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The aim of this study was to compare the structure of gut microbiota in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls; and to explore correlations between gut microbiota and PD clinical features. We analyzed fecal bacterial composition of 24 PD patients and 14 healthy volunteers by using 16S rRNA sequencing. There were significant differences between PD and healthy controls, as well as among different PD stages. The putative cellulose degrading bacteria from the genera Blautia (P=0.018), Faecalibacterium (P=0.048) and Ruminococcus (P=0.019) were significantly decreased in PD compared to healthy controls. The putative pathobionts from the genera Escherichia-Shigella (P=0.038), Streptococcus (P=0.01), Proteus (P=0.022), and Enterococcus (P=0.006) were significantly increased in PD subjects. Correlation analysis indicated that disease severity and PD duration negatively correlated with the putative cellulose degraders, and positively correlated with the putative pathobionts. The results suggest that structural changes of gut microbiota in PD are characterized by the decreases of putative cellulose degraders and the increases of putative pathobionts, which may potentially reduce the production of short chain fatty acids, and produce more endotoxins and neurotoxins; and these changes is potentially associated with the development of PD pathology.

Summary• Drought induces root death in plants; however, the nature and characteristics of root cell death and its underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we provide a systematic analysis of cell death in the primary root tips in Arabidopsis during water stress.• Root tip cell death occurs when high water deficit is reached. The dying cells were first detected in the apical meristem of the primary roots and underwent active programmed cell death (PCD). Transmission electron microscopic analysis shows that the cells undergoing induced death had unambiguous morphological features of autophagic cell death, including an increase in vacuole size, degradation of organelles, and collapse of the tonoplast and the plasma membrane. The results suggest that autophagic PCD occurs as a response to severe water deficit.• Significant accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected in the stressed root tips. Expression of BAX inhibitor-1 (AtBI1) was increased in response to water stress, and atbi1-1 displayed accelerated cell death, indicating that AtBI1 and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response pathway both modulate water stress-induced PCD.• These findings form the basis for further investigations into the mechanisms underlying the PCD and its role in developmental plasticity of root system architecture and subsequent adaptation to water stress.

The nuclear protein ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE2 (EIN2) is a central component of the ethylene signal transduction pathway in plants, and plays an important role in mediating cross-links between several hormone response pathways, including abscisic acid (ABA). ABA mediates stress responses in plants, but there is no report on the role of EIN2 on plant response to salt and osmotic stresses. Here, we show that EIN2 gene regulates plant response to osmotic and salt stress through an ABA-dependent pathway in Arabidopsis. The expression of the EIN2 gene is down-regulated by salt and osmotic stress. An Arabidopsis EIN2 null mutant was supersensitive to both salt and osmotic stress conditions. Disruption of EIN2 specifically altered the expression pattern of stress marker gene RD29B in response to the stresses, but not the stress- or ABA-responsive genes RD29A and RD22, suggesting EIN2 modulates plant stress responses through the RD29B branch of the ABA response. Furthermore, disruption of EIN2 caused substantial increase in ABA. Lastly, our data showed that mutations of other key genes in ethylene pathway also had altered sensitivity to abiotic stresses, indicating that the intact ethylene may involve in the stress response. Taken together, the results identified EIN2 as a cross-link node in ethylene, ABA and stress signaling pathways, and EIN2 is necessary to induce developmental arrest during seed germination, and seedling establishment, as well as subsequent vegetative growth, thereby allowing the survival and growth of plants under the adverse environmental conditions.

Advanced polymer composites have obtained great application interest in a number of demanding aerospace, wind energy, automotive, infrastructure, and consumer applications. Great varieties of curing methods are investigated to develop low-cost and high-efficient fabrication of advanced polymer composites, which still remains as a great challenge and thorny issue. Especially, the autoclave curing process, which is widely used for curing of high performance advanced polymer composites, is labor- and capital-intensive, with costs increasing exponentially with part size and limiting increased use of advanced polymer composites. Researchers and industries have long desired to explore and develop low-cost and high-efficient curing methods for fabrication of advanced polymer composites and investigated different radiation and thermal curing alternatives. In this paper, current development status of the radiation curing (gamma ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, accelerated electron beams) and thermal curing (radiation heating (infrared, laser and microwave), convection and conduction heating (hot gas, flame, oven and hot shoe), induction heating, ultrasonic heating, resistance heating and thermal additives (magnetic particles, NIR absorbent particles) based heating methods applied for the curing of advanced polymer composites are reviewed. The curing mechanism and current application status of the different curing processes for fabrication of advanced polymer composites is discussed, and main advantages and disadvantages of these methods are comparatively analysed and evaluated according to the material, cost, feasibility and power criteria for successful curing application of advanced polymer composites.

Background: COVID-19 has become a worldwide pandemic. It is caused by a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 with elusive origin. SARS-CoV-2 infects mammalian cells by binding to ACE2, a transmembrane protein. Therefore, the conservation of ACE2 and its expression pattern across mammalian species, which are yet to be comprehensively investigated, may provide valuable insights into tracing potential hosts of SARS-CoV-2. Methods:We analyzed gene conservation of ACE2 across mammals and collected more than 140 transcriptome datasets from human and common mammalian species, including presumed hosts of SARS-CoV-2 and other animals in close contact with humans. In order to enable comparisons across species and tissues, we used a unified pipeline to quantify and normalize ACE2 expression levels. Results:We first found high conservation of ACE2 genes among common mammals at both DNA and peptide levels, suggesting that a broad range of mammalian species can potentially be the hosts of SARS-CoV-2. Next, we showed that high level of ACE2 expression in certain human tissues is consistent with clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, we observed that ACE2 expressed in a species-specific manner in the mammals examined. Notably, high expression in skin and eyes in cat and dog suggested that these animals may play roles in transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to humans. Conclusions:Through building the first atlas of ACE2 expression in pets and livestock, we identified species and tissues susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, yielding novel insights into the viral transmission.

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