Towards Next Generation “Smart” Tandem Catalysts with Sandwiched Mussel-inspired Layer Switch

In this paper, we prepared a novel reactor with switchable ability to address present challenges in tandem catalyst. By introducing mussel-inspired moiety, this goal was achieved via preparing a “smart” polymer reactor which can open or closes the entry tunnel of the targeted substrate in cascade reactions. The catalyst consisted of two functional layers acting as tandem catalytic parts and one smart layer with mussel-inspired moieties as a controlled middle switch. The top and the bottom layer were made of molecularly imprinted polymers and catalytic components, like acidic parts and metal nanoparticles, respectively. The middle layer made of polymeric dopamine (PDPA) and acrylamide with self-healing ability will allow or inhibit the intermediate product for the reaction, thus controlling the process of the tandem catalysis. As a result, the novel catalyst exhibited self-controlled tandem catalysis, which provides new opportunities to design smart tandem catalysts, showing a promising prospect in this area.</p

AcMYB1 Interacts With AcbHLH1 to Regulate Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Aglaonema commutatum

Aglaonema commutatum is one of the most popular foliage plants with abundant leaf phenotypes; therefore, anthocyanin coloration is a vital economic trait in A. commutatum. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying anthocyanin biosynthesis and its regulation remain unclear. In this study, AcMYB1 and AcbHLH1, transcription factor genes related to an R2R3-myeloblast (MYB) and a basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH), respectively, were isolated from A. commutatum “Red Valentine” and functionally characterized. AcMYB1 and AcbHLH1 were found to interact by Y2H and BiFC assay. AcMYB1 was grouped into the AN2 subgroup and shared high homology with the known regulators of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Gene expression analysis showed that both AcMYB1 and AcbHLH1 have similar expression patterns to anthocyanin structural genes and correlate with anthocyanin distribution in different tissues of A. commutatum. Light strongly promoted anthocyanin accumulation by upregulating the expression of anthocyanin-related genes in A. commutatum leaves. Ectopic expression of AcMYB1 in tobacco remarkably increased anthocyanin accumulation in both vegetative and reproductive tissues at various developmental stages. These results provide insights into the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in A. commutatum and are useful for breeding new A. commutatum cultivars with enhanced ornamental value

Towards next generation “smart” tandem catalysts with sandwiched mussel-inspired layer switch

In this paper, we prepared a novel reactor with switchable ability to address present challenges in tandem catalyst. By introducing mussel-inspired moiety, this goal was achieved via preparing a “smart” polymer reactor which can open or closes the entry tunnel of the targeted substrate in cascade reactions. The catalyst consisted of two functional layers acting as tandem catalytic parts and one smart layer with mussel-inspired moieties as a controlled middle switch. The top and the bottom layer were made of molecularly imprinted polymers and catalytic components, like acidic parts and metal nanoparticles, respectively. The middle layer made of polymeric dopamine (PDPA) and acrylamide with self-healing ability will allow or inhibit the intermediate product for the reaction, thus controlling the process of the tandem catalysis. As a result, the novel catalyst exhibited self-controlled tandem catalysis, which provides new opportunities to design smart tandem catalysts, showing a promising prospect in this area

Smart bilayer polymer reactor with cascade/non-cascade switching catalyst characteristics

In this work, a new method is proposed to meet the challenge of preparing new catalysts with cascade/non-cascade switching catalytic property. Inspired from “soft” characteristics and divisional isolation function in natural biological systems, this objective was accomplished by developing a new class of hydrogels made of two unique functional layers with different temperature responses where each may self-govern coupled processes at a specific temperature. This hydrogel polymer reactor exhibited almost no catalytic activity at low-temperature range (50 °C), the hydrogel catalytic polymer reactor further exhibited significant efficiency towards the hydrolysis reaction of NPA as well as the reduction of the intermediate product p-nitrophenol (NP). This mainly resulted from the opening of both the weak polymer complexes and the stronger polymer complexes hydrogel layers, allowing entrance to both the acidic catalytic active center and the metal nanoparticles active center. As a result, the novel hydrogel polymer reactor could be used to control cascade/non-cascade catalysis reactions. This new protocol enables efficient control of switchable tandem reactions, inspiring for difficulty to control tandem catalytic reactor

Wnt Signaling Pathway Linked to Intestinal Regeneration via Evolutionary Patterns and Gene Expression in the Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Many echinoderms are regenerative species that exhibit exceptional regenerative capacity, and sea cucumber is a representative organism that could regenerate the whole intestine after evisceration. There are many signaling pathways participate in the regeneration process, but it is not clear which is essential for the intestinal regeneration. In this study, we performed genome-wide comprehensive analyses on these regeneration-related signaling pathways, and found the Wnt signaling pathway was one of the most conservative pathways among regenerative species. Additionally, among these signaling pathways, we found that the Wnt signaling pathway was the only one under positive selection in regenerative echinoderms, and the only one enriched by differentially expressed genes during the intestinal regeneration. Thus, it suggests both coding sequence and gene expression of the Wnt signaling pathway have been shaped by natural selection to provide the genetic architecture for intestinal regeneration. Wnt7, Fz7, and Dvl are the three positively selected genes and also happen to be three upstream genes in the Wnt signaling pathway. They are all significantly upregulated at the early stages of regeneration, which may contribute significantly to the early activation of Wnt signaling and the initiation of intestinal regeneration. Expression knockdown of Wnt7 and Dvl by RNA interference significantly inhibit intestinal extension, implying that they are essential for intestinal regeneration. As an important regeneration-related gene, the downstream gene c-Myc is also conserved and highly expressed during the whole regeneration stages, which may make the Wnt/c-Myc signaling to be an important way to promote intestinal regeneration. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the Wnt signaling pathway is the chosen one to play an important role in intestinal regeneration of sea cucumbers, or even in the regeneration of other echinoderms

Penaeid shrimp genome provides insights into benthic adaptation and frequent molting

Crustacea, the subphylum of Arthropoda which dominates the aquatic environment, is of major importance in ecology and fisheries. Here we report the genome sequence of the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, covering similar to 1.66 Gb (scaffold N50 605.56 Kb) with 25,596 protein-coding genes and a high proportion of simple sequence repeats (>23.93%). The expansion of genes related to vision and locomotion is probably central to its benthic adaptation. Frequent molting of the shrimp may be explained by an intensified ecdysone signal pathway through gene expansion and positive selection. As an important aquaculture organism, L. vannamei has been subjected to high selection pressure during the past 30 years of breeding, and this has had a considerable impact on its genome. Decoding the L. vannamei genome not only provides an insight into the genetic underpinnings of specific biological processes, but also provides valuable information for enhancing crustacean aquaculture

Cross-plane transport in a single-molecule two-dimensional van der Waals heterojunction

Two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures (2D-vdWHs) stacked from atomically thick 2D materials are predicted to be a diverse class of electronic materials with unique electronic properties. These properties can be further tuned by sandwiching monolayers of planar organic molecules between 2D materials to form molecular 2D-vdW heterojunctions (M-2D-vdWHs), in which electricity flows in a cross-plane way from one 2D layer to the other via a single molecular layer. Using a newly developed cross-plane break junction (XPBJ) technique, combined with density functional theory calculations, we show that M-2D-vdWHs can be created, and that cross-plane charge transport can be tuned by incorporating guest molecules. More importantly, the M-2D-vdWHs exhibit distinct cross-plane charge transport signatures, which differ from those of molecules undergoing in-plane charge transport

Solvent-molecule interaction induced gating of charge transport through single-molecule junctions

To explore solvent gating of single-molecule electrical conductance due to solvent-molecule interactions, charge transport through single-molecule junctions with different anchoring groups in various solvent environments was measured by using the mechanically controllable break junction technique. We found that the conductance of single-molecule junctions can be tuned by nearly an order of magnitude by varying the polarity of solvent. Furthermore, gating efficiency due to solvent–molecule interactions was found to be dependent on the choice of the anchor group. Theoretical calculations revealed that the polar solvent shifted the molecular-orbital energies, based on the coupling strength of the anchor groups. For weakly coupled molecular junctions, the polar solvent–molecule interaction was observed to reduce the energy gap between the molecular orbital and the Fermi level of the electrode and shifted the molecular orbitals. This resulted in a more significant gating effect than that of the strongly coupled molecules. This study suggested that solvent–molecule interaction can significantly affect the charge transport through single-molecule junctions