qGW11a/OsCAT8,encoding an amino acid permease,negatively regulates grain size and weight in rice

Grain size is a key factor influencing grain weight in rice.In this study,a chromosome segment substitution line(CSSL9-17)was identified,that exhibits a significant reduction in both grain size and weight compared to its donor parent 93-11.Further investigation identified two quantitative trait loci(QTL)on chromosome 11,designated qGW11a and qGW11b,which contribute to 1000-grain weight with an additive effect.LOC_Os11g05690,encoding the amino acid permease OsCAT8,is the target gene of qGW11a.Overexpression of OsCAT8 resulted in decreased grain weight,while OsCAT8 knockout mutants exhibited increased grain weight.The 287-bp located within the OsCAT8 promoter region of 93-11 negatively regulates its activity,which is subsequently correlated with an increase in grain size and weight.These results suggest that OsCAT8 functions as a negative regulator of grain size and grain weight in rice.

Recent progress on deep learning-based disruption prediction algorithm in HL-2A tokamak

Disruption prediction and mitigation is a crucial topic,especially for future large-scale tokamaks,due to disruption’sconcomitant harmful effects on the devices.On this topic,disruption prediction algorithm takes the responsibility to giveaccurate trigger signal in advance of disruptions,therefore the disruption mitigation system can effectively alleviate theharmful effects.In the past 5 years,a deep learning-based algorithm is developed in HL-2A tokamak.It reaches a truepositive rate of 92.2%,a false positive rate of 2.5%and a total accuracy of 96.1%.Further research is implementedon the basis of this algorithm to solve three key problems,i.e.,the algorithm’s interpretability,real-time capability andtransferability.For the interpretability,HL-2A’s algorithm gives saliency maps indicating the correlation between thealgorithm’s input and output by perturbation analysis.The distribution of correlations shows good coherence with thedisruption causes.For the transferability,a preliminary disruption predictor is successfully developed in HL-2M,a newlybuilt tokamak in China.Although only 44 shots are used as the training set of this algorithm,it gives reasonable outputswith the help of data from HL-2A and J-TEXT.For the real-time capacity,the algorithm is accelerated to deal with an inputslice within 0.3 ms with the help of some adjustments on it and TFLite framework.It is also implemented into the plasmacontrol system and gets an accuracy of 89.0%during online test.This paper gives a global perspective on these results anddiscusses the possible pathways to make HL-2A’s algorithm a more comprehensive solution for future tokamaks.

Fighting the enemy: How rice survives the blast pathogen's attack

Global food security is threatened by rice blast disease caused by the filamentous fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.An understanding of rice resistance mechanisms is fundamental to developing strategies for disease control.In this review,we summarize recent advances in pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity,effector-triggered immunity,defense regulator-mediated immunity,and effects of nutrient elements on rice blast resistance.We outline strategies used for breeding rice cultivars with improved disease resistance.We also present the major research challenges for rice blast disease resistance and propose approaches for future investigation.

Nrf2 epigenetic derepression induced by running exercise protects against osteoporosis

Osteoporosis(OP)is a common skeletal disease involving low bone mineral density(BMD)that often leads to fragility fracture,and its development is affected by multiple cellular pathologies and associated with marked epigenetic alterations of osteogenic genes.Proper physical exercise is beneficial for bone health and OP and reportedly possesses epigenetic modulating capacities;however,whether the protective effects of exercise on OP involve epigenetic mechanisms is unclear.Here,we report that epigenetic derepression of nuclear factor erythroid derived 2-related factor-2(Nrf2),a master regulator of oxidative stress critically involved in the pathogenesis of OP,mediates the significant osteoprotective effects of running exercise(RE)in a mouse model of OP induced by ovariectomy.We showed that Nrf2 gene knockout(Nfe2l2^(−/−))ovariectomized mice displayed a worse BMD reduction than the controls,identifying Nrf2 as a critical antiosteoporotic factor.Further,femoral Nrf2 was markedly repressed with concomitant DNA methyltransferase(Dnmt)1/Dnmt3a/Dnmt3b elevations and Nrf2 promoter hypermethylation in both patients with OP and ovariectomized mice.However,daily 1-h treadmill RE significantly corrected epigenetic alterations,recovered Nrf2 loss and improved the femur bone mass and trabecular microstructure.Consistently,RE also normalized the adverse expression of major osteogenic factors,including osteoblast/osteoclast markers,Nrf2 downstream antioxidant enzymes and proinflammatory cytokines.More importantly,the RE-conferred osteoprotective effects observed in the wild-type control mice were largely abolished in the Nfe2l2^(−/−)mice.Thus,Nrf2 repression due to aberrant Dnmt elevation and subsequent Nrf2 promoter hypermethylation is likely an important epigenetic feature of the pathogenesis of OP,and Nrf2 derepression is essential for the antiosteoporotic effects of RE.

All-Climate Aluminum-Ion Batteries Based on Binder-Free MOF-Derived FeS_(2)@C/CNT Cathode

Aluminum-ion batteries(AIBs)are promising next-generation batteries systems because of their features of low cost and abundant aluminum resource.However,the inferior rate capacity and poor all-climate performance,especially the decayed capacity under low temperature,are still critical challenges toward high-specific-capacity AIBs.Herein,we report a binder-free and freestanding metal-organic framework-derived FeS_(2)@C/carbon nanotube(FeS_(2)@C/CNT)as a novel all-climate cathode in AIBs working under a wide temperature window between−25 and 50℃ with exceptional flexibility.The resultant cathode not only drastically suppresses the side reaction and volu-metric expansion with high capacity and long-term stability but also greatly enhances the kinetic process in AIBs with remarkable rate capacity(above 151 mAh g^(−1) at 2 A g^(−1))at room temperature.More importantly,to break the bottleneck of the inherently low capacity in graphitic material-based all-climate AIBs,the new hierarchical conductive composite FeS_(2)@C/CNT highly promotes the all-climate performance and delivers as high as 117 mAh g^(−1) capacity even under−25°C.The well-designed metal sulfide electrode with remarkable performance paves a new way toward all-climate and flexible AIBs.

Realization of High-Fidelity Controlled-Phase Gates in Extensible Superconducting Qubits Design with a Tunable Coupler

High-fidelity two-qubit gates are essential for the realization of large-scale quantum computation and simulation.Tunable coupler design is used to reduce the problem of parasitic coupling and frequency crowding in manyqubit systems and thus thought to be advantageous. Here we design an extensible 5-qubit system in which center transmon qubit can couple to every four near-neighboring qubits via a capacitive tunable coupler and experimentally demonstrate high-fidelity controlled-phase(CZ) gate by manipulating central qubit and one nearneighboring qubit. Speckle purity benchmarking and cross entropy benchmarking are used to assess the purity fidelity and the fidelity of the CZ gate. The average purity fidelity of the CZ gate is 99.69±0.04% and the average fidelity of the CZ gate is 99.65±0.04%, which means that the control error is about 0.04%. Our work is helpful for resolving many challenges in implementation of large-scale quantum systems.

Realization of Fast All-Microwave Controlled-Z Gates with a Tunable Coupler

The development of high-fidelity two-qubit quantum gates is essential for digital quantum computing.Here,we propose and realize an all-microwave parametric controlled-Z(CZ)gates by coupling strength modulation in a superconducting Transmon qubit system with tunable couplers.After optimizing the design of the tunable coupler together with the control pulse numerically,we experimentally realized a 100 ns CZ gate with high fidelity of 99.38%±0.34%and the control error being 0.1%.We note that our CZ gates are not affected by pulse distortion and do not need pulse correction,providing a solution for the real-time pulse generation in a dynamic quantum feedback circuit.With the expectation of utilizing our all-microwave control scheme to reduce the number of control lines through frequency multiplexing in the future,our scheme draws a blueprint for the high-integrable quantum hardware design.

Characteristics of Fallen Seed Distribution by Domestic and Imported Aerial Seeding Equipment

In order to explore the seed drop characteristics by aerial seeding equipment,taking aerial seeding for Pinus tabulaeformis as an example,the Gaussian curve fitting and chi-square goodness-of-fit test were carried out on the data of fallen seed distribution,and the seed distribution models of domestic FB-85 and imported PZLM-18 equipment were established.The seeding performance indexes of the two kinds of equipment were calculated and compared by using the model,the existing problems of domestic equipment and their causes are analyzed,and finally,some suggestions for equipment optimization were put forward.The results indicated that the seed drop of the two kinds of equipment showed the characteristics of dense distribution in the middle and sparse distribution on both sides,and followed the Gaussian distribution as a whole;compared with PZLM-18,FB-85 had better seeding performance,but it also had the problem of uneven seed distribution;in addition to the influence of aircraft flow field,the fishtail structure design of diffuser is another important reason for the uneven seed distribution of domestic equipment;without changing the fishtail structure design,it is suggested that the principle of cross-superposition of two seeding belts should be used to replace a single large-size diffuser with two small-size diffusers,which can reduce the number of seeds in the middle and increase the number of seeds on both sides,so as to improve the uniformity of seed distribution.

重要的种子储存物质长寿命mRNA

高等植物通常从种子萌发开始,经过营养生长和生殖发育后重新形成种子,由此完成世代更迭。种子中积累的碳水化合物、脂质、蛋白质及mRNA等大分子物质对于维持其发芽潜力至关重要,其中部分mRNA可长期保存而不被降解,被称为长寿命mRNA (即long-lived mRNA)。在水稻(Oryza sativa)中,与萌发相关的long-lived mRNA在花后10–20天开始转录积累,花后20天至种子完全成熟期间,一些与休眠和胁迫响应相关的long-livedmRNA转录并保存在细胞中。Long-lived mRNA种类繁多,主要包括蛋白质合成类mRNA、能量代谢类mRNA、细胞骨架类mRNA及逆境响应相关的mRNA,如小热激蛋白和LEA家族蛋白。Long-livedmRNA的转录组分析表明,很多基因的启动子区域都包含脱落酸(ABA)或赤霉素(GA)相关的顺式作用元件,拟南芥(Arabidopsisthaliana)atabi5突变体种子中约有500个不同于野生型的差异表达long-lived mRNA,暗示ABA和GA是影响long-livedmRNA种类的关键激素。Long-livedmRNA通常与单核糖体和RBP蛋白交联在一起,以PBs (P-bodies)形式存在于细胞中,保护mRNA不被降解。与种子休眠相关的long-lived mRNA在种子后熟过程中逐渐被降解,而且一些特定long-lived mRNA的氧化修饰是种子打破休眠的一种生物现象。在种子长期贮藏过程中, long-lived mRNA的随机降解直接关系到种子的寿命和活力,保留下来的mRNA在种子吸胀初期被翻译成蛋白质,促进种子在吸胀早期快速萌发。该文综述了种子重要储存物质long-livedmRNA的特征和功能,并提出了本领域需要进一步研究的科学问题,以期为深入理解种子休眠、萌发与寿命的分子机制提供参考。

Intra-articular sustained-release of pirfenidone as a disease-modifying treatment for early osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis(OA)is a major clinical challenge,and effective disease-modifying drugs for OA are still lacking due to the complicated pathology and scattered treatment targets.Effective early treatments are urgently needed to prevent OA progression.The excessive amount of transforming growth factorβ(TGFβ)is one of the major causes of synovial fibrosis and subchondral bone sclerosis,and such pathogenic changes in early OA precede cartilage damage.Herein we report a novel strategy of intra-articular sustained-release of pirfenidone(PFD),a clinically-approved TGFβinhibitor,to achieve disease-modifying effects on early OA joints.We found that PFD effectively restored the mineralization in the presence of excessive amount of TGFβ1(as those levels found in patients’synovial fluid).A monthly injection strategy was then designed of using poly lactic-co-glycolic acid(PLGA)microparticles and hyaluronic acid(HA)solution to enable a sustained release of PFD(the“PLGA-PFD+HA”strategy).This strategy effectively regulated OA progression in destabilization of the medial meniscus(DMM)-induced OA mice model,including preventing subchondral bone loss in early OA and subchondral bone sclerosis in late OA,and reduced synovitis and pain with cartilage preservation effects.This finding suggests the promising clinical application of PFD as a novel disease-modifying OA drug.

D53 represses rice blast resistance by directly targeting phenylalanine ammonia lyases

Phytohormones play important roles in orchestrating plantimmune responses to pathogen attacks.Strigolactones(SLs),a group of carotenoid-derived phytohormones,modulate diverse biological processes in plants,including shoot branching,plant height,root architecture,leaf senescence,seed germination of parasitic plants,and symbiosis of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(Burger and Chory,2020).Recently,increasing evidence has indicated potential roles for SLs in regulating responses against biotic stresses,including defense responses against certain pathogenic fungi and bacteria in roots and leaves(Yi et al.,2023).

GATA6基因变异致胰腺发育不全1例并文献复习

目的探讨GATA6基因变异致胰腺发育不全患儿的基因型和临床表型特征, 提高临床医生对胰腺发育不全的认识。方法对山东大学第二医院新生儿科收治的1例胰腺发育不全新生儿的临床资料进行回顾性分析。以"胰腺发育不全"、"GATA6"和"pancreatic agenesis/hypoplasia"、"GATA6 transcription factor"为主题词, 对中国知网、万方数据库、维普生物医学数据库、中华医学期刊全文数据库、PubMed、Embase、SCI数据库收录的文献进行检索, 检索时间为建库至2022年10月31日, 总结已报道的GATA6基因变异致胰腺发育不全患者的基因变异特点和临床特征。结果本例患儿为足月男婴, 生后2 d出现依赖胰岛素控制的高血糖、脂肪泻, 并伴有宫内生长受限、先天性心脏病、隐睾。基因检测结果为GATA6基因(c.1366C>T)新发杂合变异, 符合常染色体显性遗传, 患儿及其父母表型和基因型符合共分离, ACMG变异评级为致病变异。静脉输注胰岛素、皮下注射胰岛素或长效胰岛素效果均不佳, 应用门冬胰岛素持续皮下泵入联合口服胰酶替代治疗后好转出院。随访患儿至15月龄, 持续胰岛素皮下泵入控制血糖, 胰腺外分泌功能恢复正常, 生长发育大致正常。检索到22篇文献, 报道59例, 加上本例共60例, 其中先证者47例, 13例为家系成员, 61.7%(29/47)为新发变异。共有39种变异基因型, 错义变异占28.2%(11/39), 无功能变异占71.8%(28/39)。GATA6基因变异可导致广泛的表型谱, 胰腺表型主要包括新生儿糖尿病(39例)、胰腺外分泌功能不全(39例);胰腺外表型包括不同类型的先天性心脏病(54例)、肝胆系统发育异常(23例)、神经系统表型(18例)、消化系统表型(16例)、生殖内分泌系统表型(15例)。结论 GATA6基因杂合变异可导致胰腺发育不全, 并具有广泛的表型谱, 胰腺表型主要为新生儿糖尿病和胰腺外分泌不全, 胰腺外表型有先天性心脏病及其他脏器发育障碍。

在61比特可编程超导量子处理器上对量子多体态进行量子神经元感知

对具有不同性质和物相的多体量子态进行分类是量子多体物理学中最基本的任务之一.然而,由于巨大数量的相互作用的粒子所产生的指数级的复杂性,大规模量子态的分类对于经典的方法来说极具挑战性.本文提出了一种新的方法,称为量子神经元感知.利用一个61比特的超导量子处理器作为演示,作者表明该方案可以有效地对两种不同类型的多体现象,即遍历相和局域相,进行分类.量子神经元感知过程使他们能够通过只测量一个量子比特来区分这些多体物相,并提供比传统方法(如测量不平衡度)更好的分辨率.本研究证明了量子神经元感知在近期量子处理器应用的可行性和扩展性,并为探索更大规模系统中的量子多体现象开辟了新的途径.

量子计算机辅助设计先进的超导量子比特:Plasmonium

复杂的超导量子电路可以用来设计对噪声免疫的量子比特,但其复杂性可能会超出经典计算机所具备的模拟能力.在这种情况下,可以借助量子计算机来对其进行高效的模拟.在这项工作中,作者展示了在基于transmon比特的量子计算机上,利用变分量子算法模拟一种超导量子电路,并且基于此设计了一种新的量子比特“Plasmonium”,它工作在等离子体跃迁区域.文中展示的Plasmonium量子比特展示出了较高的两比特门保真度99.58(3)%.相比于transmon比特,它具有更小的物理尺寸和更大的非谐性.这些特征使得Plasmonium可以成为制造多比特量子处理器强有力的候选者.这项研究结果证实了利用量子计算机辅助设计更先进的量子处理器的可能性.

A “protector” model for membrane trafficking-regulated and NLR-mediated plant immunity

Plants are constantly exposed to a vast diversity of micro-organisms.They have accordingly evolved a sophisticated innate immunity system,mainly consisting of pattern-triggered immunity(PTI)and effector-triggered immunity(ETI)(Jones and Dangl,2006)to combat microbial pathogens.Pattern-recognition receptors(PRRs)on the cell membrane sense immunogenic molecular patterns derived from microbes(pathogen-associated molecular patterns,PAMPs)and the host itself(damage-associated molecular patterns,DAMPs)to activate PTI(Zhou and Zhang,2020;Zhao et al.,2022).

水稻稻瘟病和纹枯病抗性鉴定方法

水稻(Oryza sativa)是世界上最重要的粮食作物,但稻瘟病和纹枯病等病害严重危害水稻的产量和品质,给我国乃至全球粮食安全带来巨大威胁。鉴定水稻抗病资源、克隆抗病基因、揭示抗性机理并在育种中加以利用,对抵御水稻病害和保障粮食安全具有十分重要的作用。准确评价水稻资源的抗病性,是开展抗病机理研究和育种生产应用的关键环节。该文详述了水稻幼苗期人工喷雾接种、分蘖期和孕穗期田间注射接种与离体叶片戳伤接种的稻瘟病抗性鉴定方法,以及水稻分蘖期田间接种、孕穗期温室接种和离体茎秆接种的纹枯病抗性鉴定方法,以期为同行鉴定水稻资源、开展抗病理论和应用研究提供参考。

Extraction of scandium from red mud by acid leaching with CaF2 and solvent extraction with P507

The extraction of Sc by acid leaching with CaF2 and solvent extraction with P507 from red mud was proposed.The influence of acid leaching and solvent extraction on recovery of Sc was investigated.The CaF2 can obviously improve the leaching efficiency of Sc and reduce the acid consumption.The leaching efficiency of Sc increases from 74%to 92%and the dosage of acid reduces under suitable conditions by adding 5%CaF2.The minerals in red mud can easily be decomposed and leached into the acid solution with CaF2 through analysis of XRD pattern.The particles of red mud become smaller and multihole.The Sc can be selectively extracted with 10%P507 at the pH value of 0.1 from the acid leaching solution.More than 98%of Sc and less than 10%of Al and Fe are extracted.The SC2O3 with purity of 99%is obtained after the process of reverse extraction with NaOH,H2SO4 dissolution,precipitation by oxalic acid and roasting at 750℃.

Loss of Gn1a/OsCKX2 confers heavy-panicle rice with excellent lodging resistance

Significant achievements have been made in breeding programs for the heavy-panicle-type(HPT)rice(Oryza sativa) in Southwest China. The HPT varieties now exhibit excellent lodging resistance,allowing them to overcome the greater pressures caused by heavy panicles. However, the genetic mechanism of this lodging resistance remains elusive. Here, we isolated a major quantitative trait locus, Panicle Neck Diameter 1(PND1), andidentified the causal gene as GRAIN NUMBER 1 A/CYTOKININ OXIDASE 2(Gn1 A/Os CKX2). The null gn1 a allele from rice line R498(gn1 aR498) improved lodging resistance through increasing the culm diameter and promoting crown root development.Loss-of-function of Gn1 a/Os CKX2 led to cytokinin accumulation in the crown root tip and accelerated the development of adventitious roots. Gene pyramiding between the null gn1 aR498 allele with two gain-of-function alleles, STRONG CULM 2(SCM2)and SCM3, further improved lodging resistance.Moreover, Gn1 a/Os CKX2 had minimal influence on overall rice quality. Our research thus highlights the distinct genetic components of lodging resistance of HPT varieties and provides a strategy for tailormade crop improvement of both yield and lodging resistance in rice.

Identification and characterization of rice blast resistance gene Pid4 by a combination of transcriptomic profiling and genome analysis

Map-based cloning of plant disease resistance (R) genes is time-consuming. Here, we reported the isolation of blast R gene Pid4 using comparative transcriptomic profiling and genome-wide sequence analysis. Pid4 encodes a coiled-coil nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat(CC-NBS-LRR) protein and is constitutively expressed at diverse developmental stages in the rice variety Digu. The Pid4 protein is localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Introduction of Pid4 into susceptible rice cultivars confers race-specific resistance to leaf and neck blast. Amino acid sequence comparison and blast resistance spectrum tests showed that Pid4 is a novel R gene, different from the previously reported R genes located in the same gene cluster. A Pid4 Indel marker was developed to facilitate the identification of Pid4 in different rice varieties. We demonstrated that a plant R gene can be quickly isolated using transcriptomic profiling coupled with genome-wide sequence analysis.

Quantum computational advantage via 60-qubit 24-cycle random circuit sampling

To ensure a long-term quantum computational advantage,the quantum hardware should be upgraded to withstand the competition of continuously improved classical algorithms and hardwares.Here,we demonstrate a superconducting quantum computing systems Zuchongzhi 2.1,which has 66 qubits in a two-dimensional array in a tunable coupler architecture.The readout fidelity of Zuchongzhi 2.1 is considerably improved to an average of 97.74%.The more powerful quantum processor enables us to achieve larger-scale random quantum circuit sampling,with a system scale of up to 60 qubits and 24 cycles,and fidelity of FXEB=(3·66±0·345)×10^(-4).The achieved sampling task is about 6 orders of magnitude more difficult than that of Sycamore[Nature 574,505(2019)]in the classic simulation,and 3 orders of magnitude more difficult than the sampling task on Zuchongzhi 2.0[arXiv:2106.14734(2021)].The time consumption of classically simulating random circuit sampling experiment using state-of-the-art classical algorithm and supercomputer is extended to tens of thousands of years(about 4·8×104years),while Zuchongzhi 2.1 only takes about 4.2 h,thereby significantly enhancing the quantum computational advantage.