甘蔗近年来作为制糖和生物乙醇的原料引起了越来越多的关注，提高它的产量对保证食糖安全和生物能源生产至关重要。属间远缘杂交是作物产生遗传变异的高效途径之一，尤其是高倍体作物甘蔗。斑茅因其具有许多优良的农艺性状，已被广泛研究用于改良甘蔗的抗旱性和其它抗逆性。然而，甘蔗属物种和斑茅间的亲缘关系以及甘蔗杂交后代中斑茅染色体的组成都仍不清晰。与先前利用叶绿体基因组DNA进行的遗传分析不同，本研究基于不同物种全基因组单核苷酸多态性明确了斑茅与甘蔗的亲缘关系比高粱更近。此外，利用热带种基因组设计的寡核苷酸染色体特异涂染探针能够清晰地识别斑茅的染色体。本研究首次建立的寡聚核苷酸基因组原位杂交体系，可用于检测甘蔗杂交后代中斑茅染色体的易位和单条染色体遗传。值得注意的是，我们还发现在BC₁子代中斑茅的染色体出现了n, 2n和超2n的遗传方式。这些遗传方式的不同可能是由于减数第一次分裂染色体加倍、减数第一次分裂和第二次分裂染色体加倍或减数第二次分裂时姐妹染色单体不分离所导致的。这些结果将为进一步选择斑茅染色体进行甘蔗遗传改良提供重要依据。

CO₂是植物光合作用的重要原料，而气孔阻力与叶肉阻力是CO₂扩散进入叶绿体的最大限制因素。植物的气孔导度和叶肉导度对非生物胁迫因子非常敏感，这些因子通过调控羧化位点CO₂浓度来影响光合速率。气孔导度对环境的响应，叶肉导度的内部结构、生化因素限制早已有了相关综述，然而围绕环境因子对植物CO₂扩散的系统调控还未进行归纳和探讨。因此，本文综述了气孔导度和叶肉导度对非生物胁迫因子(如光强、干旱、CO₂浓度和温度)的快速响应和长期应答及其调控的生理机制，并对今后的研究趋势做了进一步展望。

遗传连锁图谱在数量性状位点和分子标记辅助选择育种中具有重要意义。枸杞是我国重要的药食同源植物。然而，由于缺乏基因组和遗传资源，枸杞遗传连锁图谱的构建报到很少。在本研究中，采用双假测交理论，以‘北方枸杞’为母本，‘宁夏黄果’为父本杂交获得89株F1群体为试材，利用SSR和AFLP技术构建枸杞的分子遗传连锁图谱。共获得12个连锁群，包含165个标记位点（74个AFLP和91个SSR），覆盖基因组557.6cM，标记间平均图距为3.38cM。每个连锁群的标记数在3~12个，每个连锁群长度为8.6~58.3cM。连锁群上有29个偏分离标记，主要集中LG4和LG9上。这是第一张利用SSR和AFLP标记构建的枸杞属植物遗传连锁图谱，可为枸杞属植物遗传育种改良和辅助基因组组装提供理论依据。

施加硅或钾已经被证明对盐碱胁迫下植物的生长具有促进作用。但是，硅和钾对盐碱胁迫下植物生长、离子分布和区隔化的协同调控效应还不清楚。本研究对不同盐碱水平下的黑麦草生长和离子选择性吸收特性进行研究。低盐碱胁迫下，当硅单独施加或与钾联合施用时黑麦草的生长参数显著提高。高盐碱胁迫下，只有硅和钾联合施用黑麦草的生长才有显著提高。当硅和钾联合施用时，根、茎和叶部的K⁺/Na⁺比和 Ca²⁺/Na⁺比相较单独施用有显著提高。同时，叶片的液泡、细胞壁和细胞器中的K⁺和Ca²⁺含量均有显著提高，这是因为施加的K⁺与溶液中的Na⁺形成竞争，从而维持植物的渗透势和叶片的含水量。当硅和钾同时施用时，Na⁺的浓度降低并主要累积在可溶性溶质和细胞壁中。当硅和钾联合施用时，黑麦草中的硅浓度显著提高，并主要累积在细胞壁和可溶性溶质中，从而有助于叶绿素的合成，缓解质膜损伤和增加盐碱胁迫下的水分吸收。该研究证实了不同盐碱胁迫下硅和钾对植物生长的协同调控作用，同时为硅钾肥的生产和在盐碱土的应用提供理论指导。

在自然条件下，植物经常遭受各种生物和非生物因素胁迫而影响其生长和发育，特别是限制作物的生产能力。在影响植物光合作用的各种非生物因素中，光是驱动植物碳代谢和维持地球生命的重要因素，而光环境中光强和光质的变化极大地影响植物的光合作用以及其形态，生理和生化参数，且不同植物对光强和光质的响应不同，与其生长的环境条件有关。目前，大量研究报道了光照强度是如何影响作物的生长和发育，而本综述归纳总结了光环境中不同光质成分和光强对作物的叶片形态和解剖结构，气孔发育，光合作用，色素组成，活性氧，抗氧化酶和激素动态等相关参数的影响，旨在为作物光合作用对光强和光质的响应机制研究提供理论支撑。

Soybean is one of the major oil seed crops, which is usually intercropped with other crops to increase soybean production area and yield.  However, soybean is highly sensitive to shading.  It is unclear if soybean morphology responds to shading (i.e., shade tolerance or avoidance) and which features may be suitable as screening materials in relay strip intercropping.  Therefore, in this study, various agronomic characteristics of different soybean genotypes were analyzed under relay intercropping conditions.  The soybean materials used in this study exhibited genetic diversity, and the coefficient of variations of the agronomic parameters ranged from 13.84 to 72.08% during the shade period and from 6.44 to 52.49% during the maturity period.  The ratios of shading to full irradiance in stem mass fraction (SMF) were almost greater than 1, whereas opposite results were found in the leaves.  Compared with full irradiance, the average stem length (SL), leaf area ratio (LAR) and specific leaf area (SLA) for the two years (2013 and 2014) increased by 0.78, 0.47 and 0.65 under shady conditions, respectively.  However, the stem diameter (SD), total biomass (TB), leaf area (LA), number of nodes (NN) on the main stem, and number of branches (BN) all decreased.  During the shady period, the SL and SMF exhibited a significant negative correlation with yield, and the SD exhibited a significant positive correlation with yield.  The correlation between the soybean yield and agronomic parameters during the mature period, except for SL, the first pod height (FPH), 100-seed weight (100-SW), and reproductive growth period (RGP), were significant (P<0.01), especially for seed weight per branch (SWB), pods per plant (PP), BN, and vegetative growth period (VGP).  These results provide an insight into screening the shade tolerance of soybean varieties and can be useful in targeted breeding programs of relay intercropped soybeans.  

On the basis of a long-term (30 years) field experiment that involved four rotation systems, rice-rice-winter fallow (RRF), rice-rice-ryegrass (RRG), rice-rice-rape (RRP), and rice-rice-milk vetch (RRV), this study described the effects of green manure on the microbial communities in the red paddy soils using 454 pyrosequencing for the 16S rRNA gene. The Chao1 richness and non-parametric Shannon’s index increased in all soil samples that received green manure treatments. The communities’ structures with the green manure applications were significantly dissimilar from that under the winter fallow. Using Metastats tests, many genera in the RRG, RRP and RRV soils were significantly different from those in the RRF soil, including a number of genera that functioned in the nitrogen and sulfur cycles. Analyses of the genera with these functions revealed the shifts in microbial ecosystem functions after long-term green manuring. Changes in the microbial communities increased the ammonium supply and decreased the soil acidification in green-manure-amended soils. Together, these data suggested powerful effects of green manure on both the microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycle driven by the shifts in bacterial functional groups.

Stripe rust (yellow rust), caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most devastating diseases of wheat throughout the world. H9020-1-6-8-3 is a translocation line originally developed from interspecific hybridization between wheat line 7182 and Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng and is resistant to most Pst races in China. To identify the resistance gene(s) in the translocation line, H9020-1-6-8-3 was crossed with susceptible cultivar Mingxian 169, and seedlings of the parents, F1, F2, F3, and BC1 generations were tested with prevalent Chinese Pst race CYR32 under controlled greenhouse conditions. The results indicated that there is a single dominant gene, temporarily designated as YrH9020a, conferring resistance to CYR32. The resistance gene was mapped by the F2 population from Mingxian 169/H9020-1-6-8-3. It was linked to six microsatellite markers, including Xbarc196, Xbarc202, Xbarc96, Xgpw4372, Xbarc21, and Xgdm141, flanked by Xbarc96 and Xbarc202 with at 4.5 and 8.3 cM, respectively. Based on the chromosomal locations of these markers and the test of Chinese Spring (CS) nullitetrasomic and ditelosomic lines, the gene was assigned to chromosome 6D. According to the origin and the chromosomal location, YrH9020a might be a new resistance gene to stripe rust. The flanking markers linked to YrH9020a could be useful for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs.

Setosphaeria turcica, an essential phytopathogenic fungus, is the primary cause of serious yield losses in corn; however, its pathogenic mechanism is poorly understood. We cloned STK2, a newly discovered mitogen-activated protein kinase gene with a deduced amino acid sequence that is 96% identical to MAK2 from Phaeosphaeria nodorum, 56% identical to KSS1 and 57% identical to FUS3 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To deduce Stk2 function in S. turcica and to identify the genetic relationship between STK2 and KSS1/FUS3 from S. cerevisiae, a restructured vector containing the open reading frame of STK2 was transformed into a fus3/kss1 double deletion mutant of S. cerevisiae. The results show that the STK2 complementary strain clearly formed pseudohyphae and ascospores, and the strain grew on the surface of the medium after rinsing with sterile water and the characteristics of the complementary strain was the same as the wild-type strain. Moreover, STK2 complemented the function of KSS1 in filamentation and invasive growth, as well as the mating behavior of FUS3 in S. cerevisiae, however, its exact functions in S. turcica will be studied in the future research.