SERS-Based Sensitive Detection of Organophosphorus Nerve Agents

Organophosphorus nerve agents, such as sarin, tabun, cyclosarin and soman, belong to the most toxic substances. So, it is very important to quickly detect it in trace-level and on-site or portable way. But, both fast and trace detections have been expected because current techniques are of low sensitivity or of poor selectivity and are time-consuming. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based detection could be a suitable and effective method. However, the organophosphorus nerve agents only very weakly interact with highly SERS-activated noble metal substrates and are hardly adsorbed on them. In this case, it is difficult to detect such molecules, with reproducible or quantitative measurements and trace level, by the normal SERS technique. Recently, there have been some works on the SERS-based detection of the organophosphorus molecules. In this chapter, we introduce the main progresses in this field, including (1) the thin water film confinement and evaporation concentrating strategy and (2) the surface modification and amidation reaction. These works provide new ways for highly efficient SERS-based detection of the organophosphorus nerve agents and some other target molecules that weakly interact with the coin metal substrates

Ultrathin Oxide Wrapping of Plasmonic Nanoparticles via Colloidal Electrostatic Self-Assembly and their Enhanced Performances

Ultrathin and uniform oxide layer-wrapped plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) have been expected in the fields of light energy conversion and optical sensing fields. In this chapter, we proposed a universal strategy to prepare such core-shell plasmonic NPs based on colloidal electrostatic attraction and self-assembly procedures. Based on the self-assembly strategy, laser ablation of metal targets in liquid medium was conducted at room temperature to one-pot fabricate the oxide-wrapped plasmonic NPs. It demonstrates that a series of core-shell nanostructured NPs such as Au@Fe2O3, Au@Al2O3, Au@CuO, Au@ZnO, Pt@TiO2, and Pd@TiO2, have been readily obtained free of contaminations. Technical analyses illustrate that those composite NPs possess uniform and symmetrical oxides layers with several nanometers in thickness. Furthermore, both the thickness and crystallinity of the oxides layer could be precisely tailored simply by controlling hydrolysis of precursors and irradiation durations. Finally, due to ultrathin wrapping of oxides, the as-obtained core-shell plasmonic NPs show excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and gas-sensing performances compared with bare metal or oxides NPs

Water-Soluble 3D Covalent Organic Framework that Displays an Enhanced Enrichment Effect of Photosensitizers and Catalysts for the Reduction of Protons to H2.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are emerging porous polymers that have 2D or 3D long-range ordering. Currently available COFs are typically insoluble or decompose upon dissolution, which remarkably restricts their practical implementations. For 3D COFs, the achievement of noninterpenetration, which maximizes their porosity-derived applications, also remains a challenge synthetically. Here, we report the synthesis of the first highly water-soluble 3D COF (sCOF-101) from irreversible polymerization of a preorganized supramolecular organic framework through cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8])-controlled [2 + 2] photodimerization. Synchrotron X-ray scattering and diffraction analyses confirm that sCOF-101 exhibits porosity periodicity, with a channel diameter of 2.3 nm, in both water and the solid state and retains the periodicity under both strongly acidic and basic conditions. As an ordered 3D polymer, sCOF-101 can enrich [Ru(bpy)3]2+ photosensitizers and redox-active polyoxometalates in water, which leads to remarkable increase of their photocatalytic activity for proton reduction to produce H2

Expression, Purification, and Characterization of Ras Protein (BmRas1) from Bombyx mori

The Ras subfamily is the member of small G proteins superfamily involved in cellular signal transduction. Activation of Ras signaling causes cell growth, differentiation, and survival. Bombyx mori Ras-like protein (BmRas1) may belong to the Ras subfamily. It contained an H-N-K-Ras-like domain. The BmRas1 mRNA consisted of 1459 bp. The open reading frame contained 579 bp, encoding 192 amino acids. The protein had such secondary structures as α-helices, extended strand, and random coil. BmRas1 was expressed successfully in E. coli BL21. The recombinant protein was purified with metal-chelating affinity chromatography. The GTPase activity of purified protein was determined by FeSO4-(NH4)2MoO4 assay. The results showed that purified recombinant protein had intrinsic activity of GTPase. High titer polyclonal antibodies were generated by New Zealand rabbit immunized with purified protein. The gene expression features of BmRas1 at different stages and in different organs of the fifth instar larvae were analyzed by Western blot. The results showed that BmRas1 was expressed highly in three development stages including egg, pupae, and adult, but low expression in larva. BmRas1 was expressed in these tissues including head, malpighian tubule, genital gland, and silk gland. The purified recombinant protein would be utilized to further function studies of BmRas1

Production of Exopolysaccharides from Submerged Culture of Antrodia Camphorata S-29

Antrodia camphorata is a unique mushroom of Taiwan, which has been used as a natural therapeutic ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for protection of diverse health related conditions. Polysaccharides produced from A. camphorata have attracted much attention of research due to cytotoxic activity and miscellaneous activities. In this paper, we report on the fermentation conditions species-specific exopolysaccharides (EPS) from A. camphorata in submerged culture. A favorable medium for EPS production was obtained only by single-factor experiment, where Glucose and Yeast-Extracts were identified to be the most suitable carbon and nitrogen sources, with the concentration of 40 g/L and 5.0 g/L respectively. Zinc sulphate was identified to be the best salt source with the concentration of 0.4g/l. Initial pH and inoculum size for mycelial growth and EPS yield were 6.0 and 15% respectively. The maximum EPS production was 0.474 g/L in shake-flask culture, which is higher than the baseline media that was 0.351 g/L. This study provides the baseline information about production conditions for this specific specie which is crucial data to know before any further studies as it determines the properties and quantity of the desired produced specie. Keywords: A. camphorata; Exopolysaccharide; Sub­merged culture

Identification of BST2 Contributing to the Development of Glioblastoma Based on Bioinformatics Analysis

Rigorous molecular analysis of the immune cell environment and immune response of human tumors has led to immune checkpoint inhibitors as one of the most promising strategies for the treatment of human cancer. However, in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) which develops in part by attracting immune cell types intrinsic to the human brain (microglia), standard immunotherapy has yielded inconsistent results in experimental models and patients. Here, we analyzed publicly available expression datasets to identify molecules possibly associated with immune response originating from or influencing the tumor microenvironment in primary tumor samples. Using three glioma datasets (GSE16011, Rembrandt-glioma and TCGA-glioma), we first analyzed the data to distinguish between GBMs of high and low tumor cell purity, a reflection of the cellular composition of the tumor microenvironment, and second, to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between these two groups using GSEA and other analyses. Tumor purity was negatively correlated with patient prognosis. The interferon gamma-related gene BST2 emerged as a DEG that was highly expressed in GBM and negatively correlated with tumor purity. BST2high tumors also tended to harbor PTEN mutations (31 vs. 9%, BST2high versus BST2low) while BST2low tumors more often had sustained TP53 mutations (8 versus 36%, BST2high versus BST2low). Prognosis of patients with BST2high tumors was also poor relative to patients with BST2low tumors. Further molecular in silico analysis demonstrated that high expression of BST2 was negatively correlated with CD8+ T cells but positively correlated with macrophages with an M2 phenotype. Further functional analysis demonstrated that BST2 was associated with multiple immune checkpoints and cytokines, and may promote tumorigenesis and progression through interferon gamma, IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling, IL2/STAT5 signaling and the TNF-α signaling via NF-kB pathway. Finally, a series of experiments confirmed that the expression of BST2 can be significantly increased by IFN induction, and knockdown of BST2 can significantly inhibit the growth and invasion of GBM cells, and may affect the phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages. In conclusion, BST2 may promote the progression of GBM and may be a target for treatment.publishedVersio