DataSheet_1_Patterns of deep fine root and water utilization amongst trees, shrubs and herbs in subtropical pine plantations with seasonal droughts.docx

IntroductionSeasonal droughts will become more severe and frequent under the context of global climate change, this would result in significant variations in the root distribution and water utilization patterns of plants. However, research on the determining factors of deep fine root and water utilization is limited.MethodsWe measured the fine root biomass and water utilization of trees, shrubs and herbs, and soil properties, light transmission, and community structure parameters in subtropical pine plantations with seasonal droughts.Results and DiscussionWe found that the proportion of deep fine roots (below 1 m depth) is only 0.2-5.1%, but that of deep soil water utilization can reach 20.9-38.6% during the dry season. Trees improve deep soil water capture capacity by enhancing their dominance in occupying deep soil volume, and enhance their deep resource foraging by increasing their branching capacity of absorptive roots. Shrubs and herbs showed different strategies for deep water competition: shrubs tend to exhibit a “conservative” strategy and tend to increase individual competitiveness, while herbs exhibited an “opportunistic” strategy and tend to increase variety and quantity to adapt to competitions.ConclusionOur results improve our understanding of different deep fine root distribution and water use strategies between overstory trees and understory vegetations, and emphasize the importance of deep fine root in drought resistance as well as the roles of deep soil water utilization in shaping community assembly.</p

Highly Thermally Stable Single-Component White-Emitting Silicate Glass for Organic-Resin-Free White-Light-Emitting Diodes

Thermal management is still a great challenge for high-power phosphor-converted white-light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs) intended for future general lighting. In this paper, a series of single-component white-emitting silicate SiO₂–Li₂O–SrO–Al₂O₃–K₂O–P₂O₅: Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺, Mn²⁺ (SLSAKP: Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺, Mn²⁺) glasses that simultaneously play key roles as a luminescent convertor and an encapsulating material for WLEDs were prepared via the conventional melt-quenching method, and systematically studied using their absorption spectra, transmittance spectra, photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra in the temperature range 296–498 K, decay curves, and quantum efficiency. The glasses show strong and broad absorption in 250–380 nm region and exhibit intense white emission, produced by in situ mixing of blue-violet, green, and orange-red light from Ce³⁺, Tb³⁺, and Mn²⁺ ions, respectively, in a single glass component. The quantum efficiency of SLSAKP: 0.3%Ce³⁺, 2.0%Tb³⁺, 2.0%Mn²⁺ glass is determined to be 19%. More importantly, this glass shows good thermal stability, exhibiting at 373 and 423 K about 84.56 and 71.02%, respectively, of the observed room temperature (298 K) emission intensity. The chromaticity shift of SLSAKP: 0.3%Ce³⁺, 2.0%Tb³⁺, 2.0%Mn²⁺ is 2.94 × 10^–2 at 498 K, only 57% of the commercial triple-color white-emitting phosphor mixture. Additionally, this glass shows no transmittance loss at the 370 nm emission of a UV-Chip-On-Board (UV-COB) after thermal aging for 240 h, compared with the 82% transmittance loss of epoxy resin. The thermal conductivity of the glass is about 1.07 W/mK, much larger than the 0.17 W/mK of epoxy resin. An organic-resin-free WLEDs device based on SLSAKP: 0.3%Ce³⁺, 2.0%Tb³⁺, 2.0%Mn²⁺ glass and UV-COB is successfully demonstrated. All of our results demonstrate that the presented Ce³⁺/Tb³⁺/Mn²⁺ tridoped lithium–strontium–silicate glass may serve as a promising candidate for high-power WLEDs

Fullerene-Induced Increase of Glycosyl Residue on Living Plant Cell Wall

In this work, we have investigated the change of cell wall for the tobacco plant cell (<i>Nicotiana tobacum</i> L. cv. Bright Yellow) under the repression of water-soluble carboxyfullerenes (C₇₀(C­(COOH)₂)_2–4). The adsorption of C₇₀(C­(COOH)₂)_2–4 on cell wall led to the disruption of cell wall and membrane, and consequently, cell growth inhibition. Results from atomic force microscopy (AFM) force measurement and confocal imaging revealed an increase of the glycosyl residue on the cell wall of carboxyfullerene-treated cells, with a time- and dose-dependent manner, and accompanied by the elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, the stimulation-sensitive alteration of glycosyl residue and ROS was demonstrated, which suggested a possible protection strategy for the plant cells under fullerene repression. This study provides the first direct evidence on the change of plant cell wall composition under the repression of fullerene and is the first successful application of AFM ligand-receptor binding force measurement to the living plant cell. The new information present here would help to a better understanding and assessment of the biological effect of fullerenes on plant

C₇₀-Carboxyfullerenes as Efficient Antioxidants to Protect Cells against Oxidative-Induced Stress

Oxidative stress induced by excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been implicated in the etiology of many human diseases. Acquiring a highly efficient antioxidant with good biocompatibility is of significance in eliminating the deleterious effect induced by the oxidative stress. Herein, we address our efforts on investigating the cytoprotective effect of carboxyfullerenes on H₂O₂-injured cells. Meanwhile, the uptake and intracellular location of carboxyfullerenes were studied. The results show that C₇₀-carboxyfullerenes (dimalonic acid C₇₀ fullerene (DF₇₀) and trimalonic acid C₇₀ fullerene (TF₇₀)) exhibit an obviously protective effect against oxidative stress on C2C12 cells at concentrations as low as 2.5 μmol L^–1, whereas C₆₀-carboxyfullerenes (dimalonic acid C₆₀ fullerene (DF₆₀) and quadri-malonic acid C₆₀ fullerene (QF₆₀)) show a protective effect at relatively higher concentration (40 μmol L^–1). The molecular structure of carboxyfullerenes and the physiological state of cells play an important role in the different cytoprotective capability. Further study reveals that DF₇₀ and TF₇₀ could enter into cells and mainly localize into the lysosome, which possibly involves the protective mechanism by stabilizing lysosome. The use of a significantly low concentration of C₇₀-carboxyfullerene as the antioxidative agent will benefit the therapeutic approaches aiming at alleviating ROS-induced injuries such as muscle disorder and arthritis

Tunable Luminescent Properties and Concentration-Dependent, Site-Preferable Distribution of Eu²⁺ Ions in Silicate Glass for White LEDs Applications

The design of luminescent materials with widely and continuously tunable excitation and emission is still a challenge in the field of advanced optical applications. In this paper, we reported a Eu²⁺-doped SiO₂-Li₂O-SrO-Al₂O₃-K₂O-P₂O₅ (abbreviated as SLSAKP:Eu²⁺) silicate luminescent glass. Interestingly, it can give an intense tunable emission from cyan (474 nm) to yellowish-green (538 nm) simply by changing excitation wavelength and adjusting the concentration of Eu²⁺ ions. The absorption spectra, photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and emission (PL) spectra, and decay curves reveal that there are rich and distinguishable local cation sites in SLSAKP glasses and that Eu²⁺ ions show preferable site distribution at different concentrations, which offer the possibility to engineer the local site environment available for Eu²⁺ ions. Luminescent glasses based color and white LED devices were successfully fabricated by combining the as-synthesized glass and a 385 nm n-UV LED or 450 nm blue LED chip, which demonstrates the potential application of the site engineering of luminescent glasses in advanced solid-state lighting in the future

Among candidate miRNAs, miR-142 negatively regulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

<p>(A) Schematic representation of the pGL3-TopFlash reporter. Eight tandem repeats of TCF/LEF response elements were introduced upstream of the SV40 promoter and firefly luciferase gene (Luc) in pGL3 promoter vector. (B) Screening for inhibitors of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Plasmids pGL3-TopFlash, pRL-TK and miRNA-expressing vectors were cotransfected into HEK293T cells. Cells were treated with 25 mM LiCl 6 h posttransfection, and lysed 24 h posttransfection for dual-luciferase analysis (RLUs, Fluc/Rluc). (C, E) miR-142 inhibits the activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Wnt/β-catenin signaling was activated by 25 mM LiCl (C) or increasing doses of Wnt3a (E). TopFlash-mediated firefly luciferase activities (B, C, E) were normalized to the activity of Renilla luciferase (pRL-TK); error bars mark the SEM (n = 3; **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05, t test). (D) miR-142 represses expression of <i>Axin2</i>. miR-142 expressing vector or empty vector (EF) was transfected into HEK293T cells with or without 25 mM LiCl treatment. <i>Axin2</i> mRNA expression was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR, the data shown were normalized by <i>Actb</i> expression; error bars mark the SEM (n = 2; *P < 0.05, t test).</p

Pre-miR-142 is essential for suppressing Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

<p>A and B, schematic of the MDH1-142 (A) and EF-miR-142, EF-del-miR-142, EF-pre-edited-miR-142 (B) constructs. Pre-miR-142 (59 nt) plus flanking sequences were introduced downstream of the H1 or EF-1a promoter, followed by T5 or polyA termination signal. Whole 59 nucleotides of pre-miR-142 were deleted in the del-miR-142 construction. Four Adenosine residues within pre-miR-142 were substituted by guanosine residues (A➔G) constructed the pre-edited-miR-142 plasmid. (C) HEK293T cells were transfected with MDH1-142 expression vector or control MDH1 vector along with the pGL3-TopFlash or pGL3 empty vector and the pRL-TK vector as a normalization control. Cells were treated with 25 mM LiCl and lysed 24 h later for dual-luciferase analysis. Normalized TopFlash values were further divided by normalized pGL3 control values; error bar mark the SEM (n = 3; *P < 0.05, t test). (D) HEK293T cells were transfected with EF-miR142 expression vector or miR-142-mutant vectors along with the pGL3-TopFlash or pGL3-FopFlash vector and the pRL-TK vector as a normalization control. Normalized TopFlash values were further divided by normalized FopFlash values; error bars mark the SEM (n = 3; ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, t test). (E) Schematic diagram showing the structure of pre-miR-142. The part highlighted in green indicates miR-142-5p, and in red shows miR-142-3p. Bases with light-gray background represent the seed sequences of these two distinct miRNAs. The frames above M1 to M5 mark the positions of five structure-changing mutants within pre-miR-142, purple bases within the frames indicate the mutant sequences. (F) TopFlash-mediated reporter assay was performed as described in (D) with M1 ~ M5 mutants; error bars mark the SEM (n = 3; ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05, ns P > 0.05, t test).</p

Spectroscopy and Luminescence Dynamics of Ce³⁺ and Sm³⁺ in LiYSiO₄

The lithium yttrium silicate series of LiY_1–<i>x</i>Ln_<i>x</i>SiO₄ exhibits superb chemical and optical properties, and with Ln = Ce³⁺, Sm³⁺, its spectroscopic characteristics and luminescence dynamics are investigated in the present work. Energy transfer and nonradiative relaxation dramatically influence the Ln³⁺ luminescence spectra and decay dynamics, especially in the Ce³⁺–Sm³⁺ codoped phosphors. It is shown that thermal-quenching of the blue Ce³⁺ luminescence is primarily due to thermal ionization in the 5d excited states rather than multiphonon relaxation, whereas cross-relaxation arising from electric dipole–dipole interaction between adjacent Sm³⁺ ions is the leading mechanism that quenches the red Sm³⁺ luminescence. In the codoped systems, Ce³⁺–Sm³⁺ energy transfer in competing with the thermal quenching enhance the emission from Sm³⁺. The combined influences of concentration quenching, thermal ionization, and energy transfer including cross-relaxation on the luminescence intensity of single-center and codoped phosphors are analyzed based on the theories of ion–ion and ion–lattice interactions

Thermally Stable White Emitting Eu³⁺ Complex@Nanozeolite@Luminescent Glass Composite with High CRI for Organic-Resin-Free Warm White LEDs

Nowadays, it is still a great challenge for lanthanide complexes to be applied in solid state lighting, especially for high-power LEDs because they will suffer severe thermal-induced luminescence quenching and transmittance loss when LEDs are operated at high current. In this paper, we have not only obtained high efficient and thermally chemical stable red emitting hybrid material by introducing europium complex into nanozeolite (NZ) functionalized with the imidazolium-based stopper but also abated its thermal-induced transmittance loss and luminescence quenching behavior via coating it onto a heat-resistant luminescent glass (LG) with high thermal conductivity (1.07 W/mK). The results show that the intensity at 400 K for Eu­(PPO)_<i>n</i>-C₄Si@NZ@LG remains 21.48% of the initial intensity at 300 K, which is virtually 153 and 13 times the intensity of Eu­(PPO)₃·2H₂O and Eu­(PPO)_<i>n</i>-C₄Si@NZ, respectively. Moreover, an organic-resin-free warm white LEDs device with a low CCT of 3994K, a high Ra of 90.2 and R9 of 57.9 was successfully fabricated simply by combining NUV-Chip-On-Board with a warm white emitting glass-film composite (i.e., yellowish-green emitting luminescent glass coated with red emitting hybrid film). Our method and results provide a feasible and promising way for lanthanide complexes to be used for general illumination in the future

Bioimaging Application and Growth-Promoting Behavior of Carbon Dots from Pollen on Hydroponically Cultivated Rome Lettuce

Carbon dots (CDs) obtained from rapeseed pollen with a high production yield, good biocompatibility, good water solubility, low cost, and simple synthesis are systematically characterized. They can be directly added to Hoagland nutrient solution for planting hydroponically cultivated Lactuca sativa L. to explore their influence on the plants at different concentrations. By measuring lettuce indices of growth, morphology, nutrition quality, gas exchange, and content of photosynthetic pigment, amazing growth-promotion effects of CDs were discovered, and the mechanism was analyzed. Moreover, the in vivo transport route of CDs in lettuce was evaluated by macroscopic and microscopic observations under UV light excitation. The results demonstrate that pollen-derived CDs can be potentially used as a miraculous fertilizer for agricultural applications and as a great in vivo plant bioimaging probe