WPA1 encodes a vWA domain protein that regulates wheat plant architecture

Plant height,spike,leaf,stem and grain morphologies are key components of plant architecture and related to wheat yield.A wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)mutant,wpa1,displaying temperaturedependent pleiotropic developmental anomalies,was isolated.The WPA1 gene,encoding a von Willebrand factor type A(vWA)domain protein,was located on chromosome arm 7DS and isolated by map-based cloning.The functionality of WPA1 was validated by multiple independent EMS-induced mutants and gene editing.Phylogenetic analysis revealed that WPA1 is monocotyledon-specific in higher plants.The identification of WPA1 provides opportunity to study the temperature regulated wheat development and grain yield.

Leveraging the potential of big genomic and phenotypic data for genome-wide association mapping in wheat

Genome-wide association mapping studies(GWAS)based on Big Data are a potential approach to improve marker-assisted selection in plant breeding.The number of available phenotypic and genomic data sets in which medium-sized populations of several hundred individuals have been studied is rapidly increasing.Combining these data and using them in GWAS could increase both the power of QTL discovery and the accuracy of estimation of underlying genetic effects,but is hindered by data heterogeneity and lack of interoperability.In this study,we used genomic and phenotypic data sets,focusing on Central European winter wheat populations evaluated for heading date.We explored strategies for integrating these data and subsequently the resulting potential for GWAS.Establishing interoperability between data sets was greatly aided by some overlapping genotypes and a linear relationship between the different phenotyping protocols,resulting in high quality integrated phenotypic data.In this context,genomic prediction proved to be a suitable tool to study relevance of interactions between genotypes and experimental series,which was low in our case.Contrary to expectations,fewer associations between markers and traits were found in the larger combined data than in the individual experimental series.However,the predictive power based on the marker-trait associations of the integrated data set was higher across data sets.Therefore,the results show that the integration of medium-sized to Big Data is an approach to increase the power to detect QTL in GWAS.The results encourage further efforts to standardize and share data in the plant breeding community.

Ambiently fostering solid electrolyte interphase for low-temperature lithium metal batteries

Despite being a leading candidate to meet stringent energy targets,lithium(Li) metal batteries(LMBs)face severe challenges at low temperatures such as dramatic increase in impedance,capacity loss and dendrite growth.Unambiguously fingerprinting rate-limited factors of low-temperature LMBs would encourage targeted approaches to promote performances.Herein,the charge transfer impedance across solid electrolyte interphase(SEI) is identified to restrict battery operation under low temperature,and we propose a facile approach on the basis of ambiently fostering SEI(af-SEI) to facilitate charge transfer.The concept of af-SEI stems from kinetic benefits and structural merits to construct SEI at ambient temperature over low temperature developed SEI that is temporally consuming to achieve steady state and that is structurally defective to incur dendrite growth.The af-SEI allows ionically conductive and morphologically uniform layer on the anode surface,which exhibits a lower resistance and induces an even deposition of Li in the subsequent low temperature battery operation.Armed with af-SEI,the LMBs deliver the improved rate performance and prolonged cycle life when subjected to low temperature cycling.This work unveils the underlying causes that limit low temperature LMB performances,and enlightens the facile test protocols to build up favorable SEI,beyond scope of material and morphology design.

Effects of fluorination on crystal structure and electrochemical performance of antiperovskite solid electrolytes

The development of all-solid-state lithium batteries(ASSLBs)depends on exploiting solid-state electrolytes(SSEs)with high ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability.Fluorination is generally considered to be an effective strategy to improve the ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability of inorganic SSEs.Here,we report the partial fluorination of the chlo rine sites in an antiperovskite,by which the orthorhombic Li_(2)OHCl was transformed into cubic Li_(2)OHCl_(0.9)F_(0.1),resulting in a fourfold increase in ionic conductivity at 30℃.The ab initio molecular dynamics simulations suggest that both the crystal symmetry and the anions electronegativity influence the diffusion of Li+in the antiperovskite structure.Besides,from the perspective of experiments and calculations,it is confirmed that fluorination is a feasible method to improve the electrochemical stability of antiperovskite SSEs.The LiFePO_(4)|Li cell based on Li_(2)OHCl_(0.9)F_(0.1) is also assembled and exhibits stable cycle performance,which indicates that fluorination of antiperovskite SSEs is an effective way to produce high-performance SSEs for practical application of ASSLBs.

Formation of the structure-Ⅱgas hydrate from low-concentration propane mixed with methane

It has been recognized that a small amount of propane mixed with methane can change greatly in not only the thermodynamics but also the structural properties of gas hydrate.However,its mechanism is still not well understood yet.In this research,structure-Ⅱ(sⅡ)hydrate is synthesized using a methanepropane gas mixture with an initial mole ratio of 99:1,and it is found that large(5~(12)6~4)cages are cooccupied by multiple gases based on the rigid structure analysis of neutron diffraction data.The first principles calculation and molecular dynamics simulation are conducted to uncover the molecular mechanism for sⅡmethane-propane hydrate formation,revealing that the presence of propane inhibits the formation of structure-Ⅰ(sⅠ)hydrate but promotes sⅡhydrate formation.The results help to understand the accumulation mechanism of natural gas hydrate and benefit to optimize the condition for gas storage and transportation in hydrate form.

Elucidating the suppression of lithium dendrite growth with a void-reduced anti-perovskite solid-state electrolyte pellet for stable lithium metal anodes

Solid-state lithium-metal batteries,with their high theoretical energy density and safety,are highly promising as a next-generation battery contender.Among the alternatives proposed as solid-state electrolyte,lithium-rich anti-perovskite(Li RAP)materials have drawn the most interest because of high theoretical Li^(+)conductivity,low cost and easy processing.Although solid-state electrolytes are believed to have the potential to physically inhibit the lithium dendrite growth,lithium-metal batteries still suffer from the lithium dendrite growth and thereafter the short circuiting.The voids in practical Li RAP pellets are considered as the root cause.Herein,we show that reducing the voids can effectively suppress the lithium dendrite growth.The voids in the pellet resulted in an irregular Li^(+)flux distribution and a poor interfacial contact with lithium metal anode;and hence the ununiform lithium dendrites.Consequently,the lithium-metal symmetric cell with void-reduced Li_(2)OHCl-HT pellet was able to display excellent cycling performance(750 h at 0.4 m A cm^(-2))and stability at high current density(0.8 m A cm^(-2)for 120 h).This study provides not only experimental evidence for the impact of the voids in Li RAP pellets on the lithium dendrite growth,but also a rational pellet fabrication approach to suppress the lithium dendrite growth.

Filtering for SNPs with high selective constraint augments mid-parent heterosis predictions in wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)

To extend the contemporary understanding into the grain yield heterosis of wheat, the current study investigated the contribution of deleterious alleles in shaping mid-parent heterosis(MPH). These alleles occur at low frequency in the genome and are often missed by automated genotyping platforms like SNP arrays. The deleterious alleles herein were detected using a quantitative measurement of evolutionary conservation based on the phylogeny of wheat and investigations were made to:(1) assess the benefit of including deleterious alleles into MPH prediction models and(2) understand the genetic underpinnings of deleterious SNPs for grain yield MPH using contrasting crosses viz. elite × elite(Exp. 1) and elite × plant genetic resources(PGR;Exp. 2). In our study, we found a lower allele frequency of moderately deleterious alleles in elites compared to PGRs. This highlights the role of purifying selection for the development of elite wheat cultivars. It was shown that deleterious alleles are informative for MPH prediction models: modelling their additive-by-additive effects in Exp. 1 and dominance as well as associated digenic epistatic effects in Exp. 2 significantly boosts prediction accuracies of MPH. Furthermore,heterotic-quantitative trait loci's underlying MPH was investigated and their properties were contrasted in the two crosses. Conclusively, it was proposed that incomplete dominance of deleterious alleles contributes to grain yield heterosis in elite crosses(Exp. 1).

Electrolyte solvation chemistry for lithium-sulfur batteries with electrolyte-lean conditions

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries possess overwhelming energy density of 2654 Wh kg-1,and are considered as the next-generation battery technology for energy demanding applications.Flooded electrolytes are ubiquitously employed in cells to ensure sufficient redox kinetics and preclude the interference of the electrolyte depletion due to side reactions with the lithium metal anode.This strategy is capable of enabling long-lasting,high-capacity and excellent-rate battery performances,but it mask the requirements of practical Li-S batteries,where high-sulfur-loading/content and lean electrolyte are prerequisite to realize the energy-dense Li-S batteries.Sparingly and highly solvating electrolytes have emerged as effective yet simple approaches to decrease the electrolyte/sulfur ratio through altering sulfur species and exerting new reaction pathways.Sparingly solvating electrolytes are characterized by few free solvents to solvate lithium polysulfides,rendering a quasi-solid sulfur conversion and decoupling the reaction mechanisms from electrolyte quantity used in cells;while highly solvating electrolytes adopt highdonicity or high-permittivity solvents and take their advantages of strong solvation ability toward polysulfide intermediates,thereby favoring the polysulfide formation and stabilizing unique radicals,which subsequently accelerate redox kinetics.Both solvation chemistry approaches have their respective features to allow the operation of cells under electrolyte-starved conditions.This Review discusses their unique features and basic physicochemical properties in the working Li-S batteries,presents remaining technical and scientific issues and provides future directions for the electrolyte chemistry to attain highenergy Li-S batteries.

Genome-wide prediction for hybrids between parents with distinguished difference on exotic introgressions in Brassica napus

Extensive exotic introgression could significantly enlarge the genetic distance of hybrid parental populations to promote strong heterosis.The goal of this study was to investigate whether genome-wide prediction can support pre-breeding in populations with exotic introgressions.We evaluated seed yield,seed yield related traits and seed quality traits of 363 hybrids of Brassica napus (AACC) derived from two parental populations divergent on massive exotic introgression of related species in three environments.The hybrids presented strong heterosis on seed yield,which was much higher than other investigated traits.Five genomic best linear unbiased prediction models considering the exotic introgression and different marker effects (additive,dominance,and epistatic effects) were constructed to test the prediction ability for different traits of the hybrids.The analysis showed that the trait complexity,exotic introgression,genetic relationship between the training set and testing set,training set size,and environments affected the prediction ability.The models with best prediction ability for different traits varied.However,relatively high prediction ability (e.g.,0.728 for seed yield) was also observed when the simplest models were used,excluding the effects of the special exotic introgression and epistasis effect by5-fold cross validation,which would simplify the prediction for the trait with complex architecture for hybrids with exotic introgression.The results provide novel insights and strategies for genome-wide prediction of hybrids between genetically distinct parent groups with exotic introgressions.

Genome-wide prediction in a hybrid maize population adapted to Northwest China

Genome-wide prediction is a promising approach to boost selection gain in hybrid breeding.Our main objective was to evaluate the potential and limits of genome-wide prediction to identify superior hybrid combinations adapted to Northwest China.A total of 490 hybrids derived from crosses among 119 inbred lines from the Shaan A and Shaan B heterotic pattern were used for genome-wide prediction of ten agronomic traits.We tested eight different statistical prediction models considering additive(A)effects and in addition evaluated the impact of dominance(D)and epistasis(E)on the prediction ability.Employing five-fold cross validation,we show that the average prediction ability ranged from 0.386 to 0.794 across traits and models.Six parametric methods,i.e.ridge regression,LASSO,Elastic Net,Bayes B,Bayes C and reproducing kernel Hilbert space(RKHS)approach,displayed a very similar prediction ability for each trait and two non-parametric methods(random forest and support vector machine)had a higher prediction performance for the trait rind penetrometer resistance of the third internode above ground(RPR_TIAG).The models of A+D RKHS and A+D+E RKHS were slightly better for predicting traits with a relatively high non-additive variance.Integrating trait-specific markers into the A+D RKHS model improved the prediction ability of grain yield by 3%,from 0.528 to 0.558.Of all 6328 potential hybrids,selection of the top 44 hybrids would lead to a 6%increase in grain yield compared with Zhengdan 958,a commercially successful hybrid variety.In conclusion,our results substantiate the value of genome-wide prediction for hybrid breeding and suggest dozens of promising single crosses for developing high-yielding hybrids for Northwest China.

Nocturnal myocardial ischemic events and sleep-disordered breathing in patients with coronary artery disease

Objective To investigate the occurrence of nocturnal myocardial ischemia and its relationship with sleep-disordered breathing (apneas and oxygen desaturations) in patients with angina pectoris undergoing coronary angiography.Methods Eighty-two men and 14 women referred for consideration of coronary intervention were randomly selected. Observation by an overnight sleep monitor and Holter recording were performed to study sleep-disordered breathing (oxyhemoglobin desaturations≥4% and apnea-hypopneas),heart rates, and ST-segment depressions (≥ 1mm, ≥1 min).Results Nocturnal ST-segment depressions occurred in 37 % of the patients. ST-segment depression within 2 min after an apnea-hypopnea or desaturation occurred in 17% of the patients. This temporal association was seen in 21% of the patients with nocturnal ST-segment depressions, more frequently in men (P<0.05) and more frequently in those with severe disordered breathing (P<0.05).Most of these ST-segment depressions were preceded by a series of breathing events: repeated apnea-hypopneas or desaturations or both in 73% of the patients. Conclusions Episodes of nocturnal myocardial ischemia are common in patients with angina pectoris. A temporal relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and myocardial ischemia was present in some of our patients, and occurs more frequently in men and in those with severely disordered breathing. (J Geriatr Cardiol 2004;1(2):90-94.)

The influence of silica on reaction rates and molecular hydrogen(H_(2))generation during olivine hydrothermal alteration

Hydrothermal alteration of olivine greatly influences geodynamics and the recycling of volatiles(such as water and carbon)in subduction zones.Silica is an important component of geological fluids,and its influence on the hydrothermal alteration of olivine remains poorly constrained.In this study,we performed experiments at 300–515℃ and 3.0 kbar(1 bar=10^(5)Pa)by reacting well homogenized mixtures of olivine and silica powders with saline solutions(0.5 mol L^(−1)NaCl).Silica greatly influences the reaction pathways,reaction rates,and molecular hydrogen(H_(2))formation during olivine hydrothermal alteration.In experiments at 300℃ and 3.0 kbar with mixtures of olivine and 10 wt%silica,olivine was replaced by serpentine and talc.The proportions of serpentine and talc were determined according to standard curves based on infrared spectroscopy analyses.Around 6.5%serpentine and 12%talc were produced after an experimental duration of 7 days,which had no change after a longer period(14 days).Compared to the kinetics in silica-free systems,the rates of olivine hydrothermal alteration in experiments with 10 wt%silica are much lower.The overall reaction is:4.5Forsterite+5.5SiO_(2),aq+4H_(2)O=Serpentine+2Talc.With the addition of more silica(20 wt%and 40 wt%),olivine was transformed into talc.The rates of reaction were much faster,e.g.,for experiments with olivine and 20 wt%silica,43%of talc was produced after 14 days,which increased to 77%for experiments with 40 wt%silica over the same period.The overall reaction is:3Forsterite+5SiO_(2),aq+2H_(2)O=2Talc.In experiments at 400–505℃ and 3.0 kbar,the promoting effect of silica on olivine hydrothermal alteration was also observed,which is closely associated with a decrease in Gibbs free energies of olivine hydrothermal alteration.At 300℃ and 3.0 kbar,silica decreased H_(2)formed during olivine hydrothermal alteration by around an order of magnitude,resulting in an increase in oxygen fugacity.Based on measured H_(2),we calibrated oxygen fugacities,ranging from 0.96 to 3.41 log units below FMQ(fayalite-magnetitequartz buffer assemblage).This study suggests that the infiltration of SiO_(2)-bearing fluids into peridotites greatly influences redox conditions and the rates of olivine hydrothermal alteration.

A fiber-reinforced solid polymer electrolyte by in situ polymerization for stable lithium metal batteries

Solid polymer electrolytes(SPEs)by in situ polymerization are attractive due to their good interfacial contact with electrodes.Previously reported in situ polymerized SPEs,however,suffer from the low polymerization degree that causes poor mechanical strength,Li dendrite penetration,and performance decay in Li-metal batteries.Although highly polymerized SPEs are more stable than lowly polymerized ones,they are restricted by their sluggish long-chain mobility and poor ionic conductivity.In this work,a three-dimensional fibrous membrane with ion selectivity was prepared and used as a functional filler for the in situ formed SPE.The obtained SPE has high stability due to its high polymerization degree after the long-term heating process.The fibrous membrane plays a vital role in improving the SPE’s properties.The rich anion-adsorption sites on the fibrous membrane can alleviate the polarization effect and benefit a uniform current distribution at the interface.The fibrous nanostructure can efficiently interact with the polymeric matrix,providing rich hopping sites for fast Li+migration.Consequently,the obtained SPE enables a uniform Li deposition and long-term cycling performance in Li-metal batteries.This work reported an in situ formed SPE with both high polymerization degree and ionic conductivity,paving the way for designing high-performance SPEs with good comprehensive properties.

Neutron diffraction for revealing the structures and ionic transport mechanisms of antiperovskite solid electrolytes

Solid-state electrolytes(SSEs)play the most important role in the development of cutting-edge all-solid-state bat-teries(ASSBs).The lithium(sodium)-rich antiperovskite solid conductors have been considered as the promising SSEs due to the structural tolerance for lattice manipulation and the potential to improve ionic conductivity.In particular,lithium(sodium)-rich antiperovskite SSEs are mainly composed of light elements(e.g.,Li,O,H),which are suitable for studying the structure and ionic transport mechanism through neutron diffraction techniques.This present review summarizes the progress of neutron diffraction in analyzing the structure and revealing the ionic transport mechanisms of antiperovskite SSEs.The structure-function relationships involved in ionic transport pathways,defect chemistry,anion disorder and lattice dynamics are introduced respectively.In addition,the possible future directions for the application of neutron diffraction in antiperovskite SSEs are suggested.

Anti-perovskite materials for energy storage batteries

Anti-perovskites X3BA,as the electrically inverted derivatives of perovskites ABX3,have attracted tremendous attention for their good performances in multiple disciplines,especially in energy storage batteries.The Li/Na-rich antiperovskite(LiRAP/NaRAP)solid-state electrolytes(SSEs)typically show high ionic conductivities and high chemical/electrochemical stability toward the Li-metal anode,illustrating their great potential for applications in the Limetal batteries(LMBs)using nonaqueous liquid electrolyte or all-solid-state electrolyte.The antiperovskites have been studied as artificial solid electrolyte interphase for Li-metal anode protection,film SSEs for thin-film batteries,and low melting temperature solid electrolyte enabling melt-infiltration for the manufacture of all-solid-state lithium batteries.Transition metal-doped LiRAPs as cathodes have demonstrated a high discharge specific capacity and good rate capability in the Li-ion batteries(LIBs).Additionally,the underlying scientific principles in antiperovskites with flexible structural features have also been extensively studied.In this review,we comprehensively summarize the development,structural design,ionic conductivity and ion transportation mechanism,chemical/electrochemical stability,and applications of some antiperovskite materials in energy storage batteries.The perspective for enhancing the performance of the antiperovskites is also provided as a guide for future development and applications in energy storage.

Metallic interface induced by electronic reconstruction in crystalline-amorphous bilayer oxide films

Extraordinary electronic properties can emerge at the interfaces between metal oxides[1-10].Interfacial behaviors have enabled a wide range of applications from electronic communication,energy conversion and storage,to data processing and memory.In recent years,unprecedented progress has been made in exploring and exploiting the emergent and/or enhanced properties of these interfaces,and it is becoming clear that interface engineering provides a new opportunity for advanced devices in the near future.The capability of using interfaces to manipulate material properties offers an effective means to achieve intriguing phenomena.