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Fish is an important source of antimicrobial peptides. This study aimed to identify and screen antibacterial peptides with excellent antibacterial activity derived from sturgeon spermary peptides (SSPs) and to analyze their antibacterial activity and mechanism. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry methods were used to analyze and identify peptide sequences, computational prediction tool and molecular docking methods were used for virtual screening of antimicrobial peptides, and finally, candidate peptides were synthesized by solid-phase synthesis method. The results demonstrate that SSPs have excellent inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli with an inhibitory rate of 76.46%. Most parts of the SSPs were derived from the sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus) histones, and the coverage of histone H2B was the highest (45%). Two novel peptides (NDEELNKLM and RSSKRRQ) were obtained by in silico prediction tools and molecular docking, which may interact with the DNA gyrase and dihydrofolate reductase of E. coli by forming salt bridges and hydrogen bonds. Compared to the individual peptides, the antibacterial effect was significantly improved by mixing the two peptides in equal proportions. Two novel peptides change the permeability of the E. coli cell membranes and may exert antimicrobial activity by inhibiting the metabolic process of the nucleic acids.

The mechanism of silver carp scale collagen peptides (SCPs1) on melanogenesis and its mechanism of action were examined in mouse melanoma cells (B16). The cell viability and effects of SCPs1 on intracellular tyrosinase (TYR) activity and melanin, reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione (GSH) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) content were examined. The regulatory mechanism of SCPs1 on the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway was analyzed. The cell viability of the SCPs1 group was >80% (0.01–1 mg/mL) and the inhibitory rate of SCPs1 on B16 cell melanin increased in a dose-dependent manner. The highest inhibitory rate of SCPs1 on melanin content reaching 80.24%. SCPs1 significantly increased the GSH content and decreased the tyrosinase activity, as well as the content of ROS and cAMP. Western blot analysis showed that SCPs1 significantly inhibited melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) expression and CREB phosphorylation in the cAMP-CREB signaling pathway, leading to downregulation of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and the expression of TYR, TYR-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and TRP-2. SCPs1 also inhibited the expression of MC1R, MITF, TYR, TRP-1 and TRP-2 at the transcriptional level. Taken together, SCPs1 inhibited melanin synthesis through the downregulation of the cAMP-CREB signaling pathway. Fish-derived collagen peptides could potentially be applied in skin whitening products.

Snow avalanche is a serious threat to the safety of roads in alpine mountains. In the western Tianshan Mountains, large scale avalanches occur every year and affect road safety. There is an urgent need to identify the characteristics of triggering factors for avalanche activity in this region to improve road safety and the management of natural hazards. Based on the observation of avalanche activity along the national road G218 in the western Tianshan Mountains, avalanche event data in combination with meteorological, snowpack and earthquake data were collected and analyzed. The snow climate of the mountain range was examined using a recently developed snow climate classification scheme, and triggering conditions of snow avalanche in different snow climate regions were compared. The results show that snowfall is the most common triggering factor for a natural avalanche and there is high probability of avalanche release with snowfall exceeding 20.4 mm during a snowfall period. Consecutive rise in temperature within three days and daily mean temperature reaching 0.5°C in the following day imply a high probability of temperaturerise-triggered avalanche release. Earthquakes have a significant impact on the formation of large size avalanches in the area. For the period 2011–2017, five cases were identified as a consequence of earthquake with magnitudes of 3.3≤ML≤5.1 and source-to-site distances of 19~139 km. The Tianshan Mountains are characterized by a continental snow climate with lower snow density, lower snow shear strength and high proportion depth hoar, which explains that both the snowfall and temperature for triggering avalanche release in the continental snow climate of the Tianshan Mountains are lower than that in maritime snow climate and transitional snow climate regions. The findings help forecast avalanche release for mitigating avalanche disaster and assessing the risk of avalanche disaster.

This study involves the preparation of scale collagen peptides (SCPs) with whitening activity from silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and their characterization and peptide sequence identification. In this article, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe structure changes of sliver carp scales; enzymatic hydrolysis was optimized through protease screening and response surface optimization. The ultrafiltration was used to separate SCPs and the whitening activity was comprehensively evaluated using radical scavenging rate and tyrosinase-inhibiting activity, among others. An optimal component was characterized and identified using various modern spectral analysis techniques. The results showed that the surface of silver carp scales after decalcification was smooth and clear. The pepsin had the highest peptide yield and tyrosinase-inhibiting activity (90.01% and 82.25%, respectively). The optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions were an enzyme dosage of 16.1%, a solid–liquid ratio of 1:15.6 and a time of 4.9 h. The proportions of hydrophobic and basic amino acids in the peptide composition were 32.15% and 13.12%, respectively. Compared with SCPs2, SCPs1 (6096.68–9513.70 Da) showed better ·OH scavenging ability, tyrosinase-inhibiting activity and moisture absorption. SCPs1 was a macromolecular fragment of type I collagen with a triple helix structure, containing three peptide sequences with the potential for tyrosinase activity inhibition (AGPPGADGQTGQRGE, SGPAGIAGPAGPRGPAGPNGPPGKD and KRGSTGEQGSTGPLGMRGPRGAA). These results show that SCPs1 is a collagen peptide product with whitening potential.

Climate change has increased temperatures and altered snowpack properties, which in turn affect avalanche activity. The extent to which climate change affects avalanche activity and how avalanche activity responds to climate change remains poorly understood, which hinders avalanche risk assessments under future climate change. In this study, we applied tree-ring evidence from trees affected by avalanches to reproduce historical avalanche events and then combined the observed meteorological and snowpack data to reveal the response mechanism of avalanche activity to climate change in the Tianshan Mountains. The study found that snow seasons with large-scale avalanche events have increased since 1943, which is contrary to the assumption that less snow under a warming climate reduces the risk of avalanches. Snow seasons in which large-scale avalanches occur are characterised by high snow depth in November (>44.4 cm) and April (>60.9 cm), together with low December temperatures (<−1.9 °C) under heavy snowfall (≥34.4 cm). Under climate change, the study area experienced a marked increase in snow-season temperatures along with rising trends in snow depth and heavy snowfall, leading to elevated avalanche risk in the middle altitudes of the western Tianshan Mountains, where human activities are intensive. This study provides a clear understanding of avalanche risk changes in the region under climate change and helps people propose climate-change adaptation strategies for avalanche risk.

Spring snowmelt peak flow （SSPF） can cause serious damage. Precipitation as rainfall directly contributes to the SSPF and influences the characteristics of the SSPF, while temperature indirectly impacts the SSPF by shaping snowmelt rate and determining the soil frozen state which partitions snowmelt water into surface runoff and soil infiltration water in spring. It is necessary to identify the important and significant paths of climatic factors influencing the SSPF and provide estimates of the magnitude and significance of hypothesized causal connections between climatic factors and the SSPF. This study used path analysis with a selection of five factors - the antecedent precipitation index （API）, spring precipitation （SP）, winter precipitation as snowfall （WS）, 〈0℃ temperature accumulation in winter （[ATNI）, and average 〉0℃temperature accumulation in spring （AT） - to analyze their influences on the SSPF in the Kaidu River in Xinjiang, China. The results show that {ATN}, AT and WS have a significant correlation with the SSPF, while API and SP do not show a significant correlation. AT and WS directly influence the SSPF, while as the influence of[ATN] on SSPF is indirect through WS and AT. The indirect influence of [ATN[ on SSPF through WS accounts for 69% of the total influence of [ATN] on SSPF. Compared to the multiple linear regression method, path analysis provides additional valuable information, including influencing paths from independent variables to the dependent variable as well as direct and indirect impacts of external variables on the internal variable. This information can help improve the description of snow melt and spring runoff in hydrologic models as well as the planning and management of water resources.

Swim bladder polypeptides (SBPs) of Acipenser schrencki were analyzed for their antioxidant activity and physicochemical properties. The results showed the optimal enzymatic conditions were alkaline protease with a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:20, an incubation time of 4 h, a temperature of 55 °C, and an enzyme dosage of 5000 U/g. Three different molecular weight fractions (F1, F2, and F3) were obtained via ultrafiltration. F3 (912.44–2135.82 Da) showed 77.90%, 72.15%, and 66.25% removal of O2•-, DPPH•, and •OH, respectively, at 10 mg/mL, which was significantly higher than the F1 and F2 fractions (p < 0.05). F3 contained proline (6.17%), hydroxyproline (5.28%), and hydrophobic amino acids (51.39%). The UV spectrum of F3 showed maximum absorption at 224 nm. Peptide sequence analysis showed that F3 contained antioxidant peptides (MFGF, GPPGPRGPPGL, and GPGPSGERGPPGPM) and exhibited inhibitory activities on angiotensin-converting enzyme and dipeptidyl peptidase III/IV (FRF, FPFL and LPGLF). F3 was considered a good raw material for obtaining bioactive peptides.

Electron-beam irradiation (EBI) is an efficient, safe, and nonthermal sterilization technique that is extensively used in food preservation research. Here we report the effects of different EBI doses (0, 4, 8 kGy) and preservation temperatures (room temperature [RT], 4 °C) on the muscle water distribution and muscle quality indices of silver carp chunks (SCCs). The highest entrapped water content was found in the 4-kGy-irradiated/4-°C-stored samples. The expressible moisture content (EMC) of the SCCs increased with increasing irradiation dose and was significantly lower in the RT group than in the 4 °C group. The irradiation dose and preservation temperature had no significant effect on the moisture content, whiteness value and protein content of SCCs (p > 0.05). When the irradiation dose reached 8 kGy, AV value, POV value and TVB value were significantly increased (p < 0.05). The myofibrillar protein content and actomyosin content of the SCCs in the 4 °C group was higher than that of the specimens in the RT group by 0.29–0.98 mg/mL (p < 0.05) and 36.21–296.58 μg/mL (p < 0.05), respectively. Overall, EBI treatment (4 kGy) and low-temperature preservation (4 °C) helped retain the muscle water content of the SCCs and preserve their quality, thereby endorsing the EBI treatment of silver carp products.

The investigation of concentration characteristics of reference evapotranspiration ( ET ref ) is important for water resources management. The concentration index (CI), concentration degree (CD) and concentration period (CP) are used to investigate the concentration characteristics of ET ref and the relationship between ET ref concentration and precipitation concentration at sub-monthly timescale based on the daily climatic variables from 1966 to 2015 in 27 meteorological stations at the southern and northern slopes of Tianshan Mountains in China. It was found that the CI of ET ref is about 0.40 and less concentrated than precipitation in the study area. At the southern slope, the maximum ET ref appears in late June and is earlier than the maximum precipitation (early July), ET ref distributes more equally than precipitation, and the CI, CD and CP of these two variables do not show significant change based on the Mann-Kendall test. At the northern slope, both the maximum ET ref and precipitation appear in early July, and ET ref is more dispersed than precipitation. During the study period, the maximum ET ref at the northern slope tends to appear earlier due to the impacts of wind speed, relative humidity, sunshine duration, and air temperature. ET ref concentration does not match the precipitation concentration in the study area, particularly at the southern slope. The mismatch between ET ref and precipitation concentration within a year reveals the water resources pressure on environmental, social and economic sustainability in the study area.

Snow depth is a general input variable in many models of agriculture, hydrology, climate and ecology. This study makes use of observational data of snow depth and explanatory variables to compare the accuracy and effect of geographically weighted regression kriging (GWRK) and regression kriging (RK) in a spatial interpolation of regional snow depth. The auxiliary variables are analyzed using correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factor ( VIF ). Three variables, Height, topographic ruggedness index ( TRI ), and land surface temperature ( LST ), are used as explanatory variables to establish a regression model for snow depth. The estimated spatial distribution of snow depth in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tianshan Mountains in China with a spatial resolution of 1 km is obtained. The results indicate that 1) the result of GWRK’s accuracy is slightly higher than that of RK ( R 2 = 0.55 vs. R 2 = 0.50, RMSE (root mean square error) = 0.102 m vs. RMSE = 0.077 m); 2) for the subareas, GWRK and RK exhibit similar estimation results of snow depth. Areas in the Bayanbulak Basin with a snow depth greater than 0.15 m are mainly distributed in an elevation range of 2632.00–3269.00 m and the snow in this area comprises 45.00–46.00% of the total amount of snow in this basin. However, the GWRK resulted in more detailed information on snow depth distribution than the RK. The final conclusion is that GWRK is better suited for estimating regional snow depth distribution.