Low temperature is a major factor limiting rice productivity and geographical distribution. Improved cold tolerance and expanded cultivation to high-altitude or high-latitude regions would help meet growing rice demand. Here we explored a QTL for cold tolerance and cloned the gene, CTB4a (cold tolerance at booting stage), encoding a conserved leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase. We show that different CTB4a alleles confer distinct levels of cold tolerance and selection for variation in the CTB4a promoter region has occurred on the basis of environmental temperature. The newly generated cold-tolerant haplotype Tej-Hap-KMXBG was retained by artificial selection during temperate japonica evolution in cold habitats for low-temperature acclimation. Moreover, CTB4a interacts with AtpB, a beta subunit of ATP synthase. Upregulation of CTB4a correlates with increased ATP synthase activity, ATP content, enhanced seed setting and improved yield under cold stress conditions. These findings suggest strategies to improve cold tolerance in crop plants.

Low temperature at the booting stage is a serious abiotic stress in rice, and cold tolerance is a complex trait controlled by many quantitative trait loci (QTL). A QTL for cold tolerance at the booting stage in cold-tolerant near-isogenic rice line ZL1929-4 was analyzed. A total of 647 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers distributed across 12 chromosomes were used to survey for polymorphisms between ZL1929-4 and the cold-sensitive japonica cultivar Towada, and nine were polymorphic. Single marker analysis revealed that markers on chromosome 7 were associated with cold tolerance. By interval mapping using an F(2) population from ZL1929-4 x Towada, a QTL for cold tolerance was detected on the long arm of chromosome 7. The QTL explained 9 and 21% of the phenotypic variances in the F(2) and F(3) generations, respectively. Recombinant plants were screened for two flanking markers, RM182 and RM1132, in an F(2) population with 2,810 plants. Two-step substitution mapping suggested that the QTL was located in a 92-kb interval between markers RI02905 and RM21862. This interval was present in BAC clone AP003804. We designated the QTL as qCTB7 (quantitative trait locus for cold tolerance at the booting stage on chromosome 7), and identified 12 putative candidate genes.

Objectives. Functional components in alliums have long been maintained to play a key role in modifying the major risk factors for chronic disease. To obtain a better understanding of alliums for chronic disease prevention, we conducted a systematic review for risk factors and prevention strategies for chronic disease of functional components in alliums, based on a comprehensive English literature search that was conducted using various electronic search databases, especially the PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and CNKI for the period 2007–2016. Allium genus especially garlic, onion, and Chinese chive is rich in organosulfur compounds, quercetin, flavonoids, saponins, and others, which have anticancer, preventive cardiovascular and heart diseases, anti-inflammation, antiobesity, antidiabetes, antioxidants, antimicrobial activity, neuroprotective and immunological effects, and so on. These results support Allium genus; garlic and onion especially may be the promising dietotherapeutic vegetables and organopolysulfides as well as quercetin mechanism in the treatment of chronic diseases. This review may be used as scientific basis for the development of functional food, nutraceuticals, and alternative drugs to improve the chronic diseases.

Functional food for prevention of chronic diseases is one of this century's key global challenges. Cancer is lifestyle and obesity. The strategies of cancer prevention in human being are increased consumption of functional Tricholoma matsutake). In additionFunctional food -dietary -cancer prevention -human being -progress in Southwest China MINI-REVIEWacid, selenium, isothiocyanates, and epicatechins) with anticancer from cereals, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, teas, coffee, spices, and traditional medicinal herbs (vel Szic et al., 2011; Kim et al., 2013a). Phenols and anthocyanins in fruits and vegetables possess great potential of anticancer and so on (Terrón et al.,2013).The potential anti carcinogenic indian foods includes that vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, selenium, allium includes broccoli, cauliflower, radish, kale, brussels sprouts, watercress and cabbage that are used either fresh or cooked, but the lower incidences of many chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular related ailments are associated with consumption of vegetables rich dietary regimes (Manchali et al., 2012). This review focuses on a wide range of functional foods for cancer prevention in China and discuss reasons caused cancer and also promote new strategies prevention.Cancer refers to the rapid growth and division of abnormal cells in body. There are over 200 different new cases worldwide were lung (12.8%), breast (10.9%), colorectal (9.8%), stomach (7.8%), other sites (7.4%) and

Sleep is a vital segment of life, however, the mechanisms of diet promoting sleep are unclear and are the focus of research. Insomnia is a general sleep disorder and functional foods are known to play a key role in the prevention of insomnia. A number of studies have demonstrated that major insomnia risk factors in human being are less functional foods in dietary. There are higher functional components in functional foods promoting sleep, including tryptophan, GABA, calcium, potassium, melatonin, pyridoxine, L-ornithine and hexadecanoic acid; but wake-promoting neurochemical factors include serotonin, noradrenalin, acetylcholine, histamine, orexin and so on. The factors promoting sleep in human being are the functional foods include barley grass powder, whole grains, maca, panax, Lingzhi, asparagus powder, lettuce, cherry, kiwifruits, walnut, schisandra wine, and milk; Barley grass powder with higher GABA and calcium, as well as potassium is the most ideal functional food promoting sleep, however, the sleep duration for modern humans is associated with food structure of ancient humans. In this review, we put forward possible mechanisms of functional components in foods promoting sleep. Although there is clear relevance between sleep and diet, their molecular mechanisms need to be studied further.