Relationship Between Cuticular Waxes and Storage Quality Parameters of Korla Pear Under Different Storage Methods

Cuticular wax is an important factor that affects storage quality of fruits and vegetables. Previous studies have shown that cuticular wax of pears changes significantly during storage, whereas there are few studies on the effects of different storage methods on the wax changes and the relationship with storage quality. Cuticular wax of Korla pear stored using different methods, was measured to analyze its total wax content, chemical compositions and their relationship with storage quality. At the end of storage, the highest cuticular wax content was observed in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage and the lowest in room temperature storage. The substances of the primary components with higher contents were nonacosane, (E, E)-ɑ-farnesene, dodecan-1-ol, 1,1-dimethoxynonane, nonanal, palmitic acid, and oleic acid. Total wax content, olefins and fatty acids were most significantly with the storage quality, followed by alkanes and esters. Moreover, total wax content, wax composition and weight loss were closely related to postharvest senescence. Overall, an understanding of variations in the cuticular wax under different storage methods could provide theoretical basis for further study on the storage and preservation technology of pears.

     

Effects of Exogenous Application of GA4+7 and NAA on Sugar Accumulation and Related Gene Expression in Peach Fruits During Developing and Ripening Stages

Sweetness is one of the key factors determining peach fruit quality. To better understand the molecular basis of gibberellic acid (GA) and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) interference with sugar biosynthesis, a middle-late maturing commercial cultivar, ‘Jinxiu’ yellow peach fruit, was treated with three different concentrations of GA₄₊₇ and four of NAA. Fruit weight, firmness, total soluble solids, different sugar contents and the expression level of sugar-related genes were evaluated. The results showed that maximum increase in cv. ‘Jinxiu’ peach fruit size and sucrose content was with 1.25 mM GA₄₊₇, compared to control fruits and the other treatments during the ripening stages. The sucrose-phosphate synthase gene (PpSPS₂) which had a high level of expression and positive correlation with sucrose content was significantly regulated by 1.25 mM GA₄₊₇ in the final ripening stages. 0.5 mM NAA treatments significantly reduced the sucrose content and fruit size. Ninety percent of the fruits were deformed or dropped from the trees with treatments of 1 mM NAA and 2 mM NAA in the early development period. The crosstalk of different phytohormones and the related genes will be further investigated to get an insight into the inherent association between hormone control and sugar accumulation.

     

Divergent DNA methylation contributes to duplicated gene evolution and chilling response in tea plants

The tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is a thermophilic cash crop and contains a highly duplicated and repeat-rich genome. It is still unclear how DNA methylation regulates the evolution of duplicated genes and chilling stress in tea plants. We therefore generated a single-base-resolution DNA methylation map of tea plants under chilling stress. We found that, compared with other plants, the tea plant genome is highly methylated in all three sequence contexts, including CG, CHG and CHH (where H = A, T, or C), which is further proven to be correlated with its repeat content and genome size. We show that DNA methylation in the gene body negatively regulates the gene expression of tea plants, whereas non-CG methylation in the flanking region enables a positive regulation of gene expression. We demonstrate that transposable element-mediated methylation dynamics significantly drives the expression divergence of duplicated genes in tea plants. The DNA methylation and expression divergence of duplicated genes in the tea plant increases with evolutionary age and selective pressure. Moreover, we detect thousands of differentially methylated genes, some of which are functionally associated with chilling stress. We also experimentally reveal that DNA methyltransferase genes of tea plants are significantly downregulated, whereas demethylase genes are upregulated at the initial stage of chilling stress, which is in line with the significant loss of DNA methylation of three well-known cold-responsive genes at their promoter and gene body regions. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of DNA methylation regulation and offer new insights into duplicated gene evolution and chilling tolerance in tea plants.     

Mycorrhizal suppression and phosphorus addition influence the stability of plant community composition and function in a temperate steppe

Nutrient enrichment can reduce ecosystem stability, typically measured as temporal stability of a single function, e.g. plant productivity. Moreover, nutrient enrichment can alter plant–soil interactions (e.g. mycorrhizal symbiosis) that determine plant community composition and productivity. Thus, it is likely that nutrient enrichment and interactions between plants and their soil communities co-determine the stability in plant community composition and productivity. Yet our understanding as to how nutrient enrichment affects multiple facets of ecosystem stability, such as functional and compositional stability, and the role of above–belowground interactions are still lacking. We tested how mycorrhizal suppression and phosphorus (P) addition influenced multiple facets of ecosystem stability in a three-year field study in a temperate steppe. Here we focused on the functional and compositional stability of plant community; functional stability is the temporal community variance in primary productivity; compositional stability is represented by compositional resistance, turnover, species extinction and invasion. Community variance was partitioned into population variance defined as community productivity weighted average of the species temporal variance in performance, and species synchrony defined as the degree of temporal positive covariation among species. Compared to treatments with mycorrhizal suppression, the intact AM fungal communities reduced community variance in primary productivity by reducing species synchrony at high levels of P addition. Species synchrony and population variance were linearly associated with community variance with the intact AM fungal communities, while these relationships were decoupled or weakened by mycorrhizal suppression. The intact AM fungal communities promoted the compositional resistance of plant communities by reducing compositional turnover, but this effect was suppressed by P addition. P addition increased the number of species extinctions and thus promoted compositional turnover. Our study shows P addition and AM fungal communities can jointly and independently modify the various components of ecosystem stability in terms of plant community productivity and composition.     

Sustainability of SARS-CoV-2 Induced Humoral Immune Responses in COVID-19 Patients from Hospitalization to Convalescence Over Six Months

Virologica Sinica - Understanding the persistence of antibody in convalescent COVID-19 patients may help to answer the current major concerns such as the risk of reinfection, the protection period...     

微生境对耐旱石生毛尖紫萼藓水分保持与散失特性的影响

毛尖紫萼藓(Grimmia pilifera)是典型石生耐旱藓类,水分是其生存繁衍的关键影响因素。为探究微生境对毛尖紫萼藓水分生理的影响,在安徽省大龙山国家森林公园低山丘陵区选择3种典型微生境(竹林遮蔽S-1,向阳裸岩E,薜荔灌丛遮蔽S-2),对比研究毛尖紫萼藓个体大小、饱和含水量及脱水过程中的含水量指标在不同微生境间的差异性,综合判断微生境对苔藓水分胁迫耐受性的影响及其权衡特征。结果表明:3种微生境毛尖紫萼藓个体大小及饱和含水量差异显著,其中竹林遮蔽生境毛尖紫萼藓具有较小的个体但拥有较高的内、外含水量。向阳裸岩和薜荔灌丛遮蔽生境植株大小及外吸水量接近,但前者内含水量更高。两荫蔽生境苔藓外吸水量是内吸水量的7倍,显著高于向阳裸岩生境的5.8倍。脱水过程中相同时间点向阳裸岩生境苔藓各含水量指标均高于两遮蔽生境,且达到相同含水量的时间差也随脱水进程持续而逐渐增大,这为向阳裸岩生境苔藓的有效光合作用(即相对含水量不低于35%时)及脱水后期的生理和结构调整赢得更多时间。综合而言,向阳裸岩生境毛尖紫萼藓比荫蔽生境具有更强的脱水耐受性,但后者可以通过增加外部吸水量来弥补失水过快的缺陷,这可能是不同微生境毛尖紫萼藓对水分吸收和保持的权衡策略。     

增温、施肥与种内竞争的交互作用对云杉根系属性的影响

增温、施肥与种内竞争的交互作用对云杉根系属性的影响 物种竞争、气温和土壤养分是青藏高原东部高寒地区影响树木生长的重要因素。虽然已开展了大量关于物种竞争、气温、施肥单因素对树木生长的影响研究,但关于这三者的交互作用对根系生长的影响还知之甚少。因此,本研究拟通过测量根系属性(细根长、根表面积、比根长、比表面积、根尖数、根系分支数等)、根生物量,以及根系养分吸收,研究施肥和增温对物种竞争的影响,并进一步探讨施肥、增温与物种竞争的交互作用对云杉(Picea asperata)生长的影响机制以及所采取的适应策略。研究结果表明,增温、施肥和竞争均提高了细根的氮、钾浓度,但并未影响细根生物量和根长、根表面积、根尖数和根分支数等根系特征。然而,无论是增温、施肥,或是它们的联合作用,与物种竞争进行交互时,均增加了根长、根表面积、根尖数、根系分支数和养分吸收。此外,施肥降低了根比表面积、比根长和单位面积的根尖数和根分支数,增温和竞争的交互作用使根比表面积、比根长下降,其他参数不受温度和竞争的影响。该结果表明,云杉在物种竞争、气候变暖、施肥及其交互作用下保持着保守的营养策略。该研究加强了对树木应对全球变化的生理和生态适应性的理解。     

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine in comparison with chloroquine in moderate and severe patients with COVID-19

Science China Life Sciences -