Gamma-ray shielding study of light to heavyweight concretes using MCNP-4C code

In this work, linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half and tenth-value layers, effective atomic number and electron density of different types of concretes were determined at 316.51, 468.07, 511, 662, 1173 and 1332 keV using MCNP-4C code and Win XCom programs. The MCNP-4C and Win XCom results agreed well with each other, with differences of \±1.9%. The results agreed with available experimental data, too, with differences of \±6%.The MCNP-4C results showed better agreement with the experimental data than the Win XCom results. Also, it was found that the effective electron density of studied concretes varies in the range of(2.83–3.2) 9 10^(23)electron/g.

The Arabidopsis MutS homolog AtMSH5 is required for normal meiosis

MSH5, a member of the MutS homolog DNA mismatch repair protein family, has been shown to be required for proper homologous chromosome recombination in diverse organisms such as mouse, budding yeast and Caenorhabditis elegans. In this paper, we show that a mutant Arabidopsis plant carrying the putative disrupted AtMSH5 gene exhibits defects during meiotic division, producing a proportion of nonviable pollen grains and abnormal embryo sacs, and thereby leading to a decrease in fertility. AtMSH5 expression is confined to meiotic floral buds, which is consistent with a possible role during meiosis. Cytological analysis of male meiosis revealed the presence of numerous univalents from diplotene to metaphase I, which were associated with a great reduction in chiasma frequencies. The average number of residual chiasmata in the mutant is reduced to 2.54 per meiocyte, which accounts for ~25% of the amount in the wild type. Here, quantitative cytogenetical analysis reveals that the residual chiasmata in Afresh5 mutants are randomly distributed among meiocytes, suggesting that AtMSH5 has an essential role during interferencesensitive chiasma formation. Taken together, the evidence indicates that AtMSH5 promotes homologous recombination through facilitating chiasma formation during prophase Ⅰ in Arabidopsis.

Rapid HPLC Method for Determination of 12 Isoflavone Components in Soybean Seeds

It is important to determine the isoflavone components by high-performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） for the molecular assistant selection of isoflavone in soybean. Based on the standard samples of 12 isoflavone components, the isoflavone components were analyzed using the determination of absorbance peaks method by HPLC. The results showed that there were different maximum ultraviolet （UV） absorbance for the aglycones of daidzein, glycitein, and genistein, which were at 250, 257, and 260 nm, respectively. A linear gradient elution of acetonitrile （13-30%） containing 0. 1% acetic acid as a mobile phase was applied on a YMC-C18 column at 35℃. The 12 isoflavone components were determined using the UV detector by HPLC. We concluded that this is a rapid and precise method which adapted to determine the large numbers of samples with microanalysis.

Analysis of Specific Binding and Subcellular Localization of Wheat ERF Transcription Factor W17

The study aims to detect the subcellular localization of ERF （ethylene-responsive element binding factor） transcription factor W17 protein, the interaction between W 17 and cis-acting regulatory elements GCC-box and DRE in vitro, the binding and transactivating ability in vivo, and the role of W17 in higher plant stress-signal pathway. Recombinant plasmid W17/163hGFP was introduced into onion epidermal cells by the particle bombardment method with a PDS 1000/He. Transformed cells were incubated for 24 h at 22℃ in the dark and green fluorescence was monitored under a confocal microscope. The gene W17 was fused N-terminus of GST （glutathione-S-transferase） in prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1 and then transformed into E. coli strain BL21 （DE3）. IPTG （0.5 mmol L-1） was added to induce the expression of recombinant GST/W17 for 3 h. The fused proteins were purified by GST purification columns, and then subjected to gel retardation assay with a 32p-labeled GCC or DRE sequence. The different reporter and effector plasmids were introduced into tobacco leaves through agroinfiltration, then transformed leaves stained by X-Gluc, faded with 75% alcohol and monitored under a Stereozooming microscope. The GFP fused with W17 protein was localized in the nuclei; SDS-PAGE assay demonstrated that the fused protein GST/W17 could be induced and purified with molecular weight at around 42.2 kD under the induction of IPTG. Purified fused protein was able to specifically bind to both the wild-type GCC-box and DRE element, but had no interaction with either the mutant DRE or GCC-box; W17 protein can bind to GCC-box and transactive downstream GUS gene in vivo. W17 can localize into the nuclei, and it may be involved not only in biotic stresses controlled by GCC-box, but also in abiotic stresses （e.g., salt-） induced signaling pathway.

Identification of quantitative trait loci for the dead leaf rate and the seedling dead rate under alkaline stress in rice

The quantitative trait loci （QTLs） for the dead leaf rate （DLR） and the dead seedling rate （DSR） at the different rice growing periods after transplanting under alkaline stress were identified using an F2：3 population, which included 200 individuals and lines derived from a cross between two japonica rice cultivars Gaochan 106 and Changbai 9 with microsatellite markers. The DLR detected at 20 days to 62 days after transplanting under alkaline stress showed continuous normal or near normal distributions in F3 lines, which was the quantitative trait controlled by multiple genes. The DSR showed a continuous distribution with 3 or 4 peaks and was the quantitative trait controlled by main and multiple genes when rice was grown for 62 days after transplanting under alkaline stress. Thirteen QTLs associated with DLR were detected at 20 days to 62 days after transplanting under alkaline stress. Among these, qDLR9-2 located in RM5786-RM160 on chromosome 9 was detected at 34 days, 41 days, 48 days, 55 days, and 62 days, respectively; qDLR4 located in RM3524-RM3866 on chromosome 4 was detected at 34 days, 41 days, and 48 days, respectively; qDLR7-1 located in RM3859-RM320 on chromosome 7 was detected at 20 days and 27 days; and qDLR6-2 in RM1340-RM5957 on chromosome 6 was detected at 55 days and 62 days, respectively. The alleles of both qDLR9-2 and qDLR4 were derived from alkaline sensitive parent ＂Gaochanl06＂. The alleles of both qDLR7-1 and qDLR6-2 were from alkaline tolerant parent Changbai 9. These gene actions showed dominance and over dominance primarily. Six QTLs associated with DSR were detected at 62 days after transplanting under alkaline stress. Among these, qDSR6-2 and qDSR8 were located in RM1340-RM5957 on chromosome 6 and in RM3752-RM404 on chromosome 8, respectively, which were associated with DSR and accounted for 20.32% and 18.86% of the observed phenotypic variation, respectively; qDSR11-2 and qDSR11-3 were located in RM536-RM479 and RM2596-RM286 on chromosome 11, respectively, which were associated with DSR explaining 25.85% and 15.41% of the observed phenotypic variation, respectively. The marker flanking distances of these QTLs were quite far except that of qDSR6-2, which should be researched further.

Assessment of Lipid Transfer Protein (LTP1) Gene in Wheat Powdery Mildew Resistance

This study is to investigate the role of lipid transfer protein （LTP1） gene of wheat （Triticum aestivum L.） in powdery mildew （Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici, Bgt） resistance. A pair of primers based on the full length cDNA of wheat LTP1 was used for amplifying the coding regions of LTP in hexaploid （AABBDD） wheat and its diploid donors T. urartu （AA）, Ae. speltoides ssp speltoide （SS） and Ae. tauchii ssp strangulate （DD）. LTP1 and LTP2 of wheat were isolated from the tested two hexaploid （ABD） materials： powdery mildew resistance near isogenic line （NIL） Mardler/7 × Bainong 3217 and its susceptible parent Bainong 3217 at the same time, while only one kind ofLTP gene was found in the tested three diploid materials respectively by using the above PCR primer pairs. Two peaks of the expression of LTP1 and LTP2 induced by powdery mildew were observed [one occurred at 3 h after inoculation （hai）; the other occurred at 10 hai] in resistant NIL Mardler/7 × Bainong3217 in comparison with a steady transcript level of LTP1 and LTP2 in susceptible Bainong3217. Transient over-expression result showed that LTP1 reduced the penetration efficiency （PE） of powdery mildew in susceptible cultivar by about 28.3%. This result indicated an obvious effectiveness of LTP1 in powdery mildew resistance. Expression analysis also showed that LTP1 and LTP2 of wheat are generally involved in salt/drought, but not in low temperature stress early responses.

Thinopyrum ponticum and Th. intermedium: the promising source of resistance to fungal and viral diseases of wheat

Thinopyrum ponticum and Th. intermedium provide superior resistance against various diseases in wheat （Ttricum aestivum）. Because of their readily crossing with wheat, many genes for disease resistance have been introduced from the wheatgrasses into wheat. Genes for resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, powdery mildew, Barley yellow dwarf virus, Wheat streak mosaic virus, and its vector, the wheat curl mite, have been transferred into wheat by producing chromosome translocations. These genes offer an opportunity to improve resistance of wheat to the diseases; some of them have been extensively used in protecting wheat from damage of the diseases. Moreover, new resistance to diseases is continuously detected in the progenies of wheat-Thinopyrum derivatives. The present article summaries characterization and application of the genes for fungal and viral disease-resistance derived from Th. ponticum and Th. intermedium.

2-Amino-4-(4-aminophenyl)thiazole application as an ionophore in the construction of a Lu(Ⅲ) selective membrane sensor

A derivative of thiazole（AAT） has been explored as a sensing material for preparation a selective Lu（III） PVC-based membrane sensor.The proposed sensor exhibits a Nernstian response over a wide concentration range from 1.0×10^（-6） to 1.0×10^（-1） mol/L of Lu（Ⅲ） and the detection limit is 5.7×10^（-7） mol/L.The sensor response is independent of pH of the solution in the range 3.2-8.8 and possesses the advantages of fast response time（～6） and in particular,good selectivity to the lutetium ions with regard to most common metal ions,and especially all lanthanide ions.

Use of 2-(tert-butoxy)-N-(3-carbamothioylphenyl)acetamide and graphene oxide for separation and preconcentration of Fe(Ⅲ),Ni(Ⅱ),Cu(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ) ions in different samples

A simple and selective method using a column packed with graphene oxide（GO） as a solid phase extractant has been developed for the multi-element preconcentration of Fe（Ⅲ）,Ni（Ⅱ）,Cu（Ⅱ） and Zn（Ⅱ）ions prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometric determinations.The method is based on the sorption of mentioned ions on synthesized GO using 2-（tert-butoxy）-N-（3-carbamothioylphenyl）acetamide as a chelating agent.Several parameters on the extraction and complex formation were optimized.Under the optimized conditions（pH 6,flow rate 9 mL/min）,metal ions were retained on the column,then quantitatively eluted by HNO3solution（5 mL,3.0 mol/L）.The preconcentration factor was calculated as250.The detection limits for the analyte ions of interest were found in the range of 0.11 ng/mL（Ni2＋） to0.63 ng/mL（Cu2＋）.The column packed with GO was adequate for metal ions separation in matrixes containing alkali,alkaline earth,transition and heavy metal ions.