Shine Bright Like a Diamond: New Light on an Old Polymeric Semiconductor

Brilliance usually refers to the light reflected by the facets of a gemstone such as diamond due to its high refractive index. Nowadays, high-refractive-index materials find application in many optical and photonic devices and are mostly of inorganic nature. However, these materials are usually obtained by toxic or expensive production processes. Herein, the synthesis of a thin-film organic semiconductor, namely, polymeric carbon nitride, by thermal chemical vapor deposition is presented. Among polymers, this organic material combines the highest intrinsic refractive index reported so far with high transparency in the visible spectrum, even reaching the range of diamond. Eventually, the herein presented deposition of high quality thin films and their optical characteristics open the way for numerous new applications and devices in optics, photonics, and beyond based on organic materials

CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein-mediated co-editing and counterselection in the rice blast fungus

The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is the most serious pathogen of cultivated rice and a significant threat to global food security. To accelerate targeted mutation and specific genome editing in this species, we have developed a rapid plasmid-free CRISPR-Cas9-based genome editing method. We show that stable expression of Cas9 is highly toxic to M. oryzae. However efficient gene editing can be achieved by transient introduction of purified Cas9 pre-complexed to RNA guides to form ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). When used in combination with oligonucleotide or PCR-generated donor DNAs, generation of strains with specific base pair edits, in-locus gene replacements, or multiple gene edits, is very rapid and straightforward. We demonstrate a co-editing strategy for the creation of single nucleotide changes at specific loci. Additionally, we report a novel counterselection strategy which allows creation of precisely edited fungal strains that contain no foreign DNA and are completely isogenic to the wild type. Together, these developments represent a scalable improvement in the precision and speed of genetic manipulation in M. oryzae and are likely to be broadly applicable to other fungal species

I-SceI-mediated double-strand DNA breaks stimulate efficient gene targeting in the industrial fungus Trichoderma reesei

Targeted integration of expression cassettes for enzyme production in industrial microorganisms is desirable especially when enzyme variants are screened for improved enzymatic properties. However, currently used methods for targeted integration are inefficient and result in low transformation frequencies. In this study, we expressed the Saccharomyces cerevisiae I-SceI meganuclease to generate double-strand breaks at a defined locus in the Trichoderma reesei genome. We showed that the double-strand DNA breaks mediated by I-SceI can be efficiently repaired when an exogenous DNA cassette flanked by regions homologous to the I-SceI landing locus was added during transformation. Transformation efficiencies increased approximately sixfold compared to control transformation. Analysis of the transformants obtained via I-SceI-mediated gene targeting showed that about two thirds of the transformants resulted from a homologous recombination event at the predetermined locus. Counter selection of the transformants for the loss of the pyrG marker upon integration of the DNA cassette showed that almost all of the clones contained the cassette at the predetermined locus. Analysis of independently obtained transformants using targeted integration of a glucoamylase expression cassette demonstrated that glucoamylase production among the transformants was high and showing limited variation. In conclusion, the gene targeting system developed in this study significantly increases transformation efficiency as well as homologous recombination efficiency and omits the use of Δku70 strains. It is also suitable for high-throughput screening of enzyme variants or gene libraries in T. reesei. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00253-015-6829-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users