Coronatine-Based Gene Expression Changes Impart Partial Resistance to Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in Seedling Maize.

In recent years, Spodoptera frugiperda (S. frugiperda, Smith) has invaded China, seriously threatening maize production. To explore an effective method to curb the further expansion of the harm of the S. frugiperda, this experiment used maize seedlings of the Zhengdan 958 three-leaf stage (V3) of maize as the material to study the effect of coronatine (COR) on the ability of maize to resist insects (S. frugiperda) at the seedling stage. The results showed that when maize was sprayed with 0.05 µM COR, the newly incubated larvae of S. frugiperda had the least leaf feeding. It was found that 0.05 µM COR significantly increased the contents of abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonate (JA) in maize leaves through the determination of hormone content. Moreover, transcriptome sequencing revealed that the expression of six genes (ZmBX1, ZmBX2, ZmBX3, ZmBX4, ZmBX5 and ZmBX6), which are associated with the synthesis of benzoxazinoid, were upregulated. Nine genes (ZmZIM3, ZmZIM4, ZmZIM10, ZmZIM13, ZmZIM18, ZmZIM23, ZmZIM27, ZmZIM28 and ZmZIM38) of JA-Zim Domain (JAZ) protein in the JA signal pathway, and seven genes (ZmPRH19, ZmPRH18, Zm00001d024732, Zm00001d034109, Zm00001d026269, Zm00001d028574 and Zm00001d013220) of ABA downstream response protein Group A Type 2C Protein Phosphatase (PP2C) were downregulated. These results demonstrated that COR could induce anti-insect factors and significantly improve insect resistance in seedling maize, which laid a theoretical foundation for further study of the mechanism of COR improving insect resistance in seedling maize, and provided data references for the use of COR as an environmentally friendly pest control method.

Modeling acute toxicity of metal mixtures to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using the biotic ligand model-based toxic units method.

The combined toxic effects of copper (Cu) and cobalt (Co) were predicted using the biotic ligand model (BLM) for different concentrations of magnesium (Mg2+) and pH levels, with parameters derived from Cu-only and Co-only toxicity data. The BLM-based toxic unit (TU) approach was used for prediction. Higher activities of Mg2+ linearly increased the EC50 of Cu and Co, supporting the concept of competitive binding of Mg2+ and metal ions in toxic action. The effects of pH on Cu and Co toxicity were related not only to free Cu2+ and Co2+ activity, respectively, but also to inorganic metal complexes. Stability constants for the binding of Cu2+, CuHCO3+, CuCO3(aq), CuOH+, Mg2+, Co2+, CoHCO3+ and Mg2+ with biotic ligands were logK CuBL 5.87, [Formula: see text] 5.67, [Formula: see text] 5.44, logK CuOHBL 5.07, logK MgBL 2.93, logK CoBL 4.72, [Formula: see text] 5.81 and logK MgBL 3.84, respectively. The combinations of Cu and Co showed additive effects under different conditions. When compared with the FIAM-based TU model (root mean square error [RMSE = 16.31, R 2 = 0.84]), the BLM-based TU model fitted the observed effects better (RMSE = 6.70, R 2 = 0.97). The present study supports the BLM principles, which indicate that metal speciation and major cations competition need to be accounted for when predicting toxicity of both single metals and mixtures of metals.

[Effects of saline-alkali stress on electrical impedance spectroscopy parameters and ion contents in shoots of Ping'ou hybrid hazelnut].

To study the adaptability to salt-alkaline stress of Ping'ou hybrid hazelnut, 'Liaozhen 3' shoots which were treated with three types of stress neutral NaCl, alkaline Na2CO3, and mixed salt-alkali, and the changes in electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) parameters and mineral ion contents were subsequently determined. The correlations between the EIS parameters and mineral ion contents were analyzed. The results showed that with the increasing level of NaCl, specific high- frequency resistance (r), specific low-frequency resistance ( r(l)), specific intracellular resistance (r(i)) and specific extracellular resistance (r(e)) of shoots decreased firstly, then increased, and finally decreased again. However, these parameters increased gradually with the increasing level of Na2CO3, while r(l) and r(e) decreased slowly in the mixed salt-alkali treatments. The Na+ contents of shoots increased significantly under the three salt-alkali stresses with the order of NaCl stress > mixed salt-alkali stress > Na2CO3 stress. Furthermore, Na2CO3 stress resulted in the decreases in the contents of three elements Zn, B and Ca. The significant negative correlation was found between the sum of five cations and four EIS parameters r(l), r(e), relaxation time (τ) , and distribution coefficient of relaxation time (ψ). The shoots of 'Liaozhen 3' might be tolerant of Na2CO3 stress of 200 mmol · L(-1), while they could be resistant to NaCl stress of 100-150 mmol · L(-1).