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Semi-mangroves form a group of transitional species between glycophytes and halophytes, and hold unique potential for learning molecular mechanisms underlying plant salt tolerance. Millettia pinnata is a semi-mangrove plant that can survive a wide range of saline conditions in the absence of specialized morphological and physiological traits. By employing the Illumina sequencing platform, we generated ∼192 million short reads from four cDNA libraries of M. pinnata and processed them into 108 598 unisequences with a high depth of coverage. The mean length and total length of these unisequences were 606 bp and 65.8 Mb, respectively. A total of 54 596 (50.3%) unisequences were assigned Nr annotations. Functional classification revealed the involvement of unisequences in various biological processes related to metabolism and environmental adaptation. We identified 23 815 candidate salt-responsive genes with significantly differential expression under seawater and freshwater treatments. Based on the reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) and real-time PCR analyses, we verified the changes in expression levels for a number of candidate genes. The functional enrichment analyses for the candidate genes showed tissue-specific patterns of transcriptome remodelling upon salt stress in the roots and the leaves. The transcriptome of M. pinnata will provide valuable gene resources for future application in crop improvement. In addition, this study sets a good example for large-scale identification of salt-responsive genes in non-model organisms using the sequencing-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Longan shells were treated with or without phosphoric acid activation in different pyrolysis processes, to obtain four biochar materials including direct pyrolysis‐longan shell biochar (D‐LSB), stage pyrolysis‐longan shell biochar (S‐LSB), phosphoric acid activation with direct pyrolysis‐longan shell biochar (PD‐LSB), and phosphoric acid activation with stage pyrolysis‐longan shell biochar (PS‐LSB). This study is to screen out the LSB with the best electrochemical property, being applied in the fabrication of nitrite sensing electrode. A series of structural and electrochemical characterizations revealed that PD‐LSB featured hierarchically porous structures, the largest specific surface area and pore volume as well as the best conductivity, and was applied to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) after mixed with chitosan, to fabricate the electrochemical sensing electrode PD‐LSB/CS/GCE for nitrite detection. The operating condition and performance of the fabricated nitrite sensing electrode were investigated, and the results indicated that it showed the optimal response signal for nitrite detection at pH=3.0, with a linear detection range of 200.0–30000.0 μM and a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.08 μM. The fabricated nitrite sensing electrode also exhibited a good reproducibility, reproducibility and stability as well as good anti‐interference ability, and was applied for the nitrite detection in real aqueous samples successfully. This study provides useful reference information for the preparation of novel biomass materials, and an innovative electrochemical analytical technique for the quick and accurate detection of nitrite in aqueous samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pongamia (Millettia pinnata syn. Pongamia pinnata), an oilseed legume species, is emerging as potential feedstock for sustainable biodiesel production. Breeding Pongamia for favorable traits in commercial application will rely on a comprehensive understanding of molecular mechanism regulating oil accumulation during its seed development. To date, only limited genomic or transcript sequences are available for Pongamia, while a temporal transcriptome profiling of developing seeds is still lacking in this species. Results: In this work, we conducted a time-series analysis of morphological and physiological characters, oil contents and compositions, as well as global gene expression profiles in developing Pongamia seeds. Firstly, three major developmental phases were characterized based on the combined evidences from embryonic shape, seed weight, seed moisture content, and seed color. Then, the gene expression levels at these three phases were quantified by RNA-Seq analyses with three biological replicates from each phase. Nearly 94% of unigenes were expressed at all three phases, whereas only less than 2% of unigenes were exclusively expressed at one of these phases. A total of 8881 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between phases. Furthermore, the qRT-PCR analyses for 10 DEGs involved in lipid metabolism demonstrated a good reliability of our RNA-Seq data in temporal gene expression profiling. We observed a dramatic increase in seed oil content from the embryogenesis phase to the early seed-filling phase, followed by a steady and moderate increase towards the maximum at the desiccation phase. We proposed that a highly active expression of most genes related to fatty acid (FA) and triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis at the embryogenesis phase might trigger both the substantial oil accumulation and the membrane lipid synthesis for rapid cell proliferation at this phase, while a concerted reactivation of TAG synthesis-related genes at the desiccation phase might further promote storage lipid synthesis to achieve the maximum content of seed oils. Conclusions: This study not only built a bridge between gene expression profiles and oil accumulation in developing seeds, but also laid a foundation for future attempts on genetic engineering of Pongamia varieties to acquire higher oil yield or improved oil properties for biofuel applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millettia pinnata L. is a leguminous tree with great potential in biodiesel applications and also a typical semi-mangrove. In this review, we presented several aspects about the recent research progress in molecular biology of M. pinnata. We descrived several types of molecular markers used to assess the genetic diversity and phylogeny of this species, genome and transcriptome analyses based on high-throughput sequencing platform accomplished for this species, and several gene and genomic sequences of this species isolated for further research. Finally, based on the current research progress, we proposed some orientations for future molecular biology research on M. pinnata.