Search

Rice yield is frequently impaired by abiotic adverse conditions in several parts of the globe. One of these constraints is soil iron toxicity. Plants respond to adverse conditions by activating different mechanisms, some of which have already been elucidated. Recently, autophagy has been associated with plant tolerance to abiotic stresses, however, the involvement of this mechanism in the response to iron toxicity has never been studied. Autophagy is a process of recycling cellular components and involves approximately 30 genes in rice. Thus, the objective of this study was to characterise the regulation and transcriptional activation of OsATG genes in rice seedlings under iron toxicity. In this condition, OsATG genes were induced in the tolerant genotype and repressed in the sensitive one. Also, OsATG gene promoters are rich in W‐box cis‐regulatory elements targeted by WRKY transcription factors. These results suggest that OsATG genes are involved in early iron toxicity response and the regulation of these genes can occur via WRKY. This study provides early insights into the involvement of autophagy in iron toxicity response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Rice is a staple food for half of the world's population. Changing climatic conditions, water and labour scarcity are the major challenges that shall limit future rice production. Dry direct‐seeded rice (DDSR) is emerging as an efficient, resources conserving, mechanized, climate smart and economically viable strategy to be adopted as an alternative to puddled transplanted rice (TPR) with the potential to address the problem of labour‐water shortages and ensure sustainable rice cultivation. Despite these benefits, several constraints obstruct the adoption of DDSR. In principle, the plant type for DDSR should be different from one for TPR, which could be achieved by developing rice varieties that combine the traits of upland and lowland varieties. In this context, recent advances in precise phenotyping and NGS‐based trait mapping led to identification of promising donors and QTLs/genes for DDSR favourable traits to be employed in genomic breeding. This review discusses the important traits influencing DDSR, research studies to clarify the need for breeding DDSR‐specific varieties to achieve enhanced grain yield, climate resilience and nutrition demand. We anticipate that in the coming years, genomic breeding for developing DDSR‐specific varieties would be a regular practice and might be further strengthened by combining superior haplotypes regulating important DDSR traits by haplotype‐based breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a facile, green and eco‐friendly approach has been applied for the synthesis of fluorescent green‐blue carbon dots (GB‐CDs) through the one‐pot hydrothermal treatment of Artocarpus lakoocha seeds for the first time and entirely characterized via a variety of instrumental techniques like fluorescent spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X‐Ray Photoelectron Spectra (XPS), X‐Ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infra‐red (FTIR) analysis. The as‐prepared GB‐CDs displayed high fluorescent quantum yield (QY) up to 38.5% and high photostability based on which GB‐CDs were successfully applied as a sensitive nanoprobe for the detection of Fe3+ ion. The sensing of Fe3+ shows a linear range from 2 to 6 μM and the limit of detection was found to be 0.62 μM. The sensing of Fe3+ was further investigated in the bona fide sample like river water and human blood serum. In addition, to explore the potential application, MTT assay was carried out on SH‐SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. The results showed negligible cytotoxicity as well as high cell viability, which revealed that GB‐CDs could be utilized as a fluorescent probe in living cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Though several genes governing various major traits have been reported in rice, their superior haplotype combinations for developing ideal variety remains elusive. In this study, haplotype analysis of 120 previously functionally characterized genes, influencing grain yield (87 genes) and grain quality (33 genes) revealed significant variations in the 3K rice genome (RG) panel. For selected genes, meta‐expression analysis using already available datasets along with co‐expression network provided insights at systems level. Also, we conducted candidate gene based association study for the 120 genes and identified 21 strongly associated genes governing 10‐grain yield and quality traits. We report superior haplotypes upon phenotyping the subset of 3K RG panel, SD1‐H8 with haplotype frequency (HF) of 30.13% in 3K RG panel, MOC1‐H9 (HF: 23.08%), IPA1‐H14 (HF: 6.64%), DEP3‐H2 (HF: 5.59%), DEP1‐H2 (HF: 37.53%), SP1‐H3 (HF: 5.05%), LAX1‐H5 (HF: 1.56%), LP‐H13 (3.64%), OSH1‐H4 (5.52%), PHD1‐H14 (HF: 15.21%), AGO7‐H15 (HF: 3.33%), ROC5‐H2 (31.42%), RSR1‐H8 (HF: 4.20%) and OsNAS3‐H2 (HF: 1.00%). For heading date, Ghd7‐H8 (HF: 3.08%), TOB1‐H10 (HF: 4.60%) flowered early, Ghd7‐H14 (HF: 42.60%), TRX1‐H9 (HF: 27.97%), OsVIL3‐H14 (HF: 1.72%) for medium duration flowering, while Ghd7‐H6 (HF: 1.65%), SNB‐H9 (HF: 9.35%) were late flowering. GS5‐H4 (HF: 65.84%) attributed slender, GS5‐H5 (HF: 29.00%), GW2‐H2 (HF: 4.13%) were medium slender and GS5‐H9 (HF: 2.15%) for bold grains. Furthermore, haplotype analysis explained possible genetic basis for superiority of selected mega‐varieties. Overall, this study suggests the possibility for developing next‐generation tailor‐made rice with superior haplotype combinations of target genes suiting future food and nutritional demands via haplotype‐based breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directed C−H functionalization has been realized as a complementary tool to the traditional approaches for a straightforward access of non‐proteinogenic amino acids; albeit such a process is restricted mostly up to the γ‐position. In the present work, we demonstrate the diverse (hetero)arylation of amino acids and analogous aliphatic amines selectively at the remote δ‐position by tuning the reactivity controlled by ligands. An organopalladium δ‐C(sp3)−H activated intermediate has been isolated and crystallographically characterized. Mechanistic investigations carried out experimentally in conjunction with computational studies shed light on the difference in the mechanistic picture depending on the substrate structure. Remote δ‐C(sp3)−H activation enables the Pd‐catalyzed synthesis of non‐proteinogenic, (hetero)arylated leucine, and analogous amines. The transformation is demonstrated through the diastereoselective synthesis of δ‐arylated leucine, the incorporation of diverse natural products and drugs in amines, BODIPY labeling of bioactive amines, and sequential (hetero)arylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regioselective conversion of C−H bonds into C−Si bonds is extremely important owing to the natural abundance and non-toxicity of silicon. Classical silylation reactions often suffer from poor functional group compatibility, low atom economy, and insufficient regioselectivity. Herein, we disclose a template-assisted method for the regioselective para silylation of toluene derivatives. A new template was designed, and the origin of selectivity was analyzed experimentally and computationally. An interesting substrate-solvent hydrogen-bonding interaction was observed. Kinetic, spectroscopic, and computational studies shed light on the reaction mechanism. The synthetic significance of this strategy was highlighted by the generation of a precursor of a potential lipophilic bioisostere of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), various late-stage diversifications, and by mimicking enzymatic transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]