The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily in cnidarians

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Pankov, K., McArthur, A. G., Gold, D. A., Nelson, D. R., Goldstone, J., & Wilson, J. Y. The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily in cnidarians. Scientific Reports, 11(1), (2021): 9834, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88700-y.The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily is a diverse and important enzyme family, playing a central role in chemical defense and in synthesis and metabolism of major biological signaling molecules. The CYPomes of four cnidarian genomes (Hydra vulgaris, Acropora digitifera, Aurelia aurita, Nematostella vectensis) were annotated; phylogenetic analyses determined the evolutionary relationships amongst the sequences and with existing metazoan CYPs. 155 functional CYPs were identified and 90 fragments. Genes were from 24 new CYP families and several new subfamilies; genes were in 9 of the 12 established metazoan CYP clans. All species had large expansions of clan 2 diversity, with H. vulgaris having reduced diversity for both clan 3 and mitochondrial clan. We identified potential candidates for xenobiotic metabolism and steroidogenesis. That each genome contained multiple, novel CYP families may reflect the large evolutionary distance within the cnidarians, unique physiology in the cnidarian classes, and/or different ecology of the individual species.This study was supported by grants from the Natural Science Engineering Research Council of Canada in the form of a Discovery Grant (RGPIN-328204-2011 and RGPIN-05767-2016) to J.Y.W. A.G.M. held a Cisco Research Chair in Bioinformatics, supported by Cisco Systems Canada, Inc. K.V.P. was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA). Computer resources were supplied by the McMaster Service Lab and Repository computing cluster, funded in part by grants to A.G.M. from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (34531 to A.G.M.)

The round goby genome provides insights into mechanisms that may facilitate biological invasions

Background: The invasive benthic round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is the most successful temperate invasive fish and has spread in aquatic ecosystems on both sides of the Atlantic. Invasive species constitute powerful in situ experimental systems to study fast adaptation and directional selection on short ecological timescales and present promising case studies to understand factors involved the impressive ability of some species to colonize novel environments. We seize the unique opportunity presented by the round goby invasion to study genomic substrates potentially involved in colonization success. Results We report a highly contiguous long-read-based genome and analyze gene families that we hypothesize to relate to the ability of these fish to deal with novel environments. The analyses provide novel insights from the large evolutionary scale to the small species-specific scale. We describe expansions in specific cytochrome P450 enzymes, a remarkably diverse innate immune system, an ancient duplication in red light vision accompanied by red skin fluorescence, evolutionary patterns of epigenetic regulators, and the presence of osmoregulatory genes that may have contributed to the round goby's capacity to invade cold and salty waters. A recurring theme across all analyzed gene families is gene expansions. Conclusions: The expanded innate immune system of round goby may potentially contribute to its ability to colonize novel areas. Since other gene families also feature copy number expansions in the round goby, and since other Gobiidae also feature fascinating environmental adaptations and are excellent colonizers, further long-read genome approaches across the goby family may reveal whether gene copy number expansions are more generally related to the ability to conquer new habitats in Gobiidae or in fish

Durability of Commercial Catalysts within Relevant Stress Testing Protocols

In this study, we analyzed the durability of the commercial Pt/C catalysts with platinum loading of 20% and 40% using two different accelerated durability tests, i.e., using Ar or O2 when bubbling the electrolyte during testing. The structural analysis of the changes in the morphology of the catalysts was performed by XRD and TEM as well as the assessment of the degradation degree of the catalysts using the values of the specific surface area and ORR activity, both, before and after the stress testing. Regardless of the stress testing conditions, the JM20 material was established to degrade ESA and the catalytic activity to a greater extent than JM40, which may be due to the structural and morphological features of the catalysts and their evolution during the stress testing under various conditions. The JM20 material has been reported to exhibit a greater degree of degradation when bubbling the electrolyte with oxygen during the stress testing compared to argon, which may be explained by a different mechanism of degradation for the catalyst with the predominant oxidation of the carbon support, leading to a different nature of the distribution of the platinum nanoparticles over the surface of the carbon support, according to results that have estimated the number of nanoparticle intersections

Effect of AST Atmosphere on Pt/C Electrocatalyst Degradation

The targeted development of novel stress testing protocols as well as the production of highly active and stable catalysts require abandoning a trial-and-error approach and transitioning to identifying the principal degradation mechanisms of electrocatalysts for PEMFCs under various conditions. Methodological aspects of research related to both qualitative and quantitative assessment of the materials’ robustness against degradation and its mechanisms become the key issues. In this study, accelerated stress testing has been conducted in Ar and O2 to identify the influence of the atmosphere on the degradation and durability mechanisms of the Pt/C catalysts. Initial and final parameters after the AST have been studied in detail by transmission electron microscopy and voltammetry using the rotating disk electrode technique. The Ostwald ripening (redeposition) of platinum particles has been established to be the predominant degradation mechanism during the testing in an O2 atmosphere, this being the agglomeration of nanoparticles during the testing in Ar. An ultra-small size and a narrow size distribution of platinum nanoparticles, as well as their uniform spatial distribution over the surface of the carbon support, have been shown to allow both ORR activity to be increased and durability to be enhanced

The goal setting of modern criminal proceedings subject to regulatory consolidation

The article deals with the correlation of some of the most significant categories of criminal procedure activity: “purpose”, “purpose” and “tasks”. The authors conclude that without goals and objectives, it is impossible to imagine any organized, well-coordinated and planned activities, especially those regulated by law. The goal organizes the participants in the criminal procedure activity, advises them about the result, while the tasks help them to exercise their powers. The unity of purpose and objectives, which forms the goal-setting of criminal proceedings, attaches cohesion and coherence to the actions of numerous subjects, i.e. builds a capable system. Therefore, any process, including law-making and law enforcement, can and should be characterized from the point of view of its purpose and objectives. This indicates the objective need to establish not only the purpose, but also the goal setting in the law. The attempt to concentrate the tasks of the criminal process solely on the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the individual (Article 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) seems unproductive. This provision is true, but it is not sufficient, since it does not take into account the state tasks that are initially present in such branches of public law as criminal procedure law and the criminal proceedings regulated by it. The criminal process cannot fulfil its purpose without taking into account the tasks of criminal law. By implementing them, criminal law and criminal procedure protect, among other objects, the life, health, interests and freedoms of citizens, as well as public order, public security, the constitutional system of the state, peace and security of mankind

The Development of High-Performance Platinum-Ruthenium Catalysts for the Methanol Oxidation Reaction: Gram-Scale Synthesis, Composition, Morphology, and Functional Characteristics

To obtain the PtRu/C electrocatalysts, the surfactant-free (wet) synthesis methods have been used. The structural-morphological characteristics and electrochemical behavior of the catalysts have been studied. The possibility of ranging the crystallite size from 1.2 to 4.5 nm using different reducing agents (ethylene glycol, ethanol, and isopropanol) has been shown. The effect of both the particles’ size and the mass fraction of the metal component on the electrochemical surface area (ESA), activity in the methanol electrooxidation reaction (MOR), and tolerance to its intermediate products has been studied. The simple and scalable surfactant-free synthesis method of the highly active PtRu/C electrocatalysts with a different mass fraction of metals, with their tolerance to intermediate products of the oxidation being 2.3 times higher than the commercial analogue, has been first proposed. The authors have succeeded in obtaining the PtRu/C catalysts with the nanoparticles’ size of less than 2 nm, characterized by the ultranarrow size and uniform spatial distributions over the support surface, thus having the ESA of more than 90 m2gPtRu−1

High-performance selective NO2 gas sensor based on In2O3–graphene–Cu nanocomposites

The control of atmosphere content and concentration of specific gases are important tasks in many industrial processes, agriculture, environmental and medical applications. Thus there is a high demand to develop new advanced materials with enhanced gas sensing characteristics including high gas selectivity. Herein we report the result of a study on the synthesis, characterization, and investigation of gas sensing properties of In2O3–graphene–Cu composite nanomaterials for sensing elements of single-electrode semiconductor gas sensors. The nanocomposite has a closely interconnected and highly defective structure, which is characterized by high sensitivity to various oxidizing and reducing gases and selectivity to NO2. The In2O3-based materials were obtained by sol–gel method, by adding 0–6 wt% of pre-synthesized graphene–Cu powder into In-containing gel before xerogel formation. The graphene–Cu flakes played the role of centers for In2O3 nucleation and then crystal growth terminators. This led to the formation of structural defects, influencing the surface energy state and concentration of free electrons. The concentration of defects increases with the increase of graphene–Cu content from 1 to 4 wt%, which also affects the gas-sensing properties of the nanocomposites. The sensors show a high sensing response to both oxidizing (NO2) and reducing (acetone, ethanol, methane) gases at an optimal working heating current of 91–161 mA (280–510 °C). The sensor with nanocomposite with 4 wt% of graphene–Cu additive showed the highest sensitivity to NO2 (46 ppm) in comparison with other tested gases with an absolute value of sensing response of (− ) 225 mV at a heating current of 131 mA (430 °C) and linear dependence of sensing response to NO2 concentration.QC 20230522</p

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily in cnidarians

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily is a diverse and important enzyme family, playing a central role in chemical defense and in synthesis and metabolism of major biological signaling molecules. The CYPomes of four cnidarian genomes (Hydra vulgaris, Acropora digitifera, Aurelia aurita, Nematostella vectensis) were annotated; phylogenetic analyses determined the evolutionary relationships amongst the sequences and with existing metazoan CYPs. 155 functional CYPs were identified and 90 fragments. Genes were from 24 new CYP families and several new subfamilies; genes were in 9 of the 12 established metazoan CYP clans. All species had large expansions of clan 2 diversity, with H. vulgaris having reduced diversity for both clan 3 and mitochondrial clan. We identified potential candidates for xenobiotic metabolism and steroidogenesis. That each genome contained multiple, novel CYP families may reflect the large evolutionary distance within the cnidarians, unique physiology in the cnidarian classes, and/or different ecology of the individual species

The PtM/C (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Ru) Electrocatalysts: Their Synthesis, Structure, Activity in the Oxygen Reduction and Methanol Oxidation Reactions, and Durability

PtM/C (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Ru) catalysts were prepared by wet-synthesis methods. The composition and structure of the synthesized materials were estimated by TXRF, XRD, TEM, HAADF-STEM, EDX, and TGA/DSC methods. According to the CV and LSV methods, the PtCu/C material is characterized by the highest activity in the ORR compared to the other materials studied. The PtRu/C catalysts also exhibit the highest activity in the MOR. Studying the durability of the obtained bimetallic catalysts using accelerated stress testing has allowed for the detection of the most promising materials, whose characteristics would be superior to those of the commercial Pt/C analog. This study has shown that wet-synthesis methods allow obtaining bimetallic catalysts characterized by higher activity and enhanced durability. This research also indicates that special attention should be given to the possibility of scaling these synthesis techniques, which makes the aforementioned catalysts promising for commercial applications

The PtM/C (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Ru) Electrocatalysts: Their Synthesis, Structure, Activity in the Oxygen Reduction and Methanol Oxidation Reactions, and Durability

PtM/C (M = Co, Ni, Cu, Ru) catalysts were prepared by wet-synthesis methods. The composition and structure of the synthesized materials were estimated by TXRF, XRD, TEM, HAADF-STEM, EDX, and TGA/DSC methods. According to the CV and LSV methods, the PtCu/C material is characterized by the highest activity in the ORR compared to the other materials studied. The PtRu/C catalysts also exhibit the highest activity in the MOR. Studying the durability of the obtained bimetallic catalysts using accelerated stress testing has allowed for the detection of the most promising materials, whose characteristics would be superior to those of the commercial Pt/C analog. This study has shown that wet-synthesis methods allow obtaining bimetallic catalysts characterized by higher activity and enhanced durability. This research also indicates that special attention should be given to the possibility of scaling these synthesis techniques, which makes the aforementioned catalysts promising for commercial applications