Research and design of multiple gas mixing system in modified atmosphere packaging.

Despite the abundant production of fruits and vegetables in Xinjiang, there is an increasing trend in waste rates. Gas-controlled packaging techniques are employed post-harvest to enhance freshness and extend shelf life. However, the multi-gas mixing system at the core of this equipment often encounters challenges such as insufficient stability, limited precision, high costs, and inadequate intelligence.

Systematic analysis of the Rboh gene family in seven gramineous plants and its roles in response to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in maize.

Background: Plant respiratory burst oxidase homolog (Rboh) gene family produces reactive oxygen species (ROS), and it plays key roles in plant-microbe interaction. Most Rboh gene family-related studies mainly focused on dicotyledonous plants; however, little is known about the roles of Rboh genes in gramineae.

Results: A total of 106 Rboh genes were identified in seven gramineae species, including Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor, Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa, Setaria italica, Hordeum vulgare, and Triticum aestivum.

tRF-Gln-CTG-026 ameliorates liver injury by alleviating global protein synthesis.

tsRNAs (tRNA-derived small RNAs), as products of the stress response, exert considerable influence on stress response and injury regulation. However, it remains largely unclear whether tsRNAs can ameliorate liver injury. Here, we demonstrate the roles of tsRNAs in alleviating liver injury by utilizing the loss of NSun2 (NOP2/Sun domain family, member 2) as a tsRNAs-generating model.

Continuous expression of reprogramming factors induces and maintains mouse pluripotency without specific growth factors and signaling inhibitors.

Objectives: Derivation and maintenance of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) generally require optimized and complex culture media, which hinders the derivation of PSCs from various species. Expression of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (OSKM) can reprogram somatic cells into induced PSCs (iPSCs), even for species possessing no optimal culture condition. Herein, we explored whether expression of OSKM could induce and maintain pluripotency without PSC-specific growth factors and signaling inhibitors.

Rbm14 maintains the integrity of genomic DNA during early mouse embryogenesis via mediating alternative splicing.

Objective: In this study, we generated an Rbm14 knockout mouse model to explore its functions during early mouse embryogenesis.

Materials And Methods: The Rbm14 knockout mouse model was generated by a combination of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 and microinjection techniques. The developmental defects of the knockout embryos were characterized by histological analyses.

A harlequin ichthyosis pig model with a novel ABCA12 mutation can be rescued by acitretin treatment.

Harlequin ichthyosis (HI) is a severe genetic skin disorder and caused by mutation in the ATP-binding cassette A12 (ABCA12) gene. The retinoid administration has dramatically improved long-term survival of HI, but improvements are still needed. However, the ABCA12 null mice failed to respond to retinoid treatment, which impedes the development of novel cure strategies for HI.

Cyclin B3 is required for metaphase to anaphase transition in oocyte meiosis I.

Meiosis with a single round of DNA replication and two successive rounds of chromosome segregation requires specific cyclins associated with cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) to ensure its fidelity. But how cyclins control the distinctive meiosis is still largely unknown. In this study, we explored the role of cyclin B3 in female meiosis by generating mutant mice via CRISPR/Cas9.

Asynchronous CDX2 expression and polarization of porcine trophoblast cells reflects a species-specific trophoderm lineage determination progress model.

Upregulation of Cdx2 expression in outer cells is a key event responsible for cell lineage segregation between the inner cell mass and the trophoderm (TE) in mouse morula-stage embryos. In TE cells, polarization can regulate Hippo and Rho-associated kinase (Rho-ROCK) signaling to induce the nuclear location of YAP, which has been demonstrated to further induce the expression of Cdx2. However, we found that CDX2 expression could not be detected in the outer cells of porcine morula-stage embryos but only in some TE cells at the early blastocyst stage.

Rat embryonic stem cells produce fertile offspring through tetraploid complementation.

Pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be functionally assessed according to the developmental potency. Tetraploid complementation, through which an entire organism is produced from the pluripotent donor cells, is taken as the most stringent test for pluripotency. It remains unclear whether ESCs of other species besides mice can pass this test.

Thyroid hormone regulates hematopoiesis via the TR-KLF9 axis.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most prevalent endocrine diseases, for which the underlying mechanisms remain unknown; it is often accompanied by anemia and immunodeficiency in patients. Here, we created a severe CH model together with anemia and T lymphopenia to mimic the clinical features of hypothyroid patients by ethylnitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis in Bama miniature pigs. A novel recessive c.

A novel swine model for evaluation of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis induced by human CETP overexpression.

Background: The mechanism of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) in lipid metabolism is still unclear. Furthermore, the relationship of CETP and atherosclerosis (AS) has been controversial. As pigs are a good model for both lipid and AS research, we investigated the lipid metabolism of human CETP (hCETP) transgenic pigs and explored the mechanism of CETP in lipid modulation.

Pilot study of large-scale production of mutant pigs by ENU mutagenesis.

N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis is a powerful tool to generate mutants on a large scale efficiently, and to discover genes with novel functions at the whole-genome level in flies, zebrafish and mice, but it has never been tried in large model animals. We describe a successful systematic three-generation ENU mutagenesis screening in pigs with the establishment of the Chinese Swine Mutagenesis Consortium. A total of 6,770 G1 and 6,800 G3 pigs were screened, 36 dominant and 91 recessive novel pig families with various phenotypes were established.

Efficient Production of Fluorescent Transgenic Rats using the piggyBac Transposon.

Rats with fluorescent markers are of great value for studies that trace lineage-specific development, particularly those assessing the differentiation potential of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The piggyBac (PB) transposon is widely used for the efficient introduction of genetic modifications into genomes, and has already been successfully used to produce transgenic mice and rats. Here, we generated transgenic rats carrying either the desRed fluorescent protein (RFP) gene or the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene by injecting pronuclei with PB plasmids.

[In vitro development and chimeric efficiency of mouse-porcine interspecies chimeric embryos in different culture systems].

With the advancements of stem cells and regenerative medicine, interspecies chimera has become a hot topic and will pave a new way of providing donor sources in organ transplantation. However, the interspecies chimera is confronted with a number of scientific questions and technical obstacles, including selections of appropriate embryonic stage and appropriate culture medium; those factors will deeply influence the developmental balance between donor cells and receptor embryos. Due to its relatively rapid reproductive cycle and similar organ size to human's, porcine is a very potential donor candidate to study these questions.

Generation of clinical-grade human induced pluripotent stem cells in Xeno-free conditions.

Introduction: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are considered as one of the most promising seed cell sources in regenerative medicine. Now hiPSC-based clinical trials are underway. To ensure clinical safety, cells used in clinical trials or therapies should be generated under GMP conditions, and with Xeno-free culture media to avoid possible side effects like immune rejection that induced by the Xeno reagents.

Sox2 is the faithful marker for pluripotency in pig: evidence from embryonic studies.

Background: Mammalian first lineage segregation generates trophectoderm (TE) and pluripotent inner cell mass (ICM), which provides an ideal model for studying the mechanisms of maintenance and loss of pluripotency. In mouse, the transcription factor OCT4 restricts to ICM and plays a key role in TE/ICM specification and pluripotent regulatory networks. However, in pig, OCT4 does not restrict to ICM cells, suggesting a different molecular basis in TE/ICM specification and pluripotent regulatory networks.

Tbx3 and Nr5α2 improve the viability of porcine induced pluripotent stem cells after dissociation into single cells by inhibiting RHO-ROCK-MLC signaling.

Porcine induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) had been reported during the past 5years, but there were few reports on how the cell signaling works in piPSCs. In order to clarify the signaling work that dominated the characteristic difference of two types of piPSCs which were derived from Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc (termed 4F piPSCs) and Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc, Tbx3 and Nr5α2 (termed 6F piPSCs) respectively, we performed this study. 4F piPSCs and 6F piPSCs were cultured in medium with or without the ROCK inhibitor Y27632 after dissociating into single cells, the efficiency of a single cell colony and the number of AP positive colonies were assessed.

Novel mechanisms of anticancer activities of green tea component epigallocatechin- 3-gallate.

After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage. The major active constituents in green tea are catechins, of which epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant and active compound. Animal experimental studies using EGCG alone or green tea catechins with EGCG being a major component have generated a mounting body of evidence suggesting that EGCG as a naturally occurring compound and commonly consumed beverage ingredient is a promising cancer preventive agent.