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The Qaidam Basin of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is a cold, hyper-arid desert that presents extreme challenges to microbial communities. As little is known about variations between surface and subsurface microbial communities, high-throughput DNA sequencing was used in this study to profile bacterial communities of the soil samples collected at different depths in three regions in the Qaidam Basin. The α-diversity indices (Chao, Shannon, and Simpson) indicated that bacterial abundance and diversity were higher in the east and the high-elevation regions compared to the west region. In general, Firmicutes was dominant in the west region, while Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were dominant in the east and the high-elevation regions. The structure of the bacterial communities differed greatly across regions, being strongly correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) content. The differences in bacterial communities between the surface and the subsurface soil samples were smaller than the differences across the regions. Network analyses of environmental factors and bacterial genera indicated significant positive correlations in all regions. Overall, our study provides evidence that TOC and TN are the best predictors of both surface and subsurface bacterial communities across the Qaidam Basin. This study concludes that the bacterial community structure is influenced by both the spatial distance and the local environment, but environmental factors are the primary drivers of bacterial spatial patterns in the Qaidam Basin.

Actinobacteria are known for their metabolic potential of producing diverse secondary metabolites such as antibiotics. Actinobacteria also playimportant roles in biogeochemical cycling and how soils develop. However, little is known about the effect of the vegetation type on the actinobacterial community structures in soils from arid regions. For these reasons, we have analyzed the actinobacterial communities of five types of ecosystem (tree grove, shrub, meadow, desert, and farm) in the Heihe river basin. Using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, we found 11 classes of Actinobacteria, with dominant classes of Actinobacteria (36.2%), Thermoleophilia (28.3%), Acidimicrobiia (19.4%). Five classes, 15 orders, 20 families and 36 genera were present in all samples. The dominant generalist genera were Gaiella, Solirubrobacter, Nocardioides, Mycobacterium, and Pseudonocardia. The actinobacterial community structures were significantly affected by the environment and vegetation type. The diversity of the actinobacterial community in the desert ecosystem was high, and this ecosystem harbored the highest proportion of unclassified sequences, representing rare Actinobacteria. Functional metagenomic prediction, using PICRUSt, indicated that Actinobacteria play an important role in nitrogen cycling in both desert and cultivated farm ecosystems.

Waterlogging has increasingly become one of the major constraints to maize productivity in some maize production zones because it causes serious yield loss. Bulked segregant RNA-seq (BSR-seq) has been widely applied to profile candidate genes and map associated Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers in many species. In this study, 10 waterlogging sensitive and eight tolerant inbred lines were selected from 60 maize inbred lines with waterlogging response determined and preselected by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) from over 400 tropical maize inbred lines. BSR-seq was performed to identify differentially expressed genes and SNPs associated with waterlogging tolerance. Upon waterlogging stress, 354 and 1094 genes were differentially expressed in the tolerant and sensitive pools, respectively, compared to untreated controls. When tolerant and sensitive pools were compared, 593 genes were differentially expressed under untreated and 431 genes under waterlogged conditions, of which 122 genes overlapped. To validate the BSR-seq results, the expression levels of six genes were determined by qRT-PCR. The qRT-PCR results were consistent with BSR-seq results. Comparison of allelic polymorphism in mRNA sequences between tolerant and sensitive pools revealed 165 (normal condition) and 128 (waterlogged condition) high-probability SNPs. We found 18 overlapping SNPs with genomic positions mapped. Eighteen SNPs were contained in 18 genes, and eight and nine of 18 genes were responsive to waterlogging stress in tolerant and sensitive lines, respectively. Six alleles of the 18 originated from tolerant pool were significantly up-regulated under waterlogging, but not those from sensitive pool. Importantly, one allele (GRMZM2G055704) of the six genes was mapped between umc1619 and umc1948 on chromosome 1 where a QTL associated with waterlogging tolerance was identified in a previous research, strongly indicating that GRMZM2G055704 is a candidate gene responsive to waterlogging. Our research contributes to the knowledge of the molecular mechanism for waterlogging tolerance in maize.

Predicted climate changes, in particular, the increased dimension and frequency of heat waves, are expected to affect crop growth in the future seriously. Hybrid rice relies on seed production from male sterile and restorer lines. Experiments were conducted over two consecutive years to compare the high temperature tolerance of parents of different hybrid rice combinations, in terms of fertility rate, flowering pattern, pollination and physiological parameters of the lodicule. Three male sterile lines and a broad compatibility restorer line (as pollen donor and conventional variety as well) were grown to heading stage and then treated with average daily temperatures of 26°C (range 23-30°C), 28°C (25-32°C), and 30°C (26-34°C), respectively, continued for 5-7 days each in a natural light phytotron which simulated the local typical high temperature weather in the field. The results indicated that male sterile lines were more sensitive to high temperature than the restorer line for fertility rate, and the sensitivity varied between varieties. The fertility rate of the restorer line was maintained at about 90% under the high temperature treatments, while it decreased in the male sterile lines by 23.3 and 48.1% at 28 and 30°C, respectively. The fertility rate of the most sensitive line declined by 70%, and the tolerant line declined by 34% at 30°C. Glume closure in the male sterile lines was a major reason for the reduced fertility rate under high temperature, which is closely correlated with carbohydrates content and the vascular bundle pattern in the lodicule. The present study identified a useful trait to select male sterile lines with high temperature tolerance for seed production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]