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Very recently, the LHCb Collaboration observed distinct structures with the $$cc{\bar{c}}{\bar{c}}$$ c c c ¯ c ¯ in the $$J/\Psi $$ J / Ψ -pair mass spectrum. In this work, we construct four scalar ($$J^{PC} = 0^{++}$$ J PC = 0 + + ) $$[8_c]_{Q\bar{Q^\prime }}\otimes [8_c]_{Q^\prime {\bar{Q}}}$$ [ 8 c ] Q Q ′ ¯ ⊗ [ 8 c ] Q ′ Q ¯ type currents to investigate the fully-heavy tetraquark state $$Q Q^\prime {\bar{Q}} \bar{Q^\prime }$$ Q Q ′ Q ¯ Q ′ ¯ in the framework of QCD sum rules, where $$Q=c, b$$ Q = c , b and $$Q^\prime = c, b$$ Q ′ = c , b . Our results suggest that the broad structure around 6.2-6.8 GeV can be interpreted as the $$0^{++}$$ 0 + + octet–octet tetraquark states with masses $$6.44\pm 0.11$$ 6.44 ± 0.11 GeV and $$6.52\pm 0.10$$ 6.52 ± 0.10 GeV, and the narrow structure around 6.9 GeV can be interpreted as the $$0^{++}$$ 0 + + octet–octet tetraquark states with masses $$6.87\pm 0.11$$ 6.87 ± 0.11 GeV and $$6.96\pm 0.11$$ 6.96 ± 0.11 GeV, respectively. Extending to the b-quark sector,the masses of their fully-bottom partners are found to be around 18.38-18.59 GeV. Additionally, we also analyze the spectra of the $$[8_c]_{c{\bar{c}}}\otimes [8_c]_{b {\bar{b}}}$$ [ 8 c ] c c ¯ ⊗ [ 8 c ] b b ¯ and $$[8_c]_{c{\bar{b}}}\otimes [8_c]_{b {\bar{c}}}$$ [ 8 c ] c b ¯ ⊗ [ 8 c ] b c ¯ tetraquark states, which lie in the range of 12.51–12.74 GeV and 12.49–12.81 GeV, respectively.

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Recent studies have indicated strong connections between epigenetic modulation and secondary metabolites in plants. It is vital to understand the roles of epigenetics in the production of secondary metabolites. In this study, the inhibitor of DNA methylation 5-azacytidine (5-Az) was used on the hairy roots of the medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza to investigate its effect on secondary metabolite production, gene expression, methylation levels in genomic DNA and promoter regions. Our results showed that the contents of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots increased by 1.5–5 times, and some genes in the biosynthesis pathway showed an upward trend. According to our NGS analysis, the methylation pattern in the promotor of the gene encoding copalyl diphosphate synthase (CPS) was altered, and 51 out of 145 cytosines were demethylated during 5-Az treatment. A total of 36 putative transcription factors (TFs) binding cites were identified in these demethylation sites. Among these TFs binding cites, cis-regulatory elements for the binding of NF-Y and MYB were frequently found in our results. This is the first report to demonstrate a possible mechanism of DNA methylation participating in tanshinone biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots by modulating the CPS promoter and TFs binding sites.

Hedysari Radix (Hong Qi) is a commonly substituted material with similar functions to Astragali Radix (Huang Qi). However, it is still misused as Huang Qi, even though people know they are different species. This study aims to find evidence that Hong Qi can replace Huang Qi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas used for immunomodulation. Therefore, we evaluated the immunomodulatory effects of both medicines on dendritic cells. The water extract of Hong Qi showed a more substantial immunomodulatory effect on dendritic cells in 500 μg/mL concentration compared to Huang Qi in the same dosage. Furthermore, we selected the 23 TCM formulas to investigate their immunomodulatory function when Huang Qi and Hong Qi alternated within a formula. Among them, 6 formulas containing Hong Qi demonstrated a better immunomodulatory effect on the dendritic cells than those containing Huang Qi. The other formulas containing Hong Qi showed an insignificantly different physiological impact from the original formulation. Therefore, based on the TCM theory and our experimental results, replacing Huang Qi with Hong Qi for a formula could be more suitable when the immunomodulatory effect or nourishing Qi is required.