How meristems shape plant architecture in cereals-Cereal Stem Cell Systems (CSCS) Consortium.

Meristems are major determinants of plant architecture, diversification, and acclimation to environmental stresses. Moreover, meristems play also a major role during crop domestication and are fundamentally important for the productivity of crop plants as they directly determine biomass and grain yield. While vegetative meristems shape the basic plant body plan and produce all above- and below-ground parts of plants, some vegetative meristems transit to reproductive meristems, forming sexual organs and germ cells.

A decade of change: Increasing "weekend warrior" behavior and physical activity trends among middle-aged and older adults in China (2011-2020).

Objective: As global aging accelerates, understanding physical activity trends among China's middle-aged and older adults population becomes crucial, especially considering the rising phenomenon of "weekend warriors" who concentrate their physical activities on any 1-2 days of the week. This study aims to determine the nationwide temporal trends in meeting physical activity guidelines and the proportion of "weekend warriors" among middle-aged and older adults individuals in China from 2011 to 2020.

Methods: Five rounds of cross-sectional data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were used to examine adherence to physical activity guidelines and the proportion of "weekend warriors" using logistic regression models.

The Cell States of Sea Urchin During Metamorphosis Revealed by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing.

Metamorphosis is a key process in the life history of sea urchin . However, the understanding of its molecular mechanisms is still lacking, especially the basic cell biology pre-metamorphosis and post-metamorphosis. Therefore, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing to delineate the cellular states of larvae and juveniles of .

FZP modulates tillering via OsMADS57 in rice.

The number of tillers in rice directly determines the number of panicles, which is crucial for enhancing plant architecture and achieving high yields. Some important genes regulating rice tillering have been identified, but their underlying mechanisms remain unclear. FRIZZY PANICLE (FZP) encodes an AP2/ERF transcription factor.

A cross-sectional study of physical activity and chronic diseases among middle-aged and elderly in China.

Regular physical activity is beneficial for both physical and mental health. However, studies on physical activity levels among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China are relatively scarce, and the association between different activity levels and certain chronic diseases remains unclear. Using cross-sectional data from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study describes the prevalence of chronic diseases and examines their associations with physical activity (PA).

The Birth and Death of Floral Organs in Cereal Crops.

Florets of cereal crops are the basic reproductive organs that produce grains for food or feed. The birth of a floret progresses through meristem initiation and floral organ identity specification and maintenance. During these processes, both endogenous and external cues can trigger a premature floral organ death, leading to reproductive failure.

Anatomical insights into the vascular layout of the barley rachis: implications for transport and spikelet connection.

Background And Aims: Vascular patterning is intimately related to plant form and function. Here, using barley (Hordeum vulgare) as a model, we studied the vascular anatomy of the spike-type inflorescence. The main aim of the present work was to clarify the relationship between rachis (spike axis) vasculature and spike size, to define vascular dynamics and to discuss the implications for transport capacity and its interaction with the spikelets.

Dynamic Phytomeric Growth Contributes to Local Adaptation in Barley.

Vascular plants have segmented body axes with iterative nodes and internodes. Appropriate node initiation and internode elongation are fundamental to plant fitness and crop yield; however, how these events are spatiotemporally coordinated remains elusive. We show that in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.

Femaleness for improving grain yield potential and hybrid production in barley.

This article comments on: Selva C, Yang X, Shirley NJ, Whitford R, Baumann U, Tucker MR. 2023. and promote stamen identity to restrict multiple ovary formation in barley.

Multilayered regulation of developmentally programmed pre-anthesis tip degeneration of the barley inflorescence.

Leaf and floral tissue degeneration is a common feature in plants. In cereal crops such as barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), pre-anthesis tip degeneration (PTD) starts with growth arrest of the inflorescence meristem dome, which is followed basipetally by the degeneration of floral primordia and the central axis.

OsMADS17 simultaneously increases grain number and grain weight in rice.

During the processes of rice domestication and improvement, a trade-off effect between grain number and grain weight was a major obstacle for increasing yield. Here, we identify a critical gene COG1, encoding the transcription factor OsMADS17, with a 65-bp deletion in the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) presented in cultivated rice increasing grain number and grain weight simultaneously through decreasing mRNA translation efficiency. OsMADS17 controls grain yield by regulating multiple genes and that the interaction with one of them, OsAP2-39, has been characterized.

Fluorinated covalent organic frameworks for efficient drug delivery.

In this study, two novel fluorine-functionalized crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs), namely DF-TAPB-COF and DF-TATB-COF, were synthesized, and their ordered structure, porosity, suitable pore size, and abundant fluorine groups were expected to serve as effective carriers in drug delivery. The excellent cell viability of DF-TAPB-COF and DF-TATB-COF was verified using MTT assays. Both COFs exhibited very high loading capacities in terms of drug loading performance, in particular the drug loading rate of DF-TAPB-COF for 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was up to 69%.

Full-length transcriptome sequencing of Heliocidaris crassispina using PacBio single-molecule real-time sequencing.

The lack of high-throughput sequencing data makes the research progress of Heliocidaris crassispina slow. Therefore, we used PacBio single-molecule real-time sequencing to generate the first full-length transcriptome. Here, 31,181 isoforms were obtained, with an average length of 2383.

De novo assembly transcriptome analysis reveals the genes associated with body color formation in the freshwater ornamental shrimps Neocaridina denticulate sinensis.

The body color of Neocaridina denticulate sinensis is a compelling phenotypic trait, in which a cascade of carotenoid metabolic processes plays an important role. The study was conducted to compare the transcriptome of cephalothoraxes among three pigmentation phenotypes (red, blue, and chocolate) of N. denticulate sinensis.

Analysis of transcriptome difference between rapid-growing and slow-growing in Penaeus vannamei.

Penaeus vannamei is the principle cultured shrimp species in China. However, with the increase of culture density, the growth difference between individuals is also expanding. Here, we make use of RNA-seq to study the growth mechanisms of P.

Variation in the regulatory region of FZP causes increases in secondary inflorescence branching and grain yield in rice domestication.

Inflorescence branching is a key agronomic trait determining rice yield. The primary branch of the ancestral wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) bears few grains, due to minimal secondary branching.

Comparison of clinical efficacy of three surgical methods in the treatment of pterygium.

Purpose: To investigate and compare the efficacy of amniotic membrane transplantation, corneal limbus stem cell conjunctival transplantation and pedicle conjunctival flap transposition in the treatment of pterygium.

Methods: A total of 155 patients with pterygium were retrospectively analysed: 53 cases who received amniotic membrane transplantation, 41 who underwent corneal limbus stem cells conjunctival transplantation, and 63 patients who had pedicle conjunctival flap transposition.

Results: Patients in the three groups had no significant differences in terms of age, times since surgery, or extent of pterygium extension onto the cornea (F:1.