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Fabricating microscale helical structures from small molecules remains challenging due to the disfavoured torsion energy of twisted architectures and elusory chirality control at different hierarchical levels of assemblies. Here we report a combined solution–interface-directed assembly strategy for the formation of hierarchically self-assembled helical microtoroids with micrometre-scale lengths. A drop-evaporation assembly protocol on a solid substrate from pre-assembled intermediate colloids of enantiomeric binaphthalene bisurea compounds leads to microtoroids with preferred helicity, which depends on the molecular chirality of the starting enantiomers. Collective variable-temperature spectroscopic analyses, electron microscopy characterizations and theoretical simulations reveal a mechanism that simultaneously induces aggregation and cyclization to impart a favourable handedness to the final microtoroidal structures. We then use monodispersed luminescent helical toroids as chiral light-harvesting antenna and show excellent Förster resonance energy transfer ability to a co-hosted chiral acceptor dye, leading to unique circularly polarized luminescence. Our results shed light on the potential of the combined solution–interface-directed self-assembly approach in directing hierarchical chirality control and may advance the prospect of chiral superstructures at a higher length scale. Homochiral helical toroids with micrometre-scale lengths are successfully fabricated by a combined solution–interface-directed hierarchical self-assembly strategy.

Oilseed rape is sensitive to soil phosphorus deficiencies. In contrast, white lupin is widely used as a model plant because it has efficient phosphorus utilization. Therefore, soil fertility and microbial composition in the rhizospheres of oilseed rapes and root exudate metabolites were compared under monocropping and intercropping systems. The main purpose was to explore whether the phosphorus absorption of rapeseed can be promoted by intercropping with white lupine. In comparison with oilseed rape monoculture (RR), the results showed that the contents of soil-available phosphorus, microbial biomass and phosphorus in the rhizospheres of oilseed rapes in the intercropping system (RL) were all higher than those of RR. Meanwhile, in comparison with RR, not only phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria, such as Streptomyces, Actinomadura and Bacillus, but also phosphorus-solubilizing fungi, such as Chaetomium, Aspergillus, Penicillium, were enriched in the rhizospheres of the oilseed rape under the RL system. Moreover, more abundant soil bacterial functions, organic acids and metabolites were also detected in root exudates of the oilseed rapes under the RL system. All of the above results suggest that soil phosphorus availability in the rhizospheres of oilseed rape could be improved by intercropping with white lupin. Additionally, soil phosphorus-solubilizing microorganisms, that are enriched in the rhizospheres of oilseed rapes under RL systems, have an important function in the improvement of phosphorus absorption of rapeseed by intercropping with white lupin.

In practical production, cane stems with buds are generally used as seed for propagation. However, long-terms cane stems only easily lead to some problems such as disease sensitivity, quality loss, etc. Recently, cane seedings, which are produced by tissue culture were used in sugarcane production, but few studies on cane health related to tissue culture seedings. Therefore, to evaluate the immunity and health of sugarcanes growing from different reproduction modes, the endophytic microbial compositions in cane roots between stem and tissue culture seedlings were analyzed using high-throughput techniques. The results showed that the endophytic microbial compositions in cane roots were significant differences between stem and tissue culture seedlings. At the genus level, Pantoea , Bacillus , Streptomyces , Lechevalieria , Pseudomonas , Nocardioides , unclassified_f__Comamonadaceae enriched as the dominant endophytic bacterial genera, and Rhizoctonia , Sarocladium , Scytalidium , Wongia , Fusarium , unclassified_f__Phaeosphaer , unclassified_c__Sordariom , unclassified_f__Stachybot , Poaceascoma , Microdochium , Arnium , Echria , Mycena and Exophiala enriched as the dominant endophytic fungal genera in cane roots growing from the tissue culture seedlings. In contrast, Mycobacterium , Massilia , Ralstonia , unclassified_f__Pseudonocardiacea , norank_f__Micropepsaceae , Leptothrix and Bryobacter were the dominant endophytic bacterial genera, and unclassified_k__Fungi , unclassified_f__Marasmiaceae , Talaromyces , unclassified_c__Sordariomycetes and Trichocladium were the dominant endophytic fungal genera in cane roots growing from stem seedlings. Additionally, the numbers of bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in cane roots growing from tissue culture seedlings were significantly higher than those of stem seedlings. It indicates that not only the endophytic microbial compositions in cane roots can be shaped by different propagation methods, but also the stress resistance of sugarcanes can be improved by the tissue culture propagation method.

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) technology aligns seamlessly with the design requirements of non-genetic heritage, offering a viable pathway for its modernization. This paper delineates the specific design needs of non-genetic heritage and utilizes a diffusion model to create themed images and animations related to this heritage. Additionally, AIGC is employed to enhance the creation of virtual reality interactive imagery. The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network is deployed to classify time-series gesture data, facilitating the training and categorization of Chinese Sign Language (CSL) gestures for virtual interactive engagement with non-heritage themes. We have integrated the AIGC operation process into the theme of non-genetic inheritance, thereby constructing a robust development trajectory for AIGC-enhanced non-genetic heritage. The experimental setup is crafted to ascertain the optimal number of iterations and training durations through the control variable method. We evaluate the efficacy of the diffusion model for anti-implicit writing analysis and the performance of the speech recognition, text dialogue, and text response modules within the non-heritage multimodal interactive framework using Word Error Rate (WER) and Mean Opinion Score (MOS). A descriptive analysis of users’ interactive experiences with non-heritage content is also conducted. The results indicate that the speech recognition module achieved a WER of 0.365, while the text response module garnered an MOS of 4.49 with a standard deviation of 0.56. This multimodal, non-heritage virtual interaction, leveraging multiple modalities, enriches users’ experiences and deepens their understanding and appreciation of non-heritage content. Consequently, this enhances the high-quality development of non-genetic heritage.

Amidst the high global reliance on petroleum, this study addresses energy inefficiency in beam-pumping units used for oil extraction. We developed a tubular solid–liquid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) based on fluorinated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films. Self-assembled surface modification with fluorosilane molecular chains enhanced charge transfer, achieving a 2.7-fold increase with 13F-PDMS. The enclosed tubular design utilizes periodic liquid-electrode contact to generate a volumetric effect. Experiments investigated the influence of liquid composition and device configuration on performance. Using a 1.69 mol/L FeCl3 solution with four series-connected units, the TENG reached 29 V and 263 nA, powering 150 LEDs. This demonstrates its potential for harvesting reciprocating mechanical energy from pumping units to reduce operational energy consumption.

Bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) recognize two different epitopes. This dual specificity opens up a wide range of applications, including redirecting T cells to tumor cells, blocking two different signaling pathways simultaneously, dual targeting of different disease mediators, and delivering payloads to targeted sites. The approval of catumaxomab (anti-EpCAM and anti-CD3) and blinatumomab (anti-CD19 and anti-CD3) has become a major milestone in the development of bsAbs. Currently, more than 60 different bsAb formats exist, some of them making their way into the clinical pipeline. This review summarizes diverse formats of bsAbs and their clinical applications and sheds light on strategies to optimize the design of bsAbs.

Viral pathogens are a major threat to rice production worldwide. Although RNA interference (RNAi) is known to mediate antiviral immunity in plant and animal models, the mechanism of antiviral RNAi in rice and other economically important crops is poorly understood. Here, we report that rice resistance to evolutionarily diverse viruses requires Argonaute18 (AGO18). Genetic studies reveal that the antiviral function of AGO18 depends on its activity to sequester microRNA168 (miR168) to alleviate repression of rice AGO1 essential for antiviral RNAi. Expression of miR168-resistant AGO1a in ago18 background rescues or increases rice antiviral activity. Notably, stable transgenic expression of AGO18 confers broad-spectrum virus resistance in rice. Our findings uncover a novel cooperative antiviral activity of two distinct AGO proteins and suggest a new strategy for the control of viral diseases in rice. Rice is a major food crop, providing over a fifth of all calories consumed by people around the world. As such, it is important to find ways to prevent the diseases that affect rice plants. Many of the viruses that infect rice are transferred between plants by insects and many insects carry more than one virus at a time; this means it can be difficult to predict where a disease will next emerge. As a result, there is a pressing need to develop new and effective strategies that boost the ability of rice plants to fight off harmful viruses. One way that plants defend themselves from viruses involves using a system called RNA interference to identify and destroy the RNA molecules that viruses produce. This process depends on the Argonaute (AGO) family of proteins, although the roles of many of its members are not well understood. One of the better-studied AGO proteins is called AGO1 and is known to be important for defending plants against viruses. Unfortunately, a small RNA molecule called miR168 acts to limit the amount of AGO1 in a cell, and the levels of miR168 increase in virus-infected rice plants. Wu, Yang et al. exposed rice plants to two species of insect that each carried a different plant virus. Rice plants infected with these viruses increased their levels of both AGO1 and another AGO protein called AGO18. Modifying the ability of rice plants to produce AGO18 revealed that the anti-viral activity of AGO1 is abolished in plants lacking AGO18. However, plants that over-produce AGO18 are better able to fight off viral infections. Wu, Yang et al. further showed that AGO18 binds to miR168 and so prevents this small RNA from reducing AGO1 levels. Therefore, AGO1 and AGO18 work together to defend rice plants from viruses. Wu, Yang et al. suggest that engineering rice plants to make more AGO18 could make them more resistant to viruses. Further work will be needed to confirm whether AGO1 and AGO18 also work together to defend rice against viruses other than the two tested so far and to investigate whether these proteins also perform similar roles in other crops.

Landslides in mountainous regions threaten infrastructure and human safety, making high-accuracy landslide inventories crucial for disaster management. However, fine-grained identification using high-resolution remote sensing imagery is hindered by low small-landslide detection accuracy and bare soil spectral interference. The aim of this study is to propose a lightweight UCTransNet with Triplet Attention and Pyramid Kernel Interaction (UCTransNet-TPKI) deep learning model for accurate multi-scale landslide extraction. The study area is located in Wushan County, Chongqing. GF-2 imagery from 2022 was collected, along with field sampling data and Mengdong dataset as validation data. The model proposed in this study, named UCTransNet-TPKI, is based on an improved UCTransNet architecture. Its key innovations include the introduction of two critical modules: the Pyramid Kernel Interaction module and the Triplet Attention mechanism. The PKI module captures multi-scale local contextual information in parallel under different receptive fields, significantly enhancing the network’s ability to extract landslide features. Concurrently, the Triplet Attention mechanism effectively refines feature representations by capturing the interaction dependencies across the three dimensions of a feature map. This enables the model to focus more precisely on key areas, such as the main body and edges of a landslide, while simultaneously suppressing interference from background noise. The experimental results show that UCTransNet-TPKI achieved the highest F1-score of 0.9008 and an IoU of 0.8252, outperforming MFFENet, TransLandSeg, and Segformer++. Ablation studies confirmed the contributions of each component, with the PKI module improving IoU by 0.72%, the Triplet Attention mechanism increasing IoU by 0.9%, and their combination yielding a clear synergistic enhancement of overall performance. Furthermore, UCTransNet-TPKI demonstrated strong generalization on the Mengdong dataset, achieving an F1-score of 0.9230 and an IoU of 0.8560. These results demonstrate that UCTransNet-TPKI provides an accurate automated landslide mapping solution, offering significant value for post-disaster emergency response and geological hazard management.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171991.].

The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ and plays a critical role in the immune response against infectious agents. Baicalin is a naturally derived flavonoid famous for its pharmacological properties, but the preventive effects of baicalin against immune impairment remain unclear. We examined this effect in the context of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) infection-induced structural damage in the chicken thymus. Histopathological examination showed that the compact arrangement of cells in the thymus was lost in the MG-infected group. Inflammatory cell infiltration and nuclear debris accumulated, and the boundary between the cortex and medulla was not clearly visible. The mRNA and protein expression of apoptosis-related genes were significantly increased in the MG-infected group compared to the control group and the baicalin group. The number of positively stained nuclei in the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay were increased in the MG-infected group. In addition, electron microscopic examination showed chromatin condensation, mitochondrial swelling and apoptotic vesicles in the MG-infected group. However, baicalin treatment significantly alleviated the oxidative stress and apoptosis induced by MG infection. Importantly, the abnormal morphology was partially ameliorated by baicalin treatment. Compared to the MG-infected group, the baicalin-treated group showed significantly reduced expression of apoptosis-related genes at both the mRNA and protein levels. Meanwhile, the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signalling pathway and downstream genes were significantly upregulated by baicalin to counteract MG-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in the thymocytes of chickens. In summary, these findings suggest that baicalin treatment efficiently attenuated oxidative stress and apoptosis by activating the Nrf2 signalling pathway and could protect the thymus from MG infection-mediated structural and functional damage.