No abstract

Weeds have continually interrupted crop plants since their domestication, leading to a greater yield loss compared to diseases and pests that necessitated the practice of weed control measures. The control of weeds is crucial to ensuring the availability of sufficient food for a rapidly increasing human population. Chemical weed control (herbicides) along with integrated weed management (IWM) practices can be the most effective and reliable method of weed management programs. The application of herbicides for weed control practices calls for the urgency to develop herbicide-resistant (HR) crops. Recently, genome editing tools, especially CRISPR-Cas9, have brought innovation in genome editing technology that opens up new possibilities to provide sustainable farming in modern agricultural industry. To date, several non-genetically modified (GM) HR crops have been developed through genome editing that can present a leading role to combat weed problems along with increasing crop productivity to meet increasing food demand around the world. Here, we present the chemical method of weed control, approaches for herbicide resistance development, and possible advantages and limitations of genome editing in herbicide resistance. We also discuss how genome editing would be effective in combating intensive weed problems and what would be the impact of genome-edited HR crops in agriculture.

Solid-state topochemical polymerization (SSTP) is a promising method to construct functional crystalline polymeric materials, but in contrast to various reactions that happen in solution, only very limited types of SSTP reactions are reported. Diels–Alder (DA) and dehydro-DA (DDA) reactions are textbook reactions for preparing six-membered rings in solution but are scarcely seen in solid-state synthesis. Here, using multiple cutting-edge techniques, we demonstrate that the solid 1,4-diphenylbutadiyne (DPB) undergoes a DDA reaction under 10–20 GPa with the phenyl as the dienophile. The crystal structure at the critical pressure shows that this reaction is “distance-selected”. The distance of 3.2 Å between the phenyl and the phenylethynyl facilitates the DDA reaction, while the distances for other DDA and 1,4-addition reactions are too large to allow the bonding. The obtained products are crystalline armchair graphitic nanoribbons, and hence our studies open a new route to construct the crystalline carbon materials with atomic-scale control.

Background PCSK9 rs505151 and rs11591147 polymorphisms are identified as gain- and loss-of-function mutations, respectively. The effects of these polymorphisms on serum lipid levels and cardiovascular risk remain to be elucidated.MethodsIn this meta-analysis, we explored the association of PCSK9 rs505151 and rs11591147 polymorphisms with serum lipid levels and cardiovascular risk by calculating the standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsPooled results analyzed under a dominant genetic model indicated that the PCSK9 rs505151 G allele was related to higher levels of triglycerides (SMD: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.26, P = 0.021, I2 = 0) and low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL-C) (SMD: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.00 to 0.35, P = 0.046, I2 = 75.9%) and increased cardiovascular risk (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.89, P = 0.0006, I2 = 48%). The rs11591147 T allele was significantly associated with lower levels of total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C (TC, SMD: -0.45, 95% CI: -0.57 to −0.32, P = 0.000, I2 = 0; LDL-C, SMD: -0.44, 95% CI: -0.55 to −0.33, P = 0.000, I2 = 0) and decreased cardiovascular risk (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60 to 0.98, P = 0.031, I2 = 59.9) in Caucasians.ConclusionsThis study indicates that the variant G allele of PCSK9 rs505151 confers increased triglyceride (TG) and LDL-C levels, as well as increased cardiovascular risk. Conversely, the variant T allele of rs11591147 protects carriers from cardiovascular disease susceptibility and lower TC and LDL-C levels in Caucasians. These findings provide useful information for researchers interested in the fields of PCSK9 genetics and cardiovascular risk prediction not only for designing future studies, but also for clinical and public health applications.