Corneal surfaces of some insects are coated with nipple-like nanostructures reducing the light reflection. Here we provide an extensive analysis of corneae across insect groups. Using atomic force microscopy, we discover a striking diversity of corneal nanocoatings, omnipresent in arthropods. These fascinating bionanostructures replicate the complete set of the Turing patterns—shapes resulting from the reaction−diffusion modeling underlying many examples of patterning in biological and physicochemical systems.

Edible fungi such as mushrooms are highly perishable and deteriorate few days after harvest due to its high moisture content and inability to maintain their physiological status. In this study, the effect of packaging materials on the nutritional composition of mushroom cultivated from cassava peels was investigated. Mushroom samples were dried at 50°C in a cabinet dryer for 8 h. The dried mushroom samples packaged in four different packaging materials;

This work shows that active DNA demethylation governs ripening, an important plant developmental process. Our work defines a molecular mechanism, which has until now been missing, to explain the correlation between genomic DNA demethylation and fruit ripening. It demonstrates a direct cause-and-effect relationship between active DNA demethylation and induction of gene expression in fruits.

The circadian clock, an endogenous time-keeping mechanism common to most species, allows organisms to coordinate biological processes with specific times of day. In plants, the role of the clock extends to almost every aspect of growth and development, including responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. The core molecular components and circuits of the clock have been well studied in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana; however, how this mechanism connects to clock-controlled outputs remains poorly understood.

The start-up tests of treating soybean protein wastewater by the integrated two-phase anaerobic reactor were studied. The results showed that the soybean protein wastewater could be successfully processed around 30 days when running under the situation of dosing seed sludge with the influent of approximately 2000 mg/L and an HRT of 40 h. When the start-up was finished, the removal rate of COD by the reactor was about 80%. In the zone I, biogas mainly revealed carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2).

An international team of scientists has sequenced and annotated the genome of the common California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides), the first cephalopod to be fully sequenced. They discovered striking differences between the genomes of the octopus and other invertebrates. Hundreds of genes specific to octopus were identified, with many highly expressed in structures such as the brain, skin, and suckers.

As a perennial forage crop broadly distributed in eastern Eurasia, sheepgrass (Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel) is highly tolerant to low-temperature stress. Previous report indicates that sheepgrass is able to endure as low as −47.5 °C,allowing it to survive through the cold winter season. However, due to the lack of sufficient studies, the underlying mechanism towards the extraordinary low-temperature tolerance is unclear.

Drought, salinity, and freezing are three major abiotic stresses that adversely affect plant growth and crop yield. Previous reports have demonstrated that the overexpression of the betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) gene can improve the tolerance of plants to osmotic and salinity stresses. In the present study, a novel and atypical BADH gene, HvBADH1, was transferred into Cichorium intybus by an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated method. The integration and expression of HvBADH1 in the transformants were confirmed by PCR, Southern blot, and RT-PCR analysis.

Modifications in root morphology are important strategies to maximize soil exploitation under phosphorus starvation in plants. Here, we used two multiple interval models to map QTLs related to root traits, biomass accumulation and P content in a maize RIL population cultivated in nutrient solution.

Drought is a major cause of lost agricultural productivity. Even moderate water limitation can lead to down-regulation of plant growth; however, the underlying mechanisms of stress sensing and growth regulation are little understood. We identified At14a-Like1 (AFL1) and its interacting proteins protein disulfide isomerase 5 (PDI5) and NAI2 as positive and negative regulators, respectively, of growth and proline accumulation.