Extension of Novel Lanthanide Luminescent Mesoporous Nanostructures to Detect Fluoride

A novel polydentate type ligand derived from <i>N</i>²,<i>N</i>⁶-bis­(4,4-diethoxy-9-oxo-3-oxa-8,10-diaza-4-siladodecan-12-yl)­pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide (<b>L</b>) has been designed, and it played essential roles in the assembly of new organic–inorganic functional materials. First, its multiple amide groups would coordinate to lanthanide ions firmly and transfer the absorbed energy to both Eu­(III) and Tb­(III) simultaneously. Second, the hydrogen-bond donor units showed strong affinity to guest anion (F^–). Third, the two silylated arms could induce the formation of sol–gel derived siloxane hybrid materials. Following this idea, two lanthanide luminescent amorphous particles (<b>ASNs-Eu</b> and <b>ASNs-Tb</b>) have been prepared for the recognition of fluoride ions. Further modification of the synthesis method and transformation to mesoporous network (<b>MSNs-Eu</b> and <b>MSNs-Tb</b>) led to much enhanced thermostabilities, larger specific surface area (from 78.5 to 515 m² g^–1 for Eu­(III); 89.6 to 487 m² g^–1 for Tb­(III)), and lower detection limits (2.5 × 10^–8 M for <b>MSNs-Eu</b> and 3.4 × 10^–8 M for <b>MSNs-Tb</b>) for the fluoride ion

Aggregation Induced Emission Mediated Controlled Release by Using a Built-In Functionalized Nanocluster with Theranostic Features

We report biological evaluation of a novel nanoparticle delivery system based on 1,1,2-triphenyl-2-(<i>p-</i>hydroxyphenyl)-ethene (TPE-OH, compound <b>1</b>), which has tunable aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. Compound <b>1</b> exhibited no emission in DMSO. In aqueous media, compound <b>1</b> aggregated, and luminescence was observed. The novel membrane–cytoplasm–nucleus sequential delivery strategy could induce apoptosis in four different kinds of cancer cells (including three adherent cell lines and one suspension cell line). The nanoparticles remained in the cytoplasm with intense blue emissions, whereas doxorubicin was observed in the nucleus with striking red luminescence. The nanoassembly was internalized in cells through an energy-dependent process. Three sorts of chemical inhibitors were used to clarify the endocytosis mechanism based on the AIE type prodrug. Furthermore, we have developed the first AIE theranostic system where drug targeting and release have been applied in an animal model

Tetracycline Generated Red Luminescence Based on a Novel Lanthanide Functionalized Layered Double Hydroxide Nanoplatform

Considerable interest in using lanthanide complexes in optics have been well-known persisted for a long time. But such molecular-based edifices have been excluded from practical application because of their poor thermal or photo stabilities. Here a novel europium embedded layered double hydroxide (Mg–Al LDH–Eu) has been established and such an inorganic–organic framework demonstrates improved thermal performance due to hydrolysis and poly condensation of the trimethoxysilyl-unit. In addition, the incorporation of a functional building block such as ethylenediamine triacetic acid can significantly minimize the negative effects of hydroxyl groups. In the presence of tetracycline (Tc), the nanoprobe exhibits an “off–on” change in aqueous solution, and the red luminescence can be excited in the visible light range (405 nm). It provides a very sensitive signal response to Tc with an excellent linear relation in the range of 0.1 μM to 5.0 μM, and the detection limit of this probe is measured to be 7.6 nM. This nanoplatform exhibits low cytotoxicity during in vitro experiments and can be employed for the detection of tetracycline in 293T cells

Manipulating Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Arrays for Flexible Photothermoelectric Devices

Flexible photothermoelectric (PTE) devices possess great application prospects in the field of light energy and thermoelectric energy harvesting which are some of the cornerstones of modern green renewable energy power generation. However, the low efficiency of PTE materials and lack of suitable manufacturing processes remain an impediment to restrict its rapid development. Here, we designed a flexible PTE device by printing a highly integrated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) array at intervals that were surface-functionalized with poly(acrylic acid) and poly(ethylene imine) as p–n heterofilms. After the introduction of a mask to give a selective light illumination and taking advantage of the photothermal effect of SWCNTs, a remarkable temperature gradient along the printed SWCNTs and a considerable power density of 1.3 μW/cm2 can be achieved. Meanwhile, both experimental data and COMSOL theoretical simulations were adopted to optimize the performance of our device, showing new opportunities for new generation flexible PTE devices

Additional file 1: of Genomic data mining reveals a rich repertoire of transport proteins in Streptomyces

A detailed description of transporters in eleven Streptomyces genomes. The file includs protein IDs, names, annotations, protein lengths, Pfam domains, number of TMSs, and their homologs in TCDB with the BLASTP E-value. (XLSX 918 kb

Venn diagram of transcription-related factors in five organs/tissues.

<p>A, the proximal-binding transcription-related factors in five organs/tissues. B, the distal-binding transcription-related factors in five organs/tissues. Nervous tissue includes the transcription-related factors in brain and cerebellum.</p

Additional file 2: of Genomic data mining reveals a rich repertoire of transport proteins in Streptomyces

The classification of Streptomyces transporters. (XLSX 76 kb

The Evolutionary Panorama of Organ-Specifically Expressed or Repressed Orthologous Genes in Nine Vertebrate Species

<div><p>RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology provides the detailed transcriptomic information for a biological sample. Using the RNA-Seq data of six organs from nine vertebrate species, we identified a number of organ-specifically expressed or repressed orthologous genes whose expression patterns are mostly conserved across nine species. Our analyses show the following results: (i) About 80% of these genes have a chordate or more ancient origin and more than half of them are the legacy of one or multiple rounds of large-scale gene duplication events. (ii) Their evolutionary rates are shaped by the organ in which they are expressed or repressed, e.g. the genes specially expressed in testis and liver generally evolve more than twice as fast as the ones specially expressed in brain and cerebellum. The organ-specific transcription factors were discriminated from these genes. The ChIP-seq data from the ENCODE project also revealed the transcription-related factors that might be involved in regulating human organ-specifically expressed or repressed genes. Some of them are shared by all six human organs. The comparison of ENCODE data with mouse/chicken ChIP-seq data proposes that organ-specifically expressed or repressed orthologous genes are regulated in various combinatorial fashions in different species, although their expression features are conserved among these species. We found that the duplication events in some gene families might help explain the quick organ/tissue divergence in vertebrate lineage. The phylogenetic analysis of testis-specifically expressed genes suggests that some of them are prone to develop new functions for other organs/tissues.</p></div

Phylogenetic tree of GATA transcription factor family.

<p>A <i>Ciona intestinalis</i> gene was selected as the outgroup to root the tree and only the cladogram is shown. The tree node where a possible large-scale duplication event happened is marked with a filled black square ■. 7 means the gene’s expression level is higher than 95% of all genes expressed in the organ. 6 is between 95% and 85%. 5 is between 85% and 65%. 4 is between 65% and 35%. 3 is between 35% and 15%. 2 is between 15% and 5%. 1 is lower than 5%. 0 means no expression at all. N is not available.</p

Five most common transcription-related factors might be involved in regulating OSER genes.

<p>Five most common transcription-related factors might be involved in regulating OSER genes.</p