This study aimed to investigate the optimum dietary carbohydrate/lipid (CHO/L) ratio for fingerling blunt snout bream Megalobrama amblycephala (average initial weight: 6.61 AE 0.03 g). Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated to contain various CHO/L ratios ranging from 1.62 to 24.20. Each diet was tested in four replicates for 10 weeks. Specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio and nitrogen and energy retention all improved significantly (P < 0.05) as dietary CHO/L ratios decreased from 24.20 to 5.64 but showed little difference (P > 0.05) as dietary CHO/L ratios ranged from 2.45 to 5.64. Hepatosomatic index increased significantly (P < 0.05) as dietary CHO/L ratios increased, whereas intraperitoneal fat ratio showed an opposite trend (P < 0.05). Opposite to moisture content, lipid content of whole body and carcass all increased significantly (P < 0.05) as dietary CHO/L ratios decreased. Liver lipid content showed little difference (P > 0.05) among all the treatments, while liver glycogen content increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing CHO/L ratios. High dietary carbohydrate enhanced the activities of liver hexokinase, pyruvate kinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase but did not induce hyperglycaemia. Based on the second-order polynomial regression analysis of SGR, the optimal dietary carbohydrate and lipid contents for fingerling blunt snout bream were 291.7 and 81.4 g kg À1 , respectively, with a corresponding dietary CHO/L ratio of 3.58.

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Plants secrete defense molecules into the extracellular space (the apoplast) to combat attacking microbes. However, the mechanisms by which successful pathogens subvert plant apoplastic immunity remain poorly understood. In this study, we show that PsAvh240, a membrane-localized effector of the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae, promotes P. sojae infection in soybean hairy roots. We found that PsAvh240 interacts with the soybean-resistant aspartic protease GmAP1 in planta and suppresses the secretion of GmAP1 into the apoplast. By solving its crystal structure we revealed that PsAvh240 contain six a helices and two WY motifs. The first two a helices of PsAvh240 are responsible for its plasma membrane-localization and are required for PsAvh240's interaction with GmAP1. The second WY motifs of two PsAvh240 molecules form a handshake arrangement resulting in a handshake-like dimer. This dimerization is required for the effector's repression of GmAP1 secretion. Taken together, these data reveal that PsAvh240 localizes at the plasma membrane to interfere with GmAP1 secretion, which represents an effective mechanism by which effector proteins suppress plant apoplastic immunity.

The plant‐pathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum has a broad host range and a worldwide distribution. Boscalid, an inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase in the electron transport chain of fungi, is highly effective in controlling sclerotinia stem rot caused by S. sclerotiorum. The current study characterized the S. sclerotiorum boscalid‐resistant (BR) mutants obtained by fungicide induction. Among the bioactive fungicides against S. sclerotiorum, cross‐resistance was not detected between boscalid and dimethachlon, fluazinam or carbendazim; positive cross‐resistance was detected between boscalid and carboxin; and negative cross‐resistance was detected between boscalid and kresoxim‐methyl. Compared to their parental isolates, BR mutants had slower radial growth, no ability to produce sclerotia, lower virulence and oxalic acid content but higher mycelial respiration and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity. Moreover, BR mutants had decreased sensitivity to salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) but not to oxidative stress. All the results indicated that the risk of resistance to boscalid in S. sclerotiorum is low to moderate. DNA sequence analysis showed that all of the BR mutants had the same point mutation A11V (GCA to GTA) in the iron sulphur protein subunit (SDHB). Interestingly, expression of the cytochrome b (cytb) gene was reduced to different degrees in the BR mutants, and this might be correlated with the negative cross‐resistance between boscalid and kresoxim‐methyl. Such information is vital in the design of resistance management strategies.

The rapid shift to high-grain (HG) diets in ruminants can affect the function of the rumen epithelium, but the dynamic changes in the composition of the epithelium-associated (epimural) bacterial community in sheep still needs further investigation. Twenty male lambs were randomly allocated to four groups (n = 5). Animals of the first group received hay diet and represented a control group (CON). Simultaneously, animals in the other three groups (HG groups) were rapidly shifted to an HG diet (60% concentrate)which continued for 7 (HG7), 14 (HG14) and 28 (HG28) days, correspondingly. Results showed that ruminal pH dramatically decreased due to the rapid shift to the HG diet (P <0.001), while, the concentrations of butyrate (P <0.001), lactate (P = 0.001), valerate (P = 0.008) and total volatile fatty acids (P = 0.001) increased. Diversity estimators showed a dramatic decrease after the shift without recovering as the HG feeding continued. The principal coordinates analysis showed that CON group clustered separately from all HG groups with the presence of significant difference only between HG7 and HG28 (P = 0.034). The non-parametric multivariate analysis (npmv R-package) deduced that the primary significant differences in phyla and phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt)-predicted Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGGs) was attributed mainly to the diet composition (P <0.001, P = 0.001) compared to its application period (P = 0.140, 0.545) which showed a significant effect only on the genus (P = 0.001) and the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) level (P = 0.011). The Kruskal–Wallis test deduced that six phyla showed a significant effect due to the shift in diet composition. At the genus level, HG feeding altered the abundance of 12 taxa, four of which showed a significant variation due to the duration of the HG diet application. Similarly, we found that 21 OTUs showed significant variations due to the duration of the HG diet application. Furthermore, the genes abundance predicted by PICRUSt revealed that the HG feeding significantly affected seven metabolic pathways identified in the KEGG. Particularly, the abundance of gene families associated with carbohydrates metabolism were significantly higher in HG feeding groups (P = 0.027). Collectively, these results revealed that the rapid transition to an HG diet causes dramatic alterations in ruminal fermentation and the composition and function of ruminal epithelium-associated microbiome in sheep, while, the duration of the HG diet application causes drastic alterations to the abundance of some species.

Changes of sucrose metabolism in the subtending leaf to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) boll at different fruiting branch nodes (FBN) were investigated. Two cotton cultivars, Kemian 1 and Sumian 15, were grown in the field at three planting dates in 2009 and 2011. Cotton planted on different dates but experiencing similar climatic factors flowered on the same date and had similar boll opening dates, but had different FBN. In the present study, boll weight and carbohydrate content were significantly affected by both flowering date (FD) and FBN. However, only cystolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (cy-FBPase) and sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) activities of the sucrosemetabolizing enzymes were influenced significantly by FBN, and the influence of FBN was lower with delayed FD. In general, effects of FBN on boll weight and sucrose metabolism in the subtending leaf were higher at the optimal FD (13 August) than those at later FD (9 September 2009 and 2 September 2011), and total fruiting branches were used to characterize cotton physiological age in the current study. Sucrose transport capacity (Tn) and SPS in the subtending leaf had significantly positive correlations with boll weight at 17-24 days post anthesis (DPA), a crucial period when boll weight was significantly affected. In addition, higher SPS activity was favourable for sucrose export and boll weight during boll development.

Hybrid sterility hinders the exploitation of the heterosis displayed by japonica × indica rice hybrids. The variation in pollen semi-sterility observed among hybrids between the japonica recipient cultivar and each of two sets of chromosome segment substitution lines involving introgression from an indica cultivar was due to a factor on chromosome 5 known to harbor the gene S24. S24 was fine mapped to a 42 kb segment by analyzing a large F(2) population bred from the cross S24-NIL × Asominori, while the semi-sterility shown by the F(1) hybrid was ascribable to mitotic failure at the early bicellular pollen stage. Interestingly, two other pollen sterility genes (f5-Du and Sb) map to the same region (Li et al. in Chin Sci Bull 51:675-680, 2006; Wang et al. in Theor Appl Genet 112:382-387, 2006), allowing a search for candidate genes in the 6.4 kb overlap between the three genes. By sequencing the overlapped fragment in wild rice, indica cultivars and japonica cultivars, a protein ankyrin-3 encoded by the ORF2 was identified as the molecular base for S24. A cultivar Dular was found to have a hybrid-sterility-neutral allele, S24-n, in which an insertion of 30 bp was confirmed. Thus, it was possible to add one more case of molecular bases for the hybrid sterility. No gamete abortion is caused on heterozygous maternal genotype with an impaired sequence from the hybrid-sterility-neutral genotype. This result will be useful in understanding of wide compatibility in rice breeding.

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