Yunnan University

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) breeding has changed significantly with the advent of “omics” technologies, which provide unheard-of opportunities to increase yield, quality, and resistance. The chapter explores the transformative impact of emerging “omics” technologies on tomato breeding, highlighting their potential to enhance yield quality, stress resistance, and health-promoting attributes. With advancements like transcriptomics, metabolomics, high-throughput phenotyping, and gene editing, breeders can now decipher complex metabolic pathways and genetic networks more effectively. The sequencing of the high-quality tomato genome in 2012 has been pivotal, accelerating the integration of these technologies. Despite challenges in data integration and the need for sophisticated bioinformatics tools, the chapter underscores the promising future of “omics” in developing superior tomato varieties. It provides a comprehensive review of current trends and future directions in the field, emphasizing the role of innovative technologies in achieving global food security and sustainability goals.

Genome editing (GE) has become a potent method for precisely enhancing tomato features, allowing genetic factors to be modified with specificity to increase nutritional quality, disease resistance, and yield. Recent research has revealed the effective use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR/Cas9) technology to modify certain genes linked to fruit quality and stress responses, resulting in improved fruit qualities including larger fruit and better flavor profiles. Furthermore, studies show that genome editing can help produce tomato types that are more resistant to infections, which will lessen the need for chemical pesticides. But there are still issues that might prevent these technologies from being widely used, such as public acceptance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and regulatory barriers. Even though genome editing has a lot of potential to improve tomato farming, more study and discussion are needed to resolve these issues and realize the full range of advantages. With the ability to make precise genetic changes that improve desired features, CRISPR technology is essential to the modification of tomato properties. Studies show that CRISPR may be used to enhance tomato characteristics including disease resistance, fruit quality, and stress tolerance. Promising outcomes have been observed in the use of genetic modification in tomato breeding. For instance, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration, domestication qualities, and jointless-2 phenotype have all been effectively edited by researchers, leading to tomatoes with higher nutritional value, improved domestication traits, and changed fruit characteristics. Moreover, quantitative trait variation in tomatoes has been engineered through the use of genome editing tools. Researchers have created a variety of cis-regulatory alleles using promoter editing, which offers useful quantitative diversity for breeding. This technique enables the rapid evaluation of a large number of promoter variations for genes controlling crucial tomato production factors such as fruit size, inflorescence branching, and plant architecture. The chapter describes how to change certain genes in the tomato genome using precise techniques such as the CRISPR/Cas9 system and its derivatives. With the use of these instruments, researchers can improve the effectiveness, accuracy, and success of breeding programs, which have the potential to completely transform crop breeding.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most widely cultivated and economically important crops globally. However, its productivity and quality are severely hampered by different abiotic stresses, including drought, lack of essential nutrients, salinity, and extreme temperatures. These stresses trigger a cascade of molecular and physiological changes that adversely affect the growth of the plant and yield. Recent advances in molecular biology and biotechnology offer promising strategies to enhance tomato tolerance to these abiotic stresses. Research on abiotic stresses is limited because defensive feedback mechanisms to abiotic factors require the regulation of changes that activate numerous genes and pathways, which are not yet thoroughly explored. The involvement of these genes highlights the complexity of plant stress response and adaptation. An integrative approach can begin by targeting the multigenic nature of plant responses to abiotic stress, which involves genomic sequences, protein organisation, transcripts, collections of transcriptomes specific to stress and cellular conditions, and screenings of mutants. Therefore, this chapter focusses on the metabolomics, proteomics, and genomics of tomatoes under abiotic stress.

The synthesis of (±)‐guignarenone D was achieved for the first time on a gram scale through a nine‐step reaction sequence. A pivotal step in this process involved cyclization using NaH, which inhibited retro‐aldol condensation. The compound's activity in promoting glucose uptake was also tested. image

The development of drugs to accelerate wound healing is an important area of clinical research. Recent advancements have highlighted the prospects of microRNAs as therapeutic targets for various disorders, although their involvement in mice wound healing remains unclear. Peptides have been proved to be unique and irreplaceable molecules in the elucidation of competing endogenous RNAs mechanisms (ceRNA) involved with skin wound healing. In the present work, CyRL‐QN15, a peptide characterized by its minimal length and maximal wound healing efficacy, was applied as a probe to explore the ceRNA mechanism in regard to accelerated wound healing. Results showed that the use of CyRL‐QN15 significantly reduced the expression of miRNA‐365‐2‐5p at the wound in mice. In mouse keratinocytes, miRNA‐365‐2‐5p inhibition increased SIRT1 and FOXO1 protein expression and decreased STAT2 protein expression, promoting cell proliferation, migration, and reducing inflammatory factors. Similarly, inhibiting miRNA‐365‐2‐5p at mouse wounds promoted Full‐thickness injured skin wounds healing, increased SIRT1 and FOXO1 protein expression, decreased STAT2 protein expression, and reduced inflammatory factors. Overall, these findings demonstrate that miRNA‐365‐2‐5p serves a crucial function in the biological processes underlying cutaneous wound healing in mice, offering a novel target for future therapeutic interventions in wound healing.

Ancient murals, vital cultural heritage, suffer from damage due to natural erosion and human activities. Traditional restoration methods, relying on manual repair, have limitations, making virtual restoration an innovative solution. This paper proposes a virtual restoration method based on diffusion model. Using a lossless image-guided algorithm, we adapt diffusion model designed for image synthesis to restoration. Instead of feeding damaged images into the network, we use them to adjust the network’s outputs directly, achieving unsupervised training. We also use random seeds to generate diverse outputs from a single image. Proposed similarity function ensures alignment of undamaged areas with the guiding image, and an interrupt sampling strategy removes subtle, dense degradations. Experiments on simulated and real damaged murals show our method yields results comparable to or better than other advanced methods for simple cases. For complex and severely damaged murals, it excels, outperforming others in both objective and subjective evaluations.

Thousands of nucleus-encoded chloroplast proteins are synthesized as precursors on cytosolic ribosomes and posttranslationally imported into chloroplasts. Cytosolic accumulation of unfolded chloroplast precursor proteins (e.g., under stress conditions) is hazardous to the cell. The global cellular responses and regulatory pathways involved in triggering appropriate responses are largely unknown. Here, by inducible and constitutive overexpression of ClpD-GFP to result in precursor protein overaccumulation, we present a comprehensive picture of multilevel reprogramming of gene expression in response to chloroplast precursor overaccumulation stress (cPOS), reveal a critical role of translational activation in the expression of cytosolic chaperones (heat-shock proteins, HSPs), and demonstrate that chloroplast-derived reactive oxygen species act as retrograde signal for the transcriptional activation of small HSPs. Furthermore, we reveal an important role of the chaperone ClpB1/HOT1 in maintaining cellular proteostasis upon cPOS. Together, our observations uncover a cytosolic heat shock-like response to cPOS and provide insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms.

Cooperative mechanisms are widely regarded as pivotal drivers in the evolutionary transition from unicellular to multicellular life. However, the mechanism of how multicellular organisms integrate the individual energy of all cells into holistic energy, and how exactly the holistic energy is manifested remains poorly understood. Traditionally, relying on ATP within heart muscle cells to drive a permanent heartbeat (called cardiac contraction) is responsible for the vital holistic biological process of transporting and distributing oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout the body, but the limited ATP reserve in cardiac muscle challenges this paradigm. Recent study suggests that cellular energy production involves dual pathways: canonical ATP synthesis and extracellular Fenton reactions. Here, we propose a novel paradigm wherein the circulatory system serves as a collective platform for integrating extracellular Fenton reaction capabilities of all cells, generating sustained and powerful energy to drive the heartbeat and maintain body temperature. This cooperative mechanism for holistic energy aligns with the Bergmann's rule and the holistic principles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Holistic energy in circulatory system supports pulse diagnosis that evaluates systemic health through vascular dynamics. Furthermore, the interaction and balance between holistic energy and individual energy can also explain the rationality of tumor occurrence.

Implicit communication in advertising goes beyond the mere transmission of product information; it subtly engages the audiences emotions, values, and sense of social identity through the strategic use of cultural symbols, thereby influencing consumer behavior. This paper aims to explore the mechanisms of implicit communication in advertising and its impact on consumer behavior, highlighting the critical role of cultural symbols in the communication process. By analyzing how advertisements skillfully employ symbols to resonate with the audience's emotions, values, and sense of belonging, this study reveals that advertising is not merely a vehicle for information dissemination but also a form of deep cultural and social exchange. Drawing on the theoretical framework of media semiotics, the paper provides analytical support for uncovering the hidden cultural meanings behind advertisements, offering insights into how symbols construct emotional resonance and social identity, ultimately shaping consumer decision-making.

A high regio‐ and chemoselectivity route to the synthesis of 4‐quinolone derivatives involving a CsF‐catalyzed [2 + 4] tandem annulations under continuous‐flow reactor has been developed. This practical and concise protocol between aryne precursors and β‐enamino diesters provided a range of structurally diverse 4‐quinolones (28 examples) in good to excellent yields. The characteristics of this continuous‐flow are safe operation, high regio‐ and chemoselectivity in a short time. This approach can enrich and develop aryne chemistry, and might provide new opportunities for the discovery of 4‐quinolone drugs.

The hardening soil model with small strain stiffness is a valuable tool for predicting the deformation of support structures during the excavation phase of construction projects. The stiffness parameters of the model, which are dependent on technically complex and costly tests or estimated through specific proportionate, may exhibit some discrepancy between the analyzed results and the project monitoring data in certain aspects. In light of the findings from the conducted analyses and studies, the new concepts of reference in-situ overburden pressure and reference in-situ void ratio are proposed with the objective of enabling the determination of the essential parameters required for HSS model through the utilization of the results of the current geotechnical tests, which are of high popularity and economy. Additionally, the article offers recommendations for determining other parameters, providing a summary of a systematic approach to determining the necessary parameters for the hardening soil model with small strain. Ultimately, a comparison and verification of the finite element method results of a deep excavation project with the monitoring data demonstrated that the research outcomes exhibited sufficient numerical analysis accuracy and practical applicability.

Traffic sign detection plays a pivotal role in enhancing the safety and efficiency of autonomous driving systems. Nevertheless, accurately detecting small, occluded, and visually complex traffic signs remains a significant challenge in real-world environments. To address these issues, this article proposes a Heterogeneous Attention YOLO model (HA-YOLO), a novel framework built upon the YOLOv8 model, designed to improve detection robustness under challenging conditions. The proposed approach incorporates High-level Screening-feature Pyramid Networks (HSFPN) for adaptive multiscale feature fusion, thereby reducing the loss of fine-grained details crucial for small or partially obscured signs. The proposed model also integrates Spatial and Channel Synergistic Attention (SCSA) and Triplet Attention are embedded into the C2f module, forming the C2f-Synergistic Attention (CSA) and C2f-Triplet Attention (CTA) submodules. These attention mechanisms enable the network to focus on salient spatial and semantic information, alleviating false positives and missed detections in complex scenarios. Under the tested conditions, experimental evaluations on TT-100K, CCTSDB, and GTSDB datasets demonstrate that HA-YOLO outperforms the baseline YOLOv8m by 5.1%, 0.6% and 15.9% in mAP@50, respectively, validating its effectiveness in real-world traffic sign detection tasks. The code of the proposed method will be publicly available at https://github.com/dengy1207/HAYOLO.

A new 3,4‐dimethoxybenzoate dimer, georgedimer (1), was obtained from the roots of Aconitum georgei Comber, along with twelve known compounds (2–13) isolated from this species. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses. The results of the antifungal activities indicated that compounds 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 exhibited antifungal activity against several plant pathogens, including Fusarium solani, F. oxysporum, Plectosphaerella cucumerina, and Alternaria panax, with MIC values ranging from 8 to 64 μg/mL.

Plain Language Summary Previous studies have shown that the South China Sea summer monsoon onset is important on the large‐scale: signify the establishment of summer monsoon over East Asia‐Southeast Asia‐western North Pacific, the arrival of the main rainy season in these locations, and the adjustment of the atmospheric circulation from winter‐type to summer‐type. We find that the changes in atmospheric mean flow before and after monsoon onset can have a significant modulating effect on the synoptic‐scale perturbations gestated in them. Prior to the monsoon onset, the most obvious permutations are those propagating eastward near the equator. In contrast, after the monsoon onset, the northwestward propagating tropical disturbances off‐the‐equator become more active. Specifically, tropical depressions and tropical cyclones occur more frequently and begin to affect Southeast and East Asia. These distinctive features of tropical waves can be understood in terms of the energy conversion between the mean circulation and the disturbances.