Along with the rapid urbanization and economic growth of China over the past decades, the thermal comfort needs of the people in this region have risen dramatically, and at the same time, promoting building energy efficiency is cited as part of the major projects in the 14th five-year plan for energy efficiency improvement. In addition, the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has plunged people into long-term panic, and promoted the entire construction industry to think about a healthier and more sustainable living environment. To respond to the imbalance between energy supply and demand, an optimization analysis based on energy use is developed, assessing the energy efficiency of the window-to-wall ratio (WWR) design and calculating the energy consumption of three different types of residential buildings for both cooling and heating loads as well as for year-round loads. Owing to its harsh climate and huge energy consumption, in this study, the Hot-summer and Cold-winter (HSCW) zone of China was chosen as the experimental setting for the optimization analysis of WWR. Then, in the three main types of residential buildings, including detached houses, multi-story dwellings and high-rise dwellings, a correlation between WWR_S and energy consumption in the cooling season, heating season and year-round was built. The comparisons between the WWR_S and energy consumption for different types of residential buildings are presented. The design optimization recommendation for WWR_S are proposed. It has significant positive meanings for the development of green and sustainably designed residential buildings that offer high levels of thermal comfort and energy efficiency.

Gray mold caused by Botrytis elliptica is one of the most determinative factors of lily growth and has become a major threat to lily productivity. However, the nature of the lily B. elliptica interaction remains largely unknown. Here, comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic were used to investigate the defense responses of resistant (‘Sorbonne’) and susceptible (‘Tresor’) lily cultivars to B. elliptica infection at 24 hpi. In total, 1326 metabolites were identified in ‘Sorbonne’ and ‘Tresor’ after infection, including a large number of phenylpropanoids. Specifically, the accumulation of four phenylpropanes, including eriodictyol, hesperetin, ferulic acid, and sinapyl alcohol, was significantly upregulated in the B. elliptica-infected ‘Sorbonne’ compared with the infected ‘Tresor’, and these phenylpropanes could significantly inhibit B. elliptica growth. At the transcript level, higher expression levels of F3′M, COMT, and CAD led to a higher content of resistance-related phenylpropanes (eriodictyol, ferulic acid, and sinapyl alcohol) in ‘Sorbonne’ following B. elliptica infection. It can be assumed that these phenylpropanes cause the resistance difference between ‘Sorbonne’ and ‘Tresor’, and could be the potential marker metabolites for gray mold resistance in the lily. Further transcriptional regulatory network analysis suggested that members of the AP2/ERF, WRKY, Trihelix, and MADS-M-type families positively regulated the biosynthesis of resistance-related phenylpropanes. Additionally, the expression patterns of genes involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis were confirmed using qRT-PCR. Therefore, we speculate that the degree of gray mold resistance in the lily is closely related to the contents of phenylpropanes and the transcript levels of the genes in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway. Our results not only improve our understanding of the lily’s resistance mechanisms against B. elliptica, but also facilitate the genetic improvement of lily cultivars with gray mold resistance.

Sugar transporters play important roles in plant growth and development, flowering and fruiting, as well as responses to adverse abiotic and biotic environmental conditions. Lilies (Lilium spp.) are some of the most representative ornamental bulbous flowers. Sugar metabolism is critical for bulb formation in lilies; therefore, clarifying the amount and expression pattern of sugar transporters is essential for further analyzing their roles in bulb formation. In this study, based on the transcriptome data of the Lilium Oriental hybrid ‘Sorbonne’ and Lilium × formolongi, a total of 69 and 41 sugar transporters were identified in ‘Sorbonne’ and Lilium × formolongi, respectively, by performing bioinformatics analysis. Through phylogenetic analysis, monosaccharide transporters (MSTs) can be divided into seven subfamilies, sucrose transporters (SUTs) can be divided into three subgroups, and sugars will eventually be exported transporters (SWEETs) can be divided into four clades. According to an analysis of conserved motifs, 20, 14, and 12 conserved motifs were predicted in MSTs, SUTs, and SWEETs, respectively. A conserved domain analysis showed that MSTs and SUTs contained a single domain, whereas most of the SWEETs harbored two MtN3/saliva domains, also known as a PQ-loop repeat. The LohINT1, which was predicted to have a smaller number of transmembrane structural domains, was cloned and analyzed for subcellular localization. It was found that the LohINT1 protein is mainly localized in the cell membrane. In addition, the expression analysis indicated that 22 LohMSTs, 1 LohSUTs, and 5 LohSWEETs were upregulated in ‘Sorbonne’ 1 day after scale detachment treatment, suggesting that they may regulate the initiation of the bulblet. A total of 10 LflMSTs, 1 LflSUTs, and 6 LflSWEETs were upregulated 4~6 months after sowing, which corresponds to the juvenile-to-adult transition phase of Lilium × formolongi, suggesting that they may also play a role in the accompanying bulb swelling process. Combined with quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, LohSTP8 and LohSTP12 were significantly overexpressed during the extremely early stage of bulblet initiation, and LflERD6.3 was significantly overexpressed during the growth of the underground bulblet, suggesting that they may be key sugar transporters in the formation of lily bulbs, which needs further functional verification.