Publications by authors named "Chuang Mei"

Apple ( Borkh.) stands out as a globally significant fruit tree with considerable economic importance. Nonetheless, the orchard production of 'Fuji' apples faces significant challenges, including delayed flowering in young trees and inconsistent annual yields in mature trees, ultimately resulting in suboptimal fruit yield due to insufficient flower bud formation.

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The investigation of lunar soil encompasses extensive periods, employs many improvement methods, and has generated several simulants. The improvement of lunar soil has recently garnered growing interest as an aspect of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) for regolith. It is crucial to clarify the challenges of utilizing lunar soil as a planting substrate to develop more effective techniques.

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Article Synopsis
  • Roots help apple trees survive when there isn't much water (drought).
  • Scientists found a special protein called MdZAT5 that helps apple roots grow better in dry conditions.
  • This research shows that MdZAT5 is important for apple trees and could help in making apples stronger against drought in the future.
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Biochar and silicon (Si) have been widely considered to play an important role in mitigating cadmium (Cd) toxicity. In this study, wild-type rice (WT, high-Si) and Si-deficient mutant rice (lsi1, low-Si) were used as raw materials to prepare biochar at 500℃; the Si concentrations of high- and low-Si biochar were 15.9% and 5.

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Article Synopsis
  • Calcium is vital for plant growth and helps plants respond to stress from high heavy metal concentrations in soil, which can harm yields and human health.
  • The study focuses on a transport protein called MdCAX2L-2 cloned from apple, which helps move calcium and metal ions across cell membranes and is found in the vacuolar membrane.
  • Overexpressing MdCAX2L-2 in yeast and plants improved their tolerance to toxic barium levels by promoting barium storage in vacuoles and reducing harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS).
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Low temperature is the main environmental factor affecting the yield, quality and geographical distribution of crops, which significantly restricts development of the fruit industry. The NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2 and CUC2) transcription factor (TF) family is involved in regulating plant cold tolerance, but the mechanisms underlying these regulatory processes remain unclear. Here, the NAC TF MdNAC104 played a positive role in modulating apple cold tolerance.

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Background: Low-temperatures have the potential to be a serious problem for plants and can negatively affect the normal growth and development of walnuts. DREB1/CBF (Dehydration Responsive Element Binding Protein 1/C-repeat Binding Factor), one of the most direct transcription factors in response to low-temperature stress, may improve the resistance of plants to low-temperatures by regulating their functional genes. However, few studies have been conducted in walnut.

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The combination of biochar and specific bacteria has been widely applied to remediate Cadmium-contaminated soil. But little is known about how such composites affect the dynamic distribution of metal fractions. This process is accompanied by the alternations of soil properties and microbial community structures.

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Biochar can be effective in immobilizing soil cadmium (Cd), but the difference in its immobilization mechanisms for different levels of Cd-contaminated soils was overlooked. In this study, rice straw biochar (BC) was added to three Cd-contaminated soils following 180 days of incubation, in the process of which the dynamic changes of Cd speciation, soil properties and microbial community diversity were determined. BC could significantly reduce the ratio of acid-soluble in the three soils, especially in light and medium Cd-contaminated soils by more than 20%.

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Dwarfing is a typic breeding trait for mechanical strengthening and relatively high yield in modern apple orchards. Clarification of the mechanisms associated with dwarfing is important for use of molecular technology to breed apple. Herein, we identified four dwarfing apple germplasms in semi-arid area of Xinjiang, China.

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Flower bud development is a defining feature of walnut, which contributes to the kernel yield, yield stability, fruit quality and commodity value. However, little is known about the mechanism of the flower bud development in walnut. Here, the stages of walnut female flower bud development were divided into five period (P01-05) by using histological observation.

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Korla pear (Pyrus sinkiangensis Yü) is a landrace selected from a hybrid pear species in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China. In recent years, pericarp roughening has been one of the major factors that adversely affects fruit quality. Compared with regular fruits, rough-skin fruits have a greater stone cell content.

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is the wild progenitor for many cultivars of domesticated apple and an important germplasm resource for breeding. However, this valuable species faces a significant threat in the areas north of the Tianshan Mountains in China, by the invasion of , a destructive pest of apple trees belonging to the family Buprestidae. Our preliminary study has has shown that there may be resistance to this insect in plants in the field, but the corresponding molecular mechanisms remain unclear.

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