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Melatonin (MT) functions in removing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and delaying plant senescence, thereby acting as an antioxidant; however, the molecular mechanism underlying the specific action of MT is unclear. Herein, we used the mutant plants carrying the MT decomposition gene melatonin 3-hydroxylase (M3H) in tomato to elucidate the specific mechanism of action of MT. SlM3H-OE accelerated senescence by decreasing the content of endogenous MT in plants. SlM3H is a senescence-related gene that positively regulates aging. MT inhibited the expression of the senescence-related gene SlCV to scavenge ROS, induced stable chloroplast structure, and delayed leaf senescence. Simultaneously, MT weakened the interaction between SlCV and SlPsbO/SlCAT3, reduced ROS production in photosystem II, and promoted ROS elimination. In conclusion, MT regulates ROS homeostasis and delays leaf aging in tomato plants through SlCV expression modulation.

To evaluate the possible photoprotection mechanisms of cyclic and linear electron flux (CEF and LEF) under specific high temperature and high light (HH) stress. Six-leaf-stage tomato seedlings (“Liaoyuanduoli”, n=160) were divided into four parts: Part 1, served as control under 25 °C, 500 μmol/(m2·s); Part 2, spayed with distilled water (H2O) under 35 °C, 1000 μmol/(m2·s) (HH); Part 3, spayed with 100 μmol/L diuron (DCMU, CEF inhibitor) under HH; Part 4, spayed with 60 μmol/L methyl viologen (MV, LEF inhibitor) under HH. Energy conversion, photosystem I (PSI), and PSII activity, and trans-thylakoid membrane proton motive force were monitored during the treatment of 5 d and of the recovering 10 d. HH decreased photochemical reaction dissipation (P) and the maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII (F v/F m), and increased the excitation energy distribution coefficient of PSII (β); DCMU and MV aggravated the partition imbalance of the excitation energy (γ) and the photoinhibition degree. With prolonged DCMU treatment time, electron transport rate and quantum efficiency of PSI (ETRI and Y I) significantly decreased whereas acceptor and donor side limitation of PSI (Y NA and Y ND) increased. MV led to a significant decline and accession of yield of regulated and non-regulated energy Y NPQ and Y NO, respectively. Membrane integrity and ATPase activity were reduced by HH stress, and DCMU and MV enhanced inhibitory actions. The protective effects of CEF and LEF were mediated to a certain degree by meliorations in energy absorption and distribution as well as by maintenance of thylakoid membrane integrity and ATPase activity.

New types of light-emitting diode (LED) sources were applied to irradiate Botrytis cinerea mycelium and tomato leaves that were inoculated with B. cinerea to assess the effect of different LED light wavelengths on the infection of tomato with B. cinerea, to determine the optimum light wavelengths to control B. cinerea, and to explore the mechanism of LED influence on the development of gray mold. The results showed that purple light and blue light irradiation significantly inhibited the growth of B. cinerea mycelium, and the inhibition rates were 22.3 and 15.16%, respectively, and purple light exhibited a better inhibitory effect than blue light. The lesion development of B. cinerea on tomato leaves was significantly inhibited upon irradiation with red and purple light with inhibition rates of 32.08 and 36.74%, respectively. Irradiation with red light inhibited the oxidative burst of superoxide anion (O2−) that was caused by infection with B. cinerea, and red light regulated the H2O2 content in the tomato leaf, which increased and rapidly returned to a lower level. In addition, red light irradiation improved the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) in tomato leaves. However, purple light irradiation did not make tomato leaves exhibit this kind of physiological response. Therefore, red light and purple light can suppress gray mold in tomatoes, but the disease suppression mechanisms of these two types of LED light are different. In general, red light suppresses gray mold primarily by regulating the tomato defense mechanism for disease, whereas the suppression of tomato gray mold by purple light can be partially explained by the photo-inhibition of B. cinerea.

The present study investigated the role of abscisic acid (ABA) application in photosynthesis, photosystems I and II (PSI and PSII), antioxidant system and ABA-related genes expression under sub-high temperature and high light (STHL) stress. STHL treatment led to an irreversible reduction in the photosynthetic rate (Pn), damaged PSII firstly at three hours, and then inhibited RuBPCase activity at seven hours, at last injured PSI after eleven hours. During 11 hours STHL stress, exogenous ABA can alleviate the degree of Pn decreasing, improve the activity of RuBPCase, protect PSII to photoinhibition, and promote the ability of reactive oxygen removal. When severe stress occured, exogenous ABA has certain effect, but can not ease photoinhibition and photodamage. In addition, exogenous ABA effected significantly on genes of upstream regulatory ABA biosynthesis key enzymes and downstream response MYB transcription factors.

This study aims to comprehensively study the effects of Ca2+ on the SA-induced resistance Botrytis cinerea in tomato through proteomics analysis. A proteomic approach was used to uncover the inducible proteins of tomato in the susceptible tomato cultivars ‘L402’ against Botrytis cinerea after salicylic acid (SA) and a combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA. The results showed that the use of combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA significantly enhanced tomato resistance against Botrytis cinerea. In total, 46 differentially expressed protein spots from 2-DE gel maps were detected, of which 41 were identified by mass spectrometry. All the identified proteins were categorized into eight groups according to their putative functions: defense response (14.00%), antioxidative protein (9.75%), photosynthesis (24.39%), molecular chaperone (4.88%), energy (17.01%), metabolism (21.95%), protein synthesis (4.88%) and signal transduction (0.2%). Of the proteins in the eight function groups, the effect of stress/defense and reactive oxygen species on Ca2+-regulated SA-induced resistance may be the most important one in induced resistance by RT-PCR. The expression level of pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) and chitinase was upregulated by a combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA. The characterization of these proteins greatly helped to reveal the induced proteins involved in the regulation of Ca2+ on SA-induced resistance to Botrytis cinerea. In the combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA, the defense response and antioxidative protein were clearly upregulated much more than SA alone or the control treatment by the method of proteomics and RT-PCR. The present findings suggest that susceptible tomato cultivars treated by the combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA might possess a more sensitive SA signaling system or effective pathway than SA treatment alone. In addition, results indicated that SA could coordinate other cellular activities linked with photosynthesis and metabolism to facilitate defense response and recovery, indicating that the self-defense capability of tomato was improved by the combination treatment of CaCl2 and SA.

We analyzed the growth, leaf chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic parameters of a tomato leaf yellowing mutant (Y55) induced by ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) from the cultivar "Heinz 1706" (WT). Results showed that the plant height, stem diameter, and fresh mass of Y55 significantly . The contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, total chlorophyll and the chlorophyll a/b ratio of the mutant were significantly lower than those of WT. The contents of all precursor materials of chlorophyll synthesis, especially porphyrinogen III and those involved in the chlorophyll biosynthesis pathway, were significantly lower in Y55 than those in WT. Moreover, the net photosynthesis (P本试验以测序番茄品种‘Heinz 1706’的甲基磺酸乙酯(EMS)诱变所获得的叶色黄化突变体(Y55)为试材,分析了突变体的植株生长、叶片叶绿素含量及光合参数.结果表明: Y55的株高、茎粗、鲜质量均显著降低;叶绿素 a、叶绿素 b 、类胡萝卜素、总叶绿素含量以及叶绿素 a/b均显著降低,Y55叶绿素合成的前体物质含量均显著低于野生型,尤其是粪卟啉原Ⅲ及其后前体物质;且Y55叶片净光合速率、蒸腾速率、胞间CO

A genetic linkage map of lily was constructed using RILs (recombinant inbred lines) population of 180 individuals. This mapping population was developed by crossing Raizan No.1 (Formolongo) and Gelria (Longiflomm) cultivars through single-seed descent (SSD). SRAPs were generated by using restriction enzymes EcoRI in combination with either MseI. The resulting products were separated by electrophoresis on 6% denaturing polyacrylamide gel and visualized by silver staining. The segregation of each marker and linkage analysis was done using the program Mapmaker3.0. With 50 primer pairs, a total of 189 parental polymorphic bands were detected and 78 were used for mapping. The total map length was 2,135.5 cM consisted of 16 linkage groups. The number of markers in the linkage groups varied from 1 to 12. The length of linkage groups was range from 11.2 cM to 425.9 cM and mean marker interval distance range from 9.4 cM to 345.4 cM individually. The mean marker interval distance between markers was 27.4 cM. The map developed in the present study was the first sequence-related amplified polymorphism markers map of lily constructed with recombinant inbred lines, it could be used for genetic mapping and molecular marker assisted breeding and quantitative trait locus mapping of Lilium.

LpGPAT was obtained fromL. pensylvanicumusing RT-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The cloned full-length cDNA was 1544 bp; it encoded 410 amino acids and had a molecular size of 46 KDa. The nucleic acid sequence analysis showed that it shared high homology with other known GPATs. SMAT result suggests that there is a PlsC that exists in 176-322 amino acid sequence of LpGAPT; it means LpGPAT protein is a member of the family of acyltransferase and has acyltransferase enzymatic activity. Result of real-time quantitative PCR and semiquantitative PCR support LpGPAT gene is definitely induced by low temperature stress.

Cold environmental conditions influence the growth and development of plants, causing crop reduction or even plant death. Under stress conditions, cold-inducible promoters regulate cold-related gene expression as a molecular switch. Recent studies have shown that the chloroplast-expressed GPAT gene plays an important role in determining cold sensitivity. However, the mechanism of the transcriptional regulation of GPAT is ambiguous. The 5'-flanking region of GPAT with length of 1494 bp was successfully obtained by chromosome walking from Lilium pensylvanicum. The cis-elements of GPAT promoters were predicted and analyzed by a plant cis-acting regulatory DNA element database. There exist core promoter regions including TATA-box and CAAT-box and transcription regulation regions, which involve some regulatory elements such as I-box, W-box, MYB, MYC, and DREB. Full-length and four 5'-deletion fragments linked with GUS vectors were constructed and transformed into Nicotiana tabacum by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transient transformation and histochemical staining of leaves indicated that the activity of the GPAT promoter was strong and induced by low-temperature stress. The deletion of a -294 bp region suggested that the DRE-motif was functionally an essential element for cold induction, and the deletion of -1494 bp and -1194 bp regions suggested that negative regulation exists in the promoter. Our results show that the GPAT gene promoter is a key regulator under cold stress and we think that this study will have significant impact on lily molecular breeding and improving the resistance of plants.

fasciatedandlcloci controlled locule number of tomato fruit. The candidate gene offasciatedloci had been cloned thelcloci was also been fine mapping and two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located nearWUSCHELwere found to be responsible for locule number. But whetherWUSCHELwas the candidate gene oflcloci had not been known. In this study, we analyzed the expression ofWUSCHELin tomato with different locule number and under high and low temperature. The result showed thatWUSCHELexpressed higher in FL1 which fruit with 2-4 locules than in MLK1 with 15 locules. We identified theWUSCHELmight be candidate gene oflcloci.

Knowledge about crop growth processes in relation to N limitation is necessary to optimize N management in farming system. Plant-based diagnostic method, for instance nitrogen nutrition index (NNI) were used to determine the crop nitrogen status. This study determines the relationship of NNI with agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (AEN), tuber yield, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and leaf parameters including leaf area index (LAI), areal leaf N content (NAL) and leaf N concentration (NL). Potatoes were grown in field at three N levels: no N (N1), 150 kg N ha−1 (N2), 300 kg N ha−1 (N3). N deficiency was quantified by NNI and RUE was generally calculated by estimating of the light absorbance on leaf area. NNI was used to evaluate the N effect on tuber yield, RUE, LAI, NAL, and NL. The results showed that NNI was negatively correlated with AEN, N deficiencies (NNI

This paper was focused on the discussion about the main metal nutrients translocation in bleeding sap during muskmelon development and it was improved by rootstock grafting. The total translocation volume of metal nutrients in bleeding sap of each treatment depicted the same trend where G1 (Zhongmi 1/Riben Strong) and G3 (Zhongmi 1/Shengzhen 1) improved the supply capacity of metal nutrients to the aboveground parts and there were no concentration and translocation volume changes for each metal ion in bleeding sap with dissimilar rootstocks grafting when G1 and G3 improved the supply capacity of potassium, natrium, calcium, magnesium, ferrum, cuprum and zinc to the over ground parts from the root system, and furthermore G2 (Zhongmi 1/Quanwang) and G3 reduced manganese translocation in bleeding sap significantly on 10 DAA (days after anthesis) and manganese translocation in G1 and G3 during 20 to 30 DAA were remarkably higher than that in CK and G2, while manganese translocation in G3 was notably higher than that in the other treatments on 40 DAA. So based on the main metal nutrient supply capacity of the root system for comprehensive considerations, G1 and G3 were superior scion/rootstock combinations for top quality and high yield potential.

This is the first reported proteomic analysis to study the dormancy breaking of Magnolia sieboldii seeds. Our results provide a fundamental reference for further studies on the regulation of protein expression during seed germination. Magnolia sieboldii K. Koch is an ornamental tree. The deep dormancy of its seeds hinders its cultivation for economic purposes. The biochemical basis of the regulation of seed germination remains poorly understood. The present study aimed to identify differentially expressed proteins in germinated seeds of M. sieboldii using polyethylene glycol fractionation. In total, 59 differentially expressed protein spots from two-dimensional gel maps were detected, 33 of which were identified by mass spectrometry. They were assigned to eight functional classes on the basis of their putative biological functions: photosynthesis (3 %), chaperonin/heat shock protein (9 %), protein and amino acid synthesis (9 %), stress/defense (18 %), cytoskeleton structure (3 %), metabolism (18 %), hormone and polyamine (9 %) and storage proteins (31 %). Among the other functions, the effects of plant hormones on seed germination may be one of the most important functions in plant growth. Gibberellins and ethylene positively regulate seed germination. The activities of several hormone-associated proteins possibly influencing seed germination were increased. The characterization of these proteins will be of great help in identifying the molecular mechanism underlying seed germination.

To explore the differences of carbohydrate metabolism in two tomato species and discuss the possible regulation of 14-3-3 proteins on the sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) activity, we determined the contents of soluble sugar and starch through high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The activities of sugar-metabolizing enzymes were assayed in desalted extract, and the relative expression levels of related genes in sugar metabolism were determined though real-time RT-PCR. The results indicated that glucose and fructose were mainly accumulated during the maturation of the fruit because of the high acid invertase (AI) and neutral invertase (NI) in Micro-Tom (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit, while in Solanum chmielewskii fruit, SPS which went along with the change of sucrose content led to the rapid sucrose increase during the fruit ripening. TFT1 and TFT10, belonging to 14-3-3 protein in tomato, were likely to down-regulated SPS activity during young and intumescence period.

The single factor and orthogonal tests were designed to study the perfect conditions of extracting total flavononids from Netted Melon and the antioxidant activity of the extract. Firstly,the best conditions of extracting total flavononids from Netted Melon by single factor and orthogonal test was:ultrasonic power was 60%(250W) ,concentration of ethanol was 90%(V/V),extraction time was 60min ,volume of ethanol was 25mL.Under these conditions,the extraction yield of flavonoids was 0.2247 mg/g,which was 88.43% of the result of soxhlet,while,the time was 25% of soxhlet,from which the work efficiency was greatly improved. Then Prussian blue, Pyrogallol autoxidation, Phenanthroline and DPPH were used to research the antioxidant activity of flavonoid. It shows that flavonoid of Netted Melon can remove DPPH and hydroxyl radical strongly, also it has reducing capacity, but its ability of oxygen radical scavenging is poor.

The greenhouse temperature and humidity monitoring base on the application of virtual instrument technique apply LabVIEW as the software development platform, taking computer technology as the core. It equipment with the sensor, data acquisition, signal conditioning circuit and other hardware devices to achieve the greenhouse temperature and humidity parameters such as real-time acquisition, analysis, display, data storage function. The virtual instruments and the traditional monitoring equipment compared to display more intuitive, more easy to achieve functional expansion.

Five greenhouses with different typical wall configurations were studied, including the hollow brick wall (HB), clay brick wall composed of mural column (MCCB), wall composed of fly ash air block brick (FAABB), clay brick wall composed of plum small hole column (PSHCCB), common clay brick wall with Styrofoam wall outside (SCB) to find out the effects of the north walls on the greenhouse microclimate. The interior temperature and RH environment, as well as the heating rate, cooling rate and the correlation with the outside temperature, were tested and compared, finding that the greenhouse with FAABB exhibits the optimal temperature and RH environment, and also the highest thermal stability. The findings may provide references for greenhouse construction and insulation measures.

In this study, we investigated the effect of exogenous calcium and salicylic acid (SA) on Botrytis cinerea resistance in tomato seedlings. We treated a tomato strain susceptible to Botrytis cinerea with foliar spraying of water, SA, SA+CaCl2 and SA+EGTA (Ca2+ chelating agent) for one to five days. During the treatment, leaves were collected to analyze the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity, chintase and β-1,3-glucanase levels, and the expression of pathogenesis related protein 1, 2, 3 (PR1, PR2, PR3). Three days after infection, the disease index was 74.8 in control plants, and 46.9, 38.5 and 70.3 in SA, SA+Ca and SA+ EGTA treated plants, respectively. SA treatment significantly increased ROS leaf accumulation, and activities of PAL, chintase and β-1,3-glucanase. These values were further enhanced in SA+Ca treated plants, but decreased in SA+EGTA treated plants. Application of SA significantly increased the expression levels of PR1, PR2a and PR3b, which were further elevated by the combination treatment with Ca2+. These effects were counteracted by the combination treatment of SA and EGTA. The transcription levels of PR2b and PR3a were up-regulated by 1-2 folds, and PR1, 2a and 3b by 2-5 folds in SA- and SA+Ca-treated plants relative to control. These data suggested that application of Ca2+ could synergistically increase SA-induced resistance to B. cinerea. The resistance was associated with ROS accumulation, therefore the increase in resistance might be through ROS ability to increase the activity of defense-related enzymes and expression levels of PR1, PR2a and PR3b.

The most important quality for muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is their sweetness which is closely related to the soluble sugars content. Leaves are the main photosynthetic organs in plants and thus the source of sugar accumulation in fruits since sugars are translocated from leaves to fruits. The effects of grafting muskmelon on two different inter-specific (Cucurbita maxima×C. moschata) rootstocks was investigated with respect to photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. Grafting Zhongmi1 muskmelon on RibenStrong (GR) or Shengzhen1 (GS) rootstocks increased chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll a+b content and the leaf area in middle and late developmental stages of the plant compared to the ungrafted Zhongmi1 check (CK). Grafting enhanced the net photosynthesis rate, the stomatal conductance, concentration of intercellular CO2 and transpiration rate. Grafting influenced carbohydrates contents by changing carbohydrate metabolic enzymes activities which was observed as an increase in acid invertase and neutral invertase activity in the functional leaves during the early and middle developmental stages compared to CK. Grafting improved sucrose phosphate synthase and stachyose synthase activities in middle and late developmental stages, thus translocation of sugars (such as sucrose, raffinose and stachyose) in GR and GS leaves were significantly enhanced. However, compared with CK, translocation of more sugars in grafted plants did not exert feedback inhibition on photosynthesis. Our results indicate that grafting muskmelon on inter-specific rootstocks enhances photosynthesis and translocation of sugars in muskmelon leaves.

Changes in sucrose metabolism in response to salt (NaCl) and water (polyethylene glycol, PEG6000) iso-osmotic stresses were measured in tomato cultivar Liaoyuan Duoli (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and the objective was to provide a new evidence for the relationship between salt and osmotic stresses. The carbohydrate contents, as well as sucrose metabolizing enzymes activities and transcript levels were determined. The results indicated that soluble sugar and hexoses accumulated to higher levels and the contents of sucrose and starch were lower in mature fruit under the two stress treatments. Salt and water stresses can enhance the invertase and sucrose synthase activities of tomato fruit in a long period of time (45-60 days after anthesis), and elevate the expression of soluble acid invertase mRNA. It showed that two different stresses could also regulate the soluble acid invertase activity by controlling its gene expression. The activity of sucrose synthase was linked to the changes in soluble sugar levels but not with transcript levels. The effects of salt and water stress treatments on sucrose phosphate synthase activities were weak.

This study was designed to analyze the changes of phytohormone concentrations, calcium fraction, and the activities of degrading enzymes during calcium-inhibited and ethyleneglycol-bis-(β-aminoethyl ether) N, N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA)-induced abscission of tomato pedicel explants. Added calcium caused an increase in the total calcium content within the abscission zone and produced a corresponding reduction (20%) in pedicel explant abscission. As expected, EGTA treatment produced the opposite effect and resulted in a decrease in the total calcium content, while accelerating abscission of pedicel explants. Hormone analysis revealed that indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) concentrations in the abscission zone first decreased and then increased before the occurrence of abscission in all treatments, with the greatest effect produced by addition of EGTA. Similarly, abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellin (GA 1+3 ) concentrations, and ethylene production were elevated in the abscission zone during the first 16 h before abscission when explants imbibed EGTA. With calcium treatment, the concentrations of ABA, ethylene, and GA 1+3 also increased in pedicels throughout the first 16 h following exposure, but the increase was slower and less dramatic than with EGTA. Both cellulase and polygalacturonase were induced in the explants during abscission and the activities were also strengthened by treatment with EGTA. Calcium-treated explants produced lower hydrolysing enzyme activities than controls throughout abscission. Calcium played a role of mediating hormone balance and degrading enzymes activities and affected on abscission.

The study was designed to elucidate the changes in the endogenous hormones of stem apices in tomatoes and the function of correlative endogenous hormones in tomatoes during floral bud differentiation stages. The tomato parents were crossed and reverse crossed by using two inbred lines of multi-locule (MLK1) and few-locule (FL1) with significant difference, and the relationship between endogenous hormones GA3, IAA, and ABA levels and ovary locule numbers of parents and progeny during floral bud differentiation initial stage, floral bud differentiation stage, sepal petal formation stage, carpel formation initial stage, and ovary locule complete formation stage was studied. GA3 levels in P1, P2, F1, and RF1 were consistent with locule numbers, and IAA and ABA levels were reverse to ovary locule numbers during the key stage. The correlation showed that, during sepal petal formation stage, the ovary locule numbers were positively correlated with GA3, GA3/IAA, and GA3/ABA, and were negatively correlated with IAA and ABA. It was speculated that increasing GA3 levels or decreasing IAA and ABA levels of stem apices in tomato might be able to enhance ovary locule numbers. The sepal petal formation stage was an important stage which regulated endogenous hormones in the ovary locule formation.

The effects of addition of biochar on the matrix enzymes activity, microorganisms population and microbial community structure were evaluated under cucumber continuous cropping for 6 years (11 rotations). Cucumbers were grown in pots in greenhouse with 5% or 3% of medium (by mass) substituted with biochar. The control consisted of medium alone without biochar. The results showed that the activity of peroxidase was significantly improved to the level of the first rotation crop form 30 to 120 d after planting in both biochar treatments, with the effect of 5% biochar being more significant than that of 3% biochar. However, the neutral phosphatase activity was markedly reduced after biochar treatment. The addition of 5% biochar had significant regulation effect on the activities of invertase and urease from 30 to 90 d after planting, while the addition of 3% biochar had little effect. The populations of bacteria and actinomycetes were increased and the fungi population was reduced in both biochar treatments from 30 to 90 d after planting, and the effect of 5% biochar was more significant than that of 3% biochar. Meanwhile, the addition of biochar significantly increased the diversity of the bacterial community structure. In summary, biochar had obvious regulation effect on soil enzyme activity, microorganism quantity and microbial community in continuous cropping nutrition medium.

The regulation of different calcium forms, namely CaCl2, Nano-calcium and Manntiol-calcuim, on the gas exchange and fluorescence of tomato leaves under heat stress was investigated. The results showed that all forms of calcium alleviated the decrease of chlorophyll a and carotenoid contents in leaves of tomato seedlings under heat stress, enhanced the net photosynthesis rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr) and stomatal conductance (g(s)) to varying degrees, reduced the quantum yield of non-regulated energy dissipation [Y(NO)] of PSII and quantum yield of non-photochemical energy dissipation in PSI due to acceptor side limitation [Y(NA)], promoted the regulated energy dissipation [Y(NPQ)] and quantum yield of non-photochemical energy dissipation in PSI due to donor side limitation [Y(ND)], and increased the calcium content in leaves. Generally, manntiol-calcium and nano-calcium were more effective than CaCl2, and more suitable to enhance the photosynthesis of leaves oftomato seedlings under heat stress.

Liaoyuanduoli tomato was planted in pots in a solar greenhouse. The first leaf below the second cluster was labeled by 14 CO 2 with a dose of 0.555 MBq 30 days after the second cluster anthesis. Mesophyll, midrib, petiole vascular of the fed leaf, internode vascular below the fed leaf (adjacent to the fed leaf), peduncle vascular of the second cluster, sepal, fruit pedicle, pulp, pectinic, and dissepiment were taken 2, 4, 8, 12, 20, 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively, after 14 CO 2 , feed to determinate the composition and specific activity of carbohydrate at different sites and different time after the labeling. The results indicated that almost all of the photosynthates resulting from 1 h of photosynthesis could be transported out of the leaf within 72 h and more than 85% of them were exported within 24 h. The greatest amount of sucrose transport occurred in the internode pedicel vascular bundle 8 h after the start of photosynthesis. Assimilates entering the fruit through the internode and pedicel vascular bundles were detectable but in small quantities 2 h after photosynthesis. Only the radio activity of sucrose but not that of glucose and fructose was detected, suggesting that some of the sucrose in the fruit came directly through the phloem at an early stage of fruit development, not through the synthesis of glucose and fructose. Fruit vascular may be the part where sucrose first metabolized after it entered the fruit.

An experiment of continuous cropping of cucumber in nutrition medium (composted with straw, rural soil and puffed chicken manure) or soil was conducted in greenhouse in order to study the effects of medium type on the cucumber growth and soil microenvironment, respectively. The results showed that the two treatments both displayed different levels of obstacles resulted from continuous cropping. In the same cropping season, the nutrient content, soil invertase and urease activities and B/F (bacteria/fungi) ratio in the nutrition medium were obviously higher but fungi quantity was lower than in the soil medium, suggesting the use of nutrition medium changed the bacterial population structure as to improve the cucumber growth and yield. Under continuous cropping, correlation analysis showed that the bacterial quantity was significantly positively related with plant height and root dry mass, and markedly significantly positive correlation exited between the aboveground dry mass and yield of cucumber. The urease activity was also significantly positively related with the cucumber yield. Compared with the soil medium, the nutrition medium could greatly improve soil microenvironment and alleviate the continuous cropping obstacle.

By using aeroponics culture system, this paper studied the effects of elevated rhizosphere CO2 concentration on the leaf photosynthesis and the fruit yield and quality of muskmelon during its anthesis-fruiting period. In the fruit development period of muskmelon, as compared with those in the control (350 microL CO2 x L (-1)), the leaf chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and the maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II (Fv/Fm) in treatments 2500 and 5000 microL CO2 x L(-1) decreased to some extents, but the stomatal limitation value (Ls) increased significantly, and the variation amplitudes were larger in treatment 5000 microL CO2 x L(-1) than in treatment 2500 microL CO2 x L(-1). Under the effects of elevated rhizosphere CO2 concentration, the fruit yield per plant and the Vc and soluble sugar contents in fruits decreased markedly, while the fruit organic acid content was in adverse. It was suggested that when the rhizosphere CO2 concentration of muskmelon during its anthesis-fruiting period reached to 2500 microL x L(-1), the leaf photosynthesis and fruit development of muskmelon would be depressed obviously, which would result in the decrease of fruit yield and quality of muskmelon.

The relation between the vascular system and the photosynthate translocation pathway was investigated in main stems, sympodiums, and inflorescences of tomato plants. The plants had the 1st inflorescence on the main shoot with 9 leaves, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lateral shoots with 3 leaves from each terminal node. The shoot alternated right- and left-handed phyllotaxis. There were 4 vascular bundles in the hypocotyl and 8 vascular bundles in the main stem and sympodiums. Four vascular bundles were located at the base of the 1st inflorescence. Two were connected to the 7th leaf and to the 2nd or 4th flowers ; the other two were connected to the 8th leaf and the 1st or 3rd flowers. When 14CO2 was fed to 7th or 8th leaf, the highest radioactivity was recovered in the internode just below the treated leaf among the internodes on the main stem and sympodiums. In each internode, particularly strong radioactivity was recovered in 3 of 8 vascular bundles. Among the pedicels in the 1st inflorescence, the highest radioactivity was recovered in the 1st and 3rd ones when the 8th leaf was treated, and in the 2nd and 4th pedicels when the 7th leaf was fed with 14CO2.

FIP-fve is a bioactive protein isolated from the mushroom Flammulina velutipes, which belongs to the fungal immunomodulatory protein (FIP) family and demonstrates several kinds of biological activities including anti-allergy, anti-tumor and immunomodulation. In the current study, the FIP-fve gene was cloned and expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris GS115, and its correctness was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Optimal expression of rFIP-fve was observed when the P. pastoris cells were cultured in 1% methanol for 96 h, which resulted in a yield of 258.2 mg l−1. The rFIP-fve protein was subsequently purified via ammonium sulfate precipitation and Sephadex G-100 gel chromatography. In vitro bioactivity examination showed that rFIP-fve could agglutinate human red blood cells and stimulate the cell viability of murine splenocytes. The immunomodulatory capacity and anti-tumor activity of rFIP-fve were demonstrated by enhanced interleukin-2 secretion and interferon-γ release from the murine lymphocytes, similar to the biological FIP-fve. In conclusion, the FIP-fve gene was functionally and effectively expressed in P. pastoris, and rFIP-fve displayed biological activities similar to those of native FIP-fve. These results indicated the potential use of rFIP-fve from P. pastoris as an effective and feasible source for therapeutic studies and medical applications.

The achenes morphological and micro-morphological characteristics of six species of genus Taraxacum from northeastern China as well as SRAP cluster analysis were observed for their classification evidences. The achenes were observed by microscope and EPMA. Cluster analysis was given on the basis of the size, shape, cone proportion, color and surface sculpture of achenes. The Taraxacum inter-species achene shape characteristic difference is obvious, particularly spinulose distribution and size, achene color and achene size; with the Taraxacum plant achene shape the cluster method T. antungense Kitag. and the T. urbanum Kitag. should combine for the identical kind; the achene morphology cluster analysis and the SRAP tagged molecule systematics's cluster result retrieves in the table with "the Chinese flora". The class group to divide the result is consistent. Taraxacum plant achene shape characteristic stable conservative, may carry on the inter-species division and the sibship analysis according to the achene shape characteristic combination difference; the achene morphology cluster analysis as well as the SRAP tagged molecule systematics confirmation support dandelion classification result of "the Chinese flora".

An investigation was made on a long-term fertilization facility vegetable field at Shenyang Agricultural University to study the effects of long-term fertilization on the soil enzyme activities and soil physicochemical properties. Long term application of organic manure combined with or without nitrogen fertilizer increased the contents of soil organic matter, N, P, and K, and improved the soil physical properties and soil invertase, urease, and neutral phosphatase activities. However, long-term application of nitrogen fertilizer alone decreased soil pH and soil enzymes activities. Significant positive correlations were observed between soil invertase activity and soil organic matter and total P, between soil urease activity and soil organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable N, total and available P, and available K, and between soil neutral phosphatase activity and soil organic matter, total P, and available K, but less correlation was found between soil dehydrogenase activity and soil nutrients.

By using aeroponics culture system, this paper studied the impacts of root-zone hypoxia (10% O2 and 5% O2) stress on the plant growth, root respiratory metabolism, and antioxidative enzyme activities of muskmelon at its fruit development stage. Root-zone hypoxia stress inhibited the plant growth of muskmelon, resulting in the decrease of plant height, root length, and fresh and dry biomass. Comparing with the control (21% O2), hypoxia stress reduced the root respiration rate and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) activity significantly, and the impact of 5% O2 stress was more serious than that of 10% O2 stress. Under hypoxic conditions, the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content were significantly higher than the control. The increment of antioxidative enzyme activities under 10% O2 stress was significantly higher than that under 5% O2 stress, while the MDA content was higher under 5% O2 stress than under 10% O2 stress, suggesting that when the root-zone oxygen concentration was below 10%, the aerobic respiration of muskmelon at its fruit development stage was obviously inhibited while the anaerobic respiration was accelerated, and the root antioxidative enzymes induced defense reaction. With the increasing duration of hypoxic stress, the lipid peroxidation would be aggravated, resulting in the damages on muskmelon roots, inhibition of plant growth, and decrease of fruit yield and quality.

Aeroponics can increase the fruit yield of tomato plant, but its cost is very high. In this paper, tomato seedlings were planted with three cultures, i. e., whole perlite culture (CK), perlite-aeration culture (T1), and aeroponics (T2), and a comparative study was made on the seedlings growth. Compared with CK, T1 improved the gas environment in root zone significantly, with the CO2 and O2 concentrations in root zone being 0.2 and 1.17 times higher, and increased the plant height and stem diameter after 60 days of transplanting by 5.1% and 8.4%, respectively. The plant net photosynthetic rate of T1 was significantly higher than that of CK, with the maximum value after transplanting 45 days increased by 13%. T1 also increased the root activity and ion absorbing ability significantly, with the root activity after transplanting 45 days being 1.23 times of CK, and the root K, Ca, and Mg contents after transplanting 60 days increased by 31%, 37%, and 27%, respectively. The fruit yield of T1 was 1.16 times of CK. No significant differences in these indices were observed between T1 and T2, and less difference in the fruit soluble sugar and organic acid contents as well as the sugar-acid ratio was found among CK, T1, and T2. It was suggested that perlite-aeration cultivation pattern was an easy and feasible way to markedly improve the fruit yield of tomato plant.

Based on the cluster analysis of relative germination potential and relative germination rate under NaCl stress, fourteen tomato genotypes were clustered into two groups. Five tomato genotypes held high resistance to NaCl stress, and nine tomato genotypes were moderately NaCl- tolerant. The highly NaCl- tolerant genotypes wild Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium, Liaoyuanhongmanao and Hongbaoshi and the moderately NaCl- tolerant genotype Liaoyuanhongduoli were then under different Na(+)-salts and NaCl, Na+, and Cl- stresses. The responses of the four tomato genotypes to different Na(+)-salts stress were the same as those to NaCl stress. Among the test Na(+)-salts, NaHCO3 had the greatest impact. Under the stress of 100 mmol NaHCO3 x L(-1), the embryo's relative lengths of the four tomato genotypes were all below 8%. The inhibitory effect of test Na(+)-salts on tomato seed germination was in the order of NaNO3Na2SO4NaH2PO4NaClNaHCO3. As for NaCl, Na+ and Cl-, the Cl- had the smallest injury.

A water culture experiment was conducted with the seedlings of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivar Liaoyuanduoli to study the effects of salicylic acid (SA) on their sucrose metabolism under NaCl stress. The seedlings were treated with different concentrations (100, 300, and 500 mg x L(-1)) of SA, and the contents of sucrose, glucose, and fructose as well as the related enzyme activities of sucrose metabolism, including acid invertase (AI), neutral invertase (NI), sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), and sucrose synthase (SS), in seedling leaves were determined. Under NaCl stress, SA could maintain or enhance the leaf fructose and glucose contents and the leaf AI, NI, SPS and SS activities, with the highest increment of fructose and glucose contents being 30.0% and 31.1% and that of AI, NI, SPS and SS activities being 24.7%, 27.9%, 22.0% and 24.5%, respectively, in comparing with no SA application, while had less effect on the leaf sucrose content, which suggested that SA could play a protective role in the NaCl-tolerance of tomato seedlings via enhancing the leaf invertase activity to increase leaf fructose and glucose contents. The best alleviating effect was observed at 500 mg x L(-1) of SA.

In order to investigate the regulation effect of Ca2+ and salicylic acid (SA) on the sub-high temperature resistance of tomato plants, the plants were treated with sub-high temperature (35 degrees C) at day time during their 1st inflorescence flowering, and CaCl2 (10 mmol x L(-1)) and SA (0.2 mmol x (L(-1 were foliar sprayed to study the variations of the activities of defense enzymes (SOD, POD, and CAT) and the content of soluble protein in tomato leaves, taking spraying clear water under 25 degrees C at day time as the control. The results showed that under the sub-high temperature stress, the SOD, CAT and POD activities in tomato leaves were decreased by 14.82%, 31.84%, and 26.34%, respectively, while spraying CaCl2 (10 mmol x L(-1)) and SA (0.2 mmol x L(-1)) decreased the leaf MDA content and increased the leaf SOD, POD and CAT activities and soluble protein content, compared with the control, indicating that Ca2+ and SA had positive regulation effect on the defense enzyme activities in tomato leaves, which could protect the photosynthetic system of tomato under the sub-high temperature stress to a certain degree.

Tomato seedlings were treated with 15 degrees C (control), 12 degrees C, 9 degrees C, and 6 degrees C at night for seven days to study the changes of their leaf photosynthesis and chloroplast ultrastructure, aimed to make sure the recovery effect of the photosynthesis of tomato leaves after a short-term low nocturnal temperature. The results showed that short-term low nocturnal temperature was favorable to the photosynthesis of tomato leaves at recovery stage. The chlorophyll content could recover to the normal level as control under the treatments of 12 degrees C and 9 degrees C, but not under the treatment of 6 degrees C. The formation of stoma was not seriously inhibited by low nocturnal temperature. On the contrary, the stoma formation and its growth were stimulated at recovery stage. Under the treatment of 6 degrees C, chloroplast grana layers arranged loosely, and their number reduced. In the seven days of recovery, the lower the treatment temperature, the smaller and the fewer the starch grains were, and the more compact and tidy the chloroplast grana became. In addition, the transportation of photosynthesis products was promoted after short-term low nocturnal temperature.