Development of Forest Engineering in China — Looking Ahead Ten Years

This paper highlights the development and prediction of forest engineering and forest engineering education in China. The activities of forest engineering has changed significantly since the introduction of a market economy into China. Profitability and economic efficiency are emphasized. Techniques and education systems in forest engineering must not be transferred mechanically from other countries. They must match existing social, economic, and physical conditions. The importance of forests in supplying non-wood forest products such as water and soil protection, climate adjustment, honey, nuts, mushrooms, medical plants and wildlife need to be considered when decisions are made about forest engineering activities, such as forest harvesting. Forest operations, as an important part of integrated forestry, should be planned from the point of view of sustainability of both timber and non-timber forest products. It is evident that a concerted effort is needed to encourage forest development programs that harmonize interests in conserving forests as well as to wisely use the potential of the forest while maintaining its full regeneration capacity. All forest engineering activities, such as forest resource surveying and harvesting planning, forest road planning and construction, harvesting , post-harvesting site disposal, planting and protection and so on should serve the key purpose of sustainable forestry. In view of the forest quality decline in China, it is essential that forest engineering practices are carried out in a manner to guarantee the sustainability of the forest resources base. "The Natural Forest Protection Project”, just started in 1998 in China brings challenges and changes to forest engineering. The environmentally sound, low cost and high efficient techniques of forest engineering will be the spotlight of research in the future

Isoform-specific modulation of the chemical sensitivity of conserved TRPA1 channel in the major honeybee ectoparasitic mite, Tropilaelaps mercedesae

We identified and characterized the TRPA1 channel of Tropilaelaps mercedesae (TmTRPA1), one of two major species of honeybee ectoparasitic mite. Three TmTRPA1 isoforms with unique N-terminal sequences were activated by heat, and the isoform highly expressed in the mite's front legs, TmTRPA1b, was also activated by 27 plant-derived compounds including electrophiles. This suggests that the heat- and electrophile-dependent gating mechanisms as nocisensitive TRPA1 channel are well conserved between arthropod species. Intriguingly, one TmTRPA1 isoform, TmTRPA1a, was activated by only six compounds compared with two other isoforms, demonstrating that the N-terminal sequences are critical determinants for the chemical sensitivity. This is the first example of isoform-specific modulation of chemical sensitivity of TRPA1 channel in one species. α-terpineol showed repellent activity towards T. mercedesae in a laboratory assay and repressed T. mercedesae entry for reproduction into the brood cells with fifth instar larvae in hives. Thus, α-terpineol could be used as the potential compound to control two major honeybee ectoparasitic mites, T. mercedesae and Varroa destructor, in the apiculture industry

Preparation and ferroelectric properties of (124)-oriented SrBi4Ti4O15 ferroelectric thin film on (110)-oriented LaNiO3 electrode

A (124)-oriented SrBi4Ti4O15 (SBTi) ferroelectric thin film with high volume fraction of {\alpha}SBTi(124)=97% was obtained using a metal organic decomposition process on SiO2/Si substrate coated by (110)-oriented LaNiO3 (LNO) thin film. The remanent polarization and coercive field for (124)-oriented SBTi film are 12.1 {\mu}C/cm2 and 74 kV/cm, respectively. No evident fatigue of (124)-oriented SBTi thin film can be observed after 1{\times}10e9 switching cycles. Besides, the (124)-oriented SBTi film can be uniformly polarized over large areas using a piezoelectric-mode atomic force microscope. Considering that the annealing temperature was 650{\deg}C and the thickness of each deposited layer was merely 30 nm, a long-range epitaxial relationship between SBTi(124) and LNO(110) facets was proposed. The epitaxial relationship was demonstrated based on the crystal structures of SBTi and LNO.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, published in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (JMSE), 19 (2008), 1031-103

Genetic Dissection of Root Angle of Brassica napus in Response to Low Phosphorus

Plant root angle determines the vertical and horizontal distribution of roots in the soil layer, which further influences the acquisition of phosphorus (P) in topsoil. Large genetic variability for the lateral root angle (root angle) was observed in a linkage mapping population (BnaTNDH population) and an association panel of Brassica napus whether at a low P (LP) or at an optimal P (OP). At LP, the average root angle of both populations became smaller. Nine quantitative trait loci (QTLs) at LP and three QTLs at OP for the root angle and five QTLs for the relative root angle (RRA) were identified by the linkage mapping analysis in the BnaTNDH population. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) revealed 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with the root angle at LP (LPRA). The interval of a QTL for LPRA on A06 (qLPRA-A06c) overlapped with the confidence region of the leading SNP (Bn-A06-p14439400) significantly associated with LPRA. In addition, a QTL cluster on chromosome C01 associated with the root angle and the primary root length (PRL) in the “pouch and wick” high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) system, the root P concentration in the agar system, and the seed yield in the field was identified in the BnaTNDH population at LP. A total of 87 genes on A06 and 192 genes on C01 were identified within the confidence interval, and 14 genes related to auxin asymmetric redistribution and root developmental process were predicted to be candidate genes. The identification and functional analyses of these genes affecting LPRA are of benefit to the cultivar selection with optimal root system architecture (RSA) under P deficiency in Brassica napus

Dysregulation of sphingolipid metabolism in pain

Pain is a clinical condition that is currently of great concern and is often caused by tissue or nerve damage or occurs as a concomitant symptom of a variety of diseases such as cancer. Severe pain seriously affects the functional status of the body. However, existing pain management programs are not fully satisfactory. Therefore, there is a need to delve deeper into the pathological mechanisms underlying pain generation and to find new targets for drug therapy. Sphingolipids (SLs), as a major component of the bilayer structure of eukaryotic cell membranes, also have powerful signal transduction functions. Sphingolipids are abundant, and their intracellular metabolism constitutes a huge network. Sphingolipids and their various metabolites play significant roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, etc., and have powerful biological activities. The molecules related to sphingolipid metabolism, mainly the core molecule ceramide and the downstream metabolism molecule sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), are involved in the specific mechanisms of neurological disorders as well as the onset and progression of various types of pain, and are closely related to a variety of pain-related diseases. Therefore, sphingolipid metabolism can be the focus of research on pain regulation and provide new drug targets and ideas for pain

Kinesin-4 Functions in Vesicular Transport on Cortical Microtubules and Regulates Cell Wall Mechanics during Cell Elongation in Plants.

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/abstract/S1674-2052%2815%2900091-X.In plants, anisotropic cell expansion depends on cortical microtubules that serve as tracks along which macromolecules and vesicles are transported by the motor kinesins of unknown identities. We used cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) fibers that underwent robust elongation to discover kinesins that are involved in cell elongation and found Gh KINESIN-4A expressed abundantly. The motor was detected by immunofluorescence on vesicle-like structures that were associated with cortical microtubules. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the orthologous motor At KINESIN-4A/FRA1, previously implicated in cellulose deposition during secondary growth in fiber cells, was examined by live-cell imaging in cells expressing the fluorescently tagged functional protein. The motor decorated vesicle-like particles that exhibit a linear movement along cortical microtubules with an average velocity of 0.89 μm/min, which was significantly different from those linked to cellulose biosynthesis. We also discovered that At KINESIN-4A/FRA1 and the related At KINESIN-4C play redundant roles in cell wall mechanics, cell elongation, and the axial growth of various vegetative and reproductive organs, as the loss of At KINESIN-4C greatly enhanced the defects caused by a null mutation at the KINESIN-4A/FRA1 locus. The double mutant displayed a lack of cell wall softening at normal stages of rapid cell elongation. Furthermore, enhanced deposition of arabinose-containing carbohydrate was detected in the kinesin-4 mutants. Our findings established a connection between the Kinesin-4-based transport of cargoes containing non-cellulosic components along cortical microtubules and cell wall mechanics and cell elongation in flowering plants.This report is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant MCB-1243959 (BL and YRJL), Physical Biosciences Program of the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy under the contracts DE-FG02-04ER15554 (BL) and DEFG02- 03ER15415 (Z-HY). SL is supported by the Center for LignoCellulose Structure and Formation, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under the award DE-SC0001090 and SAB is supported by a Gatsby Foundation Fellowship

Genetic variants associated with the root system architecture of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) under contrasting phosphate supply

Breeding crops with ideal root system architecture for efficient absorption of phosphorus is an important strategy to reduce the use of phosphate fertilizers. To investigate genetic variants leading to changes in root system architecture, 405 oilseed rape cultivars were genotyped with a 60K Brassica Infinium SNP array in low and high P environments. A total of 285 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with root system architecture traits at varying phosphorus levels. Nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms corroborate a previous linkage analysis of root system architecture quantitative trait loci in the BnaTNDH population. One peak single-nucleotide polymorphism region on A3 was associated with all root system architecture traits and co-localized with a quantitative trait locus for primary root length at low phosphorus. Two more single-nucleotide polymorphism peaks on A5 for root dry weight at low phosphorus were detected in both growth systems and co-localized with a quantitative trait locus for the same trait. The candidate genes identified on A3 form a haplotype ‘BnA3Hap’, that will be important for understanding the phosphorus/root system interaction and for the incorporation into Brassica napus breeding programs