The team of Professor Yang Xian of South China Agricultural University has published a series of research results in TOP journals such as Food Chemistry

Recently, the team of Professor Yang Xiang, chief expert of the leaf vegetable innovation team of Guangdong modern agricultural industry technology system and professor of the College of Horticulture of South China Agricultural University, published a series of research results
on the application of plant carbon dot materials on vegetables in the internationally renowned journals Food Chemistry (IF=9.
231), Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (IF=7.
129).

 

On October 21, Food Chemistry, an internationally renowned journal in the field of food science, published online a report by Professor Yang Xiang's team entitled "The roles of Salvia miltiorrhiza-derived carbon dots involving in maintaining quality by delaying senescence of postharvest flowering.
" Chinese cabbage" research paper (paper link: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
foodchem.
2022.
134704) reveals a new mechanism by which salvia carbon dots maintain the nutritional quality of cabbage by
delaying aging.
The first author of the article is Kuang Lifeng, a 2020 master student of the College of Horticulture, and Associate Professor Kang Yunyan of the College of Horticulture, and the corresponding authors are Associate Professor Zhong Min and Professor
Yang Xian of the College of Horticulture.
This study obtained the modern agricultural industry technology system of Guangdong Province (No.
2022KJ122 and 2023KJ122), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2018A0303130316) and the R&D Program of Guangdong Key Areas (2018B020202010
).

 

On October 14, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, an internationally renowned journal in the field of environmental science and ecology, also published online a report by Professor Yang Xiang's team entitled "Inhibition of UV-B stress in lettuce through enzyme-like Scutellaria baicalensis carbon dots.
" The research paper (paper link: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
ecoenv.
2022.
114177), revealing the effect
of astragalus carbon dots on lettuce growth by enhancing antioxidant effects and resisting UV stress 。 The first author of the article is Wang Huihe, a 2020 master student of the College of Horticulture, and Associate Professor Kang Yunyan of the College of Horticulture, and the corresponding author is Professor Lei Bingfu of the School of Materials and Energy of Guangdong Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System, and the chief expert of the leaf vegetable innovation team of Guangdong Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System and Professor Yang Xian of the
College of Horticulture 。 This study obtained the modern agricultural industry technology system of Guangdong Province (No.
2022KJ122 and 2023KJ122), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2018A0303130316) and the R&D Program of Guangdong Key Areas (2018B020202010
).

 

Caixin is a special vegetable in South China, with young and tender cabbage as the eating organ, which is the most important vegetable
exported to Hong Kong and Macao in South China.
With the improvement of people's living standards and the change of consumption habits, people's consumption of cabbage is getting bigger and bigger, and the development scale of cabbage is also expanding
rapidly.
At present, the production of cabbage is not only widely cultivated in South China, but also develops rapidly in Ningxia, Gansu, Yunnan, Henan, Hebei and other places, but cabbage is very easy to quickly lose water, yellowing and rot after harvesting, and the shelf life is short
.
Therefore, the preservation of cabbage after harvest has always been an important issue
that plagues the development of the industry.
As a new zero-dimensional carbon-based nanomaterial, carbon dots (CDs) have excellent oxidation resistance, good biocompatibility and low toxicity, but the research on the application of carbon dots in postharvest preservation is quite limited
。 The research group applied Danshen carbon dots (SmCDs) to the postharvest preservation of cabbage for the first time, systematically studied the role of SmCDs in postharvest preservation of cabbage, and found that Danshen carbon dots have significant anti-aging effects, inhibiting the expression of chlorophyll degradation genes, aging-related genes and respiratory burst oxidase homologous genes, maintaining the metabolic balance of reactive oxygen species, promoting the expression of key flavonoid biosynthetic genes and positively regulating sugar metabolism to inhibit postharvest aging and maintain postharvest nutritional quality
of cabbage 。 The results of this study elucidate for the first time the regulatory mechanism of SmCDs to delay the aging of postharvest cabbage, and provide new ideas
for improving the commodity quality of postharvest cabbage and developing new postharvest treatment of horticultural crops.

 

Plant oxidative stress caused by UV-B stress has been a major challenge
for agricultural yields.
In animals, enzyme-active carbon dots (CDs) have been shown to inhibit oxidative stress, but little is known about abiotic stress stress stress in plants, particularly UV-B stress
.
This study evaluated the properties of Astragalus CDs, the removal of reactive oxygen species in vivo and in vitro, and the enhancement of antioxidant capacity
in vivo.
Astragalus CDs inhibit the damage of reactive oxygen species by increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, glutathione reductase and ascorbyl peroxidase, promote the assimilation ability of lettuce plants, activate the expression of plant aquaporin genes PIP1 and PIP2 and improve water utilization, thereby protecting plants from UV-B stress
.
The findings contribute to the design and manufacture of safe and reliable stress-resistant materials to meet the challenges
of abiotic stress in food production.