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Creators/Authors contains: "Ma, Fangfang"

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  1. null (Ed.)
    Abstract Sugar supply is a key component of hypoxia tolerance and acclimation in plants. However, a striking gap remains in our understanding of mechanisms governing sugar impacts on low-oxygen responses. Here, we used a maize (Zea mays) root-tip system for precise control of sugar and oxygen levels. We compared responses to oxygen (21 and 0.2%) in the presence of abundant versus limited glucose supplies (2.0 and 0.2%). Low-oxygen reconfigured the transcriptome with glucose deprivation enhancing the speed and magnitude of gene induction for core anaerobic proteins (ANPs). Sugar supply also altered profiles of hypoxia-responsive genes carrying G4 motifs (sources of regulatory quadruplex structures), revealing a fast, sugar-independent class followed more slowly by feast-or-famine-regulated G4 genes. Metabolite analysis showed that endogenous sugar levels were maintained by exogenous glucose under aerobic conditions and demonstrated a prominent capacity for sucrose re-synthesis that was undetectable under hypoxia. Glucose abundance had distinctive impacts on co-expression networks associated with ANPs, altering network partners and aiding persistence of interacting networks under prolonged hypoxia. Among the ANP networks, two highly interconnected clusters of genes formed around Pyruvate decarboxylase 3 and Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 4. Genes in these clusters shared a small set of cis-regulatory elements, two of which typified glucose induction. Collective results demonstrate specific, previously unrecognized roles of sugars in low-oxygen responses, extending from accelerated onset of initial adaptive phases by starvation stress to maintenance and modulation of co-expression relationships by carbohydrate availability. 
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  2. The main nucleating vapor in the atmosphere is thought to be sulfuric acid (H2SO4), stabilized by ammonia (NH3). However, in marine and polar regions, NH3is generally low, and H2SO4is frequently found together with iodine oxoacids [HIOx, i.e., iodic acid (HIO3) and iodous acid (HIO2)]. In experiments performed with the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber, we investigated the interplay of H2SO4and HIOxduring atmospheric particle nucleation. We found that HIOxgreatly enhances H2SO4(-NH3) nucleation through two different interactions. First, HIO3strongly binds with H2SO4in charged clusters so they drive particle nucleation synergistically. Second, HIO2substitutes for NH3, forming strongly bound H2SO4-HIO2acid-base pairs in molecular clusters. Global observations imply that HIOxis enhancing H2SO4(-NH3) nucleation rates 10- to 10,000-fold in marine and polar regions. 
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  3. Summary Central metabolism produces amino and fatty acids for protein and lipids that establish seed value. Biosynthesis of storage reserves occurs in multiple organelles that exchange central intermediates including two essential metabolites, malate, and pyruvate that are linked by malic enzyme. Malic enzyme can be active in multiple subcellular compartments, partitioning carbon and reducing equivalents for anabolic and catabolic requirements. Prior studies based on isotopic labeling and steady‐state metabolic flux analyses indicated malic enzyme provides carbon for fatty acid biosynthesis in plants, though genetic evidence confirming this role is lacking. We hypothesized that increasing malic enzyme flux would alter carbon partitioning and result in increased lipid levels in soybeans.Homozygous transgenic soybean plants expressing Arabidopsis malic enzyme alleles, targeting the translational products to plastid or outside the plastid during seed development, were verified by transcript and enzyme activity analyses, organelle proteomics, and transient expression assays. Protein, oil, central metabolites, cofactors, and acyl‐acyl carrier protein (ACPs) levels were quantified overdevelopment.Amino and fatty acid levels were altered resulting in an increase in lipids by 0.5–2% of seed biomass (i.e. 2–9% change in oil).Subcellular targeting of a single gene product in central metabolism impacts carbon and reducing equivalent partitioning for seed storage reserves in soybeans. 
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  4. Abstract Ecosystem stability is essential to its sustainable functions and services to humanity. Although climate warming is projected to vary from 1 to 5°C by the end of 21st century, how the temporal stability of plant community biomass production responds to different warming scenarios remains unclear.To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a 6‐year field experiment with three levels of warming treatments (control, +1.5°C, +2.5°C) by using infrared radiators, in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.We found that low‐level warming (+1.5°C), compared to the control, did not significantly change the temporal stability of plant community biomass production and its underlying causes, including species diversity, compensatory dynamics, mean–variance scaling, biomass temporal stability of plant population (the average of temporal stability of species biomass production of all species in the community) or dominant species. However, high‐level warming (+2.5°C) significantly reduced them. Species diversity was not a significant predictor of temporal stability of plant community biomass production in this species‐rich ecosystem, regardless of the magnitude of warming, while co‐existing species compensatory dynamics and the biomass temporal stability of dominant species determined the response of temporal stability of plant community biomass production to warming.Synthesis. Our results suggest that the responses of plant community biomass temporal stability and its underlying mechanisms to climate warming depend on warming magnitudes. The findings highlight the various responses of ecosystem functions and services to different warming scenarios and imply that ecosystem will fail to maintain and provide stable biomass‐related services for humanity under high‐level climate warming. 
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