AP2/ERF is a plant-specific transcription factor superfamily, among which the members of ERF family have been identified to play important roles in abiotic stress responses in plants. To further understand the role of ERFs in cauliflower, in the present study, BobERF17, a member of the ERF family in cauliflower, was cloned, and the transcriptional expression and function of BobERF17 were further explored. Sequence analysis showed that BobERF17 coding region is 576 bp in length and encodes a protein consisting 191 amino acids with unknown function. Cluster analysis showed that BobERF17 had a high similarity to the ERF17 sequences in dicotyledons, especially Brassica plants, but differed greatly from the ERF17 transcription factors in monocotyledons. Analysis of expression profiles under different stress conditions confirmed that BobERF17 displayed significantly up-regulated expression characteristics under drought and high temperature stresses, but was not sensitive to salt and low temperature stresses. Subsequently, the BobERF17 overexpression vector was successfully constructed and transformed into Arabidopsis. Overexpressed BobERF17 Arabidopsis homozygous lines were obtained. Functional analysis showed that the overexpression of BobERF17 in Arabidopsis did not affect the growth and development of the transgenic lines, but could significantly increase their tolerance to drought and high temperature stresses. The results confirmed that BobERF17 may play an important role in positive response to drought and high temperature stresses in cauliflower. These findings provided new insight into the function and regulation of BobERF17 in cauliflower.

Haidao 86 is a rice variety, which originally grew on coastal beaches and showed high resistance to alkali stress. In this paper, the difference in nitrogen metabolism of Haidao 86 and an alkali sensitive variety Zhenshan 97 under alkali stress was studied to find out the physiological and molecular bases for the high alkali resistance of Haidao 86. The rice seedlings were treated with salt solution at pH 9.0, then the contents of nitrogen-containing substances, the activity of nitrogen assimilation enzymes and the expressions of related genes were examined. The results displayed that alkali stress caused less decreases in contents of NO ₃ ^- and soluble protein in Haidao 86 than those in Zhenshan 97, but induced higher accumulation of NH ₄ ⁺in Zhenshan 97. For Haidao 86 under alkali stress, the NR activity in roots as well as GS activities in roots and leaves showed no significant difference, the NR activity in leaves as well as GOGAT activities in roots decreased, while the GOGAT activity in leaves increased when compared with those under control. The activities of NR, GS and GOGAT in Zhenshan 97 all decreased significantly under alkali stress, and the extent of reduction was greater than those of Haidao 86. Alkali stress had no significant effect on the activity of glutamate dehydrogenases (GDH) in Haidao 86, but induced a significant increase in that of Zhenshan 97. Analysis of relative transcript levels of nitrogen metabolism genes using qRT-PCR displayed, that, under alkali stress, the expression pattern of NR and GDH genes in Haidao 86 and Zhenshan 97 were consistent with the change of enzyme activities, while the expression of NADH-GOGAT genes were different from the change of enzyme activities, the expression of OsNADH-GOGAT1 and NADH-GOGAT2 was significantly increased, the transcript levels of NR and GOGAT genes in Haidao 86 were higher than those in Zhenshan 97, on the contrary, transcript levels of GDH genes in Haidao 86 were lower than those in Zhenshan 97. Summarily, the high alkali stress resistance of Haidao 86 is related to its stable activities of enzymes in nitrogen metabolism, the results provide an important theoretical basis for further understanding the mechanism of salt tolerance of rice and breeding salt tolerant rice varieties.

Drought stress is the most important abiotic stress factor affecting the growth and development and yield formation of wheat. With the adverse effects of excessive use of chemical fertilizer and global climate change, the harm of drought stress in the growth of wheat is becoming more and more serious. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can not only help wheat improve its nutrient utilization efficiency and promote its growth, but also help wheat to resist drought stress through its own action or various metabolites. In this paper, the mechanism of PGPR promoting growth was summarized, and the research progress of PGPR in improving wheat drought resistance was summarized from two aspects of physiological and molecular mechanism, which laid a theoretical foundation for the application research of using PGPR to improve wheat growth promotion and drought resistance.

To screen the cold tolerance identification indexes, construct a new comprehensive evaluation system for cold tolerance and excavate the cold-tolerant germplasm resources in high oleic acid peanut. In this study, the cold tolerance of 56 high oleic acid germplasms was comprehensively evaluated by membership function method, principal component factor analysis, correlation analysis and cluster analysis, and meanwhile the cold-tolerant germplasm resources were selected. The results showed that the 11 identification indexes of cold tolerance were summed up as germination factor, germination time factor and cotyledon fresh weight factor according to the contribution rate. The germination index and cold tolerance index could be considered as the optimal identification indexes for the cold tolerance of high oleic peanut during germination. However, the cold tolerance of high oleic peanut germplasm resources at germination stage was affected by multiple indexes. The D value of comprehensive evaluation on cold tolerance of high oleic acid peanut at germination stage ranged from 0.080 to 0.754, with an average value of 0.497, suggesting that there was great variation in cold tolerance of different high oleic acid peanut varieties at germination stage. Furthermore, 56 high oleic acid peanut germplasm resources were divided into 5 cold tolerance grades at germination stage, including 1 material with stronger cold tolerance, 20 materials with medium cold tolerance, 29 general materials with poor cold tolerance, 5 materials with bad cold tolerance and 1 material with cold sensitivity. These cold-tolerant germplasms can be used as materials for breeding and research on cold tolerance mechanism of high oleic acid peanut. What’s more, this study also provides a theoretical reference for ascertaining the cold tolerance of high oleic acid peanut germplasm resources.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades play essential roles in plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In order to study the function of MAPKKK genes during tea postharvest processing, the full length cDNA of three MAPKKK genes were cloned from tea cultivar ‘Fudingdabaicha’cultivar, and named as CsMAPKKK18, CsMAPKKK18 -like and CsMAPKKK-NPK1, respectively. Bioinformatic analyses showed that the coding sequence of CsMAPKKK18, CsMAPKKK18 -like and CsMAPKKK-NPK1 are 1 005 bp, 1 209 bp and 1 077 bp in length, and encode 334, 402 and 358 amino acids putatively located on the vacuole, mitochondria and nucleus respectively. Conserve domain analysis showed that three CsMAPKKK belonged to MEKK family with conservative region of G(T/S)PX(W/Y/F)MAPEV. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that CsMAPKKK18 and CsMAPKKK18-like have the closest relationship to homologies in Solanum lycopersicum and Capsicum annuum while MAPKKK-NPK1 corresponding to Ricinus communis and Vitis vinifera. qRT-PCR analysis showed that the CsMAPKKK genes were highly expressed in roots. In the processing of white tea withering, CsMAPKKKs were up-regulated significantly, and particularly the expression level of CsMAPKKK18 raised up to 65-fold. In the green-making procedure of Oolong tea, the transcription level of CsMAPKKK18 increased to 26-fold. CsMAPKKK18 -like was significantly up-regulated at the third tumbling procedure and down-regulated at the solar withering, second tumbling and before fixation procedures. CsMAPKKK-NPK1 was dramatically down-regulated at the solar withering procedure and up-regulated at the first, second and third tumbling procedures. These results demonstrated that CsMAPKKKs might be involved to the withering processing of white tea and green-making procedures of oolong tea, and provided a foundation for further studies on the quality formation mechanism of tea processing.

BBX is a kind of important transcription factors which belongs to zinc finger proteins in plants. BBX regulate the expression of some genes involved in abiotic stress, and improve the resistance of plants to adversity stress. In order to explore the expression pattern of LaBBX gene responds to low temperature stress in Lepidium apetalum seedlings and analyse its codon bias. Based on the previous analysis of Lepidium apetalum transcriptone database BBX CDS sequence was cloned. The cDNA of this gene was 733 bp in length, encoding 242 amino acids, and was named as LaBBX. LaBBX contained two B-box zinc finger protein domains, its protein molecular weight was about 61.66 kDa and the theoretical isoelectric point was 5.09, with no signal peptide segments and no transmembrane region. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that LaBBX gene was rapidly and significantly up-regulated when seedlings of Lepidium apetalum were under low temperature stress, after 6 hours stress, the expression of LaBBX was 21 times as the control, and retained high level expression within 24 hours. The results suggest that LaBBX play an important role in regulating the resistance of low temperature stress in Lepidium apetalum seedling. Analysis of codon usage bias of the Lepidium apetalum LaBBX gene showed that: The ENc, CAI, and GC content of LaBBX were respectively 55.453%, 0.244%, and 46.78%, indicating that the codon bias level of LaBBX in Lepidium apetalum was low and biased toward the synonymous codons with A or T. According to the RSCU value, 8 codons showed hign-frequency. The CDS sequence and RSCU cluster analysis showed that the preference of LaBBX gene was closest to that of Brassicaceae burnett in dicotyledonous plants. Many factors play an important role in shaping codon usage bias of the Lepidium apetalum LaBBX gene such as mutation and selective pressure. The yeast expression system was found to be most suitable for heterologous expressing LaBBX gene, and Arabidopsis thaliana is the most ideal genetic transformation receptor of the LaBBX gene. This study provides important information for further studies on the heterologous expression and the function of the LaBBX gene in Lepidium apetalum.

In order to explore the genetic characteristics of sesame germplasm resources in Shanxi, 30 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) were used to analyze the genetic diversity and population structure of 71 sesame germplasms of Shanxi in this study. The results showed that a total of 144 allelic loci were detected with 30 pairs of SSR markers, the mean number of alleles per locus was 4.800; the number of effective alleles ranged from 1.058 to 5.149, with an average of 2.805; the index of Shannon ranged from 0.128 to 1.813, with an average of 1.096; the genetic diversity index of Nei's varied from 0.055 to 0.806, with an average of 0.558; the polymorphic information content ranged from 0.053 to 0.783, with an average of 0.515. Based on cluster analysis with SSR molecular markers, the genetic similarity coefficient of the tested materials was 0.21~0.67, and six groups were clustered at the genetic similarity coefficient of 0.27; The population structure analysis based on SSR molecular markers divided the test materials into five groups. The results showed that the genetic difference among sesame germplasm resources in Shanxi was relatively high and there were rich genetic diversities. Development and utilization of sesame germplasm resources of Shanxi might lay a good foundation for the genetic improvement and discovery of excellent genes of sesame in future.

In order to compare the remediation effect of biochar, attapulgite and attapulgite-biochar composite. FTIR, XRD, BET and SEM were used to characterize rice husk biochar and attapulgite samples, and soil incubation experiments were conducted to study the effects of rice husk biochar, attapulgite and attapulgite-biochar composites on the passivation effect and physicochemical properties of Zinc and Cadmium contaminated soil. The incubation results showed that these three passivation agents reduced the bioavailability of Cd and Zn, meanwhile improved the soil properties to varying degrees. Zn content was reduced by 86% and 51%, and Cd content was reduced by 25% and 8% for the treatment of 2.0% attapulgite and 2.0% biochar, respectively. The availabe content of Zn and Cd in the soil was reduced by 83% and 23%, respectively, the soil pH was increased to 5.8, and the organic carbon content increased by 39%. after the application of 2.0% biochar-attapulgite composite. Compared with individual applications of attapulgite and biochar, rice husk biochar-attapulgite composite could efficiently immobilize Cd and Zn, and improve physicochemical properties in Zinc and Cadmium contaminated paddy-growing soil. Therefore, attapulgite-biochar composite could be a potential new passivation agent for soil remediation providing some new ideas for soil heavy metal remediation.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a genome directed editing technique mediated by small guide RNA. Since 2005, the technology has been developed rapidly and was widely used in biology, medicine and crop genetics and breeding. Compared with meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription-like activator effector nucleases (TALENs), CRISPR/Cas9 technology has unsurpassed advantages and has become the most important gene editing technology at present due to its simple operation and high editing efficiency. This paper systematically described the origin, development and the characteristics of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, summarized the application of this technology in crop gene editing and other aspects. The purpose of this paper is to provide reference for crop germplasms innovation, gene mining and breeding.

In order to explore distinguishing main characters of mutant obtained by ⁶⁰Co-γ radiation in Iris hollandica Zhanchi, botanical agronomic traits of 4 stable mutants (5-7CBS, 7-10SLZ, 7-10QLS, 10ZLL) and their wild-type Zhanchi were evaluated, the similarities and differences of the main ornamental traits (flowers) were analyzed and compared according to test guidelines of Bulbous Irises. It was found that mutants and wild type were basically consistent in plant morphology, flowering period and growth period. Among the 40 traits investigated, there were significant differences in the characteristics of five pseudo-qualitative characteristics between mutants and wild type, such as groud color of upper side of blade in outer tepal, color of inner tepal, color of upper side in bridge, color of upper side in crest, and groud color of upper side of claw in outer tepal. Another 35 character were highly similar in corresponding phenotype and values. The results showed that flower color of Iris hollandica has great genetic improvement potetiality with radiation breeding. It is speculated that flower color variation may be an important indicator for distinguishing mutants from wild type. According to the expression state of flower color, variation of flower color can be divided into four types: strengthening type, wild type, weakening type and full variant type. This study can provide basic data and reference for breeding new varieties in Iris hollandica.

In order to screen out the sea-island cotton varieties suitable for saline-alkali land cultivation, 203 sea-island cotton were selected and evaluated under natural compound salt stress. The results showed that plant height, height of the first node, fruit branch numbers, number of boll drop, proportion of boll drop and salt tolerance coefficient of yield of Single boll seed cotton were decreased. Lint percent, boll numbers, first node of fruit branch, effective boll numbers, effective fruit branch numbers, yield of single boll lint yield, seed cotton yield per plant and lint yield per plant were increased slightly. The coefficient of variation showed that the seed cotton yield per plant and lint yield per plant were the highest. The correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between fruit branch numbers and boll numbers; proportion of boll drop has significant correlations with boll number, height of the first node, first node of fruit branch, fruit branch number, effective fruit branch numbers, effective boll numbers, number of boll drop. Yield of Single boll Lint yield has significant correlations with lint percent, boll numbers, fruit branch numbers, effective boll numbers, effective fruit branch numbers, number of boll drop, proportion of boll drop, yield of Single boll seed cotton, yield of Single boll Lint yield, seed cotton yield per plant. The correlation analyses of the lint yield per plant identification value, the principal component score, the membership value and the comprehensive score D value showed that the four were significant positive correlation ( P<0.01), indicating that sea-island cotton could be comprehensively evaluated and classified by the four comprehensive scores. The sea-island cotton resources are mainly salt-tolerant and medium salt-tolerant, with relatively few extreme materials. Through comparison, it is found that the loose fruit branch type is more salt-tolerant than the compact type. In addition, a variety Pima 4 with strong compound salt tolerance was selected. The salt tolerance indexes of 6 sea-island cotton were screened by stepwise regression. The results of this experiment provide a certain theoretical basis, identification indicators and methods for the screening of sea-island cotton varieties tolerant to compound salt in the boll stage.

The Chinese expression of the terminology “biochar” has created arguments in academic world for many years. This paper looks insight into the concept of biochar and analyzes the confusion nomenclature phenomena, based on the basic method of logistics on concept, phrases, definition and classification. By clarifying the logic problems on the definition and classification of biochar, this work established good practice for the in-depth understanding of biochar terminology, and promoting the spread of the related scientific knowledge and the application of the technological achievements.

To study the mathematical relationship between the dielectric properties(DP) of kiwifruit and its main qualities. The DP, nutrient composition, color difference and texture of hayward kiwifruit in different storage periods were tested. The characteristic frequency points of quality indicators (Vc, soluble solid, ΔE, hardness, cohesiveness and springiness) were selected out by successive projections algorithm(SPA) and genetic algorithm in combination with partial least squares(GA-PLS). The prediction models of kiwi fruit were established based on the dielectric parameters at the characteristic frequency points. The results showed that the optimal models of Vc content and ΔE value was SPA-NN, hardness, soluble solids content, cohesiveness and elasticity was GA-PLS-NN. The determined coefficients of the models were 0.971, 0.934, 0.922, 0.984, 0.908 and 0.954, respectively. There was no significant difference between the predicted value and the measured value( P>0.05) for each quality indicator. The dielectric detection technology combined with SPA and GA-PLS can reflect the characteristic quality of kiwifruit, and the research lays a foundation for the non-destructive detection of kiwifruit property.

Effects of red light irradiation on nutritional quality of post-harvest radish sprouts were investigated. Harvested radish sprouts were treated with red light for 8 h, then stored at 4°C. Samples were collected at 0, 1, 2 and 3 d after treatment for quantification of glucosinolates and antioxidants (chlorophylls and anthocyanins), as well as the antioxidant capacity. The results showed that red light treatment increased the contents of total aliphatic glucosinolates (glucoraphasatin etc.) and indolic glucosinolates (4-methoxy glucobrassicin etc.) by 9.5% and 20.6% respectively, notably postponed the decrease of glucoraphasatin, one anticancer component, during storage. In addition, increased contents of chlorophylls and anthocyanins, as well as the antioxidant capacity (at early stage of storage period) were observed in red light treated sprouts. These results provide a theoretical basis for the application of light treatment in maintaining nutritive value of radish sprouts during post-harvest storage.

In order to clarify the different tolerance of cucumber germplasm to NaCl, the salt-tolerant material MC2065 and salt-sensitive material White cucumber were used to verify the appropriate concentration of 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 mM NaCl. And nine physiological and biochemical indexes, including salt tolerance index, chlorophyll, and protective enzymes under NaCl treatment were used to evaluate the salt-tolerances of 21 germplasms. The results showed that 100 and 150 mM could be the appropriate concentration.The salt injury index of White cucumber was 35.94% in 100 mM NaCl, showing obvious damage to leaves, while that of MC2065 was 4.69% and showed no obvious damage. Under 150 mM, both showed obvious damage, more than half of leaves were withered for White cucumber, but less than half for MC2065. With cluster analysis, 21 germplasms were divided into 3 groups. The first group categorized as salt-tolerant germplasm, including ZQ3, N26-5-1, Shoushui 1, DRTJY-2, Laixi, Cuiyu, 20S077-1. The second group, including DJ04, DY-1, XY1, YY9123, M2XT, D1503, X805, was medium salt-tolerant germplasm. And the third group was salt-sensitive germplasm, which included F6-3-1, SJ11-1, XB23, 20S091-1, HLT-921h, AZ-1, DRT345. The trend of comprehensive scores of cucumber germplasm by the compoment analysis was basically consistent with that obtained by cluster analysis and seedlings survival rate. The study will provide references for investigating cucumber salt-tolerant mechanism and lay a foundation for the breeding of cucumber salt-tolerant varieties.

In order to explore the regulation effect of NAC gene on carotenoid accumulation, this study cloned PpNAC19 gene from peach. Sequence analysis showed that the open reading frame sequence of PpNAC19 (XP_007223324.1) was 867 bp in length, encoding 288 amino acids with a NAM domain. The predicted molecular weight of the protein was 33.2 kDa, and the average hydrophobic coefficient was-0.719, which was a hydrophilic protein. Subcellular localization predicted that PpNAC19 protein was localized in the nucleus. Amino acid sequence alignment and cluster analysis showed that PpNAC19 had a close relationship with Prunus dulcis (VVA20514.1). The results of qRT-PCR revealed that PpNAC19 was expressed in different organs of peach, and the expression was the highest in hard-core fruit. During the whole fruit ripening process, the carotenoid content in yellow fleshed peach was obviously higher than that in white fleshed peach. The expression of PpNAC19 gene was higher in yellow fleshed peach, while the expression of carotenoid degradation gene PpCCD4 in yellow fleshed peach is significantly lower than that in white fleshed peach. The results of double luciferase test showed that PpNAC19 could transcriptionally inhibit the activity of PpCCD4 promoter. This experiment provides a theoretical basis for further research on the function of PpNAC19 gene in the carotenoid metabolism of peach fruits.

Food safety problems caused by food-borne pathogens seriously threaten the public health, which have caused widespread concern. Therefore, how to safety and effectively inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food has become a research hotspot in the food field. Current researched show that plant-derived natural products have wide sources, which possess broad antibacterial spectrum and less side effects than chemical preservatives, and can be used as natural preservatives in food. This article reviewed the antibacterial activity, mechanism and application in food preservation of plant-derived natural products, in order to provide theoretical basis for reducing food-borne pathogen contamination in food.

In order to explore the feasibility of Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) method for rapid detection of Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Salmonella enteritidis (CICC 21540) and Listeria monocytogenes (CICC 10982), a two-step growth method was used to prepare silver-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) as an enhanced substrate in this study. The Raman enhancement effect and stability of Au@Ag NPs coupled with three pathogenic bacteria were studied respectively. The characteristic Raman spectroscopy of the pathogenic bacteria was comparatively analyzed with the combination with principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA). The results showed that the synthesized Au@Ag NPs had uniform particle size, obvious Raman enhancement effect, which could effectively combine with the 3 kinds of pathogenic bacteria to generate stable Raman response; PCA and HCA analysis based on the characteristic Raman spectra of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis and Listeria monocytogenes showed that the Raman characteristic spectra of the three pathogenic bacteria were obviously different and could be effectively distinguished. The results of this study provide a reference basis for the rapid detection of E. coli, S. enteritidis and L. monocytogenes by using SERS method with Au@Ag NPs as the enhanced substrate.

In order to improve the nutritional value of rice noodles. In this study, the pea flour of different particle size were added to rice noodles, and the effects of addition ratio (0%, 7.5%, 15%, 30%) on silty properties of rice noodles and the cooking, texture and sensory properties of rice noodles were analyzed. The results showed that pea flour can increase the protein content in rice noodles, and the protein content of rice noodles with 30% pea flour content is 1.73 times of the original. The pea flour reduced the peak viscosity, final viscosity and setback of rice flour, which improve the stability of the cold paste of the rice noodles, during aging of the rice noodles. With the increase of pea flour content, the hardness and cooking loss of rice noodles increased gradually, while the sensory score decreased. The particle size of pea flour showed an impact on the quality of rice noodles. With the same dosage, the cooking loss of rice noodles with 200 mesh pea flour was reduced by 9.08%-20.73% compared with that with 80 mesh pea flour; the total sensory evaluation score was increased by 1.35%-10.43%. In summary, it is possible to obtain rice noodles with good quality that 30% pea flour addition and reducing the particle size of the pea flour shall be considered. The results of this study might be useful for the development of nutritional and healthy rice noodles.

Hunan province is located in a transitional zone of tea evolution, where tea germplasms resources are abundant. These germplasm have not only significantly different botanical characteristics, but also varied tea suitability, adaptability, cold tolerance, and etc. However, there were insufficient analyses on the component differences of tea resources in Hunan province. In order to further explore the differences in functional component of Hunan local tea germplasm, and provide the basis for mining and utilizing these tea resources. The metabolites of Chenbu Dongcha (CBDC), Jianghua Kucha (JHKC), Rucheng Baimaocha (RCBM), and Anhua population (AHQT) in Hunan province were detected using UPLC-MS/MS (with the cultivated landrace AHQT as the control group) and identified using mass spectrometry database. A total of 609 metabolites were detected in the 4 populations. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the metabolites among the 4 populations were significantly different. The metabolites of AHQT population had the highest similarity to that of CBDC population, and the lowest to that of RCBM populations. With AHQT population as the reference, a total of 302 differential metabolites were detected based on the OPLS-DA model, mainly including amino acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, and alkaloids. Among which fifty common differential metabolites were detected in the 3 populations; they were mainly flavonoids and phenolic acids. There were 52, 37, and 66 unique differential metabolites that were detected in CBDC, JHKC, and RCBM, respectively. Except for some reported differential metabolism, we also detected some less concerned differential metabolites in tea research. These differential metabolisms will provide an important reference for tea germplasm excavation and breeding.