Involvement of NAC transcription factor NaNAC29 in Alternaria alternata resistance and leaf senescence in Nicotiana attenuata

NAC-LIKE,ACTIVATED BY AP3/PI(NAP)is a NAC transcription factor regulating leaf senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana.In wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata,a nuclear localized NAC transcription factor NaNAC29 was identified to be highly elicited after inoculation of Alternaria alternata,a notorious necrotic fungus on tobacco species.The NaNAC29 possesses similar tertiary structure to NAP with 60%amino acid identity.However,it remains unknown the role of NaNAC29 in plant defense responses to A.alternata and leaf senescence in N.attenuata.In this paper,Defensin-like protein 1(NaDLP1)was highly induced in N.attenuata after A.alternata inoculation and bigger lesions were developed in NaDLP1-silenced plants.Interestingly,A.alternata-induced NaDLP1 was reduced by 76%in VIGS NaNAC29 plants and by 61%in JA deficient irAOC plants at 3 days post inoculation.The regulation of NaDLP1 expression by NaNAC29 was clearly independent on JA pathway,since exogenous methyl jasmonate treatment could not complement the induction levels of NaDLP1 in NaNAC29-silenced plants to the levels in WT plants.Otherwise,the expression of NaNAC29 was low expressed in young leaves but highly in senescent leaves and darktreated leaves.NaNAC29-silenced plants,which were generated by virus-induced gene silencing(VIGS NaNAC29),showed delayed senescence phenotype.In addition,constitutive over-expression of NaNAC29 in A.thaliana could rescue the delayed-senescence phenotype of nap and caused precocious leaf senescence of wild-type Col-0 plants.All the data above demonstrate that NaNAC29 is a NAP homolog in N.attenuata participating in the defense responses to A.alternata by regulation of a defensin protein NaDLP1 and promoting leaf senescence.

Carbon Budget Dynamics over a Rain-Fed Maize Agricultural Ecosystem in Northeast China and Its Regulation

Based on the eddy-covariance observation data over rain-fed maize agricultural ecosystem during 2005-2011, the dynamics of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) and its control mechanism were analyzed in the present study. We found that the average carbon budget of non-growing season, growing season and annual were 153.16 - 202.03 g C/m2, −689.36 - −488.17 g C/m2, and −316.96 - −487.33 g C/m2, respectively. Maize carbon content of grain yield was −226.6 - −339.94 g C/m2, accounting for 55.4% of carbon budget in the growing season. From sowing to seven-leaf stage, the carbon budget of this ecosystem was characterized by carbon release, with the rate of 0.028 ±0.0056 mg CO2 m−2⋅s−1. From seven-leaf to mature stage, the carbon budget was characterized by carbon absorption, with the rate of −0.256 ±0.0693 mg CO2 m−2⋅s−1. The key meteorological factors affecting annual carbon budget included daily average temperature (R = −0.81, P = 0.03) and saturated vapor pressure deficit (R = −0.64, P = 0.12). At the same photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) level, CO2 assimilation rate was linearly correlated with leaf area index (P 【0.05), and the slopes increased with PAR, indicating the increase in net ecosystem CO2 exchange in growing season was unlikely to be resulted from the extension of growing season. On the contrary, the carbon sink of rain-fed maize ecosystem in growing season might be decreased by extending the growing season ahead of the sowing date.

Control Mechanisms and Simulation of <i>Populus simonii</i>Leaf Unfolding

Populus simonii Carr., one of the main poplar tree species, is cultivated widely in Northeast and Northwest China in protection and timber forests. Plant phenology plays an important role in timber production by controlling the growing period (i.e., the period between the leaf unfolding and the leaf turning yellow). It is important to understand this control mechanism and to improve the accuracy of the simulation of leaf unfolding phenology for P. simonii in order to determine accurately the timber production of P. simonii plantations. In this study, based on phenological observation data from 10 agricultural meteorological stations in Heilongjiang Province, China, model simulation was employed to determine the control mechanism of leaf unfolding of P. simonii. Furthermore, the predicting effects of nine phenology-simulating models for P. simonii leaf unfolding were evaluated and the distribution characteristics of P. simonii leaf unfolding in China in 2015 were simulated. The results show that P. simonii leaf unfolding is sensitive to air temperature;consequently, climate warming could advance the P. simonii leaf unfolding process. The phenological model based on air temperature could be better suited for simulating P. simonii leaf unfolding, with 76.7% of the calibration data of absolute error being less than three days. The performance of the models based solely on forcing requirements was found superior to that of the models incorporating chilling. If it was imperative that the chilling threshold is reached, the south of the Yunnan, Guangdong, and Guangxi provinces would be unsuitable for planting P. simonii. In this regard, the phenology model based on the chilling threshold as necessary condition was indicated a more reasonable model for the distribution characteristics of P. simonii leaf unfolding.

Effects of Optimized Root Water Uptake Parameterization Schemes on Water and Heat Flux Simulation in a Maize Agroecosystem

As root water uptake（RWU）is an important link in the water and heat exchange between plants and ambient air,improving its parameterization is key to enhancing the performance of land surface model simulations.Although different types of RWU functions have been adopted in land surface models,there is no evidence as to which scheme most applicable to maize farmland ecosystems.Based on the 2007–09 data collected at the farmland ecosystem field station in Jinzhou,the RWU function in the Common Land Model（Co LM）was optimized with scheme options in light of factors determining whether roots absorb water from a certain soil layer（W_x）and whether the baseline cumulative root efficiency required for maximum plant transpiration（W_c）is reached.The sensibility of the parameters of the optimization scheme was investigated,and then the effects of the optimized RWU function on water and heat flux simulation were evaluated.The results indicate that the model simulation was not sensitive to W_x but was significantly impacted by W_c.With the original model,soil humidity was somewhat underestimated for precipitation-free days;soil temperature was simulated with obvious interannual and seasonal differences and remarkable underestimations for the maize late-growth stage;and sensible and latent heat fluxes were overestimated and underestimated,respectively,for years with relatively less precipitation,and both were simulated with high accuracy for years with relatively more precipitation.The optimized RWU process resulted in a significant improvement of Co LM’s performance in simulating soil humidity,temperature,sensible heat,and latent heat,for dry years.In conclusion,the optimized RWU scheme available for the Co LM model is applicable to the simulation of water and heat flux for maize farmland ecosystems in arid areas.