ALBERT

Description: In this study, we attempted to quantify light absorption by insoluble light-absorbing particles (ILAPs) such as black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and iron oxides in snow using an optical method directly and compared the results with those obtained using optical and chemical analysis methods cooperatively in previous studies. The mass absorption coefficients (MACs) and absorption Ångström exponents (AAEs) of pure hematite, goethite and fullerene soot were also measured using an integrating sphere/integrating sandwich (ISSW) spectrophotometer in the laboratory. The results indicated that the MACs of pure hematite and goethite are 0.97 ± 0.02 m2·g−1 and 0.43 ± 0.01 m2·g−1 at 550 nm, and their AAEs are 5.53 ± 0.47 and 2.18 ± 0.16 from 550 nm to 750 nm, respectively. The MAC and AAE of fullerene soot are 6.40 ± 0.42 m2·g−1 at 550 nm and 0.54 ± 0.06 from 450 to 750 nm. By using the regionally average AAEs of non-BC components in snow, we evaluated the performance of a directly optical analysis, rather than combination of the optical and chemical methods, in quantifying the light absorption of BC, OC and Fe in snow samples. We found that the directly optical method used to measure the light absorption of BC and OC in Northern China snow has substantially low biases of 6.29% and 4.27% in median comparing to previous method. However, the high biases in estimating light absorption of Fe (33.01%) may be associated with the significant underestimation of the AAE of Fe.

Description: Our previous study has shown that nitrogen plays an important role in dealing with significantly increased chalkiness caused by elevated temperature. However, the role of nitrogen metabolites has not been given sufficient attention, and its regulatory mechanism is not clear. This study investigated the effects of high temperature and nitrogen fertilizer on the synthesis of grain storage protein and further explored the quality mechanism under the actual scenario of field warming. Results showed that increased temperature and nitrogen fertilizer could affect the activities of nitrogen metabolism enzymes, namely, glutamate synthetase, glutamine synthetase, glutamic pyruvic transaminase, and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, and the expressions of storage protein synthesis factor genes, namely, GluA and GluB, and subfamily genes, namely, pro14, BiP1, and PDIL1, which co-induced the changes of storage protein synthesis in rice grains. Furthermore, the increased temperature changed the balance of grain storage substances which may lead to the significantly increased chalky rate (197.67%) and chalkiness (532.92%). Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between prolamin content and chalkiness, indicating that nitrogen fertilizer might regulate the formation of chalkiness by affecting the synthesis of prolamin. Results suggested that nitrogen application could regulate the related core factors involved in nitrogen metabolism pathways, which, in turn, affects the changes in the storage protein components in the grain and further affects quality. Therefore, as a conventional cultivation measure, nitrogen application would have a certain value in future rice production in response to climate warming.

Description: Global warming will have a negative effect on agricultural production as high temperature (HT) stress can seriously threaten plant growth and reproduction. Male sterility caused by HT may be exploited by the creation of a male-sterile line, which has great potential for application in crop heterosis. Therefore, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms of anther abortion induced by HT in wheat, which remain unclear at present. In this study, we performed phenotype improve language in the abstract and comparative transcriptome analysis of the male sterile anthers induced by HT in wheat. Compared with Normal anthers, the cytological analysis indicated that HT-induced male sterile anthers were smaller and had no starch accumulation in pollen grains, which is consistent with the results observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The 9601 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified by transcriptome sequencing compared with the Normal anthers were noticeably involved in the following pathways: starch and sucrose metabolism, phosphatidylinositol (PI) signaling system, peroxidase activity and response to oxidative stress, and heme binding. In addition, TUNEL assays were performed and the results further confirmed the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in sterile anthers. Moreover, a total of 38 hub genes were obtained from the protein-protein interaction network analysis of these pathways, including genes, for example, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), thioredoxin-like protein 1, peroxidase (POD), calreticulin, UDP glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGPase), sucrose synthase, phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-Kinase (PIP5K), cytochrome c, and Cystathionine beta-synthase X6-like (CBSX6-like). These findings provide insights for predicting the functions of the candidate genes, and the comprehensive analysis of our results is helpful for studying the abortive interaction mechanism induced by HT in wheat.