Environmental risk assessment of manganese and its associated heavy metals in a stream impacted by manganese mining in South China

<p>In South China, high manganese content in the drinking water source influenced by upstream manganese mine drainage has become a major concern. To investigate the extent of metal pollution and environmental risk in upstream sediments and native aquatic macrophytes, a study was conducted on a manganese mining-impacted river named the Heishui River. The results indicated that streambed sediments collected were polluted by Mn and other metals with the highest contents of Mn 43349.4 mg kg⁻¹, Pb 128.6 mg kg⁻¹, Zn 502.9 mg kg⁻¹, and Cu 107.2 mg kg⁻¹. The level of Mn in all sediments was higher than the consensus-based Probable Effect Concentration, indicating that adverse effects on sediment-dwelling organisms were likely to occur frequently. Among the studied metals, Mn had the highest bioavailability and ecological risk, followed by Zn. Native aquatic macrophytes accumulate large amounts of the studied metals. A significantly positive correlation was found between exchangeable fractions of the studied metals in sediments and in aquatic macrophytes. The risk assessment code showed the following risk levels of metals in sediments in descending order: Mn > Zn > Cu > Pb. In conclusion, the river impacted by manganese mining drainage poses a high risk to both the local ecosystem and downstream drinking water.</p

Quantum Percolation and Magnetic Nanodroplet States in Electronically Phase-Separated Manganite Nanowires

One-dimensional (1D) confinement has been revealed to effectively tune the properties of materials in homogeneous states. The 1D physics can be further enriched by electronic inhomogeneity, which unfortunately remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate the ultrahigh sensitivity to magnetic fluctuations and the tunability of phase stability in the electronic transport properties of self-assembled electronically phase-separated manganite nanowires with extreme aspect ratio. The onset of magnetic nanodroplet state, a precursor to the ferromagnetic metallic state, is unambiguously revealed, which is attributed to the small lateral size of the nanowires that is comparable to the droplet size. Moreover, the quasi-1D anisotropy stabilizes thin insulating domains to form intrinsic tunneling junctions in the low temperature range, which is robust even under magnetic field up to 14 T and thus essentially modifies the classic 1D percolation picture to stabilize a novel quantum percolation state. A new phase diagram is therefore established for the manganite system under quasi-1D confinement for the first time. Our findings offer new insight into understanding and manipulating the colorful properties of the electronically phase-separated systems via dimensionality engineering

Diastereomeric Resolution Yields Highly Potent Inhibitor of SARS-CoV‑2 Main Protease

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent behind the COVID-19 pandemic. The main protease (Mpro, 3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is a key enzyme that processes polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. Mpro is therefore an attractive target for the design of inhibitors that block viral replication. We report the diastereomeric resolution of the previously designed SARS-CoV-2 Mpro α-ketoamide inhibitor 13b. The pure (S,S,S)-diastereomer, 13b-K, displays an IC50 of 120 nM against the Mpro and EC50 values of 0.8–3.4 μM for antiviral activity in different cell types. Crystal structures have been elucidated for the Mpro complexes with each of the major diastereomers, the active (S,S,S)-13b (13b-K), and the nearly inactive (R,S,S)-13b (13b-H); results for the latter reveal a novel binding mode. Pharmacokinetic studies show good levels of 13b-K after inhalative as well as after peroral administration. The active inhibitor (13b-K) is a promising candidate for further development as an antiviral treatment for COVID-19

Diastereomeric Resolution Yields Highly Potent Inhibitor of SARS-CoV‑2 Main Protease

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent behind the COVID-19 pandemic. The main protease (Mpro, 3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is a key enzyme that processes polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. Mpro is therefore an attractive target for the design of inhibitors that block viral replication. We report the diastereomeric resolution of the previously designed SARS-CoV-2 Mpro α-ketoamide inhibitor 13b. The pure (S,S,S)-diastereomer, 13b-K, displays an IC50 of 120 nM against the Mpro and EC50 values of 0.8–3.4 μM for antiviral activity in different cell types. Crystal structures have been elucidated for the Mpro complexes with each of the major diastereomers, the active (S,S,S)-13b (13b-K), and the nearly inactive (R,S,S)-13b (13b-H); results for the latter reveal a novel binding mode. Pharmacokinetic studies show good levels of 13b-K after inhalative as well as after peroral administration. The active inhibitor (13b-K) is a promising candidate for further development as an antiviral treatment for COVID-19

Electronic Supplementary Information from From two-dimensional graphene oxide to three-dimensional honeycomb-like Ni₃S₂@graphene oxide composite: insight into structure and electrocatalytic properties

The normalized photovoltaic parameters based on 3D honeycomb-like Ni3S2@GO synthetized by different concentration of Ni(NO₃)<sub>2</sub

Additional file 2 of Resequencing of global Lotus corniculatus accessions reveals population distribution and genetic loci, associated with cyanogenic glycosides accumulation and growth traits

Additional file 2: Fig. S1. a Neighbor-joining tree of 273 germplasms, including 272 L. corniculatus accessions and 1 L. frondosus. (b-c) Linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay distance of L. corniculatus groups. d Neighbor-joining tree of 274 germplasms, including 272 L. corniculatus accessions, L. frondosus and L. japonicus. Fig. S2. a, b, c Box plot of plant height, stem length and CNglcs content in L. corniculatus groups. Significant differences between values are indicated with different letters (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.005; ***, P < 0.0001). d Bar plots of Go enrichment of selective-sweep signals identified genes through comparisons between Group I and Group II (upper panel), Group I and Group III (middle panel), and spring and winter ecotypes (lower panel). Fig. S3-5. Manhattan plots for total CNglcs content, lotaustraline and linamarin in 241 accessions using MLMM, Blink and FarmCPU. The black dashed lines indicate the significance threshold (p value = 2.0 × 10–5) and black arrow indicates the significant GWAS peak. Fig. S6. a Relative expression of CNglcs synthetic genes CYP79D3, CYP736A2 and UGT85K3 in different accessions carrying Hap.G and Hap.S, respectively. b Expression profile of CNglcs related genes in Hap.G and Hap.S. Fig. S7. Identification of overexpressed materials in Arabidopsis and L. corniculatus. a PCR identification of positive transformed plants of 35S::ZCD in L. corniculatus. b Relative expression of LjZCD in WT and overexpressed LjZCD plants of L. corniculatus. c PCR identification of positive transformed plants of 35S::ZCB in Arabidopsis. d Relative expression of LjZCB in WT and overexpressed LjZCB plants of Arabidopsis. Fig. S8-12. Manhattan plots for stem length in 241 accessions using MLMM, Blink and FarmCPU. The black dashed lines indicate the significance threshold (p value = 2.0 × 10–5) and black arrow indicates the significant GWAS peak. Fig. S13. Expression profile of different haplotype. a stem length related genes in Hap.G and Hap.K. b Expression profile of plant height related genes in Hap.C and Hap.Y. Fig. S14-18. Manhattan plots for plant height in 241 accessions using MLMM, Blink and FarmCPU. The black dashed lines indicate the significance threshold (p value = 2.0 × 10–5) and black arrow indicates the significant GWAS peak

Additional file 1 of Resequencing of global Lotus corniculatus accessions reveals population distribution and genetic loci, associated with cyanogenic glycosides accumulation and growth traits

Additional file 1: Table S1. Basic information of 272 L. corniculatus accessions. Table S2. The Cross Validation error of values for the K values. Table S3. Selective sweeps between Group I and Group II. Table S4. Selective sweeps between Group I and Group III. Table S5. Selective sweeps between Group II and Group III. Table S6. Genes located in selective sweeps between Group I and Group II. Table S7. Genes located in selective sweeps between Group I and Group III. Table S8. Genes located in selective sweeps between Group II and Group III. Table S9. The CNglcs content and growth traits of 272 L. corniculatus accessions. Table S10. Total CNglcs content associated genes identified by GWAS on chromosome 6: 22.28—22.34 Mb. Table S11. Stem length associated genes identified by GWAS on chromosome 5: 19.86–19.92 Mb in May 2020 BeiJing. Table S12. Steam length associated genes identified by GWAS on chromosome 2: 34.67–34.73 Mb in May 2021 LiangShan. Table S13. Plant height associated genes identified by GWAS on chromosome 3: 6.76–7.36 Mb in September 2019 BeiJing. Table S14. Plant height associated genes identified by GWAS on chr:3 11.20–11.26 Mb in September LiangShan. Table S15. Primers for q-PCR. Table S16. Primers used for vector constructs