Publications by authors named "Zhu Zhujun"

Bivalves (e.g., clams, oysters, mussels, scallops) are a significant part of the global diet and are harvested for their nutritional value, but as filter feeders they are susceptible to the accumulation of toxins produced by certain species of phytoplankton.

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Drought is a global issue that has increasingly garnered worldwide attention. Glucosinolates (GSLs) are significant sulfur-containing compounds in cruciferous plants such as pakchoi (Brassica rapa L. ssp.

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Lipoxygenases (LOXs) from lower organisms have substrate flexibility and function versatility in fatty acid oxidation, but it is not clear how these LOXs acquired the ability to execute multiple functions within only one catalytic domain. This work studied a multifunctional LOX from red alga (PhLOX) which combined hydroperoxidelyase (HPL) and allene oxide synthase (AOS) activity in its active pocket. Molecular docking and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that Phe642 and Phe826 jointly regulated the double peroxidation of fatty acid, Gln777 and Asn575 were essential to the AOS function, and the HPL activity was improved when Asn575, Gln777, or Phe826 was replaced by leucine.

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Changes in plant morphology due to mechanical stimulation are known as thigmo responses. As climbing organs in plants, tendrils can sense mechanical stimulation after attaching to a support and then change their morphology within a short time. Here, the thigmo responses of cucumber tendril were investigated.

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Article Synopsis
  • Leaf flattening is vital for maximizing light capture and improving photosynthesis, with earlier research focusing on its initial stages, but the maintenance in mature leaves is less understood.
  • The study investigates the role of sly-miR398b in tomatoes, finding it crucial for maintaining leaf flattening by being predominantly expressed on the abaxial side of the leaf.
  • Disruption of sly-miR398b using CRISPR/Cas9 leads to increased levels of Cu/Zn-SOD (SlCSD1) and altered auxin signaling, resulting in leaf epinasty; however, treatment with 1-naphthalacetic acid (NAA) successfully restores the flat leaf structure in mutants.
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  • This study looked at using rice husks, corn stalks, and camphor leaves to create special materials called biochar catalysts that help break down a chemical called toluene.
  • The research showed that different biomass materials produce catalysts with different strengths and abilities to resist becoming less effective over time.
  • Among the tested catalysts, the camphor leaves one was the best, maintaining its performance well even after multiple uses, which helps in taking care of the environment by using waste materials.
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  • Ash content is a key indicator of coal quality, and accurately measuring it helps enhance energy efficiency and mitigate environmental pollution.
  • Traditional spectroscopic methods struggle with coal samples due to complex composition and matrix effects, prompting the exploration of a new method combining total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) with partial least squares (PLS).
  • The study found that using TXRF with PLS yields superior predictive capabilities for coal ash determination, significantly outperforming traditional methods in accuracy, making it a promising approach for coal analysis.
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Silicon (Si) is a widely recognized beneficial element in plants. With the emergence of nanotechnology in agriculture, silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) demonstrate promising applicability in sustainable agriculture. Particularly, the application of SiNPs has proven to be a high-efficiency and cost-effective strategy for protecting plant against various biotic and abiotic stresses such as insect pests, pathogen diseases, metal stress, drought stress, and salt stress.

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Cruciferous plants manufacture glucosinolates (GSLs) as special and important defense compounds against insects. However, how insect feeding induces glucosinolates in Brassica to mediate insect resistance, and how plants regulate the strength of anti-insect defense response during insect feeding, remains unclear. Here, mustard (), a widely cultivated Brassica plant, and beet armyworm (), an economically important polyphagous pest of many crops, were used to analyze the changes in GSLs and transcriptome of Brassica during insect feeding, thereby revealing the plant-insect interaction in Brassica plants.

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The use of surfactin is a promising method to mitigate algal blooms. However, little is known about surfactin toxicity to algae and bacterioplankton. Here, we treated , the dominant species of algal blooms in the East China Sea, with 0, 0.

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Plants of the genus are used for the treatment of digestive problems, skin diseases, and allergies, with a wide variety of uses. Here, the complete chloroplast genome sequence of (Benth. ex E.

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In this study, we developed a novel approach combining a non-thermal plasma system with M(Ce, Cu)-Mn/13X oxidation and post-dynamic wave wet scrubbing technologies, for effectively removing multiple pollutants from flue gases. Experimental results demonstrated that the plasma coupled with post-dynamic wave wet scrubbing achieved impressive synergistic removal efficiencies of 98% for SO, 50.9% for NO, and 51.

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Steroid glycoalkaloids (SGAs) are a class of cholesterol-derived metabolites commonly found in the plants. α-Tomatine, a well-known bitter-tasting compound, is the major SGA in tomato, accumulating extensively in all plant tissues, particularly in the leaves and immature green fruits. α-Tomatine exhibits diverse biological activities that contribute to plant defense against pathogens and herbivores, as well as conferring certain medicinal benefits for human health.

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Cadmium (Cd) pollution is an important threat to agricultural production globally. Silicon (Si) and silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) can mitigate Cd stress in plants. However, the mechanisms underlying the impacts of Si and Si NPs on Cd resistance, particularly in low-Si accumulators, remain inadequately understood.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be critical components in plant immunity. MicroRNA398 (miR398) is a highly conserved miRNA in all land plants and plays crucial roles in diverse biotic stress responses. However, the role of miR398 has not yet been characterized in tomato resistance against .

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Cruciferous sprouts and microgreens are a good source of bioactive compounds for human health as they are rich in glucosinolates, polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamins. Glucosinolates - sulfur-containing bioactive phytochemicals - have anti-cancer effects. They mainly exist in cruciferous vegetables.

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As a new kind of modern military biological weapon, bacterial agents pose a serious threat to the public health security of human beings. Existing bacterial identification requires manual sampling and testing, which is time-consuming, and may also introduce secondary contamination or radioactive hazards during decontamination. In this paper, a non-contact, nondestructive and "green" bacterial identification and decontamination technology based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is proposed.

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The self-absorption effect is a primary factor responsible for the decline in the precision of quantitative analysis techniques using plasma emission spectroscopy, such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In this study, based on the thermal ablation and hydrodynamics models, the radiation characteristics and self-absorption of laser-induced plasmas under different background gases were theoretically simulated and experimentally verified to investigate ways of weakening the self-absorption effect in plasma. The results reveal that the plasma temperature and density increase with higher molecular weight and pressure of the background gas, leading to stronger species emission line intensity.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study identifies the rapid elongation of cucumber tendrils as primarily driven by cell expansion during a specific growth stage.
  • RNA-seq analysis reveals high expression levels of PACLOBUTRAZOL-RESISTANCE4 (CsPRE4), which plays a key role in promoting this cell expansion.
  • The research outlines a signaling pathway involving CsPRE4, CsPAR1, CsBEE1, and CsEXPA12 that governs tendril growth and may enhance the plant's ability to quickly seek support.
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  • - Chinese cabbage shows sensitivity to high temperatures, leading to a semi-dormant state, but a foliar spray of GB enhances its ability to tolerate heat stress.
  • - RNA-Seq analysis identified 582 differentially expressed genes in GB-primed plants under heat stress, linked to 350 gene ontology pathways and 69 KEGG pathways.
  • - Key pathways up-regulated include protein processing, plant hormone signaling, and antioxidant genes, while pathways related to plant-pathogen interactions and secondary metabolite biosynthesis were down-regulated.
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Tendril is a morphological innovation during plant evolution, which provides the plants to obtain climbing ability. However, the tendril morphogenesis is poorly understood. A novel tendril morphogenesis defective mutant (tmd1) was identified in cucumber.

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Okra pods have been utilized as a functional food due to their rich active ingredient composition, especially the high content of flavonoid compounds. This study conducted near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) modeling optimization and external validation based on the flavonoid components of 219 pod samples. Spectral correlation analyses identified two types of spectral response patterns classified as quercetin-3-O-xylose (1-2) glucoside (QOXG) and total flavonoid content (TFC), consisting of six different spectral regions.

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Calorific value is an important indicator to evaluate the comprehensive quality of coal, and its real-time and rapid analysis is of great significance for optimizing the coal blending process and improving boiler combustion efficiency. Traditional assays are time-consuming, and prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) have certain limitations. In this paper, a novel technique for ultra-repeatability measurement of coal calorific value by combining near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is proposed.

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Cadmium (Cd) pollution is one of the major threats in agricultural production, and can cause oxidative damage and growth limitation in plants. MicroRNA398 (miR398) is involved in plant resistance to different stresses, and the post-transcriptional regulation of miR398 on s plays a key role. Here, we report that miR398 was down-regulated in tomato in response to Cd stress.

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