Blocking binding of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa to Bombyx mori cadherin receptor results in only a minor reduction of toxicity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Bacillus thuringiensis </it>Cry1Aa insecticidal protein is the most active known <it>B. thuringiensis </it>toxin against the forest insect pest <it>Lymantria dispar </it>(gypsy moth), unfortunately it is also highly toxic against the non-target insect <it>Bombyx mori </it>(silk worm).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Surface exposed hydrophobic residues over domains II and III were targeted for site-directed mutagenesis. Substitution of a phenylalanine residue (F328) by alanine reduced binding to the <it>Bombyx mori </it>cadherin by 23-fold, reduced biological activity against <it>B. mori </it>by 4-fold, while retaining activity against <it>Lymantria dispar</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results identify a novel receptor-binding epitope and demonstrate that virtual elimination of binding to cadherin BR-175 does not completely remove toxicity in the case of <it>B. mori</it>.</p

Hyperbranched β-Cyclodextrin Polymer as an Effective Multidimensional Binder for Silicon Anodes in Lithium Rechargeable Batteries

Polymeric binders play an important role in electrochemical performance of high-capacity silicon (Si) anodes that usually suffer from severe capacity fading due to unparalleled volume change of Si during cycling. In an effort to find efficient polymeric binders that could mitigate such capacity fading, herein, we introduce polymerized beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CDp) binder for Si nanoparticle anodes. Unlike one-dimensional binders, hyperbranched network structure of beta-CDp presents multidimensional hydrogen-bonding interactions with Si particles and therefore offers robust contacts between both components. Even the Si nanoparticles that lost the original contacts with the binder during cycling recover within multidimensional binder network, thus creating a self-healing effect. Utilizing these advantageous features, beta-CDp-based Si electrode shows markedly improved cycling performance compared to those of other well-known binder cases, especially when combined with linear polymers at an appropriate ratio to form hybrid binders.N