, the chimeric peptide with the rigid linker exhibited more effective antimicrobial ability than the peptide with the flexible linker. This finding was ascribed to the ability of the rigid linker to separate functional domains and reduce their interference to the maximum extent. Consequently, the performance of chimeric peptides with specific titanium-binding motifs and antimicrobial motifs against bacteria can be optimized by the proper selection of linkers. This rational design of chimeric peptides provides a promising alternative to inhibit the formation of biofilms on titanium surfaces with the potential to prevent peri-implantitis and peri-implant mucositis.

Background: Intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction plays an important role in the development of diabetes mellitus (DM). Berberine (BBR), a kind of isoquinoline alkaloid, is widely known to be effective for both DM and diarrhea. Here, we explored whether the anti-diabetic effect of BBR was related to the intestine mucosal barrier.Methods and Results: The rat model of T2DM was established by high glucose and fat diet feeding and intravenous injection of streptozocin. Then, those diabetic rats were treated with BBR at different concentrations for 9 weeks. The results showed, in addition to hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, diabetic rats were also characterized by proinflammatory intestinal changes, altered gut-derived hormones, and 2.77-fold increase in intestinal permeability. However, the treatment with BBR significantly reversed the above changes in diabetic rats, presenting as the improvement of the high glucose and triglyceride levels, the relief of the inflammatory changes of intestinal immune system, and the attenuation of the intestinal barrier damage. BBR treatment at a high concentration also decreased the intestinal permeability by 27.5% in diabetic rats. Furthermore, BBR regulated the expressions of the molecules involved in TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathways in intestinal tissue of diabetic rats.Conclusion: The hypoglycemic effects of BBR might be related to the improvement in gut-derived hormones and the attenuation of intestinal mucosal mechanic and immune barrier damages.

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In recent years, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have exhibited significant market potential to greatly reduce the cost and time in the field of logistics. The use of UAVs to provide commercial courier has become an emerging industry, remarkably shifting the energy use of the freight sector. However, due to limited battery capacities, the flight duration of civilian rotorcraft UAVs is still short, hindering them from performing remote jobs. In this case, people customarily utilize ground vehicles to carry and assist UAVs in various applications, including cargo delivery. Most previous studies on vehicle-drone cooperative parcel delivery considered only one UAV, thereby suffering from low efficiency when serving a large number of customers. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid genetic algorithm, which supports the cooperation of a ground vehicle and multiple UAVs for efficient parcel delivery. Our routing and scheduling algorithm allows multiple UAVs carried by the vehicle to simultaneously deliver multiple parcels to customers residing in different locations. The proposed algorithm consists of a pipeline of several modules: population management, heuristic population initialization, and population education. The performance evaluation results show that the proposed algorithm has significant efficiency over existing algorithms.INDEX TERMS Unmanned aerial vehicle, cargo delivery, routing, scheduling.

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BackgroundsInflammation is recognized as the key pathological mechanism of type 2 diabetes. The hypoglyceamic effects of berberine (BBR) are related to the inhibition of the inflammatory response, but the mechanism is not completely clear.MethodsThe inflammatory polarization of Raw264.7 cells and primary peritoneal macrophages were induced by LPS, and then effects and underlying mechanisms of BBR were explored. An inflammatory model was established by LPS treatment at different concentrations for different treatment time. An ELISA assay was used to detect the secretions of TNF-α. RT-PCR was applied to detect M1 inflammatory factors. The F4/80+ ratio and CD11c+ ratio of primary peritoneal macrophages were determined by flow cytometry. The expressions of p-AMPK and TLR4 were detected by Western blot. The cytoplasmic and nuclear distributions of NFκB p65 were observed by confocal microscopy. The binding of TLR4 to MyD88 was tested by CoIP, and the affinity of BBR for TLR4 was assessed by molecular docking.ResultsUpon exposure to LPS, the secretion of TNF-α and transcription of inflammatory factors in macrophages increased, cell morphology changed and protrusions appeared gradually, the proportion of F4/80+CD11c+ M1 macrophages increased, and the nuclear distribution of NFκB p65 increased. BBR pretreatment partially inhibited the changes mentioned above. However, the expression of TLR4 and p-AMPK did not change significantly after LPS intervention for 3 h. Meanwhile, CoIP showed that the interaction between TLR4 and MyD88 increased, and BBR inhibited the binding. Molecular docking suggested that BBR might interact with TLR4.ConclusionsInflammatory changes were induced in macrophages after LPS stimulation for 3 h, and BBR pretreatment inhibited inflammatory polarization. BBR might interact with TLR4 and disturb TLR4/MyD88/NFκB signalling pathway, and it might be the mechanism by which BBR attenuated inflammation in the early phase.