Publications by authors named "Wenrao Li"

Article Synopsis
  • This study explored how flavonoid metabolites in coconut water change during different developmental stages using advanced analytical techniques.
  • Researchers identified 123 flavonoid metabolites across two coconut varieties and found that the total flavonoid content decreased as the coconuts developed, with the Hainan local coconut (CK) variety having higher levels than 'Wenye No.5' (W5).
  • The study's results could help in breeding coconuts with better nutritional value and support the creation of enhanced coconut-based products.
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Article Synopsis
  • Invasive plants, like the Chinese tallow tree from the USA, often grow faster than native plants from China due to their better adaptability to environmental conditions.
  • Experiments showed that introduced populations produced larger biomass and leaf area, but their growth advantage was reduced under high salinity or nutrient deficiency.
  • Differences in chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidant levels were observed, with introduced plants showing lower hydrogen peroxide accumulation, suggesting that nutrient and salinity stress affect their growth and invasion success.
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Water transportation to developing tissues relies on the structure and function of plant xylem cells. Plant microtubules govern the direction of cellulose microfibrils and guide secondary cell wall formation and morphogenesis. However, the relevance of microtubule-determined xylem wall thickening patterns in plant hydraulic conductivity remains unclear.

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Native and introduced plant populations vary in leaf physiology, biochemistry, and biotic interactions. These aboveground traits may help invasive plants in competition for resources with co-occurring native species. Root physiological traits may affect invasive plant performance because of the roles of roots in resource absorption.

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Mass loss and nutrient release during litter decomposition drive biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the relationship between the litter decomposition process and the decomposition stage, precipitation, and litter quality has rarely been addressed, precluding our understanding of how litter decomposition regulates nutrient cycling in various ecosystems and their responses to climate change. In this study, we measured mass loss as well as carbon and nutrient releases during the decomposition of 16 types of leaf litter under three precipitation treatments over 12 months in a common garden experiment (i.

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Environmental stresses that perturb plant water relations influence abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations, but it is unclear whether long-distance ABA transport contributes to changes in local ABA levels. To determine the physiological relevance of ABA transport, we made reciprocal- and self-grafts of ABA-deficient flacca mutant and wild-type (WT) tomato plants, in which low phosphorus (P) conditions decreased ABA concentrations while salinity increased ABA concentrations. Whereas foliar ABA concentrations in the WT scions were rootstock independent under conditions, salinity resulted in long-distance transport of ABA: flacca scions had approximately twice as much ABA when grafted on WT rootstocks compared to flacca rootstocks.

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Partial root-zone drying during irrigation (PRD) has been shown effective in enhancing plant water use efficiency (WUE), however, the roles of chemical signals from root and shoot that are involved and the possible interactions affected by nitrogen nutrition are not clear. Pot-grown cotton ( spp.) seedlings were treated with three levels of N fertilization and PRD.

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Background And Aims: It has previously been shown that proanthocyanidins (PAs) in the seed coat of Arabidopsis thaliana have the ability to scavenge superoxide radicals (O2(-)). However, the physiological processess in PA-deficit seeds are not clear. It is hypothesized that there exist alternative ways in PA-deficient seeds to cope with oxidative stress.

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