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A fast and efficient method is proposed in this letter to characterize the dielectric permittivity of thin‐film materials. The measuring system is based on a TE103 rectangular split‐cavity resonator operating at around 10 GHz, which has the advantage of providing nondestructive measurements while maintaining a high level of accuracy. The thin‐film materials under test can be directly inserted in the split without being processed in a specific shape. Different dielectric materials are tested using this method. And the theoretical derivations and experimental measurements have been performed to confirm the validity and effectiveness of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In animals, malectin is well known to play an essential role in endoplasmic reticulum quality control (ERQC) by interacting with ribophorin I, one unit of the oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) complex. However, the functions of malectin in plants remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate the rice OsMLD1 is an ER- and Golgi-associated malectin protein and physically interacts with rice homolog of ribophorin I (OsRpn1), and its disruption leads to spontaneous lesion mimic lesions, enhanced disease resistance, and prolonged ER stress. In addition, there are many more N-glycosites and N-glycoproteins identified from the mld1 mutant than wildtype. Furthermore, OsSERK1 and OsSERK2, which have more N-glycosites in mld1, were demonstrated to interact with OsMLD1. OsMLD1 can suppress OsSERK1- or OsSERK2-induced cell death. Thus, OsMLD1 may play a similar role to its mammalian homologs in glycoprotein quality control, thereby regulating cell death and immunity of rice, which uncovers the function of malectin in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Lesion mimic mutants are used to elucidate mechanisms controlling plant responses to pathogen attacks and environmental stresses. Although dozens of genes had been functionally demonstrated to be involved in lesion mimic phenotype in several plant species, the molecular mechanisms underlying the hypersensitive response are largely unknown. Here, a rice (Oryza sativa) lesion mimic mutant natural blight leaf 3 (nbl3) was identified from T‐DNA insertion lines. The causative gene, OsNBL3, encodes a mitochondrion‐localized pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein. The nbl3 mutant exhibited spontaneous cell death response and H2O2 accumulation, and displayed enhanced resistance to the fungal and bacterial pathogens Magnaporthe oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. This resistance was consistent with the up‐regulation of several defence‐related genes; thus, defence responses were induced in nbl3. RNA interference lines of OsNBL3 exhibited enhanced disease resistance similar to that of nbl3, while the disease resistance in overexpression lines did not differ from that of the wild type. In addition, nbl3 displayed improved tolerance to salt, accompanied by up‐regulation of several salt‐associated marker genes. OsNBL3 was found to mainly participate in the splicing of mitochondrial gene nad5 intron 4. Disruption of OsNBL3 leads to the reduction in complex I activity, the elevation of alternative respiratory pathways and the destruction of mitochondrial morphology. Overall, the results demonstrated that the PPR protein‐coding gene OsNBL3 is essential for mitochondrial development and functions, and its disruption causes the lesion mimic phenotype and enhances disease resistance and tolerance to salt in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesion mimic mutants constitute a valuable genetic resource for unraveling the signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms governing the programmed cell death and defense responses of plants. Here, we identified a lesion mimic mutant, spl-D , from T-DNA insertion rice lines. The mutant exhibited higher accumulation of H2O2, spontaneous cell death, decreased chlorophyll content, up-regulation of defense-related genes, and enhanced disease resistance. The causative gene, OsGRDP1 , encodes a cytosol- and membrane-associated glycine-rich domain protein. OsGRDP1 was expressed constitutively in all of the organs of the wild-type plant, but was up-regulated throughout plant development in the spl-D mutant. Both the overexpression and knockdown (RNAi) of OsGRDP1 resulted in the lesion mimic phenotype. Moreover, the intact-protein level of OsGRDP1 was reduced in the spotted leaves from both overexpression and RNAi plants, suggesting that the disruption of intact OsGRDP1 is responsible for lesion formation. OsGRDP1 interacted with an aspartic proteinase, OsAP25. In the spl-D and overexpression plants, proteinase activity was elevated, and lesion formation was partially suppressed by an aspartic proteinase inhibitor. Taken together, our results reveal that OsGRDP1 is a critical feedback regulator, thus contributing to the elucidation of the mechanism underlying cell death and disease resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of pyridazine fused aromatics, 1,2-diazabenzo[ghi]perylenes, is conveniently synthesized from 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene via intermolecular oxidative coupling followed by a condensation reaction. These new compounds are fully characterized via X-ray crystallographic analysis, optical spectroscopy and electrochemistry, in addition to DFT calculations. They show a twisted structure and unique P-/P- and M-/M-enantiomer pairs are observed in their single crystals. They exhibit intramolecular charge transfer character and emit at a longer wavelength with a larger Stokes shift compared with their all-carbon analog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen persulfide (H 2 S 2 ), as a direct redox form of H 2 S, may have its own physiological processes in maintaining intracellular redox homeostasis. The research on hydrogen persulfide was rapidly growing. As it is the actual signalling molecules derived from hydrogen sulfide, reversible detection of hydrogen persulfide changes in cells is of great significance. To address this critical need, we present a reversible fluorescent switch-on H 2 S 2 probe, the tautomeric of 6, 7-dihydroxyperylene-1, 12-quinone ( DHPQ ), capable of tracking H 2 S 2 in solvents and living cells. The probe can be applied to quantified H 2 S 2 expressions ranging linearly from 2 . 0 × 10 − 6 to 2 . 0 × 10 − 5 M. The limit of detection was found to be 1 . 82 × 10 − 8 M. In addition, the fluorescent alterations are remarkably specific for H 2 S 2 in the presence of other reactive sulfur species. These features are favorable for imaging application. Taking advantage of favorable cycle stability and admirable selectivity, the DHPQ dye can be used as a reversible fluorescent platform to construct novel H 2 S 2 probes. Since such reversible H 2 S 2 probes are rare, this work provide a potential approach for reversible probing fluctuation of hydrogen persulfide in biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Brassinosteroids (BRs) play a crucial role in shaping the architecture of rice (Oryza sativa) plants. However, the regulatory mechanism of BR signalling in rice immunity remains largely unexplored. Here we identify a rice mutant dla, which exhibits decreased leaf angles and is insensitive to 24‐epiBL (a highly active synthetic BR), resembling the BR‐deficient phenotype. The dla mutation caused by a T‐DNA insertion in the OsDLA gene leads to downregulation of the causative gene. The OsDLA knockout plants display reduced leaf angles and less sensitivity to 24‐epiBL. In addition, both dla mutant and OsDLA knockout plants are more susceptible to rice blast compared to the wild type. OsDLA is a GRAS transcription factor and interacts with the BR signalling core negative regulator, GSK2. GSK2 phosphorylates OsDLA for degradation via the 26S proteasome. The GSK2 RNAi line exhibits enhanced rice blast resistance, while the overexpression lines thereof show susceptibility to rice blast. Furthermore, we show that OsDLA interacts with and stabilizes the WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY53, which has been demonstrated to positively regulate BR signalling and blast resistance. OsWRKY53 directly binds the promoter of PBZ1 and activates its expression, and this activation can be enhanced by OsDLA. Together, our findings unravel a novel mechanism whereby the GSK2‐OsDLA‐OsWRKY53 module coordinates blast resistance and plant architecture via BR signalling in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binary magnesium-silver (Mg-Ag) alloys were designed as antibacterial materials for biomedical implant applications. In the present study, we focused on the effects of extrusion (extrusion ratio (ER): 1, 7.1, and 72.2) and Ag content (Ag = 0, 3, and 6 wt.%) on the degradation of Mg-Ag alloys in vitro and in vivo via microstructure characterization and corrosion/degradation measurements. The results showed that the Ag promoted a galvanic reaction with the Mg matrix to accelerate degradation or formed a protective oxide mesh texture to inhibit degradation, especially in vivo. Ag might also be beneficial for product crystallization, biomineralization, and organic matter deposition. For pure Mg, extrusion produced a more refined grain and decreased the degradation rate. For the Mg-Ag alloys, a low extrusion ratio (7.1) accelerated the degradation caused by the increase in the proportion of the precipitate. This promoted the release of Mg2+ and Ag+, which led to more deposition of organic matter and calcium phosphate, but also more H2 bubbles, which led to disturbance of product deposition in some local positions or even inflammatory reactions. Extrusion at a higher ratio (72.2) dissolved the precipitates. This resulted in moderate degradation rates and less gas production, which promoted osteogenesis without an obvious inflammation reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A design of planar dual‐polarized differentially fed multibeam patch antenna array (DFMPAA) is presented in this article. The dual‐polarized DFMPAA is composed of two circular 4 × 4 butler matrixs (BMs) and a 1 × 4 dual‐polarized patch antenna array. The two BMs are designed in the top and bottom layer as the feeding network of horizontal polarization (HP) and vertical polarization (VP), respectively. The patch is designed as the radiation element of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA, which is fed by the slot and aperture coupling to generate the HP and VP wave, respectively. To achieve high cross‐polarization discrimination (XPD), the antenna element is fed differentially. A prototype working at 5.5 GHz is fabricated and measured in order to validate the performance of the proposed dual‐polarized DFMPAA. The dimension of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA is 3.8 λ0 × 1.7 λ0. Measured results show that when the beam scan to the maximal pointing angle, the XPD of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA in HP and VP are higher than 27 and 29 dB, respectively. Additionally, the beams of the dual‐polarized DFMPAA can cover the range of ±42° in horizontal plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a broadband dual circularly polarized (CP) antenna with simple structure and high gain is designed. A metal ridge septum with the shape of the cascade of a rectangle and a triangle is embedded into the square waveguide to excite CP wave, which is presented through analysis and simulation. By feeding the antenna at the two positions with respect to the symmetrical position of the septum, it can form the right‐handed circularly polarized (RHCP) and left‐handed circularly polarized (LHCP) wave, respectively. To verify the design, a prototype of the antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured and simulated results coincide with each other. According to the simulation and measurement, the designed antenna can work well within a relative bandwidth of 64% from 8.5 to 16.5 GHz. The proposed dual CP antenna has the simple configuration and good performance, and it can be a good candidate antenna for the broadband communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Plant senescence is a complicated process involving multiple regulations, such as temperature, light, reactive oxygen species (ROS), endogenous hormone levels, and diseases. Although many such genes have been characterized to understand the process of leaf senescence, there still remain many unknowns, and many more genes need to be characterized. Results: We identified a rice mutant nbl1 with a premature leaf senescence phenotype. The causative gene, OsNBL1, encodes a small protein with 94 amino acids, which is conserved in monocot, as well as dicot plants. Disruption of OsNBL1 resulted in accelerated dark-induced leaf senescence, accompanied by a reduction in chlorophyll content and up-regulation of several senescence-associated genes. Notably, the nbl1 mutant was more susceptible to rice blast and bacterial blight but more tolerant to sodium chloride. Several salt-induced genes, including HAK1, HAK5, and three SNAC genes, were also up-regulated in the nbl1 mutant. Additionally, the nbl1 mutant was more sensitive to salicylic acid. Plants overexpressing OsNBL1 showed delayed dark-induced senescence, consistent with a higher chlorophyll content compared to wild-type plants. However, the overexpression plants were indistinguishable from the wild-types for resistance to the rice blast disease. OsNBL1 is a multi-organelle localized protein and interacts with OsClpP6, which is associated with senescence. Conclusions: We described a novel leaf senescence mutant nbl1 in rice. It is showed that OsNBL1, a multi-organelle localized protein which interacts with a plastidic caseinolytic protease OsClpP6, is essential for controlling leaf senescence, disease resistance, and salt tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a wide-range leaky-wave antenna with fast scanning rate and open-stopband (OSB) suppression based on microstrip spoof surface plasmon polaritons (MSSPPs) is proposed. First, the high-scanning-rate theory is analyzed. And based on the theory, the MSSPPs is used to radiate the fan beam rather than quasi-omnidirectional beam. In order to suppress the OSB, a capacitive slot is introduced using the proposed method of impedance matching. The prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and the measured results show that the antenna has 140° scanning range from −72° to 68° with the scanning rate of 8.8 and reflection coefficient lower than −10 dB in 8.7–10.2 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]