Research on Structural Design of an Isolated High-Rise Building with Enlarged Base and Multiple Tower Layer in High-Intensity Area

In the high intensity areas, the application of interlayer spacing technology can achieve the unity of quality and seismic performance of high-rise buildings with enlarged base and multiple tower layers. Through the comparison and analysis of the structural schemes of an enlarged base multiple tower-layer high-rise building, the ultimate seismic isolation scheme was adopted, and its seismic response and seismic performance were analyzed and studied. The results show that the overall seismic isolation effect of the story isolation technique is good, which can greatly reduce the seismic response, and is an effective means to improve the seismic safety of the structure. Considering the structural characteristics of the project, the improvement of the economy and the quality of the building, the use of story isolation technique in the enlarged base multiple tower-layer structure in the high-intensity region is an optimal scheme. Finally, several key technical issues such as the combined seismic isolation scheme of the enlarged base story isolation technique and the additional bending moment of the isolator and the tensile device of the isolator were discussed, which can provide some references for similar engineering practices.</jats:p

Effects of different plant hormones or PEG seed soaking on maize resistance to drought stress

Yuan, Z., Wang, C., Li, S., Li, X. and Tai, F. 2014. Effects of different plant hormones or PEG seed soaking on maize resistance to drought stress. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 1491–1499. Drought stress has a major impact on plant growth and productivity, and seed soaking is an important way to increase seedling resistance to drought stress. This study investigated whether drought hardening chemicals, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), or plant growth regulators enhance plant drought tolerance. The effects of PEG and several plant hormones, such as indoleacetic acid, gibberellic acid 3, 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA), on seed germination and seedling growth under drought stress were analyzed. The results revealed that seed soaking with 5×10−3 mg L−1 6-BA or 10% PEG improved maize seed germination parameters under drought stress, including seedlings dry weight, seed vigor and germination rate. In addition, some physiological indices, such as superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, soluble protein contents and malondialdehyde etc. in seedlings under drought stress were improved compared with the control. Therefore, the application of 6-BA or PEG as a seed soak treatment had a significant and synergistic effect on seed germination and seedling growth under drought stress. However, the PEG seed soak treatment maybe slightly lead to plant damage and then improved plant ability to acquire some resistance to stress, the 6-BA were not so. </jats:p

Chloroform-assisted phenol extraction improving proteome profiling of maize embryos through selective depletion of high-abundance storage proteins.

The presence of abundant storage proteins in plant embryos greatly impedes seed proteomics analysis. Vicilin (or globulin-1) is the most abundant storage protein in maize embryo. There is a need to deplete the vicilins from maize embryo extracts for enhanced proteomics analysis. We here reported a chloroform-assisted phenol extraction (CAPE) method for vicilin depletion. By CAPE, maize embryo proteins were first extracted in an aqueous buffer, denatured by chloroform and then subjected to phenol extraction. We found that CAPE can effectively deplete the vicilins from maize embryo extract, allowing the detection of low-abundance proteins that were masked by vicilins in 2-DE gel. The novelty of CAPE is that it selectively depletes abundant storage proteins from embryo extracts of both monocot (maize) and dicot (soybean and pea) seeds, whereas other embryo proteins were not depleted. CAPE can significantly improve proteome profiling of embryos and extends the application of chloroform and phenol extraction in plant proteomics. In addition, the rationale behind CAPE depletion of abundant storage proteins was explored

Genome-Wide Identification and Comparison of Cysteine Proteases in the Pollen Coat and Other Tissues in Maize

Cysteine proteases, belonging to the C1-papain family, play a major role in plant growth and development, senescence, and immunity. There is evidence to suggest that pollen cysteine protease (CP) (ZmCP03) is involved in regulating the anther development and pollen formation in maize. However, there is no report on the genome-wide identification and comparison of CPs in the pollen coat and other tissues in maize. In this study, a total of 38 homologous genes of ZmCP03 in maize were identified. Subsequently, protein motifs, conserved domains, gene structures, and duplication patterns of 39 CPs are analyzed to explore their evolutionary relationship and potential functions. The cis-elements were identified in the upstream sequence of 39 CPs, especially those that are related to regulating growth and development and responding to environmental stresses and hormones. The expression patterns of these genes displayed remarked difference at a tissue or organ level in maize based on the available transcriptome data in the public database. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that ZmCP03 was preferably expressed at a high level in maize pollen. Analyses by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblot, immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy all validated the cellular localization of ZmCP03 in both the pollen coat and pollen cytoplasm. In addition, 142 CP genes from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), rice (Oryza sativa) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), together with 39 maize CPs, were retrieved to analyze their evolution by comparing with orthologous genes. The results suggested that ZmCP03 was relatively conservative and stable during evolution. This study may provide a referential evidence on the function of ZmCP03 in pollen development and germination in maize