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In plants, auxin/indoleacetic acid (Aux/IAA) proteins are transcriptional regulators that regulate developmental process and responses to phytohormones and stress treatments. However, the regulatory functions of the Vitis vinifera L. (grapevine) Aux/IAA transcription factor gene VvIAA18 have not been reported. In this study, the VvIAA18 gene was successfully cloned from grapevine. Subcellular localization analysis in onion epidermal cells indicated that VvIAA18 was localized to the nucleus. Expression analysis in yeast showed that the full length of VvIAA18 exhibited transcriptional activation. Salt tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants and Escherichia. coli was significantly enhanced by VvIAA18 overexpression. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that overexpression of VvIAA18 up-regulated the salt stress-responsive genes, including pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (NtP5CS), late embryogenesis abundant protein (NtLEA5), superoxide dismutase (NtSOD), and peroxidase (NtPOD) genes, under salt stress. Enzymatic analyses found that the transgenic plants had higher SOD and POD activities under salt stress. Meanwhile, component analysis showed that the content of proline in transgenic plants increased significantly, while the content of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased significantly. Based on the above results, the VvIAA18 gene is related to improving the salt tolerance of transgenic tobacco plants. The VvIAA18 gene has the potential to be applied to enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stress.

Auxin/indoleacetic acid (Aux/IAA) proteins play an important regulatory role in the developmental process of plants and their responses to stresses. A previous study has shown that constitutive expression of OsIAA18, an Aux/IAA transcription factor gene of rice improved salt and osmotic tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. However, little work is known about the regulatory functions of the OsIAA18 gene in regulating the abiotic stress tolerance of rice. In this study, the OsIAA18 gene was introduced into the rice cultivar, Zhonghua 11 and the OsIAA18 overexpression in rice plants exhibited significantly enhanced salt and drought tolerance compared to the wild type (WT). Moreover, overexpression of OsIAA18 in rice increased endogenous levels of abscisic acid (ABA) and the overexpression of OsIAA18 in rice plants showed hypersensitivity to exogenous ABA treatment at both the germination and postgermination stages compared to WT. Overexpression of OsIAA18 upregulated the genes involved in ABA biosynthesis and signaling pathways, proline biosynthesis pathway, and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging system in the overexpression of OsIAA18 in rice plants under salt and drought stresses. Proline content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) activities were significantly increased, whereas malonaldehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and superoxide anion radical (O2–) content were significantly decreased in the transgenic plants under salt and drought stresses. Taken together, we suggest that OsIAA18 plays a positive role in drought and salt tolerance by regulating stress-induced ABA signaling. The OsIAA18 gene has a potential application in genetically modified crops with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses.

Sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase 1 (SnRK1) has been shown to play an essential role in regulating saccharide metabolism and starch biosynthesis of plant. The regulatory role of from potato in regulating carbohydrate metabolism and starch accumulation has not been investigated. In this work, a cDNA encoding the SnRK1 protein, named, was isolated from potato. The open reading frame contained 1545 nucleotides encoding 514 amino acids. Subcellular localization analysis in onion epidermal cells indicated that StSnRK1 protein was localized to the nucleus. The coding region of was cloned into a binary vector under the control of 35S promoter and then transformed into tobacco to obtain transgenic plants. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing were shown to have a significant increased accumulation of starch content, as well as sucrose, glucose and fructose content. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis indicated that overexpression of up-regulated the expression of sucrose synthase (), ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) and soluble starch synthase () genes involved in starch biosynthesis in the transgenic plants. In contrast, the expression of sucrose phosphate synthase () gene was decreased in the transgenic plants. Meanwhile, enzymatic analyses indicated that the activities of major enzymes (SUS, AGPase and SSS) involved in the starch biosynthesis were enhanced, whereas SPS activity was decreased in the transgenic plants compared to the wild-type. These results suggest that the manipulation of expression might be used for improving quality of plants in the future.

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A plastidic ATP/ADP transporter (AATP) is responsible for importing ATP from the cytosol into plastids. Increasing the ATP supply is a potential way to facilitate anabolic synthesis in heterotrophic plastids of plants. In this work, a gene encoding the AATP protein, named , was successfully isolated from tomato. Expression of was induced by exogenous sucrose treatment in tomato. The coding region of was cloned into a binary vector under the control of 35S promoter and then transformed into to obtain transgenic plants. Constitutive expression of significantly increased the starch accumulation in the transgenic plants. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that constitutive expression of up-regulated the expression of phosphoglucomutase (), ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (), granule-bound starch synthase ( and ), soluble starch synthases (, , and ) and starch branching enzyme ( and ) genes involved in starch biosynthesis in the transgenic plants. Meanwhile, enzymatic analyses indicated that the major enzymes (AGPase, GBSS, SSS and SBE) involved in the starch biosynthesis exhibited higher activities in the transgenic plants compared to the wild-type (WT). These findings suggest that may improve starch content of by up-regulating the expression of the related genes and increasing the activities of the major enzymes invovled in starch biosynthesis. The manipulation of expression might be used for increasing starch accumulation of plants in the future.

The objectives of this study were to investigate ethylene and 1-aminocylopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) in rice grains and root bleeding sap during the grain filling period and their relationship to the grain filling rate. Two high lodging-resistant rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars were grown in pots or tanks. Three treatments, including well watered (WW), moderate soil-drying (MD) and severe soil-drying (SD), were conducted from 9 days of post-anthesis until maturity. The effects of chemical regulators on the concentrations of ethylene and ACC in the grains were also studied. The results show that MD significantly increased the grainfilling rate and grain weight, whereas SD significantly reduced the grain-filling rate and grain weight. Concentrations of ethylene and ACC in the grains were very high at the early grain filling stage and then sharply decreased during the linear period of grain growth. MD reduced the ACC concentrations and ethylene evolution rate, whereas SD remarkably increased the ACC concentrations and ethylene evolution rate. Both the ethylene evolution rate in rice grains and the ACC concentrations in the root-bleeding sap were significantly and positively correlated with the ACC concentrations in rice grains. The ethylene evolution rate was significantly and negatively correlated with the grain-filling rate. The application of amino-ethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), an inhibitor of ethylene synthesis, at 9-13 days of postanthesis significantly reduced the ACC concentrations and ethylene evolution rate of grains, but significantly enhanced the activities of sucrose synthase, ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase and soluble starch synthase. The results were reversed when ethephon, an ethylenereleasing agent, was applied. The results suggest that moderate soil drying during the grain-filling period in rice could inhibit the production of ethylene and ACC and therefore accelerate grain filling and increase grain weight.

New carboxamides, (±)-vochysiamide C (1) and (+)-vochysiamide B (2), and a new polyketide, 4S,3aS,9aR-3a,9a-deoxy-3a hydroxy-1-dehydroxyarthrinone (3), were isolated and identified from the sponge-derived fungus Arthrinium sp. SCSIO 41421, together with other fifteen known natural products (4–18). Their structures including absolute configurations were determined by detailed NMR, MS spectroscopic analyses, calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD), as well as quantum-chemical NMR calculations. Preliminary bioactivity screening and molecular docking analysis revealed that several natural products exhibited obvious enzyme inhibitory activities against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), such as 2,3,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1-methylxanthone (4) with an inhibitory rate 86% at 50 μg/mL.