Long noncoding RNAs underlie multiple domestication traits and leafhopper resistance in soybean.

The origin and functionality of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) remain poorly understood. Here, we show that multiple quantitative trait loci modulating distinct domestication traits in soybeans are pleiotropic effects of a locus composed of two tandem lncRNA genes. These lncRNA genes, each containing two inverted repeats, originating from coding sequences of the MYB genes, function in wild soybeans by generating clusters of small RNA (sRNA) species that inhibit the expression of their MYB gene relatives through post-transcriptional regulation. By contrast, the expression of lncRNA genes in cultivated soybeans is severely repressed, and, consequently, the corresponding MYB genes are highly expressed, shaping multiple distinct domestication traits as well as leafhopper resistance. The inverted repeats were formed before the divergence of the Glycine genus from the Phaseolus-Vigna lineage and exhibit strong structure-function constraints. This study exemplifies a type of target for selection during plant domestication and identifies mechanisms of lncRNA formation and action.

A new method for detecting mixed bacteria based on multi-wavelength transmission spectroscopy technology.

Previously, we successfully realized the identification of a single species of bacteria based on the multi-wavelength transmission spectrum of bacteria. The current research is focused on realizing the spectral analysis of mixed bacteria. Principal component analysis-Monte Carlo (PCA-MC) model was developed for the implementation of spectral separation of mixed bacteria by obtaining the ratio of components. And, the separated spectrum was regarded as the model input of the neural network concentration inversion model to obtain the concentration of each bacteria in the mix. Mean relative errors in component analysis of mixing S.aureus with K.pneumoniae, mixing S.aureus with S.typhimurium twice, mixing K.pneumoniae with S.typhimurium are 3%, 2%, 3.9% and 6.1%, respectively. The coefficient of determination (R2) of validation set and test set are 0.9947 and 0.9954 in concentration inversion model. The results show that this method can quickly and accurately determine the component ratio and concentration information in the mixed bacteria. A new method was proposed to separate the spectrum of mixed bacteria effectively and measure its concentration quickly, which makes a big step forward in the detection and online monitoring of waterborne microbial contamination based on multi-wavelength transmission spectroscopy.

A transposon-mediated reciprocal translocation promotes environmental adaptation but compromises domesticability of wild soybeans.

Large structural variations frequently occur in higher plants; however, the impact of such variations on plant diversification, adaptation and domestication remains elusive. Here, we mapped and characterised a reciprocal chromosomal translocation in soybeans and assessed its effects on diversification and adaptation of wild (Glycine soja) and semiwild (Glycine gracilis) soybeans, and domestication of cultivated soybean (Glycine max), by tracing the distribution of the translocation in the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection and population genetics analysis. We demonstrate that the translocation occurred through CACTA transposon-mediated chromosomal breakage in wild soybean c. 0.34 Ma and is responsible for semisterility in translocation heterozygotes and reduces their reproductive fitness. The translocation has differentiated Continental (i.e. China and Russia) populations from Maritime (i.e. Korea and Japan) populations of G. soja and predominately adapted to cold and dry climates. Further analysis revealed that the divergence of G. max from G. soja predates the translocation event and that G. gracilis is an evolutionary intermediate between G. soja and G. max. Our results highlight the effects of a chromosome rearrangement on the processes leading to plant divergence and adaptation, and provides evidence that suggests G. gracilis, rather than G. soja, as the ancestor of cultivated soybean.

Artificial neural networks combined multi-wavelength transmission spectrum feature extraction for sensitive identification of waterborne bacteria.

Present research is focused on the rapid and accurate identification of bacterial species based on artificial neural networks combined with spectral data processing technology. The spectra of different bacterial species in the logarithmic growth phase were obtained. Model input features were extracted from the raw spectra using signal processing techniques, including normalization, principal component analysis (PCA) and area-based feature value extraction. The identification models based on artificial neural network of back propagation neural networks (BPNN), generalized regression neural networks (GRNN) and probabilistic neural networks (PNN) were developed using the extracted features in order to ascertain whether the different species of bacteria could be differentiated. The performance of developed models and its corresponding signal processing techniques is tested by the recognition accuracy of validation set and test set, and model error. The maximum recognition accuracy of normalized spectrum combined with BPNN was 95.5% (error: 10%, test accuracy: 100%). The total recognition accuracy of PCA-reduced features (200-400 nm) combined with GRNN resulted in 96.3%~96.8% (error: 3.3%~6.7%, test accuracy: 97.5%~100%). While the overall recognition accuracy of area-based features combined with GRNN reached 97.3% with test accuracy of 100% (model error: 5.0%). Choosing of model and signal processing techniques has a positive influence on improving classification accuracy, so as to make it possible to realize the rapid detection and online monitoring of waterborne microbial contamination.

Rhizobial tRNA-derived small RNAs are signal molecules regulating plant nodulation.

Rhizobial infection and root nodule formation in legumes require recognition of signal molecules produced by the bacteria and their hosts. Here, we show that rhizobial transfer RNA (tRNA)-derived small RNA fragments (tRFs) are signal molecules that modulate host nodulation. Three families of rhizobial tRFs were confirmed to regulate host genes associated with nodule initiation and development through hijacking the host RNA-interference machinery that involves ARGONAUTE 1. Silencing individual tRFs with the use of short tandem target mimics or by overexpressing their targets represses root hair curling and nodule formation, whereas repressing these targets with artificial microRNAs identical to the respective tRFs or mutating these targets with CRISPR-Cas9 promotes nodulation. Our findings thus uncover a bacterial small RNA-mediated mechanism for prokaryote-eukaryote interaction and may pave the way for enhancing nodulation efficiency in legumes.

Strigolactone promotes cytokinin degradation through transcriptional activation of CYTOKININ OXIDASE/DEHYDROGENASE 9 in rice.

Strigolactones (SLs), a group of terpenoid lactones derived from carotenoids, are plant hormones that control numerous aspects of plant development. Although the framework of SL signaling that the repressor DWARF 53 (D53) could be SL-dependently degraded via the SL receptor D14 and F-box protein D3 has been established, the downstream response genes to SLs remain to be elucidated. Here we show that the cytokinin (CK) content is dramatically increased in shoot bases of the rice SL signaling mutant d53 By examining transcript levels of all the CK metabolism-related genes after treatment with SL analog GR24, we identified CYTOKININ OXIDASE/DEHYDROGENASE 9 (OsCKX9) as a primary response gene significantly up-regulated within 1 h of treatment in the wild type but not in d53 We also found that OsCKX9 functions as a cytosolic and nuclear dual-localized CK catabolic enzyme, and that the overexpression of OsCKX9 suppresses the browning of d53 calli. Both the CRISPR/Cas9-generated OsCKX9 mutants and OsCKX9-overexpressing transgenic plants showed significant increases in tiller number and decreases in plant height and panicle size, suggesting that the homeostasis of OsCKX9 plays a critical role in regulating rice shoot architecture. Moreover, we identified the CK-inducible rice type-A response regulator OsRR5 as the secondary SL-responsive gene, whose expression is significantly repressed after 4 h of GR24 treatment in the wild type but not in osckx9 These findings reveal a comprehensive plant hormone cross-talk in which SL can induce the expression of OsCKX9 to down-regulate CK content, which in turn triggers the response of downstream genes.

SLR1 inhibits MOC1 degradation to coordinate tiller number and plant height in rice.

The breeding of cereals with altered gibberellin (GA) signaling propelled the 'Green Revolution' by generating semidwarf plants with increased tiller number. The mechanism by which GAs promote shoot height has been studied extensively, but it is not known what causes the inverse relationship between plant height and tiller number. Here we show that rice tiller number regulator MONOCULM 1 (MOC1) is protected from degradation by binding to the DELLA protein SLENDER RICE 1 (SLR1). GAs trigger the degradation of SLR1, leading to stem elongation and also to the degradation of MOC1, and hence a decrease in tiller number. This discovery provides a molecular explanation for the coordinated control of plant height and tiller number in rice by GAs, SLR1 and MOC1.

Abundance, rather than composition, of methane-cycling microbes mainly affects methane emissions from different vegetation soils in the Zoige alpine wetland.

Methane fluxes, which are controlled by methanogens and methanotrophs, vary among wetland vegetation species. In this study, we investigated belowground methanogens and methanotrophs in two soils under two different dominant vegetation species with different methane fluxes in the Zoige wetland, which was slightly but significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher in soils covered by Carex muliensis than that in soils covered by Eleocharis valleculosa. Real-time quantitative PCR and Illumina MiSeq sequencing methods were used to elucidate the microbial communities based on the key genes involved in methane production and oxidation. The absolute abundances of methanogens and methanotrophs of samples from C. muliensis were 1.80 ± 0.07 × 106 and 4.03 ± 0.28 × 106 copies g-soil-1 , respectively, and which from E. valleculosa were 3.99 ± 0.19 × 105 and 2.53 ± 0.22 × 106 copies g-soil-1 , respectively. The t-test result showed that both the abundance of methanogens and methanotrophs from C. muliensis were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) than that of samples from E. valleculosa. However, the diversities and compositions of both methanogens and methanotrophs showed no significant differences (p ≥ 0.05) between vegetation species. The path analysis showed that the microbial abundance had a greater effect than the microbial diversity on methane production potentials and the regression analysis also showed that the methane emissions significantly (p ≤ 0.05) varied with the abundance of methane-cycling microbes. These findings imply that abundance rather than diversity and composition of a methane-cycling microbial community is the major contributor to the variations in methane emissions between vegetation types in the Zoige wetland.

Scanning vertical distributions of typical aerosols along the Yangtze River using elastic lidar.

In recent years, China has experienced heavy air pollution, especially haze caused by particulate matter (PM). The compositions, horizontal distributions, transport, and chemical formation mechanisms of PM and its precursors have been widely investigated in China based on near-ground measurements. However, the understanding of the distributions and physical and chemical processes of PM in the vertical direction remains limited. In this study, an elastic lidar was employed to investigate the vertical profiles of aerosols along the Yangtze River during the Yangtze River Campaign of winter 2015. Some typical aerosols were identified and some events were analyzed in three cases. Dust aerosols can be transported from the Gobi Desert to the Yangtze River basin across a long distance at both low and high altitudes in early December. The transport route was perpendicular to the ship track, suggesting that the dust aerosols may have affected a large area. Moreover, during transport, some dust was also affected by the areas below its transport route since some anthropogenic pollutants were mixed with the dust and changed some of its optical properties. Biomass-burning aerosols covering a distant range along the Yangtze River were identified. This result directly shows the impact areas of biomass-burning aerosols in some agricultural fields. Some directly emitted aerosol plumes were observed, and direct effects of such plumes were limited both temporally and spatially. In addition, an aerosol plume with very low linear depolarization ratios, probably formed through secondary processes, was also observed. These results can help us better understand aerosols in large spatial scales in China and can be useful to regional haze studies.

IPA1 functions as a downstream transcription factor repressed by D53 in strigolactone signaling in rice.

Strigolactones (SLs), a group of carotenoid derived terpenoid lactones, are root-to-shoot phytohormones suppressing shoot branching by inhibiting the outgrowth of axillary buds. DWARF 53 (D53), the key repressor of the SL signaling pathway, is speculated to regulate the downstream transcriptional network of the SL response. However, no downstream transcription factor targeted by D53 has yet been reported. Here we report that Ideal Plant Architecture 1 (IPA1), a key regulator of the plant architecture in rice, functions as a direct downstream component of D53 in regulating tiller number and SL-induced gene expression. We showed that D53 interacts with IPA1 in vivo and in vitro and suppresses the transcriptional activation activity of IPA1. We further showed that IPA1 could directly bind to the D53 promoter and plays a critical role in the feedback regulation of SL-induced D53 expression. These findings reveal that IPA1 is likely one of the long-speculated transcription factors that act with D53 to mediate the SL-regulated tiller development in rice.

A D53 repression motif induces oligomerization of TOPLESS corepressors and promotes assembly of a corepressor-nucleosome complex.

TOPLESS are tetrameric plant corepressors of the conserved Tup1/Groucho/TLE (transducin-like enhancer of split) family. We show that they interact through their TOPLESS domains (TPDs) with two functionally important ethylene response factor-associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motifs of the rice strigolactone signaling repressor D53: the universally conserved EAR-3 and the monocot-specific EAR-2. We present the crystal structure of the monocot-specific EAR-2 peptide in complex with the TOPLESS-related protein 2 (TPR2) TPD, in which the EAR-2 motif binds the same TPD groove as jasmonate and auxin signaling repressors but makes additional contacts with a second TPD site to mediate TPD tetramer-tetramer interaction. We validated the functional relevance of the two TPD binding sites in reporter gene assays and in transgenic rice and demonstrate that EAR-2 binding induces TPD oligomerization. Moreover, we demonstrate that the TPD directly binds nucleosomes and the tails of histones H3 and H4. Higher-order assembly of TPD complexes induced by EAR-2 binding markedly stabilizes the nucleosome-TPD interaction. These results establish a new TPD-repressor binding mode that promotes TPD oligomerization and TPD-nucleosome interaction, thus illustrating the initial assembly of a repressor-corepressor-nucleosome complex.

[Rapid Quantitative Detection of Bacterial in Water Based on Multi-Wavelength Scattering Spectra].

The structures of bacterial cells are analyzed in this paper. The scattering components of individual cell were divided into two parts including external structure and internal structure. The interpretation model of bacteria about scattering light is established. The model is used to analyze the scattering light of Escherichia coli in the region of 400~900 nm. The average size of external structure and the internal structure can be obtained, and the ratio of the two parts is also obtained. According to the relationship of the optical density of single cell and the overall measurement, the concentration of bacterial can be obtained quickly. The maximum difference in all the concentrations of the bacteria repeated measurements is 1.83%; compared with the plate culture method, the measurement results were in the same order of magnitude, with relative error of 3.43%. The scattering light of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are analyzed in different growth stages, the curves of the concentration and the size of the two species bacteria over time are obtained. The results can provide a quick way for the study of bacterial growth and technical support for rapid detection of bacteria in the water.

[Effect of Methanol-Water Mixture on Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectra of Carbaryl].

Extensive use of pesticides has a significant impact on the environment. Carbaryl, whose residues stay in the surface water, is one of the most widely used broad spectrum insecticides in agriculture. It is important to understand carbaryl spectral characteristics and detection methods. The characteristic of excitation-emission three-dimensional spectra of carbaryl is studied. By changing the concentration of methanol in methanol-water binary solvent, the impact of methanol-water mixture on three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of carbaryl is discussed. The results show that the characteristic excitation-emission spectra of carbaryl is single peak, the range of the excitation wavelength and emission wavelength are: 244~304 and 300~350 nm respectively, the maximum excitation/emission peak located at 280 and 335 nm. With increasing the content of methanol in methanol-water binary solvent mixture, there is no obviously spectra shift of three dimensional fluorescence spectra of carbaryl. However, the intensity of fluorescence is nonlinear dependent on the content of methanol, mainly due to the specific properties of binary mixed solvent.

[Study of Rapid Species Identification of Bacteria in Water].

Multi-wavelength ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) transmission spectra of bacteria combined the forward scattering and absorption properties of microbes, contains substantial information on size, shape, and the other chemical, physiological character of bacterial cells, has the bacterial species specificity, which can be applied to rapid species identification of bacterial microbes. Four different kinds of bacteria including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Klebsiella pneumonia which were commonly existed in water were researched in this paper. Their multi-wavelength UV-Vis transmission spectra were measured and analyzed. The rapid identification method and model of bacteria were built which were based on support vector machine (SVM) and multi-wavelength UV-Vis transmission spectra of the bacteria. Using the internal cross validation based on grid search method of the training set for obtaining the best penalty factor C and the kernel parameter g, which the model needed. Established the bacteria fast identification model according to the optimal parameters and one-against-one classification method included in LibSVM. Using different experimental bacteria strains of transmission spectra as a test set of classification accuracy verification of the model, the analysis results showed that the bacterial rapid identification model built in this paper can identification the four kinds bacterial which chosen in this paper as the accuracy was 100%, and the model also can identified different subspecies of E. coli test set as the accuracy was 100%, proved the model had a good stability in identification bacterial species. In this paper, the research results of this study not only can provide a method for rapid identification and early warning of bacterial microbial in drinking water sources, but also can be used as the microbes identified in biomedical a simple, rapid and accurate means.

[Study on a new method of fast monitoring toxicity of Cd2+ by algal in water].

Chlorophyll concentration and photosynthesis activity fluorescence parameters of Chlorella pyrenoidosa stressed by different concentrations of Cd2+ were measured based on algal growth inhibition tests and photosynthetic activity inhibition tests. The relationship between the algal photosynthetic activity inhibition rate and 96 h inhibition rate of specific growth rate at different Cd2+ stress times was studied by sigmoidal curve fitting and one-way ANOVA analysis. The result shows that S function relevance exists between the algal photosynthetic activity inhibition rates for 48 h, 53 h, 72 h, 77 h and 96 h respectively and 96 h inhibition rate of specific growth rate (R2 > 0.95). Consequently, EC10 (10% effective concentration) after 48 h and 53 h inhibition in photosynthetic activity inhibition tests could be used to represented EC50 (50% effective concentration) in 96 h algal growth inhibition tests for evaluating the Cd2+ toxicity. Dose-response relationships between the algal photosynthetic activity inhibition rates after 48 h and 53 h inhibition and Cd2+ toxic equivalency quantity were further analyzed. The method provided a rapid and viable new thought to monitoring single Cd2+ toxicity in lab and early warn integrated toxicity of pollution in water.

[The method of phytoplankton photosynthesis activity in-situ measurement based on light induced fluorescence].

According to the phytoplankton fluorescence induction characteristics under different light conditions, chlorophyll fluorescence as a probe for analysis of phytoplankton photosynthesis was studied. The present paper proposed a in-situ measurement method based on the chlorophyll fluorescence values Ft and Fm to get phytoplankton photosynthesis activity, Chlorella vulgaris, microcystis aeruginosa and Cyclotella meneghiniana Kiits were selected as experimental subjects, a comparison test was done between self-developed in-situ measurement system and Water PAM in lab, and the results showed that coefficients between the two methods were 0.9778, 0.8786 and 0.7953. This work provides a rapid and in-situ measurement method for phytoplankton photosynthesis activity.

[Studies on toxicity of four kinds of heavy metals in water by synchronous-scan fluorescence].

Spectrofluorometry of chlorella pyrenoidosa was studied by three dimensional excitation-emission (3DEEM) fluorescence spectroscopy and synchronous scan fluorescence spectroscopy with Delta gamma = 20 nm in the stress of Hg+, Cd2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+. The conclusion from two kinds of Spectrofluorometry was the same: after 96h stress by heavy metals, the maximum fluorescence values reduced obviously, chlorophyll-a and chlorophyll-b in the photosynthetic system were seriously damaged by heavy metal. Further analysis of the correlations between heavy metal concentration and fluorescence quenching efficiency I0/I can conclude that the toxicity of heavy metal and the fluorescence quenching efficiency I0/I were positively correlated, and they all increased with the heavy metal concentration and stress time. For one kind of heavy metals, synchronous scan fluorometry is a sensitive method for its toxicity assessment. Compared to 3DEEM fluorescence spectroscopy, synchronous scan fluorescence spectroscopy is less time consuming and of higher selectivity. It is suitable to assess the toxicity of pollutions in water.

Hydrothermal synthetic mercaptopropionic acid stabled CdTe quantum dots as fluorescent probes for detection of Ag⁺.

Mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) with particle size 3 nm have been successfully synthesized in aqueous medium by hydrothermal synthesis method. And the effects of different metal ions on MPA capped CdTe QDs fluorescence were studied using fluorescence spectrometry. The results demonstrated that at the same concentration level, Ag(+) could strongly quench CdTe QDs fluorescence, and the other metal ions had little effect on CdTe QDs fluorescence except Cu(2+). On the basis of this fact, a rapid, simple, highly sensitive and selective method based on fluorescence quenching principle for Ag(+) detection in aqueous solution was proposed. Under optimal conditions, the quenched fluorescence intensity (F(0)-F) increased linearly with the concentration of Ag(+) ranging from 4 × 10(-7) to 32 × 10(-7)mol L(-1). The limit of detection for Ag(+) was 4.106 × 10(-8)mol L(-1). The obtained plot of F(0)/F versus [Ag(+)] was an upward curvature, concave towards the y-axis, rather than a straight line. The modified form of the Stern-Volmer equation was third order in Ag(+) concentration. According to the modified Stern-Volmer equation, it can be inferred that dynamic quenching and static quenching simultaneously occurred when Ag(+) interacted with MPA capped CdTe QDs. At the same time other factors might also influence the quenching process. Based on this study, hydrothermal synthesized MPA capped CdTe QDs with particle size 3 nm may be used as a novel fluorescence probe to quantificationally and selectively detect Ag(+).

Degradation of MONOCULM 1 by APC/C(TAD1) regulates rice tillering.

A rice tiller is a specialized grain-bearing branch that contributes greatly to grain yield. The MONOCULM 1 (MOC1) gene is the first identified key regulator controlling rice tiller number; however, the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. Here we report a novel rice gene, Tillering and Dwarf 1 (TAD1), which encodes a co-activator of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C), a multi-subunit E3 ligase. Although the elucidation of co-activators and individual subunits of plant APC/C involved in regulating plant development have emerged recently, the understanding of whether and how this large cell-cycle machinery controls plant development is still very limited. Our study demonstrates that TAD1 interacts with MOC1, forms a complex with OsAPC10 and functions as a co-activator of APC/C to target MOC1 for degradation in a cell-cycle-dependent manner. Our findings uncovered a new mechanism underlying shoot branching and shed light on the understanding of how the cell-cycle machinery regulates plant architecture.