A specially designed, named Dynamic Aurora pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been developed to in situ grow thin films in a magnetic field up to 2000 G. Spontaneous superlattice formation occurs in the case of perovskite structure ceramics due to the application of magnetic field during thin films deposition. In this study, we examine the possibility and optimize the conditions of spontaneous superlattice formation in the case of fluorite structure, stabilized zirconia thin films under in situ magnetic field grown by Dynamic Aurora PLD. Although, a superlattice structure was not formed in this fluorite material system. To explain this discrepancy, several factors can be considered such as the number of the cation sites in the crystal structure. Perovskite structure has two cation sites, while the fluorite structure has only one cation site. This study provides necessary information for further research in developing self-organized superlattice structure synthesis techniques under magnetic-field associated pulsed laser deposition technique and simultaneously, also can play important roles in the processing of another materials system. Jagannath University Journal of Science, Volume 10, Number I, Jun. 2023, pp. 55-63

Osmotic stresses, such as drought and high salinity, adversely affect plant growth and productivity. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) accumulates in response to osmotic stress and enhances stress tolerance in plants by triggering multiple physiological responses through ABA signaling. Subclass III SNF1-related protein kinases 2 (SnRK2s) are key regulators of ABA signaling. Although SnRK2s have long been considered to be self-activated by autophosphorylation after release from PP2C-mediated inhibition, they were recently revealed to be activated by two independent subfamilies of group B Raf-like kinases, B2-RAFs and B3-RAFs, under osmotic stress conditions. However, the relationship between SnRK2 phosphorylation by these RAFs and SnRK2 autophosphorylation and the individual physiological roles of each RAF subfamily remain unknown. In this study, we indicated that B2-RAFs are constantly active and activate SnRK2s when released from PP2C-mediated inhibition by ABA-binding ABA receptors, whereas B3-RAFs are activated only under stress conditions in an ABA-independent manner and enhance SnRK2 activity. Autophosphorylation of subclass III SnRK2s is not sufficient for ABA responses, and B2-RAFs are needed to activate SnRK2s in an ABA-dependent manner. Using plants grown in soil, we found that B2-RAFs regulate subclass III SnRK2s at the early stage of drought stress, whereas B3-RAFs regulate SnRK2s at the later stage. Thus, B2-RAFs are essential kinases for the activation of subclass III SnRK2s in response to ABA under mild osmotic stress conditions, and B3-RAFs function as enhancers of SnRK2 activity under severe stress conditions.

Plants respond to severe temperature changes by inducing the expression of numerous genes whose products enhance stress tolerance and responses. Dehydration-responsive element (DRE)-binding protein 1/C-repeat binding factor (DREB1/CBF) transcription factors act as master switches in cold-inducible gene expression. Since DREB1 genes are rapidly and strongly induced by cold stress, the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of DREB1 expression is vital for the recognition of the initial responses to cold stress in plants. A previous study indicated that the circadian clock-related MYB-like transcription factors REVEILLE4/LHY-CCA1-Like1 (RVE4/ LCL1) and RVE8/LCL5 directly activate DREB1 expression under cold stress conditions. These RVEs function in the regulation of circadian clock-related gene expression under normal temperature conditions. They also activate the expression of HSF-independent heat-inducible genes under high-temperature conditions. Thus, there are thought to be specific regulatory mechanisms whereby the target genes of these transcription factors are switched when temperature changes are sensed. We revealed that NIGHT LIGHT-INDUCIBLE AND CLOCK-REGULATED (LNK) proteins act as coactivators of RVEs in cold and heat stress responses in addition to regulating circadian-regulated genes at normal temperatures. We found that among the four Arabidopsis LNKs, LNK1 and LNK2 function under normal and high-temperature conditions, and LNK3 and LNK4 function under cold conditions. Thus, these LNK proteins play important roles in inducing specific genes under different temperature conditions. Furthermore, LNK3 and LNK4 are specifically phosphorylated under cold conditions, suggesting that phosphorylation is involved in their activation.

Heat stress is a severe challenge for plant production, and the use of thermotolerant cultivars is critical to ensure stable production in high-temperature-prone environments. However, the selection of thermotolerant cultivars is difficult due to the complex nature of heat stress and the time and space needed for evaluation. In this study, we characterized genome-wide differences in gene expression between thermotolerant and thermosensitive tomato cultivars and examined the possibility of selecting gene expression markers to estimate thermotolerance among different tomato cultivars. We selected one thermotolerant and one thermosensitive cultivar based on physiological evaluations and compared heat-responsive gene expression in these cultivars under stepwise heat stress and acute heat shock conditions. Transcriptomic analyses reveled that two heat-inducible gene expression pathways, controlled by the heat shock element (HSE) and the evening element (EE), respectively, presented different responses depending on heat stress conditions. HSE-regulated gene expression was induced under both conditions, while EE-regulated gene expression was only induced under gradual heat stress conditions in both cultivars. Furthermore, HSE-regulated genes showed higher expression in the thermotolerant cultivar than the sensitive cultivar under acute heat shock conditions. Then, candidate expression biomarker genes were selected based on the transcriptome data, and the usefulness of these candidate genes was validated in five cultivars. This study shows that the thermotolerance of tomato is correlated with its ability to maintain the heat shock response (HSR) under acute severe heat shock conditions. Furthermore, it raises the possibility that the robustness of the HSR under severe heat stress can be used as an indicator to evaluate the thermotolerance of crop cultivars.

SUMMARYPlant response to drought stress includes systems for intracellular regulation of gene expression and signaling, as well as inter‐tissue and inter‐organ signaling, which helps entire plants acquire stress resistance. Plants sense water‐deficit conditions both via the stomata of leaves and roots, and transfer water‐deficit signals from roots to shoots via inter‐organ signaling. Abscisic acid is an important phytohormone involved in the drought stress response and adaptation, and is synthesized mainly in vascular tissues and guard cells of leaves. In leaves, stress‐induced abscisic acid is distributed to various tissues by transporters, which activates stomatal closure and expression of stress‐related genes to acquire drought stress resistance. Moreover, the stepwise stress response at the whole‐plant level is important for proper understanding of the physiological response to drought conditions. Drought stress is sensed by multiple types of sensors as molecular patterns of abiotic stress signals, which are transmitted via separate parallel signaling networks to induce downstream responses, including stomatal closure and synthesis of stress‐related proteins and metabolites. Peptide molecules play important roles in the inter‐organ signaling of dehydration from roots to shoots, as well as signaling of osmotic changes and reactive oxygen species/Ca2+. In this review, we have summarized recent advances in research on complex plant drought stress responses, focusing on inter‐tissue signaling in leaves and inter‐organ signaling from roots to shoots. We have discussed the mechanisms via which drought stress adaptations and resistance are acquired at the whole‐plant level, and have proposed the importance of quantitative phenotyping for measuring plant growth under drought conditions.

The Hamaker constant is considered to be a unique value that should theoretically not change for a given material. However, experimentally determined Hamaker constants vary significantly. These changes are suspected to occur not because of experimental error, but because of actual variations in the Hamaker constant. The critical coagulation concentration of an aqueous slurry containing similar to 150-nm-sized dispersed hematite particles was obtained by conducting a dynamic light scattering investigation of the relationship between salinity and particle aggregation rate. Moreover, the Hamaker constant of hematite particles in water was derived using the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory. The Hamaker constant significantly varied with pH and heat treatment of the particles (350 degrees C, 1 h); values of 4.2 x 10(-21), 7.8 x 10(-20), and 1.6 x 10(-19) J were obtained for the untreated (pH = 6 and pH = 10) and heat-treated particles (pH = 10), respectively. A few-nanometer-thick particle surface layer presumably causes these changes in the Hamaker constant. This layer mostly controls the van der Waals interactions, and its composition and structure differ from those of the particle interior. The layer is sensitive to external stimuli and can consequently be easily affected by measurement conditions.

Epitaxial growth of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin film on through-hole-type porous silicon [tht-PSi(001)] with vertical pores penetrating from the surface to the back side of the Si(001) substrate was achieved. The inplane and out-of-plane lattice parameters of YSZ thin film deposited on the tht-PSi(001) were, respectively 0.5167 and 0.5124 nm. Therefore, 0.54 % tensile strain was applied to the YSZ thin film. Also for this work, an all epitaxially grown thin film of YSZ/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO)/CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) was prepared. The out-of-plane lattice parameter of YSZ was 0.5145 nm. Therefore, the YSZ thin film of YSZ/LSMO/CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) is almost relaxed, with a small amount of tensile strain (0.12 %). In-plane and out-of-plane electrical properties were measured respectively for YSZ/tht-PSi(001) and YSZ/LSMO/CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) thin films. Results show that ionic conduction was confirmed at 400 degrees C through constant electric conductivity against the change of oxygen partial pressure (pO(2)). Enhanced ionic conduction was observed for epitaxial YSZ/tht-PSi(001) thin films measured along the in-plane direction. Such enhanced ionic conduction was not observed for epitaxial YSZ/LSMO/CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) thin films measured along the out-of-plane direction. These findings suggest that enhanced ionic conduction is correlated with tensile strain in YSZ thin films. (C) 2022 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

Plant root growth is indeterminate but continuously responds to environmental changes. We previously reported on the severe root growth defect of a double mutant in bZIP17 and bZIP28 (bz1728) modulating the unfolded protein response (UPR). To elucidate the mechanism by which bz1728 seedlings develop a short root, we obtained a series of bz1728 suppressor mutants, called nobiro, for rescued root growth. We focused here on nobiro6, which is defective in the general transcription factor component TBP-ASSOCIATED FACTOR 12b (TAF12b). The expression of hundreds of genes, including the bZIP60-UPR regulon, was induced in the bz1728 mutant, but these inductions were markedly attenuated in the bz1728nobiro6 mutant. In view of this, we assigned transcriptional cofactor activity via physical interaction with bZIP60 to NOBIRO6/TAF12b. The single nobiro6/taf12b mutant also showed an altered sensitivity to endoplasmic reticulum stress for both UPR and root growth responses, demonstrating that NOBIRO6/TAF12b contributes to environment-responsive root growth control through UPR.

Land plants have developed sophisticated systems to cope with severe stressful environmental conditions during evolution. Plants have complex molecular systems to respond and adapt to abiotic stress, including drought, cold, and heat stress. Since 1989, we have been working to understand the complex molecular mechanisms of plant responses to severe environmental stress conditions based on functional genomics approaches with Arabidopsis thaliana as a model plant. We focused on the function of drought-inducible genes and the regulation of their stress-inducible transcription, perception and cellular signal transduction of stress signals to describe plant stress responses and adaptation at the molecular and cellular levels. We have identified key genes and factors in the regulation of complex responses and tolerance of plants in response to dehydration and temperature stresses. In this review article, we describe our 30-year experience in research and development based on functional genomics to understand sophisticated systems in plant response and adaptation to environmental stress conditions.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a eukaryotic organelle, is the major site of protein biosynthesis. The disturbance of ER function by biotic or abiotic stress triggers the accumulation of misfolded or unfolded proteins in the ER. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is the best-studied ER stress response. This transcriptional regulatory system senses ER stress, activates downstream genes that function to mitigate stress, and restores homeostasis. In addition to its conventional role in stress responses, recent reports indicate that the UPR is involved in plant growth and development. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of ER stress sensing and the activation and downstream regulation of the UPR. We also describe how the UPR modulates both plant growth and stress tolerance by maintaining ER homeostasis. Lastly, we propose that the UPR is a major component of the machinery that balances the trade-off between plant growth and survival in a dynamic environment.

The global population is expected to increase by 10 billion by 2050,the demand for food and water is also likely to increase.Several factors intensify the growing water scarcity,such as inef-ficient water use in the food value chain and inadequate infra-structure to save water.The changing climate also exacerbates the rising temperature by making the drier areas drier and nega-tively impacting agriculture production in most parts of the world.A decrease in precipitation has been observed in the tropics and sub-tropics,such as the Sahel region of Southern Africa,the Mediterranean,South Asia,and the Southwest of US since 1970().

Epitaxial Sr-excess SrTiO 3 (ST) thin fi lm (Sr / Ti = 1.41) was grown on ST(001) and ST(101) single-crystal substrates using dynamic aurora pulsed laser deposition (PLD) under a 200 mT magnetic fi eld. The fi lms spontaneously formed a superlattice structure comprising two layers having di ff erent concentrations of Ruddlesden ­ Popper (RP) planar faults. The superlattice periods of Sr-excess ST thin fi lms deposited on ST(001) and ST(101) substrate were, respectively, 35 and 23 nm. For thin fi lm deposited on ST(001), the in-plane lattice parameter coincided with the substrate, showing coherent growth. For thin fi lm deposited on ST(101), coherent growth occurred along a direction « 45° declined against the substrate. The spontaneously formed superlattice was brought about by “ up-hill di ff usion ” of spinodal decomposition. The direction of propagation of the composition wave of spinodal decomposition was regarded as perpendicular to the substrate and « 45° declined against the substrate for thin fi lms deposited respectively on ST(001) and ST(101). The superlattice period of the thin fi lm deposited on ST(101) (23 nm) is smaller by a factor of 1 = ffiffiffi 2 p than that deposited on ST(001). This relation is explainable by the di ff erence of the propagation direction of the composition wave. The thin fi lm deposited on ST(001) is distorted tetragonally, whereas that on ST(101) is cubic. The Sr-excess ST thin fi lm was also deposited on La-doped ST(101) (La-ST(101)) and La-ST(101) substrates to measure electrical properties. No change was found in the crystal structure and microstructure, irrespective of La-doping. The thin fi lm deposited on La-ST(001) showed ferroelectricity. However, the fi lm deposited on La-ST(101) shows no ferroelectricity. The di ff erence of electrical properties is brought about by di ff erences of crystal symmetry. The di ff erence is also explainable from the perspective of thermodynamic

Keisuke ISHIHAMA1, Masanori KODERA2, Takao SHIMIZU1,4, Wakiko YAMAOKA3, Risako TSURUMARU3, Shintaro YOSHIMURA3, Yusuke SATO3 and Hiroshi FUNAKUBO1,2, 1School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2Materials Research Center for Element Strategy, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 3Technical Center, TDK Corporation, 4Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science. “Growth of 0.1(Bi,Na)TiO3–0.9BaTiO3 epitaxial films by pulsed laser deposition and their electric properties” Vol. 129, No. 7, p. 337–342

Cold stress is one of the major factors limiting global crop production. For survival at low temperatures, plants need to sense temperature changes in the surrounding environment. How plants sense and respond to the earliest drop in temperature is still not clearly understood. The plasma membrane and its adjacent extracellular and cytoplasmic sites are the first checkpoints for sensing temperature changes and the subsequent events, such as signal generation and solute transport. To understand how plants respond to early cold exposure, we used a mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic method to study the temporal changes in protein phosphorylation events in Arabidopsis membranes during 5 to 60 min of cold exposure. The results revealed that brief cold exposures led to rapid phosphorylation changes in the proteins involved in cellular ion homeostasis, solute and protein transport, cytoskeleton organization, vesical trafficking, protein modification, and signal transduction processes. The phosphorylation motif and kinase–substrate network analysis also revealed that multiple protein kinases, including RLKs, MAPKs, CDPKs, and their substrates, could be involved in early cold signaling. Taken together, our results provide a first look at the cold-responsive phosphoproteome changes of Arabidopsis membrane proteins that can be a significant resource to understand how plants respond to an early temperature drop.

1Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 3–5–1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu 432–8561, Japan 2Department of Electronics and Materials Science, Shizuoka University, 3–5–1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu 432–8561, Japan 3Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3–5–1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu 432–8561, Japan 4School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2–12–1 O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152–8550, Japan

Polycrystalline ZnFe2O4 thin films were deposited on Si and porous Si (PSi) substrates using Dynamic Aurora pulsed laser deposition (PLD in a magnetic field). The average grain sizes of ZnFe2O4/Si and ZnFe2O4/PSi were, respectively, 120 and 48 nm. The ZnFe2O4/PSi thin film resistance was higher than that of ZnFe2O4/Si thin film. For ZnFe2O4/Si and ZnFe2O4/PSi thin films, the sensor response for liquefied petroleum gas was measured as a function of time and temperature. The sensor response of ZnFe2O4/PSi thin film measured at 375 degrees C is higher than that of ZnFe2O4/Si thin film. Results showed a steep initial rise in the temperature dependence of ZnFe2O4 thin films prepared using PLD. The dependence is steeper than that reported for ZnFe2O4 powder or thick and thin films prepared using chemical processing. (C) 2020 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

Flowering plants consist of highly differentiated organs, including roots, leaves, shoots and flowers, which have specific roles: root system for water and nutrient uptake, leaves for photosynthesis and gas exchange and reproductive organs for seed production. The communication between organs through the vascular system, by which water, nutrient and signaling molecules are transported, is essential for coordinated growth and development of the whole plant, particularly under adverse conditions. Here, we highlight recent progress in understanding how signaling pathways of plant hormones are associated with long-distance stress and developmental signals, with particular focus on environmental stress responses. In addition to the root-to-shoot peptide signal that induces abscisic acid accumulation in leaves under drought stress conditions, we summarize the diverse stress-responsive peptide signals reported to date to play a role in environmental responses.

Al2O3 thin films were deposited on (001) Si substrate through Cr2O3/yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ) buffer layer by cold-wall type chemical vapor deposition method with tri-methyl aluminum as a raw material. By changing the deposition temperature, different polytypes of Al2O3 thin films were formed. At lower temperatures (1123-1173 K), eta-Al2O3 and amorphous Al2O3 were found in mixture. With increasing the deposition temperature, the series of Al2O3 polytypes (gamma, kappa and alpha) appeared in the order of decreasing the unit cell volume per Al atom. At 1323 K, single-phase alpha-Al2O3 thin film was obtained in success. On (00l) Cr2O3/YSZ/Si substrate, epitaxial (00l)alpha-Al2O3 thin-film was grown, however, on (00l) YSZ/Si substrate, epitaxial (00l)kappa-Al2O3 thin film was formed. It shows that buffer layer also has much influence on polytype of Al2O3 thin film. On the other hand, there exist the polycrystalline alpha-Al2O3 and Cr2O3 have the same Miller index (h k l), therefore, polycrystalline alpha-Al2O3 thin film was deposited on the polycrystalline Cr2O3 buffer layer in which each Al2O3 and Cr2O3 grain has an epitaxial relation. This epitaxial growth can be explained by both the similarity in crystal structure between Al2O3 film and Cr2O3 buffer layer, and also their moderate lattice mismatch. (C) 2019 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

The molecular breeding of drought stress-tolerant crops is imperative for stable food and biomass production. However, a trade-off exists between plant growth and drought stress tolerance. Many drought stress-tolerant plants overexpressing stress-inducible genes, such as DEHYDRATION-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT-BINDING PROTEIN 1A (DREB1A), show severe growth retardation. Here, we demonstrate that the growth of DREB1A-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants could be improved by co-expressing growth-enhancing genes whose expression is repressed under drought stress conditions. We used Arabidopsis GA REQUIRING 5 (GA5), which encodes a rate-limiting gibberellin biosynthetic enzyme, and PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4), which encodes a transcription factor regulating cell growth in response to light and temperature, for growth improvement. We observed an enhanced biomass and floral induction in the GA5 DREB1A and PIF4 DREB1A double overexpressors compared with those in the DREB1A overexpressors. Although the GA5 DREB1A double overexpressors continued to show high levels of drought stress tolerance, the PIF4 DREB1A double overexpressors showed lower levels of stress tolerance than the DREB1A overexpressors due to repressed expression of DREB1A. A multiomics analysis of the GA5 DREB1A double overexpressors showed that the co-expression of GA5 and DREB1A additively affected primary metabolism, gene expression and plant hormone profiles in the plants. These multidirectional analyses indicate that the inherent trade-off between growth and drought stress tolerance in plants can be overcome by appropriate gene-stacking approaches. Our study provides a basis for using genetic modification to improve the growth of drought stress-tolerant plants for the stable production of food and biomass.