Investigating the Impact of Origins on the Quality Characteristics of Celery Seeds Based on Metabolite Analysis through HS-GC-IMS, HS-SPME-GC-MS and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS.

Celery seeds contain various bioactive compounds and are commonly used as a spice and nutritional supplement in people's daily lives. The quality of celery seeds sold on the market varies, and their regions of production are unclear. This study evaluated the metabolites of Chinese celery seeds from three production regions using HS-SPME-GC-MS, HS-GC-IMS, and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. The results indicate that GC-IMS analysis obtained a metabolic profile different from that detected using GC-MS. Terpenoids, polyphenols, coumarins, and phthalides are the main bioactive compounds in celery seeds. The production region significantly affects the metabolic characteristics of celery seeds. Based on GC-MS data, GC-IMS data, and LC-MS data, the variation analysis screened 6, 12, and 8 metabolites as potential characteristic metabolites in celery seeds related to the production region, respectively. According to the aromatic characteristics of the characteristic metabolites, seeds from the HCQ region and HZC region have a strong herbal, woody, celery, and turpentine aroma. The concentration of secondary metabolites was highest in the seeds from the HCQ region followed by the HZC region, and it was the lowest in the JJC region. Altogether, this study investigates how geographical origins influence the metabolomic profile of celery seeds. The results can be used to guide the planting and harvesting of celery seeds in suitable regions.

Exploring engineering strategies that enhance de novo production of exotic cyclopropane fatty acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Cycloalkanes have broad applications as specialty fuels, lubricants, and pharmaceuticals but are not currently available from renewable sources, whereas, production of microbial cycloalkanes such as cyclopropane fatty acids (CFA) has bottlenecks. Here, a systematic investigation was undertaken into the biosynthesis of CFA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae heterologously expressing bacterial CFA synthase. The enzyme catalyzes formation of a 3-membered ring in unsaturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fatty acids in phospholipids (PL) are the site of CFA synthesis; precursor cis-Δ9 C16 and C18 fatty acids were enhanced through OLE1 and SAM2 overexpression which enhanced CFA in PL. CFA turnover from PL to storage in triacylglycerols (TAG) was achieved by phospholipase PBL2 overexpression and acyl-CoA synthase to increase flux to TAG. Consequently, CFA storage as TAG reached 12 mg g-1 DCW, improved 3-fold over the base strain and >22% of TAG was CFA. Our research improves understanding of cycloalkane biosynthesis in yeast and offers insights into processing of other exotic fatty acids.

Coassembled Multicomponent Protein Nanoparticles Elicit Enhanced Antibacterial Activity.

The waning pipeline of the useful antibacterial arsenal has necessitated the urgent development of more effective antibacterial strategies with distinct mechanisms to rival the continuing emergence of resistant pathogens, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, due to their explicit drug-impermeable, two-membrane-sandwiched cell wall envelope. Herein, we have developed multicomponent coassembled nanoparticles with strong bactericidal activity and simultaneous bacterial cell envelope targeting using a peptide coassembly strategy. Compared to the single-component self-assembled nanoparticle counterparts or cocktail mixtures of these at a similar concentration, coassembled multicomponent nanoparticles showed higher bacterial killing efficiency against Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli by several orders of magnitude (about 100-1,000,000-fold increase). Comprehensive confocal and electron microscopy suggest that the superior antibacterial activity of the coassembled nanoparticles proceeds via multiple complementary mechanisms of action, including membrane destabilization, disruption, and cell wall hydrolysis, actions that were not observed with the single nanoparticle counterparts. To understand the fundamental working mechanisms behind the improved performance of coassembled nanoparticles, we utilized a "dilution effect" system where the antibacterial components are intermolecularly mixed and coassembled with a non-antibacterial protein in the nanoparticles. We suggest that coassembled nanoparticles mediate enhanced bacterial killing activity by attributes such as optimized local concentration, high avidity, cooperativity, and synergy. The nanoparticles showed no cytotoxic or hemolytic activity against tested eukaryotic cells and erythrocytes. Collectively, these findings reveal potential strategies for disrupting the impermeable barrier that Gram-negative pathogens leverage to restrict antibacterial access and may serve as a platform technology for potential nano-antibacterial design to strengthen the declining antibiotic arsenal.

Artificial Light for Improving Tomato Recovery Following Grafting: Transcriptome and Physiological Analyses.

Grafting is widely used to enhance the phenotypic traits of tomatoes, alleviate biotic and abiotic stresses, and control soil-borne diseases of the scion in greenhouse production. There are many factors that affect the healing and acclimatization stages of seedlings after grafting. However, the role of light has rarely been studied. In this study, we compared the effects of artificial light and traditional shading (under shaded plastic-covered tunnels) on the recovery of grafted tomato seedlings. The results show that the grafted tomato seedlings recovered using artificial light had a higher healthy index, leaf chlorophyll content, shoot dry weight, and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and water use efficiency (WUE) compared with grafted seedling recovered using the traditional shading method. Transcriptome analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of grafted seedlings restored using artificial light were mainly enriched in the pathways corresponding to plant hormone signal transduction. In addition, we measured the endogenous hormone content of grafted tomato seedlings. The results show that the contents of salicylic acid (SA) and kinetin (Kin) were significantly increased, and the contents of indoleacetic acid (IAA) and jasmonic acid (JA) were decreased in artificial-light-restored grafted tomato seedlings compared with those under shading treatments. Therefore, we suggest that artificial light affects the morphogenesis and photosynthetic efficiency of grafted tomato seedlings, and it can improve the performance of tomato seedlings during grafting recovery by regulating endogenous hormone levels.

Integrated Secondary Metabolomic and Antioxidant Ability Analysis Reveals the Accumulation Patterns of Metabolites in Momordica charantia L. of Different Cultivars.

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) contains rich bioactive ingredients and secondary metabolites; hence, it has been used as medicine and food product. This study systematically quantified the nutrient contents, the total content of phenolic acids (TPC), flavonoids (TFC), and triterpenoids (TTC) in seven different cultivars of bitter gourd. This study also estimated the organic acid content and antioxidative capacity of different cultivars of bitter gourd. Although the TPC, TFC, TTC, organic acid content, and antioxidative activity differed significantly among different cultivars of bitter gourd, significant correlations were also observed in the obtained data. In the metabolomics analysis, 370 secondary metabolites were identified in seven cultivars of bitter gourd; flavonoids and phenolic acids were significantly more. Differentially accumulated metabolites identified in this study were mainly associated with secondary metabolic pathways, including pathways of flavonoid, flavonol, isoflavonoid, flavone, folate, and phenylpropanoid biosyntheses. A number of metabolites (n = 27) were significantly correlated (positive or negative) with antioxidative capacity (r ≥ 0.7 and p < 0.05). The outcomes suggest that bitter gourd contains a plethora of bioactive compounds; hence, bitter gourd may potentially be applied in developing novel molecules of medicinal importance.

Effects of Light Intensity on Growth and Quality of Lettuce and Spinach Cultivars in a Plant Factory.

The decreased quality of leafy vegetables and tipburn caused by inappropriate light intensity are serious problems faced in plant factories, greatly reducing the economic benefits. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively understand the impact of light intensity on the growth and quality of different crops and to develop precise lighting schemes for specific cultivars. Two lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivars-Crunchy and Deangelia-and one spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) cultivar-Shawen-were grown in a plant factory using a light-emitting diode (LED) under intensities of 300, 240, 180, and 120 µmol m-2 s-1, respectively. Cultivation in a solar greenhouse using only natural light (NL) served as the control. The plant height, number of leaves, and leaf width exhibited the highest values under a light intensity of 300 µmol m-2 s-1 for Crunchy. The plant width and leaf length of Deangelia exhibited the smallest values under a light intensity of 300 µmol m-2 s-1. The fresh weight of shoot and root, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and ascorbic acid contents in the three cultivars increased with the increasing light intensity. However, tipburn was observed in Crunchy under 300 µmol m-2 s-1 light intensity, and in Deangelia under both 300 and 240 µmol m-2 s-1 light intensities. Shawen spinach exhibited leaf curling under all four light intensities. The light intensities of 240 and 180 µmol m-2 s-1 were observed to be the most optimum for Crunchy and Deangelia (semi-heading lettuce variety), respectively, which would exhibit relative balance growth and morphogenesis. The lack of healthy leaves in Shawen spinach under all light intensities indicated the need to comprehensively optimize cultivation for Shawen in plant factories to achieve successful cultivation. The results indicated that light intensity is an important factor and should be optimized for specific crop species and cultivars to achieve healthy growth in plant factories.

An Ultrastable Self-Assembled Antibacterial Nanospears Made of Protein.

Protein-based nanomaterials have broad applications in the biomedical and bionanotechnological sectors owing to their outstanding properties such as high biocompatibility and biodegradability, structural stability, sophisticated functional versatility, and being environmentally benign. They have gained considerable attention in drug delivery, cancer therapeutics, vaccines, immunotherapies, biosensing, and biocatalysis. However, so far, in the battle against the increasing reports of antibiotic resistance and emerging drug-resistant bacteria, unique nanostructures of this kind are lacking, hindering their potential next-generation antibacterial agents. Here, the discovery of a class of supramolecular nanostructures with well-defined shapes, geometries, or architectures (termed "protein nanospears") based on engineered proteins, exhibiting exceptional broad-spectrum antibacterial activities, is reported. The protein nanospears are engineered via spontaneous cleavage-dependent or precisely tunable self-assembly routes using mild metal salt-ions (Mg2+ , Ca2+ , Na+ ) as a molecular trigger. The nanospears' dimensions collectively range from entire nano- to micrometer scale. The protein nanospears display exceptional thermal and chemical stability yet rapidly disassemble upon exposure to high concentrations of chaotropes (>1 mm sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)). Using a combination of biological assays and electron microscopy imaging, it is revealed that the nanospears spontaneously induce rapid and irreparable damage to bacterial morphology via a unique action mechanism provided by their nanostructure and enzymatic action, a feat inaccessible to traditional antibiotics. These protein-based nanospears show promise as a potent tool to combat the growing threats of resistant bacteria, inspiring a new way to engineer other antibacterial protein nanomaterials with diverse structural and dimensional architectures and functional properties.

Engineer RNA-Protein Nanowires as Light-Responsive Biomaterials.

RNA molecules have emerged as increasingly attractive biomaterials with important applications such as RNA interference (RNAi) for cancer treatment and mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases. However, it remains challenging to engineer RNA biomaterials with sophisticated functions such as non-covalent light-switching ability. Herein, light-responsive RNA-protein nanowires are engineered to have such functions. It first demonstrates that the high affinity of RNA aptamer enables the formation of long RNA-protein nanowires through designing a dimeric RNA aptamer and an engineered green fluorescence protein (GFP) that contains two TAT-derived peptides at N- and C- termini. GFP is then replaced with an optogenetic protein pair system, LOV2 (light-oxygen-voltage) protein and its binding partner ZDK (Z subunit of protein A), to confer blue light-controlled photo-switching ability. The light-responsive nanowires are long (>500 nm) in the dark, but small (20-30 nm) when exposed to light. Importantly, the co-assembly of this RNA-protein hybrid biomaterial does not rely on the photochemistry commonly used for light-responsive biomaterials, such as bond formation, cleavage, and isomerization, and is thus reversible. These RNA-protein structures can serve as a new class of light-controlled biocompatible frameworks for incorporating versatile elements such as RNA, DNA, and enzymes.

Rapid production of multimeric RNA aptamers stabilized by a designed pseudo-circular structure in E. coli.

RNA aptamers bind specifically and selectively to various macromolecules, cell surfaces, and viruses and find broad applications as biosensors, diagnostics, and in therapeutic treatments and drug delivery. Currently, RNA aptamer production is via in vitro methods. Herein, a new E. coli-based approach has been demonstrated for the rapid production of multimeric RNA aptamer transcripts that are protected from degradation by burying the 5' and 3' ends of the transcript in a designed double-stranded spacer. Multimeric and fluorescent RNA aptamers were produced stably in vivo and readily isolated from RNase III-deficient cells, and their full functionalities were shown by binding assays and fluorescence measurements. This approach shows promise as a rapid and scalable bioprocess for the production of RNA aptamers at low cost.

Engineering Self-Assembled Endolysin Nanoparticles against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance represents a serious global health concern and has stimulated the development of antimicrobial nanomaterials to combat resistant bacteria. Protein-based nanoparticles combining characteristics of both proteins and nanoparticles offer advantages including high biocompatibility, attractive biodegradability, enhanced bioavailability and functional versatility. They have played an increasing role as promising candidates for broad applications ranging from biocatalysts and drug delivery to vaccine development to cancer therapeutics. However, their application as antibacterial biomaterials to address challenging antibiotic-resistance problems has not been explicitly pursued. Herein, we describe engineering protein-only nanoparticles against resistant Gram-positive bacteria. A self-assembling peptide (P114) enables the assembly of a phage lytic enzyme (P128) into nanoparticles in response to pH reduction. Compared to native P128 and monomeric P114-P128, P128 nanoparticles (P128NANO) demonstrated a stronger bactericidal ability with high potency at lower concentrations (2-3-fold lower), particularly for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains. In addition, P128NANO showed an enhanced thermal (up to 65 °C) and storage stability and elicited extensive damages to bacterial cell walls. These remarkable antibacterial abilities are likely due to the P128NANO nanostructure, mediating multivalent interactions with bacterial cell walls at increased local concentrations of endolysin. The engineered endolysin nanoparticles offer a promising antimicrobial alternative to conventional antibiotics.

Comparison of rockwool and coir for greenhouse cucumber production: chemical element, plant growth, and fruit quality.

Replacing rockwool with more sustainable materials, such as coir, is an effective measure to improve the sustainability of soilless cultivation in the greenhouse. To comprehensively assess the feasibility of coir before using it widely, coir was compared to rockwool as a cucumber cultivation substrate to evaluate its performance on mineral elements in the substrates, drainage, and in the plants. Plant growth, amino acids, and flavor substances of cucumber fruits were also compared between the two substrates. Compared to rockwool, coir significantly increased the LAI and yield of cucumber crops as well as contents of Ca, Mg, S, Cl and Zn in leaves and fruits. Contents of P, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, Zn, and B in the substrate were higher for coir while those of Fe, Cu, and Mn in the drainage lower. Moreover, coir also significantly increased contents of amino acids (His, Leu, Ile, Phe, Lys, Asp, Glu and Pro) and flavor substance (TC, PS, TP, CLL, CuB, and LA) in cucumber fruits. Our results demonstrated the potential of coir as a replacement of rockwool to improve sustainability of soilless cultivation in the greenhouse.

Transcriptome Analyses Reveal the Role of Light in Releasing the Morphological Dormancy of Celery Seed by Integrating Plant Hormones, Sugar Metabolism and Endosperm Weakening.

Celery seed is known to be difficult to germinate due to its morphological dormancy. Light is the key signal to release morphological dormancy and promote seed germination. However, this mechanism has rarely been studied. We performed physiological, transcriptome analyses on celery seed exposed to light and dark to decipher the mechanism by which light promotes germination of celery seed. The results showed that light significantly enhanced the expression of gibberellin synthesis genes and abscisic acid degradation genes and inhibited the expression of abscisic acid synthesis genes and gibberellin degradation genes. Moreover, gibberellin synthesis inhibitor could completely inhibit the germination capacity of celery seed, indicating that gibberellin is indispensable in the process of celery seed germination. Compared with dark, light also increased the activity of α-amylase and ß-amylase and the expression of related coding genes and promoted the degradation of starch and the increase of soluble sugar content, suggesting that light enhanced the sugar metabolism of celery seed. In addition, transcriptome analysis revealed that many genes related to endosperm weakening (cell wall remodeling enzymes, extension proteins) were up-regulated under light. It was also found that light promoted the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the radicle, which promoted the endosperm weakening process of celery seed. Our results thus indicated that light signal may promote the release of morphological dormancy through the simultaneous action of multiple factors.

Zero Discharge of Nutrient Solution to the Environment in a Soilless Greenhouse Cucumber Production System.

With the development of the economy and society, more attention is being paid to energy costs and the potential environmental pollution caused by vegetable cultivation. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of zero discharge of nutrient solutions on cucumber growth, leaf photosynthesis, and the yield and quality of cucumber under greenhouse conditions. The results show that zero discharge treatment did not change plant height, stem diameter, internode length, leaf area, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (Tr), and leaf relative chlorophyll content on the most measurement days. Only Pn and relative chlorophyll content were significantly reduced after 16 days of treatment but soon recovered over time. Cucumber plants can adapt to treatment circumstances over the course of days. Leaf mineral element contents showed significant differences on some treatment days compared to the control, and trace elements of Fe, Mn, Cu, and Mo can be appropriately supplied during the treatment days. The cucumber yield and fruit quality in the zero discharge treatment did not change during the whole experimental period. This study confirmed that the irrigation method of a nutrient solution with zero discharge can be applied in cucumber cultivation practices. The strict management of irrigation strategy, plant growth, and greenhouse climate are very important for zero discharge cultivation. The cultivation method with zero discharge of nutrient solution can reduce the energy costs of disinfection, save water and fertilizers, and reduce the environmental pollution in cucumber cultivation.

Comprehensive Quality and Bioactive Constituent Analysis of Celery Juice Made from Different Cultivars.

Celery juice is rich in bioactive constituents, has good health properties, and is becoming much more popular, with its demand continuing to rise. The results of this study show that celery juice from Chinese cultivars contains more bioactive constituents, whereas celery cultivars from the United States and European countries have a higher juice yield. Compared with the other juices, the juices of five cultivars may taste sweeter, and the juices of three cultivars had a higher antioxidant capacity. The juices of six cultivars (three with the highest antioxidant capacity and three with the lowest antioxidant capacity) were selected to analyze bioactive constituents by LC/MS and GC/MS. A total of 71 phenolic acids, 38 flavonoids, 18 coumarins, 41 terpenoids, and 11 phthalides were detected in the juices of the six celery cultivars. The contents of 14 compounds had a more than 10-fold difference among these celery juices. This study first evaluated the comprehensive quality of the juices made from 26 celery cultivars and then analyzed the differences in bioactive constituents in the juices of6 celery cultivars. These findings provide information for the further study on the health functions of celery juice and can also guide celery juice production and celery breeding.

Coassembled Nitric Oxide-Releasing Nanoparticles with Potent Antimicrobial Efficacy against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Strains.

Nitric oxide (NO)-releasing nanoparticles are effective nanomedicines with diverse therapeutic advantages compared with small molecule-based NO donors. Here, we report a new class of furoxan-based NO-releasing nanoparticles using a simple, creative yet facile coassembly approach. This is the first time we demonstrated that the coassembled NO-releasing nanoparticles with poly(ethylene glycol)101-block-poly(propylene glycol)56-block-poly(ethylene glycol)101 (Pluronic F127) had potent antimicrobial efficacies against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. Nanoparticles obtained from the coassembly of either 4-(1-(3-methylpentan-5-ol)oxyl)(3-phenylsulfonyl) furoxan (compound 1) or 4-methoxy(3-phenylsulfonyl) furoxan (compound 2) with Pluronic F127 exhibit 4-fold improved antimicrobial activities compared to their self-assembled counterparts without Pluronic F127. 5(6)-Carboxylfluorescein (CF) leakage experiments further reveal that both coassembled NO-releasing nanoparticles show stronger interactions with lipid bilayers than those self-assembled alone. Subsequently, their strong plasma membrane-damaging capabilities are confirmed under both high-resolution optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy characterizations. This coassembly approach could be readily applied to other small molecule-based antimicrobials, providing new solutions and important insights to further antimicrobial recipe design.

Nutrient Concentrations Induced Abiotic Stresses to Sweet Pepper Seedlings in Hydroponic Culture.

The primary goal of this experiment was to investigate the effects of nutrient electrical conductivity (EC) on the growth and physiological responses of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in hydroponic culture in a greenhouse. The plant growth parameters, leaf photosynthesis, root activity, soluble protein, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, activities of antioxidant enzymes (AE), and the contents of plant mineral elements (PME) were measured in six different EC treatments. The results showed that very high or low EC treatments clearly decreased the plant height, stem diameter, shoot dry weight, and leaf net photosynthetic rate, while increasing the content of MDA and the activities of ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase. The contents of proline and soluble protein increased gradually from the low to high EC treatments. The root activities decreased significantly, and the main PME clearly did not increase or even decreased at high EC levels. Very high EC treatments suppressed growth even more than those of very low EC. Treatments that were too low or high EC suppressed plant growth, owing to abiotic stress (either nutrient deficiency or salinity), since the plants had to regulate the activities of AE and increase the accumulation of osmolytes to adjust to the abiotic stresses.

Superior Binding of Proteins on a Silica Surface: Physical Insight into the Synergetic Contribution of Polyhistidine and a Silica-Binding Peptide.

Controllable protein attachment onto solid interfaces is essential for the functionality of proteins with broad applications. Silica-binding peptides (SBPs) have emerged as an important tool enabling convenient binding of proteins onto a silica surface. Surprisingly, we found that removal of polyhistidines, a common tag for protein purification, dramatically decrease the binding affinity of a SBP-tagged nanobody onto a silica surface. We hypothesized that polyhistidines and SBPs can be combined to enhance affinity. Through a series of purposely designed SBPs, we identified that the relative orientation of amino acids is a key factor affecting the surface binding strength. One re-engineered SBP, SBP4, exhibits a 4000-fold improvement compared to the original sequence. Guided by physical insights, the work provides a simple strategy that can dramatically improve affinity between a SBP and a silica surface, promising a new way for controllable immobilization of proteins, as demonstrated using nanobodies.

A Lotus shaped acoustofluidic mixer: High throughput homogenisation of liquids in 2 ms using hydrodynamically coupled resonators.

This paper presents an acoustically actuated microfluidic mixer that uses an array of hydrodynamically coupled resonators to rapidly homogenise liquid solutions and synthesise nanoparticles. The system relies on 8 identical oscillating cantilevers that are equally spaced on the perimeter of a circular well, through which the liquid solutions are introduced. When an oscillatory electrical signal is applied to a piezoelectric transducer attached to the device, the cantilevers start resonating. Due to the close proximity between the cantilevers, their circular arrangement and the liquid medium in which they are immersed, the vibration of each cantilever affects the response of its neighbours. The streaming fields and shearing rates resulting from the oscillating structures were characterised. It was shown that the system can be used to effectively mix fluids at flow rates up to 1400 µl.min-1 in time scales as low as 2 ms. The rapid mixing time is especially advantageous for nanoparticle synthesis, which is demonstrated by synthesising Poly lactide-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles with 52.2 nm size and PDI of 0.44.

Effect of seed coat microstructure and lipid composition on the hydration behavior and kinetics of two red bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) varieties.

Bean hydration is a crucial, yet complex process affected both by inherent bean properties (intrinsic) and properties of the soak medium (extrinsic) whose relationship with hydration kinetics are not clear. This work investigated the effect of temperature (30-80°C) on the hydration behavior and kinetics of two commonly consumed Phaseolus vulgaris L. beans-red kidney and small red beans. Both beans have similar morphology (except size), chemical composition and seed coat surface structure but, surprisingly, their hydration behaviors differed markedly. Small red hydration followed a sigmoidal shape (to 70°C) with a prominent lag phase at 30-40°C, while fast hydrating red kidney beans followed a downward concave shape, suggesting different mechanisms of water uptake. The hydration behaviors for red kidney and small red beans were modeled using Peleg (R2 ≥0.97) and sigmoidal (R2 ≥0.99) models, respectively. Water uptake rate increased, while equilibrium moisture content decreased for both bean varieties with increasing temperature. A simplified model was developed for small red beans which can predict hydration as a function of temperature and time with good accuracy ( M mod = M expt . × 1.06 - 0.56 ${M_{{\rm{mod}}}} = {M_{{\rm{expt}}{\rm{.}}}}\ \times 1.06 - 0.56$ , R2  = 0.99, RMSE = 4.5). Microscopic examination of cross sections of seed coats showed nearly double parenchyma layer thickness in small red bean and seed coat lipid analysis showed significantly higher proportion of saturated fatty acids which, together, may be responsible for slower water uptake observed in small red beans. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Hydration is the crucial stage in dry bean processing, which precedes other processes like cooking, extraction, fermentation, sprouting, and consumption. Industrial bean processing is still slow and batch process and needs improvement. This work shows the effect of various bean properties and soaking medium temperature on the hydration behavior of two commonly consumed red beans. The work also modeled the hydration kinetics of two Phaseolus vulgaris L. beans which can be adopted by bean processors for process design and optimization.

Integrated analysis of transcriptome and microRNAs associated with exogenous calcium-mediated enhancement of hypoxic tolerance in cucumber seedlings (Cucumis sativus L.).

Plants often suffer from hypoxic stress due to flooding caused by extreme weather. Hypoxia usually leads to restricted oxygen supply and alters metabolic patterns from aerobic to anaerobic. Cucumber roots are fragile and highly sensitive to damage from hypoxic stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulatory mechanism of exogenous calcium alleviating hypoxic stress in cucumber through transcriptome and small RNAs analysis. Three treatments were performed in this paper, including untreated-control (CK), hypoxic stress (H), and hypoxic stress + exogenous calcium treatment (H + Ca2+). A large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, 1,463 DEGs between CK vs H, 3,399 DEGs between H vs H + Ca2+, and 5,072 DEGs between CK vs H + Ca2+, respectively. KEGG analysis of DEGs showed that exogenous calcium could activate hormone signaling pathways (ethylene, ABA, IAA and cytokinin), transcription factors (MYB, MYB-related, bHLH, bZIP, and WRKY), calcium signaling and glycolysis pathway to mitigating hypoxic stress in cucumber seedlings. Additionally, miRNA and their target genes were detected and predicted between treatments. The target genes of these miRNAs revealed that auxin, cellulose synthase, and mitochondrial ribosomal related genes (Csa2G315390, Csa6G141390, Csa4G053280, and Csa6G310480) probably play in the improvement of the hypoxic tolerance of cucumber seedlings through exogenous calcium application. In short, our data adds new information to the mechanism of exogenous calcium mitigation of hypoxic stress injury in cucumber seedlings at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.