Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can be used as greenhouse glazing materials in agrivoltaic systems because they are translucent, have different colors, and can produce electricity. However, the light quality of DSSCs differs from that of sunlight, and the visible light transmittance is low. Therefore, we compared the plant shape, growth, and leaf color of coleus, a highly photosensitive plant, under transparent glass and red-colored DSSCs. Coleus ‘Highway Rose’ was grown in transparent (T, the control), shaded (S), and DSSC (D) chambers maintained at 23 ± 2 °C. The DSSC chambers were additionally illuminated with blue (B), green (G), white (W), B+G, and R+B+W light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (D+L) at 60 μmol·m−2·s−1 photosynthetic photon flux density for 15 h from 05:00 to 20:00. The coleus generally exhibited good growth under the T treatment. However, the light quality of DSSCs differed from that of sunlight, and the visible light transmittance decreased. Coleus exhibited increased growth and leaf color characteristics under the supplemental B lighting treatments (D+L(RBW), D+L(B), D+L(BG), and D+L(W)). Supplemental lighting with B LEDs using DSSCs improved plant morphology growth and leaf color. On the other hand, supplemental G lighting reinforced the shade avoidance syndrome. Moreover, DSSCs could aid in reducing the energy required to control the environment.
천연색소를 이용한 천연 색조화장품 개발을 위한 기초자료로 활용하고자, 15종의 천연색소를 사용하여 제조한 화장료 조성물에 대하여 항균활성 및 항산화능을 조사하였다. 실험에 사용한 6종의 균주 중 Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Aspergillus flavus에 대해 대부분의 색소혼합조성물에서 항균활성이 나타나는 것으로 확인되었으며, Proteus vulgaris에서는 다른 균주에 비해 항균활성이 상대적으로 낮았다. 색소종류별로는 자색고구마, 여주, 파프리카, 뽕잎, 지치 등의 색소 조성물에서 다른 색소 조성물에서보다 더 높은 항균활성을 보였다. 또한 DPPH 라디컬 소거능은 양파껍질, 파프리카, 적양배추, 뽕잎, 포도과피, 오디, 레드비트 색소 함유 조성물에서 상대적으로 높은 활성을 보였으며, 아질산염 소거능에 있어서는 특히 pH 1.2에서 적양배추, 포도과피, 오디, 백년초를 제외한 대부분의 색소에서 70% 이상의 높은 활성을 나타냈다. 다양한 천연색소를 이용하여 수행한 본 실험을 통해 천연색소의 높은 항균효과와 항산화능을 확인할 수 있었으며, 향후 이러한 기능성을 활용한 안전한 천연 색조화장품 개발에 유용한 자료가 될 것으로 기대한다. This study was conducted to clarify the antimicrobial effects and radical scavenging activities of the cosmetic compositions having the natural plant pigments, and to enhance the natural materials utilization of cosmetics. The antimicrobial activities of the fifteen kinds of cosmetic composition having natural plant pigments were evaluated using the agar diffusion method. Most of the cosmetic composition having the natural pigments showed the clear zone formation of growth inhibition against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Aspergillus flavus. Especially, purple sweet potato, bitter melon, mulberry leaf and gromwell showed the higher antimicrobial activities. All the cosmetic compositions were evaluated for their antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging capacity and nitrite scavenging ability activity. Both of the free radical DPPH and nitrite scavenging ability was the highest in the cosmetic compositions of onion peel, and these antioxidant activity was significant differences according to different plant pigments. In this study, we conjectured that the plant pigment had the potent biological activities, therefore these plant resources having functional components could be a good materials for development into source of natural cosmetics.
Abstract Background: Pumilio RNA-binding proteins are evolutionarily conserved throughout eukaryotes and are involved in RNA decay, transport, and translation repression in the cytoplasm. Although a majority of Pumilio proteins function in the cytoplasm, two nucleolar forms have been reported to have a function in rRNA processing in Arabidopsis. The species of the genus Chara have been known to be most closely related to land plants, as they share several characteristics with modern Embryophyta. Results: In this study, we identified two putative nucleolar Pumilio protein genes, namely, ChPUM2 and ChPUM3 , from the transcriptome of Chara corallina . Of the two ChPUM proteins, ChPUM2 was most similar in amino acid sequence (27% identity and 45% homology) and predicted protein structure to Arabidopsis APUM23, while ChPUM3 was similar to APUM24 (35% identity and 54% homology). The transient expression of 35S:ChPUM2-RFP and 35S:ChPUM3-RFP showed nucleolar localization of fusion proteins in tobacco leaf cells, similar to the expression of 35S:APUM23-GFP and 35S:APUM24-GFP . Moreover, 35S:ChPUM2 complemented the morphological defects of the apum23 phenotypes but not those of apum24, while 35S:ChPUM3 could not complement the apum23 and apum24 mutants. Similarly, the 35S:ChPUM2/apum23 plants rescued the pre-rRNA processing defect of apum23 , but 35S:ChPUM3/apum24 +/- plants did not rescue that of apum24 . Consistent with these complementation results, a known target RNA-binding sequence at the end of the 18S rRNA (5'-GGAAUUGACGG) for APUM23 was conserved in Arabidopsis and C. corallina , whereas a target region of ITS2 pre-rRNA for APUM24 was 156 nt longer in C. corallina than in A. thaliana . Moreover, ChPUM2 and APUM23 were predicted to have nearly identical structures, but ChPUM3 and APUM24 have different structures in the 5th C-terminal Puf RNA-binding domain, which had a longer random coil in ChPUM3 than in APUM24. Conclusions: ChPUM2 of C. corallina was functional in Arabidopsis, similar to APUM23, but ChPUM3 did not substitute for APUM24 in Arabidopsis. Protein homology modeling showed high coverage between APUM23 and ChPUM2, but displayed structural differences between APUM24 and ChPUM3. Together with the protein structure of ChPUM3 itself, a short ITS2 of Arabidopsis pre-rRNA may interrupt the binding of ChPUM3 to 3’-extended 5.8S pre-rRNA.
Drought is one of the major constraints to rice production worldwide. The development of rice panicle and spikelet meristem is repressed under the drought conditions, resulting in a reduction in the numbers of panicles and spikelets. In our recent report, we demonstrated that methyl jasmonate (MeJA) plays an important role in drought-induced loss of grain yield. Transgenic overexpression of the Arabidopsis gene jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (AtJMT) in rice resulted in a large reduction in grain yield through increased MeJA and ABA levels in young panicles. Exposure of nontransgenic plants to drought conditions also increased MeJA and ABA levels in young panicles and significantly reduced grain yield. In both cases, the reduction in grain yield was due to lower numbers of spikelets and lower filling rates than were observed for nontransgenic (NT) controls. The ABA increase in AtJMT transgenic panicles grown in non-drought conditions suggests that MeJA, rather than drought stress, induces ABA biosynthesis under drought conditions. These results led us postulate that plants produce MeJA during drought stress, which in turn stimulates the production of ABA, together leading to a loss of grain yield.