FIT interacts with AtbHLH38 and AtbHLH39 in regulating iron uptake gene expression for iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis

Iron is an essential element for plant growth and development. Iron homeostasis in plants is tightly regulated at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional level. Several bHLH transcription factors involved in iron homeostasis have been identified recently. However, their regulatory mechanisms remain unknown. In this work, we demonstrate that the transcription factor FIT interacted with AtbHLH38 and AtbHLH39 and directly conferred the expression regulation of iron uptake genes for iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis. Yeast two-hybrid analysis and transient expression in Arabidopsis protoplasts showed that AtbHLH38 or AtbHLH39 interacted with FIT, a central transcription factor involved in iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis. Expression of FIT/AtbHLH38 or FIT/AtbHLH39 in yeast cells activated GUS expression driven by ferric chelate reductase （FRO2） and ferrous transporter （IRT1） promoters. Overexpression of FITwith either AtbHLH38 or AtbHLH39 in plants converted the expression of the iron uptake genes FRO2 and IRT1 from induced to constitutive. Further analysis revealed that FRO2 and IRT1 were not regulated at the posttranscriptional level in these plants because IRT1 protein accumulation and high ferric chelate reductase activity were detected in the overexpression plants under both iron deficiency and iron sufficiency. The double overexpression plants accumulated more iron in their shoots than wild type or the plants overexpressing either AtbHLH38, AtbHLH39 or FIT. Our data support that ferric-chelate reductase FRO2 and ferrous-transporter IRT1 are the targets of the three transcription factors and the transcription of FRO2 and IRT1 is directly regulated by a complex of FIT/AtbHLH38 or FIT/AtbHLH39.

Relationship Between Iron Oxides and Surface Charge Characteristics in Soils

The relationship between iron oxides and surface charge characteristics in variable charge soils ( latosol and red earth ) was studied in following three ways. ( 1 ) Remove free iron oxides ( Fed ) and amorphous iron oxides ( Feo ) from the soils with sodium dithionite and acid ammonium oxalate solution respectively. ( 2 ) Add 2% glucose ( on the basis of air-dry soil weight ) to soils and incubate under submerged condition to activate iron oxides, and then the mixtures are dehydrated and air-dried to age iron oxides. ( 3 ) Precipitate various crystalline forms of iron oxides onto kaolinite. The results showed that free iron oxides ( Fed ) were the chief carrier of variable positive charges. Of which crystalline iron oxides ( Fed-Feo ) presented mainly as discrete particles in the soils and could only play a role of the carrier of positive charges, and did little influence on negative charges. Whereas the amorphous iron oxides ( Feo ) , which presented mainly as a coating with a large specific surface area, not only had positive charges, but also blocked the negative charge sites in soils. Submerged incubation activated iron oxides in the soils, and increased the amount of amorphous iron oxides and the degree of activation of iron oxide, which resulted in the increase of positive and negative charges of soils. Dehydration and air-dry aged iron oxides in soils and decreased the amount of amorphous iron oxides and the degree of activation of iron oxide, and also led to the decrease of positive and negative charges. Both the submerged incubation and the dehydration and air-dry had no significant influence on net charges. Precipitation of iron oxides onto kaolinite markedly increased positive charges and decreased negative charges. Amorphous iron oxide having a larger surface area contributed more positive charge sites and blocked more negative charge sites in kaolinite than crystalline goethite.

Volcanic Activity and Thermal Excitation of Rich-silicon Iron Ore Tailing in Concrete

In order to distinguish the filling effect and volcanic activity and explore the ways motivating the activity of rich-silicon iron ore tailing（IOT）, inert quartz was brought in as the correction standard, the influences of fineness, calcination, thermal curing system and some other factors were investigated by IR, XRD, MIP, and so on microscopic methods. The experimental results show grinding and calcination can only change the amorphous state of SiO2, and IOT do not have volcanic activity in concrete cured under room temperature condition. Thermal curing systems can stimulate the activity of IOT, especially mortar cured by autoclave curing system can consume a large amount of Ca（OH）2 and hard calcium silicate and has a closer structure. When the specific surface area of IOT powder is 800 m^2/kg, and 30% cement is replaced by IOT powder, the mortar strength with IOT powder is even higher than that with cementonly.

Iron Activation of Natural Aluminosilicates to Remove Arsenic from Groundwater

Low-cost adsorbents constituted by Fe-modified-aluminosilicates （laminar and zeolite type minerals） were developed and characterized to be used in the arsenic removal from groundwater. Iron activation was carried out ＂in situ＂ by the synthesis and deposition of mesoporous ferrihydrite. Natural iron-rich aluminosilicate was used as reference. All samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, BET N2-adsorption, SEM-EDS microscopy and ICP chemical analysis. Experimental results of arsenic sorption showed that iron-poor raw materials were not active, unlike iron activated samples. The iron loading in all activated samples was below 5% （expressed as Fe203）, whereas the removal capacity of these samples reaches between 200-700 gg of As by g of adsorbent, after reusing between 17 cycles and 70 cycles up to adsorbent saturation. Differences can be associated to mineral structure and to the surface charge modification by iron deposition, affecting the attraction of the As-oxoanion. On the basis of low-cost raw materials, the easy chemical process for activation shows that these materials are potentially attractive for As（V） removal. Likewise, the activation of clay minerals, with natural high content of iron, seems to be a good strategy to enhance the arsenic adsorption ability and consequently the useful life of the adsorbent.

KINETICS OF REDUCTION IRON OXIDE IN CaO-SiO_2-Al_2O_3-Fe_tO SLAGS WITH CARBON SATURATED IN MOLTEN IRON

The rate of reducing Fet O in CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-Fet O slags with carbon saturated in molten iron has been determined in a graphite crucible in the temperature range of 1673-1773K. The effects of temperature, slag basicity and FetO content on the reduction rate have also been discussed. Test results show that the reduction rate increases with increasing temperature or FEtO concentration in slags, and the reduction rate has a parabolic relation with the simple basicity or optical basicity of slag, the maximum reduction rate being observed at around CaO/SiO2=1.5 of molten slags. The reduction reaction order is 1. 73 or 1.80, and the reduction activation energy is 299.9 or 295.9 kJ/mol in regard to Fet O weight content or Fet O activity calculated by using regular solution model, respectively. The reduction rate of CaO-SiO2-Al2 O3-Fet O slags with carbon saturated in molten iron is in the range of 0.32-3.48 mol-O/cm2·s.

Weak magnetic field accelerates chromate removal by zero-valent iron

Weak magnetic field（WMF） was employed to improve the removal of Cr（VI） by zero-valent iron（ZVI） for the first time. The removal rate of Cr（VI） was elevated by a factor of 1.12-5.89 due to the application of a WMF, and the WMF-induced improvement was more remarkable at higher Cr（VI） concentration and higher p H. Fe2＋was not detected until Cr（VI） was exhausted, and there was a positive correlation between the WMF-induced promotion factor of Cr（VI） removal rate and that of Fe2＋release rate in the absence of Cr（VI） at pH 4.0-5.5. These phenomena imply that ZVI corrosion with Fe2＋release was the limiting step in the process of Cr（VI） removal. The superimposed WMF had negligible influence on the apparent activation energy of Cr（VI） removal by ZVI, indicating that WMF accelerated Cr（VI）removal by ZVI but did not change the mechanism. The passive layer formed with WMF was much more porous than without WMF, thereby facilitating mass transport. Therefore,WMF could accelerate ZVI corrosion and alleviate the detrimental effects of the passive layer, resulting in more rapid removal of Cr（VI） by ZVI. Exploiting the magnetic memory of ZVI, a two-stage process consisting of a small reactor with WMF for ZVI magnetization and a large reactor for removing contaminants by magnetized ZVI can be employed as a new method of ZVI-mediated remediation.

Degradation of carbamazepine by MWCNTs-promoted generation of high-valent iron-oxo species in a mild system with O-bridged iron perfluorophthalocyanine dimers

Metal phthalocyanine has been extensively studied as a catalyst for degradation of carbamazepine(CBZ).However,metal phthalocyanine tends to undergo their own dimerization or polymerization,thereby reducing their activity points and affecting their catalytic properties.In this study,a catalytic system consisting of O-bridged iron perfluorophthalocyanine dimers(FePcF16-O-FePcF16),multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs)and H2O_(2) was proposed.The results showed MWCNTs loaded with FePcF16-O-FePcF16 can achieve excellent degradation of CBZ with smaller dosages of FePcF16-O-FePcF16 and H2O_(2),and milder reaction temperatures.In addition,the results of experiments revealed the reaction mechanism of non-hydroxyl radicals.The highly oxidized high-valent iron-oxo(Fe(IV)=O)species was the main reactive species in the FePcF16-O-FePcF16/MWCNTs/H2O_(2) system.It is noteworthy that MWCNTs can improve the dispersion of FePcF16-O-FePcF16,contributing to the production of highly oxidized Fe(IV)=O.Then,the pathway of CBZ oxidative degradation was speculated,and the study results also provide new ideas for metal phthalocyanine-loaded carbon materials to degrade emerging pollutants.

Thermodynamic evaluation of reaction abilities of structural units in Fe-C binary melts based on atom-molecule coexistence theory

The reaction abilities of structural units in Fe-C binary melts over a temperature range above the liquidus lines have been evaluated by a thermodynamic model for calculating the mass action concentrations Ni of structural units in Fe-C binary melts based on the atom-molecule coexistence theory （AMCT）, i.e., the AMCT-N/model, through comparing with the predicted activities aR.i of both C and Fe by 14 collected models from the literature at four temperatures of 1833, 1873, 1923, and 1973 K. Furthermore, the Raoultian activity coefficient γC0 of in infinitely dilute Fe-C binary melts and the standard molar Gibbs free energy change △solG%m,Cdis（1）→[C]W[C]=1.0 of dissolved liquid C for forming w[C] as 1.0 in Fe-C binary melts referred to 1 mass% of C as reference state have also been determined to be valid. The determined activity coefficient In γC of C and activity coefficient In TEe of Fe including temperature effect for Fe-C binary melts can be described by a quadratic polynomial function and a cubic polynomial function, respectively.