Major quality regulation network of flavonoid synthesis governing the bioactivity of black wolfberry.

Black wolfberry (Lycium ruthenicum Murr.) contains various bioactive metabolites represented by flavonoids, which are quite different among production regions. However, the underlying regulation mechanism of flavonoid biosynthesis governing the bioactivity of black wolfberry remains unclear. Presently, we compared the bioactivity of black wolfberry from five production regions. Multi-omics were performed to construct the regulation network associated with the fruit bioactivity. The detailed regulation mechanisms were identified using genetic and molecular methods. Typically, Qinghai (QH) fruit exhibited higher antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The higher medicinal activity of QH fruit was closely associated with the accumulation of eight flavonoids, especially Kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (K3R) and Quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (rutin). Flavonoid biosynthesis was found to be more active in QH fruit, and the upregulation of LrFLS, LrCHS, LrF3H and LrCYP75B1 caused the accumulation of K3R and rutin, leading to high medicinal bioactivities of black wolfberry. Importantly, transcription factor LrMYB94 was found to regulate LrFLS, LrCHS and LrF3H, while LrWRKY32 directly triggered LrCYP75B1 expression. Moreover, LrMYB94 interacted with LrWRKY32 to promote LrWRKY32-regulated LrCYP75B1 expression and rutin synthesis in black wolfberry. Transgenic black wolfberry overexpressing LrMYB94/LrWRKY32 contained higher levels of K3R and rutin, and exhibited high medicinal bioactivities. Importantly, the LrMYB94/LrWRKY32-regulated flavonoid biosynthesis was light-responsive, showing the importance of light intensity for the medicinal quality of black wolfberry. Overall, our results elucidated the regulation mechanisms of K3R and rutin synthesis, providing the basis for the genetic breeding of high-quality black wolfberry.

Sufficient coumarin accumulation improves apple resistance to Cytospora mali under high-potassium status.

Cytospora canker, caused by Cytospora mali, is the most destructive disease in production of apples (Malus domestica). Adding potassium (K) to apple trees can effectively control this disease. However, the underlying mechanisms of apple resistance to C. mali under high-K (HK) status remain unknown. Here, we found that HK (9.30 g/kg) apple tissues exhibited high disease resistance. The resistance was impeded when blocking K channels, leading to susceptibility even under HK conditions. We detected a suite of resistance events in HK apple tissues, including upregulation of resistance genes, callose deposition, and formation of ligno-suberized tissues. Further multiomics revealed that the phenylpropanoid pathway was reprogrammed by increasing K content from low-K (LK, 4.30 g/kg) status, leading to increases of 18 antifungal chemicals. Among them, the physiological concentration of coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone) became sufficient to inhibit C. mali growth in HK tissues, and exogenous application could improve the C. mali resistance of LK apple branches. Transgenic apple calli overexpressing beta-glucosidase 40 (MdBGLU40), which encodes the enzyme for coumarin synthesis, contained higher levels of coumarin and exhibited high resistance to C. mali even under LK conditions. Conversely, the suppression of MdBGLU40 through RNAi reduced coumarin content and resistance in HK apple calli, supporting the importance of coumarin accumulation in vivo for apple resistance. Moreover, we found that the upregulation of transcription factor MdMYB1r1 directly activated MdBGLU40 and the binding affinity of MdMYB1r1 to the MdBGLU40 promoter increased in HK apple tissue, leading to high levels of coumarin and resistance in HK apple. Overall, we found that the accumulation of defensive metabolites strengthened resistance in apple when raising K from insufficient to optimal status, and these results highlight the optimization of K content in fertilization practices as a disease management strategy.

Changes in planta K nutrient content altered the interaction pattern between Nicotiana benthamiana and Alternaria longipes.

Potassium (K) fertilisation has frequently been shown to enhance plant resistance against pathogens, though the mechanisms remain elusive. This study investigates the interaction dynamics between Nicotiana benthamiana and the pathogen Alternaria longipes under different planta K levels. On the host side, adding K activated the expressions of three NLR (nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat-containing proteins) resistance genes, including NbRPM1, NbR1B23 and NbNBS12. Silencing these NLRs attenuated resistance in high-K (HK, 40.8 g/kg) plant, whereas their overexpression strengthened resistance in low-K (LK, 23.9 g/kg) plant. Typically, these NLRs mainly strengthened plant resistance via promoting the expression of pathogenesis-related genes (PRs), ROS burst and synthesis of antifungal metabolites in HK plant. On the pathogen side, the expression of effectors HKCSP1, HKCSP2 and LKCSP were shown to be related to planta K content. A. longipes mainly expressed effectors HKCSP1 and HKCSP2 in HK plant to interfere host resistance. HKCSP1 physically interacted with NbRPM1 to promote the degradation of NbRPM1, then attenuated related resistance in HK N. benthamiana. Meanwhile, HKCSP2 directly interacted with NbPR5 to suppress resistance in HK plant. In LK plant, A. longipes mainly deployed LKCSP that interacted with NbR1B23 to interfere reduce resistance in N. benthamiana. Overall, our research insights that both pathogen and host mobilise distinct strategies to outcompete each other during interactions in different K nutrient environments.

Spin Polarization of 2D Weyl Semimetal Fe2Sn Enabling High Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity.

It is well known that magnetic field is one of the effective tools to improve the activity of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), but considering the inconvenient application of an external magnetic field, it is essential to find a ferromagnetic material with high HER activity itself. Fortunately, recent study has shown that the two-dimmention (2D) Fe2Sn monolayer is a stable ferromagnetic topological Weyl semimetal material with high Tc of 433 K. Here, we report the Fe2Sn monolayer can be used as an alternative HER catalyst compared with expensive platinum (Pt). Our first-principles results show that the Gibbs free energy (ΔGH*) value of the spin polarized Fe2Sn monolayer is -0.06 eV, much better than that without considering spin polarization (-1.23 eV). Moreover, the kinetic analysis demonstrates that the HER occurs on the Fe2Sn monolayer according to the Volmer-Tafel mechanism with low energy barriers. Hence, our findings provide obvious evidence for spin-polarization-improved HER activity, paving a new way to design high-performance HER catalysts.

Regulatory effects of Hemin on prevention and rescue of salt stress in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) seedlings.

BACKGROUND: Salt stress severely restricts rapeseed growth and productivity. Hemin can effectively alleviate salt stress in plants. However, the regulatory effect of Hemin on rapeseed in salt stress is unclear. Here, we analyzed the response and remediation mechanism of Hemin application to rapeseed before and after 0.6% (m salt: m soil) NaCl stress. Experiment using two Brassica napus (AACC, 2n = 38) rapeseed varieties Huayouza 158R (moderately salt-tolerant) and Huayouza 62 (strongly salt-tolerant). To explore the best optional ways to improve salt stress resistance in rapeseed. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that exogenous application of Hemin enhanced morph-physiological traits of rapeseed and significantly attenuate the inhibition of NaCl stress. Compared to Hemin (SH) treatment, Hemin (HS) significantly improved seedlings root length, seedlings height, stem diameter and accumulated more dry matter biomass under NaCl stress. Moreover, Hemin (HS) significantly improved photosynthetic efficiency, activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and decreased electrolyte leakage (EL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content, thus resulting in the alleviation of oxidative membrane damage. Hemin (HS) showed better performance than Hemin (SH) under NaCl stress. CONCLUSION: Hemin could effectively mitigate the adverse impacts of salt stress by regulating the morph-physiological, photosynthetic and antioxidants traits of rapeseed. This study may provide a basis for Hemin to regulate cultivated rapeseed salt tolerance and explore a better way to alleviate salt stress.

Combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of alginate oligosaccharides alleviating salt stress in rice seedlings.

BACKGROUND: Salt stress is one of the key factors limiting rice production. Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) enhance plant stress resistance. However, the molecular mechanism underlying salt tolerance in rice induced by AOS remains unclear. FL478, which is a salt-tolerant indica recombinant inbred line and IR29, a salt-sensitive rice cultivar, were used to comprehensively analyze the effects of AOS sprayed on leaves in terms of transcriptomic and metabolite profiles of rice seedlings under salt stress. RESULTS: In this experiment, exogenous application of AOS increased SOD, CAT and APX activities, as well as GSH and ASA levels to reduce the damage to leaf membrane, increased rice stem diameter, the number of root tips, aboveground and subterranean biomass, and improved rice salt tolerance. Comparative transcriptomic analyses showed that the regulation of AOS combined with salt treatment induced the differential expression of 305 and 1030 genes in FL478 and IR29. The expressed genes enriched in KEGG pathway analysis were associated with antioxidant levels, photosynthesis, cell wall synthesis, and signal transduction. The genes associated with light-trapping proteins and RLCK receptor cytoplasmic kinases, including CBA, LHCB, and Lhcp genes, were fregulated in response to salt stress. Treatment with AOS combined with salt induced the differential expression of 22 and 50 metabolites in FL478 and IR29. These metabolites were mainly related to the metabolism of amino and nucleotide sugars, tryptophan, histidine, and ß -alanine. The abundance of metabolites associated with antioxidant activity, such as 6-hydroxymelatonin, wedelolactone and L-histidine increased significantly. Combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses revealed that dehydroascorbic acid in the glutathione and ascorbic acid cycles plays a vital role in salt tolerance mediated by AOS. CONCLUSION: AOS activate signal transduction, regulate photosynthesis, cell wall formation, and multiple antioxidant pathways in response to salt stress. This study provides a molecular basis for the alleviation of salt stress-induced damage by AOS in rice.

Orientational Alignment of Oxygen Vacancies: Electric-Field-Inducing Conductive Channels in TiO2 Film to Boost Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 into CO.

Oxide semiconductors are widely used in the photocatalytic fields, and introducing oxygen vacancies is an effective strategy to improve their photocatalytic efficiency. However, oxygen vacancies in the bulk often act as the recombination centers of electron-hole pairs, which accelerates the recombination of electron-hole pairs. In this paper, we propose a strategy of electric field treatment and apply it to a TiO2 film with oxygen vacancies to promote the photocatalytic efficiency. After treatment by an electric field, the conductive channels consisting of oxygen vacancies are formed in the TiO2 film, which greatly decreases the resistance by almost 6 × 103 times. The yield of CO can reach up to 1.729 mmol gcat-1 h-1, which is one of the best performances among the reported TiO2-based catalysts. This work provides an effective and feasible way for enhancing photocatalytic activity through an electric field, and this method is promising for wide use in the field of catalysis.

Enhancing the Curie temperature of two-dimensional monolayer CrI3 by introducing I-vacancies and interstitial H-atoms.

The discovery of two-dimensional monolayer CrI3 provides a promising possibility for developing spintronic devices. However, the low Curie temperature is an obstacle for practical applications. Here, based on the consideration of the superexchange interaction of ferromagnetic coupling, we investigate the effect of introducing I-vacancies and interstitial H-atoms on the Curie temperature of monolayer CrI3 by using first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. Our theoretical conclusions show that the Curie temperature of Cr8I23 (CrI2.875), Cr8I22 (CrI2.75) and Cr8I24H (CrI3H0.125) significantly increases to 97.0, 82.5 and 112.4 K, respectively. Moreover, the magnetic moment of the Cr atom increases from 3.10 to 3.45 and 3.46µB in monolayers Cr8I23 and Cr8I22, respectively. We provide more alternative approaches to effectively enhance the Curie temperature of monolayer CrI3, which will help both theoretical and experimental researchers to directly predict the change in Curie temperature of CrI3 and its analogs through structural information.

Boosting the figure of merit of refractive index sensing via magnetoplasmon in H-shaped magnetoplasmonic crystals.

Nanoscale refractive index (RI) sensors based on plasmonic structures usually suffer from a low figure of merit (FoM) due to the broad linewidth of the resonance peaks. Here, we report a magnetoplasmon-based RI sensing method with high FoM in the designed H-shaped magnetoplasmonic crystals. Instead of the light intensity spectrum, the Faraday signal is detected to analyze the changes of the surrounding RI. Sharp resonance with extremely narrow linewidth is obtained by plotting the reciprocal Faraday rotation near the null point region. Therefore, the FoM is hugely enhanced, and a theoretical value exceeding 1775/RIU is achieved, which is one order of magnitude higher than has ever been reported, to the best of our knowledge, for the RI sensor based on the Faraday effect. The Faraday reversal and the enhanced FoM arise from the Fano resonance. These findings are of potential value for practical high performance biochemical sensors.

Structurally ordered Pt3Co for oxygen reduction reaction prepared using polyvinylpyrrolidone as auxiliary dispersant.

Structurally ordered Pt3Co/C nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained via a spray paint drying method with an annealing treatment. The addition of a suitable dose of polyvinylpyrrolidone resulted in a narrow size distribution of the Pt3Co/C-600-1 NPs, an average particle size of ca. 4.6 nm, which may be due to the enhanced dispersion in aqueous solution resulting from the carbon support. The sample denoted as Pt3Co/C-600-1 NPs performs high activity for oxygen reduction reaction with the mass activity (MA) ca. 3 times higher than that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst at 0.9 V. Accelerated durability tests (ADTs) showed that Pt3Co/C-600-1 NPs exhibit superior stability with a minimal loss of 17.5% in MA at 0.9 V after 5000 cycles, while Pt/C catalysts show loss of 44.4%. This simple two-step strategy provides an effective way to prepare Pt-based catalysts for industrial application.

Critical phenomenon in the room-temperature ferromagnet Ce0.65Mg0.35Co3 prepared by high-pressure annealing.

Numerous studies have showed evidence that high-pressure annealing (HPA) can modify the crystal and electronic structure significantly, which thus probably alters the magnetic ordering with a different universality class. In this work, we investigate the effects of HPA on the critical behaviors of magnetization in a room-temperature ferromagnet Ce0.65Mg0.35Co3. We observe the HPA compound after annealing at 2 GPa undergoing a second-order phase transition with a decreased Curie temperature. Using the DC magnetization data, the critical exponents ß, γ and δ are calculated independently by three methods including the modified Arrott plot, the Kouvel-Fisher plot, and critical isotherm analysis. The obtained critical parameters together with the magnetization data obey the scaling equation of state, indicating that they are intrinsic and unambiguous. Furthermore, we notice that HPA not only reduces the intensity of exchange coupling, but also elongates the exchange range with J(r) ∼r-4.467, which leads to a universality class different from that of the conventional compound and the existing theoretical models.

Ambient Degradation-Induced Spin Paramagnetism in Phosphorene.

The sizeable direct bandgap, high mobility, and long spin lifetimes at room temperature offer black phosphorus (BP) potential applications in spin-based semiconductor devices. Toward these applications, a critical step is creating a magnetic response in BP, which is arousing much interest. It is reported here that ambient degradation of BP, which is immediate and inevitable and greatly changes the semiconducting properties, creates magnetic moments, and any degree of degradation leads to notable paramagnetism. Its Landau factor g measured is ≈1.995, revealing that the magnetization mainly results from spin rather than orbital moments. Such magnetism most likely results from the unsaturated phosphorus in the vacancies which are stabilized by O adatoms. It can be tuned by changing any one of the ambient factors of ambient temperature, humidity, and light intensity, and can be stabilized by exposing BP in argon. The findings highlight the importance of evaluating the effect of ambient degradation-induced magnetism on BP's spin-based devices. The work seems an essential milestone toward the forthcoming research upsurge on BP's magnetism.

Tuning the magneto-optical Kerr effect by the nanograting cross section.

The magneto-optical Kerr effect, especially the Kerr slope, is of great significance to magneto-optical devices. Herein, we developed a method to tune the magneto-optical effect by the nanograting cross section. Both the simulation and experiment confirm that the resonance strength of the plasmon can be modulated by the nanograting cross section, resulting in the large Kerr slope and Kerr rotation. By designing the nanograting cross section, we obtained the Kerr slope of 0.397°/nm, which is 4 orders of magnitude higher than the reported results. And the Kerr rotation of the magnetic nanograting reaches up to 1.218°, which is 24 times higher than the flat Co film. Such a huge enhancement on the Kerr slope and the Kerr rotation may have profound applications in magneto-optical devices in the future.

Exchange-biased hybrid γ-Fe2O3/NiO core-shell nanostructures: three-step synthesis, microstructure, and magnetic properties.

A two-step solvothermal method combining a calcination process was conducted to synthesize γ-Fe2O3/NiO core-shell nanostructures with controlled microstructure. The formation mechanism of this binary system has been discussed, and the influence of microstructures on magnetic properties has been analyzed in detail. Microstructural characterizations reveal that the NiO shells consisted of many irregular nanosheets with disordered orientations and monocrystalline structures, packed on the surface of the γ-Fe2O3 microspheres. Both the grain size and NiO content of nanostructures increase with the increasing calcination temperature from 300 °C to 400 °C, accompanied by an enhancement of the compactness of NiO shells. Magnetic studies indicate that their magnetic properties are determined by four factors: the size effect, NiO phase content, interface microstructure, i.e. contact mode, area, roughness and compactness, and FM-AFM (where FM and AFM denote the ferromagnetic γ-Fe2O3 and the antiferromagnetic NiO components, respectively) coupling effect. At 5 K, the γ-Fe2O3/NiO core-shell nanostructures display certain exchange bias (HE = 60 Oe) and enhanced coercivity (HC = 213 Oe).

Enhancing the figure of merit of refractive index sensors by magnetoplasmons in nanogratings.

The sensing performance of one-dimensional magnetic nanograting based on magnetoplasmons was investigated. The predictable Kerr reversal and enhancement are achieved in our experiment. The further result shows that the shift of the Kerr null point has a linear relationship with the surrounding refractive index in a wide range. In addition, a huge figure of merit (FoM) of 1728/refractive index unit is achieved, which is 1 order of magnitude higher than the results reported. The experiment and theory confirm that the excitation of surface plasmons leads to the Kerr reversal and enhancement, resulting in a huge FoM.

Excellent microwave response derived from the construction of dielectric-loss 1D nanostructure.

Increasing efforts have recently been devoted to the artificial design and function of nanostructures for their application prospects in catalysis, drug delivery, energy storage, and microwave absorption. With the advantages of natural abundance, low cost, and environment friendliness, a one-dimensional (1D) MnO2 nanowire (MW) is the representative dielectric-loss absorber for its special morphology and crystalline structure. However, its low reflection loss (RL) value due to its thin thickness limits its wide development and application in the microwave absorption field. In this work, artificially designed MnO2@AIR@C (MCs), namely, 1D hollow carbon nanotubes filled with nano-MnO2, were designed and synthesized. It is found that the RL value of the MC is almost lower than -10 dB. Furthermore, the RL value was able to achieve -18.9 dB with an effective bandwidth (-10 dB) of 5.84 GHz at 2.25 mm. Simultaneously, the dielectric and interfacial polarization became stronger while the impedance matching was much better than in the single MWs. Hence, the rational design and fabrication of micro-architecture are essential and MC has great potential to be an outstanding microwave absorber.

The flaky porous Fe3O4 with tunable dimensions for enhanced microwave absorption performance in X and C bands.

Special electric and magnetic characteristics make Fe3O4 widely applied in the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption region. However, for pure Fe3O4, it is still a challenge to simultaneously obtain high absorption intensity and broadband absorption at a low thickness, owing to its low dielectric property. As we realized, flake configuration and the porous structure have obviously promote the EM wave absorption property. Because the former can lead to multi-reflection between flakes and the latter is conductive to interface polarization, flaky Fe3O4 with a porous and coarse surface was designed to overcome the deficiency of traditional Fe3O4 particles. The experimental results demonstrate that the flaky configuration is conductive to enhancing the dielectric coefficient and optimizing impedance matching. Moreover, the complex permittivity rises with the aspect ratio of the sheet. Under a suitable dimension, the flaky Fe3O4 could acquire targeted EM wave absorption capacity in the X band (8-12 GHz). In detail, the maximum reflection loss (RL) could reach a strong intensity of -49 dB at 2.05 mm. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) with RL below -10 dB is 4.32 (7.52-11.84) GHz, which is almost equivalent to the whole X band (8-12 GHz). Even more exciting, when regulating the thickness between 2.05 and 3.05 mm, the EAB could cover the entire C and X bands (4-12 GHz). This study provides a good reference for the future development of other ferromagnetic materials toward specific microwave bands.

Half-metallicity in a honeycomb-kagome-lattice Mg3C2 monolayer with carrier doping.

To obtain high-performance spintronic devices with high integration density, two-dimensional (2D) half-metallic materials are highly desired. Herein, we proposed a stable 2D material, i.e., the Mg3C2 monolayer, with a honeycomb-kagome lattice based on the particle-swarm optimization algorithm and first-principles calculations. This monolayer is an anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductor in its ground state. We have also demonstrated that a transition from an AFM semiconductor to a ferromagnetic half-metal in this 2D material can be induced by carrier (electron or hole) doping. The half-metallicity arises from the 2pz orbitals of the carbon (C) atoms for the electron-doped system and from the C 2px and 2py orbitals in the case of hole doping. Our findings highlight a new promising material with controllable magnetic and electronic properties towards 2D spintronic applications.

A facile self-template strategy for synthesizing 1D porous Ni@C nanorods towards efficient microwave absorption.

Ni@C composites, which simultaneously possess porous, core-shell and 1D nanostructures have been synthesized with a facile self-template strategy. The precursors were obtained by a hydrothermal process using NiCl2 · 6H2O and nitrilotriacetic acid as the starting material and then annealed at 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C. The Ni@C composites annealed at 500 °C display a nanorod feature with a length of ∼3 µm and diameter of 230-500 nm. In addition, about 3 nm carbon shells and 4 nm Ni cores can be found in Ni@C nanorods. Attributed to the interconnected mesoporous texture in nanorods, strengthened interfacial polarization from core-shell structure, and better impedance matching benefiting from a great deal of pores, Ni@C nanorod composites exhibit perfect microwave absorption performance. The minimum reflection loss (RL) value of -26.3 dB can be gained at 10.8 GHz with a thickness of 2.3 mm. Moreover, the effective bandwidth (RL ≤ -10 dB) can be achieved, 5.2 GHz (12.24-17.4 GHz) under an absorber thickness of 1.8 mm, indicating its great potential in the microwave absorption field. Considering this technique is facile and effective, our study may provide a good reference for the synthesis of 1D carbon-based microwave absorbers with core-shell nanostructure.

Metal-free spin and spin-gapless semiconducting heterobilayers: monolayer boron carbonitrides on hexagonal boron nitride.

The interfaces between monolayer boron carbonitrides and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) play an important role in their practical applications. Herein, we respectively investigate the structural and electronic properties of two metal-free heterobilayers constructed by vertically stacking two-dimensional (2D) spintronic materials (B4CN3 and B3CN4) on a h-BN monolayer from the viewpoints of lattice match and lattice mismatch models using density functional calculations. It is found that both B4CN3 and B3CN4 monolayers can be stably adsorbed on the h-BN monolayer due to the van der Waals interactions. Intriguingly, we demonstrate that the bipolar magnetic semiconductor (BMS) behavior of the B4CN3 layer and the spin gapless semiconductor (SGS) property of the B3CN4 layer can be well preserved in the B4CN3/BN and B3CN4/BN heterobilayers, respectively. The magnetic moments and spintronic properties of the two systems originate mainly from the 2pz electrons of the carbon atoms in the B4CN3 and B3CN4 layers. Furthermore, the BMS behavior of the B4CN3/BN bilayer is very robust while the electronic property of the B3CN4/BN bilayer is sensitive to interlayer couplings. These theoretical results are helpful both in understanding the interlayer coupling between B4CN3 or B3CN4 and h-BN monolayers and in providing a possibility of fabricating 2D composite B4CN3/BN and B3CN4/BN metal-free spintronic materials theoretically.