Viscose-based activated carbon fibers (VACFs) were treated by a direct-current (DC) discharge plasma at different conditions. The surface functional groups of VACFs were modified to improve the adsorption and catalysis capacity for SO 2 and NO x . The surface properties of the untreated and treated VACFs which were modified in different feed gases (air, O 2 , N 2 and NH 3 ) were performed by scanning electron microscopy, BET, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). The results show that after being treated with plasma, more particles appeared on the external surface of the VACFs and the surface became rougher, the average pore size decreased but the pore volume and the surface area decreased first and then increased. XPS revealed that DC discharge plasma can remarkably change the distribution of functional groups on the surface of VACFs. FTIR-ATR also indicated that more nitrogen atoms were introduced to the VACFs surface when the feed gas contained nitrogen atoms and N and O atoms were introduced to the surface of VACFs at the same time when the feed gas was air, but it did not happen in the feed gas of N 2 , or O 2 , or NH 3 . Discharge voltage and treatment time were important factors and for our experiment in the feed gas of nitrogen, the optimum modification conditions were 8 kV and 5 min, respectively. 

Brassica napus (oilseed rape) is an economically important oil crop worldwide. Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a threat to oilseed rape production. Because the flower petals play pivotal roles in the SSR disease cycle, it is useful to express the resistance-related genes specifically in flowers to hinder further infection with S. sclerotiorum. To screen flower-specific promoters, we first analyzed the transcriptome data from 12 different tissues of the B. napus line ZS11. In total, 249 flower-specific candidate genes with high expression in petals were identified, and the expression patterns of 30 candidate genes were verified by quantitative real-time transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. Furthermore, two novel flower-specific promoters (FSP046 and FSP061 promoter) were identified, and the tissue specificity and continuous expression in petals were determined in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana with fusing the promoters to β-glucuronidase (GUS)-reporter gene. GUS staining, transcript expression pattern, and GUS activity analysis indicated that FSP046 and FSP061 promoter were strictly flower-specific promoters, and FSP046 promoter had a stronger activity. The two promoters were further confirmed to be able to direct GUS expression in B. napus flowers using transient expression system. The transcriptome data and the flower-specific promoters screened in the present study will benefit fundamental research for improving the agronomic traits as well as disease and pest control in a tissue-specific manner.

Iron toxicity is a nutrient disorder that severely affects crop development and yield in some soil conditions. Vacuolar detoxification of metal stress is an important strategy for plants to survive and adapt to this adverse environment. Vacuolar iron transporter (VIT) members are involved in this process and play essential roles in iron storage and transport. In this study, we identified a rapeseed VIT gene BnMEB2 (BnaC07g30170D) homologs to Arabidopsis MEB2 (At5g24290). Transient expression analysis revealed that BnMEB2 was localized to the vacuolar membrane. Q-PCR detection showed a high expression of BnMEB2 in mature (60-day-old) leaves and could be obviously induced by exogenous iron stress in both roots and leaves. Over-expressed BnMEB2 in both Arabidopsis wild type and meb2 mutant seedlings resulted in greatly improved iron tolerability with no significant changes in the expression level of other VIT genes. The mutant meb2 grew slowly and its root hair elongation was inhibited under high iron concentration condition while BnMEB2 over-expressed transgenic plants of the mutant restored the phenotypes with apparently higher iron storage in roots and dramatically increased iron content in the whole plant. Taken together, these results suggested that BnMEB2 was a VIT gene in rapeseed which was necessary for safe storage and vacuole detoxification function of excess iron to enhance the tolerance of iron toxicity. This research sheds light on a potentially new strategy for attenuating hazardous metal stress from environment and improving iron biofortification in Brassicaceae crops.