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Edamame (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important economic crop worldwide and is a good source of protein and nutrients. Kaohsiung No. 9 (KH9), Kaohsiung No. 11 (KH11), and Xiang-Ji (XJ) are three major edamame cultivars planted in Taiwan. Edamame has high water requirements in all development stages. Insufficient irrigation causes aborted blossoms, small pods, and shriveled beans, thus greatly reducing the yield. We examined the three aforementioned cultivars in drought conditions during the blooming period. The results revealed that drought stress decreased the yield in all three cultivars, however, XJ and KH11 showed better drought resistant ability than KH9 did. The reduction of the qualification rate and the dry weight of qualified pods by drought stress in XJ, KH9 and KH11 was 23%, 33%, 21% and 32%, 62%, and 44%, respectively. The quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction results indicated that genes involved in the abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis, ABA-dependent, and ABA-independent pathways were upregulated by drought stress in KH11, which may explain why KH11 produced higher yields than KH9 after drought treatment. We determined that drought-related signaling transduction differed among these edamame cultivars, resulting in different drought tolerance.

Background Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world. There are many secondary metabolites can be found in tea such as anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, flavonols and catechins. These secondary metabolites in plants are proved to act protective components for human health effect. Plant hormone ethylene is considered to have an important role in regulation of plant development and signal transduction. This study evaluated the effect of ethylene signaling regulation in phenolic compounds in tea plants. The ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) enhanced contents of total catechin in treated oolong tea seedlings. Results The degree of epigallocatechin and epicatechin galloylation was increased after ACC treatment in oolong tea seedlings by high performance liquid chromatography determination. The contents of anthocyanins, flavonoids, and total polyphenol were higher after ACC treatment in comparison with control. Antioxidant enzyme such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and total peroxidase decreased their antioxidant activities after ACC treatment, yet the activity of ascorbate peroxidase is increased. The ability of oxygen radical absorption and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl was used to evaluate the antioxidant activity, which was enhanced by ACC treatment. Conclusions Taken together the results of this study demonstrate that the ethylene signaling is involved in modulation of secondary metabolites accumulation and antioxidant ability that to enhance the benefit of human health in tea products.

Background Understanding the responses of rice to environmental stresses such as unscheduled submergence is of pressing important owing to increasing severity of weather thought to arise from global climate change. When rice is completely submerged, different types adopt either a quiescence survival strategy (i.e., minimal shoot elongation) or an escape strategy (i.e., enhanced shoot elongation). Each strategy can prolong survival depending on the circumstances. While submergence responses have been studied in rice typical of lowland and flood-prone areas, few studies have explored the physiological and molecular properties of upland rice under submergence. Here, we use seedlings of the upland rice ‘Tung Lu 3’ (‘TL3’) to analyze physiological and molecular responses to submergence. We compare them with those of ‘FR13A’, a lowland rice that tolerates submergence by adopting the quiescence strategy. Results Plant height and distance between leaf sheaths, increased rapidly in ‘TL3’ under submergence. Although this indicated a strong escape strategy the seedlings remained totally underwater for the duration of the experiments. In contrast, ‘FR13A’ elongated much less. Consequently, after 4 days complete submergence followed by drainage, ‘TL3’ lodged much more severely than ‘FR13A’. After 10 d complete submergence, 55% of ‘TL3’ seedlings survived compared to 100% in ‘FR13A’. Chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll concentrations of the 2nd oldest leaves of ‘TL3’ were also significantly above those of ‘FR13A’ (but were lower than ‘FR13A’ in the 3rd oldest leaves) and less hydrogen peroxide accumulated in ‘TL3’. Peroxidase activity in submerged ‘TL3’ was also greater than in ‘FR13A’ 1 day after submergence. Quantitative RT–PCR showed increased expression of sucrose synthase 1 and alcohol dehydrogenases 1 after 2 days complete submergence with significantly higher levels in ‘TL3’ compared to ‘FR13A’. Expression was also higher in ‘TL3’ under non-submerged conditions. Conclusions The upland rice line ‘TL3’ gave a stronger elongation response than ‘FR13A’ to complete submergence. This escape strategy is widely considered to prejudice survival when the plant remains totally submerged. However, contrary to expectations, ‘TL3’ survival rates were substantial although below those for ‘FR13A’ while physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters linked to adaptation differed in detail but appeared to be broadly comparable. These findings highlight that submergence tolerance is determine not only by the adoption of quiescence or escape strategies but maybe by metabolic and physiological properties unrelated to the underwater elongation rate.

Plants suffer from oxygen deficiency (hypoxia) and energy starvation under flooding conditions. Higher plants have evolved complex adaptive mechanisms to flooding that are induced by changes in the cellular redox state and phytohormones. Previously, we showed that the transcript levels of respiratory burst oxidase homolog I (AtRBOH I) in Arabidopsis increase under hypoxic stress. In this study, we used two independent Atrboh I-knockout lines to assess the molecular function of AtRBOH I in hypoxic signaling pathways. Under submergence conditions, the Atrboh I-knockout lines had a reduced survival rate and lower chlorophyll contents than those of wild type. The patterns of AtRBOH I expression were analyzed by fusing its promoter to the GUS reporter. These expression analyses indicated that AtRBOH I expression was activated by hypoxia, but this induction was reduced by the auxin transport inhibitor 1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA). Quantitative RT-PCR analyses showed that the transcript levels of hypoxia-inducible genes (AtHRE1, AtADH1, AtLDH, and AtSUS1) were reduced in AtRBOH I-knockout lines under hypoxic conditions. The transcript levels of AtSUS1 were lower in AtRBOH I-knockout lines than in wild type in the hypoxia combined with NPA treatment. Hypoxic conditions increased the transcript levels of the auxin-responsive genes At1g19840, At3g23030, and At5g19140, and hypoxia combined with NPA resulted in increased transcript levels of the ethylene biosynthetic genes AtACS7 and AtACS8. Together, these results show that AtRBOH I regulates the expression of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis and down-stream of hypoxia signaling, and that there is some interplay between hypoxia signaling and auxin-mediated signaling pathways under hypoxic stress.

Via the integration of nanocomposites comprising I-III-VI semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) decorated onto a single SnO2 nanowire (NW), we successfully fabricate an ultrahigh-sensitivity and wide spectral-response photodetector. Under the illumination of He-Cd laser (325 nm) with the photon energy larger than the band gap of SnO2 nanowire, remarkably, an ultrahigh photocurrent gain up to 2.5 × 10(5) has been achieved, and an enhancement factor can reach up to 700% (cf. bare SnO2 NW) as light illumination onto the wire with an excitation intensity of 15 W/m(2). Also, a high gain value up to 1.3 × 10(5) is attained with the excited photon energy (488 nm) smaller than the band gap of SnO2 nanowire. Several key factors contribute to ultrahigh photocurrent gain and wide spectral response. First, the decorated quantum dot processes an inherent nature of a large absorption coefficient above its band gap. Furthermore, the single SnO2 nanowire provides an excellent conduction path for the photogenerated carriers as well as bears a large surface-to-volume ratio so that the coupling strength with quantum dots can be greatly enhanced. Most importantly, the spatial separation of photogenerated electrons and holes can be easily achieved due to the charge transfer arising from a type II band alignment between QDs and SnO2 NW. This work thus demonstrates a new approach in which by selectively decorating suitable QDs the photocurrent gain of SnO2 NWs can be greatly enhanced and extended to a wide spectral range of photoresponse previously inaccessible, providing a very useful guideline to create cheap, nontoxic, and highly efficient photodetectors.

A multicolor infrared photodetector was realized with two superlattices separated by a blocking barrier. The photoresponse is switchable between 7.5–12 and 6–8.5 μm by the bias polarity, and is also tunable by the bias magnitude in each wavelength regime. In addition, our detector exhibits advantages including little temperature dependence of the spectral response and the same order of responsivity in the two wavelength regimes. The measured peak responsivities in the two regimes are 117 mA/W at 9.8 μm under 1 V and 129 mA/V at 7.4 μm under −0.8 V, respectively. Also, the detectivities are comparable with the conventional multistack detector. The zero background peak detectivities are 2.3×1010 cm Hz0.5/W at 50 K and 9.8 μm under 0.7 V, and 8.7×1010 cm Hz0.5/W at 70 K and 7.4 μm under −0.7 V.

The resonant coupling between cadmium-free I-III-VI2 group quantum dots (QDs) and metal nanostructures has been investigated. Via a SiO2-packaging synthetic procedure, the emission intensity of green ZCIS/ZnS QDs can be greatly enhanced by three times through the localized surface plasmon of Au nanoparticles. Moreover, the bandwidth of the emission spectrum can be narrowed by 17 nm, and the resultant quantum yield is more than 50% which sets up the highest reported value up today for green I-III-VI2 QDs. Our strategy for the improved characteristics of emission spectrum may open a facile alternative for the development of cadmium-free QD light emitting diodes and other optoelectronic devices.

We report controllable coupling between exciton and localized surface plasmon in a liquid crystal device consisting of gold nanoparticles and CdSe quantum dots. Through an external electric voltage, the emission wavelength of quantum dots can be manipulated. The underlying mechanism is based on the fact that by changing the dielectric index of liquid crystal with an external bias, the surface plasmon frequency of metal nanoparticles can be adjusted. It is therefore possible to control the energy difference between exciton and surface plasmon resonance, and hence to change their coupling strength. Our strategy may open up a possible route for the development of smart optoelectronic devices with tunable emission color.

Double side light emission devices based on p-NiO/n-ZnO nanowire heterojunctions have been fabricated on indium tin oxide substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering combined with hydrothermal process. According to the energy band alignment, the detected broad visible and narrow ultraviolet electroluminescence arise from defect and band edge transitions in ZnO nanowires, respectively. The unique property of the double side emission is due to the nature of the large band gap of NiO film. It provides a good opportunity for the emission of a light emitting device with different colors on the top and back sides, simultaneously.

Two families of tandem repeats, 180-bp and TR-1, have been found in the knobs of maize. In this study, we isolated 59 clones belonging to the TR-1 family from maize and teosinte. Southern hybridization and sequence analysis revealed that members of this family are composed of three basic sequences, A (67 bp); B (184 bp) or its variants B′ (184 bp), 2/3B (115 bp), 2/3B′ (115 bp); and C (108 bp), which are arranged in various combinations to produce repeat units that are multiples of ∼180 bp. The molecular structure of TR-1 elements suggests that: (1) the B component may evolve from the 180-bp knob repeat as a result of mutations during evolution; (2) B′ may originate from B through lateral amplification accompanied by base-pair changes; (3) C plus A may be a single sequence that is added to B and B′, probably via nonhomologous recombination; and (4) 69 bp at the 3′ end of B or B′, and the entire sequence of C can be removed from the elements by an unknown mechanism. Sequence comparisons showed partial homologies between TR-1 elements and two centromeric sequences (B repeats) of the supernumerary B chromosome. This result, together with the finding of other investigators that the B repeat is also fragmentarily homologous to the 180-bp repeat, suggests that the B repeat is derived from knob repeats in A chromosomes, which subsequently become structurally modified. Fluorescence in situ hybridization localized the B repeat to the B centromere and the 180-bp and TR-1 repeats to the proximal heterochromatin knob on the B chromosome.