Phospholipase D engineering for improving the biocatalytic synthesis of phosphatidylserine.

Phosphatidylserine is widely used in food, health, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The phospholipase D-mediated green synthesis of phosphatidylserine has attracted substantial attention in recent years. In this study, the phospholipase D was heterologously expressed in Bacillus subtilis, Pichia pastoris, and Corynebacterium glutamicum, respectively.

Arabidopsis shaker pollen inward K channel SPIK functions in SnRK1 complex-regulated pollen hydration on the stigma.

Pollen hydration is a critical step that determines pollen germination on the stigma. KINβγ is a plant-specific subunit of the SNF1-related protein kinase 1 complex (SnRK1 complex). In pollen of the Arabidopsis kinβγ mutant, the levels of reactive oxygen species were decreased which lead to compromised hydration of the mutant pollen on the stigma.

Alleviating effects of exogenous NO on tomato seedlings under combined Cu and Cd stress.

To investigate the effect of NO on the different origin and regulation of oxidative stress of Cu and/or Cd, tomato seedlings were treated with Cu, Cd, or Cu + Cd in a nutrient solution culture system. The main effect of Cu(2+) was a significant reduction in root activity and nitrate reductase (NR) activity, which was similar to that under 50 μM Cd treatment, but promoted Cu accumulation. The supply of Cu under Cd treatment decreased Cd concentration, while not altered Cu concentration by contrast with Cu treatment, which is suggestive of a replacement of Cu(2+) with Cd(2+) and effective decrease in the boiotoxicity of 50 μM Cd(2+) to tomato seedlings.

Transcriptional evidence for inferred pattern of pollen tube-stigma metabolic coupling during pollination.

It is difficult to derive all qualitative proteomic and metabolomic experimental data in male (pollen tube) and female (pistil) reproductive tissues during pollination because of the limited sensitivity of current technology. In this study, genome-scale enzyme correlation network models for plants (Arabidopsis/maize) were constructed by analyzing the enzymes and metabolic routes from a global perspective. Then, we developed a data-driven computational pipeline using the "guilt by association" principle to analyze the transcriptional coexpression profiles of enzymatic genes in the consecutive steps for metabolic routes in the fast-growing pollen tube and stigma during pollination.

Improvement for agronomic traits of partial waxy wheat by combination of backcrossing with a PCR-based DNA marker.

To improve agronomic traits of partial waxy wheat, crossing between Chinese Baihuomai and wheat cultivars PH85-16, Jinan 17, and Yannong 15 was performed. The progeny plants were further backcrossed to these cultivars as recurrent parents for five generations. To get homozygous plants with the null allele at the Wx-D1 locus, self-pollination was carried out in the BC(5)F(1) generation.