ABSTRACT
Light is an important environmental factor influencing plant growth and development. However, artificial light supplement is difficult to spread for its high energy consumption. In recent years, rare-earth light conversion film (RPO) covering is being focused on to be a new technology to study the mechanism of light affecting plant growth and development. Compared with the polyolefin film (PO), the RPO film advanced the temperature and light environment inside the greenhouse. Ultimately, improved growth and higher yield were detected because of a higher photosynthesis, Rubisco activity and Rubisco small subunit transcription. Compared with that in the greenhouse with polyolefin film, the plant height, stem diameter and internode length of sweet pepper treated with RPO increased by 11.05, 16.96 and 25.27%, respectively. In addition, Gibberellic acid 3 (GA3), Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), Zeatin Riboside contents were increased by 11.95, 2.84 and 16.19%, respectively, compared with that with PO film. The fruit quality was improved, and the contents of ascorbic acid (Vc), soluble protein and soluble sugar were significantly higher than those of PO film, respectively, increased by 14.29, 47.10 and 67.69%. On the basis of improved fruit quality, the yield of RPO treatment increased by 20.34% compared with PO film. This study introduces an effective and low-energy method to study the mechanism and advancing plant growth in fruit vegetables production.
ABSTRACT
Insects rely on their olfactory systems in antennae to recognize sex pheromones and plant volatiles in surrounding environments. Some carboxylesterases (CXEs) are odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs), degrading odorant signals to protect the olfactory neurons against continuous excitation. However, there is no report about CXEs in Holotrichia parallela, one of the most major agricultural underground pests in China. In the present study, 20 candidate CXEs were identified based on transcriptome analysis of female and male antennae. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic analysis were performed to investigate the characterization of these candidate CXEs. The expression profiles of CXEs were compared by RT-qPCR analysis between olfactory and non-olfactory tissues of both genders. HparCXE4, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 were antenna-biased expressed genes, suggesting their possible roles as ODEs. HparCXE6, 10, 11, 13, and 16 showed significantly higher expression profiles in male antennae, whereas HparCXE18 was expressed more in female antennae. This study highlighted candidate CXE genes linked to odorant degradation in antennae, and provided a useful resource for further work on the H. parallela olfactory mechanism and selection of target genes for integrative control of H. parallela.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Depression seems to aggravate progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). Hypoxia stress may be one of the pathogenic factors leading to PD. We investigated the characteristics of PD and factors related to Parkinson's disease depression (PDD) at high altitude (mean altitude ≥2300 m). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Totally 221 PD patients of three different nationalities (Han, Hui, and Tibetan) were recruited in a high-altitude hospital. Depression was present in 55.6% of them. Patient data were examined, including demographic information, medical history, disease duration and family history. Psychopathological characteristics and motor signs were assessed by the Hamilton Depression scale (HAMD) and scales for motor and non-motor symptoms in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Progression of PD was evaluated by the modified Hoehn and Yahr (H-Y) staging system. RESULTS: Mean age (47.1% men) was 68.25±13.67 years old, with disease duration of 4.18±5.13 years and median H-Y scores 2.07±0.97 points. Among three different nationalities, PD rate was 69.2% in Han nationals, 17.6% in Hui nationals and 13.1% in Tibetans of 221 PD patients. Compared with the non-depressed PD group, female, no-smoking and living alone rates, and dysphagia, pain, H-Y stage, ADL, UPDRS-I, UPDRS-III, HAMA, and PSQI scores were significantly increased in the PDD group, while MMSE scores were significantly decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01). PD patients of Han and Hui nationalities had increased depression rates compared with Tibetan individuals (P<0.05). Compared with the mild depression group, the moderate and severe depression groups had significantly increased salivation, dysphagia, H-Y stage, UPDRS-I, UPDRS-III, HAMA, and PSQI scores (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Living alone rates and ADL scores were increased in the severe depression group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that living alone (OR=19.833, 95% CI: 2.758-142.624, P<0.01), UPDRS-III score (OR=1.079, 95% CI: 1.009-1.153, P<0.05), and PSQI score (OR=1.538, 95% CI: 1.347-1.755, P<0.001) were risk factors for PDD. Male gender (OR=0.292, 95% CI: 0.112-0.763, P<0.05) was a protective factor in PDD. CONCLUSION: PDD is associated with gender, ethnicity, loneliness, non-motor symptoms (NMSs), motor symptoms, and disease severity, and depression severity. Living alone, dyskinesia, and sleep disorder are risk factors for PDD at high altitude. A relative protection against depression was observed in the Tibetan population.
