This study was conducted to determine the effect of biochar application on nitrogen (N) leaching, ammonia (NH3) volatilization, and fertilizer N use efficiency (NUE) in two soils with different properties (loamy and sandy). Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) incubation experiments (with 15 N-enriched urea applied) and an N loss simulation study were conducted at biochar application rates of 2% and 4%. The results showed that 15 N utilization increased by 8.83-9.06% following the addition of biochar to sandy soil during the first season compared with the control. However, this significant effect was not observed in the loamy soil, in which significantly more urea-N was retained in the soil following biochar application. Furthermore, based on the results of the N leaching and NH3 volatilization experiments, 29.19% and 28.65% NO3 -N leaching reductions were induced by 2% and 4% biochar amendments in loamy soil, decreasing the total inorganic N that was leached (NH4 + -N plus NO3 -N) by 26.46% and 26.82%, respectively. However, although the amount of leached NH4 + -N decreased in biochar-amended sandy soil, the cumulative NH3 volatilizations were 14.18-20.05%higher than in the control, and 22.55% more NO3 --N was leached from biochar-amended sandy soil, resulting in a negative effect on N retention. According to this study, biochar can be effectively used to improve the NUE in sandy soil and reduce N loss from loamy soil.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints -eprint.ncl.ac.uk Casalin F, Pang G, Maioli S, Cao T. Inventories and the concentration of suppliers and customers: Evidence from the Chinese manufacturing sector.

The signaling adaptor TRAF3 is a highly versatile regulator of both innate immunity and adaptive immunity, but how its phosphorylation is regulated is still unknown. Here we report that deficiency in or inhibition of the conserved serine-threonine kinase CK1ɛ suppressed the production of type I interferon in response to viral infection. CK1ɛ interacted with and phosphorylated TRAF3 at Ser349, which thereby promoted the Lys63 (K63)-linked ubiquitination of TRAF3 and subsequent recruitment of the kinase TBK1 to TRAF3. Consequently, CK1ɛ-deficient mice were more susceptible to viral infection. Our findings establish CK1ɛ as a regulator of antiviral innate immune responses and indicate a novel mechanism of immunoregulation that involves CK1ɛ-mediated phosphorylation of TRAF3.

Microscopy of direct smear with the Ziehl-Neelsen stain is still broadly used in tuberculosis diagnosis. However, this method suffers from low specificity and is difficult to distinguish Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) from nontuberculosis mycobacterial (NTM), since all mycobacterial species are positive in Ziehl-Neelsen stain. In this study, we utilized whole cell SELEX to obtain species-specific aptamers for increasing the specificity of MTB detection. Whole cell SELEX was performed in MTB reference strain H37Rv by two selection processes based on enzyme-linked plate or Eppendorf tube, respectively. To increase success rate of generating aptamers, the selection processes were systematically monitored to understand the dynamic evolution of aptamers against complex structure of target bacteria. Two preponderant groups and ten high-affinity aptamers were obtained by analyzing the dynamic evolution. Preponderant aptamer MA1 from group I showed relatively high binding affinity with apparent dissociation constant (KD value) of 12.02 nM. Sandwich ELISA assay revealed five aptamer combinations effectively bound MTB strains in preliminary evaluation, especially the combination based on aptamer MA2 (another preponderant aptamer from group II) and MA1. Further evaluated in many other strains, MA2/MA1 combination effectively identified MTB from NTM or other pathogenic bacteria, and displayed the high specificity and sensitivity. Binding analysis of aptamer MA1 or MA2 by fluorescence microscopy observation showed high binding reactivity with H37Rv, low apparent cross-reactivity with M. marinum, and no apparent cross-reactivity with Enterobacter cloacae. Taken together, this study provides attractive candidate species-specific aptamers to effectively capture or discriminate MTB strains.