Investigations of brain-wide functional and structural networks of dopaminergic and CamKIIα-positive neurons in VTA with DREADD-fMRI and neurotropic virus tracing technologies.

Background: The ventral tegmental area (VTA) contains heterogeneous cell populations. The dopaminergic neurons in VTA play a central role in reward and cognition, while CamKIIα-positive neurons, composed mainly of glutamatergic and some dopaminergic neurons, participate in the reward learning and locomotor activity behaviors. The differences in brain-wide functional and structural networks between these two neuronal subtypes were comparatively elucidated.

Popularizing Recombinant Baculovirus-derived OneBac System for Laboratory Production of all Recombinant Adeno-associated Virus Vector Serotypes.

Background: Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) has been widely used as an efficient transgenic vector in biomedical research, as well as gene therapy. Serotype-associated transduction efficiency, tissue- or cell-type tropism and immunological profile are major considerations in the various applications of rAAVs. There are increasing needs for different serotypes of rAAV, either naturally isolated or artificially engineered.

A strategy for finding the optimal scale of plant core collection based on Monte Carlo simulation.

Core collection is an ideal resource for genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A subcore collection is a subset of a core collection. A strategy was proposed for finding the optimal sampling percentage on plant subcore collection based on Monte Carlo simulation.

Establishing an efficient way to utilize the drought resistance germplasm population in wheat.

Drought resistance breeding provides a hopeful way to improve yield and quality of wheat in arid and semiarid regions. Constructing core collection is an efficient way to evaluate and utilize drought-resistant germplasm resources in wheat. In the present research, 1,683 wheat varieties were divided into five germplasm groups (high resistant, HR; resistant, R; moderate resistant, MR; susceptible, S; and high susceptible, HS).