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To evaluate the role of ethylene in cold acclimation and cold stress, freezing tolerance and characteristics associated with cold acclimation were investigated using legume model plant Medicago truncatula Gaertn Jemalong A17. There was a rapid suppression of ethylene production during cold acclimation in A17 plants. Ethylene level was negatively correlated with freezing tolerance as inhibition of ethylene biosynthesis by inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis enhanced freezing tolerance, while exogenous application of ethylene reduced cold acclimation-induced freezing tolerance. The involvement of ethylene signaling in modulation of freezing tolerance and cold acclimation was further studied using ethylene-insensitive mutant sickle skl. Although skl mutant was more tolerant to freezing than its wild-type counterpart A17 plants, cold acclimation enhanced freezing tolerance in 17 plants, but not in skl mutant. Expression of several ethylene response genes including EIN3, EIN3/EIL and ERFs was suppressed in skl mutant compared to A17 plants under non-cold-acclimated conditions. Cold acclimation downregulated expression of EIN3, EIN3/EIL and ERFs in A17 plants, while expression patterns of these genes were relatively constant in skl mutant during cold acclimation. Cold acclimation-induced increases in transcription of MtCBFs and MtCAS15 were suppressed in skl mutant compared with A17 plants. These results suggest that MtSKL1 is required for perception of the change of ethylene level in M. truncatula plants for the full development of the cold acclimation response by suppressing expression of MtEIN3 and MtEIN3/EIL1, which in turn downregulates expression of MtERFs, leading to the enhanced tolerance of M. truncatula to freezing by upregulating MtCBFs and MtCAS15.

We report a high entropy metallic glass of Zn20Ca20Sr20Yb20(Li0.55Mg0.45)20 via composition design that exhibiting remarkable homogeneous deformation without shear banding under stress at room temperature. The glass also shows properties such as low glass transition temperature (323 K) approaching room temperature, low density and high specific strength, good conductivity, polymerlike thermoplastic manufacturability, and ultralow elastic moduli comparable to that of bones. The alloy is thermally and chemically stable.

One of vital issues that inhibit photoactivity of metal−organic frameworks is the poor electrical conductivity. In this work, one-dimensional mixed-valence iron chains are used to improve this poor situation in . A series of mixed-valence MIL-53(Fe) photocatalysts were obtained through heating at different temperatures in vacuum. The effect of Fe II coordinatively unsaturated metal sites (CUS) and one-dimensional mixed-valence iron chains on their photocatalytic property was discussed. The experimental results indicated that mixed-valence MIL-53(Fe) with a reference Fe II /Fe III ratio of 0.2725 displayed the best photocatalytic performance, which showed 96.28 and 95.01% removal efficiencies of RhB and TC-H in 100 min, respectively. Moreover, MIL-53(Fe) heated in vacuum displayed better catalytic activity than MIL-53(Fe) heated in air for RhB and TC-H degradation. Based on the analysis of various characterizations, the reinforced catalytic activity can be attributed to the charge mobilities in mixedvalence Fe II /Fe III chains. It is worth mentioning that the method is also applicable to MIL-88(Fe) and MIL-101(Fe). Additionally, mixed-valence MIL-53(Fe) can also perform the catalysis reaction in the nighttime by activating persulfate (PS) to produce free radicals. Interestingly, it was found that the Fe II CUS lost in activating PS can be supplemented by self-reduction of photogenerated electrons during illumination in the daytime, so as to achieve a more stable cycle. This work demonstrated that the photoactivity of MIL-53(Fe) can be improved by adjusting the ratio of Fe II /Fe III and the feasibility of using as an all-dayactive catalyst.

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