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Interface engineering shows distinct advantages in the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to the unique structures that can be realized. The interfaces formed by amorphous materials often exhibit special properties that are beneficial for the HER. Herein, an amorphous/crystalline Rh(OH)3/CoP heterostructure is constructed, which exhibits outstanding HER performance in the all‐pH range. It only needs the overpotentials of 13, 12, and 25 mV to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in alkaline, acidic, and neutral media, respectively, which ranks as one of the best HER electrocatalysts reported recently. The outstanding HER activities in the all‐pH range are attributed to the unique amorphous/crystalline heterostructure of Rh(OH)3/CoP, which possesses special hydrophilic/aerophobic features thataccelerate mass transfer, and provide abundant exposed active sites and appropriate defects. Importantly, the performance attenuation mechanism of the catalyst is also revealed, i.e., the formation of Rh aggregations leads to poor contact and efficacy loss of the amorphous/crystalline interface for HER. In short, this work provides a new idea for using amorphous/crystalline heterostructure to design electrocatalysts, not only for the HER, but also for the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher plants, COP1 (Constitutively Photomorphogenic 1) acts as a central regulator of light-signaling networks and globally conditions the target proteins via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. However, the function of COP1-interacting proteins in light-regulated fruit coloration and development remains unknown in Solanaceous plants. Here, a COP1-interacting protein-encoding gene, SmCIP7 , expressed specifically in the eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) fruit, was isolated. Gene-specific silencing of SmCIP7 using RNA interference (RNAi) significantly altered fruit coloration, fruit size, flesh browning, and seed yield. SmCIP7 -RNAi fruits showed evident repression of the accumulation of anthocyanins and chlorophyll, indicating functional similarities between SmCIP7 and AtCIP7. However, the reduced fruit size and seed yield indicated SmCIP7 had evolved a distinctly new function. With the comprehensive application of HPLC-MS, RNA-seq, qRT-PCR, Y2H, BiFC, LCI, and dual-luciferase reporter system (DLR™), it was found that SmCIP7, a COP1 interactive protein in light signaling promoted anthocyanin accumulation, probably by regulating the transcription of SmTT8. Additionally, the drastic up-regulation of SmYABBY1 , a homologous gene of SlFAS , might account for the strongly retarded fruit growth in SmCIP7 -RNAi eggplant. Altogether, this study proved that SmCIP7 is an essential regulatory gene to modulate fruit coloration and development, serving as a key gene locus in eggplant molecular breeding. • Silencing of SmCIP7 notably altered the coloration, size, flesh browning, and seed yield of eggplant fruit. • SmCIP7 promotes anthocyanin accumulation by regulating the transcription of SmTT8. • SmCIP7 promotes eggplant fruit growth by regulating the transcription of SmYABBY1. • The repressed metabolic flux towards anthocyanin enhanced chlorogenic acid accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing low‐cost and high‐efficient bifunctional catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is greatly significant for water electrolysis. Here, Ni3N‐CeO2/NF heterostructure is synthesized on the nickel foam, and it exhibits excellent HER and OER performance. As a result, the water electrolyzer based on Ni3N‐CeO2/NF bifunctional catalyst only needs 1.515 V@10 mA cm−2, significantly better than that of Pt/C||IrO2 catalysts. In situ characterizations unveil that CeO2 plays completely different roles in HER and OER processes. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the introduction of CeO2 can optimizes the structure of interface water, and the synergistic effect of Ni3N and CeO2 improve the HER activity significantly, while the in situ Raman spectra reveal that CeO2 accelerates the reconstruction of OV (oxygen vacancy)‐rich NiOOH for boosting OER. This study clearly unlocks the different catalytic mechanisms of CeO2 for boosting the HER and OER activity of Ni3N for water splitting, which provides the useful guidance for designing the high‐performance bifunctional catalysts for water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Water scarcity is considered to be a severe environmental constraint to plant survival and productivity. Studies on drought-tolerant plants would definitely promote a better understanding of the regulatory mechanism lying behind the adaptive response of plants to drought. Opisthopappus taihangensis (ling) shih is a typical drought-tolerant perennial plant species endemically distributed across the Taihang Mountains in China, but the underlying mechanism for drought tolerance of this particular species remains elusive. Results: To mimic natural drought stress, O. taihangensis plants were treated with two different concentrations (25% and 5%) of polyethylene glycol (PEG6000), which represent the H group (high salinity) and the L group (low salinity), respectively. The physiological characteristics of these two groups of plants, including relative water content maintenance (RWC), proline content and chlorophyll content were assessed and compared with plants in the control group (CK), which had normal irrigation. There was not a significant difference in RWC when comparing plants in the L group with the control group. Proline was accumulated to a higher level, and chlorophyll content was decreased slightly in plants under low drought stress. In plants from the H group, a lower RWC was observed. Proline was accumulated to an even higher level when compared with plants from the L group, and chlorophyll content was further reduced in plants under high drought stress. Transcriptomic analysis was carried out to look for genes that are differentially expressed (DEGs) in O. taihangensis plants coping adaptively with the two levels of drought stress. A total of 23,056 genes are differentially expressed between CK and L, among which 12,180 genes are up-regulated and 10,876 genes are down-regulated. Between H and L, 6182 genes are up-regulated and 1850 genes are down-regulated, which gives a total of 8032 genes. The highest number of genes, that are differentially expressed, was obtained when a comparison was made between CK and H. A total of 43,074 genes were found to be differentially expressed with 26,977 genes up-regulated and 16,097 genes down-regulated. Further analysis of these genes suggests that many of the up-regulated genes are enriched in pathways involved in amino acid metabolism. Besides, 39 transcription factors (TFs) were found to be continuously up-regulated with the increase of drought stress level. Conclusion: Taken together, the results indicate that O. taihangensis plants are able to live adaptively under drought stress by responding physiologically and regulating the expression of a substantial number of drought-responsive genes and TFs to avoid adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]