Search Results (35)

Negative air ions (NAIs) can purify the atmosphere and maintain human health. In this study, we selected six tree species, Pinus tabuliformis, Pinus bungeana, Acer truncatum, Sophora japonica, Koelreuteria paniculata, Quercus variabilis, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Populus tomentosa, and we established for the first time five “capacity indicators” to characterize and judge the capacity of plants to release negative ions: they comprised the release contribution rate L, release coefficient n, release rate s, instantaneous current number v, and total level of release Z. These indicators were used to assess the ability of the plants to release NAIs by themselves. The results showed the following. (1) The daily variations in L and n show “W” and “concave” shapes, respectively, and the contribution capacity at night is significantly higher than that during the day. The diurnal variations in s, v, and Z all showed a “bimodal” pattern. The NAI release rate and release level of each tree species during the day were significantly higher than those at night. (2) The trees released the most NAIs during the day at approximately 10:00, while Robinia pseudoacacia and Populus tomentosa peaked with a 2 h lag (12:00). The NAI release capacity of each tree species was the worst at 13:00. (3) During the growing season, the self-contribution effects L and n of the plants were the strongest in May. The release rates and release levels s, v, and Z were the lowest in August. The coniferous plants released NAIs at the fastest rate in September and broad-leaved plants in July, with the highest release levels. In this study, the plants released the most NAIs from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., which is the best time to travel. Quercus variabilis was preferentially recommended in the pairing of species of tree with the quickest NAI release and the highest total number released, followed by Koelreuteria paniculata and Sophora japonica. Full article

Inonotus hispidus growing on Morus alba is traditionally regarded as the authentic source of the medicinal fungus. However, this species is also found on other host trees, such as Ulmus macrocarpa and Acer truncatum; yet, whether these strains share comparable genomic and functional traits with Morus-derived strains remains unknown. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of a strain isolated from U. macrocarpa (UMI) using Illumina and PacBio platforms and conducted comparative genomic analysis with strains from M. alba (MAI) and A. truncatum (AMI). Antagonistic interactions were also evaluated via dual-culture confrontation assays. The UMI genome was 36.44 Mb in size, comprising 9097 predicted genes, of which 6991 and 1672 were annotated in the KEGG and COG databases, respectively. SNP analysis revealed 623,498 and 335,343 variants in AMI and MAI, with AMI showing greater genomic variation. Core–pan genome analysis identified 2651 core genes and 1046, 1424, and 1217 strain-specific genes in UMI, AMI, and MAI, respectively. Phenotypic assays demonstrated distinct mycelial growth dynamics and antagonistic behaviors, which likely reflect host-related environmental adaptation. Overall, I. hispidus strains from non-Morus hosts exhibit unique genomic and phenotypic features, providing a valuable basis for resource evaluation, artificial domestication, and the medicinal development of wild Sanghuang strains beyond traditional sources. Full article

Antibiotic resistance has become a global health concern, driving the need for sustainable alternatives in animal husbandry. This study explores the potential of natural feed additives as a viable solution to enhance poultry growth and health while reducing reliance on antibiotics. Chinese herbal medicines and probiotics have been widely studied as green, healthy, and safe antibiotic alternatives in livestock and poultry production. A total of 120 chickens were randomly divided into four groups: a control group and three treatment groups supplemented with 1% Pulsatilla chinensis powder, 3% fresh Acer truncatum, or 1% Clostridium butyricum. The results showed that Pulsatilla chinensis powder significantly increased gamma-glutamylcysteine (p < 0.05), UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (p < 0.05), tyramine (p < 0.01), and leucine (p < 0.05). Acer truncatum notably altered cecal metabolites, including L-tyrosine (p < 0.05), α-ketoisovaleric acid (p < 0.01), myristoleic acid (p < 0.01), glutathione (p < 0.05), and PGA1 (p < 0.05). Clostridium butyricum modified cecal metabolites such as L-glutamine (p < 0.05), riboflavin (p < 0.05), L-Carnitine (p < 0.05), ergocalciferol (p < 0.01), and α-tocotrienol (p < 0.05). Full article

Late embryonic developmental abundant (LEA) genes play a crucial role in the response to abiotic stress and are important target genes for research on plant stress tolerance mechanisms. Acer truncatum Bunge is a promising candidate tree species for investigating the tolerance mechanism of woody plants against abiotic stress. In our previous study, AtruLEA1 was identified as being associated with seed drought tolerance. In this study, LEA1 was cloned from A. truncatum Bunge and functionally characterized. AtruLEA1 encodes an LEA protein and is located in the nucleus. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed a recent affinity of the AtruLEA1 protein to AT3G15760.1. Overexpression of AtruLEA1 resulted in enhanced tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana to drought and salt stress and heightened the ABA sensitivity. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, plants with overexpressed AtruLEA1 exhibited increased activities of antioxidant enzymes under drought stress. Meanwhile, the ROS level of transgenic Arabidopsis was significantly less than that of the WT. Additionally, the stoma density and stoma openness of AtruLEA1 Arabidopsis were higher compared to those in the WT Arabidopsis under salt and drought stress conditions, which ensures that the biomass and relative water content of transgenic Arabidopsis are significantly better than those of the WT. These results indicated that AtruLEA1 was involved in salt and drought stress tolerances by maintaining ROS homeostasis, and its expression was positively regulated by abiotic stress. These results indicate a positive role of AtruLEA1 in drought and salt stress and provide theoretical evidence in the direction of cultivating resistant plants. Full article

Hydraulic functionality is crucial for tree productivity and stress tolerance. According to the theory of the fast–slow economics spectrum, the adaptive strategies of different tree species diverge along a spectrum defined by coordination and trade-offs of a suite of functional traits. The fast- and slow-growing species are expected to differ in hydraulic efficiency and safety; however, there is still a lack of investigation on the mechanistic association between tree growth rate and tree hydraulic functionality. Here, in a common garden condition, we measured radial growth rate and hydraulic traits in a fast-growing (Populus alba L. × P. berolinensis Dippel) and a slow-growing tree species (Acer truncatum Bunge), which are both important tree species for afforestation in northern China. In line with the contrasts in radial growth rate and wood anatomical traits at both the tissue and pit levels between the two species, stem hydraulic conductivity of the Populus species was significantly higher than that of the Acer species, but the resistance to drought-induced xylem cavitation was the opposite. A trade-off between hydraulic efficiency and safety was observed across the sampled trees of the two species. Higher water-transport efficiency supports the greater leaf net photosynthetic carbon assimilation capacity of the Populus species and hence facilitates fast growth, while the conservative hydraulic traits of the Acer species result in a slower growth rate but enhanced drought tolerance. Full article

The color variation of the leaves in autumn is a significant ornamental feature of Acer truncatum Bunge, especially when the leaves gradually become redder. Many studies focused on leaf color changes; however, less research has been conducted on the mechanism by which A. truncatum’s autumn leaves turn red. Red, middle and green leaves of Acer truncatum were used as the study materials to evaluate their flavonoid-related metabolites and infer gene and metabolite expression patterns in conjunction with transcriptome expression. For a start, phenotypic and leaf color parameters analyses showed that red leaves had the highest color redness and greenness (a*). In addition, a total of 23 flavonoid-related metabolites were identified through the metabolome, including five anthocyanins. Of them, cyanidin 3-O-β-D-sambubioside, cyanidin 3-O rutinoside, pelargonidin 3-O-3″,6″-O-dimalonylglucoside, delphinidin 3,7-di-O-β-D-glucoside and 3-O-β-D-sambubioside would help the leaves turn red in A. truncatum. Similarly, combined transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses showed that most genes in the flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthetic pathways were differentially expressed in both types of leaves. Chalcone synthase (CHS), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) and anthocyanin synthase (ANS) could affect flavonoid synthesis during leaf color change. This study could provide data for the genetic improvement of maple plants by exploring valuable metabolites and genes in flavonoid synthesis, and enhance the understanding of different developmental stages. Full article

The visual morphology of trees significantly impacts urban green micro-landscape aesthetics. Proximity to tall buildings affects tree form due to competition for space and light. The study investigates the impact of tall buildings on six visually morphological traits of eight common ornamental species in urban micro-landscapes in Beijing, with the distance and direction between trees and buildings as variables. It found that as trees grow closer to buildings, most angiosperms show increased crown asymmetry degree and crown loss, and reduced crown round degree and crown stretch degree (i.e., Sophora japonica L. and Acer truncatum Bunge saw a 52.26% and 47.62% increase in crown asymmetry degree, and a 20.35% and 21.59% decrease in crown round degree, respectively). However, the pattern of crown morphological changes in gymnosperms is poor (the closer the distance, the lower the height-to-diameter ratio of Pinus tabuliformis Carr., while the height-to-diameter ratio of Juniperus chinensis Roxb. significantly increases). In terms of orientation, gymnosperms on the west side of buildings have a greater crown asymmetry degree. It suggests that planting positions relative to buildings affect tree morphology. Recommendations include planting J. chinensis closer to buildings but keeping angiosperms like Fraxinus velutina Torr., S. japonica, and A. truncatum more than 3 m away to ensure healthy crown development. Full article

Auxin response factors (ARFs) are involved in the mechanism of plant leaf color regulation, inhibiting chlorophyll synthesis while promoting anthocyanin production. However, it is not clear whether the ARF gene family is involved in autumn leaf color changes in maple. The differentially expressed genes for autumn leaf discoloration were obtained by transcriptome sequencing, and the AtARF family was constructed by homologous gene search. The results show that the AtARFs consist of 21 members distributed on 11 chromosomes and can be divided into three subfamilies, which are mainly distributed in the nucleus. The promoter regions of the AtARFs contain light-responsive elements, abiotic stress-responsive elements, and hormone-responsive elements. The analyses presented in this paper provide comprehensive information on ARFs and help to elucidate their functional roles in leaf color change in Acer truncatum. Full article

Acer truncatum is a unique multipurpose woody oil species in China. It is crucial to study the geographical distribution patterns of fruit utilization of A. truncatum under climate change scenarios to ensure the rational site selection and germplasm resource protection of this tree. In this study, the Maxent model and Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analysis technology were used to construct a suitable area model for the plant under current climate conditions by selecting 138 sample points and 15 ecological factors, and to predict the potentially suitable areas under four climate scenarios in 2050 and 2070. The results showed that under current conditions, the main suitable areas were concentrated in China, such as Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Hebei, with an area of 1.64 × 10⁶ km². Under future conditions, the suitable area in 2050 and 2070 showed an expanding trend compared with that in the current period, and the expansion ratios were as high as 36.52% and 45.80% under the RCP2.6-2050 and RCP8.5-2070 scenarios, respectively. The expansion area is concentrated in the middle latitudes of China (38° N~52° N), basically covering the middle and northeast of Inner Mongolia and the middle and north of Heilongjiang, while the loss area is mainly located in northern Sichuan, northern Hubei and eastern Henan. The center of the suitable area is expected to migrate to the northeast in 2050 and 2070, with a maximum migration distance of 355.46 km. Under future conditions, the suitable area shrinks in low-latitude regions and expands in high-latitude regions, and the expanded area becomes larger than the contracted area. This conclusion provides important guidelines for the directional cultivation of A. truncatum for utilization of its fruit. Full article

Whole genome sequencing techniques are capable of providing insights into plant genetic adaptation to climate oscillations. Acer truncatum Bunge is a new resource tree for food with ornamental, timber and medicinal value. However, it has been listed as a near-threatened species because of the decreasing number of natural populations. In order to develop conservation strategies and sustainable innovative utilization for genetic resources, spatial pattern of genetic diversity and demographic history of A. truncatum from 13 natural populations, which cover the entire range, were analyzed by 9,086,353 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) through whole genome resequencing. The genetic diversity of natural populations was high (H_e = 0.289, I = 0.449), and genetic variations mainly resided within populations (82.47%) by AMOVA analysis. Cluster analysis showed that 13 natural populations mainly originated from three common gene pools. Therefore, it is recommended that the natural populations (LBGM, BTM, WLS and DQT) with high genetic diversity in different groups were given priority for in situ conservation and the genetic resources from these populations were collected for ex situ conservation. The effective population size of A. truncatum experienced two large-scale sharp contractions and currently decreased to its bottom in history. Nonetheless, A. truncatum could have expanded its effective population size to its historical peak after the last glacial period, indicating that it is highly resilient to fluctuations of temperature and humidity. Full article

Acer truncatum Bunge is a versatile woody tree species with high economic and medicinal value in the production of bioactive substances and unsaturated fatty acids (especially nervonic acid). However, the exploitation and evaluation of A. truncatum germplasm resources are limited owing to a lack of sound molecular marker systems. In this study, a large set of genomewide simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of A. truncatum was developed based on its whole-genome sequences. A total of 462,331 SSR loci were identified in the genome sequences, 99.3% (459,193) of which were located on 13 chromosomes. The chromosome length was significantly positively correlated with the number of SSR loci on the chromosome (r = 0.977, p < 0.001). The (A/T)n, (AT/TA)n, and (AAT/ATT/TAA/TTA/TAT/ATA)n were the most frequent motifs for mono-, di-, and trinucleotide repeat motifs, respectively, showing A/T-base bias. After BLASTN and electronic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses, 199,990 loci with specific physical positions were screened. Most of the SSR loci were located in the intergenic regions and fewest in the coding sequences (CDSs). The frequency of loci with tri- and hexanucleotide repeat motifs was the highest in the CDSs, potentially serving to maintain the stability of gene function and structure. In randomly selected 105 SSR markers, 82 (78.1%) showed allelic polymorphism, with polymorphism information content (PIC) values of 0.032–0.926 (0.481 on average). The SSRs in the noncoding regions exhibited significantly higher PIC values than those in the CDSs. The transferability of the 105 markers was 48.6%–59.0% to seven other Acer species. The large set of valid SSR markers provides a powerful tool for studies on population genetics, conservation genetics, linkage mapping, comparative genomics, and marker-assisted breeding of the genus Acer. Full article

The symbiosis between endophytic fungi and plants can promote the absorption of potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients by plants. Phosphorus is one of the indispensable nutrient elements for plant growth and development. However, the content of available phosphorus in soil is very low, which limits the growth of plants. Phosphorus-soluble microorganisms can improve the utilization rate of insoluble phosphorus. In this study, Talaromyces verruculosus (T. verruculosus), a potential phosphorus-soluble fungus, was isolated from Acer truncatum, a plant with strong stress resistance, and its phosphorus-soluble ability in relation to cucumber seedlings under different treatment conditions was determined. In addition, the morphological, physiological, and biochemical indexes of the cucumber seedlings were assessed. The results show that T. verruculosus could solubilize tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and lecithin, and the solubilization effect of lecithin was higher than that of TCP. After the application of T. verruclosus, the leaf photosynthetic index increased significantly. The photosynthetic system damage caused by low phosphorus stress was alleviated, and the root morphological indexes of cucumber seedlings were increased. The plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area of cucumber seedlings treated with T. verruculosus were also significantly higher than those without treatment. Therefore, it was shown that T. verruculosus is a beneficial endophytic fungus that can promote plant growth and improve plant stress resistance. This study will provide a useful reference for further research on endophytic fungi to promote growth and improve plant stress resistance. Full article

The forest ecosystem of Beijing is an important barrier that preserves the ecological environment in the capital city of China. Therefore, the study of plant water utilization techniques in Beijing holds considerable importance in establishing a theoretical framework for the rehabilitation, administration, and preservation of forest ecosystem structures and functions. Here, the samples of precipitation, xylem water, and soil water were collected during the months of August and December 2021 from both mountainous and plains areas of Beijing. We measured the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope values (δ²H and δ¹⁸O, respectively) and demonstrated the water use strategies of two typical tree species (Pinus tabuliformis Carr. and Acer truncatum Bunge) using the MixSIAR model. Divergent water use strategies were found in the mountainous and plains areas of Beijing. In the mountainous area, the two tree species exhibited seasonal differences in water use strategies. The xylem water of P. tabuliformis was mainly derived from the surface soil water (0~20 cm). In contrast, the xylem water of A. truncatum mainly originated from the surface soil water during the growing season, and it mainly originated from the deep soil water (60~100 cm) during the nongrowing season. However, in the plains area, the water sources of P. tabuliformis and A. truncatum did not show seasonal differences and originated mainly from the deep soil water. The findings of our study emphasize the notable disparity in water utilization strategies among tree species in the mountainous and plains areas. Consequently, it is imperative to formulate sustainable forestry management approaches that align with the water use efficiency of trees in various locations of Beijing. Full article

Multiple sclerosis disease (MS) is a 38.5 chronic neurological autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system, and its incidence is increasing globally. At present, there is no cure for this disease, and with its severity and disabling variety, it is important to search for possibilities that could help to slow its progression. It is recognized that the mechanisms of MS pathology, its development and degree of activity can be affected by dietary factors. In this review, the beneficial health effects of 10 plants oils—mainly seed oils, including pomegranate seed oil, sesame oil, acer truncatum bunge seed oil, hemp seeds oil, evening primrose seed oil, coconut oil, walnut oil, essential oil from Pterodon emarginatus seeds, flaxseed oil and olive oil—on MS are discussed. The literature data indicate that plant oils could be effective for the treatment of MS and its related symptoms primarily through reducing inflammation, promoting remyelination, immunomodulation and inhibiting oxidative stress. Plant oils may potentially reduce MS progression. Longitudinal research including a larger sample size with a longer duration is essential to confirm the findings from the selected plant oils. Moreover, new plant oils should be studied for their potential MS benefit. Full article

Drought stress is one of the major environmental factors severely restricting plant development and productivity. Acer truncatum B, which is an economically important tree species, is highly tolerant to drought conditions, but the underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms remain relatively unknown. In this study, A. truncatum seedlings underwent a drought treatment (water withheld for 0, 3, 7, and 12 days), after which they were re-watered for 5 days. Physiological indices were measured and a transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed to reveal drought response-related regulatory mechanisms. In comparison to the control, the drought treatment caused a significant increase in antioxidant enzyme activities, with levels rising up to seven times, and relative electrical conductivity from 14.5% to 78.4%, but the relative water content decreased from 88.3% to 23.4%; these indices recovered somewhat after the 5-day re-watering period. The RNA sequencing analysis identified 9126 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were primarily involved with abscisic acid responses, and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling. These DEGs included 483 (5.29%) transcription factor genes from 53 families, including ERF, MYB, and NAC. A co-expression network analysis was conducted and three important modules were analyzed to identify hub genes, one of which (AtruNAC36) was examined to clarify its function. The AtruNAC36 protein was localized to the nucleus and had a C-terminal transactivation domain. Moreover, it bounded specifically to the NACRS element. The overexpression of AtruNAC36 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in increased drought tolerance by enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities. These findings provide important insights into the transcriptional regulation mediating the A. truncatum response to drought. Furthermore, AtruNAC36 may be relevant for breeding forest trees resistant to drought stress. Full article