基于光合系统参数建立马铃薯耐荫性综合评价体系

为构建便捷的马铃薯(Solanum tuberosum)耐荫性综合评价体系并发掘耐荫种质, 以35个马铃薯品种(系)为实验材料, 测定块茎膨大期遮荫下植株叶片叶绿素含量、光合能力和叶绿素荧光等光合参数及收获后块茎单株产量和淀粉含量等指标。根据耐荫系数, 利用主成分分析法、隶属函数法、聚类分析法和逐步回归分析法进行综合评价。通过主成分分析将马铃薯耐荫性相关的13个单项光合指标转换为6个综合指标, 代表了全部信息的87.51%。以此计算各种质的隶属函数值, 并以主成分的贡献率进行加权, 最终获得所用材料耐荫性的综合评价值(D值)。根据D值聚类分析结果将35个马铃薯分为4类, 其中Eshu10和Lishu6分别为耐荫性最强和最弱的品种。通过逐步回归分析建立了马铃薯耐荫性评价数学模型: D=0.060+0.106G_s+0.214qP+0.143NPQ。同时, 用该评价体系鉴定为耐荫性强的品种(系)在遮荫后其产量和/或淀粉含量等指标减幅均低于耐荫性弱的种质, 表明该评价体系可用于快速评价和预测马铃薯种质的耐荫性。     

花梨木组织培养外植体消毒方法初步探讨

针对在花梨木(Dalbergia odofifera T. Chen)组织培养过程中外植体的有效消毒方法进行研究。外植体消毒主要以2年生以上实生苗的茎段为材料,开展了茎段外植体次氯酸钠(5%,10%,15%)和升汞(0.05%,0.1%,0.2%)3个浓度水平的消毒试验。在此基础上,开展了外植体消毒的时间试验,次氯酸钠消毒时间为10 min、20 min、30 min,升汞消毒时间为5 min、10 min、15 min。结果表明：茎段外植体采用10%浓度的次氯酸钠消毒效果较好,最佳消毒方式75%的酒精浸泡2 min,10%次氯酸钠消毒20 min,该方法污染率最低、存活力最高。     

Spatial association of photosynthesis and chemical defense in Arabidopsis thaliana following herbivory by Trichoplusia ni

Because they share common precursors and require significant amounts of energy, photosynthesis and defense against herbivores and pathogens may be inversely related. This relationship was examined in Arabidopsis thaliana exposed to herbivory by Trichoplusia ni neonates. The spatial pattern of photosynthesis was compared statistically with that of induction of the defense-related cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) gene across individual leaves exposed to herbivory in transgenic plants harboring a C4H:GUS gene fusion. In portions of the leaf where C4H:GUS expression was upregulated, photosynthesis was depressed, while non-photochemical quenching was increased, suggesting a trade-off between these two processes. However, photosynthetic damage spread further into surrounding areas than the induction of C4H:GUS expression. Photosynthetic depression was observed up to 1 mm from the edges of holes, whereas C4H:GUS induction typically was limited to about 0.5 mm or less from edges. Other mechanisms may be responsible for the spread of photosynthetic damage beyond where C4H-related defense was induced. Alternatively, C4H induction may reflect a subset of defensive responses more limited in their spatial distribution than the downregulation of photosynthesis. The suppression of photosynthesis in remaining leaf tissue represents a 'hidden cost' of herbivore damage.     

A new method for hydrolyzing sulfate and glucuronyl conjugates of steroids

A new method for hydrolyzing steroid conjugates (both sulfates and glucuronides conjugates) that is efficient, effective, and inexpensive is described. This method comprises incubation of the conjugates--after salting-out into ethyl acetate or elution from a C18 cartridge--with anhydrous methanolic hydrogen chloride (methanolysis) for 10 min. It has been successfully applied to our routine radioimmunoassay screening and GC/MS confirmation studies of steroids in prerace and postrace equine urine samples. Comparative GC/MS studies on entire (male horse) urine samples showed that methanolysis gave amounts of free steroids (estrone, estradiols, testosterone, estrenediols, nandrolone, androstanediols) at least as large as those obtained by solvolysis. Similar studies on urine samples from a gelding that had been administered nandrolone phenylpropionate showed that methanolysis gave larger amounts of free steroids (nandrolone, estranediols) than Helix pomatia enzymatic hydrolysis or solvolysis. Also, TLC studies on methanolysis of corticosteroid conjugates such as hydrocortisone 21-sulfate and hydrocortisone 21-phosphate showed that free corticosteroid was released in 5 min.     

Elicitor hydrophobin Hyd1 interacts with Ubiquilin1‐like to induce maize systemic resistance

Trichoderma harzianum is a plant-beneficial fungus that secretes small cysteine-rich proteins that induce plant defense responses; however, the molecular mechanism involved in this induction is largely unknown.Here, we report that the class II hydrophobin Th Hyd1 acts as an elicitor of induced systemic resistance(ISR) in plants. Immunogold labeling and immunofluorescence revealed Th Hyd1 localized on maize(Zea mays) root cell plasma membranes. To identify host plant protein interactors of Hyd1, we screened a maize B73 root c DNA library. Th Hyd1 interacted directly with ubiquilin1-like(UBL). Furthermore, the N-terminal fragment of UBL was primarily responsible for binding with Hyd1 and the eight-cysteine amino acid of Hyd1 participated in the protein-protein interactions. Hyd1 from T. harzianum(Thhyd1) and ubl from maize were co-expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, they synergistically promoted plant resistance against Botrytis cinerea. RNA-sequencing analysis of global gene expression in maize leaves 24 h after spraying with Curvularia lunata spore suspension showed that Thhyd1-induced systemic resistance was primarily associated with brassinosteroid signaling, likely mediated through BAK1. Jasmonate/ethylene(JA/ET)signaling was also involved to some extent in this response. Our results suggest that the Hyd1-UBL axis might play a key role in inducing systemic resistance as a result of Trichoderma-plant interactions.     

Unidirectional Optical Transmission of a Dual Metallic Grating with Grooves

In this paper, a dual grating structure for unidirectional transmission is presented. The forward and backward transmission performances have been investigated by finite element method. To enhance the forward transmission and to suppress the backward transmission simultaneously, we suggested to cut grooves on the surfaces of one of the gratings, and the effects of the grooves on the optical transmission have been studied. The numerical simulation results reveal that the transmission contrast ratio and the optical unidirectional transmission of the structure can be improved markedly by properly arranging the size and the position of the grooves. The forward transmission can be more than 90%, while the backward transmission transmittance is less than 5%.

     

Membrane‐Free Zn/MnO2 Flow Battery for Large‐Scale Energy Storage

The traditional Zn/MnO₂ battery has attracted great interest due to its low cost, high safety, high output voltage, and environmental friendliness. However, it remains a big challenge to achieve long‐term stability, mainly owing to the poor reversibility of the cathode reaction. Different from previous studies where the cathode redox reaction of MnO₂/MnOOH is in solid state with limited reversibility, here a new aqueous rechargeable Zn/MnO₂ flow battery is constructed with dissolution–precipitation reactions in both cathodes (Mn²⁺/MnO₂) and anodes (Zn²⁺/Zn), which allow mixing of anolyte and catholyte into only one electrolyte and remove the requirement for an ion selective membrane for cost reduction. Impressively, this new battery exhibits a high discharge voltage of ≈1.78 V, good rate capability (10C discharge), and excellent cycling stability (1000 cycles without decay) at the areal capacity ranging from 0.5 to 2 mAh cm^‐2. More importantly, this battery can be readily enlarged to a bench scale flow cell of 1.2 Ah with good capacity retention of 89.7% at the 500th cycle, displaying great potential for large‐scale energy storage.     

Osteoclastogenesis Modulatory Steroids from the South China Sea Gorgonian Coral Iciligorgia sp.

A new 9,11‐secosteroid, (22R)‐22‐acetoxy‐3β,6α,11‐trihydroxy‐9,11‐seco‐5α‐cholest‐7‐en‐9‐one, along with twelve known analogues were isolated from the South China Sea gorgonian coral Iciligorgia sp. Their structures were determined by the spectroscopic analysis and comparison with reported data. In an in vitro test of osteoclastic differentiation, three compounds exhibited significant down‐regulating effect whereas two compounds showed significant up‐regulating effect at 0.5 and 1.0 μm . This is the first report of the chemical investigation of the gorgonian Iciligorgia sp. The acetoxy substitution at C‐22 seems to play an important role in the regulating activity.     

Achieving Balanced Crystallization Kinetics of Donor and Acceptor by Sequential‐Blade Coated Double Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells

Sequential deposition has great potential to achieve high performance in organic solar cells due to the resulting well‐controlled vertical phase separation. In this work, double bulk heterojunction organic solar cells are fabricated by sequential‐blade cast in ambient conditions. Probed by the in situ grazing incidence X‐ray diffraction and in situ UV–vis absorption measurements, the seq‐blade system exhibits a different tendency from each of the binary films during the film formation process. Due to the extensive aggregation of FOIC, the binary PBDB‐T:FOIC film displays a strong and large phase separation, resulting in low current density (J_sc) and unsatisfactory power conversion efficiency. In the seq‐blade cast system, the bottom layer PBDB‐T:IT‐M produces many crystal nuclei for the top layer PBDB‐T:FOIC, so the PBDB‐T molecules are able to crystallize easily and quickly. Balanced crystallization kinetics between polymer and small molecule and an ideal percolation network in the film are observed. In addition, the balanced crystallization kinetics are favorable toward realizing lower recombination loss through charge transport processes.