Drought stress is a major abiotic stress of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) throughout the world. Increasing the proline accumulation contributes to enhance crop drought tolerance. A cDNA for δ-ornithine aminotransferase (δ-OAT), an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of proline, was isolated from Phaseolus vulgaris (PvOAT). PvOAT exhibits 87.4 and 39.8% similarity of the deduced amino acid sequences with δ-OAT from Glycine max and Vigna aconitifolia, respectively. The transcriptional analysis revealed that PvOAT was strongly induced by drought stress. And the expression of PvOAT was higher in leaves than that in the root and stem of common bean by drought stress. Similar increase of the proline accumulation was observed in leaves and roots of common bean by drought stress. Furthermore, the proline content, the PvOAT expression and the PvOAT enzyme activity in cultivar F5575 was significantly (P<0.01) higher than that in cultivar F4851 under drought-stress conditions. Interestingly, it had been observed that, in the later stage of drought stress, the proline steadily maintained at the maximum level maybe result from the PvOAT enzyme activity increasing steadily. These results indicated that the expression of PvOAT and the accumulation of proline induced by drought stress treatment were related to the degree of common bean drought tolerance. So our results support the view that δ-OAT is associated with proline synthesis under drought stress conditions.

Banana fruit (Musa, AAA group, cv. Brazil) peel fails to fully degreen but the pulp ripens normally at temperatures above24°C. This abnormal ripening, known as green-ripening, does not occur in plantains (Musa, ABB group, cv. Dajiao). Basedon the fact that un-completely yellowing was also observed for bananas in poorly ventilated atmospheres, in the presentstudy, the effect of high CO2 with regular O2 (21%) on banana ripening was investigated along with that on plantains at20°C. The results showed that high CO2 conferred different effects on the color changing of bananas and plantains. After6 d ripening in 20% CO2, plantains fully yellowed, while bananas retained high chlorophyll content and stayed green. Incontrast to the differentiated color changing patterns, the patterns of the softening, starch degradation and soluble sugaraccumulation in the pulp of 20% CO2 treated bananas and plantains displayed similarly as the patterns in the fruits ripeningin regular air, indicating that the pulp ripening was not inhibited by 20% CO2, and the abnormal ripening of bananas in 20%CO2 can be considered as green ripening. Similar expression levels of chlorophyll degradation related genes, SGR, NYCand PaO, were detected in the peel of the control and treated fruits, indicating that the repressed degreening in 20% CO2treated bananas was not due to the down-regulation of the chlorophyll degradation related genes. Compared to the effecton plantains, 20% CO2 Treatment delayed the decline in the chlorophyll(Fv/Fm) values and in the mRNA levelsof a gene coding small subunit of Rubisco (SSU), and postponed the disruption of the ultrastructure of chloroplast in thepeel tissue of bananas, indicating that the senescence of the green cells in the exocarp layer was delayed by 20% CO2,to more extent in bananas than in plantains. High CO2 reduced the ethylene production and the expression of the relatedbiosynthesis gene, ACS, but elevated the respiration rates in both cultivars. The up-regulation of the expression of anaerobicrespiration pathway genes, ADH and PDC, might be responsible for the subtle effect of high CO2 on the pulp ripening.Taken together, the atmosphere of high CO2 and regular O2, delayed the senescence of the green cells in the exocarp layerof the banana peel, but conferred no obvious inhibition on the pulp ripening, leading to a distinct green-ripening that wasdifferent from the phenomenon induced by high temperatures.

Heat and acid treatments were reported to be a promising substitute for SO2 fumigation in color protection of postharvest lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) fruits, but the mechanism was not clear. In the present study, hot water (70°C) dipping followed by immersion in 2% HCl (heat-acid) substantially protected the red color of the fruit during storage at 25°C and inhibited anthocyanin degradation while hot water dipping alone (heat) led to rapidly browning and about 90% loss in anthocyanin content. The pH values in the pericarp of the heat-acid treated fruit dropped to 3.2, while the values maintained around 5.0 in the heat-treated and control fruit. No significantly different pH values were detected among the arils of heat-acid, heat treated and control fruit. Heat-acid treatment dramatically reduced the activities of anthocyanin degradation enzyme (ADE), peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase in the pericarp. A marked reduction in LcPOD gene expression was also detected in heat-acid treated fruit, in contrast, induction was found in heat treated fruit. The pericarp of heat-acid treated fruit exhibited significantly lower respiration rate but faster water loss than that of the untreated or heat treated fruit. Taken together, heat treatment triggered quick browning and anthocyanin loss in lychee fruit, while heat-acid treatment protected the fruit color by a great reduction in the activities/gene expression of anthocyanin degradation enzymes and acidification of lychee pericarp.

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) cascades based on protein phosphorylation play an important role in plant growth and development. In this study, we have identified 15 putative members of the wheat MAPK gene (TaMPK) family through an in silico search of wheat expressed sequence tags (EST) databases based on the presence of amino acid sequence of Arabidopsis and rice MAPKs. Phylogenetic analyses of MAPKs from wheat, rice and Arabidopsis genomes have classified them into seven subgroups (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G). Using the available EST information as a source of expression data, the MAPK family genes from Triticum aestivum were detected in diverse tissues. Further expression analysis of the MAPKs in NCBI EST database revealed that their transcripts were most abundant in callus (20%), followed by leaf (12%) and inflorescence (12%). Most MAPK family genes showed some tissue specificity.