In-Situ Growth of NiFe₂O₄/2D MoS₂ p‑n Heterojunction Immobilizing Palladium Nanoparticles for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activities

Solar energy is considered as a green and abundant energy for catalytic reactions. In this work, a magnetically recoverable NiFe₂O₄/2D MoS₂–Pd nanocomposite is successfully synthesized via a simple one-pot hydrothermal method. The intimate interfacial contact between NiFe₂O₄ nanocubes and corrugated MoS₂ nanosheets forms the NiFe₂O₄/2D MoS₂ p-n heterojunction, while plasmonic Pd nanoparticles are uniformly immobilized on the surface of it. Dye degradation and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction are employed to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the NiFe₂O₄/2D MoS₂–Pd nanocomposite. Significantly, both dye degradation and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction can be efficiently performed in a short time under mild conditions. In comparison, the physically mixed NiFe₂O₄+2D MoS₂ heterojunction immobilizing palladium nanoparticles shows poor photocatalytic activity. Photocatalytic results demonstrate that the in situ formation of NiFe₂O₄/2D MoS₂ p-n heterojunction greatly improves the visible-light absorption and facilitates the transferring of photogenerated electrons and holes. Moreover, Pd nanoparticles as the electron reservoirs can further suppress the electron–hole recombination and enhance the photocatalytic activity. The construction of semiconductive p-n heterojunction to immobilize metal nanocatalysts will be an inspiration for other useful photocatalytic applications

Improved Performance of Photomultiplication Polymer Photodetectors by Adjustment of P3HT Molecular Arrangement

A series of photomultiplication (PM)-type polymer photodetectors (PPDs) were fabricated with polymer poly­(3-hexylthiophene)–[6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT–PC₇₁BM) (100:1, w/w) as the active layers, the only difference being the self-assembly time of the active layers for adjusting the P3HT molecular arrangement. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) results exhibit that P3HT molecular arrangement can be adjusted between face-on and edge-on structures by controlling the self-assembly time. The champion EQE value of PPDs, based on the active layers without the self-assembly process, arrives at 6380% under 610 nm light illumination at −10 V bias, corresponding to the face-on molecular arrangement of P3HT in the active layers. The EQE values of PPDs were markedly decreased to 1600%, along with the self-assembly time up to 12 min, which should be attributed to the variation of absorption and hole transport ability of the active layers induced by the change of P3HT molecular arrangement. This finding provides an effective strategy for improving the performance of PM-type PPDs by adjusting the molecular arrangement, in addition to the enhanced trap-assisted charge-carrier tunneling injection

Faradaic Rectification in Electrochemical Deionization and Its Influence on Cyclic Stability

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a typical configuration of electrochemical deionization, which suffers from severe desalination capacity degradation derived from uncontrolled parasitic reactions. In this work, Faradaic rectification, the phenomenon by which electrode potentials and side reactions are dynamically regulated due to the asymmetrical anode/cathode Faradaic reactions, was studied under various CDI operation conditions. It was found that the Faradaic rectification in CDI would lead to capacity degradation indirectly by accelerating carbon anode oxidation and would be influenced by the cell voltage, flow rate, and asymmetric electrode construction. We also found an unconventional degradation mechanism in Faradaic cathode hybrid-CDI (HCDI) caused by the dramatic electrode-potential redistribution, which is derived from Faradaic rectification rather than the electrode structure decay. By adding a cation-exchange membrane to block the dissolved oxygen from cathode, the Faradaic rectification was suppressed successfully, and thus, the cyclic performance of CDI and HCDI was significantly increased by 59 and 46%, respectively (in 100 h cycling). This study provides an insight into understanding the Faradaic rectification in electrochemical deionization and its influence on CDI/HCDI cyclic stability, which should be of value to future explore cost-competitive membrane-less electrochemical deionization construction

Gold nanoparticle-based paper sensor for multiple detection of 12 Listeria spp. by P60-mediated monoclonal antibody

<p>The genus of <i>Listeria</i> consists of heterologous species and its presence in the food chain is an indicator of poor hygiene. However, a portable and simple paper sensor for detection of listeria spp. with high accuracy was still unknown. In this study, we prepared a pair of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that specifically recognize the P60 protein on the cell surface of <i>Listeria</i> spp. The selected pair was found to be sensitive to both the P60 protein and cell body of the genus <i>Listeria</i>. On this basis, a rapid paper sensor was established for sensitive <i>Listeria</i> spp. detection. The developed paper sensor broadly cross-reacted with the 12 tested strains of <i>Listeria</i> and the sensitivity in PBS buffer was 10³–10⁴ colony-forming units (CFU) judged by the gray values of the test line. No cross-reaction with any other gram-positive or gram-negative strains tested was observed. A study using milk samples showed that this paper sensor could detect samples contaminated with low levels of the tested <i>Listeria</i> spp. (1–9 CFU/mL) after 8 h of enrichment and further concentrate for approximately 10 times by centrifugation. The results were in accordance with those obtained using the polymerase chain reaction method.</p

A Novel and Simple Method for Rapid Generation of Recombinant Porcine Adenoviral Vectors for Transgene Expression

<div><p>Many human (different serotypes) and nonhuman adenovirus vectors are being used for gene delivery. However, the current system for isolating recombinant adenoviral vectors is either time-consuming or expensive, especially for the generation of recombinant non-human adenoviral vectors. We herein report a new and simple cloning approach for the rapid generation of a porcine adenovirus (PAdV-3) vector which shows promise for gene transfer to human cells and evasion of human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-5) immunity. Based on the final cloning plasmid, pFPAV3-CcdB-Cm, and our modified SLiCE strategy (SLiCE cloning and lethal CcdB screening), the process for generating recombinant PAdV-3 plasmids required only one step in 3 days, with a cloning efficiency as high as 620±49.56 clones/ng and zero background (100% accuracy). The recombinant PAdV-3 plasmids could be successfully rescued in porcine retinal pigment epithelium cells (VR1BL), which constitutively express the HAdV-5 E1 and PAdV-3 E1B 55k genes, and the foreign genes were highly expressed at 24 h after transduction into swine testicle (ST) cells. In conclusion, this strategy for generating recombinant PAdV-3 vectors based on our modified SLiCE cloning system was rapid and cost-efficient, which could be used as universal cloning method for modification the other regions of PAdV-3 genome as well as other adenoviral genomes.</p></div

Image1_The sweet potato B-box transcription factor gene IbBBX28 negatively regulates drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.tif

B-box (BBX) which are a class of zinc finger transcription factors, play an important role in regulating of photoperiod, photomorphogenesis, and biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. However, there are few studies on the involvement of BBX transcription factors in response to abiotic stresses in sweet potato. In this paper, we cloned the DNA and promoter sequences of IbBBX28. There was one B-box conserved domain in IbBBX28, and the expression of IbBBX28 was induced under drought stress. Under drought stress, compared to wild type Arabidopsis, the protective enzyme activities (SOD, POD, and CAT) were all decreased in IbBBX28-overexpression Arabidopsis but increased in the mutant line bbx28, while the MDA content was increased in the IbBBX28-overexpression Arabidopsis and decreased in the bbx28. Moreover, the expression levels of the resistance-related genes showed the same trend as the protective enzyme activities. These results showed that IbBBX28 negatively regulates drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. Additionally, the yeast two-hybrid and BiFC assays verified that IbBBX28 interacted with IbHOX11 and IbZMAT2. The above results provide important clues for further studies on the role of IbBBX28 in regulating the stress response in sweet potato.</p

Reporter gene expression in ST cells at 24 h after viral transduction.

<p>(a) Expression of the EGFP gene was monitored by fluorescent microscopy. (b) The transduction efficiency in ST cells was analyzed by FACS. (c) Expression of the firefly luciferase gene was evaluated by a luciferase reporter assay in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. (d) Expression of the Lac Z gene in ST cells was evaluated by X-gal staining [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0127958#pone.0127958.ref022" target="_blank">22</a>]. (e) The PAV3-Lac transduction efficiency in ST cells was evaluated by microscopy. The X-gal-staining cells were counted, and the percent transduced is the number of lac Z-positive cells relative to the total.</p

Restriction enzyme analysis of the recombinants drivered from the modified SLiCE cloning.

<p>After lethal CcdB gene screening on kanamycin plates, 48 randomly selected clones for the recombinant PAdV-3 vectors expressing each reporter gene were identified by <i>Hind</i> III digestion analysis. Lanes 1–20 of each group are the <i>Hind</i> III digestion of 20 clones among 48 selected clones. Lane Con is the <i>Hind</i> III digestion of the pFPAV3-CcdB-Cm parent vector which was used as the negative control for recombinant PAdV-3 vectors identification. Marker, DL15000.</p

Generation of recombinant porcine adenoviruses PAV3-EGFP, PAV3-Fluc and PAV3-LacZ.

<p>(a) Cytopathic effects in VR1BL cells at 9 days after transfection with 5 μg pFPAV3-EGFP, pFPAV3-Fluc or pFPAV3-LacZ plasmid. (b) Growth kinetics of PAV219, PAV3-EGFP, PAV3-Fluc and PAV3-LacZ. Confluent monolayers of VR1BL cells were infected at an MOI of 0.1 with the PAV219 control or a recombinant PAdV-3 vector expressing the reporter gene. The infected VR1BL cells were harvested at the indicated times post-infection, and the amount of virus in cell lysate was determined according to TCID₅₀. The viral titers are from the average of triplicate experiments.</p

DataSheet1_The sweet potato B-box transcription factor gene IbBBX28 negatively regulates drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.xlsx

B-box (BBX) which are a class of zinc finger transcription factors, play an important role in regulating of photoperiod, photomorphogenesis, and biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. However, there are few studies on the involvement of BBX transcription factors in response to abiotic stresses in sweet potato. In this paper, we cloned the DNA and promoter sequences of IbBBX28. There was one B-box conserved domain in IbBBX28, and the expression of IbBBX28 was induced under drought stress. Under drought stress, compared to wild type Arabidopsis, the protective enzyme activities (SOD, POD, and CAT) were all decreased in IbBBX28-overexpression Arabidopsis but increased in the mutant line bbx28, while the MDA content was increased in the IbBBX28-overexpression Arabidopsis and decreased in the bbx28. Moreover, the expression levels of the resistance-related genes showed the same trend as the protective enzyme activities. These results showed that IbBBX28 negatively regulates drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. Additionally, the yeast two-hybrid and BiFC assays verified that IbBBX28 interacted with IbHOX11 and IbZMAT2. The above results provide important clues for further studies on the role of IbBBX28 in regulating the stress response in sweet potato.</p