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[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]TiO3 (BCT) single crystal has been widely studied as a promising lead-free ferroelectric material. In this work, high-quality BCT crystal was successfully grown by the Czochralski (CZ) method. The as-grown crystal is crack-free and shows black coloration. It possesses a high dielectric stability over a wide temperature range, while the dielectric loss is rather small below 90[Formula: see text]C. Furthermore, it possesses excellent ferroelectric properties with residual polarization strength ([Formula: see text]) and coercive field ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]) of 17.93 [Formula: see text]C/cm2 and 8.47 kV/cm, respectively. Besides, BCT crystal shows large electromechanical coupling factors, with [Formula: see text][Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of 0.535, 0.254, 0.714 and 0.721, respectively. The piezoelectric coefficients [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are measured to be − 36.5, 130 and 246 pC/N, respectively.

Viruses play critical roles in influencing biogeochemical cycles and adjusting host mortality, population structure, physiology, and evolution in the ocean. Marine viral communities are composed of numerous genetically distinct subfamily/genus-level viral groups. Among currently identified viral groups, the HMO-2011-type group is known to be dominant and broadly distributed. However, only four HMO-2011-type cultivated representatives that infect marine SAR116 and Roseobacter strains have been reported to date, and the genetic diversity, potential hosts, and ecology of this group remain poorly elucidated. Here, we present the genomes of seven HMO-2011-type phages that were isolated using four Roseobacter strains and one SAR11 strain, as well as additional 207 HMO-2011-type metagenomic viral genomes (MVGs) identified from various marine viromes. Phylogenomic and shared-gene analyses revealed that the HMO-2011-type group is a subfamily-level group comprising at least 10 discernible genus-level subgroups. Moreover, >2000 HMO-2011-type DNA polymerase sequences were identified, and the DNA polymerase phylogeny also revealed that the HMO-2011-type group contains diverse subgroups and is globally distributed. Metagenomic read-mapping results further showed that most HMO-2011-type phages are prevalent in global oceans and display distinct geographic distributions, with the distribution of most HMO-2011-type phages being associated with temperature. Lastly, we found that members in subgroup IX, represented by pelagiphage HTVC033P, were among the most abundant HMO-2011-type phages, which implies that SAR11 bacteria are crucial hosts for this viral group. In summary, our findings substantially expand current knowledge regarding the phylogenetic diversity, evolution, and distribution of HMO-2011-type phages, highlighting HMO-2011-type phages as major ecological agents that can infect certain key bacterial groups.

One of the oldest crops, foxtail millet (Setaria italica), is regarded as a model plant for studying drought tolerance owing to its short life-cycle and small genome size. The miRNA member miR394 plays multifaceted roles in plants. In this study, we identified the Sit-miR394 target gene SiFBP6 using 5′ RLM-RACE (RNA ligase mediated rapid amplification of 5′ cDNA ends). An expression analysis in different tissues showed that Sit-miR394 was highly expressed in leaves and had a lower relative expression in roots, while the target gene SiFBP6 exhibited the opposite expression pattern, being strongly expressed in roots and relatively lowly expressed in leaves. Furthermore, Sit-miR394 was upregulated in foxtail millet under drought-stress conditions and by exogenous methyl jasmonate, ethephon, salicylic acid and abscisic acid treatments. The overexpression of Sit-miR394 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana increased its tolerance to drought stress. The germination rates and root lengths were significantly greater compared with the wild-type line, which suggested that Sit-miR394 plays a positive role in responding to drought conditions. Moreover, a transcription analysis indicated that the overexpression of Sit-miR394 affected the expression of a set of stress-related genes, thereby conferring an increased abiotic or biotic stress tolerance to transgenic Arabidopsis. Thus, Sit-miR394 functions in the positive modulation of abiotic or biotic stress tolerance and has potential applications in molecular breeding to enhance stress tolerance in crops.

Viruses are the most abundant living entities in marine ecosystems, playing critical roles in altering the structure and function of microbial communities and driving ocean biogeochemistry. Phages that infect Roseobacter clade-affiliated (RCA) cluster strains are an important component of marine viral communities. Here, we characterize the genome sequences of two new RCA phages, CRP-9 and CRP-13, which infect RCA strain FZCC0023. Genomic analysis reveals that CRP-9 and CRP-13 represent a novel evolutionary lineage of marine phages. They both have a DNA replication module most similar to those in Cobavirus group phages. In contrast, their morphogenesis and packaging modules are distinct from those in cobaviruses but homologous to those in HMO-2011-type phages. The genomic architecture of CRP-9 and CRP-13 suggests a genomic recombination event between distinct phage groups. Metagenomic data sets were examined for metagenome-assembled viral genomes (MAVGs) with similar recombinant genome architectures. Fifteen CRP-9-type MAVGs were identified from marine viromes. Additionally, 158 MAVGs were identified containing HMO-2011-type morphogenesis and packaging modules with other types of DNA replication genes, providing more evidence that recombination between different phage groups is a major driver of phage evolution. Altogether, this study significantly expands the understanding of diversity and evolution of marine roseophages. Meanwhile, the analysis of these novel RCA phages and MAVGs highlights the critical role of recombination in shaping phage diversity. These phage sequences are valuable resources for inferring the evolutionary connection of distinct phage groups. IMPORTANCE Diversity and evolution of phages that infect the relatively slow-growing but dominant Roseobacter lineages are largely unknown. In this study, RCA phages CRP-9 and CRP-13 have been isolated on a Roseobacter RCA strain and shown to have a unique genomic architecture, which appears to be the result of a recombination event. CRP-9 and CRP-13 have a DNA replication module most similar to those in Cobavirus group phages and morphogenesis and packaging modules most similar to those in HMO-2011-type phages. HMO-2011-type morphogenesis and packaging modules are found in combination with distinct types of DNA replication genes, suggesting compatibility with various DNA replication modules. Altogether, this study contributes toward a better understanding of marine viral diversity and evolution.

SAR11 bacteria dominate ocean surface bacterioplankton communities, and play an important role in marine carbon and nutrient cycling. The biology and ecology of SAR11 are impacted by SAR11 phages (pelagiphages) that are highly diverse and abundant in the ocean. Among the currently known pelagiphages, HTVC010P represents an extremely abundant but under-studied phage group in the ocean. In this study, we have isolated seven new HTVC010P-type pelagiphages, and recovered 77 nearly full-length HTVC010P-type metagenomic viral genomes from marine metagenomes. Comparative genomic and phylogenomic analyses showed that HTVC010P-type pelagiphages display genome synteny and can be clustered into two major subgroups, with subgroup I consisting of strictly lytic phages and subgroup II mostly consisting of phages with potential lysogenic life cycles. All but one member of the subgroup II contain an integrase gene. Site-specific integration of subgroup II HTVC010P-type pelagiphage was either verified experimentally or identified byin silicogenomic sequence analyses, which revealed that various SAR11 tRNA genes can serve as the integration sites of HTVC010P-type pelagiphages. Moreover, HTVC010P-type pelagiphage integration was confirmed by the detection of several Global Ocean Survey (GOS) fragments that contain hybrid phage–host integration sites. Metagenomic recruitment analysis revealed that these HTVC010P-type phages were globally distributed and most lytic subgroup I members exhibited higher relative abundance. Altogether, this study significantly expands our knowledge about the genetic diversity, life strategies and ecology of HTVC010P-type pelagiphages.

Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is a salt-tolerant crop that can endure high salt concentrations without apparent damage. However, the plant’s response to salinity stress is a complex biological process. An analysis of the dynamic changes in transcript profiles will provide a global picture of the cotton response to salinity stress. Here, we monitored the transcriptome changes in two cotton genotypes, the salt-tolerant H15, and sensitive ZM12, at 0, 0.25, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h in roots exposed to 200-mM NaCl. In total, 13,894 and 5057 differentially expressed genes were identified as being involved in salt-stress tolerance in H15 and ZM12, respectively. Of these, 3825 genes were common to both genotypes. A differential expression analysis revealed that the number of differentially expressed genes increased significantly during the first 24 h after the salt-stress treatment and then significantly decreased at 48 h in both genotypes. A transcription factor (TF) analysis revealed three different patterns based on the expression of 45 TFs’ families, with the majority of differentially expressed TFs increasing rapidly after the salt-stress treatment in both genotypes. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis showed that two gene modules were related to salinity, and genes in these modules were mainly involved in plant–pathogen interactions, the plant MAPK signaling pathway, and diterpenoid biosynthesis. Our results increase the understanding of cotton metabolic pathways involved in responses to salt stress.

Background Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a maternally inherited trait failing to produce functional pollen. It plays a pivotal role in the exploitation of crop heterosis. The specific locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) as a high-resolution strategy for the identification of new SNPs on a large-scale is gradually applied for functional gene mining. The current study combined the bulked segregant analysis (BSA) with SLAF-seq to identify the candidate genes associated with fertility restorer gene (Rf) in CMS cotton. Methods Illumina sequencing systematically investigated the parents. A segregating population comprising of 30 + 30 F2 individuals was developed using 3096A (female parent) as sterile and 866R (male parent) as a restorer. The original data obtained by dual-index sequencing were analyzed to obtain the reads of each sample that were compared to the reference genome in order to identify the SLAF tag with a polymorphism in parent lines and the SNP with read-associated coverage. Based on SLAF tags, SNP-index analysis, Euclidean distance (ED) correlation analysis, and whole genome resequencing, the hot regions were annotated. Results A total of 165,007 high-quality SLAF tags, with an average depth of 47.90× in the parents and 50.78× in F2 individuals, were sequenced. In addition, a total of 137,741 SNPs were detected: 113,311 and 98,861 SNPs in the male and female parent, respectively. A correlation analysis by SNP-index and ED initially located the candidate gene on 1.35 Mb of chrD05, and 20 candidate genes were identified. These genes were involved in genetic variations, single base mutations, insertions, and deletions. Moreover, 42 InDel markers of the whole genome resequencing were also detected. Conclusions In this study, associated markers identified by super-BSA could accelerate the study of CMS in cotton, and as well as in other crops. Some of the 20 genes’ preliminary characteristics provided useful information for further studies on CMS crops. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-017-4406-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Ethylene-responsive factors (ERFs) are commonly considered to play an important role in pathogen defense responses. However, only few of ERF members have been characterized in Sea island cotton (Gossypium barbadense). Here, we reported a novel AP2/ERF transcription factors gene, named GbERFb which was cloned and identified from Sea island cotton by RACE. The expression of GbERFb was significantly induced by treatments with ethylene, Methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, wounding, H2O2 and Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae) infection. Bioinformatics analysis showed that GbERFb protein containing a conserved ERF DNA binding domain and a nuclear localization signal sequence, belonged to IXb subgroup of the ERF family. Further experiments demonstrated that GbERFb could bind the GCC box cis-acting element and interact with GbMAPKb (MAP kinase) directly in yeast. Over-expression of GbERFb in tobacco could increase the disease resistance to V. dahliae. The results suggest that the GbERFb, a new AP2/ERF transcription factor, could enhance the resistance to V. dahliae and be useful in improvement of crop resistance to pathogenes.

The biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) is conserved in fungi and plants, but not in animals. The Leu1 gene encodes isopropylmalate isomerase that catalyzes the conversion of α-isopropylmalate into β-isopropylmalate in the second step of leucine biosynthesis in yeast. Here, we identified and characterized the functions of MoLeu1, an ortholog of yeast Leu1 in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. The transcriptional level of MoLEU1 was increased during conidiation and in infectious stages. Cellular localization analysis indicated that MoLeu1 localizes to the cytoplasm at all stages of fungal development. Targeted gene deletion of MoLEU1 led to leucine auxotrophy, and phenotypic analysis of the generated ∆Moleu1 strain revealed that MoLeu1-mediated leucine biosynthesis was required for vegetative growth, asexual development, and pathogenesis of M. oryzae. We further observed that invasive hyphae produced by the ∆Moleu1 strain were mainly limited to the primary infected host cells. The application of exogenous leucine fully restored vegetative growth and partially restored conidiation as well as pathogenicity defects in the ∆Moleu1 strain. In summary, our results suggested that MoLeu1-mediated leucine biosynthesis crucially promotes vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, and pathogenicity of M. oryzae. This study helps unveil the regulatory mechanisms that are essential for infection-related morphogenesis and pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus.

The summary of the SLAF tag and SNP marker on chromosomes. (DOC 41 kb)

The information of genetic analysis onto the association region. (DOC 38 kb)

List of InDel marker primers. (DOC 51 kb)

The annotation of COG, KEGG, GO, Swiss-Prot and nr to the candidate genes. (DOC 51 kb)

Ethylene-responsive factors (ERFs) are commonly considered to play an important role in pathogen defense responses. However, only few of ERF members have been characterized in Sea island cotton (Gossypium barbadense). Here, we reported a novel AP2/ERF transcription factors gene, named GbERFb which was cloned and identified from Sea island cotton by RACE. The expression of GbERFb was significantly induced by treatments with ethylene, Methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, wounding, H2O2 and Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae) infection. Bioinformatics analysis showed that GbERFb protein containing a conserved ERF DNA binding domain and a nuclear localization signal sequence, belonged to IXb subgroup of the ERF family. Further experiments demonstrated that GbERFb could bind the GCC box cis-acting element and interact with GbMAPKb (MAP kinase) directly in yeast. Over-expression of GbERFb in tobacco could increase the disease resistance to V. dahliae. The results suggest that the GbERFb, a new AP2/ERF transcription factor, could enhance the resistance to V. dahliae and be useful in improvement of crop resistance to pathogenes.