Transcriptomic analysis of wheat reveals possible resistance mechanism mediated by Yr10 to stripe rust.

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a catastrophic disease that threatens global wheat yield. Yr10 is a race-specific all-stage disease resistance gene in wheat. However, the resistance mechanism of Yr10 is poorly characterized. Therefore, to elucidate the potential molecular mechanism mediated by Yr10, transcriptomic sequencing was performed at 0, 18, and 48 h post-inoculation (hpi) of compatible wheat Avocet S (AvS) and incompatible near-isogenic line (NIL) AvS + Yr10 inoculated with Pst race CYR32. Respectively, 227, 208, and 4050 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at 0, 18, and 48 hpi between incompatible and compatible interaction. The response of Yr10 to stripe rust involved various processes and activities, as indicated by the results of Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. Specifically, the response included photosynthesis, defense response to fungus, metabolic processes related to salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA), and activities related to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ten candidate genes were selected for qRT-PCR verification and the results showed that the transcriptomic data was reliable. Through the functional analysis of candidate genes by the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system, it was found that the gene TaHPPD (4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase) negatively regulated the resistance of wheat to stripe rust by affecting SA signaling, pathogenesis-related (PR) gene expression, and ROS clearance. Our study provides insight into Yr10-mediated resistance in wheat.

Frustrated Superradiant Phase Transition.

Frustration occurs when a system cannot find a lowest-energy configuration due to conflicting constraints. We show that a frustrated superradiant phase transition occurs when the ground-state superradiance of cavity fields due to local light-matter interactions cannot simultaneously minimize the positive photon hopping energies. We solve the Dicke trimer model on a triangle motif with both negative and positive hopping energies and show that the latter results in a sixfold degenerate ground-state manifold in which the translational symmetry is spontaneously broken. In the frustrated superradiant phase, we find that two sets of diverging time and fluctuation scales coexist, one governed by the mean-field critical exponent and another by a novel critical exponent. The latter is associated with the fluctuation in the difference of local order parameters and gives rise to site-dependent photon number critical exponents, which may serve as an experimental probe for the frustrated superradiant phase. We provide a qualitative explanation for the emergence of unconventional critical scalings and demonstrate that they are generic properties of the frustrated superradiant phase at the hand of a one-dimensional Dicke lattice with an odd number of sites. The mechanism for the frustrated superradiant phase transition discovered here applies to any lattice geometries where the antiferromagnetic ordering of neighboring sites are incompatible and therefore our work paves the way toward the exploration of frustrated phases of coupled light and matter.

Covalent organic framework wrapped by graphene oxide as an efficient sulfur host for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

The practical application of lithium-sulfur battery is seriously limited by the loss of active substances and the deterioration of cycle stability caused by the 'shuttle effect' of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). In this work, graphene oxide (GO) coated covalent organic framework (COF) compound materials were synthesized as sulfur host material in spray-drying process. The polar groups on COF can efficiently adsorb LiPSs through lithiophilic interaction, which can reduce the 'shuttle effect' caused by soluble LiPSs. Besides, GO in the outer layer can wrap discrete sulfur to reduce the loss of active substances, which further improves the cycle stability of the cathode. The COF@GO/S cathode exhibits a high initial specific capacity of 848.4 mAh g-1and retains a capacity of 601.1 mAh g-1after 500 cycles at 1 C counting with a low capacity fading of 0.058% per cycle.

Triazine-based porous organic polymers with enhanced electronegativity as multifunctional separator coatings in lithium-sulfur batteries.

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries is seriously affected by the shuttle behavior and slow conversion kinetics of polysulfides. Herein, a new porous organic polymer (POP) is synthesized and grown on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in situ to improve battery performance, which serves as an efficient polysulfide adsorber and catalytic promoter for polysulfide conversion. The polar POP shows strong chemisorption to polysulfides, which is confirmed by a series of calculations and experimental results. As a popular conductive substrate, rGO offers an electron transport channel for sulfur and polysulfide conversion. Due to the synergistic functions of composite materials, the batteries with POP@rGO modified separators retain a high specific capacity of 697.3 mA h g-1 and a minimum capacity fading rate of 0.04% per cycle at 1C over 500 cycles. Besides, even at a high sulfur loading of 5 mg cm-2, a high area capacity of 4.27 mA h cm-2 can also be achieved, which shows that it has great potential in promoting the commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries.

[The Study of Three-Dimensional Synchronous Fluorescence Spectral Characteristics of Liuwei Dihuang Pills].

Three-dimensional synchronous fluorescence of each component of Liuwei dihuang pills (Prepared rehmannia root, cornel, yam, alisma, poria cocos, and cortex moutan) is measured by using FLS920P fluorescence spectrometer. Feature parameters were extracted. It can be found that each component is fluorescent material and the lines are all different. Furthermore, Three-dimensional synchronous fluorescence of Liuwei dihuang pills boiling with standard water and non-standard water are all measured and there are significant differences between them. It can be applied in distinguishing different formula of Chinese medicine decoction. Experimental and Theoretical conclusion show that: the three-dimensional fluorescence spectrometry method and the combination of synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy method can further improve the sensitivity and selectivity of fluorescence spectroscopy, have a distinct advantage in a complex multi-component mixture of fluorescence spectroscopic analysis. The study can provide a convenient and reliable method for establishing a complete fingerprint of Chinese traditional medicine. It also can help identifying the component and the quality of Chinese patent medicine.

[Identification of Prepared Rehmannia Root in Different Regions by Using Derivative Synchronous Fluorescence Spectrum].

Three-dimensional synchronous fluorescence spectrum of prepared rehmannia root from different regions were measured and feature parameters were extracted. It can be found that the effective fluorescent compositions of prepared rehmannia root from different regions are similar. The relationships between the spectrum-effect were established. This study can provide reference for clinicaldosage. First order derivative and second order derivative of prepared rehmanniaroot from different regions can be got by programming respectively. Magnifing synchronous emission spectrum of the shoulder strap, the subtle differences of the spectrum can be distinguished and the method, derivative synchronous fluorescence spectrum, to identify different regions of prepared rehmannia root are acquired.

Transsphenoidal microsurgery.

Transsphenoidal microsurgery is a well-established neurosurgical procedure that has become the standard of care in the management of the majority of pituitary tumors and a select group of other sellar lesions. The safety of the procedure depends on the surgeon's adherence to certain anatomic concepts. Foremost among these concepts is the necessity of preserving the integrity of the arachnoid membrane covering the tumor dome and avoiding vascular injuries in the cavernous sinus. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the sequential steps of a transsphenoidal microsurgical procedure for the removal of a pituitary tumor in light of the anatomic concepts discussed, with the goal of preventing complications and achieving the best possible outcome.