Glycosylation of monolignols has been found to be widespread in land plants since the 1970s. However, whether monolignol glycosylation is crucial for cell wall lignification and how it exerts effects are still unknown. Here, we report the identification of a mutant ugt72b1 showing aggravated and ectopic lignification in floral stems along with arrested growth and anthocyanin accumulation. Histochemical assays and thioacidolysis analysis confirmed the enhanced lignification and increased lignin biosynthesis in the ugt72b1 mutant. The loss of UDP-glycosyltransferase UGT72B1 function was responsible for the lignification phenotype, as demonstrated by complementation experiments. Enzyme activity analysis indicated that UGT72B1 could catalyze the glucose conjugation of monolignols, especially coniferyl alcohol and coniferyl aldehyde, which was confirmed by analyzing monolignol glucosides of UGT72B1 transgenic plants. Furthermore, the UGT72B1 gene was strongly expressed in young stem tissues, especially xylem tissues. However, UGT72B1 paralogs, such as UGT72B2 and UGT72B3, had weak enzyme activity toward monolignols and weak expression in stem tissues. Transcriptomic profiling showed that UGT72B1 knockout resulted in extensively increased transcript levels of genes involved in monolignol biosynthesis, lignin polymerization and cell wall-related transcription factors, which was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR assays. These results provided evidence that monolignol glucosylation catalyzed by UGT72B1 was essential for normal cell wall lignification, thus offering insight into the molecular mechanism of cell wall development and cell wall lignification.

Lithium sulfur batteries (LSBs) with high theoretical energy density are being pursued as highly promising next-generation large-scale energy storage devices. However, its launch into practical application is still shackled by various challenges. A rational nanostructure of hollow carbon nanoboxes filled with birnessite-type manganese oxide nanosheets (MnO @HCB) as a new class of molecularly-designed physical and chemical trap for lithium polysulfides (Li S (x = 4-8)) is reported. The bifunctional, integrated, hybrid nanoboxes overcome the obstacles of low sulfur loading, poor conductivity, and redox shuttle of LSBs via effective physical confinement and chemical interaction. Benefiting from the synergistic encapsulation, the developed MnO @HCB/S hybrid nanoboxes with 67.9 wt% sulfur content deliver high specific capacity of 1042 mAh g at the current density of 1 A g with excellent Coulombic efficiency ≈100%, and retain improved reversible capacity during long term cycling at higher current densities. The developed strategy paves a new path for employing other metal oxides with unique architectures to boost the performance of LSBs.

The phase controlled synthesis of iron carbide nanoparticles was proposed through a thermodynamical and dynamical manner by introducing hetero-halide ions.

SnO2@CF was obtained by anchoring SnO2 nanoparticles on carbon foam, which exhibited superior electrochemical performance for K+ storage.