Potassium application promote cotton acclimation to soil waterlogging stress by regulating endogenous protective enzymes activities and hormones contents.

To investigate the effect of potassium application on cotton damage mitigation after waterlogging stress, experiments were conducted under two potassium application levels (0 and 150 kg K2O hm-2) with three types of soil waterlogging treatments (0d, 3d and 6d) during cotton flowering stage. The results showed that: (a) under simple soil waterlogging stress, the increments of endogenous hormones contents of IAA, GA3 and ZR in cotton leaves were decreased as days of soil waterlogging. On the contrary, the soluble protein, MDA and ABA contents were significantly increased, while ZR/ABA, IAA/ABA and GA3/ABA were decreased. CAT and POD enzyme activities were increased although SOD activity decreased with the duration of soil waterlogging. (b) Potassium application combined with soil waterlogging significantly affected the antioxidant enzymes activity and endogenous hormones balance compared with soil waterlogging alone, leading to a significant increase in soluble protein and a pronounced decrease in H2O2 content, O2- generation rate, and MDA content, a significant increase in IAA, GA3 and ZR contents while a decrease in ABA content. Besides, it also kept higher SOD, CAT activities and slowly increased POD activity. (c) There was an obvious compensatory effect in cotton after 3d soil waterlogging under potassium application, which promoted rapidly recovery of physiological enzymes activities and ABA content. However, 6d soil waterlogging required a longer time for recovery. These findings were expected to provide a scientific and theoretical basis for reducing flood damage and improving cotton yield.

Elevated temperature and waterlogging decrease cottonseed quality by altering the accumulation and distribution of carbohydrates, oil and protein.

Soil waterlogging and high-temperature events have occurred simultaneously in recent years in the Yangtze River basin cotton belt region of China, negatively affecting the development and quality of cottonseed. This study investigated the effects of the combination of elevated temperature (ET) (34.1/29.0°C) and waterlogging (3 or 6 days) on the accumulation and distribution of oil, protein and carbohydrates in cottonseed during flowering and boll development. The results showed that ET resulted in greater decreases in cottonseed biomass under waterlogging than under control conditions. The combination of waterlogging and ET significantly limited the accumulation of carbohydrates and oil contents. However, ET promoted protein accumulation and compensated for the negative effects of 3-day waterlogging on the final protein content. The combined ET and 6-day waterlogging significantly decreased the final contents of oil and protein by limiting carbon flux and NADPH supply because of the decreased activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC, EC 4.1.1.31) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH, EC 1.1.1.49). The PEPC activity was correlated more with protein content than oil content. In addition, simultaneous exposure to waterlogging and ET resulted in lower unsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid ratios and essential amino acid/non-essential amino acid ratios than did exposure to the individual factors alone. These findings could provide the theoretical support for the prospective assessment of effects of high temperature and waterlogging stresses on cotton production under climate change, and they can help to develop effective techniques in cotton cultivation.

Combined elevated temperature and soil waterlogging stresses limit fibre biomass accumulation and fibre quality formation by disrupting protein activity during cotton fibre development.

Soil waterlogging and high temperature conditions generally occur together, especially in the Yangtze River Valley, China, negatively affecting cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibre development. Therefore, combined elevated temperature (34.1/29.0°C) and soil waterlogging (6 days) were imposed to study their combined effects on fibre biomass and fibre qualities (length, strength and micronaire). The results showed that in the boll cohort exposed to waterlogging and/or elevated air temperature, combined elevated temperature and soil waterlogging decreased final fibre length (by 8.9-11.3%) and fibre biomass (by 25.8-33.9%) more than either stress individually. A total of 113, 263 and 290 differential abundance proteins were identified related to elevated temperature, waterlogging and the two treatments combined, respectively, in fibres at 15 days after anthesis via the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation technique, which were classified as: carbohydrate and energy metabolism (21.7%), protein metabolism (16.6%), amino acid metabolism (12.8%), intracellular structural components (6.6%), transport (7.9%), oxidation-reduction process (7.9%), signal transduction (5.2%), lipid metabolism (5.2%), stress response (5.2%), nucleic acid metabolism (4.5%), organic acid metabolism (3.4%) and others (2.1%). Both vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) and plasma membrane H+-ATPase (PMH+-ATPase) were responsible for fibre length formation, although V-ATPase expression may play a major role in determining fibre cell elongation rather than PM H+-ATPase expression. It was concluded that fibre cell elongation and secondary wall thickening were inhibited mainly by reduced accumulation of osmolytes, blocked synthesis and transport of secondary wall components, and disruption of the cytoskeleton system under combined elevated temperature and soil waterlogging.

Short-term soil-waterlogging contributes to cotton cross tolerance to chronic elevated temperature by regulating ROS metabolism in the subtending leaf.

Chronic elevated temperature and soil-waterlogging events often occur concomitantly in the Yangtze River Valley; however, a clear understanding of the effects of aforementioned co-occurring stresses on antioxidant defense in cotton has not been attained. To address this, two temperature conditions during the whole flowering and boll development periods, and three soil-waterlogging levels (0, 3, 6 d) starting on the day of anthesis were established. In the current study, no siginificant difference was observed on plant performance for 3 d soil-waterlogging, whereas 6 d soil-waterlogging event and elevated temperature in isolation negatively affected plant performance (i.e. leaf area declined by 33.3% and 14.7% in AW6 (soil waterlogging for 6 d under ambient temperature regime) and EC (soil well-watered (SRWC(75 ±â€¯5) %) under elevated temperature for 2-3 °C) relative to AC (soil well-watered (SRWC(75 ±â€¯5) %) under ambient temperature regime)) and induced ROS (reactive oxygen species) production and scavenging mechanisms in the subtending leaf of cotton. SOD (superoxide dismutase), CAT (catalase), and POX (peroxidase) activities were increased, and ASA (ascorbic acid) concentration was enhanced due to higher H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and O2- accumulations. Whereas, APX (ascorbate peroxidase), DHAR (dehydroascorbate reductase) and GR (glutathione reductase) activities were inhibited under elevated temperature regime or waterlogging event, especially in the treatment of EW6 (soil waterlogging for 6 d under elevated temperature for 2-3 °C), which resulted in increasing H2O2 concentration and higher O2- generation rate. However, plants acclimated to a short-term waterlogging stress (3 d) performed a cross tolerance to chronic elevated temperature regime (leaf number increased by 11.4%, whereas the abscission rate decreased by 4.6% in EW3 (soil waterlogging for 3 d under elevated temperature for 2-3 °C) compared with EC (soil well-watered (SRWC(75 ±â€¯5) %) under elevated temperature for 2-3 °C)). Moreover, plants undergone a brief soil-waterlogging (3 d) induced higher GR activity and increased ASA concentration, along with enhanced SOD, CAT, POX activities, limiting H2O2 and O2- accumulation and reducing oxidative damage to membrane lipids as evidenced by reduced MDA (malondialdehyde) concentration when cotton was subsequently exposed to chronic elevated temperature regime.

Self-Assembled One-Dimensional Porphyrin Nanostructures with Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation.

There has been a widespread interest in the preparation of self-assembled porphyrin nanostructures and their ordered arrays, aiming to emulate natural light harvesting processes and energy storage and to develop new nanostructured materials for photocatalytic process. Here, we report controlled synthesis of one-dimensional porphyrin nanostructures such as nanorods and nanowires with well-defined self-assembled porphyrin networks that enable efficient energy transfer for enhanced photocatalytic activity in hydrogen generation. Preparation of these one-dimensional nanostructures is conducted through noncovalent self-assembly of porphyrins confined within surfactant micelles. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results reveal that these one-dimensional nanostructures contain stable single crystalline structures with controlled interplanar separation distance. Optical absorption characterizations show that the self-assembly enables effective optical coupling of porphyrins, resulting in much more enhanced optical absorption in comparison with the original porphyrin monomers, and the absorption bands red shift to more extensive visible light spectrum. The self-assembled porphyrin network facilitates efficient energy transfer among porphyrin molecules and the delocalization of excited state electrons for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light.

Long-term exposure to slightly elevated air temperature alleviates the negative impacts of short term waterlogging stress by altering nitrogen metabolism in cotton leaves.

Short-term waterlogging and chronic elevated temperature occur frequently in the Yangtze River Valley, yet the effects of these co-occurring environments on nitrogen metabolism of the subtending leaf (a major source leaf for boll development) have received little attention. In this study, plants were exposed to two temperature regimes (31.6/26.5 °C and 34.1/29.0 °C) and waterlogging events (0 d, 3 d, 6 d) during flowering and boll development. The results showed that the effects of waterlogging stress and elevated temperature in isolation on nitrogen metabolism were quite different. Waterlogging stress not only limited NR (EC 1.6.6.1) and GS (EC 6.3.1.2) activities through the down-regulation of GhNR and GhGS expression for amino acid synthesis, but also promoted protein degradation by enhanced protease activity and peptidase activity, leading to lower organ and total biomass (reduced by 12.01%-27.63%), whereas elevated temperature inhibited protein degradation by limited protease activity and peptidase activity, promoting plant biomass accumulation. Furthermore, 2-3 °C chronic elevated temperature alleviated the negative impacts of a brief (3 d) waterlogging stress on cotton leaves, with the expression of GhNiR up-regulated, the activities of NR, GS and GOGAT (EC 1.4.7.1) increased and the activities of protease and peptidase decreased, leading to higher protein concentration and enhanced leaf biomass for EW3 relative to AW3. The results of the study suggested that exposure to slightly elevated air temperature improves the cotton plants' ability to recover from short-term (3 d) waterlogging stress by sustaining processes associated with nitrogen assimilation.

Carbohydrate metabolism in the subtending leaf cross-acclimates to waterlogging and elevated temperature stress and influences boll biomass in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).

Short-term waterlogging and chronic elevated temperature occur concomitantly in the cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) growing season. While previous research about co-occurring waterlogging and elevated temperature has focused primarily on cotton fiber, no studies have investigated carbohydrate metabolism of the subtending leaf (a major source leaf for boll development) cross-acclimation to aforementioned stressors. To address this, plants were exposed to ambient (31.6/26.5°C) and elevated (34.1/29.0°C) temperatures during the whole flowering and boll formation stage, and waterlogging (0, 3, 6 days) beginning on the day of anthesis. Both waterlogging and high temperature limited boll biomass (reduced by 1.19-32.14%), but effects of different durations of waterlogging coupled with elevated temperature on carbohydrate metabolism in the subtending leaf were quite different. The 6-day waterlogging combined with elevated temperature had the most negative impact on net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and carbohydrate metabolism of any treatment, leading to upregulated GhSusA and GhSusC expression and enhanced sucrose synthase (SuSy, EC 2.4.1.13) activity for sucrose degradation. A prior exposure to waterlogging for 3 days improved subtending leaf performance under elevated temperature. Pn, sucrose concentrations, Rubisco (EC 4.1.1.39) activity, and cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (cy-FBPase, EC 3.1.3.11) activity in the subtending leaf significantly increased, while SuSy activity decreased under 3 days waterlogging and elevated temperature combined relative to elevated temperature alone. Thus, we concluded that previous exposure to a brief (3 days) waterlogging stress improved sucrose composition and accumulation cross-acclimation to high temperature later in development not only by promoting leaf photosynthesis but also inhibiting sucrose degradation.

Combined elevated temperature and soil waterlogging stresses inhibit cell elongation by altering osmolyte composition of the developing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fiber.

Soil waterlogging events and high temperature conditions occur frequently in the Yangtze River Valley, yet the effects of these co-occurring stresses on fiber elongation have received little attention. In the current study, the combined effect of elevated temperature (ET) and soil waterlogging (SW) more negatively affected final fiber length (reduced by 5.4%-11.3%) than either stress alone by altering the composition of osmotically active solutes (sucrose, malate, and K+), where SW had the most pronounced effect. High temperature accelerated early fiber development, but limited the duration of elongation, thereby limiting final fiber length. Treatment of ET alone altered fiber sucrose content mainly through decreased source strength and the expression of the sucrose transporter gene GhSUT-1, making sucrose availability the primary determinant of final fiber length under ET. Waterlogging stress alone decreased source strength, down-regulated GhSUT-1 expression and enhanced SuSy catalytic activity for sucrose reduction. Waterlogging treatment alone also limited fiber malate production by down-regulating GhPEPC-1 & -2. However, combined elevated temperature and waterlogging limited primary cell wall synthesis by affecting GhCESAs genes and showed a negative impact on all three major osmotic solutes through the regulation of GhSUT-1, GhPEPC-1 & -2 and GhKT-1 expression and altered SuSy activity, which functioned together to produce a shorter fiber length.

Morphology-controlled self-assembly and synthesis of photocatalytic nanocrystals.

Abilities to control the size and shape of nanocrystals in order to tune functional properties are an important grand challenge. Here we report a surfactant self-assembly induced micelle encapsulation method to fabricate porphyrin nanocrystals using the optically active precursor zinc porphyrin (ZnTPP). Through confined noncovalent interactions of ZnTPP within surfactant micelles, nanocrystals with a series of morphologies including nanodisk, tetragonal rod, and hexagonal rod, as well as amorphous spherical particle are synthesized with controlled size and dimension. A phase diagram that describes morphology control is achieved via kinetically controlled nucleation and growth. Because of the spatial ordering of ZnTPP, the hierarchical nanocrystals exhibit both collective optical properties resulted from coupling of molecular ZnTPP and shape dependent photocatalytic activities in photo degradation of methyl orange pollutants. This simple ability to exert rational control over dimension and morphology provides new opportunities for practical applications in photocatalysis, sensing, and nanoelectronics.