OsAAH confers salt tolerance in rice seedlings.

Soil salinization is becoming a great threat that reduces crop productivity worldwide. In this study, we found that rice allantoate amidohydrolase (OsAAH) expression was significantly upregulated by salt stress, and its overexpression conferred salt tolerance at the seedling stage. Compared to wild type (WT), the contents of ureides (allantoin and allantoate) were significantly increased in Osaah mutants and reduced in OsAAH overexpression lines both before and after salt treatments.

Rational Control of Size and Photoluminescence of WS Quantum Dots for White Light-Emitting Diodes.

Transition-metal dichalcogenides like tungsten disulfide (WS) are luminescent but still bear low quantum yields and hardly meet the requirement of practical applications. Here, we developed a hot-injection method to prepare highly luminescent WS quantum dots with tunable particle size in a noncoordinating solvent, some that are even smaller than its Bohr radius. The as-synthesized WS quantum dots exhibit a narrow size distribution and a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 32%, the highest record compared to the known reports.