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Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating fungal disease of wheat. Since early 1990s, frequent FHB epidemics in major wheat‐growing regions have caused massive economic losses. Developing FHB‐resistant varieties is key to minimize the loss caused by the disease. In durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum), however, it is challenged by lack of resistant sources. Introgression of resistance genes from wild relatives and bread wheat has resulted in some durum wheat lines with moderate resistance. Due to its complex genetic nature, integrating more resistance genes with moderate and even minor effects promises to provide high and durable FHB resistance. In this study, a base population was developed using diverse resistant lines and elite durum wheat breeding lines as founders and went through three cycles of phenotypic selection from 2019 to 2022, with FHB severity decreased by 34%. Six S0:1 lines in Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 populations exhibited significantly lower FHB severity than the moderately susceptible check variety ND Riveland. The results suggested that recurrent phenotypic selection could effectively improve FHB resistance. Analysis of the founders and Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 populations with 2706 single nucleotide polymorphism markers indicated that there was little decrease in genetic variation due to selection. Genome‐wide association analysis found no markers significantly associated with FHB severity. Genomic prediction accuracies based on cross‐validation for FHB severity, plant height, and days‐to‐flowering were 0.51, 0.69, and 0.61, respectively. Recurrent genomic selection can shorten the select cycle to 4 months and therefore is promising to accelerate genetic improvement of FHB severity. Core Ideas: Recurrent phenotypic selection could effectively improve FHB resistance in durum wheat.A moderate prediction accuracy for FHB severity was found in the durum wheat recurrent selection population.Recurrent genomic selection can shorten select cycle and is promising to accelerate genetic improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systemic RNAi-defective (SID) transmembrane family member 2 (SIDT2) is a putative nucleic acid channel or transporter that plays essential roles in nucleic acid transport and lipid metabolism. Here, we report the cryo-electron microscopy (EM) structures of human SIDT2, which forms a tightly packed dimer with extensive interactions mediated by two previously uncharacterized extracellular/luminal β-strand-rich domains and the unique transmembrane domain (TMD). The TMD of each SIDT2 protomer contains eleven transmembrane helices (TMs), and no discernible nucleic acid conduction pathway has been identified within the TMD, suggesting that it may act as a transporter. Intriguingly, TM3-6 and TM9-11 form a large cavity with a putative catalytic zinc atom coordinated by three conserved histidine residues and one aspartate residue lying approximately 6 Å from the extracellular/luminal surface of the membrane. Notably, SIDT2 can hydrolyze C18 ceramide into sphingosine and fatty acid with a slow rate. The information presented advances the understanding of the structure-function relationships in the SID1 family proteins. The SID-1 family is a putative channel/transporter for transporting nucleic acids. Here, Qian et al. report the dimeric structure of human SIDT2 suggesting that it may act as a transporter but not a channel. In addition, it has a ceramidase activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel and manganese co-substitution into hollow Prussian blue nanocubes (H-PBMN) has been successfully carried out via utilizing a high-concentration polymer template to grow manganese-Prussian blue (PBM) and nickel-Prussian blue (PBN) through a slow nucleation process. Due to the hollow structure and double metal co-substitution, the properties of the electrode material have been optimized, and it presents an ultrahigh capacity of 138.4 mA h g−1 at 0.05 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN/GaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with the nonrecessed and recessed floating metal rings (FMR) structure are fabricated and electrically characterized to study the influence of recessed FMR structure. The recessed FMR SBDs (RFMR‐SBDs) exhibit the lower onset voltage (VON) and higher forward current (IF) at the anode of 3 V than the nonrecessed FMR SBDs (FMR‐SBDs). More importantly, the breakdown voltage (VBR) of the RFMR‐SBDs is 1980 V, which has a significant improvement compared with the FMR‐SBDs of 1540 V. However, the specific on‐resistance of the RFMR‐SBDs is higher than FMR‐SBDs. Furthermore, the electric field distributions of different structures are simulated by Silvaco software to analyze the mechanism of improving breakdown voltage. The results show that the breakdown voltage improvement is due to the broader depletion region in the RFMR‐SBDs at the breakdown voltage. Moreover, the electric field distributions of the RFMR‐SBDs and FMR‐SBDs with three FMRs are discussed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are regarded as the potential and promising anode materials for potassium ion batteries (PIBs) on account of their robust and porous crystalline structure. In this work, multilayer structural COF connected by double functional groups, including imine and amidogent through a simple solvothermalprocess, have been successfully synthesized. The multilayer structure of COF can provide fast charge transfer and combine the merits of imine (the restraint of irreversible dissolution) and amidogent (the supply of more active sites). It presents superior potassium storage performance, including the high reversible capacity of 229.5 mAh g -1 at 0.2 A g -1 and outstanding cycling stability of 106.1 mAh g -1 at the high current density of 5.0 A g -1 after 2000 cycles, which is superior to the individual COF. The structural advantages of the covalent organic framework linking by double functional groups (d-COF) can develop a new road for that COF anode material for PIBs in further research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Nickel and manganese co-substitution into hollow Prussian blue nanocubes (H-PBMN) has been successfully carried out via utilizing a high-concentration polymer template to grow manganese-Prussian blue (PBM) and nickel-Prussian blue (PBN) through a slow nucleation process. Due to the hollow structure and double metal co-substitution, the properties of the electrode material have been optimized, and it presents an ultrahigh capacity of 138.4 mA h g -1 at 0.05 A g -1 .