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The direct discharge of boron mud poses significant environmental hazards to soil and groundwater. Despite extensive research efforts, the reprocessing of boron mud has not yielded significant advancements. Recently, the development of magnesium cement has spurred interest in the reutilization of boron mud. However, the direct treatment of boron mud remains challenging, necessitating pre-treatment in most studies to achieve substantial results. Consequently, research on the direct incorporation of untreated boron mud is scarce. This study explores the feasibility of using uncalcined boron mud as a base material in basic magnesium sulfate cement (BMSC), composed of lightly calcined magnesia and magnesium sulfate heptahydrate. The effects of varying boron mud content on the compressive strength of the BMSC system were investigated. The results indicate that the 5·1·7 phase is the primary strength phase of BMSC. When the boron mud content is 30%, the uncalcined boron mud has a minimal impact on the formation of the 5·1·7 phase. Additionally, the 28 days compressive strength of BMSC-B30 showed a slight difference compared to the control group BMSC-C, registering at 66.7 MPa. TG-DSC analysis revealed that the presence of a small amount of boron mud inhibits the micro-expansion trend of the BMSC structure. Furthermore, XRD and SEM analyses confirmed that the addition of uncalcined boron mud does not significantly alter the phase structure of the 5·1·7 phase in BMSC. This study provides a foundational basis for the long-term development of direct boron mud treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intelligent warehouse is a modern logistics management system that uses technologies like the Internet of Things, robots, and artificial intelligence to realize automated management and optimize warehousing operations. The multi-robot system (MRS) is an important carrier for implementing an intelligent warehouse, which completes various tasks in the warehouse through cooperation and coordination between robots. As an extension of reinforcement learning and a kind of swarm intelligence, MARL (multi-agent reinforcement learning) can effectively create the multi-robot systems in intelligent warehouses. However, MARL-based multi-robot systems in intelligent warehouses face serious safety issues, such as collisions, conflicts, and congestion. To deal with these issues, this paper proposes a safe MARL method based on runtime verification, i.e., an optimized safety policy-generation framework, for multi-robot systems in intelligent warehouses. The framework consists of three stages. In the first stage, a runtime model SCMG (safety-constrained Markov Game) is defined for the multi-robot system at runtime in the intelligent warehouse. In the second stage, rPATL (probabilistic alternating-time temporal logic with rewards) is used to express safety properties, and SCMG is cyclically verified and refined through runtime verification (RV) to ensure safety. This stage guarantees the safety of robots' behaviors before training. In the third stage, the verified SCMG guides SCPO (safety-constrained policy optimization) to obtain an optimized safety policy for robots. Finally, a multi-robot warehouse (RWARE) scenario is used for experimental evaluation. The results show that the policy obtained by our framework is safer than existing frameworks and includes a certain degree of optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and recurrent disease. It has been observed that the incidence and prevalence of IBD are increasing, which consequently raises the risk of developing colon cancer. Recently, the regulation of the intestinal barrier by probiotics has become an effective treatment for colitis. Akkermansia muciniphila-derived extracellular vesicles (Akk EVs) are nano-vesicles that contain multiple bioactive macromolecules with the potential to modulate the intestinal barrier. In this study, we used ultrafiltration in conjunction with high-speed centrifugation to extract Akk EVs. A lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cell model was established to assess the anti-inflammatory effects of Akk EVs. It was found that Akk EVs were able to be absorbed by RAW264.7 cells and significantly reduce the expression of nitric oxide (NO), TNF-α, and IL-1β (p < 0.05). We explored the preventative effects on colitis and the regulating effects on the intestinal barrier using a mouse colitis model caused by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). The findings demonstrated that Akk EVs effectively prevented colitis symptoms and reduced colonic tissue injury. Additionally, Akk EVs significantly enhanced the effectiveness of the intestinal barrier by elevating the expression of MUC2 (0.53 ± 0.07), improving mucus integrity, and reducing intestinal permeability (p < 0.05). Moreover, Akk EVs increased the proportion of the beneficial bacteria Firmicutes (33.01 ± 0.09%) and downregulated the proportion of the harmful bacteria Proteobacteria (0.32 ± 0.27%). These findings suggest that Akk EVs possess the ability to regulate immune responses, protect intestinal barriers, and modulate the gut microbiota. The research presents a potential intervention approach for Akk EVs to prevent colitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although shape memory alloy/Polyvinyl alcohol (SMA/PVA) hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composites, (SMA/PVA-ECC) exhibit excellent crack closure and deformation recovery capabilities, however, the research on their fundamental mechanical properties is still limited. This study investigates the tensile mechanical properties of SMA/PVA-ECC materials by conducting uniaxial tensile tests, analyzing the failure behavior, stress–strain curves, and characteristic parameters of the specimens, comparing the influence of SMA fiber content and diameter, and establishing a tensile constitutive model. The results show that the residual crack width of SMA/PVA-ECC specimens significantly decreases after unloading, and SMA fiber content and diameter have a significant impact on the tensile properties of the specimens. The comprehensive tensile properties of specimens with a fiber diameter of 0.2 mm and content of 0.2% are the best, with their initial cracking strength, ultimate strength, and strain increasing by 56.4%, 23.6%, and 13.4%, respectively, compared to ECC specimens. The proposed bilinear tensile constitutive model has high accuracy. This study provides a theoretical basis for further research on SMA/PVA-ECC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrastive learning shows great potential in deep clustering. It uses constructed pairs to discover the feature distribution that is required for the clustering task. In addition to conventional augmented pairs, recent methods have introduced more methods of creating highly confident pairs, such as nearest neighbors, to provide more semantic prior knowledge. However, existing works only use partial pairwise similarities to construct semantic pairs locally without capturing the entire sample's relationships from a global perspective. In this paper, we propose a novel clustering framework called graph attention contrastive learning (GACL) to aggregate more semantic information. To this end, GACL is designed to simultaneously perform instance-level and graph-level contrast. Specifically, with its novel graph attention mechanism, our model explores more undiscovered pairs and selectively focuses on informative pairs. To ensure local and global clustering consistency, we jointly use the designed graph-level and instance-level contrastive losses. Experiments on six challenging image benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of our proposed approach over state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease primarily characterized by cartilage degeneration. Milk-derived extracellular vesicles (mEVs) were reported to inhibit catabolic and inflammatory processes in the cartilage of OA patients. However, the current therapies target the advanced symptoms of OA, and it is significant to develop a novel strategy to inhibit the processes driving OA pathology. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of mEVs in alleviating OA in vivo. The results revealed that mEVs ameliorated cartilage degeneration by increasing hyaline cartilage thickness, decreasing histological Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) scores, enhancing matrix synthesis, and reducing the expression of cartilage destructive enzymes in the destabilization of medial meniscus (DMM) mice. In addition, the disturbed gut microbiota in DMM mice was partially improved upon treatment with mEVs. It was observed that the pro-inflammatory bacteria (Proteobacteria) were reduced and the potential beneficial bacteria (Firmicutes, Ruminococcaceae, Akkermansiaceae) were increased. mEVs could alleviate the progression of OA by restoring matrix homeostasis and reshaping the gut microbiota. These findings suggested that mEVs might be a potential therapeutic dietary supplement for the treatment of OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Both sugar and the hormone gibberellin (GA) are essential for anther‐enclosed pollen development and thus for plant productivity in flowering plants. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AtSWEET13 and AtSWEET14, which are expressed in anthers and associated with seed yield, transport both sucrose and GA. However, it is still unclear which substrate transported by them directly affects anther development and seed yield.Histochemical staining, cross‐sectioning and microscopy imaging techniques were used to investigate and interpret the phenotypes of the atsweet13;14 double mutant during anther development. Genetic complementation of atsweet13;14 using AtSWEET9, which transports sucrose but not GA, and the GA transporter AtNPF3.1, respectively, was conducted to test the substrate preference relevant to the biological process.The loss of both AtSWEET13 and AtSWEET14 resulted in reduced pollen viability and therefore decreased pollen germination. AtSWEET9 fully rescued the defects in pollen viability and germination of atsweet13;14, whereas AtNPF3.1 failed to do so, indicating that AtSWEET13/14‐mediated sucrose rather than GA is essential for pollen fertility.AtSWEET13 and AtSWEET14 function mainly at the anther wall during late anther development stages, and they probably are responsible for sucrose efflux into locules to support pollen development to maturation, which is vital for subsequent pollen viability and germination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seawater electrolysis is an attractive technique for mass production of high‐purity hydrogen considering the abundance of seawater. Nevertheless, due to the complexity of seawater environment, efficient anode catalyst, that should be, cost effective, highly active for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) but negligible for Cl2/ClO– formation, and robust toward chlorine corrosion, is urgently demanded for large‐scale application. Although catalysis typically appears at surface, while the bulk properties and morphology structure also have a significant impact on the performance, thus requiring a systematic optimization. Herein, a multiscale engineering approach toward the development of cost‐effective and robust OER electrocatalyst for operation in seawater is reported. Specifically, the engineering of hollow‐sphere structure can facilitate the removal of gas product, while atom‐level synergy between Co and Fe can promote Co sites transforming to active phase, and in situ transformation of sulfate ions layer protects catalysts from corrosion. As a result, the as‐developed hollow‐sphere structured CoFeSx electrocatalyst can stably operate at a high current density of 100 mA cm–2 in the alkaline simulated seawater (pH = 13) for 700 h and in a neutral seawater for 20 h without attenuation. It provides a new strategy for the development of electrocatalysts with a broader application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epialleles, the heritable epigenetic variants that are not caused by changes in DNA sequences, can broaden genetic and phenotypic diversity and benefit to crop breeding, but very few epialleles related to agricultural traits have been identified in maize. Here, we cloned a small kernel mutant, smk-wl10 , from maize, which encoded a tubulin-folding cofactor B (ZmTFCB) protein. Expression of the ZmTFCB gene decreased in the smk-wl10 mutant, which arrested embryo, endosperm and basal endosperm transfer layer developments. Overexpression of ZmTFCB could complement the defective phenotype of smk-wl10. No nucleotide sequence variation in ZmTFCB could be found between smk-wl10 and wild type (WT). Instead, we detected hypermethylation of nucleotide CHG (where H is A, C or T nucleotide) sequence contexts and increased level of histone H3K9me2 methylation in the upstream sequence of ZmTFCB in smk-wl10 compared with WT, which might respond to the attenuating transcription of ZmTFCB. In addition, yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays identified a strong interaction between ZmTFCB and its homolog ZmTFCE. Thus, our work identifies a novel epiallele of the maize ZmTFCB gene, which might represent a common phenomenon in the epigenetic regulation of important traits such as kernel development in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and ultra‐broadband red phosphor CsMg2P3O10: Mn2+ (CMPO: Mn2+) is first synthesized toward indoor plant growth LEDs. The phase purity, element composition, crystal, and local electronic structure are explored to discuss the structure and photoluminescence properties. Structure refinement and series X‐ray diffractometer (XRD) results show that CMPO: Mn2+ is well crystallized in an orthogonal crystal system. The diffuse reflection and excitation spectra show that CMPO: Mn2+ has strong absorption around near ultraviolet region, assigned to the [6A1 → 4E(4D), 4T2(4D), [4A1(4G), 4E(4G)], and 4T1(4G)] transitions of Mn2+, respectively. Upon 415 nm excitation, an efficient red emission centered at 647 nm with ultra‐broad full width at half‐maximum (FWHM ∼ 100 nm) and high quantum efficiency (IQE ∼ 44.3 %) is observed, and because of the ultra‐broad FWHM, the red emission is well accordant with the absorption spectra band of phytochrome PR and PFR. The optimal doping contents, lifetime as well as interaction mechanism of CMPO: Mn2+ are discussed in detail. Finally, the excellent thermal stability (84.5% @ 140°C) and related thermal quenching mechanism of CMPO: Mn2+ are discussed. The above results indicate that CMPO: Mn2+ phosphors have great potential for application in plant growth LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple disease resistance (MDR) in maize has attracted increasing attention. However, the interplay between cell death and metabolite changes and their contributions to MDR remains elusive in maize. In this study, we identified a mutant named as lesion mimic 30 (les30) that showed 'suicidal' lesion formation in the absence of disease and had enhanced resistance to the fungal pathogen Curvularia lunata. Using map-based cloning, we identified the causal gene encoding pheophorbide a oxidase (PAO), which is known to be involved in chlorophyll degradation and MDR, and is encoded by LETHAL LEAF SPOT1 (LLS1). LLS1 was found to be induced by both biotic and abiotic stresses. Transcriptomics analysis showed that genes involved in defense responses and secondary metabolite biosynthesis were mildly activated in leaves of the les30 mutant without lesions, whilst they were strongly activated in leaves with lesions. In addition, in les30 leaves with lesions, there was overaccumulation of defense-associated phytohormones including jasmonic acid and salicylic acid, and of phytoalexins including phenylpropanoids, lignin, and flavonoids, suggesting that their biosynthesis was activated in a lesion-dependent manner. Taken together, our study implies the existence of an interactive amplification loop of interrupted chlorophyll degradation, cell death, expression of defense-related genes, and metabolite changes that results in suicidal lesion formation and MDR, and this has the potential to be exploited by genetic manipulation to improve maize disease resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant surfaces are covered with cuticle wax and are the first barrier between a plant and environmental stresses. Eceriferum (CER) is an important gene family involved in wax biosynthesis and stress resistance. In this study, for the first time, 34 CER genes were identified in the passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) genome, and PeCER proteins varied in physicochemical properties. A phylogenetic tree was constructed and divided into seven clades to identify the evolutionary relationship with other plant species. Gene structure analyses revealed that conserved motifs ranged from 1 to 24, and that exons ranged from 1 to 29. The cis -element analysis provides insight into possible roles of PeCER genes in plant growth, development and stress responses. The syntenic analysis revealed that segmental (six gene pairs) and tandem (six gene pairs) gene duplication played an important role in the expansion of PeCER genes and underwent a strong purifying selection. In addition, 12 putative ped-miRNAs were identified to be targeting 16 PeCER genes, and PeCER6 was the most targeted by four miRNAs including ped-miR157a-5p, ped-miR164b-5p, ped-miR319b, and ped-miR319l. Potential transcription factors (TFs) such as ERF, AP2, MYB, and bZIP were predicted and visualized in a TF regulatory network interacting with PeCER genes. GO and KEGG annotation analysis revealed that PeCER genes were highly related to fatty acid, cutin, and wax biosynthesis, plant-pathogen interactions, and stress response pathways. The hypothesis that most PeCER proteins were predicted to localize to the plasma membrane was validated by transient expression assays of PeCER32 protein in onion epidermal cells. qRT-PCR expression results showed that most of the PeCER genes including PeCER1, PeCER11, PeCER15, PeCER17 , and PeCER32 were upregulated under drought and Fusarium kyushuense stress conditions compared to controls. These findings provide a foundation for further studies on functions of PeCER genes to further facilitate the genetic modification of passion fruit wax biosynthesis and stress resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing hydrogen via water electrolysis could be a favorable technique for energy conversion, but the freshwater shortage would inevitably limit the industrial application of the electrolyzers. Being an inexhaustible resource of water on our planet, seawater can be a promising alternative electrolyte for industrial hydrogen production. However, many challenges are hindering the actual application of seawater splitting, especially the competing reactions relating to chlorine at the anode that could severely corrode the catalysts. The execution of direct seawater electrolysis needs efficient and robust electrocatalysts that can prevent the interference of competing reactions and resist different impurities. In recent years, researchers have made great advances in developing high-efficiency electrocatalysts with improved activity and stability. This review will provide the macroscopic understanding of direct seawater splitting, the strategies for rational electrocatalyst design, and the development prospects of hydrogen production via seawater splitting. The nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts for stable seawater splitting and their catalytic mechanisms are emphasized to offer guidance for designing the efficient and robust electrocatalyst, so as to promote the production of green hydrogen via seawater splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of superelastic shape memory alloy fibers and ECC materials can form a new SMA fiber reinforced ECC composite material (SMAF-ECC) with good self-centering performance. In order to study the self-centering performance of the new composite material, 6 groups of pre-notch beam specimens were made for three-point bending cyclic loading tests, and the failure phenomenon, hysteresis curve, self-centering effect and influencing factors of the specimens were analyzed. The research results show that when the SMA fibers are effectively anchored in the ECC matrix, the SMA fibers can exert the superelastic properties to provide the ECC beams with recoverying force, and realize the crack self-closure and deflection self-recovery function for the beams, with the minimum residual crack width and deflection is only 0.9 mm and 1.3 mm respectively. Increasing fiber content can cause a small increase in the self-centering ability of the beams. However, only when the fiber diameter is appropriate, better self-centering effect can be achieved, but the difference caused by fiber diameter in the test was only 5%. SMA Fiber end forms have significant influence on self-centering performance. The knotted end beam can get a more than 70% self-centering ratio, while the straight end beams and bended end beams have no self-centering ability. The research results provide important reference for the research and application of this new self-centering materials and their structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Global warming has resulted in change in precipitation across many regions around the world. In this paper, we analyze the stable isotopes in precipitation in Ordos of Inner Mongolia, and then used them to track the origin of the water vapor in the irrigation areas proximal to the Yellow River in the region. Method Rainfalls were sampled from June to September in 2020, and stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in them were measured. Their correlation with factors including air temperature and daily precipitation was analyzed, from which we established the downline equations. The origin of the water vapor was tracked based on the variation of deuterium surplus value; reliability of the results was determined by the HYSPLIT air mass trajectory model Result The isotopes in the sampled precipitation during the experimental period was significantly lower than that in other months, showing their significant correlation with rainfall with p=0.01. The downline equation was D=7.1318O-1.67, affected by evaporation greatly. Water vapor in June was affected by both the westerly belt and the polar air mass, accompanied by water vapor coming from the southeast coastal region. The water vapor in July and August was similar, coming from northwestern China. Water vapor in September was affected by the water vapor in the westerly belt, the polar air mass and local evapotranspiration.Conclusion Precipitation is the main factor determining its isotope content and origin. The HYSPLIT simulation and dynamic-change analysis of the deuterium surplus value showed that the water vapor in the westerly zone is the origin of the water vapor seen in the studied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As human activities expand into naturally or man‐made radiation‐prone environment, the need for radiation‐hardened (Rad‐Hard) electronic hardware surges. The state‐of‐the‐art silicon‐based and 2D materials‐based Rad‐Hard transistors can withstand up to 1 Mrad (Si) of total ionization dose (TID), while higher TID tolerance is being heatedly sought after. Here, few‐layer MoS2 Rad‐Hard field‐effect transistors (FETs) with polymer solid electrolyte (PSE) gate dielectrics are presented. The MoS2 PSE‐FETs exhibit a TID tolerance of up to 3.75 Mrad (Si) at a dose rate of 523 rad (Si) s−1 and can be repaired with a moderate thermal annealing at 100 °C for 5 min. Combining the excellent intrinsic radiation tolerance and the reparability, the MoS2 PSE‐FETs reach a TID tolerance of up to 10 Mrad (Si). Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor‐like MoS2 PSE‐inverters are built and show high radiation tolerance as well. Furthermore, the feasibility of wafer‐scale Rad‐Hard PSE‐inverter array is demonstrated using chemical vapor deposition grown monolayer MoS2. These studies uncover the potential of 2D materials‐based PSE devices in future Rad‐Hard integrated circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by Shapiro's embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) coding and Taubman and Zakhor's layered zero coding (LZC), we propose a layered discrete cosine transform (DCT) image compression scheme, which generates an embedded bit stream for DCT coefficients according to their importance. The new method allows progressive image transmission and simplifies the rate-control problem. In addition to these functionalities, it provides a substantial rate-distortion improvement over the JPEG standard when the bit rates become low. For example, we observe a bit rate reduction with respect to the JPEG Huffman and arithmetic coders by about 60% and 20%, respectively, for a bit rate around 0.1 b/p. Index Terms - Arithmetic coder, JPEG, layered coding, progressive transmission.

Disease lesion mimic (Les / les) mutants display disease-like spontaneous lesions in the absence of pathogen infection, implying the constitutive activation of defense responses. However, the genetic and biochemical bases underlying the activated defense responses in those mutants remain largely unknown. Here, we performed integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis on three typical maize Les mutants Les4 , Les10 , and Les17 with large, medium, and small lesion size, respectively, thereby dissecting the activated defense responses at the transcriptional and metabolomic level. A total of 1,714, 4,887, and 1,625 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in Les4 , Les10 , and Les17 , respectively. Among them, 570, 3,299, and 447 specific differentially expressed genes (SGs) were identified, implying a specific function of each LES gene. In addition, 480 common differentially expressed genes (CGs) and 42 common differentially accumulated metabolites (CMs) were identified in all Les mutants, suggesting the robust activation of shared signaling pathways. Intriguingly, substantial analysis of the CGs indicated that genes involved in the programmed cell death, defense responses, and phenylpropanoid and terpenoid biosynthesis were most commonly activated. Genes involved in photosynthetic biosynthesis, however, were generally repressed. Consistently, the dominant CMs identified were phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. In particular, lignin, the phenylpropanoid-based polymer, was significantly increased in all three mutants. These data collectively imply that transcriptional activation of defense-related gene expression; increase of phenylpropanoid, lignin, flavonoid, and terpenoid biosynthesis; and inhibition of photosynthesis are generalnatures associated with the lesion formation and constitutively activated defense responses in those mutants. Further studies on the identified SGs and CGs will shed new light on the function of each LES gene as well as the regulatory network of defense responses in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cuticular waxes, long-chain hydrocarbon compounds, form the outermost layer of plant surfaces in most terrestrial plants. The presence of cuticular waxes protects plants from water loss and other environmental stresses. Cloning and characterization of genes involved in the regulation, biosynthesis, and extracellular transport of cuticular waxes onto the surface of epidermal cells have revealed the molecular basis of cuticular wax accumulation. However, intracellular trafficking of synthesized waxes to the plasma membrane for cellular secretion is poorly understood. Here, we characterized a maize glossy (gl6) mutant that exhibited decreased epicuticular wax load, increased cuticle permeability, and reduced seedling drought tolerance relative to wild-type. We combined an RNA-sequencing-based mapping approach (BSR-Seq) and chromosome walking to identify the gl6 candidate gene, which was confirmed via the analysis of multiple independent mutant alleles. The gl6 gene represents a novel maize glossy gene containing a conserved, but uncharacterized, DUF538 domain. This study suggests that the GL6 protein may be involved in the intracellular trafficking of cuticular waxes, opening the door to elucidating the poorly understood process by which cuticular wax is transported from its site of biosynthesis to the plasma membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen vacancy in different oxide systems shows up as a crucial parameter in modulation of the emerging application-oriented functionalities. A systematic exploration on the relation between oxygen vacancy and electronic structure of the La0.2Sr0.8MnO3 (LSMO) thin film has been carried out through sequential surface treatments followed by a series of wide scan XPS, O 1s XPS, O-K edge XAS, Mn-L edge XAS and work function measurements. Experimental results demonstrate mutual corroborative certifying evidences in between the different photoemission spectral measurements on the evolution and influence of the oxygen vacancy. Spectral characteristic features observed in the work are applicable using as justification fingerprint for the existence, modulation, or elimination of the oxygen vacancy in similar perovskite type oxide systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preharvest sprouting reduces the maize quality and causes a significant yield loss in maize production. vp-wl2 is a Mutator (Mu)-induced viviparous mutant in maize, causing white or pale yellow kernels, dramatically reduced carotenoid and ABA content, and a high level of zeta-carotene accumulation. Here, we reported the cloning of the vp-wl2 gene using a modified digestion-ligation-amplification method (DLA). The results showed that an insertion of Mu9 in the first intron of the zeta-carotene desaturase (ZDS) gene results in the vp-wl2 mutation. Previous studies have suggested that ZDS is likely the structural gene of the viviparous9 (vp9) locus. Therefore, we performed an allelic test using vp-wl2 and three vp9 mutants. The results showed that vp-wl2 is a novel allele of the vp9 locus. In addition, the sequences of ZDS gene were identified in these three vp9 alleles. The vp-wl2 mutant gene was subsequently introgressed into four maize inbred lines, and a viviparous phenotype was observed with yield losses from 7.69% to 13.33%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level is of crucial importance in the development of an organism. Here we present the characterization of a maize gene, U6 biogenesis-like 1 ( UBL1 ), which plays an important role in kernel and seedling development by influencing pre-mRNA splicing. The ubl1 mutant, exhibiting small kernel and weak seedling, was isolated from a Mutator -tagged population. Transgenic complementation and three independent mutant alleles confirmed that UBL1 , which encodes a putative RNA exonuclease belonging to the 2H phosphodiesterase superfamily, is responsible for the phenotype of ubl1 . We demonstrated that UBL1 possess the RNA exonuclease activity in vitro and found that loss of UBL1 function in ubl1 causes decreased level and abnormal 3′ end constitution of snRNA U6, resulting in splicing defect of mRNAs. Through the in vitro and in vivo studies replacing two histidines with alanines in the H-X-T/S-X (X is a hydrophobic residue) motifs we demonstrated that these two motifs are essential for the normal function of UBL1. We further showed that the function of UBL1 may be conserved across a wide phylogenetic distance as the heterologous expression of maize UBL1 could complement the Arabidopsis ubl1 mutant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the potential of using corn stover, a byproduct of corn production, for bioethanol production. The main obstacle in utilizing corn stover is its high lignin content, which hinders the fermentation process. Researchers have identified a maize mutant, ZmNST2, with reduced lignin content and have evaluated its potential for bioethanol production. The mutant has shown promising results, with lower lignin content and improved efficiency in saccharification and fermentation compared to the wild-type maize. This research provides valuable insights into the genetic factors that can enhance the use of corn stover for bioethanol production. The study was funded by various research programs in China. [Extracted from the article]

Copine proteins are highly conserved and ubiquitously found in eukaryotes, and their indispensable roles in different species were proposed. However, their exact function remains unclear. The phytohormone brassinosteroids (BRs) play vital roles in plant growth, development and environmental responses. A key event in effective BR signaling is the formation of functional BRI1-SERK receptor complex and subsequent transphosphorylation upon ligand binding. Here, we demonstrate that BONZAI (BON) proteins, which are plasma membrane-associated copine proteins, are critical components of BR signaling in both the monocot maize and the dicot Arabidopsis. Biochemical and molecular analyses reveal that BON proteins directly interact with SERK kinases, thereby ensuring effective BRI1-SERK interaction and transphosphorylation. This study advances the knowledge on BR signaling and provides an important target for optimizing valuable agronomic traits, it also opens a way to study steroid hormone signaling and copine proteins of eukaryotes in a broader perspective., (© 2024. The Author(s).)