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A study published in the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology explores the potential of the zinc finger gene TaCHP to enhance wheat yield in saline-alkaline conditions. The researchers conducted multi-year, multi-site field trials and found that overexpressing TaCHP significantly increased wheat yields in saline-alkaline fields without affecting yields under normal conditions. Genetic variations in the promoter of TaCHP were also identified, with one haplotype (Hap1) conferring greater salt tolerance than the other (Hap2). The study suggests that TaCHP and its tolerant haplotype have promising applications in molecular breeding for stress-tolerant wheat. [Extracted from the article]

Wheat yellow mosaic virus ( WYMV) has spread rapidly and causes serious yield losses in the major wheat-growing areas in China. Because it is vectored by the fungus-like organism Polymyxa graminis that survives for long periods in soil, it is difficult to eliminate by conventional crop management or fungicides. There is also only limited resistance in commercial cultivars. In this research, fourteen independent transgenic events were obtained by co-transformation with the antisense NIb8 gene (the NIb replicase of WYMV) and a selectable gene bar. Four original transgenic lines (N12, N13, N14 and N15) and an offspring line (N12-1) showed high and durable resistance to WYMV in the field. Four resistant lines were shown to have segregated and only contain NIb8 (without bar) by PCR and herbicide resistance testing in the later generations. Line N12-1 showed broad-spectrum resistance to WYMV isolates from different sites in China. After growing in the infested soil, WYMV could not be detected by tissue printing and Western blot assays of transgenic wheat. The grain yield of transgenic wheat was about 10% greater than the wild-type susceptible control. Northern blot and small RNA deep sequencing analyses showed that there was no accumulation of small interfering RNAs targeting the NIb8 gene in transgenic wheat plants, suggesting that transgene RNA silencing, a common mechanism of virus-derived disease resistance, is not involved in the process of WYMV resistance. This durable and broad-spectrum resistance to WYMV in transgenic wheat will be useful for alleviating the damage caused by WYMV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common-mode currents can degrade the RF coil performance and introduce potential safety hazards in MRI. Baluns are the standard method to suppress these undesired common-mode currents. Specifically, floating baluns are preferred in many applications because they are removable, allow post-installation adjustment and avoid direct soldering on the cable. However, floating baluns are typically bulky to achieve excellent common-mode suppression, taking up valuable space in the MRI bore. This is particularly severe for multi-nuclear MRI/MRS applications, as two RF systems exist. In this work, we present a novel dual-tuned floating balun that is fully removable, does not require any physical connection to the coaxial cable, and has a significantly reduced footprint. The floating design employs an inductive coupling between the cable solenoid and a floating solenoid resonator rather than a direct physical connection. Unlike the previous floating solenoid balun, this balun employs a two-layer design further to improve the mutual coupling between the two solenoids. A pole-insertion method is used to suppress common-mode currents at two user-selectable frequencies simultaneously. Bench testing of the fabricated device at 7 T demonstrated high common-mode rejection ratios at Larmor frequencies of both 1 H and 23 Na, even with a compact dimension (diameter 18 mm and length 12 mm). This balun's removable, compact, and multi-resonant nature enables light-weighting, allows more coil elements, and improves cable management for advanced multi-nuclear MRI/MRS systems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflict of interest regarding to this work., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)