OsMKK1 is a novel element that positively regulates the Xa21-mediated resistance response to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in rice.

OsMKK1, a MAPK gene, positively regulates rice Xa21-mediated resistance response and also plays roles in normal growth and development process of rice. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade was highly conserved among eukaryotes, which played crucial roles in plant responses to pathogen infection. Bacterial blight is the most devastating bacterial disease.

Surface Engineering of Titania Boosts Electroassisted Propane Dehydrogenation at Low Temperature.

Electric field catalysis using surface proton conduction, in which proton hopping and collision on the reactant are promoted by external electricity, is a promising approach to break the thermodynamic equilibrium limitation in endothermic propane dehydrogenation (PDH). This study proposes a catalyst design concept for more efficient electroassisted PDH at low temperature. Sm was doped into the anatase TiO surface to increase surface proton density by charge compensation.

Reconstruction of Thiospinel to Active Sites and Spin Channels for Water Oxidation.

Water electrolysis is a promising technique for carbon neutral hydrogen production. A great challenge remains at developing robust and low-cost anode catalysts. Many pre-catalysts are found to undergo surface reconstruction to give high intrinsic activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Rice MPK17 Plays a Negative Role in the Xa21-Mediated Resistance Against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Rice bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is one of the most serious diseases affecting rice production worldwide. Xa21 was the first disease resistance gene cloned in rice, which encodes a receptor kinase and confers broad resistance against Xoo stains.

Electroassisted Propane Dehydrogenation at Low Temperatures: Far beyond the Equilibrium Limitation.

Propylene production by propane dehydrogenation (PDH) generally requires high temperatures due to thermodynamic equilibrium limitations. This study developed a novel type of catalytic system for low-temperature PDH by combining a surface protonics methodology with intermetallic active sites. By application of an electric current, the intermetallic Pt-In/TiO catalyst gave a propylene yield of 10.

An Fe-N co-doped tube-in-tube carbon nanostructure used as an efficient catalyst for the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction.

An Fe-N co-doped tube-in-tube carbon nanostructure is synthesized for an efficient oxygen reduction reaction. Thanks to its hollow nature, the mesoporous structure is enriched while defects are not prominent, allowing excellent activity (E  = 0.851 V) and durability together with methanol tolerance in an electrochemistry test under alkaline conditions.

A rational microstructure design of SnS-carbon composites for superior sodium storage performance.

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted ever-growing attention as promising candidates for large-scale energy storage applications, due to the abundant sodium resources and their low cost. Nevertheless, it is still a significant challenge to realize superior electrode materials with high capacity and good cyclability. To address these problems, herein, a rational microstructure of the SnS2-carbon composite has been designed for superior performance, which consists of MWNTs as a carbon matrix, the SnS2 nanosheet (NS) as an active material, the outer carbon coating as a protection layer, as well as the interior void space for volume accommodation.

Sesquiterpenoids with antialgal activity against the common red tide microalgae from marine macroalga Porphyra yezoensis.

Previous studies showed that methanol extracts from Porphyra yezoensis significantly inhibited Karenia mikimitoi and Skeletonema costatum. Five sesquiterpenoids (1-5) were successfully isolated from this marine macroalga through a combination of silica gel column chromatography and repeated preparative thin-layer chromatography in this paper. Their structure was identified as gossonorol (1), 7,10-epoxy-ar-bisabol-11-ol (2), cyclonerodiol (3), cadinol, (4) and 4-cadinen-1-ol (5) on the basis of spectroscopic data.

Pt Nanoparticles Densely Coated on SnO-Covered Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes with Excellent Electrocatalytic Activity and Stability for Methanol Oxidation.

A new electrocatalyst exhibiting enhanced activity and stability is designed from SnO-covered multiwalled carbon nanotubes coated with 85 wt % ratio Pt nanoparticles (NPs). This catalyst showed a mass activity 6.2 times as active as that of the commercial Pt/C for methanol oxidation, owing to the unique one-dimensional structure.

MnO Nanofilms on Nitrogen-Doped Hollow Graphene Spheres as a High-Performance Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Platinum is commonly chosen as an electrocatalyst used for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this study, we report an active catalyst composed of MnO nanofilms grown directly on nitrogen-doped hollow graphene spheres, which exhibits high activity toward ORR with positive onset potential (0.94 V vs RHE), large current density (5.

3-Arylcoumarins: synthesis and potent anti-inflammatory activity.

Chronic inflammation is the persistent and excessive immune response and can lead to a variety of diseases. Aiming to discover new compounds with anti-inflammatory activity, we report herein the synthesis and biological evaluation of 3-arylcoumarins. Thirty five 3-arylcoumarins were prepared through Perkin condensation and further acid-promoted hydrolysis if necessary.