The GRAS gene family is a large plant-specific family of transcription factors that are involved in diverse processes during plant development. Medicago truncatula is an ideal model plant for genetic research in legumes, and specifically for studying nodulation, which is crucial for nitrogen fixation. In this study, 59 MtGRAS genes were identified and classified into eight distinct subgroups based on phylogenetic relationships. Motifs located in the C-termini were conserved across the subgroups, while motifs in the N-termini were subfamily specific. Gene duplication was the main evolutionary force for MtGRAS expansion, especially proliferation of the LISCL subgroup. Seventeen duplicated genes showed strong effects of purifying selection and diverse expression patterns, highlighting their functional importance and diversification after duplication. Thirty MtGRAS genes, including NSP1 and NSP2, were preferentially expressed in nodules, indicating possible roles in the process of nodulation. A transcriptome study, combined with gene expression analysis under different stress conditions, suggested potential functions of MtGRAS genes in various biological pathways and stress responses. Taken together, these comprehensive analyses provide basic information for understanding the potential functions of GRAS genes, and will facilitate further discovery of MtGRAS gene functions.

Plant expansins are proteins involved in cell wall loosening, plant growth, and development, as well as in response to plant diseases and other stresses. In this study, we identified 128 expansin coding sequences from the wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome. These sequences belong to 45 homoeologous copies of TaEXPs, including 26 TaEXPAs, 15 TaEXPBs and four TaEXLAs. No TaEXLB was identified. Gene expression and sub-expression profiles revealed that most of the TaEXPs were expressed either only in root tissues or in multiple organs. Real-time qPCR analysis showed that many TaEXPs were differentially expressed in four different tissues of the two wheat cultivars—the cold-sensitive ‘Chinese Spring (CS)’ and the cold-tolerant ‘Dongnongdongmai 1 (D1)’ cultivars. Our results suggest that the differential expression of TaEXPs could be related to low-temperature tolerance or sensitivity of different wheat cultivars. Our study expands our knowledge on wheat expansins and sheds new light on the functions of expansins in plant development and stress response.

Characterization of native proteins can be undertaken with extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI‐MS). As H. Chen and co‐workers describe in their Communication on EESI deposits charges on native proteins, which are separated from any high electric field. This method facilitates mass spectrometry, even from raw biological samples, without significant conformational changes or reduction in activity.

Ionic liquid (IL)-assisted pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass has been extensively studied. Cellulose and hemicelluloses are rich resources of sugars for biofuels. Lignin is a valuable feedstock for aromatic-based platform chemicals. In this study, a series of ionic liquids (ILs) were prepared with one-step synthesis and

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Low temperature is one of the important factors limiting wheat yield in cold regions.Expansins are nonenzymatic proteins that loosen cell walls and play important roles in diverse biological processes related to cell wall modification, including development and stress tolerance. Many studies have shown that expansins are involved in resistance to various abiotic stresses, such as heat and drought. However, the role of expansins in response to low-temperature stress remains unclear.• Based on our previous transcriptome data of a winter wheat cultivar Dongnongdongmai 2 (DN2), we found that one of the expansin genes, TaEXPA8, was significantly induced by low temperature, indicating a role for TaEXPA8 in cold resistance. In this study, the paralogous TaEXPA8 genes TaEXPA8-A, TaEXPA8-B and TaEXPA8-D were cloned by RT-PCR. These three genes were then transformed into Arabidopsis by the floral dip method. Expression patterns of TaEXPA8 genes in different tissues and in response to several abiotic stresses and hormones were detected by quantitative realtime PCR (qRT-PCR).• The results showed that TaEXPA8-A and TaEXPA8-B were expressed mainly in roots, while TaEXPA8-D was expressed predominantly in flowers. TaEXPA8 genes were induced by low-temperature and drought. The overexpression of TaEXPA8-B and TaEXPA8-D enhanced low-temperature resistance and had increased superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activity and soluble protein, MDA and proline content.• In summary, our study suggested that the expansins TaEXPA8-B and TaEXPA8-D are involved in the response to low temperature and possibly play a role in cold resistance by activating the protective enzyme system.

In the context of epidemic prevention and control, food safety monitoring, data analysis and food safety traceability have become more important. At the same time, the most important reason for food safety issues is incomplete, opaque, and asymmetric information. The most fundamental way to solve these problems is to do a good job of traceability, and establish a reasonable and reliable food safety traceability system. The traceability system is currently an important means to ensure food quality and safety and solve the crisis of trust between consumers and the market. Research on food safety traceability systems based on big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things provides ideas and methods to solve the problems of low credibility and difficult data storage in the application of traditional traceability systems. Therefore, this research takes rice as an example and proposes a food safety traceability system based on RFID twodimensional code technology and big data storage technology in the Internet of Things. This article applies RFID technology to the entire system by analyzing the requirements of the system, designing the system database and database tables, encoding the two-dimensional code and generating the design for information entry. Using RFID radio frequency technology and the data storage function in big data to obtain information in the food production process. Finally, the whole process of food production information can be traced through the design of dynamic query platform and mobile terminal. In this research, the food safety traceability system based on big data and the Internet of Things guarantees the integrity, reliability and safety of traceability information from a technical level. This is an effective solution for enhancing the credibility of traceability information, ensuring the integrity of information, and optimizing the data storage structure.