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This paper presents two novel spectral soil area indices to identify bare soil area and distinguish it more accurately from the urban impervious surface area (ISA). This study designs these indices based on medium spatial resolution remote sensing data from Landsat 8 OLI dataset. Extracting bare soil or urban ISA is more challenging than extracting water bodies or vegetation in multispectral Remote Sensing (RS). Bare soil and the urban ISA area often were mixed because of their spectral similarity in multispectral sensors. This study proposes Normalized Soil Area Index 1 (NSAI1) and Normalized Soil Area Index 2 (NSAI2) using typical multispectral bands. Experiments show that these two indices have an overall accuracy of around 90%. The spectral similarity index (SDI) shows these two indices have higher separability between soil area and ISA than previous indices. The result shows that percentile thresholds can effectively classify bare soil areas from the background. The combined use of both indices measured the soil area of the study area over 71 km2. Most importantly, proposed soil indices can refine urban ISA measurement accuracy in spatiotemporal studies.

Phytochrome B is known as a receptor for both light and temperature signals. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Chen et al. (2022) show how these two environmental signals are perceived distinctly by a single photoreceptor through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS).

Light signals perceived by a group of photoreceptors have profound effects on the physiology, growth, and development of plants. The red/far-red light absorbing phytochromes modulate these aspects by intricately regulating gene expression at multiple levels. Previously, we reported that two splicing factors SFPS (SPLICING FACTOR FOR PHYTOCHROME SIGNALING) and RRC1 (REDUCED RED LIGHT RESPONSES IN CRY1CRY2 BACKGROUND 1), interact with photoactivated phyB to regulate light-mediated pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS). Here, we report the identification and functional characterization of an RNA binding splicing factor, SWAP1 (SUPPRESSOR-OF-WHITE-APRICOT/SURP RNA-BINDING DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN1). Loss-of-function swap1-1 mutant is hyposensitive to red light and exhibits a day light-independent early flowering phenotype. SWAP1 physically interacts with both SFPS and RRC1 in a light-independent manner and forms a ternary complex. In addition, SWAP1 also physically interacts with photoactivated phyB and colocalizes with nuclear phyB photobodies. Deep RNA-seq analyses show that SWAP1 regulates the gene expression and pre-mRNA alternative splicing of a large number of genes including those involved in plant responses to light signaling. A comparison with SFPS- and RRC1-regulated events shows that all three splicing factors coordinately regulate the alternative splicing of a subset of genes. Collectively, our study uncovered the function of a new splicing factor, which interacts with photoactivated phyB, in modulating light-regulated development in plants.SIGNIFICANCERegulation of transcription and pre-mRNA alternative splicing is essential for the transcript diversity and modulation of light signaling in plants. Although several transcription factors involved in light signaling have been discovered and characterized in-depth, only a few splicing factors have been shown to be involved in the regulation of light signaling pathways. In this study, we describe the identification and characterization of a new splicing factor SWAP1, which interact with two previously characterized splicing factors, SFPS and RRC1, forming a ternary complex. We show that, like SFPS and RRC1, SWAP1 also interacts with photoactivated phyB, and consistently, swap1 seedlings are hyposensitive to red light. SWAP1 modulates alternative splicing of a large number of genes and a subset of these genes are coordinately regulated by SFPS, RRC1 and SWAP1. These results highlight the importance of not only the transcription factors but also the phyB-interacting splicing factors in light-regulated plant development.

To compensate for a sessile nature, plants have developed sophisticated mechanisms to sense varying environmental conditions. Phytochromes (phys) are light and temperature sensors that regulate downstream genes to render plants responsive to environmental stimuli1–4. Here, we show that phyB directly triggers the formation of a repressive chromatin loop by physically interacting with VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE 3-LIKE1/VERNALIZATION 5 (VIL1/VRN5), a component of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)5,6, in a light-dependent manner. VIL1 and phyB cooperatively contribute to the repression of growth-promoting genes through the enrichment of Histone H3 Lys27 trimethylation (H3K27me3), a repressive histone modification. In addition, phyB and VIL1 mediate the formation of a chromatin loop to facilitate the repression of ATHB2. Our findings show that phyB directly utilizes chromatin remodelling to regulate the expression of target genes in a light-dependent manner. Phytochrome B was found to directly trigger light-dependent chromatin remodelling by physically interacting with a component of PRC2, thereby regulating the expression of target genes, including growth-promoting genes.

Urban spectral indices have made promising improvements in the last two decades in urban land use land cover studies through mapping, estimation, change detection, time-series analyzing, urban dynamics, monitoring, modeling, and so on. Remote sensing spectral indices are unsupervised, unbiased, rapid, scalable, and quantitative in information extraction. Hence, we aimed to summarize the most relevant urban spectral indices by focusing on multispectral, thermal, and nighttime lights indices. We use the search terms "urban index", "built-up index", "normalized difference built-up area (NDBI )", "impervious surface index", and "spectral urban index" to collect relevant literature from the "Web of Science Core Collection" database. We found that all urban spectral indices developed since 2003, except NDBI. This review will help understand the applications of urban spectral indices, the selection of indices based on available spectral bands, and their merits and demerits.

Impervious surface area (ISA) is a crucial indicator for quantitative urban studies. It is also important for land use land cover classification, groundwater recharge, sustainable development, urban heat island effects, and more. Spectral ISA mapping suffers from mixed pixel problems, especially with bare soil. This study aims to develop an ISA index for spatiotemporal urban mapping from common multispectral bands by reducing soil signature better than in previous studies. This study proposed a global impervious surface area index (GISAI) enhancing ISA mapping accuracy using a temporal parameter of the remote sensing (RS) dataset. Bare soil spectral reflectance shows more fluctuation than urban ISA. Therefore, the study uses minimum composites of earlier urban indices to compile minimum soil signature. It is later improved by removing water, increasing the contrast between bare soil and urban ISA and reducing bright bare soil area. This study maps the ISA of all 12 megacities using the annual RS image collection from 2021. GISAI reduced the bare soil signature and achieved an overall accuracy of 87.29%, F1-score of 0.84, and Kappa coefficient of 0.75. However, it has some limitations with grey bare soil and barren hilly areas. By limiting bare soil signature, GISAI broadens the scope of inter-urban studies globally and lengthens potential urban time-series analysis using common multispectral bands.

Elongated hypocotyl5 (HY5) is a key transcription factor that promotes photomorphogenesis. Constitutive photomorphogenic1 (COP1)–Suppressor of phytochrome A-105 (SPA) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex promotes ubiquitination and degradation of HY5 to repress photomorphogenesis in darkness. HY5 is also regulated by phosphorylation at serine 36 residue. However, the kinase responsible for phosphorylation of HY5 remains unknown. Here, using extensive in vitro and in vivo biochemical, genetic, and photobiological techniques, we have identified a new kinase that phosphorylates HY5 and demonstrated the significance of phosphorylation of HY5 in Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that SPA proteins are the missing kinases necessary for HY5 phosphorylation. SPAs can directly phosphorylate HY5 in vitro, and the phosphorylated HY5 is absent in the spaQ background in vivo. We also demonstrate that the unphosphorylated HY5 interacts strongly with both COP1 and SPA1 and is the preferred substrate for degradation, whereas the phosphorylated HY5 is more stable in the dark. In addition, the unphosphorylated HY5 actively binds to the target promoters and is the physiologically more active form. Consistently, the transgenic plants expressing the unphosphorylated form of HY5 display enhanced photomorphogenesis. Collectively, our study revealed the missing kinase responsible for direct phosphorylation of HY5 that fine-tunes its stability and activity to regulate photomorphogenesis.

Global flood hazard is gradually increasing. Though it is impossible to avoid them, losses and damage of hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones, and earthquakes) could be efficiently reduced by reducing household vulnerability with appropriate measures. This study aims to quantitatively measure the household vulnerability of flood hazards as a mitigation tool. It also proposed a unique approach to quantify flood-hazard household vulnerability, and shows its application in the flood prone city of Dhaka as an example case. Data were collected from both slum and non-slum areas to cover the entire urban habitat, and to compare their level of flood vulnerability. A total of 300 households were surveyed by structured questionnaire on the basis of five factors (economic, social, environmental, structural, and institutional) of flood vulnerability. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to measure individual household vulnerability scores by using the relative weightage of variables and indicators with proper standardisation. Analytical results demonstrated that 63.06% slum and 20.02% non-slum households were highly vulnerable to floods. In addition, this paper determined and assessed responsible factors for household flood vulnerability in Dhaka. For structural vulnerability, results exhibited that 82% of slum households were highly vulnerable, and 95.3% of non-slum households were moderately vulnerable. Socially, 67.3% of slum and 78.7% of non-slum households were moderately and low-vulnerable. The majority of slum and non-slum households (84% and 59.3%, respectively) showed high and moderate vulnerability with respect to economic vulnerability. Moreover, 69.3% of slum and 65.3% of nonslum household institutional vulnerability levels were high. Of slum inhabitants, 63.3% were environmentally at high risk, and 78% of non-slum habitats were in the low-vulnerability category. However, as an effective tool to measure location-specific vulnerability, it is applicable for the measuring vulnerability of other cities in the world with proper customisation. On the basis of this study, future research could be conducted with more factors, variables, and indicators of human vulnerability to natural or artificial hazards/disasters. Future work may provide a better reflection of the vulnerability status of single/multiple hazard(s)/disaster(s).

Risk and uncertainty are distinctive features of agricultural cultivation, which significantly affect the production and income. Risk management is an important way for farmers to reduce uncertainty. But little literature is available on simultaneous adoption of different risk management strategies and the possible correlations and impact. This study surveyed 350 maize farmers in four different agro-ecological districts in Bangladesh through stratified random sampling and explored the impacts of social and farm features, farmers’ perceptions about catastrophic risk and their attitude towards risk sources, and the possible correlations among contract farming, diversification and agricultural credit as for risk management strategies by employing multivariate probit model. The results confirmed the correlation among the adoptions of different risk management strategies and revealed that a single risk management strategy could encourage farmers to adopt another one or two risk management strategies simultaneously. Furthermore, the findings explored that age, educational status, extension contact, monthly family income, farm size, farmland ownership, and farmers’ risk-averse nature were the most influencing factors for risk management strategies adopted. Also, the findings from the multivariate probit model provided further interpretations and information which will help in a better understanding of farmer’s behavior about managing different catastrophic risks and will give a platform for policymakers to anticipate suitable risk management strategies for farmers.

The qualitative analysis of human landscape vulnerability is widely recognized, but quantitative analysis needs a lot of manpower, material resources as well as time to carry out the social observation. Based on remote sensing and spatial data, quantitative analysis of human landscape vulnerability will change this situation. This paper put forward a vulnerability evaluation model for change detection with remote sensing time series images and spatial tourism data. It is not only a quickly analysis tool which spans from the earth observation to the social observation for quantitative evaluation, but also an assistant tool for decision-making from change detection analysis to trend analysis.The vulnerability evaluation model of Jiuzhaigou Tibetan human landscape highlights the vulnerability of the whole region has increased significantly. The good structure ratios of bio-abundance are the basis of the human landscape protection, but the activities of ice and snow areas may be a natural factor for the migration of native along the tour roads in the valley from hillsides. The impact of tourism activities is far less than the natural environment. But tourism activities have inevitably affected the human landscape protection, and its negative index benefit is almost three times as much as the positive index benefit of protection measures. Especially, with the change of production and lifestyle of native brought by tourism activities, the human landscape is gradually disappearing. Further development of tourism activities will also extend the impact to the Balance Zone. It is urgent to reconstruct the current management model of human landscape.

Flash floods are unexpected, localized flood events that occur when an exceptional amount of rain falls happens over a short period of time. In South Asia, it is mostly disastrous, for example, in 2017 flash floods killed approximately 1200 people from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. However, it is also common in Dhaka megacity, Bangladesh due to its geographic location, monsoon climatic condition and surrounding rivers. Though it is impossible to avoid them, the losses and damages of hazards can be reduced effectively by using appropriate techniques. This study aims to determine the responsible factors and measure the household vulnerability to flash flood as a tool of mitigation. The study has been conducted based on primary data. Therefore, data were collected from both slum and non-slum population to cover the entire urban habitats. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire based on five factors (social, economic, institutional, structural, and environmental) of vulnerability to flash flood. The key feature of this paper is to provide an insight into real picture of vulnerability to flash flood for urban habitants. Moreover, this practical approach is useful to quantify hazard-induced vulnerabilities not only for Dhaka megacity but also for other cities of the globe.

BackgroundAccurate and comprehensive annotation of transcript sequences is essential for transcript quantification and differential gene and transcript expression analysis. Single molecule long read sequencing technologies provide improved integrity of transcript structures including alternative splicing, and transcription start and polyadenylation sites. However, accuracy is significantly affected by sequencing errors, mRNA degradation or incomplete cDNA synthesis.ResultsWe present a new and comprehensive Arabidopsis thaliana Reference Transcript Dataset 3 (AtRTD3). AtRTD3 contains over 160k transcripts - twice that of the best current Arabidopsis transcriptome and including over 1,500 novel genes. 79% of transcripts are from Iso-seq with accurately defined splice junctions and transcription start and end sites. We developed novel methods to determine splice junctions and transcription start and end sites accurately. Mis- match profiles around splice junctions provided a powerful feature to distinguish correct splice junctions and remove false splice junctions. Stratified approaches identified high confidence transcription start/end sites and removed fragmentary transcripts due to degradation. AtRTD3 is a major improvement over existing transcriptomes as demonstrated by analysis of an Arabidopsis cold response RNA-seq time-series. AtRTD3 provided higher resolution of transcript expression profiling and identified cold- and light-induced differential transcription start and polyadenylation site usage.ConclusionsAtRTD3 is the most comprehensive Arabidopsis transcriptome currently available. It improves the precision of differential gene and transcript expression, differential alternative splicing, and transcription start/end site usage from RNA-seq data. The novel methods for identifying accurate splice junctions and transcription start/end sites are widely applicable and will improve single molecule sequencing analysis from any species.

Light is a crucial environmental cue not only for photosynthetic energy production but also for plant growth and development. Plants employ sophisticated methods to detect and interpret information from incoming light. Five classes of photoreceptors have been discovered in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These photoreceptors act either distinctly and/or redundantly in fine-tuning many aspects of plant life cycle. Unlike mobile animals, sessile plants have developed an enormous plasticity to adapt and survive in changing environment. By monitoring different information arising from ambient light, plants precisely regulate downstream signaling pathways to adapt accordingly. Given that changes in the light environment is typically synchronized with other environmental cues such as temperature, abiotic stresses, and seasonal changes, it is not surprising that light signaling pathways are interconnected with multiple pathways to regulate plant physiology and development. Indeed, recent advances in plant photobiology revealed a large network of co-regulation among different photoreceptor signaling pathways as well as other internal signaling pathways (e.g., hormone signaling). In addition, some photoreceptors are directly involved in perception of non-light stimuli (e.g., temperature). Therefore, understanding highly inter-connected signaling networks is essential to explore the photoreceptor functions in plants. Here, we summarize how plants co-ordinate multiple photoreceptors and their internal signaling pathways to regulate a myriad of downstream responses at molecular and physiological levels.

Light signals perceived by the phytochrome (phy) family of photoreceptors control gene expression at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels to promote photomorphogenesis. Recently, we identified a factor called SPLICING FACTOR FOR PHYTOCHROME SIGNALING (SFPS) that directly interacts with the photoreceptor phyB and regulates pre-mRNA splicing in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). To identify SFPS-interacting proteins, we performed an immunoprecipitation followed by a mass spectrometry and identified the Ser/Arg-like protein REDUCED RED-LIGHT RESPONSES IN CRY1CRY2 BACKGROUND1 (RRC1). Genetic analyses revealed that the sfps-2 rrc1-3 phenotypes are similar to those of the single mutants, suggesting that RRC1 and SFPS might function together. RNA sequence analyses of rrc1-3 identified a large number of genes whose pre-mRNA splicing is altered under dark and light conditions. Comparison of the sequence data revealed a subset of common genes coregulated by SFPS and RRC1 under dark and light conditions. Similar to SFPS, RRC1 also interacts with phyB, colocalizes in nuclear photobodies, and regulates light-dependent pre-mRNA splicing of a subset of genes. Taken together, these data suggest that although SFPS and RRC1 can regulate distinct subsets of genes, they also form a complex and coordinately control pre-mRNA splicing of a subset of genes involved in light signaling and circadian clock pathways to promote photomorphogenesis.

The efficacy of various doses of Purpureocillium lilacinum PLSAU-1 (P. lilacinum PLSAU-1) was evaluated against brinjal root-knot pathogen, Meloidogyne incognita (M. incognita) at different inoculum levels. Experimental pot soil was treated by four doses (0, 1 × 105, 5 × 105, and 1 × 106 CFU/g soil) of P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 before transplanting, and 5 inoculum levels of M. incognita (0, 100, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 eggs per 100 cm3 soil) were used after 3 days of brinjal transplantation. A significant correlation was observed between doses of P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 and inoculum densities of M. incognita. Among the doses, the rate of P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 of 1 × 106 CFU/g soil enhanced highly plant growth parameters. Inoculation of M. incognita reduced plant growth significantly, and the reduction increased with the increase of inoculum density of M. incognita. The application of P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 at 1 × 106 CFU/g soil reduced a maximum of 72% gall index and 84% egg masses when the crop was challenged by 800 and 400 eggs/100 cm3 soil, respectively. The dose of 1 × 106 CFU/g soil of P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 showed effectiveness to reduce reproduction factor of M. incognita up to 81% when the crop was inoculated by 800 eggs of the pest/100 cm3 soil. The study demonstrated that P. lilacinum PLSAU-1 is an effective bio-agent for controlling of root-knot nematode on brinjal and can be a key component of environment-friendly management approach.

Flash floods are the most dangerous kinds of floods because they combine the destructive power of a flood with incredible speed. They occur when heavy rainfall exceeds the ability of the ground to absorb it. The main aim of this study is to generate flash flood maps using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Frequency Ratio (FR) models in the river’s floodplain between the Jhelum River and Chenab rivers. A total of eight flash flood-causative physical parameters are considered for this study. Six parameters are based on remote sensing images of the Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and Sentinel-2 Satellite, which include slope, elevation, distance from the stream, drainage density, flow accumulation, and land use/land cover (LULC), respectively. The other two parameters are soil and geology, which consist of different rock and soil formations, respectively. In the case of AHP, each of the criteria is allotted an estimated weight according to its significant importance in the occurrence of flash floods. In the end, all the parameters were integrated using weighted overlay analysis in which the influence value of drainage density was given the highest weight. The analysis shows that a distance of 2500 m from the river has values of FR ranging from 0.54, 0.56, 1.21, 1.26, and 0.48, respectively. The output zones were categorized into very low, low, moderate, high, and very high risk, covering 7354, 5147, 3665, 2592, and 1343 km2, respectively. Finally, the results show that the very high flood areas cover 1343 km2, or 6.68% of the total area. The Mangla, Marala, and Trimmu valleys were identified as high-risk zones of the study area, which have been damaged drastically many times by flash floods. It provides policy guidelines for risk managers, emergency and disaster response services, urban and infrastructure planners, hydrologists, and climate scientists.

Plants respond to high ambient temperature by implementing a suite of morphological changes collectively termed thermomorphogenesis. Here we show that the above and below ground tissue-response to high ambient temperature are mediated by distinct transcription factors. While the central hub transcription factor, PHYTOCHROME INTERCTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) regulates the above ground tissue response, the below ground root elongation is primarily regulated by ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5). Plants respond to high temperature by largely expressing distinct sets of genes in a tissue-specific manner. HY5 promotes root thermomorphogenesis via directly controlling the expression of many genes including the auxin and BR pathway genes. Strikingly, the above and below ground thermomorphogenesis is impaired in spaQ. Because SPA1 directly phosphorylates PIF4 and HY5, SPAs might control the stability of PIF4 and HY5 to regulate thermomorphogenesis in both tissues. These data collectively suggest that plants employ distinct combination of SPA-PIF4-HY5 module to regulate tissue-specific thermomorphogenesis., Plants undergo morphological changes collectively termed thermomorphogenesis when exposed to elevated temperature. Here the authors show that the SPA1 kinase regulates distinct thermomorphogenic responses according to tissue type by interactions with PIF4 and HY5 in shoots and roots, respectively.

Smart city governance (SCG) is a new paradigm of urban policy, planning, and management that able to solve emerging challenges of urban areas along with ensuring urban sustainability. Data-driven technology provides an opportunity to transform the conventional practices into smart practices at all levels of urban actors. This study assesses the suitability of big data approaches for ensuring SCG. A systematic desk review has been conducted under the framework of PRISMA. This study reveals a difference among the opinions of scholars on SCG, such as, a group of scholars emphasizes on smart characteristics of technology, people, and their integration, while other group focuses on the digital transformation of urban management practices of key actors like public, private and community. This study argues that SCG is a combined function of public, private, and community that adapted advanced technology like big data in their practices for transformation from conventional one for ensuring urban sustainability. This study offers a number of indicators for the concerned authorities to understand the SCG and take priority-based decisions from systemic data and information.

The perception of light signals by the phytochrome family of photoreceptors has a crucial influence on almost all aspects of growth and development throughout a plant's life cycle. The holistic regulatory networks orchestrated by phytochromes, including conformational switching, subcellular localization, direct protein-protein interactions, transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulations, and translational and posttranslational controls to promote photomorphogenesis, are highly coordinated and regulated at multiple levels. During the past decade, advances using innovative approaches have substantially broadened our understanding of the sophisticated mechanisms underlying the phytochrome-mediated light signaling pathways. This review discusses and summarizes these discoveries of the role of the modular structure of phytochromes, phytochrome-interacting proteins, and their functions; the reciprocal modulation of both positive and negative regulators in phytochrome signaling; the regulatory roles of phytochromes in transcriptional activities, alternative splicing, and translational regulation; and the kinases and E3 ligases that modulate PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs to optimize photomorphogenesis.

Social protection mechanisms are considered as the key tools to improve the livelihood of a community. This study explores the governance challenges and gaps of social protection mechanisms related to livelihood of riverine island (char) communities. Structural weakness and governance response were measured by analyzing policy options, implementation and inclusiveness consisting of accountability, transparency and peoples’ participation in the governing process. Survey data were collected from 374 char dwellers and 15 institutional members. Secondary data were collected from various organizations’ published documents, journal articles, books, and newspapers. The study reveals that system of government response mechanisms are very poor in the char area due to geographic isolation, poor communication and transportation networks, recurrent flooding, riverbank erosion, earthquakes, and cyclones. It also reveals that service providers are reluctant to work in the isolated islands due to poor accommodation. Char dwellers are thus deprived of basic services such as education, health, water, sanitation, skill development trainings, and employment. This study indicates the need for char specific policies, programs, and institutional interventions to improve the livelihood resilience of char dwellers.

The notion of resilience is commonly used in the field of disaster management (DM) and disaster risk reduction. Disaster adaptation, coping and mitigation are key elements of disaster resilience that enhances the ability of a social system to mitigate the effects of adverse events. This chapter, however, addresses resilience as the leading concept in DM science. It also offers an overview of emerging uses and possibilities for DM and obstacles to the idea of resilience. The research performed a synthesis assessment with orderly review of 38 academic publications of disaster resilience since 2010–2020. It integrates previous research works and focuses on the recent state of benefits of resilience in DM. To explain the opportunities and challenges of resilience for DM, the key findings drawn from each article on resilience, disaster management, disaster resilience challenges, resilience opportunities, disaster resilience, resilience assessment frameworks, resilience assessment frameworks, and resilience resistance have been extracted. This study reveals that a particular theoretical and methodological confusion still exists centering resilience.

SUMMARYELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 (HY5) is a key transcription factor which promotes photomorphogenesis by regulating complex downstream growth programs. Previous studies suggest that the regulation of HY5 mainly depends on the CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1) - SUPPRESSOR OF PHYTOCHROME A-105 (SPA) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, which degrades positively acting transcription factors of light signaling to repress photomorphogenesis in the dark. SPA proteins function not only as a component of the E3 ubiquitin ligase complex but also as a kinase of PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR1 (PIF1) through its N-terminal kinase domain. Here, we show that HY5 is a new substrate of SPA1 kinase. SPA1 can directly phosphorylate HY5 in vitro and in vivo. We also demonstrate that unphosphorylated HY5 strongly interacts with both COP1 and SPA1 than phosphorylated HY5, is the preferred substrate for degradation, whereas phosphorylated HY5 is more stable in the dark. In addition, unphosphorylated HY5 actively binds to the target promoters, and is physiologically more active form. Consistently, the transgenic plants expressing unphosphorylated mutant of HY5 displays enhanced photomorphogenesis. Collectively, our study revealed that SPA1 fine-tunes the stability and the activity of HY5 to regulate photomorphogenesis.

With the rapid urban development in China, urbanization has brought more and more pressure on the ecological environment. As one of the most dynamic, open, and innovative regions in China, the eco-environmental issues in the Yangtze River Delta have attracted much attention. This paper takes the central region of the Yangtze River Delta as the research object, through building the index system of urbanization and ecological environment based on statistical data and two new indicators (fraction of vegetation coverage and surface urban heat island intensity) extracted from remote sensing images, uses the Entropy-TOPSIS method to complete the comprehensive assessment, and then analyzes the coupling coordination degree between the urbanization and ecological environment and main obstacle factors. The results showed that the coupling coordination degree in the study region generally shows an upward trend from 0.604 in 2008 to 0.753 in 2017, generally changing from an imbalanced state towards a basically balanced state. However, regional imbalance of urbanization and ecological environment always exists, which is mainly affected by social urbanization, economic urbanization, landscape urbanization, pollution loading and resource consumption. Finally, on the basis of the obstacle factor analysis, some specific suggestions for promoting the coordinated development of the Yangtze River Delta are put forward.

HKUST-1 is a copper-based metal–organic framework (MOF) and potential photocatalyst, but minimal research has addressed the performance and mechanism of HKUST-1 in the visible light photocatalytic degradation of dyes. In the present work, HKUST-1 was applied as a photocatalyst to activate peroxomonosulfate (PMS) under visible light (Vis) for dye removal in aqueous solution. The results showed that the removal efficiency of two cationic dyes [rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB)] was greater than 95% within 120 min. Free radicals such as SO4−˙, ·OH were present in the degradation process, with SO4−˙ playing a dominant role. Zeta potential, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy data were used to investigate the degradation mechanism. In the degradation process, surface charge attraction between HKUST-1 and cationic dyes promotes removal efficiency, with the degradation efficiency of cationic dyes (MB and RhB) more than 50% higher than for anionic dyes [acid orange 7 (AO7) and methyl red (MR)]. On the other hand, HKUST-1 has been proved to activate PMS by conducting photoelectrons, which accelerated the degradation of dyes. Compared with the reaction conditions of PMS/Vis, when the HKUST-1 was present (HKUST-1/PMS/Vis), the degradation rates of MB and RhB increased by 62.7 and 63.2%, respectively.

Light responses mediated by the photoreceptors play crucial roles in regulating different aspects of plant growth and development. An E3 ubiquitin ligase complex CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1)1/SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA (SPA), one of the central repressors of photomorphogenesis, is critical for maintaining skotomorphogenesis. It targets several positive regulators of photomorphogenesis for degradation in darkness. Recently, we revealed that basic helix-loop-helix factors, HECATEs (HECs), function as positive regulators of photomorphogenesis by directly interacting and antagonizing the activity of another group of repressors called PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs). It was also shown that HECs are partially degraded in the dark through the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway. However, the underlying mechanism of HEC degradation in the dark is still unclear. Here, we show that HECs also interact with both COP1 and SPA proteins in darkness, and that HEC2 is directly targeted by COP1 for degradation via the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway. Moreover, COP1-mediated polyubiquitylation and degradation of HEC2 are enhanced by PIF1. Therefore, the ubiquitylation and subsequent degradation of HECs are significantly reduced in both cop1 and pif mutants. Consistent with this, the hec mutants partially suppress photomorphogenic phenotypes of both cop1 and pifQ mutants. Collectively, our work reveals that the COP1/SPA-mediated ubiquitylation and degradation of HECs contributes to the coordination of skoto/photomorphogenic development in plants.

Photomorphogenesis is repressed in the dark mainly by an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex comprising CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) and four homologous proteins called SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105 (SPA1-SPA4) in Arabidopsis. This complex induces the ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of positively acting transcription factors (e.g., HY5, HFR1, PAP1 and others) in the dark to repress photomorphogenesis. Genomic evidence showed a large number of genes regulated by COP1 in the dark, of which many are direct targets of HY5. However, the genomic basis for the constitute photomorphogenic phenotype of spaQ remains unknown. Here, we show that >7200 genes are differentially expressed in the spaQ background compared to wild-type in the dark. Comparison of the RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) data between cop1 and spaQ revealed a large overlapping set of genes regulated by the COP1-SPA complex. In addition, many of the genes coordinately regulated by the COP1-SPA complex are also regulated by HY5 directly and indirectly. Taken together, our data reveal that SPA proteins repress photomorphogenesis by controlling gene expression in concert with COP1, likely through regulating the abundance of downstream transcription factors in light signaling pathways. Moreover, SPA proteins may function both in a COP1-dependent and –independent manner in regulating many biological processes and developmental pathways in Arabidopsis.Summary statementComparison of transcriptome analyses between cop1 and spaQ mutants reveal overlapping pathways regulated by COP1 and SPAs.

SUMMARYHigh ambient temperature due to global warming has a profound influence on plant growth and development at all stages of life cycle. Plant response to high ambient temperature termed thermomorphogenesis is characterized by hypocotyl and petiole elongation, and hyponastic growth at seedling stage. However, the molecular mechanism of thermomorphogenesis is still rudimentary. Here, we show that a set of fourSUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105(SPA) genes are required for thermomorphogenesis. Consistently, SPAs are necessary for global gene expression changes in response to high ambient temperature. SPA1 level is unaffected, while the thermosensor phyB is stabilized in thespaQmutant at high ambient temperature. Furthermore, in the absence of fourSPAgenes, the pivotal transcription factor PIF4 fails to accumulate, indicating a role of SPAs in regulating the phyB-PIF4 module at high ambient temperature. SPA1 directly phosphorylates PIF4in vitro, and a mutant SPA1 affecting the kinase activity fails to rescue the PIF4 level as well as the thermo-insensitive phenotype ofspaQ, suggesting that the SPA1 kinase activity is necessary for thermomorphogenesis. Taken together, these data suggest that SPAs integrate light and temperature signaling via fine tuning the phyB-PIF4 module.

Globalna opasnost od poplave postupno se povećava. Iako ih je nemoguće izbjeći, gubici i šteta od opasnosti (npr. poplave, cikloni i potresi) mogu se učinkovito smanjiti smanjenjem ranjivosti kućanstava odgovarajućim mjerama. Cilj ove studije je kvantitativno mjerenje ranjivosti kućanstava obzirom na opasnosti od poplave kao alata za njihovo ublažavanje. Također je predložen jedinstveni pristup za kvantificiranje ugroženosti kućanstava obzirom na opasnosti od poplave, a kao primjer predstavljena je primjena u gradu Dhaki sklonom poplavama. Podaci su prikupljeni i sa siromašnih i bogatih područja kako bi bilo pokriveno cijelo urbano područje te kako bi se usporedila razina ugroženosti od poplava. Ukupno 300 kućanstava anketirano je strukturiranim upitnikom na temelju pet čimbenika (ekonomskih, socijalnih, okolišnih, strukturnih i institucionalnih) ugroženosti od poplava. Analitički hijerarhijski postupak (AHP) primijenjen je za mjerenje pojedinačnih rezultata ranjivosti kućanstva korištenjem relativne težine varijabli i pokazatelja uz pravilnu standardizaciju. Analitički rezultati pokazali su da je 63,06% siromašnih kućanstava i 20,02% bogatih kućanstava vrlo osjetljivo na poplave. Uz to, ovaj je rad utvrdio i procijenio čimbenike odgovorne za ranjivost kućanstava u Dhaki. Što se tiče strukturne ranjivosti, rezultati su pokazali da je 82% kućanstava u siromašnim krajevima bilo visoko ranjivo, a 95,3% kućanstava koja nisu iz siromašnih četvrti bilo je umjereno ranjivo. Društveno, 67,3% siromašnih i 78,7% kućanstava koja nisu iz siromašnih naselja bila su umjereno i slabo ranjiva. Većina kućanstava u siromašnoj i nesiromašnoj četvrti (84%, odnosno 59,3%) pokazala je visoku i umjerenu ekonomsku ranjivost. Štoviše, za 69,3% siromašnih i 65,3% nesiromašnih kućanstava institucionalna ranjivost je bila visoka. Od stanovnika siromašnih naselja, 63,3% je bilo izloženo ekološkom riziku, a 78% staništa koja nisu u siromašnim područjima bilo je u kategoriji niske ranjivosti. Uz odgovarajuću prilagodbu ovdje predložen učinkoviti alat za mjerenje ranjivosti koji je ovdje prilagođen specifičnoj lokaciji, primjenjiv je i za mjerenje ranjivosti drugih gradova u svijetu. Na temelju ove studije moglo bi se provesti buduće istraživanje s više čimbenika, varijabli i pokazatelja ljudske ranjivosti na prirodne ili umjetne opasnosti / katastrofe. Budući rad mogao bi pružiti bolju sliku stanja ranjivosti od pojedinačne / višestruke opasnosti / katastrofe., Global flood hazard is gradually increasing. Though it is impossible to avoid them, losses and damage of hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones, and earthquakes) could be efficiently reduced by reducing household vulnerability with appropriate measures. This study aims to quantitatively measure the household vulnerability of flood hazards as a mitigation tool. It also proposed a unique approach to quantify flood-hazard household vulnerability, and shows its application in the flood prone city of Dhaka as an example case. Data were collected from both slum and non-slum areas to cover the entire urban habitat, and to compare their level of flood vulnerability. A total of 300 households were surveyed by structured questionnaire on the basis of five factors (economic, social, environmental, structural, and institutional) of flood vulnerability. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to measure individual household vulnerability scores by using the relative weightage of variables and indicators with proper standardisation. Analytical results demonstrated that 63.06% slum and 20.02% non-slum households were highly vulnerable to floods. In addition, this paper determined and assessed responsible factors for household flood vulnerability in Dhaka. For structural vulnerability, results exhibited that 82% of slum households were highly vulnerable, and 95.3% of non-slum households were moderately vulnerable. Socially, 67.3% of slum and 78.7% of non-slum households were moderately and low-vulnerable. The majority of slum and non-slum households (84% and 59.3%, respectively) showed high and moderate vulnerability with respect to economic vulnerability. Moreover, 69.3% of slum and 65.3% of nonslum household institutional vulnerability levels were high. Of slum inhabitants, 63.3% were environmentally at high risk, and 78% of non-slum habitats were in the low-vulnerability category. However, as an effective tool to measure location-specific vulnerability, it is applicable for the measuring vulnerability of other cities in the world with proper customisation. On the basis of this study, future research could be conducted with more factors, variables, and indicators of human vulnerability to natural or artificial hazards/disasters. Future work may provide a better reflection of the vulnerability status of single/multiple hazard(s)/disaster(s).

Recently environmental hazards are occurring very frequently over the globe and a great concern for the society owing to its high rate of vulnerability. Measuring vulnerability to environmental hazards poses an immense challenge for disaster risk relief efforts in the world. For the effective application of vulnerability reduction as well as mitigation actions, it is necessary to quantify the level of vulnerability. Using multiple dimensions of vulnerability is correspondingly important to identify the vulnerable community and places. In this study a framework is proposed for measuring vulnerability to environmental hazards quantitatively. The proposed framework measures vulnerability by identifying and evaluating the respective dimensions of vulnerability with numeric scoring technique. The vulnerability dimensions cover all the factors (exposure, susceptibility and resilience) of vulnerability to environmental hazards. It defines vulnerability in a quantitative scale yclept vulnerability score of each dimensions of vulnerability. Considering the features of the previous qualitative vulnerability frameworks, the present framework has been developed. Moreover, this quantitative vulnerability measuring framework for environmental hazards is introduced on the basis of numeric score. Thus, the proposed framework might be applied for assessing vulnerability within a community, regional and national level. It can also be exploited as a supporting tool in decision-making process, planning, crisis management, disaster reduction and mitigation to environmental hazards.

Significance The completion of seed germination is an irrevocable event for plants, determining, for most plants, the site of the remainder of their life cycle. One environmental cue important to the completion of seed germination is light, which, in Arabidopsis thaliana, can influence a host of transcription factors, including PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR1 (PIF1), a negative regulator of the completion of germination and seedling de-etiolation. The KELCH F-BOX protein COLD TEMPERATURE GERMINATING10 (CTG10) can recognize and bind to PIF1, negatively influencing PIF1 stability, stimulating the completion of germination, and promoting a de-etiolated seedling morphology. PIF1, in turn, can downregulate CTG10 expression, revealing a complex coregulation orchestrated by light presence and quality that dictates whether the seed completes germination., Seeds employ sensory systems that assess various environmental cues over time to maximize the successful transition from embryo to seedling. Here we show that the Arabidopsis F-BOX protein COLD TEMPERATURE-GERMINATING (CTG)-10, identified by activation tagging, is a positive regulator of this process. When overexpressed (OE), CTG10 hastens aspects of seed germination. CTG10 is expressed predominantly in the hypocotyl, and the protein is localized to the nucleus. CTG10 interacts with PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 1 (PIF1) and helps regulate its abundance in planta. CTG10-OE accelerates the loss of PIF1 in light, increasing germination efficiency, while PIF1-OE lines fail to complete germination in darkness, which is reversed by concurrent CTG10-OE. Double-mutant (pif1 ctg10) lines demonstrated that PIF1 is epistatic to CTG10. Both CTG10 and PIF1 amounts decline during seed germination in the light but reaccumulate in the dark. PIF1 in turn down-regulates CTG10 transcription, suggesting a feedback loop of CTG10/PIF1 control. The genetic, physiological, and biochemical evidence, when taken together, leads us to propose that PIF1 and CTG10 coexist, and even accumulate, in the nucleus in darkness, but that, following illumination, CTG10 assists in reducing PIF1 amounts, thus promoting the completion of seed germination and subsequent seedling development.

A prompt growth in research on arsenic occurrence and behavior in the environment has occurred over the last decade or so. High arsenic (As) in groundwater has become a major global concern due to its widespread occurrence. A comparative hydrogeochemical study was performed on the occurrence of high As groundwater in Datong Basin, China, and Kushtia District, Bangladesh. A total of 132 groundwater samples (83 from Datong Basin and 49 from Kushtia District) were collected to analyze the major hydrogeochemical components and trace elements in groundwater of both areas. Factor analysis (FA) was applied on the hydrochemical data to identify the major hydrogeochemical processes in sedimentary aquifers. High As groundwater was observed in the low-lying central parts of Datong Basin, which are composed of the Holocene alluvial and lacustrine aquifers. The elevated As concentrations ranged from 0.31 to 452 μg/L and distributed in depths between 20 and 45 m. As-enriched groundwater is mainly Na-HCO3 type water and characterized by higher pH value, high Na+, low Ca2+, SO42−, and NO3− along with moderate TDS. The alkaline and reducing subsurface environment facilitate the leaching of As in sedimentary aquifers. The release and distribution of As in aquifers are resulted from the reduction of As-carrying crystalline iron (Fe) oxide/hydroxides and oxidation of organic matter. The aquifers of Kushtia District, Bangladesh, are unconsolidated, alluvial in nature, and developed from Holocene floodplain and Pleistocene deposits. High As (6.04–590.7 μg/L) groundwater occurs mainly in shallow aquifers. The Ca-HCO3 type groundwater is distinguished by circum-neutral pH, medium-high EC, high HCO3−, and low content of NO3−, SO42−, K+, and Cl−. The reductive suspension of MnOOH increases the dissolved As loads and redox responsive elements such as SO42− and pyrite oxidation act as the main mechanisms for As release in groundwater. As is mobilized by anaerobic leakage from the brown-clay and gray-sand into the sediment. Infiltration from irrigation return and surface wash water are the potential factors that remobilize As. The weak loading of Fe suggests that the release of Fe and As is decoupled in sedimentary aquifers of Kushtia District.