COP1-ERF1-SCE1 regulatory module fine-tunes stress response under light-dark cycle in Arabidopsis.

ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 1 (ERF1) plays an important role in integrating hormone crosstalk and stress responses. Previous studies have shown that ERF1 is unstable in the dark and its degradation is mediated by UBIQUITIN-CONJUGATING ENZYME 18. However, whether there are other enzymes regulating ERF1's stability remains unclear. Here, we use various in vitro and in vivo biochemical, genetic and stress-tolerance tests to demonstrate that both CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1) and SUMO-CONJUGATING ENZYME 1 (SCE1) regulate the stability of ERF1. We also performed transcriptomic analyses to understand their common regulatory pathways. We show that COP1 mediates ERF1 ubiquitination in the dark while SCE1 mediates ERF1 sumoylation in the light. ERF1 stability is positively regulated by SCE1 and negatively regulated by COP1. Upon abiotic stress, SCE1 plays a positive role in stress defence by regulating the expression of ERF1's downstream stress-responsive genes, whereas COP1 plays a negative role in stress response. Moreover, ERF1 also promotes photomorphogenesis and the expression of light-responsive genes. Our study reveals the molecular mechanism of how COP1 and SCE1 counteract to regulate ERF1's stability and light-stress signalling crosstalk.

Plasmonic Bismuth Nanoparticles: Thiolate Pyrolysis Synthesis, Size-Dependent LSPR Property, and Their Oxidation Behavior.

Plasmonics, especially the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in non-noble metal bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs), and its spectral features and applications have stimulated increasing research interest in recent years. However, the lack of mature methods to prepare Bi NPs with a well-controlled size and/or shape significantly limits the experimental investigations concerning the LSPR optical properties. Herein, we realize the size-tunable synthesis of nearly monodisperse spherical Bi NPs through a thiolate pyrolysis reaction in solution. The instantaneous thermolysis of a layered molecular intermediate, bismuth dodecanethiolate [Bi(SC12H25)3], results in a classical LaMer mechanism for the nucleation and growth of Bi NPs, allowing for a precise size control from 65 to 205 nm in the average diameter. The diameter tunability enables a systematic study on the size dependence of LSPR optical properties of Bi NPs, and we observe rich ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectral responses arising from the LSPR absorption and scattering of Bi NPs as their size varies, which will greatly benefit the light harvesting and manipulation in the solar spectrum. Furthermore, we find that a complete oxidation occurs to Bi NPs under air flow at the temperature when they melt and accordingly generate metastable tetragonal-phase ß-Bi2O3 NPs that show an optical band gap of 2.15 eV and interesting temperature-dependent ß â†’ α → δ → (γ + ß) polymorphic transitions.