Enhanced Activity and Selectivity for Nitrogen Reduction Reaction in Electrides-Based Heterostructures: A DFT Computational Study.

Developing sustainable and efficient catalysts for ammonia synthesis from atmospheric molecular N2 under ambient conditions presents a significant 21st-century challenge. Two-dimensional heterostructures, particularly single-atom catalysts (SACs) supported on two-dimensional materials, have emerged as a promising avenue due to their remarkable catalytic activity and selectivity. Electrides, characterized by an abundance of free electrons and high surface activity, have attracted substantial attention in this context. Through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, this study proposes electride-graphene heterostructures (EGHS) as catalysts to effectively regulate charge distribution at the catalytic center, facilitating the optimization of catalytic performance. The EGHS model addresses challenges related to excessive adsorbate binding, mitigating electron transfer compared to electride monolayer adsorption. This novel approach utilizes heterogeneous heterostructures to finely tune the catalytic site, optimizing electron input for enhanced catalysis. Based on the optimized charge transfer for N2 activation, the Cr-doped EGHS (Cr@EGHS) exhibits a promising performance in the nitrogen reduction reaction, leading to, a relatively low limiting potential of -0.85 V and high selectivity. The hypothesis charge transfer depend on N2 activation is further supported by modulating the distance between component layers of heterostructure. These findings contribute to design principles for 2D heterostructure catalysts and offer a reference for experimental synthesis.

Design of a recombinant asparaginyl ligase for site-specific modification using efficient recognition and nucleophile motifs.

Asparaginyl ligases have been extensively utilized as valuable tools for site-specific bioconjugation or surface-modification. However, the application is hindered by the laborious and poorly reproducible preparation processes, unstable activity and ambiguous substrate requirements. To address these limitations, this study employed a structure-based rational approach to obtain a high-yield and high-activity protein ligase called OaAEP1-C247A-aa55-351. It was observed that OaAEP1-C247A-aa55-351 exhibits appreciable catalytic activities across a wide pH range, and the addition of the Fe3+ metal ion effectively enhances the catalytic power. Importantly, this study provides insight into the recognition and nucleophile peptide profiles of OaAEP1-C247A-aa55-351. The ligase demonstrates a higher recognition ability for the "Asn-Ala-Leu" motif and an N-terminus "Arg-Leu" as nucleophiles, which significantly increases the reaction yield. Consequently, the catalytic activity of OaAEP1-C247A-aa55-351 with highly efficient recognition and nucleophile motif, "Asn-Ala-Leu" and "Arg-Leu" under the buffer containing Fe3+ is 70-fold and 2-fold higher than previously reported OaAEP1-C247A and the most efficient butelase-1, respectively. Thus, the designed OaAEP1-C247A-aa55-351, with its highly efficient recognition and alternative nucleophile options, holds promising potential for applications in protein engineering, chemo-enzymatic modification, and the development of drugs.

The Characteristics of the Root-Zone Soil's Biological Properties and Microbial Community Structure in Grafted Star Anise Plantations.

Extensive management seriously affects the output, quality, and sustainable development of star anise, and grafting is commonly used to improve its production and quality. Although many studies have explored the effects of grafting on soil microorganisms for other plants, there is a lack of research on aromatic plants, especially on the soil ecosystems of star anise plantations. The effect of grafting star anise on the soil's biological characteristics and microbial composition remains unclear. The soil's enzyme activities, soil microbial biomass, and microbial community composition in grafted and non-grafted star anise plantations in Guangxi, China were studied using high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that the microbial biomass carbon and phosphorus contents in the soils of grafted star anise were significantly lower and the phosphatase activity was significantly higher than in the soils of non-grafted star anise. In comparison with the soils of non-grafted star anise plantations, the proportions of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, and WPS-2 decreased and the proportions of Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, and Verrucomicrobia increased in the grafted star anise plantations. Meanwhile, Bacteroidetes was a dominant bacterial phylum unique to the soil of the grafted star anise plantations. Moreover, the proportions of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota increased and the proportions of Mortierellomycota and unclassified_k_Fungi decreased in the soils of the grafted star anise plantations. Furthermore, Basidiomycota and Rozellomycota had significant dominance in the grafted star anise plantations. In general, grafting can improve soil fertility and maintain soil health by promoting soil nutrient cycling and increasing the soil's microbial diversity.

Spectroscopic Identification of Charge Transfer of Thiolated Molecules on Gold Nanoparticles via Gold Nanoclusters.

Investigation of charge transfer needs analytical tools that could reveal this phenomenon, and enables understanding of its effect at the molecular level. Here, we show how the combination of using gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) and different spectroscopic techniques could be employed to investigate the charge transfer of thiolated molecules on gold nanoparticles (AuNP@Mol). It was found that the charge transfer effect in the thiolated molecule could be affected by AuNCs, evidenced by the amplification of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal of the molecule and changes in fluorescence lifetime of AuNCs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further revealed that AuNCs could amplify the charge transfer process at the molecular level by pumping electrons to the surface of AuNPs. Finite element method (FEM) simulations also showed that the electromagnetic enhancement mechanism along with chemical enhancement determines the SERS improvement in the thiolated molecule. This study provides a mechanistic insight into the investigation of charge transfer at the molecular level between organic and inorganic compounds, which is of great importance in designing new nanocomposite systems. Additionally, this work demonstrates the potential of SERS as a powerful analytical tool that could be used in nanochemistry, material science, energy, and biomedical fields.

Electrocatalytic Urea Synthesis via N2 Dimerization and Universal Descriptor.

Electrocatalytic urea synthesis through N2 + CO2 coreduction and C-N coupling is a promising and sustainable alternative to harsh industrial processes. Despite considerable efforts, limited progress has been made due to the challenges of breaking inert N≡N bonds for C-N coupling, competing side reactions, and the absence of theoretical principles guiding catalyst design. In this study, we propose a mechanism for highly electrocatalytic urea synthesis using two adsorbed N2 molecules and CO as nitrogen and carbon sources, respectively. This mechanism circumvents the challenging step of N≡N bond breaking and selective CO2 to CO reduction, as the free CO molecule inserts into dimerized *N2 and binds concurrently with two N atoms, forming a specific urea precursor *NNCONN* with both thermodynamic and kinetic feasibility. Through the proposed mechanism, Ti2@C4N3 and V2@C4N3 are identified as highly active catalysts for electrocatalytic urea formation, exhibiting low onset potentials of -0.741 and -0.738 V, respectively. Importantly, taking transition metal atoms anchored on porous graphite-like carbonitride (TM2@C4N3) as prototypes, we introduce a simple descriptor, namely, effective d electron number (Φ), to quantitatively describe the structure-activity relationships for urea formation. This descriptor incorporates inherent atomic properties of the catalyst, such as the number of d electrons, the electronegativity of the metal atoms, and the generalized electronegativity of the substrate atoms, making it potentially applicable to other urea catalysts. Our work advances the comprehension of mechanisms and provides a universal guiding principle for catalyst design in urea electrochemical synthesis.

Ferroelectric Domain and Switching Dynamics in Curved In2Se3: First-Principles and Deep Learning Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Despite its prevalence in experiments, the influence of complex strain on material properties remains understudied due to the lack of effective simulation methods. Here, the effects of bending, rippling, and bubbling on the ferroelectric domains are investigated in an In2Se3 monolayer by density functional theory and deep learning molecular dynamics simulations. Since the ferroelectric switching barrier can be increased (decreased) by tensile (compressive) strain, automatic polarization reversal occurs in α-In2Se3 with a strain gradient when it is subjected to bending, rippling, or bubbling deformations to create localized ferroelectric domains with varying sizes. The switching dynamics depends on the magnitude of curvature and temperature, following an Arrhenius-style relationship. This study not only provides a promising solution for cross-scale studies using deep learning but also reveals the potential to manipulate local polarization in ferroelectric materials through strain engineering.

Reconsideration of maternal serological testing for predicting congenital CMV infection.

BACKGROUND: The value of the widely applied maternal cytomegalovirus (CMV) serological testing approach in predicting intrauterine transmission in highly seroprevalent regions remains unknown. METHODS: A nested case‒control study was conducted based on a maternal-child cohort study. Newborns with congenital CMV (cCMV) infection were included, and each of them was matched to 3 newborns without cCMV infection. Retrospective samples were tested for immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies in maternal serum and CMV DNA in maternal blood and urine to analyse their associations with cCMV infection. RESULTS: Forty-eight newborns with cCMV infection and 144 matched newborns without infection were included in the study. Maternal IgM antibodies and IgG avidity during pregnancy were not statistically associated with intrauterine transmission. The presence of CMV DNAemia indicated a higher risk of cCMV infection, with the OR values as 5.7, 6.5 and 13.0 in early, middle and late pregnancy, respectively. However, the difference in CMV shedding rates in transmitters and nontransmitters was not significant in urine. CONCLUSION: The value of current maternal CMV serological testing in regions with high seropositivity rates is very limited and should be reconsidered. The detection of DNAemia would be helpful in assessing the risk of intrauterine transmission.

Genome-Wide Identification of the PP2C Gene Family and Analyses with Their Expression Profiling in Response to Cold Stress in Wild Sugarcane.

Type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) represent a major group of protein phosphatases in plants, some of which have already been confirmed to play important roles in diverse plant processes. In this study, analyses of the phylogenetics, gene structure, protein domain, chromosome localization, and collinearity, as well as an identification of the expression profile, protein-protein interaction, and subcellular location, were carried out on the PP2C family in wild sugarcane (Saccharum spontaneum). The results showed that 145 PP2C proteins were classified into 13 clades. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that SsPP2Cs are evolutionarily closer to those of sorghum, and the number of SsPP2Cs is the highest. There were 124 pairs of SsPP2C genes expanding via segmental duplications. Half of the SsPP2C proteins were predicted to be localized in the chloroplast (73), with the next most common predicted localizations being in the cytoplasm (37) and nucleus (17). Analysis of the promoter revealed that SsPP2Cs might be photosensitive, responsive to abiotic stresses, and hormone-stimulated. A total of 27 SsPP2Cs showed cold-stress-induced expressions, and SsPP2C27 (Sspon.01G0007840-2D) and SsPP2C64 (Sspon.03G0002800-3D) were the potential hubs involved in ABA signal transduction. Our study presents a comprehensive analysis of the SsPP2C gene family, which can play a vital role in the further study of phosphatases in wild sugarcane. The results suggest that the PP2C family is evolutionarily conserved, and that it functions in various developmental processes in wild sugarcane.

Bimetallic conjugated metal-organic frameworks as bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting.

Stable, high-efficiency, and highly active electrocatalysts are critical for the conversion of renewable energy through overall water splitting. Our first-principles calculations identify two-dimensional conjugated metal-organic frameworks (2D c-MOFs) with dual metal sites as promising candidates for this process. Among them, PcCo-O8-Rh stands out as the best catalyst, with Rh serving as the active site for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), resulting in a low ηHER/ηOER of -0.19/0.25 V. Our findings suggest that the HER/OER activity of PcTM-O8-TM' can be optimized through tensile strain, as it is related to the absorption strength of intermediates and the d-band center (εd) of the TM atom. This study presents a new family of 2D c-MOFs as high-performance bifunctional electrocatalysts for overall water splitting, paving the way towards sustainable energy conversion.

Wheat Selenium-binding protein TaSBP-A enhances cadmium tolerance by decreasing free Cd2+ and alleviating the oxidative damage and photosynthesis impairment.

Cadmium, one of the toxic heavy metals, robustly impact crop growth and development and food safety. In this study, the mechanisms of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) selenium-binding protein-A (TaSBP-A) involved in response to Cd stress was fully investigated by overexpression in Arabidopsis and wheat. As a cytoplasm protein, TaSBP-A showed a high expression in plant roots and its expression levels were highly induced by Cd treatment. The overexpression of TaSBP-A enhanced Cd-toleration in yeast, Arabidopsis and wheat. Meanwhile, transgenic Arabidopsis under Cd stress showed a lower H2O2 and malondialdehyde content and a higher photochemical efficiency in the leaf and a reduction of free Cd2+ in the root. Transgenic wheat seedlings of TaSBP exhibited an increment of Cd content in the root, and a reduction Cd content in the leaf under Cd2+ stress. Cd2+ binding assay combined with a thermodynamics survey and secondary structure analysis indicated that the unique CXXC motif in TaSBP was a major Cd-binding site participating in the Cd detoxification. These results suggested that TaSBP-A can enhance the sequestration of free Cd2+ in root and inhibit the Cd transfer from root to leaf, ultimately conferring plant Cd-tolerance via alleviating the oxidative stress and photosynthesis impairment triggered by Cd stress.

NIR Photocontrolled Fluorescent Nanosensor under a Six-Branched DNA Nanowheel-Induced Nucleic Acid Confinement Effect for High-Performance Bioimaging.

Although DNA nanotechnology is a promising option for fluorescent biosensors to perform bioimaging, the uncontrollable target identification during biological delivery and the spatially free molecular collision of nucleic acids may cause unsatisfactory imaging precision and sensitivity, respectively. Aiming at solving these challenges, we herein integrate some productive notions. On the one hand, the target recognition component is inserted with a photocleavage bond and a core-shell structured upconversion nanoparticle with a low thermal effect is further employed to act as the ultraviolet light generation source, under which a precise near-infrared photocontrolled sensing is achieved through a simple external 808 nm light irradiation. On the other hand, the collision of all of the hairpin nucleic acid reactants is confined by a DNA linker to form a six-branched DNA nanowheel, after which their local reaction concentrations are vastly enhanced (∼27.48 times) to induce a special nucleic acid confinement effect to guarantee highly sensitive detection. By selecting a lung cancer-associated short noncoding microRNA sequence (miRNA-155) as a model low-abundance analyte, it is demonstrated that the newly established fluorescent nanosensor not only presents good in vitro assay performance but also exhibits a high-performance bioimaging competence in live biosystems including cells and mouse body, propelling the progress of DNA nanotechnology in the biosensing field.

Analysis of the chloroplast crotonylome of wheat seedling leaves reveals the roles of crotonylated proteins involved in salt-stress responses.

Lysine crotonylation (Kcr) is a novel post-translational modification and its function in plant salt-stress responses remains unclear. In this study, we performed the first comprehensive chloroplast crotonylome analysis of wheat seedling leaves to examine the potential functions of Kcr proteins in salt-stress responses. In a total of 471 chloroplast proteins, 1290 Kcr sites were identified as significantly regulated by salt stress, and the Kcr proteins were mainly involved in photosynthesis, protein folding, and ATP synthesis. The identified Kcr sites that responded to salt stress were concentrated within KcrK and KcrF motifs, with the conserved KcrF motif being identified in the Kcr proteins of wheat chloroplasts for the first time. Notably, 10 Kcr sites were identified in fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (TaFBA6), a key chloroplast metabolic enzyme involved in the Calvin-Benson cycle. Site-directed mutagenesis of TaFBA6 showed that the Kcr at K367 is critical in maintaining its enzymatic activity and in conferring salt tolerance in yeast. Further molecular dynamic simulations and analyses of surface electrostatic potential indicated that the Kcr at K367 could improve the structural stability of TaFBA6 by decreasing the distribution of positive charges on the protein surface to resist alkaline environments, thereby promoting both the activity of TaFBA6 and salt tolerance.

Echinochrome A Reverses Kidney Abnormality and Reduces Blood Pressure in a Rat Model of Preeclampsia.

We aimed to observe the effects of Echinochrome A (Ech A) on systemic changes using a rat model of preeclampsia. The results showed that an infusion of angiotensin II (Ang II) through an osmotic pump (1 µg/kg/min) on GD 8 increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures and reduced fetal weight and placental weight. The diameters of the glomeruli were expended and glomeruli capillaries were diminished. No change was observed in the heart and liver in the Ang II group, but epithelial structures were disrupted in the uterus. Ech A treatment on GD 14 (100 µg/µL) through the jugular vein reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressures and reversed glomerulus alterations, but the fetal or placental parameters were unaffected. Ech A only partly reversed the effect on the uterus. The mRNA expression of TNF-α was increased and IL-10 and VEGF were reduced in the uterus of the Ang II group, while Ech A restored these changes. A similar trend was observed in the kidney, liver, and heart of this group. Furthermore, Bcl-2 was reduced and Bcl-2/Bax ratios were significantly reduced in the kidney and heart of the Ang II group, while Ech A reversed these changes. We suggest that Ech A modulates inflammation and apoptosis in key systemic organs in Ang II-induced rat preeclampsia and preserves kidney and uterus structures and reduces blood pressure.

Genome-wide identification of wheat ABC1K gene family and functional dissection of TaABC1K3 and TaABC1K6 involved in drought tolerance.

Activity of BC1 complex kinase (ABC1K) serves as an atypical kinase family involved in plant stress resistance. This study identified 44 ABC1K genes in the wheat genome, which contained three clades (I-III). TaABC1K genes generally had similar structural features, but differences were present in motif and exon compositions from different clade members. More type II functional divergence sites were detected between clade I and clade III and no positive selection site were found in TaABC1K family. The three-dimensional structure prediction by Alphafold2 showed that TaABC1K proteins had more α-helixes with a relatively even distribution, and different clade members had differences in the content of secondary structures. The cis-acting element analysis showed that TaABC1K genes contained abundant cis-acting elements related to plant hormones and environmental stress response in the promoter region, and generally displayed a significantly upregulated expression under drought stress. In particular, both TaABC1K3 and TaABC1K6 genes from clade I was highly induced by drought stress, and their overexpression in yeast and Arabidopsis enhanced drought tolerance by suppressing active oxygen burst and reducing photosynthesis impairment. Meanwhile, TaABC1K3 and TaABC1K6 could, respectively, complement the function of Arabidopsis abc1k3 and abc1k6 mutants and reduce photosynthesis damage caused by drought stress.

Smart NIR light-gated CRISPR/Cas12a fluorescent biosensor with boosted biological delivery and trans-cleavage activity for high-performance in vivo operation.

Despite the in vitro usage of CRISPR/Cas12a system in fluorescent biosensors has made remarkable achievements, many challenges such as poor biological delivery, insufficient sensitivity, and uncontrollable initiation compel them hard to conduct in vivo analysis. Thus, we propose here some fruitful sensing concepts. First, the multiple biomolecular components of CRISPR/Cas12a system are collectively carried by MnO2 nanosheets via a simple physical absorption to achieve a highly-efficient biological uptake. Under the reduction of widespread biothiols, not only the sensing frame is easily released but also sufficient Mn2+ is produced to serve as an effective trans-cleavage accelerator. Furthermore, a photocleavge-linker induced smart near-infrared (NIR) light-gated manner is designed to offer a spatiotemporal target recognition, for which a 808 nm NIR light transduced ultraviolet upconversion luminescence with weak thermal effect is employed to completely prevent the sensing flow from pre-initiating during the biological delivery. As a conceptual validation, this biosensor has satisfactory sensitivity and specificity to survivn messenger RNA (a broad-spectrum cancer biomarker). More importantly, it can work as a reliable imaging platform for differentiating cancers in live cellular level and also presents a high-performance operation ability for analyzing live mice, greatly promoting the CRISPR technology in biosensing field.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Two Sugarcane Cultivars in Response to Paclobutrazol Treatment.

Sugarcane is an important crop across the globe, and the rapid multiplication of excellent cultivars is an important object of the sugarcane industry. As one of the plant growth regulators, paclobutrazol (PBZ) has been frequently used in the tissue culture of sugarcane seedlings. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of response to PBZ in this crop. Here, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis between sensitive (LC05-136) and non-sensitive (GGZ001) sugarcane cultivars treated by PBZ at three time points (0 d, 10 d, and 30 d) using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). The results showed that approximately 70.36 Mb of clean data for each sample were generated and assembled into 239,212 unigenes. A total of 6108 and 4404 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified within the sensitive and non-sensitive sugarcane cultivars, respectively. Among them, DEGs in LC05-136 were most significantly enriched in the photosynthesis and valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation pathways, while in GGZ001, DEGs associated with ion channels and plant-pathogen interaction were mainly observed. Notably, many interesting genes, including those encoding putative regulators, key components of photosynthesis, amino acids degradation and glutamatergic synapse, were identified, revealing their importance in the response of sugarcane to PBZ. Furthermore, the expressions of sixteen selected DEGs were tested by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR), confirming the reliability of the RNA-seq data used in this study. These results provide valuable information regarding the transcriptome changes in sugarcane treated by PBZ and provide an insight into understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the resistance to PBZ in sugarcane.

Case report: Revealing a special and rare autoimmune GFAP astrocytopathy in the spinal cord succeeding Neurobrucellosis infection.

Brucellosis, a zoonosis, can cause an inflammatory response in most organs and continues to be a public health problem in some endemic areas, whereas neurobrucellosis is a morbid form of brucellosis that affects the central nervous system (CNS) with poor prognosis. Autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) astrocytopathy is an autoimmune disease, and there have been no reports of a Brucella infection, leading to GFAP astrocytopathy. We report the case of a patient with a positive and high level of GFAP antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), following a Brucella infection. Although this patient did not show any responsible lesions in the diffusion sequence of the magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) scan, we found an evidence of thoracolumbar (T12) involvement on fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). The symptoms of spinal cord involvement were only partly relieved after initial treatment [doxycycline (0.1 g Bid) and rifampicin (0.6 g Qd) for 6 weeks]; however, they markedly improved after the subsequent immunosuppressive therapy [intravenous methylprednisolone (1,000 mg for 3 days)], followed by a 50% reduction from the preceding dose after 3 days, and subsequently, oral prednisone tablets (60 mg/day) was started, which was then gradually tapered [reduced to 10 mg/day every 1-2 weeks)]. The positive response to immunosuppressive therapy and treatment outcome strongly indicated the presence of an autoimmune neurological disease probably triggered by some infectious factors. Therefore, our findings reveal that a Brucella infection is one of the causes of autoimmune GFAP astrocytopathy, and when this infection is difficult to be identified by regular MRI, FDG PET can be used as a supplementary method for diagnosis and treatment.

Synergistic Cr2 O3 @Ag Heterostructure Enhanced Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to CO.

The electrocatalytic CO2 RR to produce value-added chemicals and fuels has been recognized as a promising means to reduce the reliance on fossil resources; it is, however, hindered due to the lack of high-performance electrocatalysts. The effectiveness of sculpturing metal/metal oxides (MMO) heterostructures to enhance electrocatalytic performance toward CO2 RR has been well documented, nonetheless, the precise synergistic mechanism of MMO remains elusive. Herein, an in operando electrochemically synthesized Cr2 O3 -Ag heterostructure electrocatalyst (Cr2 O3 @Ag) is reported for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO. The obtained Cr2 O3 @Ag can readily achieve a superb FECO of 99.6% at -0.8 V (vs RHE) with a high JCO of 19.0 mA cm-2 . These studies also confirm that the operando synthesized Cr2 O3 @Ag possesses high operational stability. Notably, operando Raman spectroscopy studies reveal that the markedly enhanced performance is attributable to the synergistic Cr2 O3 -Ag heterostructure induced stabilization of CO2 •- /*COOH intermediates. DFT calculations unveil that the metallic-Ag-catalyzed CO2 reduction to CO requires a 1.45 eV energy input to proceed, which is 0.93 eV higher than that of the MMO-structured Cr2 O3 @Ag. The exemplified approaches in this work would be adoptable for design and development of high-performance electrocatalysts for other important reactions.

MicroSugar: A database of comprehensive miRNA target prediction framework for sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.).

microRNA (miRNA) is a group of small non-coding RNA that plays important role in post-transcription of gene expression. With the studies about miRNA increase in sugarcane, the researchers lack an exhaustive resource to achieve the data. To fill this gap, we developed MicroSugar, a database that supported mRNA and miRNA annotation for sugarcane (http://suc.gene-db.com). MicroSugar is an integrated resource developed for 194,528 genes including 80,746 unigenes from long reads of Pacbio platform and 468 miRNAs from 72 samples. Internode elongation (jointing) is the key biological characteristic for the growth of sugarcane tillers into sugarcane stems. The present study combined the sequencing data from the different stages in internode elongation of stem and tiller. In total, the 14,300 3' untranslated region (UTR) sequences were extracted from the gene sequences and 3019 mRNAs as target of 327 miRNA were identified by miRanda algorithm and Spearman's Rho of expression levels. To determine the gene functions regulated by these miRNAs, the gene ontology enrichment analysis was performed and it confirmed that the over-represented Gene Ontology (GO) terms were associated with organism formation indicating the growth controlling function by miRNAs in sugarcane. Moreover, MicroSugar is a comprehensive and integrated database with a user-friendly responsive template. By browsing, searching and downloading of the nucleotide sequences, expression and miRNA targets, the user can retrieve information promptly. The database provides a valuable resource to facilitate the understanding of miRNA in sugarcane development and growth which will contribute to the study of sugarcane and other plants.