Abstract Porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) plays an important role in many areas of research. However, the low efficiency of SCNT in porcine embryos limits its applications. Porcine embryos contain high concentrations of lipid, which makes them vulnerable to oxidative stress. Some studies have used melatonin to reduce reactive oxygen species damage. At present there are many reports concerning the effect of exogenous melatonin on porcine SCNT. Some studies suggest that the addition of melatonin can increase the number of blastocyst cells, while others indicate that melatonin can reduce the number of blastocyst cells. Therefore, a meta-analysis was carried out to resolve the contradiction. In this study, a total of 63 articles from the past 30 years were analyzed, and six papers were finally selected. Through the analysis, it was found that the blastocyst rate was increased by adding exogenous melatonin. Melatonin had no effect on cleavage rate or the number of blastocyst cells, but did decrease the number of apoptotic cells. This result is crucial for future research on embryo implantation.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the effects of two siderophore-producing bacterial strains on iron absorption and plant growth of peanut in calcareous soil. Two siderophore-producing bacterial strains, namely, YZ29 and DZ13, isolated from the rhizosphere soil of peanut, were identified as Paenibacillus illinoisensis and Bacillus sp., respectively. In potted experiments, YZ29 and DZ13 enhanced root activity, chlorophyll and active iron content in leaves, total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium accumulation of plants and increased the quality of peanut kernels and plant biomass over control. In the field trial, the inoculated treatments performed better than the controls, and the pod yields of the three treatments inoculated with YZ29, DZ13, and YZ29 + DZ13 (1:1) increased by 37.05%, 13.80% and 13.57%, respectively, compared with the control. Based on terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, YZ29 and DZ13 improved the bacterial community richness and species diversity of soil surrounding the peanut roots. Therefore, YZ29 and DZ13 can be used as candidate bacterial strains to relieve chlorosis of peanut and promote peanut growth. The present study is the first to explore the effect of siderophores produced by P. illinoisensis on iron absorption.

Abstract A simple and convenient procedure for the synthesis of 5Hdibenzo[b,i]xanthene-tetraones and aryl-14H-dibenzo[a,j]xanthenes is described through the condensation of aldehydes with 2-naphthol or 2-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone under solvent-free conditions in the presence of ferric chloride hexahydrate. This method has the advantages of high yields, cleaner reaction, simple work-up and cost efficiency.

Resumen Se describe una metodología simple para la síntesis de 5Hdibenzo[b,i]xanteno-tetraonas y aril-14H-dibenzo[a,j]xantenos. Los xantenos son obtenidos por condensación de aldehídos con 2-naftol o 2-hidroxi-1,4-naftoquinona en presencia de cloruro férrico hexahidratado. Las reacciones se llevan a cabo en ausencia de disolvente, son limpias, de bajo costo y con alto rendimiento.

The Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) recognizes flagellin of Gram-positive and -negative bacteria and plays an important role in the host defense system. Here, we surveyed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding sequence of the porcine TLR5 gene in 83 individuals from five pig breeds, these including Chinese local populations and Western commercial pig breeds. A total of 19 medium polymorphic SNPs (0.25 < PIC < 0.5) were identified, three of which were missense mutations that clustered within the extracellular domain of TLR5. One of the non-synonymous SNPs fell within a 228-amino acid region which has been shown to be important for flagellin recognition. Four SNPs were only found with high frequencies in Oriental pig breeds. The 19 SNPs were found in 30 haplotypes, one of which segregated at high frequency in all samples. Compared with Western pig breeds, Chinese local populations had higher genetic diversity and more haplotypes. Tajima's test showed no evidence for deviation from neutrality. The data provide useful information for future genetic marker characterization by means of disease association analysis and/or stimulating the mutation carrier with relevant ligands.