Superconductivity and Charge-Density-Wave-Like Transition in Th2Cu4As5.

We report the synthesis, crystal structure, and physical properties of a novel ternary compound, Th2Cu4As5. The material crystallizes in a tetragonal structure with lattice parameters a = 4.0639(3) Å and c = 24.8221(17) Å. Its structure can be described as an alternating stacking of fluorite-type Th2As2 layers with antifluorite-type double-layered Cu4As3 slabs. The measurement of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat reveals that Th2Cu4As5 undergoes bulk superconducting transition at 4.2 K. Additionally, all these physical quantities exhibit anomalies at 48 K, accompanied by a sign change in the Hall coefficient, suggesting a charge-density-wave-like (CDW) phase transition. Drawing from both experimental data and band calculations, we propose that the superconducting and CDW-like phase transitions are, respectively, associated with the Cu4As3 slabs and the As plane in the Th2As2 layers.

ThCr2Si2C: An Antiferromagnetic Metal with a Cr2C Square Lattice.

A quaternary compound, ThCr2Si2C, was synthesized by using the arc-melting technique. The compound adopts a tetragonal CeCr2Si2C-type crystal structure. The electronic resistivity and specific heat data exhibit metallic behavior, while the magnetic susceptibility displays a pronounced broad peak at around 370 K, indicating the antiferromagnetic phase transition. The first-principles calculations suggest A-type antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cr sublattice, which is confirmed by neutron diffraction experiments. By comparing the crystal structure of ThCr2Si2C with the isostructural Cr-based compounds, the magnetic state of Cr 3d orbital is discussed in terms of the band-filling effects and indirect spin exchange interaction.

First Report of Pseudopestalotiopsis ixorae Causing Leaf Spot of Photinia × fraseri in China.

Photinia × fraseri is a well-known ornamental shrub in southern China. In December 2021, we observed leaf spots that were circular to irregular, gray with dark red margins and violet brown with brownish violet edges on the leaves of Photinia × fraseri shrubs in the scenic area of Shenlongtan (28°46'10″N, 115°42'93″E), Jiangxi Province, China. Almost 15% of the leaves in the 1300 m2 Photinia × fraseri planting area were symptomatic. Thirty symptomatic leaves were randomly collected from different plants, and sectioned into 5-mm2 pieces, which were surface-sterilized using 1% NaOCl for 30 s. After rinsing thrice in sterile distilled water and drying, the pieces were transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 28 ℃ for 5-7 days. A total of sixteen morphologically similar isolates were obtained. After incubation on PDA for 20 days, the fungi had irregular edges, were white to pale brown, and had spare aerial mycelium on the surface with irregularly distributed black, gregarious conidiomata. Conidia were fusoid, subcylindrical, straight to slightly curved, 4-septated, slightly constricted at the septa, and 23 to 36 × 6 to 10 µm (mean: 27.6 × 7.7 µm). The morphological characteristics were consistent with the features of Pseudopestalotiopsis species (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2014). The genomic DNA of two representative isolates (JFRL032 and JFRL033) was extracted for further identification. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, translation elongation factor 1-ɑ (tef1-ɑ) and ß-tubulin (tub2) genes were amplified and sequenced using primers ITS5/ITS4, EF1-526F/EF1-1567R, and Bt2A/Bt2B, respectively (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2012). The sequences of the two representative isolates were 100% identical to each other. These nucleotide sequences were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers, ON342794 and ON342795 (ITS); ON375851 and ON375852 (tef1-ɑ); ON375853 and ON375854 (tub2). BLASTn searches of the obtained sequences revealed 99%-100% to ITS (MG816316, 478/478 nucleotides), tef1-ɑ (MG816336, 924/926 nucleotides), tub2 (MG816326, 441/442 nucleotides) sequences of the ex-type strain of Pseudopestalotiopsis ixorae (NTUCC17-001.1). Phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the concatenation of multiple sequences (ITS, tef1-ɑ and tub2) with the Maximum likelihood statistics in PhyloSuite v1.2.2 (Zhang et al.2020). The phylogenetic tree showed the two isolates clustered with P. ixorae in a clade with 100% bootstrap support. The isolates were identified as P. ixorae based on morphological and molecular data. To confirm pathogenicity, eight healthy leaves of 3-year-old Photinia × fraseri were surface sterilized, scratched with a pair of sterilized tweezers, and ten µl of conidial suspension (106 conidia/ml) was sprayed on the injured leaves and the control was sprayed with sterile distilled water. Then, All plants were potted in a climate chamber at 25℃ and 85% relative humidity. After 3 days, leaf spot symptoms similar to those described above were observed on inoculated leaves, while the non-inoculated leaves remained symptomless. The pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated leaves to fulfill Koch's postulates and confirmed as P. ixorae by morphological and molecular analysis. It has been reported that P. ixorae can infect the Ixora plant (Tsai et al., 2018). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. ixorae causing leaf spot on Photinia × fraseri in China. The study provides valuable information for identifying and controlling the leaf spot on Photinia × fraseri.

Coupling Nano and Atomic Electric Field Confinement for Robust Alkaline Oxygen Evolution.

The alkaline oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a promising avenue for producing clean fuels and storing intermittent energy. However, challenges such as excessive OH- consumption and strong adsorption of oxygen-containing intermediates hinder the development of alkaline OER. In this study, we propose a cooperative strategy by leveraging both nano-scale and atomically local electric fields for alkaline OER, demonstrated through the synthesis of Mn single atom doped CoP nanoneedles (Mn SA-CoP NNs). Finite element method simulations and density functional theory calculations predict that the nano-scale local electric field enriches OH- around the catalyst surface, while the atomically local electric field improves *O desorption. Experimental validation using in situ attenuated total reflection infrared and Raman spectroscopy confirms the effectiveness of the nano-scale and atomically electric fields. Mn SA-CoP NNs exhibit an ultra-low overpotential of 189 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and stable operation over 100 hours at ~100 mA cm-2 during alkaline OER. This innovative strategy provides new insights for enhancing catalyst performance in energy conversion reactions.

First Report of Leaf Blotch Caused by Phyllosticta capitalensis on Daphne odora in China.

Daphne odora Thunb. an evergreen shrub with scented flowers, is used for ornamental purposes but it also has medicinal benefits (Otsuki, et al. 2020). In August 2021, leaf blotch symptoms were observed on roughly 20% of leaves of D. odora var. marginata plants in Fenghuangzhou Citizen Park, Nanchang city (28°41'48.12″ N, 115°52'40.47″ E), Jiangxi Province, China. Brown lesions first appeared on the edges of leaves, which eventually dried and died (Fig. 1A). For fungal isolation, 12 symptomatic leaves were randomly collected, the edges between diseased area and healthy area were cut into small pieces (4×4 mm), surface-sterilized by dipping in 70% ethanol for 10 s and 1% sodium hypochlorite for 30 s, and then rinsed three times with sterile distilled water. Leaf pieces were then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 28 ℃ for 3-4 days. A total of 10 isolates were recovered from the diseased leaves. The pure colonies of all fungal isolates had similar characteristics, and three isolates were randomly selected (JFRL 03-249, JFRL 03-250 and JFRL 03-251) for further study. Colonies of this fungus were gray and uneven, with a granular surface, and irregular white edges, finally turning black on PDA (Fig. 1B, C). Pycnidia were black, globose and 54-222 µm in diameter (Fig. 1D). Conidia were hyaline, single-celled, and nearly elliptical, which ranged from 7 to 13 × 5 to 7 µm (n=40) (Fig. 1E). These morphological characteristics were consistent with those described for the fungus Phyllosticta spp. (Wikee et al. 2013a). To confirm the fungal identity, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, actin (ACT), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-a), glyceradehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) genes were amplified using primers ITS5/ITS4, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, EF-728F/EF2, Gpd1-LM/Gpd2-LM and RPB2-5F2 /fRPB2-7cR, respectively (Wikee et al. 2013b). The sequences of the selected isolates were 100% identical. Hence, sequences of one representative isolate JFRL 03-250 were deposited in GenBank (OP854673, ITS; OP867004, ACT; OP867007, TEF1-a; OP867010, GPD; and OQ559562, RPB2). BLAST search analysis in GenBank showed 100% similarity with those of P. capitalensis (GenBank accession nos. ITS, MH183391; ACT, KY855662; TEF1-a, KM816635; GPD, OM640050 and RPB2, KY855820). From a phylogenetic perspective, a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed by using IQtree V1.5.6 based on multiple sequences (ITS, ACT, TEF1-a, GPD and RPB2) (Nguyen et al. 2015), and the cluster analysis resulted the representative isolate JFRL 03-250 within a clade comprising Phyllosticta capitalensis (Fig. 2). Based on morphological and molecular characters, the isolate was identified as P. capitalensis. To confirm pathogenicity and fulfill Koch's postulates, 6 healthy potted plants were inoculated with 1× 106 conidia/ml suspension of isolate JFRL 03-250 by spraying on the leaves, whereas 6 plants were sprayed with sterile distilled water to serve as control. All potted plants were incubated at 28°C, 80% relative humidity and 12-h light/12-h dark alternating conditions in a climate cabinet. After 15 days, similar symptoms were observed in the inoculated leaves as in the field (Fig. 1F), whereas control leaves remained asymptomatic (Fig. 1G) and P. capitalensis was successfully re-isolated from the symptomatic leaves. Previously, P. capitalensis has been reported to cause brown leaf spot disease of various host plants around the world (Wikee et al. 2013b). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of brown leaf spot caused by P. capitalensis on D. odora in China.

First Report of Postharvest Fruit Brown Rot Disease on Navel Orange Caused by Diaporthe sojae in China.

In October 2020, a postharvest fruit brown rot symptom was observed on navel orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck cv. Newhall) fruits in a local fruit market in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China. The disease incidence increased up to 15% in 40 fruits with a 7-day-long storage at room temperature. The disease symptoms on the infected fruit were circular, light brown to brown, slightly sunken lesions, covered with whitish mycelium mass, and brown rot in the center. To isolate the causal organism, infected fruits were surface sterilized with 1% NaClO solution for 30 sec, and rinsed thrice with sterilized water. Symptomatic tissues at the margins were cut into 5-mm2 pieces, placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and incubated at 25℃ for 5 days. Thirteen morphologically similar single-spore fungal isolates were obtained from the isolation experiment. Fungal colonies were white, fluffy, cottony texture, reverse buff to light yellow, with black stromata at maturity. Alpha conidia were hyaline, aseptate, ellipsoid to clavate, tapering towards the ends, often biguttulate, and ranged in size from 6.8 to 9.8 µm × 2.7 to 4.5 µm (n=50). Beta conidia were hyaline, aseptate, smooth, straight to sinuous, and with size ranging from 12.1 to 21.3 µm × 0.9 to 2.2 µm (n=50). Morphological features were consistent with those of Diaporthe sojae (Dissanayake et al. 2015). For molecular identification, DNA was extracted from the representative isolate JFRL 03-13, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, beta-tubulin (TUB), calmodulin (CAL), partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α), and histone H3 (HIS) genes were amplified by using primers ITS1/ITS4, Bt2a/Bt2b, CAL228F/CAL737R, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, and CYLH3F/H3-1b (Udayanga et al. 2015), respectively. The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. OM281710 for ITS, OM289961 for TUB, OM289964 for CAL, OM289963 for TEF1-α, and OM289962 for HIS). BLAST analysis revealed that these sequences were 100% similar to the sequences of ITS (MN816426), TUB (MK941336), CAL (MN894375), TEF1-α (MN894447), HIS (MN894409) published for D. sojae. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on the concatenated sequences (ITS, TUB, CAL, TEF1-α, and HIS) by Maximum likelihood analysis (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) using IQtree v.1.6.11 and MrBayes v.3.2.7 (Guo et al. 2020). The phylogenetic tree showed that the isolate clustered with D. sojae. To confirm pathogenicity, mature and healthy harvested fruits of navel orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck cv. Newhall) were surface sterilized. Ten fruits were wounded by a sterile scalpel and put a 7-mm-diamter agar plug with 7-day-old mycelium of the isolate JFRL03-13 cultured on PDA at 25°C, noncolonized PDA plugs were used as the control. Inoculated fruits were incubated at 25℃ with 80% relative humidity. After 10 days, the similar symptoms were observed on the inoculated sites and spread on the surface of fruits, whereas the control remained symptomless. The pathogen was re-isolated from the lesions of inoculated fruits and confirmed as D. sojae via morphological and molecular analysis. The assays were repeated twice, fulfilling the Koch's postulates. Although D. sojae is known as the major causative agent of pod and stem blight, and has been reported as an endophyte in the twigs and leaves of citrus (Huang et al. 2015; Santos et al. 2011), but to our knowledge, this is the first report of postharvest fruits brown rot disease on navel orange caused by D. sojae in China. However, further investigation of the specific causes of this disease is necessary to help the local fruit farmers develop effective disease management strategies.

First Report of Brown Rot Caused by Phytophthora nicotianae on Navel Orange Fruit in China.

Navel orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck cv. Newhall) is widely planted in southern China. From September to November 2021, severe outbreaks of Phytophthora brown rot were observed on navel orange fruit in three local orchards in Ganzhou City (28.80N, 115.53E), Jiangxi Province, China, with a disease incidence of 25 to 35%. Symptomatic fruit was mostly observed 1-m from the ground. Initial symptoms on infected fruit were circular, pale-brown to brown, water-soaked, slightly sunken lesions, covered with sparse white mycelia-like growth. As the disease progressed, the lesions turned dark brown and enlarged on the fruit surface. Three to four infected fruits were randomly collected from each orchard, placed in transparent plastic bags and immediately brought back to the laboratory for isolations. Infected fruits were surface-disinfested with 70% ethanol for 60 sec, and rinsed three times with sterile water. Symptomatic tissues from the margin between necrotic and healthy tissues were cut into 5 mm × 5 mm pieces, placed onto potato dextrose agar and incubated at 28°C for 5 days. Nine isolates were obtained. Colonies of three isolates (JFRL 03-16, 03-18, 03-19) in 10-day-old 20% V8 juice agar consisted of abundant, white, cottony aerial mycelia. Hyphal swellings and coenocytic mycelium were observed. Sporangia were ovoid, ellipsoid to spherical, papillate, and ranged in size from 17.2 to 60.1 µm × 15.8 to 48.6 µm (x ̅=46.2 ± 5.5 × 32.4 ± 4.8 µm, n=50). Chlamydospores were spherical, suborbicular, and ranged from 17.8 to 45.9 µm diam (x ̅=30.5 ± 3.5 µm, n=50). Oospores were not observed in pure cultures. These morphological characteristics were consistent with those of P. nicotianae (LaMondia et al. 2014). Genomic DNA was extracted from a representative isolate, JFRL 03-18, using the NuClean Plant Genomic DNA kit (CWBIO, China). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, ras-related protein ypt1 (YPT), ß-tubulin (TUB) gene were amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction using primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), Yph1F/Yph2R (Schena et al. 2008), and TUBUF2/TUBUR1 (Kroon et al. 2004), respectively. All sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. ON231777 for ITS, ON246910 for YPT, ON246908 for TUB). BLASTN homology search for these nucleotide sequences showed 100% identical to the ITS (MH341621), YPT (MK058408), TUB (MH760160) sequences of P. nicotianae. Sequences of twelve Phytophthora species and Pythium ostracodes were downloaded from GenBank. The phylogenetic tree of combined ITS, YPT, TUB sequences showed that the isolate JFRL 03-18 clustered with P. nicotianae. To complete Koch's postulates, zoospore suspensions were prepared from the cultures grown on 10-day-old V8 juice agar of isolates (JFRL 03-16, 03-18, 03-19). Pathogenicity tests were performed on healthy and surface-disinfested navel orange fruit. Nine fruits were gently wounded with a needle, inoculated with 10 µl zoospore suspension (104 zoospores/ml) of three isolates separately, and three fruit treated with sterilized water as controls. All fruit were incubated at 25℃ with 80% relative humidity and the test was repeated three times. After 7 days of incubation, the fruit inoculated with P. nicotianae showed similar brown rot symptoms and the control fruit remained symptomless. The pathogen was re-isolated from all inoculated fruits and confirmed as P. nicotianae by morphological and molecular analysis. Phytophthora nicotianae was previously reported on Hamlin sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) fruit causing Phytophthora brown rot in Florida (Graham and Timmer 1995; Hao et al. 2018). To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. nicotianae causing Phytophthora brown rot of navel orange fruit in China. Based on the severity of this disease, local growers should develop and implement integrated disease management strategies for control.

First Report of Diaporthe fusicola Causing Postharvest Fruit Rot of Peach (Prunus persica) in China.

In May 2022, rot symptoms were observed on postharvest peach (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch) fruits in a market in Nanchang, Jiangxi province (28°44' N; 115°50' E), China. A total of 80 samples were collected from three different fruit stalls through the market survey. The incidence of this disease was 10 to 15%, and severity varies from approximately 30 to 50% of fruit surface coverage. The symptom of infected fruits was circular, pale brown to brown, rotten, necrotic lesions, covered with white hyphae and small spore masses. Eight symptomatic peach fruits were surface disinfected with 75% ethanol for 30 sec and incisions were made with a sterile scalpel. Small pieces from symptomatic tissues were placed on a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium and incubated at 25℃ for 7 days. Six isolates were obtained in total. Colonies on PDA were initially white, aerial, fluffy at first, and darkened with age. Alpha conidia were fusoid, hyaline, aseptate, guttulate, tapering towards ends, and ranged in size from 9.8 to 5.1 µm × 3.2 to 2.1 µm (x ̅=7.1 ± 1.0 × 2.6 ± 0.3 µm, n=60). Beta conidia were not seen. For further confirmation, genomic DNA was extracted from three isolates (04-10, 04-11, and 04-12), the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, beta-tubulin (TUB), calmodulin (CAL), partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) and histone H3 (HIS) genes were amplified by using primers ITS1/ITS4, Bt2a/Bt2b, CAL228F/CAL737R, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, CYLH3F/H3-1b (Udayanga et al. 2015), respectively. Sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. ON994257 to ON994259 for ITS, OP076824 to OP076826 for TUB, OP076827 to OP076829 for CAL, OP076821 to OP076823 for TEF1-α, OP076830 to OP076832 for HIS). BLAST results showed that ITS and TEF1-α have 99.8% pairwise identity to Diaporthe fusicola (MN816432, KF576256), and the TUB, CAL, and HIS sequences also have 100% pairwise identity to D. fusicola (KF576287, MT978147, MT978142). Phylogenetic analyses of concatenated sequences using Bayesian inference and the maximum likelihood confirmed the identity. To verify Koch's postulates, the pathogenicity of three isolates was tested on harvested healthy peach fruits. Five surface-sterilized fruits were wounded by a sterile scalpel and inoculated with 5-mm-diameter mycelial plugs from 10-day-old PDA plates. Another set of five fruits was inoculated with sterilized PDA plugs as controls. All fruits were incubated at 26℃ with 80% relative humidity. The experiment was repeated three times. After 5 days, the fruit inoculated with mycelial plugs showed pale brown lesions with whitish mycelium mass, similar to the previous rot symptoms, whereas the control fruit remained symptomless. The same pathogen was reisolated from the inoculated fruit with symptoms and identified as D. fusicola by molecular techniques, but never from the control. Diaporthe fusicola (Diaporthe amygdali complex) was first described on leaves of Lithocarpus glabra in China (Gao et al. 2015) and reported as an agent causing leaf blotch on Osmanthus fragrans (Si et al. 2020) and pear shoot canker (Guo et al. 2020). However, this is the first report of D. fusicola causing postharvest fruit rot on peach. The managers involved must consider the impact of this disease and develop an effective fruit storage strategy.

First Report of Brown Spot of Dekopon Fruit Caused by Cladosporium tenuissimum in China.

Dekopon citrus (Citrus reticulata Shiranui) is a three-way hybrid (Citrus unshiu Marcov. × C. sinensis Osbeck × C. reticulata Blanco) developed in Japan in 1972. This citrus is popular in China due to its sweet and tender taste (Lim 2012). In November of 2021, a brown spot disease on Dekopon fruits with about 20% disease incidence was observed in an orchard of the Institute of Citrus Research in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China. Initially, the symptoms appeared as slightly sunken deep red to purple spots on the fruit surface, with the disease progression, lesions became brown to brown-black large necrotic regions covered with a fluffy layer of gray spores. Infected fruits were surface sterilized with 70% ethanol for 30 sec and rinsed three times with sterile distilled water. Diseased tissues from the edge of lesions were cut into small segments, placed onto potato dextrose agar and incubated at 25℃ for 7 days. Ten single-spore isolates were obtained in total. Fungal colonies were olive green to dark green, velvet-like in texture and sporulated abundantly, surrounded by grayish-white hyphae. Conidiophores were subcylindrical, straight, septate, solitary or in clusters of two to three, and ranged in size from 65 to 550 × 3.8 to 6.3 µm (x ̅= 261.7 ± 60.5 × 5.2 ± 0.4 µm, n=50). Ramoconidia were cylindrical，aseptate, and 10 to 22 × 2.8 to 4.5 µm (x ̅= 15.5 ± 1.4 × 4.0 ± 0.9 µm, n=50). Conidia were lemon-shaped to oval-shaped, smooth-walled, and 1.8 to 5.0 × 1.4 to 2.5 µm (x ̅= 3.9 ± 0.4 × 2.2 ± 0.2 µm, n=50). The morphological characteristics of the pathogen were consistent with those of Cladosporium tenuissimum Cooke (Li et al. 2021). For further identification, DNA was extracted from two representative isolates. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, translation elongation factor (EF1-α), and actin (ACT) were amplified by using primers ITS1/ITS4, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, and ACT-512F/ACT-783R (Bensch et al. 2012), respectively. ITS (OM232067, OM232068), EF1-α (OM256525, OM256526) and ACT (OM256529, OM256530) sequences were deposited in GenBank. Multi-gene (combined data set of ITS, EF1-α and ACT) phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the Maximum Likelihood method (Nguyen et al. 2015). Based on the morphological characteristics and the molecular data, two fungal isolates were identified as C. tenuissimum. To evaluate pathogenicity, fifteen fruits were surface sterilized with 1% NaClO solution for 30 sec, rinsed twice with sterile distilled water and dried. Dekopon fruits (n=10) were wounded with a sterile needle and inoculated with a 10 µL drop of conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia/mL) of isolate GZCJ-1, followed by incubation at 25℃ and 80% relative humidity. The controls (n=5) were treated with sterile water and maintained under the same conditions. Five days after inoculation, small brown sunken spots were observed on the wounded and inoculated fruits. After 7 days, lesions were coated by a layer of brown conidia that were similar to those described above, whereas control remained symptomless. Pathogenicity test was repeated twice. Cladosporium tenuissimum was consistently re-isolated from inoculated fruits and confirmed by morphological and molecular data, fulfilling the Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. tenuissimum causing the brown spot of dekopon fruit in China and perhaps the world. The disease may become the potential risk for fruit production, making fruits unfit for marketing purposes, and the appropriate management actions will be necessary.