Wheat powdery mildew is an important fungal disease that seriously jeopardizes wheat production, which poses a serious threat to food safety. SJ106 is a high-quality, disease-resistant spring wheat variety; this disease resistance is derived from Wheat-wheatgrass 33. In this study, the powdery mildew resistance genes in SJ106 were located at the end of chromosome 6DS, a new disease resistance locus tentatively named PmSJ106 locus. This interval was composed of a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) gene cluster containing 19 NLR genes. Five NLRs were tandem duplicated genes, and one of them (a coiled coil domain–nucleotide binding site–leucine-rich repeat (CC-NBS-LRR; CNL) type gene, TaRGA5-like) expressed 69–836-fold in SJ106 compared with the susceptible control. The genome DNA and cDNA sequences of TaRGA5-like were amplified from SJ106, which contain several nucleotide polymorphisms in LRR regions compared with susceptible individuals and Chinese Spring. Overexpression of TaRGA5-like significantly increased resistance to powdery mildew in susceptible receptor wheat Jinqiang5. However, Virus induced gene silence (VIGS) of TaRGA5-like resulted in only a small decrease of SJ106 in disease resistance, presumably compensated by other NLR duplicated genes. The results suggested that TaRGA5-like confers partial powdery mildew resistance in SJ106. As a member of the PmSJ106 locus, TaRGA5-like functioned together with other NLR duplicated genes to improve wheat resistance to powdery mildew. Wheat variety SJ106 would become a novel and potentially valuable germplasm for powdery mildew resistance.

The eutrophication issue in the Yangtze Basin was considered, and the phosphorus loads from its tributary, the Modaoxi River, were estimated. The phosphorus flux and source apportionment of the Modaoxi River watershed were modeled and quantified, and their changes with respect to future projected climate scenarios were simulated with multiple model applications. The Regional Nutrient Management (ReNuMa) model based on Generalized Watershed Loading Functions (GWLF) was employed as a tool to model the hydrochemical processes of the watershed and thereby estimate the monthly streamflow and the phosphorus flux as well as its source apportionment. The Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG) was used to predict future daily weather data through the statistical downscaling of the general circulation model (GCM) outputs based on projected climate scenarios. The synthetic time series of daily precipitation and temperatures generated by LARS-WG were further used as input data for ReNuMa to estimate the responses of the watershed hydrochemical processes to future changed climate conditions. The results showed that both models could be successfully applied and that the future wetter and warmer climate trends would have generally positive impacts on the watershed phosphorus yields, with greater contributions coming from runoff. These results could provide valuable support for local water environmental management.

Livestock farming sector is an important anthropogenic emission source of ammonia (NH3) and greenhouse gases including nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). The NH3, not N2O and CH4, is known as an important gaseous precursor to cause atmospheric particulate matter (PM) pollution. However, the relationship between livestock-derived NH3 and atmospheric PM pollution has not been sufficiently investigated, especially in the developed regions with serious air pollution. Here, we studied the spatio-temporal emissions of NH3, N2O and CH4 from livestock farming as well as the relationship between livestock NH3 emission and atmospheric PM pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, one of the most developed and air polluted area in China. Over the past 40 years, livestock-derived emissions of NH3, N2O and CH4 had experienced four temporal stages (1978-1990: low level; 1991-1995: rapid growth; 1996-2005: reached hot moments; 2006-2018: stable at a high level). Livestock-derived emissions of NH3, N2O and CH4 were 813, 19 and 499 Gg in 2017, respectively. The southeastern plain was the hotspot, and the pig and cattle were the main sources (78-99%) of NH3, N2O and CH4 in livestock farming. The livestock-derived NH3 emission explained approximately a quarter of the variations of atmospheric PM2.5 (size ≤2.5 μm) (24%) and PM10 (size ≤10 μm) (22%) pollution. Based on the knowledge of atmospheric chemical processes, we concluded that the livestock-derived NH3 emission significantly affected atmospheric PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. Consequently, the livestock farming, especially pig and cattle breeding, should be paid more attention in the context of atmospheric particulate matter pollution and regional greenhouse gases management.

Wheat powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, represents one of the most threatening biotic stresses of this crop. The cultivated wheat variety ‘Brock’ exhibits resistance not only to rust but also to powdery mildew, making it a valuable resource for exploitation in wheat disease-resistant breeding. This study identified a novel gene in ‘Brock’ distinct from Pm2. In order to identify the disease resistance gene in ‘Brock’, genetic mapping was performed using F₂ and F_2:3 populations derived from the cross ‘Jing411/Brock’. The candidate powdery mildew resistance gene was located within a 6.88 Mb physical interval on chromosome 2D, which harbors a highly expressed gene, TaRPM1-2D. The protein encoded by TaRPM1-2D possesses a typical nucleotide binding, leucine-rich repeat receptor (NLR) domain, and its sequence significantly differs among ‘Jing411’, ‘BJ-1’, and ‘Brock’. Expression of TaRPM1-2D was markedly higher in resistant wheat ‘Brock’ and ‘BJ-1’ compared to the susceptible ‘Jing411’. Both overexpression and gene silencing experiments demonstrated that TaRPM1-2D contributes to enhance resistance against powdery mildew in wheat. These findings reveal the function of TaRPM1-2D in conferring powdery mildew resistance in ‘Brock’ and provide a candidate gene for disease-resistance breeding.