The sequence of rice chromosomes 11 and 12, rich in disease resistance genes and recent gene duplications

Background: Rice is an important staple food and, with the smallest cereal genome, serves as a reference species for studies on the evolution of cereals and other grasses. Therefore, decoding its entire genome will be a prerequisite for applied and basic research on this species and all other cereals. Results: We have determined and analyzed the complete sequences of two of its chromosomes, 11 and 12, which total 55.9 Mb (14.3% of the entire genome length), based on a set of overlapping clones. A total of 5,993 non-transposable element related genes are present on these chromosomes. Among them are 289 disease resistance-like and 28 defense-response genes, a higher proportion of these categories than on any other rice chromosome. A three-Mb segment on both chromosomes resulted from a duplication 7.7 million years ago (mya), the most recent large-scale duplication in the rice genome. Paralogous gene copies within this segmental duplication can be aligned with genomic assemblies from sorghum and maize. Although these gene copies are preserved on both chromosomes, their expression patterns have diverged. When the gene order of rice chromosomes 11 and 12 was compared to wheat gene loci, significant synteny between these orthologous regions was detected, illustrating the presence of conserved genes alternating with recently evolved genes. Conclusion: Because the resistance and defense response genes, enriched on these chromosomes relative to the whole genome, also occur in clusters, they provide a preferred target for breeding durable disease resistance in rice and the isolation of their allelic variants. The recent duplication of a large chromosomal segment coupled with the high density of disease resistance gene clusters makes this the most recently evolved part of the rice genome. Based on syntenic alignments of these chromosomes, rice chromosome 11 and 12 do not appear to have resulted from a single whole-genome duplication event as previously suggested

Photoresponse Characteristics of Archetypal Metal–Organic Frameworks

The photoelectrochemical responses of two archetypal metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-5 and MOF-177, have been assessed. Films of MOF-5 and MOF-177 were grown on carboxylic-acid-terminated conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates. Separate analyses by powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy collectively indicated these films prepared via a solvothermal method in diethylformamide were free of residual impurities such as ZnO clusters and residual organics. Exposure of these films to white light illumination while immersed in acetonitrile electrolytes elicited measurable photocurrents. Wavelength-dependent analysis of the photoresponses showed that the measured photocurrents were induced by ultraviolet light and that the spectral response profiles followed closely the light absorption profiles of each respective material. Attenuation of the induced photocurrents was noted after prolonged ultraviolet light illumination and/or exposure of the films to H₂O(l), indicating that the observed photoresponse properties are directly related to the structural integrity of these MOFs. The cumulative data illustrate that such MOFs have innately light-sensitive properties that are atypical in high surface area materials

Filling Pore Space in a Microporous Coordination Polymer to Improve Methane Storage Performance

A strategy that allows the tuning of pore size in microporous coordination polymers (MCPs) through modification of their organic linkers is presented. When large substituents are introduced onto the linker, these pendent groups partially occupy the pores, thus reducing pore size while serving as additional adsorption sites for gases. The approach takes advantage of the fact that, for methane storage materials, small pores (0.4–0.8 nm in diameter) are more desirable than large pores since small pores promote optimal volumetric capacity. This method was demonstrated with IRMOF-8, a MCP constructed from Zn₄O metal clusters and 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate (NDC) linkers. The NDC was functionalized through the addition of substituents including <i>tert</i>-butylethynyl or phenylethynyl groups. High pressure methane uptake demonstrates that the IRMOF-8 derivatives have significantly better performance than the unfunctionalized material in terms of both excess volumetric uptake and deliverable capacity. Moreover, IRMOF-8 derivatives also give rise to stronger interactions with methane molecules as shown by higher heat of adsorption values

Few-layer, large-area, 2D covalent organic framework semiconductor thin films.

A method to form thin films of a semiconducting covalent organic framework is disclosed. Thin film formation allows facile transfer to device-relevant substrates, enabling the first demonstration of a COF-based field-effect transistor.</p

CO Adsorption on a Mixed-Valence Ruthenium Metal–Organic Framework Studied by UHV-FTIR Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations

The mixed-valence metal–organic framework [Ru3II,III(btc)2Cl1.5] (Ru-MOF) was synthesized by the controlled SBU approach and characterized by combined powder XRD, XPS, and FTIR methods. The interaction of CO molecules with Ru-MOF was studied by a novel instrumentation for ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) FTIR spectroscopy. The high-quality IR data demonstrate the presence of two different CO species within the framework: a strongly bonded CO showing a low-lying band at 2137 cm–1 and a second CO species at 2171 cm–1 with a lower binding energy. It was found that these IR bands cannot be assigned in a straightforward manner to CO molecules adsorbed on the coordinatively unsaturated RuII site (CUS) and RuIII site connected to an additional Cl– ion for charge compensation. The accurate DFT calculations reveal that the structural and electronic properties of the mixed-valence Ru-MOF are much more complex than expected. One of the Cl– counterions could be transferred to a neighboring paddle-wheel, forming an anionic SBU blocked by two Cl– counterions, whereas the other positively charged paddle-wheel with a Ru2II,III dimer exposes two “free” CUS, which can bind two CO molecules with different frequencies and binding energies

Ethane Selective IRMOF-8 and Its Significance in Ethane-Ethylene Separation by Adsorption

The separation of ethylene from ethane is one of the most energy-intensive single distillations practiced. This separation could be alternatively made by an adsorption process if the adsorbent would preferentially adsorb ethane over ethylene. Materials that exhibit this feature are scarce. Here, we report the case of a metal-organic framework, the IRMOF-8, for which the adsorption isotherms of ethane and ethylene were measured at 298 and 318 K up to pressures of 1000 kPa. Separation of ethane/ethylene mixtures was achieved in flow experiments using a IRMOF-8 filled column. The interaction of gas molecules with the surface of IRMOF-8 was explored using density functional theory (DFT) methods. We show both experimentally and computationally that, as a result of the difference in the interaction energies of ethane and ethylene in IRMOF-8, this material presents the preferential adsorption of ethane over ethylene. The results obtained in this study suggest that MOFs with ligands exhibiting high aromaticity character are prone to adsorb ethane preferably over ethylene