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The cellulose-rich corncob residue (CCR) is an abundant and renewable agricultural biomass that has been under-exploited. In this study, two strategies were compared for their ability to transform CCR into cello-oligosaccharides (COS). The first strategy employed the use of endo-glucanases. Although selected endo-glucanases from GH9, GH12, GH45, and GH131 could release COS with degrees of polymerization from 2 to 4, the degrading efficiency was low. For the second strategy, first, CCR was efficiently depolymerized to glucose and cellobiose using the cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. Then, using these simple sugars and sucrose as the starting materials, phosphorylases from different microorganisms were combined to generate COS to a level up to 100.3 g/L with different patterns and degrees of polymerization. Using tomato as a model plant, the representative COS obtained from BaSP (a sucrose phosphorylase from Bifidobacterium adolescens), CuCbP (a cellobiose phosphorylase from Cellulomonas uda), and CcCdP (a cellodextrin phosphorylase from Clostridium cellulosi) were shown to be able to promote plant growth. The current study pointed to an approach to make use of CCR for production of the value-added COS. KEY POINTS: • Sequential use of cellulase and phosphorylases effectively generated cello-oligosaccharides from corncob residue. • Cello-oligosaccharides patterns varied in accordance to cellobiose/cellodextrin phosphorylases. • Spraying cello-oligosaccharides promoted tomato growth., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) plays a crucial role in the degradation of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), and PCSK9 inhibition emerges as an attractive strategy for atherosclerosis management. In this study, extracellular vesicles (EVs) were engineered to nanosponges, which could efficiently adsorb and deliver PCSK9 into lysosomes for degradation. Briefly, nanosponges were engineered by modifying EVs with EGF-A/PTGFRN fusion protein (PCSK9 binding domain EGF-A from the mutant LDLR with higher affinity was fused to the C terminus of prostaglandin F2 receptor negative regulator). The modification endowed the EVs with hundreds of EGF-As displayed on the surface, and thus the capacity to adsorb PCSK9 efficiently. The adsorbed PCSK9 would thus be delivered into lysosomes for degradation when the nanosponges were endocytosed by liver cells, thus releasing endogenous LDLR from degradation. In the ApoE -/- mouse model, tail vein-injected nanosponges were able to degrade PCSK9, increase LDLR expression, lower the LDL-C level, and thus alleviate atherosclerosis. In summary, here we not only develop a novel strategy for PCSK9 inhibition but we also propose a universal method for adsorption and degradation of circulating proteins for disease management., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests L.Y., G.Y., C.W., and M.W. are inventors on patents applied for by Fourth Military Medical University related to PCSK9 inhibition., (Copyright © 2024 The American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Commensal bacteria in the intestine release enzymes to degrade and ferment dietary components, producing beneficial metabolites. However, the regulatory effects of microbial-derived enzymes on the intestinal microbiota composition and the influence on host health remain elusive. Xylanase can degrade xylan into oligosaccharides, showing wide application in feed industry., Results: To validate the immune-protective effects of xylanase, Nile tilapia was used as the model and fed with xylanase. The results showed that dietary xylanase improved the survival rate of Nile tilapia when they were challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila. The transcriptome analysis showed significant enrichment of genes related to interleukin-17d (il-17d) signaling pathway in the xylanase treatment group. High-throughput sequencing revealed that dietary xylanase altered the composition of the intestinal microbiota and directly promoted the proliferation of Allobaculum stercoricanis which could produce butyrate in vitro. Consequently, dietary xylanase supplementation increased the butyrate level in fish gut. Further experiment verified that butyrate supplementation enhanced the expression of il-17d and regenerating islet-derived 3 gamma (reg3g) in the gut. The knockdown experiment of il-17d confirmed that il-17d is necessary for butyrate to protect Nile tilapia from pathogen resistance. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that butyrate increased the abundance of IL-17D + intestinal epithelial cells in fish. Mechanistically, butyrate functions as an HDAC3 inhibitor, enhancing il-17d expression and playing a crucial role in pathogen resistance., Conclusion: Dietary xylanase significantly altered the composition of intestinal microbiota and increased the content of butyrate in the intestine. Butyrate activated the transcription of il-17d in intestinal epithelial cells by inhibiting histone deacetylase 3, thereby protecting the Nile tilapia from pathogen infection. This study elucidated how microbial-derived xylanase regulates host immune function, providing a theoretical basis for the development and application of functional enzymes. Video Abstract., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

B cell receptor-associated protein 31 (BAP31) is a transmembrane protein that is widely expressed and primarily located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). B cells play a crucial role in the immune system, and BAP31 significantly contributes to the functions of various immune cells. However, the specific role of BAP31 in B lymphocytes development remains unknown. In this study, we utilized a mouse model with BAP31 deleted from B cells to investigate its effects. Our findings reveal a block in early B cell development in the bone marrow and a significant decrease in the number of B cells in peripheral lymphoid organs taken from BAP31 B cell conditional knockout (BAP31-BCKO) mice. B cell receptor (BCR) signaling is crucial for the normal development and differentiation of B lymphocytes. BAP31, an endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein, directly regulates the BCR signaling pathway and was shown to be significantly positively correlated with B cell activation and proliferation. These findings establish BAP31 as a crucial regulator of early B cell development.

The differentiation of CD4 + T cells is a crucial component of the immune response. The spleen and thymus, as immune organs, are closely associated with the differentiation and development of T cells. Previous studies have suggested that BAP31 may play a role in modulating T cell activation, but the specific impact of BAP31 on T cells through macrophages remains uncertain. In this study, we present evidence that BAP31 macrophage conditional knockout (BAP31-MCKO) mice display an enlarged spleen and thymus, accompanied by activated clustering and disrupted differentiation of CD4 + T cells. In vitro co-culture studies were conducted to investigate the impact of BAP31-MCKO on the activation and differentiation of CD4 + T cells. The examination of costimulatory molecule expression in BMDMs and RAW 264.7 cells, based on the endoplasmic reticulum function of BAP31, revealed an increase in the expression of antigen presenting molecules, particularly MHC-II molecule, in the absence of BAP31 in BMDMs or RAW264.7 cells. These findings suggest that BAP31 plays a role in the activation and differentiation of CD4 + T cells by regulating the MHC class II molecule on macrophages. These results provide further support for the importance of BAP31 in developing interaction between macrophages and CD4 + T cells.

Background: Soybean (Glycine max) meal is one of the important protein sources for fish, but the non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) in soybean meal impair the intestinal barrier function. Here we aimed to investigate whether xylanase can alleviate the adverse effects on the gut barrier induced by soybean meal in Nile tilapia and to explore the possible mechanism., Results: Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (4.09 ± 0.02 g) were fed with two diets including SM (soybean meal) and SMC (soybean meal + 3,000 U/kg xylanase) for 8 weeks. We characterized the effects of xylanase on the gut barrier, and the transcriptome analysis was performed to investigate the underlying mechanism. Dietary xylanase improved intestinal morphology and decreased the concentration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in serum. The results of transcriptome and Western blotting showed that dietary xylanase up-regulated the expression level of mucin2 (MUC2) which may be related to the inhibition of protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (perk)/activating transcription factor 4 (atf4) signaling pathways. Microbiome analysis showed that addition of xylanase in soybean meal altered the intestinal microbiota composition and increased the concentration of butyric acid in the gut. Notably, dietary sodium butyrate was supplemented into the soybean meal diet to feed Nile tilapia, and the data verified that sodium butyrate mirrored the beneficial effects of xylanase., Conclusions: Collectively, supplementation of xylanase in soybean meal altered the intestinal microbiota composition and increased the content of butyric acid which can repress the perk/atf4 signaling pathway and increase the expression of muc2 to enhance the gut barrier function of Nile tilapia. The present study reveals the mechanism by which xylanase improves the intestinal barrier, and it also provides a theoretical basis for the application of xylanase in aquaculture., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Tiny amounts of exogenous enzymes entering the plasma can exert important health-promoting functions. We propose that orally administered enzymes can potentially translocate across the gut barrier to combat reduced fitness and diseases concurrent with increased gut permeability. Engineering of the enzymes using two discussed strategies may further improve their translocation efficiency., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests No interests are declared., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Forest soil carbon (C) sequestration has an important effect on global C dynamics and is regulated by various environmental factors. Mixed and pure plantations are common afforestation choices in north China, but how forest type and environmental factors interact to affect soil C stock remains unclear. We hypothesize that forest type changes soil physicochemical properties and surface biological factors, and further contributes to soil active C components, which together affect soil C sequestration capacity and C dynamic processes. Three 46-year-old 25 m × 25 m pure Pinus tabulaeformis forests (PF) and three 47-year-old 25 m × 25 m mixed coniferous-broadleaf ( Pinus tabulaeformis-Quercus liaotungensis ) forests (MF) were selected as the two treatments and sampled in August 2016. In 2017, soil temperature (ST) at 10 cm were measured every 30 min for the entire vegetation season. Across 0-50 cm (five soil layers, 10 cm per layer), we also measured C components and environmental factors which may affect soil C sequestration, including soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (STN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), soil moisture (SM) and soil pH. We then incubated samples for 56 days at 25 °C to monitor the C loss through CO 2 release, characterized as cumulative mineralization carbon (CMC) and mineralized carbon (MC). Our results indicate that ST, pH, SM and litter thickness were affected by forest type. Average SOC stock in MF was 20% higher than in PF (MF: 11.29 kg m -2 ; PF: 13.52 kg m -2 ). Higher CMC under PF caused more soil C lost, and CMC increased 14.5% in PF (4.67 g kg -1 soil) compared to MF (4.04 g kg -1 soil) plots over the two-month incubation period. SOC stock was significantly positively correlated with SM ( p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.43), DOC ( p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.47) and CMC ( p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.33), and significantly negatively correlated with pH ( p < 0.001, R 2 = -0.37) and MC ( p < 0.001, R 2 = -0.32). SOC stock and litter thickness may have contributed to more DOC leaching in MF, which may also provide more C source for microbial decomposition. Conversely, lower SM and pH in MF may inhibit microbial activity, which ultimately makes higher MC and lower CMC under MF and promotes C accumulation. Soil mineralized C drives more C stock in coniferous-broadleaf mixed plantations compared to pure plantations, and CMC and MC should be considered when soil C balance is assessed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 Hao et al.)

Xylanase releases xylo-oligosaccharides from dietary xylan, which stimulate the growth of the gut bacteria lactobacilli. Many lactobacilli adhere to dietary fibers, which may facilitate the assimilation of xylo-oligosaccharides and help them gain competence in the gut, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Herein we report, from the highly abundant transcripts of Lactobacillus brevis cultured in wheat arabinoxylan supplemented with a xylanase, the identification of genes encoding four putative cell-surface WxL proteins (Lb630, Lb631, Lb632, and Lb635) and one S-layer protein (Lb1325) with either cellulose- or xylan-binding ability. The repetitively occurring WxL proteins were encoded by a gene cluster, among which Lb630 was chosen for further mutational studies. The analysis revealed three aromatic residues (F30, W61, and W156) that might be involved in the interaction of the protein with cellulose. A homology search in the genome of Enterococcus faecium identified three WxL proteins with conserved counterparts of these three aromatic residues, and they were also found to be able to bind cellulose and xylan. The findings suggested a role of the cell-surface WxL and S-layer proteins in assisting the cellular adhesion of L. brevis to plant cell wall polysaccharides.

B-cell receptor-associated protein 31 (BAP31) has been shown to overexpress in a wide range type of cancers. The present study aims to investigate the role of BAP31 on migration in lung cancer. Results showed that the migration of BAP31 knockdown cells was weaken than the control cells. Applying TGFβ to treat BAP31 knockdown cells could reduce cell migration. The enhancement on proliferation by TGFβ treatment was downregulated after BAP31 knockdown. The cell death and G0/G1 phase arrest was increased in the cells with TGFβ and BAP31 siRNA treatment when compared with TGFβ treatment alone. Gene expression analysis showed that Bax/Bcl2, MLKL and LC3 was upregulated in the cells with combinatorial treatment of TGFβ and BAP31 siRNA. In addition, BAP31 was shown to regulate multiple signaling pathways, especially for Wnt signaling. It found that BAP31 knockdown cells treated with TGFβ decreased β-catenin cytosolic expression and nuclear localization. Wnt signaling activator BIO could restore the downregulation of proliferation by BAP31 knockdown. This finding suggested that BAP31 regulated cancer cell migration is possibly involved with cell death mechanisms and Wnt signaling., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Li, Hao, Tang, Li, Cheng, Wang, Zhu, He, Huang and Wang.)

In recent years, the repurposing of conventional and chemotherapeutic drugs is recognized as an alternative strategy for health care. The main purpose of this study is to strengthen the application of non-oncological drug metformin on breast cancer treatment in the perspective of epigenetics. In the present study, metformin was found to inhibit cell proliferation, promote apoptosis and induce cell cycle arrest in breast cancer cells at a dose-dependent manner. In addition, metformin treatment elevated acH3K9 abundance and decreased acH3K18 level. The expression of lncRNA MALAT1, HOTAIR, DICER1-AS1, LINC01121 and TUG1 was up-regulated by metformin treatment. In metformin-treated cells, MALAT1 knock-down increased the Bax/Bcl2 ratio and enhanced p21 but decreased cyclin B1 expression. The expression of Beclin1, VDAC1, LC3-II, CHOP and Bip was promoted in the cells received combinatorial treatment of metformin and MALAT1 knock-down. The reduced phosphorylation of c-Myc was further decreased in the metformin-treated cells in combination with MALAT1 knock-down than metformin treatment alone. Taken together, these results provide a promising repurposed strategy for metformin on cancer treatment by modulating epigenetic modifiers., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

With the fast development of the internet of things (IoTs), distributed sensors are frequently used and small and portable power sources are highly demanded. However, current portable power sources such as lithium batteries have low capacity and need to be replaced or recharged frequently. A portable power source which can continuously generate electrical power in situ will be an ideal solution. Herein, we demonstrate a wind driven semiconductor electricity generator based on a dynamic Schottky junction, which can output a continuous direct current with an average value of 4.4 mA (with a maximum value of 8.4 mA) over 740 seconds. Compared with a previous metal/semiconductor generator, the output current is one thousand times higher. Furthermore, this wind driven generator has been used as a turn counter, due to its stable output, and also to drive a graphene ultraviolet photodetector, which shows a responsivity of 35.8 A W -1 under 365 nm ultraviolet light. Our research provides a feasible method to achieve wind power generation and power supply for distributed sensors in the future., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Plant cell wall polysaccharides (PCWP) are abundantly present in the food of humans and feed of livestock. Mammalians by themselves cannot degrade PCWP but rather depend on microbes resident in the gut intestine for deconstruction. The dominant Bacteroidetes in the gut microbial community are such bacteria with PCWP-degrading ability. The polysaccharide utilization systems (PUL) responsible for PCWP degradation and utilization are a prominent feature of Bacteroidetes. In recent years, there have been tremendous efforts in elucidating how PULs assist Bacteroidetes to assimilate carbon and acquire energy from PCWP. Here, we will review the PUL-mediated plant cell wall polysaccharides utilization in the gut Bacteroidetes focusing on cellulose, xylan, mannan, and pectin utilization and discuss how the mechanisms can be exploited to modulate the gut microbiota.

Magnesium, the second most predominant intracellular cation, plays a crucial role in many physiological functions; magnesium-based biomaterials have been widely used in clinical application. In a variety of cancer types, the high intracellular concentration of magnesium contributes to cancer initiation and progression. Therefore, we initiated this study to investigate the likelihood of confounding magnesium with cancer therapy. In this study, the anti-tumor activity of magnesium and underlying mechanisms were assessed in bladder cancer both in vitro and in vivo . The results indicated that the proliferation of bladder cancer cells was inhibited by treatment with a high concentration of MgCl 2 or MgSO 4 . The apoptosis, G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, autophagy, and ER stress were promoted following treatment with MgCl 2 . However, the migratory ability of MgCl 2 treated cells was similar to that of control cells, as revealed by the trans-well assay. Besides, no significant difference was observed in the proportion of CD44 or CD133 positive cells between the control and MgCl 2 treated cells. Thus, to improve the therapeutic effect of magnesium, VPA was used to treat cancer cells in combination with MgCl 2 . As expected, combination treatment with MgCl 2 and VPA could markedly reduce proliferation, migration, and in vivo tumorigenicity of UC3 cells. Moreover, the Wnt signaling was down-regulated, and ERK signaling was activated in the cells treated with combination treatment. In conclusion, the accurate utilization of MgCl 2 in targeting autophagy might be beneficial in cancer therapy. Although further studies are warranted, the combination treatment of MgCl 2 with VPA is an effective strategy to improve the outcome of chemotherapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Li, Yu, Shi, Cao, Liu, Hao, Ren, Qin, Huang and Wang.)

Searching for light and miniaturized functional device structures for sustainable energy gathering from the environment is the focus of energy society with the development of the internet of things. The proposal of a dynamic heterojunction-based direct current generator builds up new platforms for developing in situ energy. However, the requirement of different semiconductors in dynamic heterojunction is too complex to wide applications, generating energy loss for crystal structure mismatch. Herein, dynamic homojunction generators are explored, with the same semiconductor and majority carrier type. Systematic experiments reveal that the majority of carrier directional separation originates from the breaking symmetry between carrier distribution, leading to the rebounding effect of carriers by the interfacial electric field. Strikingly, NN Si homojunction with different Fermi levels can also output the electricity with higher current density than PP/PN homojunction, attributing to higher carrier mobility. The current density is as high as 214.0 A/m 2 , and internal impedance is as low as 3.6 k Ω , matching well with the impedance of electron components. Furthermore, the N-i-N structure is explored, whose output voltage can be further improved to 1.3 V in the case of the N-Si/Al 2 O 3 /N-Si structure, attributing to the enhanced interfacial barrier. This approach provides a simple and feasible way of converting low-frequency disordered mechanical motion into electricity., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2020 Yanghua Lu et al.)

The static PN junction is the foundation of integrated circuits. Herein, we pioneer a high current density generation by mechanically moving N-type semiconductor over P-type semiconductor, named as the dynamic PN junction. The establishment and destruction of the depletion layer causes the redistribution and rebounding of diffusing carriers by the built-in field, similar to a capacitive charge/discharge process of PN junction capacitance during the movement. Through inserting dielectric layer at the interface of the dynamic PN junction, output voltage can be improved and designed numerically according to the energy level difference between the valence band of semiconductor and conduction band of dielectric layer. Especially, the dynamic MoS 2 /AlN/Si generator with open-circuit voltage of 5.1 V, short-circuit current density of 112.0 A/m 2 , power density of 130.0 W/m 2 , and power-conversion efficiency of 32.5% has been achieved, which can light up light-emitting diode timely and directly. This generator can continuously work for 1 h, demonstrating its great potential applications., (Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Regarding plant cell wall polysaccharides degradation, multimodular glycoside hydrolases (GHs) with two catalytic domains separated by one or multiple carbohydrate-binding domains are rare in nature. This special mode of domain organization endows the Caldicellulosiruptor bescii CelA (GH9-CBM3c-CBM3b-CBM3b-GH48) remarkably high efficiency in hydrolyzing cellulose. Cb Xyn10C/Cel48B from the same bacterium is also such an enzyme which has, however, evolved to target both xylan and cellulose. Intriguingly, the GH10 endoxylanase and GH48 cellobiohydrolase domains are both dual functional, raising the question if they can act synergistically in hydrolyzing cellulose and xylan, the two major components of plant cell wall., Results: In this study, we discovered that Cb Xyn10C and Cb Cel48B, which stood for the N- and C-terminal catalytic domains, respectively, cooperatively released much more cellobiose and cellotriose from cellulose. In addition, they displayed intramolecular synergy but only at the early stage of xylan hydrolysis by generating higher amounts of xylooligosaccharides including xylotriose, xylotetraose, and xylobiose. When complex lignocellulose corn straw was used as the substrate, the synergy was found only for cellulose but not xylan hydrolysis., Conclusion: This is the first report to reveal the synergy between a GH10 and a GH48 domain. The synergy discovered in this study is helpful for understanding how C. bescii captures energy from these recalcitrant plant cell wall polysaccharides. The insight also sheds light on designing robust and multi-functional enzymes for plant cell wall polysaccharides degradation., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2019.)

Static heterojunction-based electronic devices have been widely applied because carrier dynamic processes between semiconductors can be designed through band gap engineering. Herein, we demonstrate a tunable direct-current generator based on the dynamic heterojunction, whose mechanism is based on breaking the symmetry of drift and diffusion currents and rebounding hot carrier transport in dynamic heterojunctions. Furthermore, the output voltage can be delicately adjusted and enhanced with the interface energy level engineering of inserting dielectric layers. Under the ultrahigh interface electric field, hot electrons will still transfer across the interface through the tunneling and hopping effect. In particular, the intrinsic anisotropy of black phosphorus arising from the lattice structure produces extraordinary electronic, transport, and mechanical properties exploited in our dynamic heterojunction generator. Herein, the voltage of 6.1 V, current density of 124.0 A/m 2 , power density of 201.0 W/m 2 , and energy-conversion efficiency of 31.4% have been achieved based on the dynamic black phosphorus/AlN/Si heterojunction, which can be used to directly and synchronously light up light-emitting diodes. This direct-current generator has the potential to convert ubiquitous mechanical energy into electric energy and is a promising candidate for novel portable and miniaturized power sources in the in situ energy acquisition field., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2019 Yanghua Lu et al.)

The overloaded energy cost has become the main concern of the now fast developing society, which make novel energy devices with high power density of critical importance to the sustainable development of human society. Herein, a dynamic Schottky diode based generator with ultrahigh power density of 1262.0 W m -2 for sliding Fe tip on rough p-type silicon is reported. Intriguingly, the increased surface states after rough treatment lead to an extremely enhanced current density up to 2.7 × 10 5 A m -2 , as the charged surface states can effectively accelerate the carriers through large atomic electric field, while the reflecting directions are regulated by the built-in electric field of the Schottky barrier. This research provides an open avenue for utilizing the surface states in semiconductors in a subversive way, which can co-utilize the atomic electric field and built-in electric field to harvest energy from the mechanical movements, especially for achieving an ultrahigh current density power source., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Enzymatic treatment is an attractive method for mycotoxin detoxification, which ideally prefers the use of one or a few enzymes. However, this is challenged by the diverse structures and co-contamination of multiple mycotoxins in food and feed. Lignin-degrading fungi have been discovered to detoxify organics including mycotoxins. Manganese peroxidase (MnP) is a major enzyme responsible for lignin oxidative depolymerization in such fungi. Here, we demonstrate that eight MnPs from different lignocellulose-degrading fungi (five from Irpex lacteus , one from Phanerochaete chrysosporium , one from Ceriporiopsis subvermispora , and another from Nematoloma frowardii ) could all degrade four major mycotoxins (aflatoxin B 1 , AFB 1 ; zearalenone, ZEN; deoxynivalenol, DON; fumonisin B 1 , FB 1 ) only in the presence of a dicarboxylic acid malonate, in which free radicals play an important role. The I. lacteus and C. subvermispora MnPs behaved similarly in mycotoxins transformation, outperforming the P. chrysosporium and N. frowardii MnPs. The large evolutionary diversity of these MnPs suggests that mycotoxin degradation tends to be a common feature shared by MnPs. MnP can, therefore, serve as a candidate enzyme for the degradation of multiple mycotoxins in food and feed if careful surveillance of the residual toxicity of degradation products is properly carried out.

Traditionally, Schottky diodes are used statically in the electronic information industry while dynamic or moving Schottky diode-based applications are rarely explored. Herein, a novel Schottky diode named "moving Schottky diode generator" is designed, which can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy by means of lateral movement between the graphene/metal film and semiconductor. The mechanism is based on the built-in electric field separation of the diffusing carriers in moving Schottky diode. A current-density output up of 40.0 A m -2 is achieved through minimizing the contact distance between metal and semiconductor, which is 100-1000 times higher than former piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators. The power density and power conversion efficiency of the heterostructure-based generator can reach 5.25 W m -2 and 20.8%, which can be further enhanced by Schottky junction interface design. Moreover, the graphene film/semiconductor moving Schottky diode-based generator behaves better flexibility and stability, which does not show obvious degradation after 10 000 times of running, indicating its great potential in the usage of portable energy source. This moving Schottky diode direct-current generator can light up a blue light-emitting diode and a flexible graphene wristband is demonstrated for wearable energy source., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Background: CRISPR/Cas9 has wide application potentials in a variety of biological species including Trichoderma reesei, a filamentous fungus workhorse for cellulase production. However, expression of Cas9 heterologously in the host cell could be time-consuming and sometimes even troublesome., Results: We tested two gene disruption methods in T. reesei using CRISPR/Cas9 in this study. The intracellularly expressed Cas9 led to unexpected off-target gene disruption in T. reesei QM9414, favoring inserting 9- or 12-bp at 70- and 100-bp downstream of the targeted ura5. An alternative method was, therefore, established by assembling Cas9 and gRNA in vitro, followed by transformation of the ribonucleoprotein complex with a plasmid containing the pyr4 marker gene into T. reesei TU-6. When the gRNA targeting cbh1 was used, eight among the twenty seven transformants were found to lose the ability to express CBH1, indicative of successful cbh1 disruption through genome editing. Large DNA fragments including the co-transformed plasmid, chromosomal genes, or a mixture of these nucleotides, were inserted in the disrupted cbh1 locus., Conclusions: Direct transformation of Cas9/gRNA complex into the cell is a fast means to disrupt a gene in T. reesei and may find wide applications in strain improvement and functional genomics study.

Background: In the biofuel industry, cellulase plays an indispensable role in hydrolyzing cellulose into fermentable glucose. Trichoderma reesei is a popular filamentous fungus with prominent ability to produce cellulase. While classical mutagenesis and modern multiplex genome engineering are both effective ways to improve cellulase production, successful obtaining of strains with improved cellulase-producing ability requires screening a large number of strains, which is time-consuming and labor intensive., Results: Herein, we developed a versatile method coupling expression of the red fluorescence protein (DsRed) in T. reesei and fluorescence-assisted cell sorting (FACS) of germinated spores. This method was first established by expressing DsRed intracellularly under the control of the major cellulase cbh1 promoter in T. reesei , which allowed us to rapidly isolate cellulase hyperproducers from T. reesei progenies transformed with a dedicated transcriptional activator ace3 and from an atmospheric and room temperature plasma-created mutant T. reesei library. Since intracellularly expressed DsRed was expected to isolate mutations mainly affecting cellulase transcription, this method was further improved by displaying DsRed on the T. reesei cell surface, enabling isolation of strains with beneficial genetic alterations (overexpressing hac1 and bip1 ) affecting regulatory stages beyond transcription. Using this method, T. reesei cellulase hyperproducers were also successfully isolated from an Agrobacterium -mediated random insertional mutant library., Conclusions: The coupled DsRed-FACS high-throughput screening method proved to be an effective strategy for fast isolation of T. reesei cellulase hyperproducers and could also be applied in other industrially important filamentous fungi.

By combining the surface plasmon enhancement technique with gating effect, a tunable blue lighting emitting diode (LED) based on graphene/Ag nanoparticles (NPs)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/graphene/p-GaN heterostructure has been achieved. The surface plasmon enhancement is introduced through spin-coating Ag nanoparticles on graphene/p-GaN heterostructure while the gating effect is demonstrated through a graphene/PMMA/graphene sandwich structure, where the top graphene layer acts as the gate electrode. Compared with initial graphene/p-GaN heterostructure LEDs, the electroluminescence (EL) emission intensity of Ag NPs/graphene/p-GaN heterostructure LEDs has been largely enhanced, attributing to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles. The EL emission intensity of graphene/Ag NPs-PMMA/graphene/p-GaN heterostructure LEDs can further be gate-tunable effectively through exerting a static voltage between the sandwich structure, which tunes the Fermi level of graphene contacting with p-GaN. These results indicate that through sophisticated design, graphene/Ag NPs-PMMA/graphene/p-GaN heterostructure LEDs can be a potential candidate for many essential electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Peptide aptamers - artificial short peptides with specific binding affinity for target molecules - can be used to interfere with protein functions and protein-protein interactions in plant cells. Therefore, peptide aptamers have emerged as a new, powerful tool with high efficiency and specificity and wide applications in functional genomics and plant biotechnology., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Cellulase and mannanase are both important enzyme additives in animal feeds. Expressing the two enzymes simultaneously within one microbial host could potentially lead to cost reductions in the feeding of animals. For this purpose, we codon-optimized the Aspergillus niger Man5A gene to the codon-usage bias of Trichoderma reesei. By comparing the free energies and the local structures of the nucleotide sequences, one optimized sequence was finally selected and transformed into the T. reesei pyridine-auxotrophic strain TU-6. The codon-optimized gene was expressed to a higher level than the original one. Further expressing the codon-optimized gene in a mutated T. reesei strain through fed-batch cultivation resulted in coproduction of cellulase and mannanase up to 1376 U·mL -1 and 1204 U·mL -1 , respectively.