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Dark septate endophytes (DSEs) usually colonize plant roots, especially in stress environments. However, their relationship with plants ranges from beneficial to harmful and has remained largely uncharacterized. In the present study, 14 DSE species grouped into 11 genera were isolated from the roots of a desert plant

Background Events of gene fusion have been reported in several organisms. However, the general role of gene fusion as part of new gene origination remains unknown. Results We conduct genome-wide interrogations of four Oryza genomes by designing and implementing novel pipelines to detect fusion genes. Based on the phylogeny of ten plant species, we detect 310 fusion genes across four Oryza species. The estimated rate of origination of fusion genes in the Oryza genus is as high as 63 fusion genes per species per million years, which is fixed at 16 fusion genes per species per million years and much higher than that in flies. By RNA sequencing analysis, we find more than 44% of the fusion genes are expressed and 90% of gene pairs show strong signals of purifying selection. Further analysis of CRISPR/Cas9 knockout lines indicates that newly formed fusion genes regulate phenotype traits including seed germination, shoot length and root length, suggesting the functional significance of these genes. Conclusions We detect new fusion genes that may drive phenotype evolution in Oryza. This study provides novel insights into the genome evolution of Oryza.

Recently, tin oxide (SnO2) has been the preferred thin film material for semiconductor devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and superior electrical performance. However, the high oxygen vacancy (VO) concentration leads to poor performance of SnO2 thin films and devices. In this paper, with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the Si source, which can decompose to release heat and supply energy when annealing, Si doped SnO2 (STO) films and inverted staggered STO TFTs were successfully fabricated by a solution method. An XPS analysis showed that Si doping can effectively inhibit the formation of VO, thus reducing the carrier concentration and improving the quality of SnO2 films. In addition, the heat released from TEOS can modestly lower the preparation temperature of STO films. By optimizing the annealing temperature and Si doping content, 350 °C annealed STO TFTs with 5 at.% Si exhibited the best device performance: Ioff was as low as 10−10 A, Ion/Ioff reached a magnitude of 104, and Von was 1.51 V. Utilizing TEOS as an Si source has a certain reference significance for solution-processed metal oxide thin films in the future.

Optical detection is of great significance in various fields such as industry, military, and medical treatment, especially ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. Moreover, as the demand for wearable devices continues to increase, the UV photodetector, which is one of the most important sensors, has put forward higher requirements for bending resistance, durability, and transparency. Tin oxide (SnO2) has a wide band gap, high ultraviolet exciton gain, etc., and is considered to be an ideal material for preparing UV photodetectors. At present, SnO2-based UV photodetectors have a transparency of more than 70% in the visible light region and also have excellent flexibility of 160% tensile strain. Focusing on SnO2 nanostructures, the article mainly summarizes the progress of SnO2 UV photodetectors in flexibility and transparency in recent years and proposes feasible optimization directions and difficulties.

SnOx films were prepared by sol-gel spin coating technology on glass substrates at low temperature. Through the optimization of the solution process, the quality of the film was effectively improved. And the effects of rotating speed, substrate pretreatment and precursor concentration and other parameters on the films were emphatically discussed. It is found that the formation of the impurity particles and holes can be reduced and the film roughness can be decreased by treating the substrate with plasma. Adding a low-speed spin coating process before high-speed spin coating can significantly reduce the roughness of film. The roughness of film decreases, and the edge shrinkage phenomenon of film is improved with the increasing spin-coating speed. The thickness of the film increases linearly with the solution concentration, but the high concentration of precursor is easy to lead to the cracks of films. Based on the optimized solution process, SnOx films with flat, smooth surface (Rq = 0.25 nm) and high transparency (visible light transmittance >90%) can be prepared at low temperature, which is expected to be used in devices based on transparent films.