Heterologous expression of ZmNF-YA12 confers tolerance to drought and salt stress in Arabidopsis

Zhang Tongtong,Zheng Dengyu,Zhang Chun,Wu Zhongyi,Yu Rong,Zhang Zhongbao 한국식물생명공학회 2022 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.16 No.4

Drought and salinity are serious environmental factors limiting the growth and productivity of plants worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to develop ways to improve drought and salinity stress tolerance in plants. In this study, a drought-responsive nuclear factor Y subunit A gene, ZmNF-YA12, was cloned from maize. qPCR revealed ZmNF-YA12 transcript in all vegeta- tive and reproductive tissues, with higher levels in young roots. Expression analyses of maize revealed that ZmNF-YA12 was induced by abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), and abiotic stresses, including dehydration, high salinity, cold, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment. The heterologous expression of ZmNF-YA12 in Arabidopsis plants resulted in increased root length and better plant growth than in wild-type (WT) plants under conditions of mannitol, salt, and JA stress on 1/2 MS medium. Transgenic Arabidopsis showed improved tolerance to drought and salt stresses in soil, and higher proline content and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content than WT controls. The transgenic plants also maintained higher peroxidase (POD) activities than WT plants under conditions of NaCl stress. A yeast two-hybrid experiment demonstrated that ZmNF-YA12 interacted with ZmNF-YC1 and ZmNF-YC15. Moreover, the transcript levels of stress-responsive genes (RD29A, RD29B, RAB18, and RD22) were markedly increased in transgenic lines under conditions of drought and salt stress. These observa- tions suggested that the ZmNF-YA12 gene may confers drought and salt stress tolerance by regulating stress-related genes or interacting with ZmNF-YC1 and ZmNF-YC15, and has potential applications in molecular breeding with maintenance of production under conditions of stress.

Akebia trifoliate koiaz peels extract as environmentally benign corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in HCl solutions: Integrated experimental and theoretical investigations

Mengqin Zhang,Lei Guo,Mengyue Zhu,Kai Wang,Renhui Zhang,Zhongyi He,Yuanhua Lin,Senlin Leng,Valentine Chikaodili Anadebe,Xingwen Zheng 한국공업화학회 2021 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.101 No.-

In this account, pectin components were obtained from akebia trifoliate koiaz peels with the acid extractiontechnology. The chemical constituent of the akebia trifoliate koiaz peels extract (ATKPE) was analyzedand its anti-corrosion performance for mild steel in HCl medium was investigated byelectrochemical methods, surface analysis and theoretical calculations. Experimental results show thatATKPE exhibits excellent corrosion inhibition characteristic, and its inhibition efficiency can be as highas 90% when the concentration of ATKPE is 800 mg/L. Electrochemical measurements show that ATKPEis a mixed-type corrosion inhibitor consisting with Langmuir adsorption model. In addition, SEM, AFMand contact angle observations suggests that the ATKPE may attach firmly to the metal surface by forminga barrier film. XPS and ATR-FTIR results further verify the bonding interaction between the functionalgroups and steel substrate. Meanwhile, quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics (MD)simulations were performed to reveal the inhibition mechanism at molecular/atomic level. In brief, ourfindings demonstrate a novel environmentally benign, efficient corrosion inhibitor for steel protection inacidic media.

승차감 향상을 위한 더블 위시 본 서스펜션의 부싱 각도 최적 설계

장중일(Zhongyi Zhang),김문영(Moon Young Kim),이준영(Jun Yong Lee),임홍재(Hong Jae Yim) 대한기계학회 2016 대한기계학회 춘추학술대회 Vol.2016 No.12

Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions: A Single-Center Retrospective Study of 173 Patients in China

( Zhongyi Xu ),( Jie Shen ),( Yiwen Yang ),( Ruoyue Yuan ),( Leihong Flora Xiang ),( Chengfeng Zhang ) 대한피부과학회 2019 Annals of Dermatology Vol.31 No.5

Background: Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCAR) to drugs are a crucial public health issue and the use of systemic corticosteroids in SCAR has been controversial. Objective: To analyze clinical features, causative drugs, treatment, outcomes, and prognostic factors of SCAR in the case-series of 173 patients, and add more information to the debate of using systemic corticosteroids in SCAR management. Methods: A retrospective study of 173 SCAR patients diagnosed with drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) or acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) at a tertiary care institution in China between January 2014 and December 2017 was conducted. Results: Of 173 patients, allopurinol, carbamazepine, and antibiotics are the most frequently implicated drugs for DRESS (40.4%), SJS/TEN (26.0%), and AGEP (40.0%) respectively. Moreover, there is a strongly negative correlation between early corticosteroids use and the progression (p=0.000) and severity (p=0.01) of skin lesions. However, there is no association between early corticosteroids use and the mortality of SCAR (odds ratio: 1.01, 95% confidence interval: 0.95∼1.08). In addition, lymphadenopathy, eosinophilia, and interval from onset to corticosteroids treatment were correlated with SCAR prognosis. Conclusion: Prompt short-course systemic corticosteroids use is associated with early-stage skin lesions remission without influencing the disease mortality. Lymphadenopathy and eosinophilia were the independent poor prognostic factors of SCAR. (Ann Dermatol 31(5) 545∼ 554, 2019)

An enhancing many-objective evolutionary algorithm using chaotic mapping and solution ranking mechanism for large-scale optimization

Wang Yong,Zhang Qian,Wang Gai-Ge,Hu Zhongyi 한국CDE학회 2022 Journal of computational design and engineering Vol.9 No.5

There are many complex optimization problems in the real world, and various evolutionary algorithms are proposed to solve them. Recently, the many-objective evolutionary algorithm using a one-by-one selection strategy (1by1EA) adopts a convergence indicator and a distribution indicator to balance convergence and diversity. However, the algorithm is too random in initialization and the fitness evaluation of solutions in the mating selection is single, which leads to poor performance in solving large-scale problems. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved method called 1by1EA-CHV by using circle chaotic mapping and a solution ranking mechanism based on the hypervolume (HV) indicator. We first map each component of solutions into a certain value space to initialize the population. Then, we calculate the contribution of each partition divided based on HV and apply the aggregation method to guide the reallocation of fitness, which achieves the ranking of solutions by using it before the old calculation method. To validate the performance, experiments compared 1by1EA-CHV with 1by1EA and other seven many-objective algorithms on large-scale functions, and the differences between these algorithms were analyzed statistically by a non-parametric test. The results showed the superiority of 1by1EA-CHV in solving large-scale many-objective optimization problems with up to 2000 decision variables.

Reactivity of a CaSO4-oxygen carrier in chemical-looping combustion of methane in a fixed bed reactor

Qilei Song,Rui Xiao,Zhongyi Deng,Laihong Shen,Mingyao Zhang 한국화학공학회 2009 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.26 No.2

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is a promising technology for the combustion of gas or solid fuel with efficient use of energy and inherent separation of CO2. A reactivity study of CaSO4 oxygen carrier in CLC of methane was conducted in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor. The oxygen carrier particles were exposed in six cycles of alternating reduction methane and oxidation air. A majority of CH4 reacted with CaSO4 to form CO2 and H2O. The oxidation was incomplete, possibly due to the CaSO4 product layer. The reactivity of CaSO4 oxygen carrier increased for the initial cycles but slightly decreased after four cycles. The product gas yields of CO2, CH4, and CO with cycles were analyzed. Carbon deposition during the reduction period was confirmed with the combustible gas (CO+H2) in the product gas and slight CO2 formed during the early stage of oxidation. The mechanism of carbon deposition and effect was also discussed. SO2 release behavior during reduction and oxidation was investigated, and the possible formation mechanism and mitigation method was discussed. The oxygen carrier conversion after the reduction decreased gradually in the cyclic test while it could not restore its oxygen capacity after the oxidation. The mass-based reaction rates during the reduction and oxidation also demonstrated the variation of reactivity of CaSO4 oxygen carrier. XRD analysis illustrated the phase change of CaSO4 oxygen carrier. CaS was the main reduction product, while a slight amount of CaO also formed in the cyclic test. ESEM analysis demonstrated the surface change of particles during the cyclic test. The reacted particles tested in the fixed bed reactor were not uniform in porosity. EDS analysis demonstrated the transfer of oxygen from CaSO4 to fuel gas while leaving CaS as the dominant reduced product. The results show that CaSO4 oxygen carrier may be an interesting candidate for oxygen carrier in CLC.

An Alkaline pH Control Strategy for Methionine Adenosyltransferase Production in Pichia pastoris Fermentation

Xiaoqing Hu,Ju Chu,Si-Liang Zhang,Ying-ping Zhuang,Xin Wu,Huaxin Chen,Zhongyuan Lv,Zhongyi Yuan 한국생물공학회 2014 Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Vol.19 No.5

Pichia pastoris is a successful system forexpressing heterologous proteins and its fermentation pH isalways maintained below 7.0. However, particular proteinsare unstable under acidic conditions, such as methionineadenosyltransferase (MAT), and thus fermentation underacidic pH conditions is unsuitable because protein activityis lost owing to denaturation. Here, a strategy employingalkaline pH in the late fermentation period was developedto improve MAT production. Initially, P. pastoris KM71was transformed with the mat gene to overexpress MAT. After 72 h of in vitro incubation at different pH values, theexpressed MAT displayed highest stability at pH 8.0;however, pH 8.0 inhibited cell growth and induced cellrupture, thus affecting protein production. To balance MATstability and Pichia cell viability, different pH controlstrategies were compared. In strategy A (reference), theinduction pH was maintained at 6.0, whereas in strategy B,it was gradually elevated to 8.0 through a 25 h transitionperiod (80 ~ 105 h). MAT activity was 0.86 U/mg (twofoldhigher than the control). However, MAT content wasreduced by 50% when compared with strategy A, becauseof proteases released upon cell lysis. To improve cellviability under alkaline conditions, glycerol was added inaddition to methanol (strategy C). When compared withstrategy B, the MAT-specific activity remained nearlyconstant, whereas the expression level increased to 1.27 g/L. The alkaline pH control strategy presented herein for MATproduction represents an excellent alternative for expressingproteins that are stable only under alkaline conditions.

A study of structural, electrical and electrochemical properties of PVdF-HFP gel polymer electrolyte films for magnesium ion battery applications

Xin Tang,Shenhua Song,Ravi Muchakayala,Zhongyi Zhang,Anji Reddy Polu 한국공업화학회 2016 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.37 No.-

New magnesium ion conducting polymer electrolyte films are developed and their experimentalinvestigations are reported. The polymer electrolyte films are composed of various poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene):magnesium trifluoromethanesulfonate compositions (PVdF-HFP:Mg(Tf)2 in weight ratio) with different quantities of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethane-sulfonate ionic liquid (EMITf). X-ray diffraction reveals that the pristine PVdF-HFP polymer filmpossesses a semi-crystalline structure and its amorphicity increases with increasing Mg(Tf)2 and EMITfconcentrations. From thermal analysis, the melting temperature (Tm), relative crystallinity (xc) andthermal stability of the 90PVdF-HFP:10Mg(Tf)2 gel polymer electrolyte film doped with 40 wt.% EMITfare obtained as 112 8C, 21.8% and 355 8C, respectively. The room-temperature ionic conductivity of thegel polymer electrolyte film increases with increasing EMITf concentration and reaches a high value ofapproximately 4.63 10 3 S cm 1 at 40 wt.% EMITf due to its amorphicity increase and interconnectedpore structure. For the 40 wt.% EMITf electrolyte film, the temperature dependence of ionic conductivityfollows the Arrhenius relation with an activation energy of 0.35 eV. The electrochemical stabilitywindow of the 40 wt.% EMITf electrolyte film is determined as 4.8 V. The findings from this study arepromising and have great potential for practical ionic device applications, particularly in rechargeablemagnesium ion batteries.

Development of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Combined with Lateral Flow Strips for Rapid Detection of Cowpea Mild Mottle Virus

Xinyang Wu,Shuting Chen,Zixin Zhang,Yihan Zhang,Pingmei Li,Xinyi Chen,Miaomiao Liu,Qian Lu,Zhongyi Li,Zhongyan Wei,Pei Xu 한국식물병리학회 2023 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.39 No.5

Cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV) is a global plant virus that poses a threat to the production and quality of legume crops. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential for effective managing CPMMV outbreaks. With the advancement in isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification and lateral flow strips technologies, more rapid and sensitive methods have become available for detecting this pathogen. In this study, we have developed a reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification combined with lateral flow strips (RT-RPA-LFS) method for the detection of CPMMV, specifically targeting the CPMMV coat protein (CP) gene. The RT-RPA-LFS assay only requires 20 min at 40°C and demonstrates high specificity. Its detection limit was 10 copies/μl, which is approximately up to 100 times more sensitive than RT-PCR on agarose gel electrophoresis. The developed RT-RPA-LFS method offers a rapid, convenient, and sensitive approach for field detection of CPMMV, which contribute to controlling the spread of the virus.

A Z-scheme CuO–ZnO–ZnS–CuS quaternary nanocomposite for solar-light-driven photocatalytic performance

Zhu Wenli,Yang Qiaoling,Du Juan,Yin Pinpin,Yi Jun,Liu Yanmei,Wu Xuemei,Zhang Zhongyi 한국물리학회 2022 Current Applied Physics Vol.39 No.-

A quaternary CuO–CuS–ZnO–ZnS nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via a facile microwave irradiation based on the preprepared ZnS and CuO nanoparticles. CuO–CuS–ZnO–ZnS nanocomposite was a porous photocatalyst, providing excellent adsorption performance. It was sensitive to both ultraviolet and visible light, moreover, the photoelectrochemical measurements confirmed that there was a high separation rate and low recombination rate of photo-generated charge carriers in the nanocomposite, endowing excellent photocatalytic activity in the sunlight. Under the simulated solar light irradiation, the removal efficiency of rhodamine B (RhB) pollutant (30 mg/L) over CuO–CuS–ZnO–ZnS nanocomposite was 33.98 and 2.90 times of pristine CuO and ZnS, respectively. The outstandingt photocatalytic performance was attributed to Z-scheme charge transfer path.