Shaanxi University of Technology

Prunus tomentosa is a fruit tree native to China, with a broad distribution and high conservation value from ornamental, economic, and ecological perspectives. The germplasm resource is valuable for developing new cherry cultivars due to its high adaptability to almost all soil types and climatic conditions. However, little is known about the genetic diversity, phylogeographic structure and historical events, with its abundant genetic information. Here, we clarified the phylogeography of P. tomentosa based on chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragments and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) across 779 individuals from 42 populations. We found 26 unique chloroplast haplotypes and 23 unique ITS haplotypes. Haplotype diversity was high based on cpDNA (Hd = 0.689) and ITS (Hd = 0.877) haplotypes. We observed a significant difference in the genetic differentiation based on Wright’s fixation index (cpDNA: Fst = 0.6077; ITS: Fst = 0.3447). Comparing two genetic differentiation indices, Nst and Gst, it was inferred that the P. tomentosa populations have a phylogeographical structure. Combination of network map, phylogenetic tree, population distribution, and population structure of P. tomentosa haplotype revealed two phylogeographic groups—eastern phylogeographic group (EG) and western phylogeographic group (WG). The divergence time of EG and WG occurred about 12.31 Ma and the common ancestor of P. tomentosa may have emerged during the Miocene period, and a significant correlation was observed between genetic distance and geographical distance of the populations. Signals from cpDNA and ITS data indicate that P. tomentosa has undergone recombination and population expansion. The expansion time was about 5.74 Ka based on the chloroplast data. Our findings illuminated the genetic diversity, species divergence and phylogeographical history of P. tomentosa and provided robust genetic evidence to support that Xiaolong Mountains, Hua Mountains, and Qian Mountains might be the glacial refuges of P. tomentosa. Our findings will not only guide conservation and utilization strategies for P. tomentosa but also contribute to the development of germplasm for breeding novel cherry cultivars.

The Jianfengling region on southwestern Hainan Island is a sanctuary for a diverse range of wild animals. However, the exact extent of mammal species diversity and conservation status in Jianfengling remains largely unknown. Using camera-trapping data spanning from October 2020 to November 2021, this study focused on the diversity and distribution status of mammal species in Jianfengling, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, China. The survey, with 41,571 camera days and 8091 independent detections, revealed 15 mammalian species belonging to 6 orders and 10 families. Among these detected species, one was categorized as Critically Endangered, and one as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. According to the Red List of China's Vertebrates, one was categorized as Critically Endangered, one as Endangered, three as Vulnerable, and three as Near Threatened. Additionally, one was designated China's national first-class key protected wildlife, and five were designated China's national second-class key protected wildlife. Notably, populations of the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) were confirmed to persist in the wild of Jianfengling. Occupancy modeling results showed that the occupancy of Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), Hainan muntjac (Muntiacus nigripes), common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), and Mainland leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) increased with increasing elevation. Vegetation type would only affect the occupancy of the Rhesus monkey. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and anthropogenic activities had no obvious effect on the occupancy of mammals. In terms of the relative abundance index (RAI) of mammals captured by camera traps, the most prevalent species identified was the Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus macrourus), followed by the wild boar (Sus scrofa), Pallas's squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus), and Hainan muntjac. The monitoring also captured a significant number of images of domestic dogs and humans. These findings establish a baseline for species richness and occupancy of mammals in a typical island tropical rainforest in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. We hope that our findings could be used to assess the effectiveness of conservation monitoring programs in the coming years, as species richness surveys provide an important baseline for conservation planning.

Study of dynamic reconstruction of active sites in spinel oxide-catalyzed oxygen evolution reactions (OER) is of great importance; however, the mechanism of how morphology modulation affects surface reconstruction and the performance of OER is still not well understood. Herein, the effect of morphology modulation (nanorods, nanoflowers, and hierarchical nanoflowers) in spinel NiCo2O4 on the kinetic process and surface reconstruction of metal active sites during OER was studied. Through in situ Raman spectral and EIS characterizations, we found that the metal active sites in NiCo2O4 with different morphologies underwent a surface reconstruction at high potentials, which resulted in faster *OH adsorption than deprotonation. Among them, NiCo2O4-NR exhibited dominantly the [M-O4] reconstruction sites, whereas NiCo2O4-HNF demonstrated mainly [M-O6] sites, which would accelerate *OH adsorption due to the abundant vacancies and hierarchical structure at a lower potential, thus enabling a surface reconstruction. The DFT calculations further revealed that [M-O6] in NiCo2O4-HNF is the primary adsorption site, while the active site is mainly [M-O4] in NiCo2O4-NR and NiCo2O4-NF. Also, the OER theoretical overpotential of HNF (0.40 V) is lower than that of NR (0.83 V) and NF (0.51 V). Overall, NiCo2O4-HNF demonstrates a better OER performance (η10 = 236 mV) than NiCo2O4-NR (η10 = 366 mV) and NiCo2O4-NF (η10 = 302 mV). In summary, this work suggests that morphology modulation in hierarchical structures might be a viable way for improving the performance of electrocatalysts in OER design.

Autologous arteriovenous fistula is the preferred vascular access for maintenance hemodialysis in patients with end-stage renal disease; however, stenosis remains a common and serious complication that compromises long-term patency. This study aimed to characterize the transcriptomic alterations associated with fistula stenosis and to identify potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets involved in vascular remodeling. Vascular tissue samples were collected as controls from patients during initial arteriovenous fistula construction and as stenotic samples from patients during revision surgery for arteriovenous fistula stenosis, respectively. Histological staining was performed to assess structural changes. High-throughput transcriptome sequencing on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform yielded an average of 76 million reads per sample. Differential expression analysis of messenger RNAs (mRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs) was conducted using DESeq2 (version 1.42.0), with significance defined as |log₂(Fold Change)| > 1 and an adjusted p-value < 0.05. Functional enrichment analyses of Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were performed using the clusterProfiler R package. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed with the STRING database (combined score ≥ 0.900) and visualized in Cytoscape to identify hub genes. A competing endogenous RNA network was assembled to predict lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA interactions. Key inflammatory markers (IL-1β, MCP-1, VCAM-1) were validated by immunohistochemistry. Histopathological analysis revealed intimal hyperplasia, smooth muscle cell proliferation, collagen fiber accumulation, and inflammatory cell infiltration in stenotic veins. A total of 1,447 differentially expressed protein-coding genes (1,046 upregulated and 401 downregulated) and 240 long non-coding RNAs (100 upregulated and 140 downregulated) were identified. Enrichment analysis demonstrated significant involvement of immune-inflammatory pathways, cellular adhesion and migration, metabolic dysregulation, and coagulation cascade activation. Protein interaction network analysis suggested that TNF, IL1B, CCL2, VCAM1, CD4, and PTPRC may represent candidate hub genes within the network. A potential regulatory interaction involving LINC01678, hsa-miR-17-5p, and COL8A1 was predicted. Immunohistochemistry showed increased expression of interleukin-1β, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in stenotic tissues. By deciphering the molecular landscape of stenotic arteriovenous fistula tissues, this study implicates specific genes and pathways in pathological vascular remodeling. The candidate biomarkers and predicted regulatory networks constitute novel mechanistic hypotheses, warranting further investigation for their therapeutic potential. As these findings are computationally derived, they must be considered preliminary, and experimental validation in larger cohorts is essential to confirm and expand upon these results. Not applicable.