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The vascular cambium is the main secondary meristem in plants that produces secondary phloem (outside) and xylem (inside) on opposing sides of the cambium. The phytohormone ethylene has been implicated in vascular cambium activity, but the regulatory network underlying ethylene-mediated cambial activity remains to be elucidated. Here, we found that PETAL MOVEMENT-RELATED PROTEIN1 (RhPMP1), an ethylene-inducible HOMEODOMAIN-LEUCINE ZIPPER I transcription factor in woody plant rose (Rosa hybrida), regulates local auxin biosynthesis and auxin transport to maintain cambial activity. Knockdown of RhPMP1 resulted in smaller midveins and reduced auxin content, while RhPMP1 overexpression resulted in larger midveins and increased auxin levels compared with the wild-type plants. Furthermore, we revealed that Indole-3-pyruvate monooxygenase YUCCA 10 (RhYUC10) and Auxin transporter-like protein 2 (RhAUX2), encoding an auxin biosynthetic enzyme and an auxin influx carrier, respectively, are direct downstream targets of RhPMP1. In summary, our results suggest that ethylene promotes an auxin maximum in the cambium adjacent to the xylem to maintain cambial activity.

Abstract We previously reported that ABA inhibits stomatal closure through AtNAP-SAG113 PP2C regulatory module during leaf senescence. The mechanism by which this module exerts its function is unknown. Here we report the identification and functional analysis of SAG114, a direct target of the regulatory module. SAG114 encodes SnRK3.25. Both bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) and yeast two-hybrid assays show that SAG113 PP2C physically interacts with SAG114 SnRK3.25. Biochemically the SAG113 PP2C dephosphorylates SAG114 in vitro and in planta. RT-PCR and GUS reporter analyses show that SAG114 is specifically expressed in senescing leaves in Arabidopsis. Functionally, the SAG114 knockout mutant plants have a significantly bigger stomatal aperture and a much faster water loss rate in senescing leaves than those of wild type, and display a precocious senescence phenotype. The premature senescence phenotype of sag114 is epistatic to sag113 (that exhibits a remarkable delay in leaf senescence) because the sag113 sag114 double mutant plants show an early leaf senescence phenotype, similar to that of sag114. These results not only demonstrate that the ABA-AtNAP-SAG113 PP2C regulatory module controls leaf longevity by dephosphorylating SAG114 kinase, but also reveal the involvement of the SnRK3 family gene in stomatal movement and water loss during leaf senescence. Graphical Abstract

In the 250 Wt RTPV (radioisotope thermophoto-voltaic) system, the heat source operates at a temperature above 1 000 ℃, which requires a long term stable thermal insulation devices. In this paper, three types of non-sealed high temperature MLI (multilayer insulator) were prepared by using spike, stainless steel wire mesh and aerogel as separator respectively. Each type was installed and tested in the RTPV prototype separately. The three MLIs are in the same size of 187 mm long, 183 mm wide and 50 mm thick. In MLI with spike separator, 50 metal foil reflectors were pierced several small holes, the spikes from the holes were used as the separator to make the adjacent reflectors in point contact. In MLI with stainless steel wire mesh separator, 50 stainless steel wire meshes were spot weld on each of the metal foil reflectors as the separator to make the adjacent reflectors in line contact. In MLI with aerogel separator, 18 polished metal plates were used as the reflectors, and slender strip aerogels in size of 50 mm×10 mm×2 mm were installed on four corners between adjacent reflectors as the separator. The main configuration of RTPV prototype tested in this paper was as follow. 1) An electric heating source with the size of 99 mm×95 mm×55 mm was used to simulate the radioisotope heat source. The heat source was supported in RTPV center by seven ceramic nails and coated with tungsten alloy radiation emitter. 2) Four optical filters were placed 34 mm away from the heat source and supported by four inner brackets. 3) Photovoltaic cells were installed on the side walls inside the housing with a distance of 14 mm from the optical filter. 4) Two high temperature MLIs were installed on the upper and lower end covers inside the housing. 5) Cold plates were used on the side walls outside the housing. Vacuum thermal performances of RTPV with different MLIs were carried out on a test platform. Based on the test results, some conclusions come out as follows. 1) The aerogel separator has the best performance in controllability of the assembly separating effect, which leads to the best thermal insulation performance consistency between different batches. 2) When the assembly separating effect is well controlled, the high temperature MLI with spike separator has a better insulation performance than stainless steel wire mesh separator. 3) The optical cavity inside the RTPV prototype is consisted of high-temperature MLI and the optical filters. A better closure of the optical cavity significantly contributes to the improvement of the heat utilization, and accesses to a higher heat source temperature. The optical cavity has the best closure performance when using the high temperature MLI with aerogel separator. While the RTPV prototype with aerogel separator input power is 250 Wt, the heat source temperature reaches 1 038 ℃.