Simultaneous Identification of Multiple Causal Mutations in Rice

Next-generation sequencing technologies (NGST) are being used to discover causal mutations in ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized plant populations. However, the published protocols often deliver too many candidate sites and sometimes fail to find the mutant gene of interest. Accurate identification of the causal mutation from massive background polymorphisms and sequencing deficiencies remains challenging. Here we describe a NGST-based method, named SIMM, that can simultaneously identify the causal mutations in multiple independent mutants. Multiple rice mutants derived from the same parental line were back-crossed, and for each mutant, the derived F2 individuals of the recessive mutant phenotype were pooled and sequenced. The resulting sequences were aligned to the Nipponbare reference genome, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were subsequently compared among the mutants. Allele index (AI) and Euclidean distance (ED) were incorporated into the analysis to reduce noises caused by background polymorphisms and re-sequencing errors. Corrections of sequence bias against GC- and AT-rich sequences in the candidate region were conducted when necessary. Using this method, we successfully identified seven new mutant alleles from Huanghuazhan (HHZ), an elite indica rice cultivar in China. All mutant alleles were validated by phenotype association assay.Guangdong Innovative Research Team Program [201001S0104725509]; Ministry of Agriculture Transgenic Project [2012ZX08001001]; National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China [973 Program] [2011CB100101, 2013CBA01402]; National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [863 Program] [2014AA10A602]; Natural Science Foundation of China [31110103917]; Shenzhen Commission on Innovation and Technology [KQF201109160004A, CXZZ20140411140647863]SCI(E)ARTICLE

Establishment and Advances of Third-Generation Hybrid Rice Technology: A Review

Abstract Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important food crops worldwide. The utilisation of heterosis (hybrid vigour) has played a significant role in increasing rice yield and ensuring food supply. Over the past 50 years, the first-generation three-line system based on cytoplasmic male sterility, and the second-generation two-line system based on environment-sensitive genic male sterility (EGMS), have been widely applied in hybrid rice production. However, the three-line system is restricted by the matching relationship among the three parental lines and allows only ~ 2–5% of germplasms to be explored for elite combinations. The environmental sensitivity of EGMS lines has posed serious risks to the production of hybrid seeds. These factors have hindered the development and applications of hybrid rice. Third-generation hybrid rice technology (TGHRT) is based on environment-insensitive genic male sterility, which can effectively overcome the intrinsic problems of the three-line and two-line systems. Since the establishment of TGHRT, numerous findings and innovations have been reported. This paper gives a brief review of traditional hybrid rice technologies and discusses the establishment of TGHRT, technical innovations in TGHRT, and future research that is necessary to promote the wide application of TGHRT in rice production

Unsupervised Stylish Image Description Generation via Domain Layer Norm

Most of the existing works on image description focus on generating expressive descriptions. The only few works that are dedicated to generating stylish (e.g., romantic, lyric, etc.) descriptions suffer from limited style variation and content digression. To address these limitations, we propose a controllable stylish image description generation model. It can learn to generate stylish image descriptions that are more related to image content and can be trained with the arbitrary monolingual corpus without collecting new paired image and stylish descriptions. Moreover, it enables users to generate various stylish descriptions by plugging in style-specific parameters to include new styles into the existing model. We achieve this capability via a novel layer normalization layer design, which we will refer to as the Domain Layer Norm (DLN). Extensive experimental validation and user study on various stylish image description generation tasks are conducted to show the competitive advantages of the proposed model

Enhanced Photocatalysis of Black TiO2/Graphene Composites Synthesized by a Facile Sol–Gel Method Combined with Hydrogenation Process

In this study, in situ TiO2 was grown on the surface of graphene by a facile sol–gel method to form black TiO2/graphene composites with highly improved photocatalytic activity. The combination of graphene and TiO2 was beneficial to eliminate the recombination of photogenerated electron holes. The self-doping Ti3+ was introduced, accompanied by the crystallization of amorphous TiO2, during the hydrogenation process. Consequently, the narrowed bandgap caused by self-doping Ti3+ enhanced the visible light absorption and thus made the composites appear black. Both of them improved the photocatalytic performance of the synthesized black TiO2/graphene composites. The band structure of the composite was analyzed by valence band XPS, revealing the reason for the high visible light catalytic performance of the composite. The results proved that the black TiO2/graphene composites synthesized show attractive potential for applications in environmental and energy issues

Impacts of additional cycles of neoadjuvant immunotherapy on surgery in non‐small‐cell lung cancer

Abstract Objective Whether cycle number influences the subsequent pathological or surgical outcomes remained unclear. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and surgical safety of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy‐based treatment in the real‐world setting. Methods Clinical data of patients who received neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for non‐small‐cell lung cancer between 2018 and 2021 were collected. Oncological outcomes such as objective response rate (ORR), major pathological response (MPR), and pathological complete response (pCR), and surgical outcomes including operating time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative drainage, and hospital stay were analyzed. Results In total, 176 patients were included, among whom 102 cases were lung squamous carcinoma (LUSQ). After immunochemotherapy, 98 (56%) of patients achieved ORR. Notably, the ORR (63% vs. 46%, p = 0.039) and pCR (45% vs. 27%, p = 0.022) were significantly higher in patients with LUSQ. For patients who received two, three, four, and five or more cycles, the ORRs were 52%, 67%, 53%, and 50% (p = 0.36). In post hoc analysis, cycle numbers showed no significant association with MPR or pCR (p = 0.14 and p = 0.073). Treatment cycles showed no influence on operating time, postoperative drainage, and hospital stay (p = 0.79, 0.37, and 0.22). Notably, the blood loss index of patients who received more than four cycles was higher than those receiving four or fewer cycles (mean blood loss: two or fewer cycles 153.1, three cycles 113.8, four cycles 137.6, and five or more cycles 293.3, respectively). Conclusions This study indicated that cycles of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy had no significant effect on the feasibility and safety of surgery. Although not statistically significant, patients who received five or more cycles of treatment experienced higher intraoperative blood loss

Innovation and development of the third-generation hybrid rice technology

The breeding and large-scale application of hybrid rice contribute significantly to the food supply worldwide. Currently, hybrid seed production uses cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines or photoperiod/thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) lines as female parent. Despite huge successes, both systems have intrinsic problems. CMS systems are mainly restricted by the narrow restorer resources that make it difficult to breed superior hybrids, while PTGMS systems are limited by conditional sterility of the male sterile lines that makes the propagation of both PTGMS seeds and hybrid seeds vulnerable to unpredictable climate changes. Recessive nuclear male sterile (NMS) lines insensitive to environmental conditions are widely distributed and are ideal for hybrid rice breeding and production, but the lack of effective ways to propagate the pure NMS lines in a large scale renders it impossible to use them for hybrid rice production. The development of “the third-generation hybrid rice technology” enables efficient propagation of the pure NMS lines in commercial scale. This paper discusses the establishment of “the third-generation hybrid rice technology” and further innovations. This new technology breaks the limitations of CMS and PTGMS systems and will bring a big leap forward in hybrid rice production