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Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) treatment effects on the quality maintenance of fresh-cut cucumber and the contents of bioactive compounds such as total phenolic and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in fresh-cut cucumber were studied. Fresh-cut cucumber was soaked separately in 0, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 mmol/L ATP solution for 10 min. To determine the appropriate concentration of ATP treatment, fruit quality parameters, and total phenol and GABA contents were measured during storage at 10 ℃ for 72 h. Furthermore, the regulatory mechanism of ATP treatment at the appropriate concentration on total phenol and GABA accumulation. The results indicated that compared with the control group, ATP treatment maintained better color quality and lower total bacterial count (TBC), delayed the decrease in firmness and ascorbic acid content, and promoted an increase in the accumulation of total phenols and GABA in fresh-cut cucumber, the effect being most pronounced at an ATP concentration of 1.6 mmol/L. Furthermore, compared with the control group, 1.6 mmol/L ATP treatment increased the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL), cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), diamine oxidase (DAO), polyamine oxidase (PAO) and 4-amino aldehyde dehydrogenase (AMADH), and promoted the synthesis of phenolic substances and the decomposition of glutamate (Glu) and polyamine to produce GABA, thus increasing total phenol and GABA contents in fresh-cut cucumber. These results indicated that ATP treatment could not only delay quality deterioration, but also increase total phenol and GABA contents, thereby improving the antioxidant capacity and nutritional value of fresh-cut cucumber.

Abstract Background Lotus is an aquatic horticultural crop that is widely cultivated in most regions of China and is used as an important off-season vegetable. The principal root of lotus is degenerated, and adventitious roots (ARs) are irreplaceable for plant growth. We found that no ARs formed under darkness and that exposure to high-intensity light significantly promoted the development of root primordia. Four differential expression libraries based on three light intensities were constructed to monitor metabolic changes, especially in indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and sugar metabolism. Results AR formation was significantly affected by light, and high light intensity accelerated AR development. Metabolic changes during AR formation under different light intensities were evaluated using gene expression profiling by high-throughput tag-sequencing. More than 2.2 × 104 genes were obtained in each library; the expression level of most genes was between 0.01 and 100 (FPKF value). Libraries constructed from plants grown under darkness (D/CK), under 5000 lx (E/CK), and under 20,000 lx (F/CK) contained 1739, 1683, and 1462 upregulated genes and 1533, 995, and 834 downregulated genes, respectively, when compared to those in the initial state (CK). Additionally, we found that 1454 and 478 genes had altered expression in a comparison of libraries D/CK and F/CK. Gene transcription between libraries D/F ranged from a 5-fold decrease to a 5-fold increase. Twenty differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in the signal transduction pathway, 28 DEGs were related to the IAA response, and 35 DEGs were involved in sugar metabolism. We observed that the IAA content was enhanced after seed germination, even in darkness; this was responsible for AR formation. We also observed that sucrose could eliminate the negative effect of 150 μMol IAA during AR development. Conclusions AR formation was regulated by IAA, even in the dark, where induction and developmental processes could also be completed. In addition, 36 genes displayed altered expression in carbohydrate metabolism and ucrose metabolism was involved in AR development (expressed stage) according to gene expression and content change characteristics.

This study examines the effects of audit partner diversity on audit quality. Using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2004–2018, we find that audit quality is positively associated with audit partner diversity in educational background, gender, and generational cohort. These findings suggest that diverse partner teams outperform homogenous teams and support the information perspective that audit partner diversity produces different viewpoints and perspectives, thus reducing judgement bias and leading to higher audit quality. Furthermore, we find that client information asymmetry, auditor task motivation, and task ability play a moderating role in reinforcing the positive effects of audit partner diversity on audit quality. Our findings have practical implications for audit firm personnel dispatching and team formation, and heighten the need to integrate team dynamics in the audit quality framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]