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White gill disease (WGD) is one of the major threats to the large yellow croaker, which caused severe economic losses to the breeding industry in recent years. Genomic selection (GS) is a promising approach for breeding WGD-resistant varieties. In this study, we collected 590 WGD-susceptible individuals from the sea area during the outbreak of WGD, and also collected 1493 disease-resistant individuals 2 months later when no fish were dying from WGD. These individuals were whole genome sequenced and 10,201,978 SNPs were discovered. With these SNPs, the heritability was estimated as 0.33. Genomic estimated breeding value (GEBV) was obtained using genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP). We used cross-validation to evaluate the prediction accuracies, with a large population size (2083 individuals) the prediction accuracy reached 0.54 as compared with 0.43 when the population size was 500. When the marker number was decreased to 30 K, the prediction accuracy was quite close to that using whole genomic variants. When the training and validation sets were closely related, the prediction accuracy was increased by at least two folds relative to distant relatives. These suggest that the GS for WGD needs a relatively big sample size, enough markers (>30 K), and a relatively close kinship between training and validation sets. • Estimated the moderate heritability of white gill disease in Larimichthys crocea. • The closer the genetic relationship, the higher the prediction accuracy. • The heritability has an impact on prediction accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Upcycling of PET oligomers to PHA is viable by microbial co-cultivation. • PET hydrolase LCCICCG was secreted using Escherichia coli BL21. • LCCICCG depolymerized PET oligomers into monomers during the fermentation process. • Engineered Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to synthesize PHA from PET monomers. • Revealed the collaboration of strains in co-cultivation by fluorescence labeling. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most widely consumed polyester plastic and can be recycled by many chemical processes, of which glycolysis is most cost-effective and commercially viable. However, PET glycolysis produces oligomers due to incomplete depolymerization, which are undesirable by-products and require proper disposal. In this study, the PET oligomers from chemical recycling processes were completely bio-depolymerized into monomers and then used for the biosynthesis of biodegradable plastics polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by co-cultivation of two engineered microorganisms Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3)-LCCICCG and Pseudomonas putida KT2440-ΔRDt-ΔZP46C-M. E. coli BL21 (DE3)-LCCICCG was used to secrete the PET hydrolase LCCICCG into the medium to directly depolymerize PET oligomers. P. putida KT2440-ΔRDt-ΔZP46C-M that mastered the metabolism of aromatic compounds was engineered to accelerate the hydrolysis of intermediate products mono-2-(hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET) by expressing Is MHETase, and biosynthesize PHA using ultimate products terephthalate and ethylene glycol depolymerized from the PET oligomers. The population ratios of the two microorganisms during the co-cultivation were characterized by fluorescent reporter system, and revealed the collaboration of the two microorganisms to bio-depolymerize and bioconversion of PET oligomers in a single process. This study provides a biological strategy for the upcycling of PET oligomers and promotes the plastic circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low mechanical performance is the key technical problem for metal-based soft magnetic composites (SMCs) with core-shell structures needed to be urgently resolved for their actual applications due to the limitation of their conventional preparation methods. In this work, dense sintered Al 2 SiO 5 ceramic layers have been in situ formed and entirely coated on the surfaces of high-purity deformed Fe particles via a low-temperature solid-phase reaction between initially-coated amorphous nano-Al 2 O 3 and nano-SiO 2 to obtain a new ceramic-reinforced Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs. The fully-densified Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs exhibit a high transverse rupture strength value of 120 MPa, which exceeds those for most of present metal-based SMCs. These ceramic-coated Fe-based composites also show strong corrosion resistance in water-air and salt-water conditions due to the anti-corrosion Al 2 SiO 5 coating layers completely isolating the deformed Fe particles from the corrosion environments. Good magnetic performance is maintained in these high-strength and corrosion-resistant Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 SMCs due to the suitable thickness of Al 2 SiO 5 coating layers, which promises their broad application prospects for high-power electromagnetic devices in critical environments. Moreover, the fabrication for fully-densified functional metal-ceramic composites by a nanoscale solid-state reaction coating method in this work can provide a new insight for the research and applications of the other new-type metal-based composites. [Display omitted] • New ceramic-reinforced Fe/Al 2 SiO 5 soft magnetic composites have been fabricated. • A high TRS value of 120 MPa is obtained for Fe/AlSiO 5 composites. • Fe/AlSiO 5 composites show strong corrosion resistance. • Good soft magnetic properties were maintained in the composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic waste is rapidly accumulating in the environment and becoming a huge global challenge. Many studies have highlighted the role of microbial metabolic engineering for the valorization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. In this study, we proposed a new conceptual scheme for upcycling of PET. We constructed a multifunctional Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to simultaneously secrete PET hydrolase LCC, a leaf-branch compost cutinase, and synthesize muconic acid (MA) using the PET hydrolysate. The final product MA and extracellular LCC can be separated from the supernatant of the culture by ultrafiltration, and the latter was used for the next round of PET hydrolysis. A total of 0.50 g MA was produced from 1 g PET in each cycle of the whole biological processes, reaching 68% of the theoretical conversion. This new conceptual scheme for the valorization of PET waste should have advantages over existing PET upcycling schemes and provides new ideas for the utilization of other macromolecular resources that are difficult to decompose, such as lignin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general approach is reported to fabricate a series of single‐phase 2:17‐type rare‐earth cobalt (RE2Co17, RE = Y, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Gd) nanoalloys by precisely controlled calcium thermic reduction of amorphous RE‐Co precursors. High‐purity hexagonal RE2Co17 phases are formed without the precipitation of Co and the other RE‐Co phases through the accurately manipulated co‐reduction of the two ions, which avoids the disadvantages of the impurity or second phases for RE metal alloys. RE2Co17/graphite nanostructures constructed with flower‐like RE2Co17 nanoalloys superficially decorated with nanosized graphite are further fabricated by introducing graphene oxides into the co‐reduction process. Compared with traditional magnetic planar‐anisotropy RE2Co17 alloys, the preserved high saturation magnetization (51.2–102.9 A m2 kg−1) and unusually increased coercivity (152–310.5 Oe) are achieved in these graphite‐decorated RE2Co17 nanoalloys. Moreover, these RE2Co17/graphite nanostructures exhibit good microwave absorption with an applied frequency range of 11.76–18 GHz, which shows their potential applications as new‐type Ku‐band electromagnetic materials. This work provides a facial way for the large‐scale production for varieties of single‐phase 2:17‐type RE‐Co nanoalloys and expands their application fields by constructing novel composite structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethanes (PU) are one of the most used categories of plastics and have become a significant source of environmental pollutants. Degrading the refractory PU wastes using environmentally friendly strategies is in high demand. In this study, three microbial consortia from the landfill leachate were enriched using PU powder as the sole carbon source. The consortia efficiently degraded polyester PU film and accumulated high biomass within 1 week. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle analyses showed significant physical and chemical changes to the PU film after incubating with the consortia for 48 h. In addition, the degradation products adipic acid and butanediol were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography in the supernatant of the consortia. Microbial composition and extracellular enzyme analyses revealed that the consortia can secrete esterase and urease, which were potentially involved in the degradation of PU. The dominant microbes in the consortia changed when continuously passaged for 50 generations of growth on the PU films. This work demonstrates the potential use of microbial consortia in the biodegradation of PU wastes. Key points: • Microbial consortia enriched from landfill leachate degraded polyurethane film. • Consortia reached high biomass within 1 week using polyurethane film as the sole carbon source. • The consortia secreted potential polyurethane-degrading enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salmonella is a common foodborne pathogen, which can cause intestinal diseases. In the last decades, the overuse of antibiotics has led to a pandemic of drug-resistant bacterial infections. To tackle the burden of antimicrobial resistant pathogens, it is necessary to develop new antimicrobial drugs with novel modes of action. However, the research and development of antibiotics has encountered bottlenecks, scientific hurdles in the development process, as well as safety and cost challenges. Phages and phage endolysins are promising antibacterial agents that can be used as an alternative to antibiotics. In this context, the expression of endolysin derived from different phages through microbial cells as a chassis seems to be an attractive strategy. Results: In this study, a new endolysin from the Salmonella phage XFII-1, named XFII, was screened and obtained. The endolysin yield exceeded 100 mg/mL by heterologous expression from E. coli BL21 and short induction. The endolysin XFII exhibited high bactericidal activity at a concentration of 0.5 μg/mL and reduced the OD600 nm of EDTA-pretreated E. coli JM109 from 0.8 to 0.2 within 5 min. XFII exhibited good thermo-resistance, as it was very stable at different temperatures from 20 to 80℃. Its bactericidal activity could keep constant at 4 °C for 175 days. In addition, the endolysin was able to exert lytic activity in eutrophic conditions, including LB medium and rabbit serum, and the lytic activity was even increased by 13.8% in 10% serum matrices. XFII also showed bactericidal activity against many Gram-negative bacteria, including Salmonella, E. coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Surprisingly, the combination of endolysin XFII and chitosan showed a strong synergy in lysing E. coli and Salmonella without EDTA-pretreatment, and the OD600 nm of E. coli decreased from 0.88 to 0.58 within 10 min. Conclusions: The novel globular endolysin XFII was screened and successfully expressed in E. coli BL21. Endolysin XFII exhibits a broad lysis spectrum, a rapid and strong bactericidal activity, good stability at high temperatures and under eutrophic conditions. Combined with chitosan, XFII could spontaneously lyse Gram-negative bacteria without pretreatment. This work presented the first characterization of combining endolysin and chitosan in spontaneously lysing Gram-negative bacteria in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Genomic prediction is an advanced method for estimating genetic values, which has been widely accepted for genetic evaluation in animal and disease-risk prediction in human. It estimates genetic values with genome-wide distributed SNPs instead of pedigree. The key step of it is to construct genomic relationship matrix (GRM) via genome-wide SNPs; however, usually the calculation of GRM needs huge computer memory especially when the SNP number and sample size are big, so that sometimes it will become computationally prohibitive even for super computer clusters. We herein developed an integrative algorithm to compute GRM. To avoid calculating GRM for the whole genome, ICGRM freely divides the genome-wide SNPs into several segments and computes the summary statistics related to GRM for each segment that requires quite few computer RAM; then it integrates these summary statistics to produce GRM for whole genome. Results: It showed that the computer memory of ICGRM was reduced by 15 times (from 218Gb to 14Gb) after the genome SNPs were split into 5 to 200 parts in terms of the number of SNPs in our simulation dataset, making it computationally feasible for almost all kinds of computer servers. ICGRM is implemented in C/C++ and freely available via https://github.com/mingfang618/CLGRM. Conclusions: ICGRM is computationally efficient software to build GRM and can be used for big dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a titanium pyrophosphate (TiP 2 O 7) anode with oxygen vacancies is prepared by a simple one-pot solid method, exhibiting great performance. Herein, we study on the physical and chemical changes of TiP 2 O 7-y with oxygen defect, and compare it with pure TiP 2 O 7 through scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and so on. It is found that the introduction of oxygen vacancies leads an improved electronic conductivity compared to the pure TiP 2 O 7 sample. Intriguingly, the TiP 2 O 7-y with oxygen defect displays an enhanced electrochemical performance in aqueous lithium ion batteries (ALIBs), with a larger capacity of TiP 2 O 7-y (57 mAh g−1) as compared to pure TiP 2 O 7 (17 mAh g−1) at 0.2 A g−1. After carbon-coating treatment, the C–TiP 2 O 7-y anode demonstrates outstanding capacity and cycling performance with a capacity retention of 89% after 500 cycles at 0.5 A g−1. More importantly, the full ALIBs coupled with LiMn 2 O 4 cathode maintains 85% capacity after 800 cycles at 0.1 A g−1. This study underscores the potential importance of incorporating oxygen vacancies into metal oxides as an alternative to modify the electrode materials in energy storage field. A highly performance TiP 2 O 7 with oxygen vacancies anode exhibits the superior electrochemical performance in aqueous rechargeable lithium batteries. Image 1 • A highly performance TiP 2 O 7 material with oxygen vacancies is designed by a simple one-pot solid method. • The anoxia TiP 2 O 7-y displays an improved electronic conductivity and large discharge capacity. • These improvement can be attributed to the mixed Ti4+/Ti3+ valence state and well-dispersed carbon layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Micron to nanoscale ZrCo alloys are synthesized by electrospinning method and magnesiothermic reduction. The fibers act as space templates to control particle size. Compared with conventional polycrystalline smelted-ZrCo (∼140 μm), the nano-ZrCo exhibits much improved hydrogen and hydrogen isotope storage performances in terms of kinetics, thermodynamics, anti-disproportionation and cycle stability, and the performances improve with decrease of particle sizes. • Single-crystal ZrCo nanoparticles are synthesized by a spatial-confinement method. • Nano-ZrCo shows a 19-fold increase in hydrogenation kinetic rate. • Nano-ZrCo shows a two-fold improvement in cycle stability. • The significant decrease in disproportionation is due to high crystallinity. • The effects of particle size on hydrogen storage performances are revealed. ZrCo alloy is a safe and low-cost H-isotope storage material for controlled nuclear fusion, but traditional ZrCo prepared by smelting method suffer from slow gas uptake/release kinetics and serious degradation of cycle performance. Here, a "bottom-up" synthesis method is developed to prepare highly crystalline and high-purity ZrCo micron-/nanoparticles via a spatial-confinement strategy. The size-dependent hydrogen storage performances are systematically investigated from the perspectives of lattice constant, crystallinity, grain boundary, stress, and disproportionation phase transition. Compared with micron-scale polycrystalline smelted-ZrCo, the comprehensive performances of nanoscale ZrCo single crystals are significantly improved, including a 19-fold increase in kinetic rate, a ∼ 50% reduction of disproportionation ratio, and a two-fold improvement in cycle stability. This study provides a promising direction and an efficient synthetic method for the preparation of high-performance ZrCo alloys, which will facilitate their application in controlled nuclear fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic/inorganic hybrid conductive organohydrogel prepared by rapid room-temperature polymerization strategy shows good stretchability, adhesion, self-healing, environmental stability, and achieves terahertz radiation shielding and terahertz displacement sensing. [Display omitted] • Conductive organohydrogel is prepared by rapid room-temperature polymerization. • Organohydrogel has excellent stretchability, self-healing and adhesion. • Organohydrogel exhibits absorption-dominated terahertz shielding performance. • Its terahertz responsive signal is linearly dependent on tensile strain. • Organohydrogel is assembled into strain sensor and terahertz displacement sensor. Conductive organohydrogel with better environmental stability than conductive hydrogel, has more promising applications in the fields of soft robots, wearable electronics and electromagnetic interference shielding. However, the current organohydrogels still face the trade-off dilemma between environmental stability and conductivity, and their preparation is usually time-consuming and complicated. Here, we report a room-temperature rapid polymerization strategy to prepare conductive organohydrogel using PEDOT:PSS and MXene nanosheets as conductive fillers as well as cross-linking sites, which is applicable to a variety of binary solvent systems. The synergistic effect between PEDOT:PSS and MXene nanosheets activates the formation of abundant hydrogen bonds, chelation interaction and electrostatic interaction between different components, thus significantly shortening the polymerization time from several hours to less than five minutes. Meanwhile, the organic–inorganic hybrid network constructs efficient conductive paths and strengthens the mechanical properties. Over a wide temperature range (−18 to 70 °C), this composite organohydrogel shows excellent stretchability, self-healing, adhesion, environmental stability. More interestingly, the organohydrogel with reasonably designed binary solvent system and conductive network achieves absorption-dominated shielding performance and wireless displacement sensing in the frequency of 2–10 terahertz. The revealed contributions of binary solvent system and conductive network to the absorption and reflection of terahertz waves are conducive to promote the development of organohydrogel-based terahertz responsive materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]