The vacuolar proton pump ATPase (V-H⁺-ATPase), which is a multi-subunit membrane protein complex, plays a major role in the activation of ion and nutrient transport and has been suggested to be involved in several physiological processes, such as cell expansion and salt tolerance. In this study, three genes encoding V-H⁺-ATPase subunits B (ScVHA-B, GenBank: JF826506), C (ScVHA-C, GenBank: JF826507) and H (ScVHA-H, GenBank: JF826508) were isolated from the halophyte Suaeda corniculata. The transcript levels of ScVHA-B, ScVHA-C and ScVHA-H were increased by salt, drought and saline-alkali treatments. V-H⁺-ATPase activity was also examined under salt, drought and saline-alkali stresses. The results showed that V-H⁺-ATPase activity was correlated with salt, drought and saline-alkali stress. Furthermore, V-H⁺-ATPase subunits B, C and H (ScVHA-B, ScVHA-C and ScVHA-H) from S. corniculata were introduced separately into the alfalfa genome. The transgenic alfalfa was verified by Southern and Northern blot analysis. During salt and saline-alkali stresses, transgenic linevacuolar proton pump, salt tolerance, saline-alkali tolerance, alfalfa
s carrying the B, C and H subunits had higher germination rates than the wild type (WT). More free proline, higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were detected in the transgenic plants under salt and saline-alkali treatments. Moreover, the ScVHA-B transgenic lines showed greater tolerance to salt and saline-alkali stresses than the WT. These results suggest that overexpression of ScVHA-B, ScVHA-C and ScVHA-H improves tolerance to salt and saline-alkali stresses in transgenic alfalfa.

Water and nitrogen are primary limiting factors in semiarid grassland ecosystems. Our knowledge is still poor regarding the interactive effects of water and N addition on soil microbial communities, although this information is crucial to reveal the mechanisms of the terrestrial ecosystem response to global changes. We addressed this problem by conducting a field experiment with a 15% surplus of the average rainfall under three levels of N addition (50, 100, and 200 kg N ha–1 yr–1) in two consecutive years in Inner Mongolia, China. Microbial community composition and functional diversity were analyzed based on phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) and BIOLOG techniques, respectively. The results showed that water addition did not affect the soil microbial community composition, but much more yearly precipitation generally decreased the PLFA concentration, which implied a fast response of soil microbes to changes of water condition. Soil fungi was depressed only by N addition at the high level (200 kg N ha–1 yr–1) and without hydrologic leaching, while Gram-negative bacteria was suppressed probably by plant competition at high level N addition but with hydrologic leaching. The study found unilateral positive/negative interactions between water and N addition in affecting soil microbial community, however, climate condition (precipitation) could be a significant factor in disturbing the interactions. This study highlighted that: (1) The sustained effect of pulsed water addition was minimal on the soil microbial community composition but significant on the microbial community functional diversity and (2) the complex interaction between water and N addition on soil microbial community related to the inter-annual variation of the climate and plant response.

Nitric oxide (NO), a bioactive signaling molecule, serves as an antioxidant and anti-stress agent under abiotic stress. A hydroponics experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO donor, on tomato seedlings exposed to 50 μmol L-1 CuCl2. The results show that copper is primarily stored in the soluble cell sap fraction in the roots, especially after treatment with Cu+SNP treatment, which accounted for 66.2% of the total copper content. The copper concentration gradually decreased from the roots to the leaves. In the leaves, exogenous NO induces the storage of excess copper in the cell walls. Copper stress decreases the proportion of copper integrated with pectates and proteins, but exogenous NO remarkably reverses this trend. The alleviating effect of NO is blocked by hemoglobin. Thus, exogenous NO is likely involved in the regulation of the subcellular copper concentrations and its chemical forms under copper stress. Although exogenous NO inhibited the absorption and transport of excess copper to some extent, the copper accumulation in tomato seedlings significantly increased under copper stress. The use of exogenous NO to enhance copper tolerance in some plants is a promising method for copper remediation.

The effect of fumigation with 10, 20, and 30 μL L-1 nitric oxide (NO) was investigated to study the effects of NO on thequality of Yali pears during cold storage. The ethylene production, composition of cell walls, and cell-wall-modifyingenzyme activities were measured on fruits which were fumigated with NO (20 μL L-1). The results showed that NO not onlyreduced the peak value of ethylene production rate, the soluble sugar, soluble solid content, maintained higher firmness,starch, and NO content, but also retarded the degradation of covalent soluble pectin, accumulation of ionic soluble pectinand water soluble pectin. Moreover, NO fumigation decreased the activities of polygalacturonase (PG) and â-galactosidase(â-Gal) and delayed the peak of PG activity of fruits. Therefore, it indicated that NO fumigation could delay the softeningand ripening of Yali pears.

Actin and myosin were found to be associated with the cytoplasmic sleeve of plasmodesmata. As cytoskeletal proteins, actin and myosin are believed to regulate the conductivity of plasmodesmata (PDs) in higher plants. Using immunocytochemical methods, we found the two proteins to be co-localized - and closely linked to each other - in plasmodesmata and ectodesmata-like structure in ageing parenchymatous cells of Allium sativum L. We suggest that intercellular communication is affected by the interaction between actin and myosin.