This review aims to provide in-depth insights into CTC analysis, including various techniques for isolation of CTCs and single-cell analysis of CTCs, as well as current developmental trends and promising research directions.

To investigate the effect of light intensity and temperature on the biosynthesis and accumulation of quality-related metabolites, field grown tea plants were shaded by Black Net and Nano-insulating Film (with additional 2–4°C cooling effect) with un-shaded plants as a control. Young shoots were subjected to UPLC-Q-TOF MS followed by multivariate statistical analysis. Most flavonoid metabolites (mainly flavan-3-ols, flavonols and their glycosides) decreased significantly in the shading treatments, while the contents of chlorophyll, β-carotene, neoxanthin and free amino acids, caffeine, benzoic acid derivatives and phenylpropanoids increased. Comparison between two shading treatments indicated that the lower temperature under Nano shading decreased flavonols and their glycosides but increased accumulation of flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins. The comparison also showed a greater effect of temperature on galloylation of catechins than light intensity. Taken together, there might be competition for substrates between the up- and down-stream branches of the phenylpropanoid/flavonoid pathway, which was influenced by light intensity and temperature.

Knowledge of the effects of land use on soil moisture variations is necessary to improve land and agricultural water management in the semi‐arid Chinese Loess Plateau. However, previous studies are insufficient to guide management practice in this area and improvement is needed to help with the development of the ‘Grain for Green’ programme. As part of the ‘Grain for Green’ programme, we examined the effects of five land uses (fallow, grassland, cropland, 3‐year and 8‐year jujube orchards) on soil water variations in a small catchment on the Loess Plateau. Soil moisture at 0–160 cm depth was monitored approximately weekly at 47 sites from 17 August to 19 October 2009 and from 4 April to 27 September 2010 using a portable time domain reflectometer. Results indicated that mean soil water profiles in different land uses varied with time, land use induced spatial variations of soil water but exerted negligible influence on soil water temporal patterns, and soil water content was of the greatest spatial variability with moderate means (approximately 20 per cent). Furthermore, the relationship between standard deviation and mean water content was dependent on soil depth, although it was negligibly affected by land use. Profile soil water for five land uses was different in various seasons, precipitation infiltration depth exhibited a positive correlation with precipitation, and the whole profile soil moisture (0–160 cm) was complemented following a 93·5‐mm rainfall event. The findings presented here provide helpful information for land and agricultural water management in this area. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract