Background Cotton is an important cash crop. The fiber length has always been a hot spot, but multi-factor control of fiber quality makes it complex to understand its genetic basis. Previous reports suggested that OsGASR9 promotes germination, width, and thickness by GAs in rice, while the overexpression of AtGASA10 leads to reduced silique length, which is likely to reduce cell wall expansion. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the function of GhGASA10 in cotton fibers development. Results To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying fiber elongation regulation concerning GhGASA10–1, we revealed an evolutionary basis, gene structure, and expression. Our results emphasized the conservative nature of GASA family with its origin in lower fern plants S. moellendorffii. GhGASA10–1 was localized in the cell membrane, which may synthesize and transport secreted proteins to the cell wall. Besides, GhGASA10–1 promoted seedling germination and root extension in transgenic Arabidopsis, indicating that GhGASA10–1 promotes cell elongation. Interestingly, GhGASA10–1 was upregulated by IAA at fiber elongation stages. Conclusion We propose that GhGASA10–1 may promote fiber elongation by regulating the synthesis of cellulose induced by IAA, to lay the foundation for future research on the regulation networks of GASA10–1 in cotton fiber development.

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Alumina Josephson junction has demonstrated a tremendous potential to realize superconducting qubits. Further progress towards scalable superconducting qubits urgently needs to be guided by novel analysis mechanisms or methods to reduce the thickness sensitivity of the junction critical current to the tunnel barrier. Here, it is first revealed that the termination mode of AlOx interface plays a crucial role in the uniformity of critical current, and we demonstrate that the O-terminated interface has the lowest resistance sensitivity to thickness. More impressively, we developed atomically structured three-dimensional models and calculated their transport properties using a combination of quantum ballistic transport theory with first-principles DFT and NEGF to examine the effects of the Al2O3 termination mode and thickness variations. This work clarifies that O-terminated interface can effectively improve the resistance uniformity of Josephson junction, offering useful guidance for increasing the yield of fixed-frequency multi-qubit quantum chips which require tight control on qubit frequency.

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Global warming and altered precipitation patterns pose a serious threat to crop production in the North China Plain (NCP). Quantifying the frequency of adverse climate events (e.g., frost, heat and drought) under future climates and assessing how those climatic extreme events would affect yield are important to effectively inform and make science-based adaptation options for agriculture in a changing climate. In this study, we evaluated the effects of heat and frost stress during sensitive phenological stages at four representative sites in the NCP using the APSIM-wheat model. climate data included historical and future climates, the latter being informed by projections from 22 Global Climate Models (GCMs) in the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) for the period 2031–2060 (2050s). Our results show that current projections of future wheat yield potential in the North China Plain may be overestimated; after more accurately accounting for the effects of frost and heat stress in the model, yield projections for 2031-60 decreased from 31% to 9%. Clustering of common drought-stress seasonal patterns into key groups revealed that moderate drought stress environments are likely to be alleviated in the future, although the frequency of severe drought-stress environments would remain similar (25%) to that occurring under the current climate. We highlight the importance of mechanistically accounting for temperature stress on crop physiology, enabling more robust projections of crop yields under future the burgeoning climate crisis.