Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is grown for its elite fiber. Understanding differential gene expression patterns during fiber development will help to identify genes associated with fiber quality. In this study, we used two recombinant inbred lines (RILs) differing in fiber quality derived from an intra-hirsutum population to explore expression profiling differences and identify genes associated with high-quality fiber or specific fiber-development stages using RNA sequencing. Overall, 72/27, 1137/1584, 437/393, 1019/184, and 2555/1479 differentially expressed genes were up-/down-regulated in an elite fiber line (L1) relative to a poor-quality fiber line (L2) at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 days post-anthesis, respectively. Three-hundred sixty-three differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between two lines were colocalized in fiber strength (FS) quantitative trait loci (QTL). Short Time-series Expression Miner (STEM) analysis discriminated seven expression profiles; gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotation were performed to identify difference in function between genes unique to L1 and L2. Co-expression network analysis detected five modules highly associated with specific fiber-development stages, especially for high-quality fiber tissues. The hub genes in each module were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Hub genes encoding actin 1, Rho GTPase-activating protein with PAK-box, TPX2 protein, bHLH transcription factor, and leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinase were identified. Correlation networks revealed considerable interaction among the hub genes, transcription factors, and other genes.

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Through studying structure, bioassay and soil degradation tri-factor relationship, potential controllable degradation of SU was firstly explored and summarized.

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The study of soil degradation behaviors of sulfonylurea herbicides in relation to their different structural attributes is utmost important for us to comprehend the development of new eco-friendly herbicides. It is postulated that the structural modification of the chemical structures could influence their degradation rates in soil. Nine devised structures were synthesized to study their herbicidal activity as well as their soil degradation behaviors respectively. The novel compounds I-3-I-7 were characterized by UV, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR, MS and EA. Bioassays indicated that most of target compounds displayed superior herbicidal activities in comparison with Chlorsulfuron. Soil degradation results further confirmed our previous assumption that the introduction of electron-donating substituents at 5 th position of the benzene ring distinctly increased their degradation rates, among which dimethylamino and diethylamino groups can adjust the degradation rate to a more favorable status.

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A series of amide derivatives containing aromatic sulfide and sulfone groups synthesized in our previous work displayed excellent nematocidal activity at 200 μg/mL. In order to explore the effect of structural modification of the amide bridge on biological activity in a more delicate way, two series of novel target compounds were designed and synthesized by adopting amide group flipping and introducing N-sulfonyl substituted amide bonds. The bioassays indicated that the structural modification of the amide bridge had important effects on their nematocidal and fungicidal activities, which the introduction of the N-sulfonyl substituent on the amide group was favorable to improving the nematocidal activity in comparison with compounds I. The molecular docking revealed that directly attaching the carbonyl or sulfonyl groups in the amide bridge to the aromatic rings was advantageous to the nematocidal activity.