Brassinosteroid regulation in rice seed biology

Rice(Oryza sativa L.)is not only a model monocotyledon plant,but also an important cereal seed crop.Improvements in seed-related traits is the key to obtaining high grain yield and quality,therefore attracting attention from both scientists and crop breeders.In higher plants,brassinosteroid(BR),a major growth-promoting hormone,plays an important role in regulating numerous agronomic traits associated with both vegetative and reproductive growth,thereby presenting huge application potential.Here,we review recent progress into BR regulation in rice seed biology.Both BR biosynthesis and signaling have been shown to regulate grain size,grain filling,grain number,seed germination and biosynthesis of seed components.Thus,considering the pleiotropic effects of BR,strategies aimed at genetic modulation of the BR pathway have been proposed to improve seed-related traits in rice,and therefore,enhance both yield and quality.This review not only strengthens our understanding of the underlying mechanism and regulatory network of BR-regulated key agronomic traits in rice,but also facilitates the future application of BR in rice breeding programs.

Interface engineering of ZnSnO_(3)-based heterojunctions for room-temperature methanol monitoring

Detecting methanol is of great importance in the organic synthesis industry.Herein,the effective utilization of ZnSnO_(3)-based microstructures for room-temperature methanol monitoring was realized through a template-free approach.ZnSnO_(3)-based heterojunctions with different structures and morphologies were successfully synthesized via regulating the molar ratio of Zn2+and Sn4+sources.And room-temperature sensing properties towards methanol were investigated.Among them,ZnO/ZnSnO_(3) hollow microcubes exhibited an outstanding sensing performance including a high sensitivity(10.16)and a response/recovery time(14/75 s)and a limit of detection(490×10^(-9))towards 5×10^(-6)methanol.Additionally,the synergistic effects of hollow structure with larger specific surface areas(42.277 m^(2)·g^(-1)),the construction of n-n heterojunctions formed at ZnSnO_(3) and ZnO interfaces,the high percentage of dissociative and chemisorbed oxygen are the main causes of the elevated sensing characteristics.Besides,the practical experiment demonstrated that ZnO/ZnSnO_(3) was capable of on-field monitoring methanol in the chemical reaction utilizing H_(2) and CO_(2) as raw materials.Moreover,with the help of density functional theory calculations,the enhanced sensing properties of ZnO/ZnSnO_(3) are due to the special tuning effects of Zn ionic sites on methanol adsorption.

Development and high-throughput genotyping of substitution lines carting the chromosome segments of indica 9311 in the background of japonica Nipponbare

Chromosome segment substitution lines（CSSLs） are useful for the precise mapping of quantitative trait loci（QTLs） and dissection of the genetic basis of complex traits.In this study,two whole-genome sequenced rice cultivars,the japonica Nipponbare and indica 9311 were used as recipient and donor,respectively.A population with 57 CSSLs was developed after crossing and back-crossing assisted by molecular markers, and genotypes were identified using a high-throughput resequencing strategy.Detailed graphical genotypes of 38 lines were constructed based on resequencing data.These CSSLs had a total of 95 substituted segments derived from indica 9311,with an average of about 2.5 segments per CSSL and eight segments per chromosome,and covered about 87.4%of the rice whole genome.A multiple linear regression QTL analysis mapped four QTLs for 1000-grain weight.The largest-effect QTL was located in a region on chromosome 5 that contained a cloned major QTL GW5/qSW5 for grain size in rice.These CSSLs with a background of Nipponbare may provide powerful tools for future whole-genome