In situ potential-regulated architecture of an ultrafine Ru-based electrocatalyst for ultralow overpotential lithium-oxygen batteries.

An in situ electrochemical reduction strategy is proposed to avoid the aggregation of nano-Ru in lithium batteries for the first time. The high-dispersion face-centered cubic (fcc) nano-Ru is successfully synthesized with an average diameter of 2.0 nm, and the as-assembled lithium-oxygen batteries deliver an excellent cycling performance of 185 cycles and an ultralow overpotential of only 0.20 V at 100 mA g-1.

Arabidopsis SMO2 modulates ribosome biogenesis by maintaining the RID2 abundance during organ growth.

Ribosome biogenesis is a process of making ribosomes that is tightly linked with plant growth and development. Here, through a suppressor screen for the smo2 mutant, we found that lack of a ribosomal stress response mediator, ANAC082 partially restored growth defects of the smo2 mutant, indicating SMO2 is required for the repression of nucleolar stress. Consistently, the smo2 knock-out mutant exhibited typical phenotypes characteristic of ribosome biogenesis mutants, such as pointed leaves, aberrant leaf venation, disrupted nucleolar structure, abnormal distribution of rRNA precursors, and enhanced tolerance to aminoglycoside antibiotics that target ribosomes. SMO2 interacted with ROOT INITIATION DEFECTIVE 2 (RID2), a methyltransferase-like protein required for pre-rRNA processing. SMO2 enhanced RID2 solubility in Escherichia coli and the loss of function of SMO2 in plant cells reduced RID2 abundance, which may result in abnormal accumulation of FIBRILLARIN 1 (FIB1) and NOP56, two key nucleolar proteins, in high-molecular-weight protein complex. Taken together, our results characterized a novel plant ribosome biogenesis factor, SMO2 that maintains the abundance of RID2, thereby sustaining ribosome biogenesis during plant organ growth.

Genome Editing-Based Engineering of CESA3 Dual Cellulose-Inhibitor-Resistant Plants.

The rapid appearance of herbicide-resistant weeds combined with a lack of novel herbicides being brought to market reduces crop production, thereby threatening food security worldwide. Here, we report on the use of the previously identified cellulose biosynthesis-inhibiting chemical compound C17 as a potential herbicide. Toxicity tests showed that C17 efficiently inhibits the growth of various weeds and widely cultivated dicotyledonous crops, whereas only slight or no growth inhibition was observed for monocotyledonous crops. Surprisingly, when exposed to a mixture of C17 and one of two well-known cellulose biosynthesis inhibitors (CBIs), isoxaben and indaziflam, an additive growth inhibition was observed, demonstrating that C17 has a different mode of action that can be used to sensitize plants toward known CBIs. Moreover, we demonstrate that a C17-resistant CESA3 allele can be used as a positive transformation selection marker and that C17 resistance can be obtained through genome engineering of the wild-type CESA3 allele using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-mediated base editing. This editing system allowed us to engineer C17 tolerance in an isoxaben-resistant line, resulting in double herbicide-resistant plants.

Lithium cell-assisted low-overpotential Li-O2 batteries by in situ discharge activation.

We report a novel and facile route to improve the catalytic performance of carbon paper-based electrocatalysts, which can be activated by in situ discharging with the assistance of a Li cell. Our results show that the OER potentials were successfully reduced to ∼3.5 V, much lower than the value of 4.5 V for graphite paper, which is the best result recorded amongst the reported carbon-based electrocatalysts.