Search

We recently developed a database for hexaploid wheat QTL (WheatQTLdb; www.wheatqtldb.net) that included 11,552 QTL affecting various traits of economic importance. However, that database did not include valuable QTL from other wheat species and/or progenitors of bread wheat. Therefore, an updated and wider version of wheat QTL database (WheatQTLdb V2.0) was developed in this study which now includes information on hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum) as well as seven other related species: T. durum, T. turgidum, T. dicoccoides, T. dicoccum, T. monococcum, T. boeoticum, and Aegilops tauschii. WheatQTLdb V2.0 includes a much improved list of QTL, so that V2.0 now has 27,518 main-effect QTL, 202 epistatic QTL, and 1,321 metaQTL. This newly released WheatQTLdb V2.0 will provide plant breeders and geneticists much more valuable options to search and choose the category-wise and trait-wise data for their research or breeding programmes.

In the present article, the electron transport materials titanium oxide (TiO2), bathocuproine (BCP) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) were synthesized and investigated for the application in methylammonium lead bromide (CH3NH3PbBr3) perovskite photodetectors. Results show that device based on TiO2 electron transport layer (ETL) shows higher photocurrent, responsivity and detectivity as compared to the devices based on BCP and PCBM ETL. However, ideality factor, charge carrier mobility, trap width and trap density were found to be comparable for the devices composed of BCP ETL and TiO2 ETL. The TiO2 ETL might help in the passivation of interface traps, form good quality intimate interfaces and offers more appropriate energy levels for effective blocking of holes and efficient extraction of electrons, resulting in the improved device performance. Through impedance spectroscopy analysis, the superior performance of the device with TiO2 ETL can be attributed to the better contact selectivity and high recombination resistance.

Impaired adult hippocampal neurogenesis is a prominent feature of neurodegenerative disorders. The extent of neural stem cell (NSCs) generation in adult brain is highly adaptive and depends on both inflammatory signalling and glial cells. In this study, through immunohistochemical co-labelling of nestin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the authors have demonstrated an enhanced stem astrocyte density in subgranular zone of adult and ageing rats following neonatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure, which could be attributed as a regenerative attempt evoked to overcome the effects of bacterial infection. However, a second hit of LPS at 12 months of age might have killed the progenitors because of the persistent glial activation leading to a decline in stem astrocyte population. The enhanced density of NSCs is attributed to the activation of the toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) by LPS on their surface that in turn influences their proliferative potential. The information generated may be useful for therapeutically modulating the pathway in a way so that the TLR-4 activation following bacterial infection may be checked at a level when it triggers the activation of the innate immune response. Thus, the enhanced number of NSCs can generate a viable number of neurons that will mature and integrate in the hippocampal circuitry to compensate the loss due to bacterial infection.