BACKGROUND MADS-box genes are categorized into A, B, C, D and E classes and are involved in floral organ identity and flowering. Sheepgrass (Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel) is an important perennial forage grass and adapts well to many adverse environments. However, there are few studies on the molecular mechanisms of flower development in sheepgrass, especially studies on MADS-domain proteins....

The objective of this study was to assess the use of peach pomace in total mixed ration (TMR) silages and clarify the differences in aerobic stability between TMR and TMR silages caused by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The TMR were prepared using peach pomace, alfalfa hay or Leymus chinensis hay, maize meal, soybean meal, cotton meal, limestone, a vitamin-mineral supplement, and salt in a ratio o...

Germination and early seedling growth are the most critical periods for plant establishment in saline-alkaline soil, the main factor limiting plant growth and production worldwide. To explore the physiological adaptive mechanisms of the two stages under saline and alkaline conditions, Leymus chinensis was tested by mixing two neutral salts (NaCl: Na2SO4) and two alkaline salts (NaHCO3: Na2CO3)....

This study investigates the morphology and molecular characteristics of three new cyrtophorid ciliates isolated from China seas: Chlamydodon salinus n. sp., Chlamydodon caudatus n. sp., and Chlamydodon paramnemosyne n. sp. Of these, C. salinus n. sp. differs from its congeners through a combination of body size, a cross-striated band that is not continuous, the presence of 30-34 somatic kinetie...

Effects of mowing and grazing on a Leymus chinensis grassland in the Songnen plain of northeastern China were studied using eight replicates of four grazing and mowing treatments. Canopy cover and biomass of the dominant species (L. chinensis) were lower, and cover of the halophyte Suaeda corniculata higher, on grazed than ungrazed; ungrazed plots showed a response to mowing, but not grazing; s...

Both phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation may allow widely distributed plant species to either acclimate or adapt to environmental heterogeneity. Given the typically low genetic variation of clonal plants across their habitats, phenotypic plasticity may be the primary adaptive strategy allowing them to thrive across a wide range of habitats. In this study, the mechanism supporting the wid...

Plants depend upon both genetic differences and phenotypic plasticity to cope with environmental variation over different timescales. The spatial variation in foliar δ(13)C levels along a moisture gradient represents an overlay of genetic and plastic responses. We hypothesized that such a spatial variation would be more obvious than the variation arising purely from a plastic response to moistu...

Germin-like proteins (GLPs) are encoded by a family of genes found in all plants, and in terms of function, the GLPs are implicated in the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. CchGLP is a gene encoding a GLP identified in a geminivirus-resistant Capsicum chinense Jacq accession named BG-3821, and it is important in geminivirus resistance when transferred to susceptible tobacco in ...