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BACKGROUND: The use of herbicide safeners effectively minimises crop damage while maintaining the full efficacy of herbicides. The present study aimed to assess the potential protective effects of neral (NR) as a safener, in order to mitigate injury caused by fenoxaprop‐p‐ethyl (FE) on rice. RESULTS: The alleviating effect of NR was similar to that of the safener isoxadifen‐ethyl (IE). The root elongation of rice was significantly promoted under the FE + NR and FE + IE treatments, as compared to the FE treatment. The transcriptome analysis further suggested that the effects of NR treatment on plant metabolic pathways differed from those of IE treatment. In total, 895 and 47 up‐differentially expressed genes induced by NR (NR‐inducible genes) and IE (IE‐inducible genes) were identified. NR‐inducible genes were mainly enriched in phytohormone synthesis and signalling response, including 'response to brassinosteroid', 'response to jasmonic acid', 'response to ethylene', 'brassinosteroid metabolic process', 'brassinosteroid biosynthesis' and 'plant hormone signal transduction'. In contrast, IE‐inducible genes were predominantly enriched in glutathione metabolism. The activity of glutathione S‐transferase was found to be increased after IE treatment, whereas no significant increase was observed following NR treatment. Moreover, several transcription factor genes, such as those encoding AP2/ERF‐ERF and (basic helix–loop–helix) bHLH were found to be significantly induced by NR treatment. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of the utilisation of NR as an herbicide safener. The results of this study suggest the toxicity of FE to rice is mitigated by NR through a distinct mechanism compared to IE. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigate the effect of signing auditors' communist party membership on audit quality. Relying on a sample of Chinese listed firms from the period 2001 to 2019, we find that firms with signing auditors who have communist party membership conduct less earnings management, indicating that signing auditors with party membership provide high level of audit quality. Moreover, the above relationship is more pronounced in small audit firms. We also find that firms who are audited by signing auditors with party status have lower likelihood of financial statements and loss avoidance. Further analyses suggest that signing auditors with party status can earn audit fee premium. The positive relationship between signing auditors with party membership and audit quality is more pronounced in non-specialists auditors and high client importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nontarget-site resistance (NTSR) is a complex multigenic trait that is associated with the potential mechanisms of herbicide resistance which pose a serious threat to global crop protection. However, the NTSR mechanisms of Alopecurus japonicus, a malignant weed infesting wheat fields, are less characterized. In this study, we used RNA-sequencing transcriptome and enzyme activity detection to investigate the NTSR mechanisms and candidate genes involved in fenoxaprop-P-ethyl (FE) in a previously identified resistant population compared to the sensitive population of A. japonicus. Transcriptome analysis identified nine upregulated genes, which were constitutively overexpressed and upregulated by FE application in the resistant population, and the results were validated using quantitative real-time PCR. These genes including one cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) gene (CYP75B4), one ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene (ABCG36), one laccase (LAC) gene (LAC15), one 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) gene (NCED5), two purple acid phosphatase (PAP) genes (PAP4, PAP15), one sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) gene (SPS3), one protein related to disease resistance gene (RGA3) and one immune protein gene (R1B-17). The activity assay of LAC, NCED, PAP and SPS revealed that the activities of these enzymes in the resistant population were significantly higher than those in the sensitive population at 0 h and after FE application at 12 h, 24 h and 72 h. Nevertheless, whether LAC, NCED, PAP and SPS genes were involved in herbicide metabolism needs to be further validated. Our results revealed that CYP, ABC transporter and LAC genes may participate in A. japonicus resistance. These genes identified in the present study provide new insights into the resistance mechanism of weeds in response to herbicide. Our study also implies the complexity of the NTSR mechanisms of weeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]