Variation in WIDTH OF LEAF AND GRAIN contributes to grain and leaf size by controlling LARGE2 stability in rice.

Grain and flag leaf size are two important agronomic traits that influence grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa). Many QTLs and genes that regulate these traits individually have been identified, however, few QTLs and genes that simultaneously control these two traits have been identified. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide association analysis in rice and detected a major locus, WIDTH OF LEAF AND GRAIN (WLG), that associated with both grain and flag leaf width. WLG encodes a RING-domain E3 ubiquitin ligase. WLGhap.B, which possesses five SNP variations compared to WLGhap.A, encodes a protein with enhanced ubiquitination activity that confers increased rice leaf width and grain size, whereas mutation of WLG leads to narrower leaves and smaller grains. Both WLGhap.A and WLGhap.B interact with LARGE2, a HETC-type E3 ligase, however, WLGhap.B exhibits stronger interaction with LARGE2, thus higher ubiquitination activity towards LARGE2 compared with WLGhap.A. Lysine1021 is crucial for the ubiquitination of LARGE2 by WLG. Loss-of-function of LARGE2 in wlg-1 phenocopies large2-c in grain and leaf width, suggesting that WLG acts upstream of LARGE2. These findings reveal the genetic and molecular mechanism by which the WLG-LARGE2 module mediates grain and leaf size in rice, and suggest the potential of WLGhap.B in improving rice yield.

Si-integrated lanthanide-doped ferroelectrics for a photomemory based on a photochromic reaction.

We describe a Si-integrated photochromic photomemory based on lanthanide-doped ferroelectric Na0.5Bi2.5Nb2O9:Er3+ (NBN:Er) thin films. We show that upconversion emission can be effectively modulated by up to 78% through the photochromic reaction. The coupling between lanthanide upconversion emission and the photochromic effect ensures rewritable and nondestructive readout characteristics. Moreover, integrating photochromic thin films with Si would benefit from its compatibility with the mature complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technique. These results demonstrate the opportunity to develop more compact photochromic photomemories and related photonic devices.

Bna.EPF2 Enhances Drought Tolerance by Regulating Stomatal Development and Stomatal Size in Brassica napus.

Drought stress severely affects global plant growth and production. The enhancement of plant water-use efficiency (WUE) and drought tolerance by the manipulation of the stomata is an effective strategy to deal with water shortage. However, increasing the WUE and drought tolerance by manipulation on the stomata has rarely been tested in Brassica napus. Here, we isolated Bna.EPF2, an epidermal patterning factor (EPF) in Brassica napus (ecotype Westar), and identified its role in drought performance. Bna.EPF2 overexpression lines had a reduction average of 19.02% in abaxial stomatal density and smaller stomatal pore size, leading to approximately 25% lower transpiration, which finally resulted in greater instantaneous WUE and enhanced drought tolerance. Interestingly, the reduction in stomatal density did not affect the CO2 assimilation or yield-related agronomic traits in Bna.EPF2 overexpression plants. Together with the complementation of Bna.EPF2 significantly decreasing the stomatal density of Arabidopsis epf2, and Bna.EPF2 being expressed in mature guard cells, these results suggest that Bna.EPF2 not only functions in stomatal density development, but also in stomatal dimension in Brassicas. Taken together, our results suggest that Bna.EPF2 improves WUE and drought tolerance by the regulation of stomatal density and stomatal size in Brassica without growth and yield penalty, and provide insight into the manipulation of this gene in the breeding of drought tolerant plants with increased production under water deficit conditions.

Overexpression of tomato glutathione reductase (SlGR) in transgenic tobacco enhances salt tolerance involving the S-nitrosylation of GR.

S-nitrosylation, a post-translational modification (PTM) dependent on nitric oxide, is essential for plant development and environmental responsiveness. However, the function of S-nitrosylation of glutathione reductase (GR) in tomato (SlGR) under NaCl stress is yet uncertain. In this study, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an exogenous NO donor, alleviated the growth inhibition of tomato under NaCl treatment, particularly at 100 µM. Following NaCl treatment, the transcripts, enzyme activity, and S-nitrosylated level of GR were increased. In vitro, the SlGR protein was able to be S-nitrosylated by S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), significantly increasing the activity of GR. SlGR overexpression transgenic tobacco plants exhibited enhanced germination rate, fresh weight, and increased root length in comparison to wild-type (WT) seedlings. The accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was lower, whereas the expression and activities of GR, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT); the ratio of ascorbic acid/dehydroascorbic acid (AsA/DHA), reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG), total soluble sugar and proline contents; and the expression of stress-related genes were higher in SlGR overexpression transgenic plants in comparison to the WT plants following NaCl treatment. The accumulation of NO and S-nitrosylated levels of GR in transgenic plants was higher in comparison to WT plants following NaCl treatment. These results indicated that S-nitrosylation of GR played a significant role in salt tolerance by regulating the oxidative state.

Enhanced gain and detectivity of unipolar barrier solar blind avalanche photodetector via lattice and band engineering.

Ga2O3-based solar blind avalanche photodetectors exhibit low voltage operation, optical filter-free and monolithic integration of photodetector arrays, and therefore they are promising to be an alternative to the bulky and fragile photomultiplier tubes for weak signal detection in deep-ultraviolet region. Here, by deliberate lattice and band engineering, we construct an n-Barrier-n unipolar barrier avalanche photodetector consisting of ß-Ga2O3/MgO/Nb:SrTiO3 heterostructure, in which the enlarged conduction band offsets fortify the reverse breakdown and suppress the dark current while the negligible valance band offsets faciliate minority carrier flow across the heterojunction. The developed devices exhibit record-high avalanche gain up to 5.9 × 105 and detectivity of 2.33 × 1016 Jones among the reported wafer-scale grown Ga2O3-based photodetectors, which are even comparable to the commercial photomultiplier tubes. These findings provide insights into precise manipulation of band alignment in avalanche photodetectors, and also offer exciting opportunities for further developing high-performance Ga2O3-based electronics and optoelectronics.

Hydrogen sulfide alleviates oxidative damage under excess nitrate stress through MAPK/NO signaling in cucumber.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is emerging as a potential messenger molecule involved in modulation of physiological processes in plants. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nitric oxide (NO) are essential for abiotic stress signaling. This work investigated the effects of H2S and the crosstalk between H2S, MAPK and NO in cucumber roots under nitrate stress. The inhibitory effect of 140 mM nitrate on the growth of shoot and root was substantially alleviated by treatment with H2S donor sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), especially 100 µM NaHS. Treatment with 100 µM NaHS reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 contents, ROS accumulation and increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). CsNMAPK transcript level was up-regulated by NaHS treatment, while significantly decreased by propargylglycine (PAG, specific inhibitor of H2S biosynthesis) and hypotaurine (HT, H2S scavenger) in cucumber roots under nitrate stress. NO accumulation was increased by NaHS treatment under nitrate stress, but reduced by HT, PAG and PD98059, indicating that NO might function downstream of MAPK and H2S. MAPK inhibitor PD98059 and NO scavenger (cPTIO) reversed the alleviating effect of H2S by increasing MDA and H2O2 contents, and decreasing antioxidant enzyme activities of SOD, CAT, POD, APX, and the endogenous H2S contents and LCD activities under nitrate stress. In conclusion, H2S played a protective role in cucumber seedlings under nitrate stress and MAPK/NO signaling were involved in the process by regulating antioxidant enzyme activities.

Physiological response and transcription profiling analysis reveals the role of H2S in alleviating excess nitrate stress tolerance in tomato roots.

Soil secondary salinization caused by excess nitrate addition is one of the major obstacles in greenhouse vegetable production. Excess nitrate inhibited the growth of tomato plants, while application of 100 µM H2S donor NaHS efficiently increased the plant height, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, root length, endogenous H2S contents and L-cysteine desulfhydrases activities. NaHS altered the oxidative status of nitrate-stressed plants as inferred by changes in reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and lipid peroxidation accompanied by regulation of the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX). Besides, NaHS increased the nitric oxide (NO) and total S-nitrosothiols (SNOs) contents, nitrate reductase (NR) activities and decreased the S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) activities under nitrate stress. Furthermore, microarray analysis using the Affymetrix Tomato GeneChip showed that 5349 transcripts were up-regulated and 5536 transcripts were down-regulated under NaHS and excess nitrate stress treatment, compared to the excess nitrate stress alone. The differentially expressed genes (log2 fold change >2 or <  -2) of up-regulated (213) and down-regulated (271) genes identified were functionally annotated and subsequently classified into 9 functional categories. These categories included metabolism, signal transduction, defence response, transcription factor, protein synthesis and protein fate, transporter, cell wall related, hormone response, cell death, energy and unknown proteins. Our study suggested exogenous NaHS might enhance excess nitrate stress tolerance of tomato plants by modulating ROS and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) signaling and downstream transcriptional adjustment, such as defence response, signal transduction and transcription factors.