Styrax japonicus sieb. et Zucc. is widely distributed in China with ornamental and medicinal values. However, the transcriptome of S. japonicus has not yet been reported. In this study, we carried out the first transcriptome analysis of S. japonicus and developed a set of expressed sequence tag–simple sequence repeats (EST–SSRs). We obtained 338,570,222 clean reads in total, of which the mean GC content was 41.58%. In total, 136,071 unigenes were obtained having an average length of 611 bp and 71,226 unigenes were favorably annotated in the database. In total, we identified 55,977 potential EST–SSRs from 38,611 unigenes, of which there was 1 SSR per 6.73 kb. The di-nucleotide repeats (40.40%) were the most identified SSRs. One set of 60 primer pairs was randomly selected, and the amplified products in S. japonicus were validated; 28 primer pairs successfully produced clear amplicons. A total of 21 (35%) polymorphic genic SSR markers were identified between two populations. In total, 15 alleles were detected and the average number was 6. The average of observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity was 0.614 and 0.552, respectively. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value fluctuated between 0.074 and 0.855, with a mean value of 0.504, which was also the middle level. This study provides useful information for diversity studies and resource assessments of S. japonicus.

Camellia japonica (Naidong), a Tertiary relict species with a unique biological and cultural characteristic, is a special ecotype of C. japonica and is the northernmost distributed populations of C. japonica in the world. This study investigated the interactive responses of C. japonica (Naidong) to shade and nitrogen deposition focusing on seedling growth, leaf morphology and leaf physiology under two light regimes (15% and 65% of full sunlight to represent deep shade and slight shade respectively) and three nitrogen deposition regimes (0, 6 and 12 g N m^-2 year^-1) in a greenhouse. After 123 d of treatment, the results showed that the deep shade reduced the growth of seedlings significantly compared to slight shade, but improved the specific leaf area, leaf water content, chlorophyll content and F_v/F_m of plants. Moderate nitrogen (6 g N m^-2 year^-1) supply increased the crown area, specific leaf area, leaf water content, chlorophyll content and water use efficiency of seedlings. However, high nitrogen (12 g N m^-2 year^-1) supply reduced the basal diameter, crown area, specific leaf area and leaf water content. No significant interaction of shade and nitrogen deposition on C. japonica (Naidong) was found. There is a threshold of nitrogen deposition for the growth of C. japonica (Naidong). Camellia japonica (Naidong) populations should be protected by collecting of germplasm resources and carrying out the ex situ conservation.

In plants, transcription factors (TFs) belonging to the APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor (AP2/ERF) superfamily regulate a variety of life processes, including germination, maturation, and stress response. In the present study, RcTINY2, a novel dehydration response element binding protein (DREB) belonging to the A-4 group, was identified and characterized in rose (Rosa chinensis). RcTINY2 shares high homology with AtTINY2 of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), with several abiotic stress-responsive cis-regulatory elements. Transcript levels of RcTINY2 were induced by exposure to abscisic acid (ABA) in rose leaves and repressed by exposure to ABA, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and NaCl in rose roots. RcTINY2 is localized in the nucleus and showed transcriptional activation in yeast cells. Further analysis of transgenic Arabidopsis demonstrated that plants overexpressing RcTINY2 displayed increased ABA, PEG, and NaCl sensitivity in both germinating seeds and seedlings with reduced root growth and lateral root number. RcTINY2-silenced rose plants were found to be increasingly intolerant of both drought and salt stress. Furthermore, the transcript levels of several ABA- and abiotic stress-related genes were suppressed in RcTINY2-silenced rose plants. The results suggested that RcTINY2 may serve as a candidate gene for genetic improvement of abiotic stress tolerance in rose and other plant species.

Construction of small town plays an important role in the progress of the urbanization in China. And better planning of small town is very important on promoting economic development and the construction of spiritual civilization of town and city. The current planning situations of 16 small towns which had powerful economy in Shandong province were investigated by surveying weather and natural environment factors, the economy and population status and land arrangement, measuring land area and taking relative photos. The results were as follows. Firstly, small town usually had small population density and land area. A dop tendency of economic degree was demonstrated from east to west. Besides, there were wide differences of natural conditions in these towns. Secondly, most land arrangements were unreasonable, the land proportions were imbalance. Generally there was a lack of completed transportation land and green space.