Analysis of genetic effects and correlations for nutrient quality traits of indica rice in different environments

Understanding the variation for the expressionof genes in different environments is one of themajor goals in qualitative genetics. In this pa-per, the genetic models for quantitative traitsof endosperm in cereal crops were used to eval-uate the seed, cytoplasm and maternal geneticeffects as well as the genotype × environment(GE) interaction effects, and to predict thebreeding value of parents and genotypic corre-lation for nutrient quality traits of indica rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Analysis of genetic effects and heritabilities for amylose content of indica rice in different environments

An understanding of the genetic effects of em-bryo genes for rice quality traits is of impor-tance for rice quality improvement. Analysisof embryo, endosperm, cytoplasmic, and ma-ternal genetic effects and genotype×environ-

Mapping theArabidopsis Metabolic Landscape by Untargeted Metabolomics at Different Environmental Conditions

Metabolic genome-wide association studies （mGWAS）, whereupon metabolite levels are regarded as traits, can help unravel the genetic basis of metabolic networks. A total of 309Arabidopsis accessions were grown under two independent environmental conditions （control and stress） and subjected to untargeted LC-MS- based metabolomic profiling; levels of the obtained hydrophilic metabolites were used in GWAS. Our two- condition-based GWAS for more than 3000 semi-polar metabolites resulted in the detection of 123 highly resolved metabolite quantitative trait loci （p ≤ 1.0E-08）, 24.39% of which were environment-specific. Interestingly, differently from natural variation in Arabidopsis primary metabolites, which tends to be controlled by a large number of small-effect loci, we found several major large-effect loci alongside a vast number of small-effect loci controlling variation of secondary metabolites. The two-condition-based GWAS was fol- lowed by integration with network-derived metabolite-transcript correlations using a time-course stress experiment. Through this integrative approach, we selected 70 key candidate associations between struc- tural genes and metabolites, and experimentally validated eight novel associations, two of them showing differential genetic regulation in the two environments studied. We demonstrate the power of combining large-scale untargeted metabolomics-based GWAS with time-course-derived networks both performed under different ablotic environments for identifying metabollte-gene associations, providing novel global insights into the metabolic landscape of Arabidopsis.

QTL Analysis of Some Agronomic Traits in Rice Under Different Growing Environments

The culm length, panicle length, spikelets per panicle and panicle exsertion were evaluated by using F2：3 population including 200 lines derived from the cross of indica and japonica Milyang 23/Jileng 1 under five different environments of Beijing （natural normal growing environment）, Kunming （natural cold environment）, Gongzhuling of China （cold water irrigation） and Chuncheon of Korea （natural normal growing environment and cold water irrigation）, and QTLs of these traits were analyzed by using SSR markers. The results showed that 44 QTLs related to these agronomic traits were detected under five different growing environments, and these QTLs have been located on 11 chromosomes except chromosome 9. The QTLs for qCLla, qCL1b, qCL5a, qCL6b, qPLla, qPL3a, qPL6b, qPL6c, qPL7b, qSP8b, qSPlc, qSP11a, qSP12, and qPE1 have been detected under more than two growing environments, and those that were little affected by environments, were stable QTLs. Among them, qCLla, qCLlb, qPLla, qSPlc, and qPE1 explained 24.2-55.2%, 22.7-39.9%, 12.5-27.7%, 14.4-33.5%, and 26.6-28.7% of observed phynotypic variation, respectively, which were major genes mainly appearing as overdominance. These QTLs cause the increase in action to culm length, panicle length, spikelets per panicle, and panicle exsertion under cold environment, showing that these QTLs were correlated with cold tolerance.

Responses of fractal dimensions of Picea koraiensis seedlings to different light environments

The changes of fractal dimension ofPicea koraiensis seedlings under different light intensities in natural secondary forests was studied. The results showed that with the change of light environment, crown characters ofPicea koraiensis seedlings exhibited a greater plastic in lateral number, lateral increment, lateral dry weight, and specific leaf area. The range of calculated fractal dimensions of seedling crowns was confined between 2.5728 and 2.1036, but maximum of fractal dimension achieved in term moderate shading and in extreme low light conditions fractal dimension was least.

The Impact of Urban and Rural Education Gap on Student Achievement Differences

With our country’s social development,the gap between urban and rural education has become increasingly obvious,especially the difference in student achievement.This study aims to explore the impact of the urban-rural education gap on student achievement.The study adopts a quantitative analysis method to collect and analyze the academic performance,learning resources,and social resources of urban and rural students.The results show that the unbalanced distribution of educational resources in urban and rural areas is the key factor leading to the gap in students’achievement.For example,urban education resources are abundant while rural education resources are relatively scarce.At the same time,the difference in social environment and family economic status also have a significant impact on student achievement.The differences between urban and rural areas,particularly in terms of family economic conditions and their ability to invest in education,further widen the gap between urban and rural education.The results of this study can provide a reference for reducing the gap between urban and rural education and improving the academic performance of rural students.A fair education policy is essential to narrow the gap between urban and rural education resources distribution,so as to improve the equality of education in society.

Significance of pollen and spores distribution to the barrier function of the Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region,Southwest China

35 surface soil samples and 28 profile soil samples were collected in Longitudinal Range-Gorge Region, Southwest China. The distribution of pollen and spores and their relationship with the environment are analyzed. The results show that there are significant differences in pollen and spores taxa, amounts, dominant taxa and florae between the eastern and western flanks of the Ailao Mountain. There are more pollen and spores taxa, a greater amount and complexity on the western flank of the mountain than those on the eastern flank, while the dominant taxa are more centralized and prominent on the eastern flank of the Ailao Mountain. As for the plant florae distribution, there are significant differences in the number of taxa and composition between the eastern and the western flanks. The analysis of profile pollen and spores assemblage shows that its trends of variation are basically in accordance with the surface pollen and spores, which are also indicators of the environmental differences between the two flanks of the mountain. These significant spatial differences of pollen and spores are very close to the regional topography and climate difference. The mountain running perpendicular to the moisture-laden air flow serves as a barrier and the monsoon circulations the east and the west of the mountain result in different energy-moisture characteristics. We conclude that the main patterns of the pollen and spores can be attributed to the environmental differences.

Significance of adverse outcome pathways in biomarker-based environmental risk assessment in aquatic organisms

In environmental risk assessments（ERA）, biomarkers have been widely used as an early warning signal of environmental contamination. However, biomarker responses have limitation due to its low relevance to adverse outcomes（e.g., fluctuations in community structure, decreases in population size, and other similar ecobiologically relevant indicators of community structure and function）. To mitigate these limitations, the concept of adverse outcome pathways（AOPs） was developed. An AOP is an analytical, sequentially progressive pathway that links a molecular initiating event（MIE） to an adverse outcome. Recently, AOPs have been recognized as a potential informational tool by which the implications of molecular biomarkers in ERA can be better understood. To demonstrate the utility of AOPs in biomarker-based ERA, here we discuss a series of three different biological repercussions caused by exposure to benzo（a）pyrene（Ba P）, silver nanoparticles（Ag NPs）, and selenium（Se）. Using mainly aquatic invertebrates and selected vertebrates as model species, we focus on the development of the AOP concept. Aquatic organisms are suitable bioindicator species whose entire lifespans can be observed over a short period; moreover, these species can be studied on the molecular and population levels.Also, interspecific differences between aquatic organisms are important to consider in an AOP framework, since these differences are an integral part of the natural environment.The development of an environmental pollutant-mediated AOP may enable a better understanding of the effects of environmental pollutants in different scenarios in the diverse community of an ecosystem.