Cnidium officinale Makino is an important medicinal plant of oriental clinics and is considered as the main source of phthalides, polyphenols, and flavonoids. However, there is no available report regarding the effect of different light colors on the secondary metabolites composition of C. officinale. In this study different light (dark, white, blue, red and red: blue) conditions were arranged to raise callus on MS medium containing 0.5 mg·L−1 of each 2,4-D and BAP. Callus grown in dark condition showed maximum (2.0 g) fresh weight with lower total phenolic and flavonoids contents. Also, in dark condition callus faced higher catalase (CAT) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) activities to avoid free radicals. Mix (red: blue) light condition favored the synthesis of phenolics and flavonoids in callus at the cost of higher ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes expression. However, DPPH free radical scavenging activity was less variable among the samples from the different light conditions. Interestingly, the HPLC profile showed higher (28.3 μg·g−1 DW) phthalide accumulation in dark grown-cultures. Compared to other light conditions, 3-butyledinephthalide accumulation was higher (0.43 μg·g−1 DW) in white light-grown callus. These findings suggest that light conditions play an important role in the regulation of in vitro callus growth and synthesis of important medicinal compounds of C. officinale.

Light elicited growth, antioxidant enzymes activities and production of medicinal compounds in callus culture of Cnidium officinale Makino

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1880&context=entomologyfacpub

Ento(o)mics: the intersection of ‘omic’ approaches to decipher plant defense against sap-sucking insect pests

Regulation of leaf organ size by the Arabidopsis RPT2a 19S proteasome subunit

A reduction in crop productivity in cultivable land and challenging environmental factors have directed advancement in indoor cultivation systems, such that the yield parameters are higher in outdoor cultivation systems. In wake of this situation, light emitting diode (LED) lighting has proved to be promising in the field of agricultural lighting. Properties such as energy efficiency, long lifetime, photon flux efficacy and flexibility in application make LEDs better suited for future agricultural lighting systems over traditional lighting systems. Different LED spectrums have varied effects on the morphogenesis and photosynthetic responses in plants. LEDs have a profound effect on plant growth and development and also control key physiological processes such as phototropism, the immigration of chloroplasts, day/night period control and the opening/closing of stomata. Moreover, the synthesis of bioactive compounds and antioxidants on exposure to LED spectrum also provides information on the possible regulation of antioxidative defense genes to protect the cells from oxidative damage. Similarly, LEDs are also seen to escalate the nutrient metabolism in plants and flower initiation, thus improving the quality of the crops as well. However, the complete management of the irradiance and wavelength is the key to maximize the economic efficacy of crop production, quality, and the nutrition potential of plants grown in controlled environments. This review aims to summarize the various advancements made in the area of LED technology in agriculture, focusing on key processes such as morphological changes, photosynthetic activity, nutrient metabolism, antioxidant capacity and flowering in plants. Emphasis is also made on the variation in activities of different LED spectra between different plant species. In addition, research gaps and future perspectives are also discussed of this emerging multidisciplinary field of research and its development.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1985/pdf

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as Agricultural Lighting: Impact and Its Potential on Improving Physiology, Flowering, and Secondary Metabolites of Crops

Long-term intensive greenhouse production commonly leads to continuous cropping obstacles and therefore declines the productivity of greenhouse system, soil microbiological mechanisms behind which remain poorly understood so far. Here, based on a continuous greenhouse cucumber cropping system, the differences in bacterial community structure of the soils with different cucumber cultivation history were assessed through high-throughput sequencing. The β diversity of bacterial community, but not α diversity, significantly changed as consecutive cucumber cultivation and also positively linked to cucumber yield. As for bacterial community members, at phylum level, prolonged cucumber cultivation increased average relative abundances of Chloroflexi and Gemmatimonadetes while decreasing average relative abundance of Nitrospirae; at genus level, continuous cucumber cultivation decreased average relative abundances of some beneficial microbes (i.e. Bacillus, Solirubrobacter, and Rubrobacter) and N-cycling related microbes (i.e. Nitrospira and Azoarcus) while increasing average relative abundance of some functional microbes (i.e. Agromyces, Thermomicrobium, Desulfotomaculum, Sphaerobacter, and Mycobacterium). Soil available phosphorus and organic carbon contents were the most important contributors to the shifts of bacterial community structure. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated long-term greenhouse cucumber cultivation weakened the interaction of species within bacterial community and led to less complex and connected organization among bacterial taxa. Overall, our results suggested that soil bacterial community structure and the interactions of bacterial taxa may play the important roles in the occurrence of continuous cropping obstacles in a long-term intensive greenhouse production system.

Long-Term Greenhouse Cucumber Production Alters Soil Bacterial Community Structure

The effects of the quality and intensity of night interruption light (NIL) on the flowering and morphogenesis of kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) ‘Lipstick’ and ‘Spain’ were investigated. Plants were raised in a closed-type plant factory under 250 μmol·m−2·s−1 PPFD white light emitting diodes (LEDs) with additional light treatments. These treatments were designated long day (LD, 16 h light, 8 h dark), short day (SD, 8 h light, 16 h dark), and SD with a 4 h night interruption (NI). The NIL was constructed from 10 μmol·m−2·s−1 or 20 μmol·m−2·s−1 PPFD blue (NI-B), red (NI-R), white (NI-W), or blue and white (NI-BW) LEDs. In ‘Spain’, the SPAD value, area and thickness of leaves and plant height increased in the NI treatment as compared to the SD treatment. In ‘Lipstick’, most morphogenetic characteristics in the NI treatment showed no significant difference to those in the SD treatment. For both cultivars, plants in SD were significantly shorter than those in other treatments. The flowering of Kalanchoe ‘Lipstick’ was not affected by the NIL quality, while Kalanchoe ‘Spain’ flowered when grown in SD and 10 μmol·m−2·s−1 PPFD NI-B. These results suggest that the NIL quality and intensity affect the morphogenesis and flowering of kalanchoe, and that different cultivars are affected differently. There is a need to further assess the effects of the NIL quality and intensity on the morphogenesis and flowering of short-day plants for practical NIL applications.

Flowering and Morphogenesis of Kalanchoe in Response to Quality and Intensity of Night Interruption Light.

The rose is one the most commercially grown and costly ornamental plants because of its aesthetic beauty and aroma. A large number of pests attack its buds, flowers, leaves, and stem at every growing stage due to its high sugar content. The most common pest on roses are aphids which are considered to be the major cause for product loss. Aphid infestations lead to major changes in rose plants, such as large and irregular holes in petals, intact leaves and devouring tissues. It is hypothesized that different cut rose cultivars would have different levels of sensitivity or resistance to aphids, since different levels of infestation are observed in commercially cut rose production greenhouses. The present work compared four cut rose cultivars which were bred in Korea and were either resistant or sensitive to aphid infestation at different flower developmental stages. An integrative study was conducted using comprehensive proteome analyses. Proteins related to ubiquitin metabolism and the stress response were differentially expressed due to aphid infestation. The regulations and possible functions of identified proteins are presented in detail. The differential expressions of the identified proteins were validated by immunoblotting and blue native page. In addition, total sugar and carbohydrate content were also observed.

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7382/6/2/25/pdf

Proteomic Analysis of Aphid-Resistant and -Sensitive Rose (Rosa Hybrida) Cultivars at Two Developmental Stages.

Codonopsis lanceolata is widely used in traditional medicine and diets. However, there is no optimal protocol for the commercial production of C. lanceolata seedlings. This study was carried out to find the optimum supplementary light source for the production of C. lanceolata seedlings. Seedlings were grown for four weeks in a glasshouse with an average daily light intensity of 490 μmol·m-2·s-1 photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) coming from the sun and a 16-h daily supplementary lighting at 120 μmol·m-2·s-1 PPFD from either high-pressure sodium (HPS), metal halide (MH), far-red (FR), white LED (LED-w), or mixed (white: red: blue = 1:2:1) LEDs (LED-mix). The results showed that the greatest total biomass, stem diameter, ratio of shoot weight to shoot length, root biomass, and ratio of root weight to shoot weight were found in seedlings grown under supplementary LED-mix. Meanwhile, the stomatal properties and soluble sugar contents were improved for seedlings in LED-mix. The contents of starch, total phenols, and flavonoids were the greatest for seedlings in LED-w and LED-mix. The expression of photosynthetic proteins and genes in seedlings was also enhanced by LED-mix. Overall, these results suggest that LED-mix is advantageous to the photosynthetic potential and the accumulation of biomass, carbohydrates and secondary metabolites in C. lanceolata.

Supplementary Light Source Affects the Growth and Development of Codonopsis lanceolata Seedlings

The present study depicted the role of silicon in limiting the hyperhydricity in shoot cultures of carnation through proteomic analysis. Four-week-old healthy shoot cultures of carnation "Purple Beauty" were sub-cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium followed with four treatments, viz. control (-Si/-Hyperhydricity), hyperhydric with no silicon treatment (-Si/+Hyperhydricity), hyperhydric with silicon treatment (+Si/+Hyperhydricity), and only silicon treated with no hyperhydricity (+Si/-Hyperhydricity). Comparing to control morphological features of hyperhydric carnations showed significantly fragile, bushy and lustrous leaf nature, while Si supply restored these effects. Proteomic investigation revealed that approximately seventy protein spots were differentially expressed under Si and/or hyperhydric treatments and were either up- or downregulated in abundance depending on their functions. Most of the identified protein spots were related to stress responses, photosynthesis, and signal transduction. Proteomic results were further confirmed through immunoblots by selecting specific proteins such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), PsaA, and PsbA. Moreover, protein-protein interaction was also performed on differentially expressed protein spots using specific bioinformatic tools. In addition, stress markers were analyzed by histochemical localization of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and singlet oxygen (O₂1-). In addition, the ultrastructure of chloroplasts in hyperhydric leaves significantly resulted in inefficiency of thylakoid lamella with the loss of grana but were recovered in silicon supplemented leaves. The proteomic study together with physiological analysis indicated that Si has a substantial role in upholding the hyperhydricity in in vitro grown carnation shoot cultures.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/1/50/pdf

Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Dynamic Role of Silicon in Alleviation of Hyperhydricity in Carnation Grown In Vitro.

Adenophora triphylla (Thunb) ADC, three-leaf lady bell, is an important medicinal plant used against cancers and obesity It has been well-established that the temperature regime affects plant growth and development in many ways However, there is no study available correlating the growth of A triphylla seedlings with different day and night temperature regimes In order to find an optimal temperature regime, growth and physiology were investigated in A triphylla plug seedlings grown in environment-controlled chambers at different day and night temperatures: 20/20 °C (day/night) (TA), 25/15 °C (TB), and 20/15 °C (TC) The seedlings in plug trays were grown under a light intensity of 150 μmol·m−2·s−1 PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) provided by white LEDs, a 70% relative humidity, and a 16 h (day)/8 h (night) photoperiod for six weeks The results showed that the stem diameter, number of roots, and biomass were significantly larger for seedlings in TB than those in TA or TC Moreover, the contents of total flavonoid, total phenol, and soluble sugar in seedlings grown in TB were markedly higher than those in seedlings in the other two treatments Soluble protein content was the lowest in seedlings in TC, while starch content was the lowest in seedlings grown in TA Furthermore, seedlings grown in TB showed significantly lower activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and guaiacol peroxidase Native PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) analysis further proved low activities of antioxidant isozymes in TB treatment Meanwhile, the lowest content of hydrogen peroxide was observed in seedlings grown in TB In conclusion, the results suggested that the 25/15 °C (day/night) temperature regime is the most suitable for the growth and physiological development of A triphylla seedlings

Hai Kyoung Jeong

Papers

Flowering and Morphogenesis of Kalanchoe in Response to Quality and Intensity of Night Interruption Light.

Proteomic Analysis of Aphid-Resistant and -Sensitive Rose (Rosa Hybrida) Cultivars at Two Developmental Stages.

Supplementary Light Source Affects the Growth and Development of Codonopsis lanceolata Seedlings

Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Dynamic Role of Silicon in Alleviation of Hyperhydricity in Carnation Grown In Vitro.

Growth and Physiological Responses of Adenophora triphylla (Thunb.) A.DC. Plug Seedlings to Day and Night Temperature Regimes