ABSTRACT
Elymus sibiricus L. is an important cold-season grass with excellent cold and drought tolerance, good palatability, and nutrition. Flowering time is a key trait that affects forage and seed yield. Development of EST-SSR (expressed sequence tag simple sequence repeat) markers based on flowering genes contributes to the improvement of flowering traits. In the study, we detected 155 candidate genes related to flowering traits from 10,591 unigenes via transcriptome sequencing in early- and late-flowering genotypes. These candidate genes were mainly involved in the photoperiodic pathway, vernalization pathway, central integrator, and gibberellin pathway. A total of 125 candidate gene-based EST-SSRs were developed. Further, 15 polymorphic EST-SSRs closely associated to 13 candidate genes were used for genetic diversity and population structure analysis among 20 E. sibiricus accessions, including two contrasting panels (early-flowering and late-flowering). Among them, primer 28366, designed from heading date 3a (HD3a), effectively distinguished early- and late-flowering genotypes using a specifically amplified band of 175 bp. The polymorphic information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.12 to 0.48, with an average of 0.25. The unweighted pair group method analysis (UPGMA) cluster and structure analysis showed that the 20 E. sibiricus genotypes with similar flowering times tended to group together. These newly developed EST-SSR markers have the potential to be used for molecular markers assisted selection and germplasm evaluation of flowering traits in E. sibiricus.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate a novel nanotextured graphene micropad that can rapidly harvest water from air to generate microscale water droplets with the desired size in designated positions on demand by simply applying a negative electric bias of -1.5 to -15 V. More interestingly, the water droplets can be reversibly dried nonthermally with the pad at ambient temperature in humid air (â¼85% RH) by applying a positive electric bias of +1.5 to +15 V. The harvesting and drying rates on the glass are 2.7 and 1.5 µm3/s under biases of -15 and +15 V, respectively, but no apparent harvesting or drying activities are observed without the bias. The energy consumption is minimal as there is no Joule current due to the insulative substrate. It is shown that substrate wettability and ions play an important role in enabling the fast water harvesting and nonthermal drying. Molecular modeling is developed to understand the harvesting and drying mechanisms at the atomic scale. The water harvesting/drying approach may be useful for many technological applications such as micro/nanolithography, 3D printing, MEMS, and biochemical and microfluid devices.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrated an N-doped graphene interface with highly switchable adhesion and robust micromanipulation capability triggered by external electric signals. Upon applying a small dc or ac electrical bias, this nanotextured surface can collect environmental moisture to form a large number of water bridges between the graphene and target surface, which lead to a drastic change in adhesive force. Turning on and off the electrical bias can control this graphene interface as a robust micro/nanomanipulator to pick up and drop off various micro/nano-objects for precise assembling. Molecular dynamics simulation reveals that the electrically induced electric double layer and ordered icelike structures at the graphene-water interface strengthen the water bridges and consequently enhance force switchability. In addition to the micro-/nanomanipulation, this switchable adhesion may have many technical implications such as climbing robots, sensors, microfluidic devices, and advanced drug delivery.
ABSTRACT
Geckos have the extraordinary ability to prevent their sticky feet from fouling while running on dusty walls and ceilings. Understanding gecko adhesion and self-cleaning mechanisms is essential for elucidating animal behaviours and rationally designing gecko-inspired devices. Here we report a unique self-cleaning mechanism possessed by the nano-pads of gecko spatulae. The difference between the velocity-dependent particle-wall adhesion and the velocity-independent spatula-particle dynamic response leads to a robust self-cleaning capability, allowing geckos to efficiently dislodge dirt during their locomotion. Emulating this natural design, we fabricate artificial spatulae and micromanipulators that show similar effects, and that provide a new way to manipulate micro-objects. By simply tuning the pull-off velocity, our gecko-inspired micromanipulators, made of synthetic microfibers with graphene-decorated micro-pads, can easily pick up, transport, and drop-off microparticles for precise assembling. This work should open the door to the development of novel self-cleaning adhesives, smart surfaces, microelectromechanical systems, biomedical devices, and more.
