Objective To observe the expression of the polysialic acid neural cell adhesion molecule ( PSA-NCAM) in the hippocampus of rats after exposure to low intensity ( 16 Hz,90 dB) infrasound for different periods.Methods One hundred and twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into infrasound exposure and normal groups.The exposure group was tjem further divided into 1 day,7 days,14 days and 21 days exposure groups.After exposure,the rats' brains were removed and an immunohistochemical technique was used to observe the expression of PSA-NCAM in the hippocampus after 1,7,14 or 21 days of exposure. Methods The expression of PSA-NCAM had increased significantly after exposure for 7 days. It peaked at 14 days,then had decreased by 21 days,but always remaining higher than in the normal group.After the infrasound exposure had ended,the expression of PSA-NCAM demonstrated a tendency of decrease over time,and the least was on the 21st day.The largest decrease was observed in the 14 days exposure groups. Conclusion 16 Hz,90 dB infrasound can increase the expression of PSA-NCAM in the hippocampus,at least in rats.This suggests that low intensity infrasound might initiate recovery of an injured central nervous system.Migration of neural stem cells may aid in the repair of neural injuries resulted from infrasound exposure.

The contradiction between the increasing population and the decrease of tillable land areas is becoming more and more serious in our country. Food security is an important guarantee for sustainable development of our national economy. Photosynthesis is the basis for crop yield. Improving crop photosynthetic efficiency is one of the important approaches to increase crop yield. In this review, we summarized the recent advances in engineering photosynthetic performance by synthetic biology from three key aspects including absorption, transduction and conversion of light energy, light utilization efficiency and carbon assimilation. We also addressed the prospects of its application in increasing photosynthetic efficiency through synthetic biology principles, which may provide important theoretical support and key biotechnology to increase grain production.

Alkali-salinity exerts severe osmotic, ionic, and high-pH stresses to plants. To under-stand the alkali-salinity responsive mechanisms underlying photosynthetic modulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis, physiological and diverse quantitative proteomics analyses of alkaligrass (Puccinellia tenuiflora) under Na2CO3 stress were conducted. In addition, Western blot,real-time PCR, and transgenic techniques were applied to validate the proteomic results and test the functions of the Na2CO3-responsive proteins. A total of 104 and 102 Na2CO3-responsive proteins were identified in leaves and chloroplasts, respectively. In addition, 84 Na2CO3-responsive phospho-proteins were identified, including 56 new phosphorylation sites in 56 phosphoproteins from chloro-plasts, which are crucial for the regulation of photosynthesis, ion transport, signal transduction, and energy homeostasis. A full-length PtFBA encoding an alkaligrass chloroplastic fructose-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) was overexpressed in wild-type cells of cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803, leading to enhanced Na2CO3 tolerance. All these results indicate that thermal dissipation, state transition, cyclic electron transport, photorespiration, repair of pho-tosystem (PS) Ⅱ, PSI activity, and ROS homeostasis were altered in response to Na2CO3 stress, which help to improve our understanding of the Na2CO3-responsive mechanisms in halophytes.