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In this study, for the very first time developing of n- and p-type 3-D single-channel (SC) FinFET and gate-all-around (GAA) Multi-Bridge-Channel FETs (MBCFET) like nanowire FET (NWFET) and nanosheet FET (NSFET) are benchmarked towards device and circuit levels which are emulated with International Road map for Devices and Systems (IRDS) for sub-5-nm technology nodes. Compared to the FinFET, the MBCFETs exhibits higher ON-current ( $I_{\mathrm {ON}})$ , switching ratio ( $I_{\mathrm {ON}}/I_{\mathrm {OFF}})$ , lower subthreshold-swing (SS) and drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL). Except for extended parasitic capacitances ( $C_{\mathrm {para}})$ , our benchmarking results show that the NWFET and NSFET achieve the high-performance (HP) and low-power (LP) goals of IRDS. Furthermore, the NSFET delivers superior performance towards DC and analog/RF metrics. The cut-off frequency ( $f_{\mathrm {T}})$ and gain bandwidth product (GBW) are higher (because of high $I_{\mathrm {ON}})$ in the case of NSFET, even though the capacitive effect is significant. Further, the logic circuit applications like CMOS inverter and ring oscillator (RO) circuits are analyzed and compared in detail. The CMOS inverters propagation delays ( $\tau _{\mathrm {p}})$ is reduced to 31% from FinFET to NWFET and 12% from NWFET to NSFETs is noticed. Also, the NWFET and NSFET based ROs offer 39% and 56% high oscillation frequency ( $f_{\mathrm {osc}})$ compared to that of FinFET counterpart. Finally, the single stage current mirror performance and operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) gain and common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) are carried out towards analog and mixed-mode circuit applications.

Sheath blight (ShB) is the most serious disease of rice (Oryza sativa L.), caused by the soil-borne fungus Rhizoctonia solani Kühn (R. solani). It poses a significant threat to global rice productivity, resulting in approximately 50% annual yield loss. Managing ShB is particularly challenging due to the broad host range of the pathogen, its necrotrophic nature, the emergence of new races, and the limited availability of highly resistant germplasm. In this study, we conducted QTL mapping using an F2 population derived from a cross between a partially resistant accession (IRGC81941A) of Oryza nivara and the susceptible rice cultivar Punjab rice 121 (PR121). Our analysis identified 29 QTLs for ShB resistance, collectively explaining a phenotypic variance ranging from 4.70 to 48.05%. Notably, a cluster of four QTLs (qRLH1.1, qRLH1.2, qRLH1.5, and qRLH1.8) on chromosome 1 consistently exhibit a resistant response against R. solani. These QTLs span from 0.096 to 420.1 Kb on the rice reference genome and contain several important genes, including Ser/Thr protein kinase, auxin-responsive protein, protease inhibitor/seed storage/LTP family protein, MLO domain-containing protein, disease-responsive protein, thaumatin-like protein, Avr9/Cf9-eliciting protein, and various transcription factors. Additionally, simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers RM212 and RM246 linked to these QTLs effectively distinguish resistant and susceptible rice cultivars, showing great promise for marker-assisted selection programs. Furthermore, our study identified pre-breeding lines in the advanced backcrossed population that exhibited superior agronomic traits and sheath blight resistance compared to the recurrent parent. These promising lines hold significant potential for enhancing the sheath blight resistance in elite cultivars through targeted improvement efforts.

In this article, the performance of 3-D nanosheet FET (NS-FET) in inversion (INV) and junctionless (JL) modes is demonstrated and compared at both device and circuit levels. In JL mode, the ON current ( $I_{\mathrm {ON}}$ ) rises with an increase in temperature compared to the downfall trend in INV mode. In addition, compared to JL mode, the INV mode exhibits a better negative temperature coefficient of threshold voltage ( $\text{d}V_{\mathrm {th}}$ /dT). Further, the mixed mode circuit simulations are carried out using the Cadence Virtuoso platform through the Verilog-A model. From the analysis, it is observed that an increase of 20% gain in INV mode compared to JL mode for a common source (CS) amplifier. The JL mode NS-FETs achieve higher CMOS inverter switching current ( $I_{SC}$ ) and lower energy-delay products (EDP) as temperature rises. A three-stage ring oscillator (RO) is designed, and the oscillation frequencies ( $f_{\mathrm {OSC}}$ ) of 43.39 GHz and 38.8 GHz are obtained with INV and JL modes. Although JL NS-FET offers less intrinsic capacitances, the $f_{\mathrm {OSC}}$ is high for INV mode due to higher $I_{\mathrm {ON}}$ . Furthermore, reducing supply voltage ( $V_{\mathrm {DD}}$ ), the $f_{\mathrm {OSC}}$ falls by 67% with INV and 62.6% with JL modes. These results will give a better understanding of this emerging NS-FET at both device and circuit levels at advanced technology nodes.

Abstract Plant breeding efforts to boost rice productivity have focused on developing a haploid development pipeline. CENH3 gene has emerged as a leading player that can be manipulated to engineer haploid induction system. Currently, allele mining for the OsCENH3 gene was done by PCR-based resequencing of 33 wild species accessions of genus Oryza and in silico mining of alleles from pre-existing data. We have identified and characterized CENH3 variants in genus Oryza. Our results indicated that the majority CENH3 alleles present in the Oryza gene pool carry synonymous substitutions. A few non-synonymous substitutions occur in the N-terminal Tail domain (NTT). SNP A/G at position 69 was found in accessions of AA genome and non-AA genome species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that non-synonymous substitutions carrying alleles follow pre-determined evolutionary patterns. O. longistaminata accessions carry SNPs in four codons along with indels in introns 3 and 6. Fifteen haplotypes were mined from our panel; representative mutant alleles exhibited structural variations upon modeling. Structural analysis indicated that more than one structural variant may be exhibited by different accessions of single species (Oryza barthii). NTT allelic mutants, though not directly implicated in HI, may show variable interactions. HI and interactive behavior could be ascertained in future investigations.

Organizational whistleblowing is a preventive tool to reduce the risks of malpractice and irregularities. If a firm finds out about irregularities early, it could save from a bigger loss. Given its importance, the study has extended the Theory of Planned Behavior to examine the impact of organizational identification and empowerment on whistleblowing behavior. The study also examines the moderating roles of ethical climate and proactive personality on whistleblowing behavior. The study focused on the leading banks of Pakistan and collected responses from 427 employees nonrandomly. We found that organization identification and empowerment significantly affect whistleblowing behavior. Our results suggest that ethical climate moderates organization Identification and whistleblowing behavior. However, contrary to past studies, our study did not support the moderating effect of proactive personality on organization identification and whistleblowing behavior.

Sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG1-IA is the second most serious disease of rice worldwide. Elucidating the role of multi-drug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) gene family in host-pathogens interactions may uncover a new possible way to comprehend the mechanism of sheath blight resistance in rice. We foremost explored the role of OsMATE genes against R. solani resistance through comparative transcriptomics in PR114 (susceptible) and ShB-8 (moderately resistant) at 24 and 48 hpi (hours post-inoculation) of R. solani infection, respectively. Six OsMATE genes were differentially expressed and further validated through qRT-PCR. OsMATE6 gene was identified as a potential candidate for sheath blight susceptibility as it was significantly up-regulated in PR114. OsMATE6 is conserved within the wild relatives and might be translocated from Oryza nivara during the domestication of rice. Further studies are focused to verify its role by overexpression and protein interactions to understand the molecular mechanism of sheath blight resistance.

Abstract Background Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major source of daily caloric intake for more than 30% of the human population. However, the sustained productivity of this staple food crop is continuously threatened by various pathogens and herbivores. Breeding has been successful in utilizing various mechanisms of defense by gene pyramiding in elite cultivars, but the continuous resurgence of highly resistant races of pathogens and herbivores often overcomes the inherent capacity of host plant immunity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, short, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression by sequence-specific cleavage of target mRNA or suppressing target mRNA translation. While miRNAs function as upstream regulators of plant growth, development, and host immunity, their direct effects on growth and development in the context of balancing defenses with agronomic potential have not been extensively discussed and explored as a more viable strategy in breeding for disease and pest resistant cultivars of rice with optimal agronomic potentials. Results Using the available knowledge in rice and other model plants, this review examines the important roles of miRNAs in regulating host responses to various fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens, and insect pests, in the context of gains and trade-offs to crop yield. Gains from R-gene-mediated resistance deployed in modern rice cultivars are often undermined by the rapid breakdown of resistance, negative pleiotropic effects, and linkage drags with undesirable traits. In stark contrast, several classes of miRNAs are known to efficiently balance the positive gains from host immunity without significant costs in terms of losses in agronomic potentials (i.e., yield penalty) in rice. Defense-related miRNAs such as Osa-miR156, Osa-miR159, Osa-miR162, Osa-miR396, Osa-530, Osa-miR1432, Osa-miR1871, and Osa-miR1873 are critical in fine-tuning and integrating immune responses with physiological processes that are necessary to the maintenance of grain yield. Recent research has shown that many defense-related miRNAs regulate complex and agronomically important traits. Conclusions Identification of novel immune-responsive miRNAs that orchestrate physiological processes critical to the full expression of agronomic potential will facilitate the stacking of optimal combinations of miRNA-encoding genes to develop high-yielding cultivars with durable resistance to disease and insect pests with minimal penalties to yield.

Abstract Being one of the most important staple dietary constituents globally, genetic enhancement of cultivated rice for yield, agronomically important traits is of substantial importance. Even though the climatic factors and crop management practices impact complex traits like yield immensely, the contribution of variation by underlying genetic factors surpasses them all. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of utilizing exotic germplasm, landraces in enhancing the diversity of gene pool, leading to better selections and thus superior cultivars. Thus, to fully exploit the potential of progenitor of Asian cultivated rice for productivity related traits, genome wide association study (GWAS) for seven agronomically important traits was conducted on a panel of 346 O. rufipogon accessions using a set of 15,083 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphic markers. The phenotypic data analysis indicated large continuous variation for all the traits under study, with a significant negative correlation observed between grain parameters and agronomic parameters like plant height, culm thickness. The presence of 74.28% admixtures in the panel as revealed by investigating population structure indicated the panel to be very poorly genetically differentiated, with rapid LD decay. The genome-wide association analyses revealed a total of 47 strong MTAs with 19 SNPs located in/close to previously reported QTL/genic regions providing a positive analytic proof for our studies. The allelic differences of significant MTAs were found to be statistically significant at 34 genomic regions. A total of 51 O. rufipogon accessions harboured combination of superior alleles and thus serve as potential candidates for accelerating rice breeding programs. The present study identified 27 novel SNPs to be significantly associated with different traits. Allelic differences between cultivated and wild rice at significant MTAs determined superior alleles to be absent at 12 positions implying substantial scope of improvement by their targeted introgression into cultivars. Introgression of novel significant genomic regions into breeder’s pool would broaden the genetic base of cultivated rice, thus making the crop more resilient.

As a staple food crop, rice has gained mainstream attention in genome engineering for its genetic improvement. Genome engineering technologies such as transgenic and genome editing have enabled the significant improvement of target traits in relation to various biotic and abiotic aspects as well as nutrition, for which genetic diversity is lacking. In comparison to conventional breeding, genome engineering techniques are more precise and less time-consuming. However, one of the major issues with biotech rice commercialization is the utilization of selectable marker genes (SMGs) in the vector construct, which when incorporated into the genome are considered to pose risks to human health, the environment, and biodiversity, and thus become a matter of regulation. Various conventional strategies (co-transformation, transposon, recombinase systems, and MAT-vector) have been used in rice to avoid or remove the SMG from the developed events. However, the major limitations of these methods are; time-consuming, leftover cryptic sequences in the genome, and there is variable frequency. In contrast to these methods, CRISPR/Cas9-based marker excision, marker-free targeted gene insertion, programmed self-elimination, and RNP-based delivery enable us to generate marker-free engineered rice plants precisely and in less time. Although the CRISPR/Cas9-based SMG-free approaches are in their early stages, further research and their utilization in rice could help to break the regulatory barrier in its commercialization. In the current review, we have discussed the limitations of traditional methods followed by advanced techniques. We have also proposed a hypothesis, “DNA-free marker-less transformation” to overcome the regulatory barriers posed by SMGs.