研究茶毛虫主要性信息素组分的手性对映体和次要组分的田间引诱活性，明确其最佳配比，可为茶毛虫的高效性诱杀技术研发提供理论基础。本研究利用昆虫触角电位技术测定了茶毛虫雄蛾触角对主要性信息组分的两个手性对映体(S)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯和(R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯及次要组分14-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯的电生理活性。通过田间诱捕试验研究3个单组分及其不同配比对茶毛虫雄蛾的引诱活性，并比较了其最优配比与商品化产品的田间引诱活性。（1）(R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯的电生理活性显著高于(S)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯，14-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯的电生理活性也具有一定的电生理活性；（2）(R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯的田间引诱活性显著高于(S)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯和外消旋体10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯；（3）14-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯虽无田间引诱活性，但其可以显著的提高其他两个组分的引诱活性，（4）(R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯的田间诱捕活性随浓度增加而增强，14-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯对 (R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯诱捕活性的增强作用随浓度增加先增强后降低，性信息素配比以R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯和4-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯含量分别为0.75mg 和0.1mg时引诱活性最强，显著优于现有商品化产品。以往的研究报道显示，中国种群茶毛虫性信息素仅有10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯一个组分，且该组分的两个手性对映体田间引诱活性差异不显著。本研究通过系统的研究，明确了(R)-10,14-二甲基十五醇异丁酸酯是茶毛虫的主要性信息素组分，14-甲基十五醇异丁酸酯可能是茶毛虫次要组分。在此基础上，获得了一个最佳的茶毛虫性信息素配比，可用于研发高效的茶毛虫性诱杀技术。

芝麻（Sesamum indicum L.）是一种具有较高营养价值和收益的经济作物，种植在世界80多个国家。在世界范围内，芝麻籽不仅是一种重要的食用油料，而且富含其他作物所缺少的抗氧化木脂素类化合物芝麻素和芝麻林素等。随着芝麻素等成分越来越多的的药理、保健功能被发现和证实，国际芝麻需求不断增加。当前，培育高芝麻素或高木酯素品种已成为主要育种目标之一，总结芝麻素和芝麻林素研究进展，探讨研究热点和存在的问题，对促进广大研究人员协同开展相关研究具有重要意义。本文系统梳理总结了芝麻素和芝麻林素在芝麻品种资源中的含量变异、生物合成途径、关联分子标记、调控基因位点等方面研究进展，并对其在芝麻自身生长发育中潜在的功能作用和最新研究发现的药理作用进行了论述。此外，综述还提出并讨论了未来对于开展分子育种，选育高芝麻素或高木酯素新品种急需开展的一些研究任务。芝麻素和芝麻林素在芝麻应对外界胁迫，包括生物和非生物逆境方面都表现出积极作用。芝麻素和芝麻林素还具有多种药理作用，对人民健康有益，如抗氧化、抗癌、抗炎、抗增殖、抗高血压等作用。尽管已报道有40多种植物中存在芝麻素或木酯素，但因含量较低或分子结构差异，未能像在芝麻中获得重视。芝麻中芝麻素和芝麻林素含量变异范围较大，一般在0.05~12.17mg/g和0 ~10mg/g之间，但多数含量仍比较低。尽管芝麻素和芝麻林素的合成代谢途径已基本清楚，但对于其含量变异的调控基因位点研究仍旧不足，目前尚未有调控功能明确的基因被鉴定，高含量育种仍旧缺乏高效的生物技术手段。

本研究从历史数据以及公开文章中收集了57个与大豆种子可溶性糖含量相关的数量性状位点(QTLs)。通过meta、overview和共线性分析来细化QTL区间，共得到8个共有QTL。使用染色体片段代换系(CSSLs)群体对这些共有QTL进行验证，选择了两个包含共有QTL和有导入片段的品系：其中一个与共有QTL区间相关的一个品系可溶性糖含量较高，另一个品系可溶性糖含量较低。在种子发育的早期、中期和晚期对这两个品系进行转录组测序，分别鉴定出158个、109个和329个差异表达基因。通过重测序数据和共有QTL区间分析，在野生大豆遗传导入片段中鉴定出3个候选基因Glyma.19G146800、Glyma.19G122500和Glyma.19G128500。通过对两个CSSL亲本SN14和ZYD00006的序列比对，发现Glyma.19G122500编码序列发生单核苷酸多态性(SNP)突变，导致氨基酸序列发生非同义突变，影响了蛋白质结构。基于这一SNP，我们开发了竞争性等位基因特异性PCR (KASP)标记，并将其用于CSSL品系的鉴定。这些结果为进一步鉴定大豆可溶性糖相关基因及进一步育种奠定了基础。

转录因子（TFs）调控多种逆境防御相关的生理过程和植物逆境响应。本研究中，作者鉴定了小麦NF-YB转录因子家族基因TaNF-YB11介导植物抵御干旱逆境能力的特征。TaNF-YB11含有NF-YB家族特有的保守结构域，该基因编码蛋白经内质网分选后靶向细胞核内。酵母双杂交分析表明，TaNF-YB11分别与NF-YA家族成员TaNF-YA2和NF-YC家族成员TaNF-YC3在蛋白水平上相互作用。这些结果表明，上述TF蛋白通过组建异源三聚体对下游基因进行转录调控。在27 h干旱条件下，根和叶中TaNF-YB11转录本数量较正常生长对照增多。此外，干旱上调的TaNF-YB11表达水平随正常恢复处理进程逐渐下调，表明该基因参与了植物对干旱逆境的响应过程。TaNF-YB11具有赋予植株抵御抗旱逆境的能力; 干旱处理下，过表达TaNF-YB11株系植株表型和生物量均高于野生型对照，这主要与该基因促进气孔关闭、增强渗透物质积累能力和改善细胞活性氧(ROS)稳态有关。调控脯氨酸生物合成P5CS家族基因TaP5CS2在TaNF-YB11株系中呈上调表达模式，干旱胁迫下下调表达TaP5CS2株系脯氨酸积累量减少。与此类似，编码超氧化物歧化酶(SOD) TaSOD2和过氧化氢酶(CAT)基因TaCAT3在过表达TaNF-YB11株系中上调表达，上述细胞保护酶基因通过调节SOD和CAT活性在改善干旱处理下细胞ROS稳态中发挥重要作用。RNA-seq分析结果显示，与“细胞过程”、“环境信息处理”、“遗传信息加工”、“代谢”和“机体系统”相关的众多基因受到TaNF-YB11转录调节。本研究结果表明，TaNF-YB11通过在转录组水平上对干旱逆境响应相关的不同生物学过程基因进行调控，增强植株抵御干旱逆境的能力。综上，TaNF-YB11在介导植株抵御干旱逆境中发挥重要作用，该基因可作为小麦抗旱分子育种的重要基因资源。

Plants glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) catalyzes the formation of glycerol-3-phosphate, and plays an essential role in glycerolipid metabolism and stress responses. In the present study, the knock-out mutants of cytosolic GPDH (AtGPDHc2) and wild-type Arabidopsis plants were treated with 0, 50, 100, and 150 mmol L^–1 NaCl to reveal the effects of AtGPDHc2 deficiency on salinity stress responses. The fluctuation in redox status, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzymes as well as the transcripts of genes involved in the relevant processes were measured. In the presence of 100 and 150 mmol L^–1 NaCl treatments, AtGPDHc2-deficient plants exhibited a pronounced reduction in germination rate, fresh weight, root length, and overall biomass. Furthermore, loss of AtGPDHc2 resulted in a significant perturbation in cellular redox state (NADH/NAD+ and AsA/DHA) and consequent elevation of ROS and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) content. The elevated ROS level triggered substantial increases in ROS-scavenging enzymes activities, and the up-regulated transcripts of the genes (CSD1, sAPX and PER33) encoding the antioxidant enzymes were also observed. In addition, the transcript levels of COX15, AOX1A and GLDH in gpdhc2 mutants decreased in comparison to wild-type plants, which demonstrated that the deficiency of AtGPDHc2 might also has impact on mitochondrial respiration under salt stress. Together, this work provides some new evidences on illustrating the roles of AtGPDHc2 playing in response to salinity stress by regulating cellular redox homeostasis, ROS metabolism and mitochondrial respiration.

The objectives of this study were to determine how the distribution of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in a maize canopy affected basal internode strength and stalk lodging.  The distributions of PAR within the canopies of two maize cultivars (Zhongdan 909 and Xinyu 41) were altered by removing whole leaves or half leaves in different canopy layers.  The results showed that removing whole leaves or half leaves above the three-ear-leaves (R_AE and R_AE/2) at flowering significantly increased PAR at the ear and interception of PAR (IPAR) from the ear to middle of the ear and soil surface.  These changes increased the structural carbohydrate content and rind penetration strength (RPS) of the third basal internode by 5.4–11.6% and reduced lodging by 4.2–7.8%.  Removal of the first three leaves below the three-ear-leaves (R_BE) before flowering significantly reduced IPAR from the ear to half way below the ear.  This reduced the structural carbohydrate content and the RPS of the third basal internode by 9.1–17.4% and increased lodging by 7.0–11.2%.  Removal of the three lowest green leaves (R_B) in the canopy before flowering increased PAR at the bottom of the canopy, but had no effect on the structural carbohydrate content of the basal internode, the RPS, and the lodging rate.  Overall, the results indicated that the key factors affecting the basal internode strength formation and lodging were PAR at the ear and IPAR from the ear to halfway below the ear.  Increasing PAR at the ear and IPAR from the ear to halfway below the ear could enhance lodging resistance by increasing the structural carbohydrate content and mechanical strength of the basal internode

Recent reports have demonstrated that follicular atresia is initiated or caused by granulosa cell apoptosis followed by theca cell degeneration in mammalian ovaries, but the mechanism of follicular atresia is still to be elucidated. Therefore, our present study was designed to examine our hypothesis that the changes of follicular microenvironment induce the granulosa cell apoptosis during pocrine follicular atresia in vivo. We firstly isolated intact porcine antral follicles and identified them into three groups, healthy follicles (HF), early atretic follicles (EAF) and progressed atretic follicles (PAF) through morphology and histology. To further confirm their status, we detected hormone levels in follicular fluids and the expression level of apoptosis gene Bax in granulosa cells. The rate of progesterone (P) and estradiol (E2) was increased with the expression of Bax, indicating hormone can be used as a marker of granulosa cell apoptosis or follicular atresia. Finally, we analyzed the expression level of hormone receptor genes in granulosa cells and their relationship with follicular atresia. In PAF, the expression of Progesterone receptor (PGR) was increased significantly while estradiol receptor (ER) had no notable changes, which suggesting the increased-PGR accelerated the effect of P-stimulated granulosa cell apoptosis. The dramatic increasing of androgen receptor (AR) expression in PAF and the obvious increase of tumor necrosis factor-α receptor (TNFR) in EAF indicated that there are different pathways regulating granulosa cell apoptosis during follicular atresia. Together, our results suggested that different pathways of granulosa cell apoptosis was induced by changing the follicular microenvironment during follicular atresia.

Sesame (Sesamue indicum L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops with high oil yield. Here, we described a simpleand efficient method for constructing a normalized cDNA library from a high oil content cultivar of sesame Zhongzhi 14,during its oil accumulation stages. It combined switching mechanism at 5´-end of RNA transcript (SMART) technique andduplex-specific nuclease (DSN) normalization methods. Double-stranded cDNAs were synthesized from mRNAs, processedby normalization and Sfi I restriction endonuclease, and finally the cDNAs were ligated to pDNR-LIB vector. The ligationmixture was transformed into Escherichia coli DH10B by electroporation. The capacity of the library was 1.0×106 clonesin this library. Gel electrophoresis results indicated the fragments ranged from 700 to 2 000 bp, with the average size of1 800 bp. Random picking clones showed that the recombination rate was 100%. The results showed that the cDNA libraryconstructed successfully was a full-length library with high quality, and could be used to screen the genes related todevelopment of oil synthesis.