Designing MOF Nanoarchitectures for Electrochemical Water Splitting

Electrochemical water splitting has attracted significant attention as a key pathway for the development of renewable energy systems. Fabricating efficient electrocatalysts for these processes is intensely desired to reduce their overpotentials and facilitate practical applications. Recently, metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoarchitectures featuring ultrahigh surface areas, tunable nanostructures, and excellent porosities have emerged as promising materials for the development of highly active catalysts for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, the most pivotal advances in recent research on engineering MOF nanoarchitectures for efficient electrochemical water splitting are presented. First, the design of catalytic centers for MOF-based/derived electrocatalysts is summarized and compared from the aspects of chemical composition optimization and structural functionalization at the atomic and molecular levels. Subsequently, the fast-growing breakthroughs in catalytic activities, identification of highly active sites, and fundamental mechanisms are thoroughly discussed. Finally, a comprehensive commentary on the current primary challenges and future perspectives in water splitting and its commercialization for hydrogen production is provided. Hereby, new insights into the synthetic principles and electrocatalysis for designing MOF nanoarchitectures for the practical utilization of water splitting are offered, thus further promoting their future prosperity for a wide range of applications

Revealing a Mutant-Induced Receptor Allosteric Mechanism for the Thyroid Hormone Resistance.

Resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is a clinical disorder without specific and effective therapeutic strategy, partly due to the lack of structural mechanisms for the defective ligand binding by mutated thyroid hormone receptors (THRs). We herein uncovered the prescription drug roxadustat as a novel THRβ-selective ligand with therapeutic potentials in treating RTH, thereby providing a small molecule tool enabling the first probe into the structural mechanisms of RTH. Despite a wide distribution of the receptor mutation sites, different THRβ mutants induce allosteric conformational modulation on the same His435 residue, which disrupts a critical hydrogen bond required for the binding of thyroid hormones. Interestingly, roxadustat retains hydrophobic interactions with THRβ via its unique phenyl extension, enabling the rescue of the activity of the THRβ mutants. Our study thus reveals a critical receptor allosterism mechanism for RTH by mutant THRβ, providing a new and viable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of RTH

Revealing a Mutant-Induced Receptor Allosteric Mechanism for the Thyroid Hormone Resistance

Summary(#br)Resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) is a clinical disorder without specific and effective therapeutic strategy, partly due to the lack of structural mechanisms for the defective ligand binding by mutated thyroid hormone receptors (THRs). We herein uncovered the prescription drug roxadustat as a novel THRβ-selective ligand with therapeutic potentials in treating RTH, thereby providing a small molecule tool enabling the first probe into the structural mechanisms of RTH. Despite a wide distribution of the receptor mutation sites, different THRβ mutants induce allosteric conformational modulation on the same His435 residue, which disrupts a critical hydrogen bond required for the binding of thyroid hormones. Interestingly, roxadustat retains hydrophobic interactions with THRβ via its unique phenyl extension, enabling the rescue of the activity of the THRβ mutants. Our study thus reveals a critical receptor allosterism mechanism for RTH by mutant THRβ, providing a new and viable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of RTH

Molecular Cloning and Expression Profiling of CncC in Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel

The cap ‘n’ collar isoform C (CncC) transcription factor is thought to be a regulator associated with antioxidant and detoxification genes that can enhance pest resistance by regulating the expression of detoxification enzyme genes. However, this transcription factor has not been well studied in the important agricultural pest Bactrocera dorsalis. In this study, the cDNA sequence of CncC in B. dorsalis was cloned, and the complete ORF sequence was obtained; it had a sequence length of 3378 bp, encoding a total of 1125 amino acids. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that B. dorsalis CncC belonged to the CNC family and that its amino acid sequence showed the closest relationship with B. tryoni. The conserved structural region of BdCncC was analyzed and was found to include a conserved bZIP superfamily structural domain. Spatiotemporal expression analysis revealed that BdCncC was most highly expressed in the adult Malpighian tubules, followed by the antennae, foregut, and midgut, and then the brain, hemolymph, hindgut, and fat body. BdCncC was expressed at every developmental stage, and the highest expression was found in mature males. This study provides a theoretical basis for an in-depth investigation of the function of BdCncC in regulating pesticide resistance in B. dorsalis

The Intestinal Immune Defense System in Insects

Over a long period of evolution, insects have developed unique intestinal defenses against invasion by foreign microorganisms, including physical defenses and immune responses. The physical defenses of the insect gut consist mainly of the peritrophic matrix (PM) and mucus layer, which are the first barriers to pathogens. Gut microbes also prevent the colonization of pathogens. Importantly, the immune-deficiency (Imd) pathways produce antimicrobial peptides to eliminate pathogens; mechanisms related to reactive oxygen species are another important pathway for insect intestinal immunity. The janus kinase/STAT signaling pathway is involved in intestinal immunity by producing bactericidal substances and regulating tissue repair. Melanization can produce many bactericidal active substances into the intestine; meanwhile, there are multiple responses in the intestine to fight against viral and parasitic infections. Furthermore, intestinal stem cells (ISCs) are also indispensable in intestinal immunity. Only the coordinated combination of the intestinal immune defense system and intestinal tissue renewal can effectively defend against pathogenic microorganisms

3D Sketching for 3D Object Retrieval

Sketching provides the most natural way to provide a visual search query for visual object search. However, how to draw 3D sketches in a three-dimensional space and how to use a hand-drawn 3D sketch to search similar 3D models are not only interesting and novel, but also challenging research topics. In this paper, we try to answer them by initiating a novel study on 3D sketching and build a 3D sketching system which allows users to freely draw 3D sketches in the air and demonstrate its promising potentials in related applications such as collecting 3D sketch data and conducting 3D sketch-based 3D model retrieval. By utilizing the 3D sketching system, we collect a 3D sketch dataset, build a 3D sketch-based 3D model retrieval benchmark, and organize a Eurographics Shape Retrieval Contest (SHREC) track on 3D sketch-based shape retrieval based on the benchmark. We investigate 3D sketch and model matching problems and propose a novel 3D sketch-based model retrieval algorithm CNN-SBR based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and achieve the best performance in the SHREC track. We wish that the 3D sketching system, the 3D sketch-based model retrieval benchmark, and the proposed 3D sketch-based model retrieval algorithm CNN-SBR will further promote sketch-based shape retrieval and its applications. We have made all of these publicly available on the project homepage: http://orca.st.usm.edu/~bli/SBR16/project.html