Nanopore Liberates G‑Quadruplexes from Biochemical Buffers for Accurate Mass Spectrometric Examination

Achieving accurate measurements of G-quadruplexes (G4s), especially the characterization of their complicated non-covalent interactions with various components (such as metal ions and ligands) under physiological conditions, is of fundamental significance in unveiling their biological roles and developing antitumor drugs. By employing a nanopore ion emitter (∼30 nm), we demonstrated for the first time that G4 ions, which are free of non-specific adduction and meanwhile maintaining their pre-existing specific bindings with metal ions or ligands, can be directly liberated from common biochemical buffers (consisting of concentrated non-volatile salts of >150 mM) for mass spectrometric examination. Notably, the intermediate complexes of G4s with mixed di-cation coordination formed during the Na+/K+ exchange were successfully observed by mass spectrometry, whose structures were also revealed by the reconstructed circular dichroism spectra. We believe the nanopore-based ion emitters have built a solid bridge between native G4s in aqueous buffers and their accurate stoichiometries obtained by mass spectrometric examination

Additional file 1: Figure S1. of IL-27 inhibits the TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in alveolar epithelial cells

IL-27 affects TGF-β1-mediated EMT in AECs partially through inhibitory smads. A: The protein levels of smad6 and smad7, TGF-βR1, pSmad1, pSmad3, pSmad5 and their total protein were measured by western blot after treatment with IL-27/and TGF-β1 for 1 h. And statistically expression level of p-smad1, p-smad3 and p-smad5 was shown on the right, the relative expression level was compared with control and the change between TGF-β1 group and TGF-β1 + IL-27 group was also analysed. B: A549 cells were either left as control or transfected with siRNA specific to smad6 and smad7 for 6 h prior treated with 40 ng/ml of TGF-β1 and/or 100 ng/ml of IL-27. And the expression level of smad6 and smad7, TGF-βR1, pSmad1, pSmad3, pSmad5 and their total protein were measured by western blot in 4 different groups. And statistically expression level of p-smad1, p-smad3 and p-smad5 was shown on the right, the relative expression level was compared with control and the expression level between TGF-β1 + siRNA group and TGF-β1 + IL-27+ siRNA group was also analysed. All data are shown as the mean ± SD (n = 3). Statistical significance was assessed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test using GraphPad Prism Version 5.0a software. *means compared with control group; # means TGF-β1 group compared with TGF-β1 + IL-27 group. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ##, P < 0.01; ###, P < 0.001, ns, no significant difference. (JPG 381 kb

Mercury–Cadmium–Telluride Waveguides – A Novel Strategy for On-Chip Mid-Infrared Sensors

We report the first planar waveguides made from mercury–cadmium–telluride (MCT)a material to date exclusively used for mid-infrared (MIR) detector elementsserving as on-chip MIR evanescent field transducers in combination with tunable quantum cascade lasers (tQCLs) emitting in the spectral regime of 5.78–6.35 μm. This novel MIR sensing approach utilizes structured MCT chips fabricated via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) as waveguide enabling sensing via evanescent field absorption spectroscopy, as demonstrated by the detection of 1 nL of acetone. Complementary finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations fit well with the experimentally obtained data and predict an improvement of the limit of detection by at least 2 orders of magnitude upon implementation of thinner MCT waveguides. With the first demonstration of chemical sensing using on-chip MCT waveguides, monolithically fabricated IR sensing systems directly interfacing the waveguide with the MCT detector element may be envisaged

Alternating Magnetic Field Induced Magnetic Heating in Ferromagnetic Cobalt Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Alternating magnetic field (AMF) is a promising methodology for further improving magnetic single-atom catalyst (SAC) activity toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, the anchoring of Co single atoms on MoS2 support (Co@MoS2), leading to the appearance of in-plane room-temperature ferromagnetic properties, is favorable for the parallel spin arrangement of oxygen atoms when a magnetic field is applied. Moreover, field-assisted electrocatalytic experiments confirmed that the spin direction of Co@MoS2 is changing with the applied magnetic field. On this basis, under AMF, the active sites in ferromagnetic Co@MoS2 were heated by exploiting the magnetic heating generated from spin polarization flip of these SACs to further expedite OER efficiency, with overpotential at 10 mA cm–2 reduced from 317 mV to 250 mV. This work introduces a feasible and efficient approach to enhance the OER performance of Co@MoS2 by AMF, shedding some light on the further development of magnetic SACs for energy conversion

Cobalt Nanoparticles Decorated “Wire in Tube” Framework as a Multifunctional Sulfur Reservoir

The various designs of sulfur host materials for the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery have attracted ever-increasing interest in alleviating the fatal shuttle effect of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) intermediates. Designing host materials for sulfur cathodes needs particular attention in both physical confinement and surface chemistry. Herein, the Co, N codoped “wire in tube” carbon fiber (WIT-Co) is rationally fabricated and serves as the sulfur host. Benefiting from the synergistic effects of excellent LiPS absorption and electrocatalysis capability, the WIT-Co/S cathode reveals a high initial capacity of 1462 mAh g–1 at 0.1 C and stable cycling performance of 650 mAh g–1 at 2.0 C after 400 cycles with a low-capacity decay of 0.021% per cycle. Notably, even with the high sulfur loading of 5.6 mg cm–2 and low electrolyte/sulfur ratio of 5 μL mg–1, the WIT-Co/S electrode still exhibits an excellent areal capacity of 4.8 mAh cm–2 at 0.2 C after 100 cycles. This work provides a superior structure of the sulfur host, which not only accelerates the conversion of LiPSs but also alleviates the shuttle effect, therefore facilitating the practical application of Li–S batteries

Table_12_The complete mitochondrial genome of Isochrysis galbana harbors a unique repeat structure and a specific trans-spliced cox1 gene.XLSX

The haptophyte Isochrysis galbana is considered as a promising source for food supplements due to its rich fucoxanthin and polyunsaturated fatty acids content. Here, the I. galbana mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) was sequenced using a combination of Illumina and PacBio sequencing platforms. This 39,258 bp circular mitogenome has a total of 46 genes, including 20 protein-coding genes, 24 tRNA genes and two rRNA genes. A large block of repeats (~12.7 kb) was segregated in one region of the mitogenome, accounting for almost one third of the total size. A trans-spliced gene cox1 was first identified in I. galbana mitogenome and was verified by RNA-seq and DNA-seq data. The massive expansion of tandem repeat size and cis- to trans-splicing shift could be explained by the high mitogenome rearrangement rates in haptophytes. Strict SNP calling based on deep transcriptome sequencing data suggested the lack of RNA editing in both organelles in this species, consistent with previous studies in other algal lineages. To gain insight into haptophyte mitogenome evolution, a comparative analysis of mitogenomes within haptophytes and among eight main algal lineages was performed. A core gene set of 15 energy and metabolism genes is present in haptophyte mitogenomes, consisting of 1 cob, 3 cox, 7 nad, 2 atp and 2 ribosomal genes. Gene content and order was poorly conserved in this lineage. Haptophyte mitogenomes have lost many functional genes found in many other eukaryotes including rps/rpl, sdh, tat, secY genes, which make it contain the smallest gene set among all algal taxa. All these implied the rapid-evolving and more recently evolved mitogenomes of haptophytes compared to other algal lineages. The phylogenetic tree constructed by cox1 genes of 204 algal mitogenomes yielded well-resolved internal relationships, providing new evidence for red-lineages that contained plastids of red algal secondary endosymbiotic origin. This newly assembled mitogenome will add to our knowledge of general trends in algal mitogenome evolution within haptophytes and among different algal taxa.</p

Table_11_The complete mitochondrial genome of Isochrysis galbana harbors a unique repeat structure and a specific trans-spliced cox1 gene.XLSX

The haptophyte Isochrysis galbana is considered as a promising source for food supplements due to its rich fucoxanthin and polyunsaturated fatty acids content. Here, the I. galbana mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) was sequenced using a combination of Illumina and PacBio sequencing platforms. This 39,258 bp circular mitogenome has a total of 46 genes, including 20 protein-coding genes, 24 tRNA genes and two rRNA genes. A large block of repeats (~12.7 kb) was segregated in one region of the mitogenome, accounting for almost one third of the total size. A trans-spliced gene cox1 was first identified in I. galbana mitogenome and was verified by RNA-seq and DNA-seq data. The massive expansion of tandem repeat size and cis- to trans-splicing shift could be explained by the high mitogenome rearrangement rates in haptophytes. Strict SNP calling based on deep transcriptome sequencing data suggested the lack of RNA editing in both organelles in this species, consistent with previous studies in other algal lineages. To gain insight into haptophyte mitogenome evolution, a comparative analysis of mitogenomes within haptophytes and among eight main algal lineages was performed. A core gene set of 15 energy and metabolism genes is present in haptophyte mitogenomes, consisting of 1 cob, 3 cox, 7 nad, 2 atp and 2 ribosomal genes. Gene content and order was poorly conserved in this lineage. Haptophyte mitogenomes have lost many functional genes found in many other eukaryotes including rps/rpl, sdh, tat, secY genes, which make it contain the smallest gene set among all algal taxa. All these implied the rapid-evolving and more recently evolved mitogenomes of haptophytes compared to other algal lineages. The phylogenetic tree constructed by cox1 genes of 204 algal mitogenomes yielded well-resolved internal relationships, providing new evidence for red-lineages that contained plastids of red algal secondary endosymbiotic origin. This newly assembled mitogenome will add to our knowledge of general trends in algal mitogenome evolution within haptophytes and among different algal taxa.</p

Table_6_The complete mitochondrial genome of Isochrysis galbana harbors a unique repeat structure and a specific trans-spliced cox1 gene.XLSX

The haptophyte Isochrysis galbana is considered as a promising source for food supplements due to its rich fucoxanthin and polyunsaturated fatty acids content. Here, the I. galbana mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) was sequenced using a combination of Illumina and PacBio sequencing platforms. This 39,258 bp circular mitogenome has a total of 46 genes, including 20 protein-coding genes, 24 tRNA genes and two rRNA genes. A large block of repeats (~12.7 kb) was segregated in one region of the mitogenome, accounting for almost one third of the total size. A trans-spliced gene cox1 was first identified in I. galbana mitogenome and was verified by RNA-seq and DNA-seq data. The massive expansion of tandem repeat size and cis- to trans-splicing shift could be explained by the high mitogenome rearrangement rates in haptophytes. Strict SNP calling based on deep transcriptome sequencing data suggested the lack of RNA editing in both organelles in this species, consistent with previous studies in other algal lineages. To gain insight into haptophyte mitogenome evolution, a comparative analysis of mitogenomes within haptophytes and among eight main algal lineages was performed. A core gene set of 15 energy and metabolism genes is present in haptophyte mitogenomes, consisting of 1 cob, 3 cox, 7 nad, 2 atp and 2 ribosomal genes. Gene content and order was poorly conserved in this lineage. Haptophyte mitogenomes have lost many functional genes found in many other eukaryotes including rps/rpl, sdh, tat, secY genes, which make it contain the smallest gene set among all algal taxa. All these implied the rapid-evolving and more recently evolved mitogenomes of haptophytes compared to other algal lineages. The phylogenetic tree constructed by cox1 genes of 204 algal mitogenomes yielded well-resolved internal relationships, providing new evidence for red-lineages that contained plastids of red algal secondary endosymbiotic origin. This newly assembled mitogenome will add to our knowledge of general trends in algal mitogenome evolution within haptophytes and among different algal taxa.</p