Overexpression of Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) CAD2 in Tomato Affects Lignin Content

PpCAD2 was originally isolated from the ‘Wangkumbae’ pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai), and it encodes for cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), which is a key enzyme in the lignin biosynthesis pathway. In order to verify the function of PpCAD2, transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ‘Micro-Tom’ plants were generated using over-expression constructs via the agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. The results showed that the PpCAD2 over-expression transgenic tomato plant had a strong growth vigor. Furthermore, these PpCAD2 over-expression transgenic tomato plants contained a higher lignin content and CAD enzymatic activity in the stem, leaf and fruit pericarp tissues, and formed a greater number of vessel elements in the stem and leaf vein, compared to wild type tomato plants. This study clearly indicated that overexpressing PpCAD2 increased the lignin deposition of transgenic tomato plants, and thus validated the function of PpCAD2 in lignin biosynthesis

The Al-induced proteomes of epidermal and outer cortical cells in root apex of cherry tomato \u27LA 2710\u27

This paper reports a laser capture microdissection-tandem mass tag-quantitative proteomics analysis of Al-sensitive cells in root tips. Cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme ‘LA2710’) seedlings were treated under 15 μM Al3+ activity for 13 d. Root-tip longitudinal fresh frozen tissue sections of 10 μm thickness were prepared. The Al-sensitive root zone and cells were determined using histochemical analysis of root-tips and micro-sections. A procedure for collecting the Al-sensitive cells using laser capture microdissection-protein extraction-tandem mass tag-proteomics analysis was developed. Proteomics analysis of 18 μg protein/sample with three biological replicates per treatment condition identified 3879 quantifiable proteins each associated with two or more unique peptides. Quantified proteins constituted a broad range of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways when searched in the annotated tomato genome. Differentially expressed proteins between the Al-treated and non-Al treated control conditions were identified, including 128 Al-up-regulated and 32 Al-down-regulated proteins. Analysis of functional pathways and protein-protein interaction networks showed that the Al-down-regulated proteins are involved in transcription and translation, and the Al-up-regulated proteins are associated with antioxidant and detoxification and protein quality control processes. The proteomics data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD010459 under project title ‘LCM-quantitative proteomics analysis of Al-sensitive tomato root cells’. Significance This paper presents an efficient laser capture microdissection-tandem mass tag-quantitative proteomics analysis platform for the analysis of Al sensitive root cells. The analytical procedure has a broad application for proteomics analysis of spatially separated cells from complex tissues. This study has provided a comprehensive proteomics dataset expressed in the epidermal and outer-cortical cells at root-tip transition zone of Al-treated tomato seedlings. The proteomes from the Al-sensitive root cells are valuable resources for understanding and improving Al tolerance in plants

PpNAC187 Enhances Lignin Synthesis in ‘Whangkeumbae’ Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) ‘Hard-End’ Fruit

A disorder in pears that is known as ‘hard-end’ fruit affects the appearance, edible quality, and market value of pear fruit. RNA-Seq was carried out on the calyx end of ‘Whangkeumbae’ pear fruit with and without the hard-end symptom to explore the mechanism underlying the formation of hard-end. The results indicated that the genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway affecting lignification were up-regulated in hard-end fruit. An analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified three NAC transcription factors, and RT-qPCR analysis of PpNAC138, PpNAC186, and PpNAC187 confirmed that PpNAC187 gene expression was correlated with the hard-end disorder in pear fruit. A transient increase in PpNAC187 was observed in the calyx end of ‘Whangkeumbae’ fruit when they began to exhibit hard-end symptom. Concomitantly, the higher level of PpCCR and PpCOMT transcripts was observed, which are the key genes in lignin biosynthesis. Notably, lignin content in the stem and leaf tissues of transgenic tobacco overexpressing PpNAC187 was significantly higher than in the control plants that were transformed with an empty vector. Furthermore, transgenic tobacco overexpressing PpNAC187 had a larger number of xylem vessel elements. The results of this study confirmed that PpNAC187 functions in inducing lignification in pear fruit during the development of the hard-end disorder. View Full-Tex

Designing the unambiguous discriminator from the one -photon interferometer

In this paper, we shall show that the question of quanum state unambiguous discrimination can be solved by reducing it to the known problem of quantum states filtering.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Al-induced proteomics changes in tomato plants over-expressing a glyoxalase I gene

Glyoxalase I (Gly I) is the first enzyme in the glutathionine-dependent glyoxalase pathway for detoxification of methylglyoxal (MG) under stress conditions. Transgenic tomato ‘Money Maker’ plants overexpressing tomato SlGlyI gene (tomato unigene accession SGN-U582631/Solyc09g082120.3.1) were generated and homozygous lines were obtained after four generations of self-pollination. In this study, SlGlyI-overepxressing line (GlyI), wild type (WT, negative control) and plants transformed with empty vector (ECtr, positive control), were subjected to Al-treatment by growing in Magnavaca’s nutrient solution (pH 4.5) supplemented with 20 µM Al3+ ion activity. After 30 days of treatments, the fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots of plants from Al-treated conditions decreased significantly compared to the non-treated conditions for all the three lines. When compared across the three lines, root fresh and dry weight of GlyI was significant higher than WT and ECtr, whereas there was no difference in shoot tissues. The basal 5 mm root-tips of GlyI plants expressed a significantly higher level of glyoxalase activity under both non-Al-treated and Al-treated conditions compared to the two control lines. Under Al-treated condition, there was a significant increase in MG content in ECtr and WT lines, but not in GlyI line. Quantitative proteomics analysis using tandem mass tags mass spectrometry identified 4080 quantifiable proteins and 201 Al-induced differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in root-tip tissues from GlyI, and 4273 proteins and 230 DEPs from ECtr. The Al-down-regulated DEPs were classified into molecular pathways of gene transcription, RNA splicing and protein biosynthesis in both GlyI and ECtr lines. The Al-induced DEPs in GlyI associated with tolerance to Al3+ and MG toxicity are involved in callose degradation, cell wall components (xylan acetylation and pectin degradation), oxidative stress (antioxidants) and turnover of Al-damaged epidermal cells, repair of damaged DNA, epigenetics, gene transcription, and protein translation. A protein–protein association network was constructed to aid the selection of proteins in the same pathway but differentially regulated in GlyI or ECtr lines. Proteomics data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifiers PXD009456 under project title ‘25Dec2017_Suping_XSexp2_ITAG3.2’ for SlGlyI-overexpressing tomato plants and PXD009848 under project title ‘25Dec2017_Suping_XSexp3_ITAG3.2’ for positive control ECtr line transformed with empty vector

Controlled synthesis of Ni0.85Se microstructures with different morphologies and their morphology-dependent electrochemical supercapacitor properties

The research of cheap, earth-abundant and efficient electrode material is of significance for advanced supercapitors. Here we report a simple and cost-effective strategy for synthesis of Ni 0.85 Se via hydrothermal method. A systematic study of the solvent dependent morphological modification and its subsequent influence on supercapitors performance have been investigated. When evaluated as electrode material in supercapacitor, the as-fabricated flower-like Ni 0.85 Se electrode shows superior electrochemical performance with excellent rate capability and long cycle life. Besides, the energy storage behavior of flower-like Ni 0.85 Se was investigated in an asymmetric supercapacitor configuration. The as-assembled Ni 0.85 Se//graphene hybrid supercapacitor showed a specific capacitance of 103.4 F g −1 at 1 A g −1 and cycle performance of 90.6% after 10 000 uninterrupted cycles at a high current density of 8 A g −1 . Furthermore, the maximum energy density of 32.3 Wh kg −1 and power density of 1.5 kW kg −1 were obtained. The high specific capacitance and good cyclic stability as well as high energy/power density of the device make it a promising supercapacitor for the practical applications. Moreover, this work also provides a straightforward and effective approach to synthesize selenide-based electrode material in high performance energy storage devices

Microstructure and mechanical properties of nickel strengthened by Y2O3through rock-milling and spark plasma sintering

Microstructure and mechanical properties of nickel-Y 2 O 3 composites with content of 1 wt %, 2 wt %, 3 wt %, 5 wt % Y 2 O 3 were prepared by rock-milling and spark plasma sintering were investigated. The obtained experimental data clearly show that the nickel with different contents of Y 2 O 3 powders was evenly distributed after rock-milling 4 h with 30 Hz. Particle size analysis indicates that the grain size was fine and the average grain size was below 0.40 μm. The nickel-2 wt. %Y 2 O 3 shows better relative density and Brinell hardness of 92.7% and 146 HBW, respectively. The compressive strength of nickel-Y 2 O 3 was also investigated and the specimens of nickel-1 wt. % Y 2 O 3 and nickel-2 wt. %Y 2 O 3 had not exhibited obviously crack or imperfections in the surface. However, specimens of nickel-3 wt. % Y 2 O 3 and nickel-5 wt. % Y 2 O 3 had the ultimate stress with increasing the loads, and the values were 1100 MPa and 1200 MPa, respectively

NLTE Analysis of High-Resolution <i>H</i>-Band Spectra, V: Neutral Sodium

In order to derive sodium abundances and investigate the effects of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) on the formation of H-band Na I lines, we update the sodium atomic model by incorporating collision rates with hydrogen from new quantum-mechanical calculations. The differential Na abundances for 13 sample stars are obtained by analyzing high-resolution H-band spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) and optical spectra under both local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and NLTE conditions. Consistent abundances from both bands suggest that our updated atomic model is valid for studying the formation of H-band Na I lines. Our calculations show that, in our stellar parameter space, NLTE effects are negative and can result in corrections larger than −0.4 dex on optical lines. The corrections on H-band Na I lines are typically small, within about 0.05 dex, but not negligible if accurate sodium abundance is desired. We note that the [Na/Fe] ratios favor the theoretical galactic chemical model

Effects of temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of IN718 reinforced by reduced graphene oxide through spark plasma sintering

The research of Nickel-based superalloys with excellent mechanical properties is of significance for aerospace. Here we report the effect of sintering temperature of 850 °C, 900 °C and 950 °C with the heating rate of 100 °C/min via spark plasma sintering (SPS) on Inconel 718 (IN718) superalloy reinforced with 0.25 wt. % reduced oxide graphene (RGO). The microstructures and mechanical properties of IN718-RGO composite were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and MTS servo hydraulic testing machine, respectively. SEM results demonstrate that the RGO is almost uniformly distributed into the IN718 powders after 3D rock-milling for 8 h. The mechanical properties of the composite increase with increasing the sintering temperature. When the sintering temperature is 950 °C, a relative density of 92.5%, a microhardness of 375 Hv and an ultimate compressive strength of 1748.20 MPa after aging heat treatment was obtained for the IN718-0.25 wt. % RGO, respectively. The fracture mechanism of the composite changes from intergranular fracture to transgranular fracture with the sintering temperature increasing