Functionality of soybean CBF/DREB1 transcription factors

Soybean (Glycine max) is considered to be cold intolerant and is not able to significantly acclimate to cold/freezing stress. In most cold tolerant plants, the C-repeat/DRE Binding Factors (CBF/DREBs) are critical contributors to successful cold-responses; rapidly increasing following cold treatment and regulating the induction of many cold responsive genes. In soybean vegetative tissue, we found strong, transient accumulation of CBF transcripts in response to cold stress; however, the soybean transcripts of typical cold responsive genes (homologues to Arabidopsis genes such as dehydrins, ADH1, RAP2.1, and LEA14) were not significantly altered. Soybean CBFs were found to be functional, as when expressed constitutively in Arabidopsis they increased the levels of AtCOR47 and AtRD29a transcripts and increased freezing tolerance as measured by a decrease in leaf freezing damage and ion leakage. Furthermore the constitutive expression of GmDREB1A;2 and GmDREB1B;1 in Arabidopsis led to stronger up-regulation of downstream genes and more freezing tolerance than GmDREB1A;1, the gene whose transcript is the major contributor to total CBF/DREB1 transcripts in soybean. The inability for the soybean CBFs to significantly up regulate the soybean genes that contribute to cold tolerance is consistent with poor acclimation capability and the cold intolerance of soybean

Press Forming Process of Closed-profile Automotive Parts Without Flange

AbstractAutomobiles are required weight reduction and improvement of collision safety. Additionally, rigidity of vehicle bodies is important performance that affects driving stability. Collision safety and rigidity of vehicles are strongly affected by strength and rigidity of the structural components. Accordingly, they are made of high strength steel / ultra-high strength steel and have closed cross section shapes (closed-profiles). Conventional closed-profile components are currently assembled by spot welding of two press-formed parts. Flanges of press-formed parts are required for spot welding and inhibit weight reduction. In the present situation, a new forming method was developed for closed-profile parts without flanges. The developed method was constituted three forming processes by using conventional mechanical press machines. In the 1st process, a steel sheet was partially stretched for adjustment of the cross section length and formed folds at ridgeline positions of the final shape. In the 2nd process, the formed sheet in 1st process was bent by press forming. In the 3rd process, the formed sheet in 2nd process was closed to hexagonal cross section shape by side tools which were driven transversely by cams. And finally it was added compression in plain by the punch. Trial product by the developed forming method satisfied the target performances (bending and torsion rigidity and collision strength). Weight reduction ratio was 39% by optimization of the cress section shape and removing flanges

Henkilöstöasiat

Table S7. qPCR primers used for validation of the microarray data. (XLS 37 kb

Aegilops tauschii Introgressions Improve Physio-Biochemical Traits and Metabolite Plasticity in Bread Wheat under Drought Stress

With the aim of providing genetic materials for breeding drought-resistant wheat varieties, the physiological and metabolic plasticity of three drought-resistant wheat multiple synthetic derivative lines (MSDLs) and their backcross parent “Norin 61” (N61) were evaluated in response to drought stress. The results indicated that the D-genome introgressions from Aegilops tauschii into the MDSLs improved their drought-adaptive traits. Specifically, MNH5 and MSD345 showed higher photosynthesis rates and triose phosphate utilization than N61 under control conditions, resulting in greater accumulation of glucose and sucrose in the shoots. However, under drought stress, MNH5 and MSD345 had higher intrinsic water use efficiency than MSD53 and N61. The total antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase activity increased in all three MSDLs, whereas no significant changes were found in N61 in response to drought stress. Metabolome analysis identified six common drought-induced metabolites in all of the investigated genotypes. However, four metabolites (adenine, gamma aminobutyric acid, histidine, and putrescine) each specifically accumulated in an MSDL in response to drought stress, suggesting that these metabolites are important for MSDL drought resistance. In conclusion, MNH5 and MSD345 showed better adaptive responses to drought stress than MSD53 and N61, suggesting that these two MSDLs could be explored for breeding drought-resistant wheat lines

Glycine max and Glycine soja are capable of cold acclimation

Soybean has been considered a cold intolerant species; based largely upon seed germination and soil emergent evaluations. This study reports a distinct acquisition of cold tolerance, in seedlings, following short acclimation periods. Diversity in cold responses was assessed in eight cultivars of Glycine max and six accessions of G. soja. All varieties of soybean significantly increased in freezing tolerance following acclimation. This study indicates soybean seedlings are indeed capable of sensing cold and acquiring cold tolerance. Germination rates after cold imbibition were negatively correlated with maturity group, but positively correlated with cold acclimation potential in G. soja. Seed fatty acid composition was varied between the species, with Glycine soja accessions containing about 2-times more linolenic acid (18:3) than G. max. Furthermore, high levels of linoleic acid (18:2) in seeds were positively correlated with germination rates following cold imbibition in G. soja only. We suggest that domestication has not impacted the overall ability of soybean to cold acclimate at the seedling stage and that there is little variation within the domesticated species for ability to cold acclimate. Thus, this brief comparative study reduces the enthusiasm for the “wild” species as an additional source of genetic diversity for cold tolerance

The Ethylene Signaling Pathway Negatively Impacts CBF/DREB-Regulated Cold Response in Soybean (Glycine max)

During cold stress, soybean CBF/DREB1 transcript levels increase rapidly; however, expected downstream targets appear unresponsive. Here, we asked whether the ethylene signaling pathway, which is enhanced in the cold can negatively regulate the soybean CBF/DREB1 cold responsive pathway; thus contributing to the relatively poor cold tolerance of soybean. Inhibition of the ethylene signaling pathway resulted in a significant increase in GmDREB1A;1 and GmDREB1A;2 transcripts, while stimulation led to decreased GmDREB1A;1 and GmDREB1B;1 transcripts. A cold responsive reporter construct (AtRD29Aprom::GFP/GUS), as well as predicted downstream targets of soybean CBF/DREB1 [Glyma.12g015100 (ADH), Glyma.14g212200 (ubiquitin ligase), Glyma.05g186700 (AP2), and Glyma.19g014600 (CYP)] were impacted by the modulation of the ethylene signaling pathway. Photosynthetic parameters were affected by ethylene pathway stimulation, but only at control temperatures. Freezing tolerance (as measured by electrolyte leakage), free proline, and MDA; in both acclimated and non-acclimated plants were increased by silver nitrate but not by other ethylene pathway inhibitors. This work provides evidence that the ethylene signaling pathway, possibly through the action of EIN3, transcriptionally inhibits the CBF/DREB1 pathway in soybean

Unified Relationship between Cold Plasma Ejections and Flare Energies Ranging from Solar Microflares to Giant Stellar Flares

We often find spectral signatures of chromospheric cold plasma ejections accompanied by flares in a wide range of spatial scales in the solar and stellar atmospheres. However, the relationship between physical quantities (such as mass, kinetic energy, and velocity) of cold ejecta and flare energy has not been investigated in a unified manner for the entire range of flare energies to date. This study analyzed the spectra of cold plasma ejections associated with small-scale flares and solar flares (energy $10^{25}-10^{29}\,\mathrm{erg}$) to supply smaller energy samples. We performed H$\alpha$ imaging spectroscopy observation by the Solar Dynamics Doppler Imager on the Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope (SMART/SDDI). We determined the physical quantities of the ejecta by cloud model fitting to the H$\alpha$ spectrum. We determined flare energy by differential emission measure analysis using Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/AIA) for small-scale flares and by estimating the bolometric energy for large-scale flares. As a result, we found that the ejection mass $M$ and the total flare energy $E_{\mathrm{tot}}$ follow a relation of $M\propto E_{\mathrm{tot}}^{2/3}$. We show that the scaling law derived from a simple physical model explains the solar and stellar observations with a coronal magnetic field strength as a free parameter. We also found that the kinetic energy and velocity of the ejecta correlate with the flare energy. These results suggest a common mechanism driven by magnetic fields to cause cold plasma ejections with flares on the Sun and stars.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Ap

Thermodynamic properties of small flares in the quiet Sun observed by Hα\alpha and EUV: plasma motion of the chromosphere and time evolution of temperature/emission measure

Small flares frequently occur in the quiet Sun. Previous studies have noted that they share many common characteristics with typical solar flares in active regions. However, their similarities and differences are not fully understood, especially their thermal properties. In this study, we performed imaging spectroscopic observations in the H$\alpha$ line taken with the Solar Dynamics Doppler Imager on the Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope (SMART/SDDI) at the Hida Observatory and imaging observations with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/AIA). We analysed 25 cases of small flares in the quiet Sun over the thermal energy range of $10^{24}-10^{27}\,\mathrm{erg}$, paying particular attention to their thermal properties. Our main results are as follows: (1) We observe a redshift together with line centre brightening in the H$\alpha$ line associated with more than half of the small flares. (2) We employ differential emission measure analysis using AIA multi-temperature (channel) observations to obtain the emission measure and temperature of the small flares. The results are consistent with the Shibata & Yokoyama (1999, 2002) scaling law. From the scaling law, we estimated the coronal magnetic field strength of small flares to be 5 --15 G. (3) The temporal evolution of the temperature and the density shows that the temperature peaks precede the density peaks in more than half of the events. These results suggest that chromospheric evaporations/condensations play an essential role in the thermal properties of some of the small flares in the quiet Sun, as does for large flares.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA