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Through the analysis of various typical cases, this study examines whether the establishment of an agro-product regional public brand (ARPB) can effectively boost the revenue of farmers and increase their share in the supply chain. The findings suggest that an early-stage ARPB can command a price premium for products, yet its overall contribution to farmers' revenue remains limited due to scale constraints. The premium ability of an ARPB is influenced by product characteristics and sales strategies, underscoring the need to enhance control over terminal sales. Although the revenue of all operators in an ARPB supply chain shows an increase compared to that of a non-ARPB supply chain, the ratios of revenue allocated to farmers diminish. The Shapley value method was utilized to optimize the revenue-sharing in the supply chain, indicating a need to increase the share of revenue for farmers. This optimization necessitates the formation of a community of interests between farmers, processing enterprises, and sellers to facilitate the upstream movement of brand premiums. Furthermore, enhancing the government's mediation and regulatory functions can provide farmers with more opportunities to partake in brand benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean residue has caused pollution to the environment due to high output. Herein, in order to reutilization soybean residue, a novel soybean hulls residue based hierarchically porous carbon was prepared by one‐step carbonization‐activation, and its structure and micromorphology were characterized by SEM, FT‐IR, Raman, TEM, BET and XPS. Based on results of characterization, which illustrated typical hierarchically pore structure with pore sizes are 1000 nm, 300 nm and 1.4 nm. The specific surface area and total pore volume were corresponded to 1455.41 m2/g and 0.731 cm3/g, respectively. And the pore‐forming mechanism was discussed in raw materials is a pyrolysis process. Furthermore, it was found that adsorption capacity of dye could got to 625 mg/g in 30 min when the adsorbent was 0.05 g. In summary, the soybean hulls residue based hierarchically pore material with large surface area and rich in pore structure, which will exhibit excellent performance towards wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogels are promising materials for electronic skin due to their flexibility and modifiability. Reported hydrogel electronic skins can recognize stimulations and output signals, but the single output signal and the requirement of external power source limit their further applications. In this study, inspired by the neuron system, the self‐powered neuron system‐like hydrogels based on gelatin, water/glycerin and ionic liquid modified metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are prepared. The optimized hydrogel exhibits excellent adhesion (40 kPa), stretchability (0%–100%), water retention (>92% at 0% relative humidity (RH) atmosphere), ionic conductivity (>10−3 S m−1) and stability (>30 days). Besides, the neuron system‐like hydrogels are highly sensitive to pressure (0—10 N) and humidity (0%–75% RH) with dual‐modal output, without external power source. Finally, the optimized hydrogel ionic skin is applied in human motion detection, energy harvesting, and low humidity sensing. This study provides a preliminary exploration of self‐powered ionic skin for multi‐application scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, strongly hydrophilic ionic liquid (IL) was introduced into the metal organic frameworks (MOFs) by the solvent-assisted linker exchange (SALE) method. Low humidity sensors based on IL functionalized MOF-801 materials were prepared. The as-prepared sensor shows a high response of 20.3 (in the humidity range of 0% RH to 35% RH, 0 ppmv to 8138 ppmv), small hysteresis (~1% RH) and good long-term stability (>100 days). In particular, the optimized sensor shows fast response (~400 ms) and high resolution (1% RH). This work provides a potential humidity sensitive material for preparing high performance low humidity sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterosis, known as one of the most successful strategies for increasing grain yield and abiotic/biotic stress tolerance, has been widely exploited in maize breeding. However, the underlying molecular processes are still to be elucidated. The maize hybrid "Zhengdan538" shows high tolerance to drought stress. The transcriptomes of the seedling leaves of its parents, "ZhengA88" and "ZhengT22" and their reciprocal F1 hybrid under well‐watered and water deficit conditions, were analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA‐Seq). Transcriptome profiling of the reciprocal hybrid revealed 2994–4692 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under well‐watered and water‐deficit conditions, which were identified by comparing with their parents. The reciprocal hybrid was more closely related to the parental line "ZhengT22" than to the parental line "ZhengA88" in terms of gene expression patterns under water‐deficit condition. Furthermore, genes showed expression level dominance (ELD), especially the high‐parental ELD (Class 3 and 5), accounted for the largest proportion of DEGs between the reciprocal F1 hybrid and their parental lines under water deficit. These ELD genes mainly participated in photosynthesis, energy biosynthesis, and metabolism processes. The results indicated that ELD genes played important roles in hybrid tolerance to water deficit. Moreover, a set of important drought‐responsive transcription factors were found to be encoded by the identified ELD genes and are thought to function in improving drought tolerance in maize hybrid plants. Our results provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of drought tolerance in hybrid maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes humidity sensors based on ionic liquid loaded in situ crosslinked ionogels. Stable ionogels were constructed by the synergistic effect of k-carrageenan and gelatin to ensure the uniformly dispersion of ionic liquid, which is conducive to the stability of humidity sensors. The humidity sensitive electrolyte with different contents were introduced into the ionogels. By controlling the ratio of ionic liquid in the crosslinked ionogels, the optimal sensor exhibits a high sensitivity in the low humidity range (5% - 35% RH). The resultant sensors exhibit excellent repeatability, and possess good stability in long-term tests up to 60 days. The introduction of ionic liquid to the sensing film is beneficial for enhancing the water adsorption capacity and ionic conductivity, which is of great significance for high-performance humidity sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background : Recently, accumulating evidence confirmed that up-frameshift protein 1 (UPF1) was aberrantly expressed in various cancers. However, the molecular mechanism mediated by UPF1 underlying colorectal carcinogenesis remains unclear. Method : Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis were used to determine the expression level of UPF1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues. CCK-8, EdU, transwell assay, and flow cytometry were performed to investigate the biological significance of UPF1. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and apoptosis associated markers were detected by western blotting. Results : We found that UPF1 expression was upregulated in CRC tissues and cell lines. Clinical analysis revealed that high UPF1 expression was positively correlated with advanced stage, lymph node metastasis and shorter survival. Knockdown of UPF1 suppressed cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. Functionally, UPF1 promotes tumor metastasis by inducing epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Further investigations revealed that knockdown of UPF1 promoted apoptosis through triggering DNA damage. Conclusions : Taken together, this research revealed that UPF1 plays an oncogenic role in CRC via regulating EMT and apoptosis and may be a potential therapeutic target for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the main abiotic stresses adversely affecting maize growth and grain yield. Identifying drought tolerance‐related genes and breeding varieties with enhanced tolerance are effective strategies for minimizing the effects of drought stress. In this study, the leaf relative water content (LRWC) was used for evaluating drought tolerance. QTL‐seq analysis of 419 F2 individuals from a cross between ZhengT22 (the drought‐tolerant line with high LRWC) and ZhengA88 (the drought‐sensitive line with low LRWC) revealed four LRWC‐related QTLs (qLRWC2, qLRWC10a, qLRWC10b, and qLRWC10c) in maize seedlings under water deficit. Of these QTLs, qLRWC2 was located in a 2.03‐Mb interval on chromosome 2, whereas qLRWC10a, qLRWC10b, and qLRWC10c were located in 2.85‐, 3.99‐, and 2.05‐Mb intervals, respectively, on chromosome 10, and the 93 genes contained the variation loci locating in the four QTLs regions. To identify the candidate genes within the QTLs, an RNA‐seq analysis was performed for the parents exposed to water deficit. Seven genes with effective variation loci showed significant difference in expression either in ZhengA88 or ZhengT22 in response to water deficit. Moreover, among the genes, ZmPrx64, ZmCIPK, HSP90, and ABCG34 have all been shown to be related to water stress in the previous studies. Thus, they are primary considered as the potential candidate genes controlling LRWC under water deficit at the seeding stage of maize in this study. These findings will help clarify the molecular basis of drought tolerance in maize seedlings and may be relevant for future functional analysis and for breeding drought‐tolerant maize varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to explore the biological functions and prognostic role of Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (Epithelial-mesenchymal transition)-related lncRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas database was applied to retrieve gene expression data and clinical information. An EMT-related lncRNA risk signature was constructed relying on univariate Cox regression, Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selector Operation (LASSO) and multivariate Cox regression analysis of the EMT-related lncRNA expression data and clinical information. Then, an individualized prognostic prediction model based on the nomogram was developed and the predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were determined by the receiver operating characteristic curve and calibration curve. Finally, a series of analyses, such as functional analysis and unsupervised cluster analysis, were conducted to explore the influence of independent lncRNAs on CRC. Results: A total of 581 patients were enrolled and an eleven-EMT-related lncRNA risk signature was identified relying on the comprehensive analysis of the EMT-related lncRNA expression data and clinical information in the training cohort. Then, risk scores were calculated to divide patients into high and low-risk groups, and the Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that low-risk patients tended to have better overall survival (OS). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the EMT-related lncRNA signature was significantly associated with prognosis. The results were subsequently confirmed in the validation dataset. Then, we constructed and validated a predictive nomogram for overall survival based on the clinical factors and risk signature. Functional characterization confirmed this signature could predict immune-related phenotype and was associated with immune cell infiltration (i.e., macrophages M0, M1, Tregs, CD4 memory resting cells, and neutrophils), tumor mutation burden (TMB). Conclusions: Our study highlighted the value of the 11-EMT-lncRNA signature as a predictor of prognosis and immunotherapeutic response in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

aiming Wang11Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, People's Republic of China; 3Medical College, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Huaiming WangDepartment of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College Email [email protected] Purpose: This study aimed to explore the function and clinical significance of AVL9 in colorectal cancer (CRC). Materials and Methods: The GEO, TCGA, and GEPIA databases were searched to evaluate the expression level of AVL9, while the SurvExpress online tool was used to explore its related clinical survival prognosis. The cBioPortal and LinkedOmics databases were used to identify AVL9 expression-related genes. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were analyzed using Cytoscape 3.7.1 and DAVID6.8, which was used to perform Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) signal pathway enrichment. The immunohistochemistry of AVL9 in CRC was detected using an online tool protein atlas. RNA isolation and reverse transcription–quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays were used to detect AVL9 expression in tissue and plasma samples. Results: Our study confirmed that AVL9 was highly expressed in CRC lesions versus the adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.001). High AVL9 expression was negatively associated with survival outcomes (P < 0.05). GO analysis showed that AVL9 expression-related genes were enriched in single organismal cell–cell adhesion, post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, and negative regulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor signaling pathway (P < 0.05). On a KEGG pathway analysis, these genes were mainly involved in progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, axon guidance, the insulin signaling pathway, and the ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis signaling pathways (P < 0.05). In the PPI analysis, the KBTBD2, KIAA1147, EPDR1, and RNF216 genes interacted with AVL9, and GEPIA predicted that their expression levels were all positively correlated with AVL9. Furthermore, a clinicopathological parameter analysis found that high AVL9 expression was positively correlated with differentiation and TNM stage. RT-qPCR analysis further showed that plasma AVL9 expression was upregulated in CRC patients versus healthy controls. Conclusion: AVL9 could serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel complexes, namely [Nd·L1·HCOO·(H2O)4] (1), [Pr·L1·HCOO·(H2O)4] (2) and [In·L2·Cl·(H2O)2] (3) (L1 = 1,1‐bis(5‐(pyrazin‐2‐yl)‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methane, L2 = 1,1‐bis(5‐(pyrazin‐2‐yl)‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)ketone), were synthesized and characterized. The molecular structures of 1–3 were confirmed using single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. All three obtained complexes are zero‐dimensional and connected to each other by hydrogen bonds. In 1 and 2 the metal is surrounded by nine donors and 3 has seven coordination sites. The interaction of 1–3 with calf thymus DNA (CT‐DNA) was explored using UV absorption spectra and fluorescence spectra. The intrinsic binding constants of 1–3 with CT‐DNA are about 1.9 × 104, 1.4 × 104 and 1.1 × 104, respectively. Stern–Volmer quenching plots of 1–3 have slopes of 0.1508, 0.134 and 0.1205, respectively. The ability of these complexes to cleave pBR322 plasmid DNA was demonstrated using gel electrophoresis assay. Apoptosis studies of the three novel complexes showed a significant inhibitory effect on HeLa cells. Furthermore, MTT assays were used to evaluate the anticancer activity of the three complexes. The cytotoxicity study indicated that complex 1 possesses a higher inhibitory rate of HeLa cells than the other complexes. Especially, the efficacy of 1 was shown to be the highest for cisplatin at 24 h. A further molecular docking technique was introduced to understand the binding of the complexes toward the target DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spray drying and pyrolysis synthesis route was developed and it successfully prepared boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles with high dispersivity. During the experiment, the extremely rapid drying of the boric acid/urea solution during the spray-drying process resulted in the formation of homogeneous precursors, which was the key for the final pyrolysis synthesis of BN nanoparticles with high dispersibility and uniform diameters (~20 nm). Compared with boron nitride synthesized without using spray drying, the as-prepared BN nanoparticles possess higher specific surface area (145.01 m 2 g −1 ) and larger pore volume (0.41 cm 3 g −1 ). Especially, we used the BN nanoparticles as lubricant and incorporated it into the liquid paraffin (LP). The experiment results show that the LP presents outstanding antifriction properties for a BN content of 1.5 wt%. These results suggest that the h-BN nanoparticles have significant potential applications in the field of tribology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The research activities in the development of recyclable and reprocessable covalently crosslinked networks, and the construction of polymers from renewable resources are both stemmed from the economical and environmental problems associated with traditional thermosets. However, there is little effort in combination of these two attractive strategies in material designs. This article reported a bio-based vitrimer constructed from isosorbide-derived epoxy and aromatic diamines containing disulfide bonds. The resulted dynamic epoxy resins showed comparable thermomechanical properties as compared to similar epoxy networks cured by traditional curing agent. Rheological tests demonstrated the fast stress relaxation of the dynamic network due to the rapid metathesis of disulfide bonds at temperature higher than glass transition temperature. This feature permitted the recycling and reprocessing of the fragmented samples for several times by hot press. The dynamic epoxy resins also exhibited shape-memory effect, and it is demonstrated that the shape recovery ratio could be readily adjusted by controlling the stress relaxation in the temporary state at programming temperature. Moreover, the degradability of the dynamic epoxy resins in alkaline aqueous solution was also demonstrated. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 1790-1799 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal‐free and Selectfluor‐mediated C–S bond cleavage is described. This novel strategy provides a facile and efficient method to access important N‐substituted acrylamide and β‐aminopropanamide derivatives with good functional group tolerance and yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation and development of maize kernel is a complex dynamic physiological and biochemical process that involves the temporal and spatial expression of many proteins and the regulation of metabolic pathways. In this study, the protein profiles of the endosperm and pericarp at three important developmental stages were analyzed by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) labeling coupled with LC-MS/MS in popcorn inbred N04. Comparative quantitative proteomic analyses among developmental stages and between tissues were performed, and the protein networks were integrated. A total of 6,876 proteins were identified, of which 1,396 were nonredundant. Specific proteins and different expression patterns were observed across developmental stages and tissues. The functional annotation of the identified proteins revealed the importance of metabolic and cellular processes, and binding and catalytic activities for the development of the tissues. The whole, endosperm-specific and pericarp-specific protein networks integrated 125, 9 and 77 proteins, respectively, which were involved in 54 KEGG pathways and reflected their complex metabolic interactions. Confirmation for the iTRAQ endosperm proteins by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that 44.44% proteins were commonly found. However, the concordance between mRNA level and the protein abundance varied across different proteins, stages, tissues and inbred lines, according to the gene cloning and expression analyses of four relevant proteins with important functions and different expression levels. But the result by western blot showed their same expression tendency for the four proteins as by iTRAQ. These results could provide new insights into the developmental mechanisms of endosperm and pericarp, and grain formation in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locoism threatens the sustainable development of animal husbandry in areas around the world with intensified desertification, especially in the western United States, western China, Canada, and Mexico, among other countries. This study was conducted to discover potential serum biomarkers in locoweed-poisoned rabbits and lay a foundation for early diagnosis of locoism. We performed iTRAQ labeling coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC-MS/MS), comparing locoweed-poisoned rabbits and healthy controls. A total of 78 differentially-expressed proteins (fold change > 1.5 or < 0.67) were identified in the locoweed-poisoned rabbits compared to healthy controls. We found that 57.70% of differentially-expressed proteins were functionally related, and through bioinformatics analysis, we were able to construct a network mainly in complement and coagulation cascades. Significant differences in thrombospondin 4 (THBS4), kininogen 1 (KNG1), hemoglobin (HBB), and complement factor I (CFI) between locoweed poisoned animals and controls were found ( P < 0.05) and validated by western blotting. These results suggested that locoweed could damage neurocytes, lower immunity, and form thrombi in rabbits. Our study proposes potential biomarkers for locoism diagnosis and also provides a new experimental basis to understand the pathogenesis of locoism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This complex has a specific recognition for nitrofuran antibiotics, and is a fluorescent sensor with high sensitivity, high selectivity, recovery and good anti-interference ability. This work will expand the application of MOCs in chemical sensing and inspire other researchers to explore this direction. [Display omitted] • Improvement and research of complex. • The complex as a fluorescent sensor has the ability to specifically recognize nitrofuran antibiotics. • The complex has low detection limit and high sensitivity for nitrofuran antibiotics. • The complex as a fluorescent sensor has high selectivity, fast response, anti-interference ability, cycle ability and so on. The abuse of antibiotics is harmful to human body and environment, so the detection and identification of antibiotics in water has become a hot issue. In this experiment, cadmium metal-organic complexes (MOCs) with high selectivity, stability and low detection limit is used to detect nitrofuran antibiotics in aqueous solution. The detection limits of Furazolidone (FZD), Nitrofurazone (NFZ) are 0.066 μM and 0.051 μM, respectively. The sensing mechanism of Cd2+ complex is systematically analyzed and the results showed that the complex exhibited high sensitivity, strong stability and circulation ability to nitrofuran antibiotics because of energy competitive absorption and electron transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the major form of cardiovascular disease and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in countries around the world. Atherosclerosis combines the interactions of systemic risk factors, haemodynamic factors, and biological factors, in which biomechanical and biochemical cues strongly regulate the process of atherosclerosis. The development of atherosclerosis is directly related to hemodynamic disorders and is the most important parameter in the biomechanics of atherosclerosis. The complex blood flow in arteries forms rich WSS vectorial features, including the newly proposed WSS topological skeleton to identify and classify the WSS fixed points and manifolds in complex vascular geometries. The onset of plaque usually occurs in the low WSS area, and the plaque development alters the local WSS topography. low WSS promotes atherosclerosis, while high WSS prevents atherosclerosis. Upon further progression of plaques, high WSS is associated with the formation of vulnerable plaque phenotype. Different types of shear stress can lead to focal differences in plaque composition and to spatial variations in the susceptibility to plaque rupture, atherosclerosis progression and thrombus formation. WSS can potentially gain insight into the initial lesions of AS and the vulnerable phenotype that gradually develops over time. The characteristics of WSS are studied through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. With the continuous improvement of computer performance-cost ratio, WSS as one of the effective parameters for early diagnosis of atherosclerosis has become a reality and will be worth actively promoting in clinical practice. The research on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis based on WSS is gradually an academic consensus. This article will comprehensively review the systemic risk factors, hemodynamics and biological factors involved in the formation of atherosclerosis, and combine the application of CFD in hemodynamics, focusing on the mechanism of WSS and the complex interactions between WSS and plaque biological factors. It is expected to lay a foundation for revealing the pathophysiological mechanisms related to abnormal WSS in the progression and transformation of human atherosclerotic plaques., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Zhou, Yu, Chen, Liu, Hu, Ma, Gao, Jian and Wang.)

The maize (Zea mays L.) husk consists of multiple leaf layers and plays an important role in grain growth and development. Despite significant achievements in physiological and morphological research, few studies have focused on the detection of genetic loci underlying husk-related traits due to the lack of efficient tools. In this study, we constructed an ultra-high-density linkage map using genotyping by sequencing based on a recombinant inbred line population to estimate the genetic variance and heritability of 3 husk traits, i.e. husk length, husk width, and husk layer number in 3 field environments and the combined environment. The 3 husk traits showed broad phenotypic variation and high heritability; the broad-sense heritability (H2) was 0.92, 0.84, and 0.86. Twenty quantitative trait loci were consistently detected more than 1 environment, including 9 for husk length, 6 for husk width, and 5 for husk layer number. These loci were considered as stable quantitative trait loci. Based on the quantitative trait loci mapping in the recombinant inbred line population, qHL6 and qHN4 were detected across all environments and inferred to be reliable and major-effect quantitative trait loci for husk length and husk layer number, respectively. In addition, several predicted candidate genes were identified in the region of qHL6 and qHN4, of which 17 candidate genes potentially play a role in biological processes related to development process and energy metabolism. These results will be as a useful resource for performing functional studies aimed at understanding the molecular pathways involved in husk growth and development., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Genetics Society of America.)

Silver-mediated intramolecular α-C(sp 3 )-H bond functionalization of the methylthio group has been established in the presence of Selectfluor as an additive. This novel strategy provides efficient access to various diverse sulfur-based heterocycles with good yields and functional group compatibility. It is noteworthy that the completely novel benzooxathiin-4-imine skeletons were reported for the first time in this study.

ADP-ribosylation factors (ARFs) are small GTP-binding proteins that regulate a wide variety of cell functions. Previously, we isolated a new ARF, ZmArf2, from maize (Zea mays). Sequence and expression characteristics indicated that ZmArf2 might play a critical role in the early stages of endosperm development. In this study, we investigated ZmArf2 function by analysis of its GTP-binding activity and subcellular localization. We also over-expressed ZmArf2 in Arabidopsis and measured organ and cell size and counted cell numbers. The expression levels of five organ size-associated genes were also determined in 35S::ZmArf2 transgenic and wild-type plants. Results showed that the recombinant ZmArf2 protein purified from Escherichia coli exhibited GTP-binding activity. Subcellular localization revealed that ZmArf2 was localized in the cytoplasm and plasma membrane. ZmArf2 over-expression in Arabidopsis showed that 35S::ZmArf2 transgenic plants were taller and had larger leaves and seeds compared to wild-type plants, which resulted from cell expansions, not an increase in cell numbers. In addition, three cell expansion-related genes, AtEXP3, AtEXP5 and AtEXP10, were upregulated in 35S::ZmArf2 transgenic lines, while the expression levels of AtGIF1 and AtGRF5, were unchanged. Collectively, our studies suggest that ZmArf2 has an active GTP-binding function, and plays a crucial role in growth and development in Arabidopsis through cell expansion mediated by cell expansion genes., (© 2015 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.)