BackgroundSorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is globally produced as a source of food, feed, fiber and fuel. Grain and sweet sorghums differ in a number of important traits, including stem sugar and juice accumulation, plant height as well as grain and biomass production. The first whole genome sequence of a grain sorghum is available, but additional genome sequences are required to study genome-wide and intraspecific variation for dissecting the genetic basis of these important traits and for tailor-designed breeding of this important C4 crop.ResultsWe resequenced two sweet and one grain sorghum inbred lines, and identified a set of nearly 1,500 genes differentiating sweet and grain sorghum. These genes fall into ten major metabolic pathways involved in sugar and starch metabolisms, lignin and coumarin biosynthesis, nucleic acid metabolism, stress responses and DNA damage repair. In addition, we uncovered 1,057,018 SNPs, 99,948 indels of 1 to 10 bp in length and 16,487 presence/absence variations as well as 17,111 copy number variations. The majority of the large-effect SNPs, indels and presence/absence variations resided in the genes containing leucine rich repeats, PPR repeats and disease resistance R genes possessing diverse biological functions or under diversifying selection, but were absent in genes that are essential for life.ConclusionsThis is a first report of the identification of genome-wide patterns of genetic variation in sorghum. High-density SNP and indel markers reported here will be a valuable resource for future gene-phenotype studies and the molecular breeding of this important crop and related species.

UV-B light (UV-B radiation) is known to inhibit plant growth, but the mechanism is not well understood. UVR8 (UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8) is a UV-B light photoreceptor that mediates UV-B light responses in plants. We report here that UV-B inhibits plant growth by repressing plant steroid hormone brassinosteroid (BR)-promoted plant growth. UVR8 physically interacts with the functional dephosphorylated BES1 (BRI1-EMS-SUPPRESSOR1) and BIM1 (BES1-INTERACTING MYC-LIKE 1) transcription factors that mediate BR-regulated gene expression and plant growth to inhibit their activities. Genome-wide gene expression analysis defined a BES1-dependent UV-B-regulated transcriptome, which is enriched with genes involved in cell elongation and plant growth. We further showed that UV-B-activated and nucleus-localized UVR8 inhibited the DNA-binding activities of BES1/BIM1 to directly regulate transcription of growth-related genes. Our results therefore establish that UVR8-BES1/BIM1 interaction represents an early photoreceptor signaling mechanism in plants and serves as an important module integrating light and BR signaling.

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To achieve high solar energy utilization efficiency, photothermal materials with broadband absorption of sunlight and high conversion efficiency are becoming a fast-growing research focus. Inspired by the forest structure with efficient sunlight utilization, we designed and fabricated a graphene film consisting of densely arranged porous graphene though laser scribing on polybenzoxazine resin (poly­(Ph-ddm)). This hierarchical structure significantly reduced the light reflection of graphene as a 2D material. With a combination of advanced photothermal conversion properties of graphene, the 3D structured graphene film, named forest-like laser-induced graphene (forest-like LIG), was endowed with a very high light absorption of 99.0% over the whole wavelength range of sunlight as well as advanced light-to-heat conversion performance (reaching up to 87.7 °C within 30 s under the illumination of simulated sunlight and showing an equilibrium temperature of 90.7 ± 0.4 °C). As a further benefit of its superhydrophobicity, a photothermal actuator with quick actuated response and high motion velocity, as well as a solar-driven interfacial desalination membrane with durable salt-rejecting properties and high solar evaporation efficiencies, was demonstrated.

A biobased benzoxazine resin (Dz-f) demonstrating excellent thermal properties was synthesized from daidzein and furfurylamine by using a microwave heating method. The chemical structure of synthesized benzoxazine monomer was identified by FTIR and NMR ( H and C NMR) before it was cured and its thermal properties evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), TGA, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The cured resin p(Dz-f) exhibited a glass transition temperature (T ) of 391 °C, a very high char yield of 68.7 %, and outstanding thermal stability; the T value obtained was the highest thermal stability value ever reported for polybenzoxazine with a high biobased content. Moreover, Dz-f demonstrated a satisfying processability, which was rare for the high-performance thermosetting resins. This work provided us with a new strategy for the preparation of high biocontent resins with excellent thermal properties. In addition, the combination of biobased feedstocks with a microwave-assisted heating method as well as the potential application of this approach in high-end fields might perpetuate remarkable progress towards the sustainable development of the polymeric industry.

Epoxy resins with high thermal and mechanical performance as well as good resistance to fire are difficult to synthesize. In this work, a high-performance intrinsically flame-retardant epoxy resin (diglycidyl ether of daidzein (DGED)) was synthesized from renewable daidzein using an efficient one-step process, without the addition of additional flame retardants. The structure of DGED was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1 H NMR, and 13 C NMR before it was cured with 4,4′diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM). A commercial diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) was cured with the same curing agent. Results indicated that the cured DGED/DDM system possessed glass transition temperature (T g ) of up to 205 °C (172 °C for DGEBA/DDM), and tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus of 83, 2972, 131, and 2980 MPa, respectively, all much higher than those of cured DGEBA/DDM. The cured DGED/DDM system demonstrated excellent flame-retardant properties, showing a residual char of 42.9% at 800 °C, limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 31.6%, and flammability rating of V-0 in UL94 test. This work provides us an efficient method to prepare high-performance epoxy resin from renewable resource.

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