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Bacterial infections significantly threaten human health, leading to severe diseases and complications across multiple systems and organs. Antibiotics remain the primary treatment strategy for these infections. However, the growing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics underscores the urgent need for safe and effective alternative treatments. In response, several approaches have been developed, including carbon dots (CDs), antimicrobial peptides, and antimicrobial polymers, all of which have proven effective in combating bacterial resistance. Among these, CDs stand out due to their unique advantages, including low preparation cost, stable physicochemical properties, high biocompatibility, tunable surface chemistry, strong photoluminescence, and efficient generation of reactive oxygen species. These features make CDs highly promising in antibacterial applications. This review explores the development of antibacterial CDs, focusing on their mechanisms of action—physical destroy, biochemical damage, and synergistic effects—while highlighting their potential for clinical use as antibacterial agents.

Abstract Antigen-specific T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) based immunotherapy has proven to be an effective method to combat cancer. In recent years, cross-talk between the innate and adaptive immune systems may be requisite to optimize sustained antigen-specific immunity, and the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a promising therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy. The level of expression or presentation of antigen in tumor cells affects the recognition and killing of tumor cells by TCR-T. This study aimed at investigating the potential of innate immune stimulation of T cells and engineered T cells to enhance immunotherapy for low-expression antigen cancer cells. We systematically investigated the function and mechanism of cross-talk between STING agonist diABZI and adaptive immune systems. We established NY-ESO-1 full knockout Mel526 cells for this research and found that diABZI activated STING media and TCR signaling pathways. In addition, the results of flow cytometry showed that antigens presentation from cancer cells induced by STING agonist diABZI also improved the affinity of TCR-T cells function against tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Our findings revealed that diABZI enhanced the immunotherapy efficacy of TCR-T by activating STING media and TCR signaling pathways, improving interferon-γ expression, and increasing antigens presentation of tumor cells. This indicates that STING agonist could be used as a strategy to promote TCR-T cancer immunotherapy.

Rhododendron simsii plays important roles in maintaining ecological system stability in the north temperate zone. However, its natural growth is greatly affected by soil microorganisms, particularly rhizosphere microbes. In this study, a comparative analysis was conducted of the bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere of R. simsii at the old, adult, juvenile, and seedlings stages. The results showed that Proteobacteria (38.53%‒47.63%), Actinobacteria (23.45%‒34.03%), and Acidobacteria (10.33%‒17.79%) were the dominant phyla in the R. simsii rhizosphere. In particular, 3, 5, 42, and 33 OTUs were unique to the soil samples of ‘old trees’, ‘adult trees’, ‘juvenile trees’, and ‘seedlings’, respectively. Across four sets of R. simsii rhizosphere microbes sampled from seedlings to old trees, the OTUs first increased, then decreased, and finally increased. Overall, alpha diversity (Chao, ACE, and Sobs) revealed similar trends with the highest value i‒n recorded for the rhizosphere sample of ‘adult trees’ and the lowest for the ‘seedlings’ sample. The bacterial genera in the rhizosphere samples from ‘old trees’ and ‘adult trees’ exhibited close clustering. Notably, the R. simsii population of ‘juvenile trees’, demonstrating the highest genetic diversity, were rich in Bradyrhizobium and Streptomycetes. This research serves to benefit the domestication of wild R. simsii and other Rhododendron resources.

Abstract For the porous‐membrane‐based osmotic energy generator, the potential synergistic enhancement mechanism of various key parameters is still controversial, especially because optimizing the trade‐off between permeability and selectivity is still a challenge. Here, to construct a permeability and selectivity synergistically enhanced osmotic energy generator, the two‐dimensional porous membranes with tunable charge density are prepared by inserting sulfonated polyether sulfone into graphene oxide. Influences of charge density and pore size on the ion transport are explored, and the ionic behaviors in the channel are calculated by numerical simulations. The mechanism of ion transport in the process is studied in depth, and the fundamental principles of energy conversion are revealed. The results demonstrate that charge density and pore size should be matched to construct the optimal ion channel. This collaborative enhancement strategy of permeability and selectivity has significantly improved the output power in osmotic energy generation; compared to the pure graphene oxide membrane, the composite membrane presents almost 20 times improvement.

Abstract Background Esophageal cancer (EC) is a global canker notorious for causing high mortality due to its relentless incidence rate, convoluted with unyielding recurrence and metastasis. However, these intricacies of EC are associated with an immoderate expression of NY-ESO-1 antigen, presenting a lifeline for adoptive T cell therapy. We hypothesized that naturally isolated higher-affinity T cell receptors (TCRs) that bind to NY-ESO-1 would allow T lymphocytes to target EC with a pronounced antitumor response efficacy. Also, targeting TRPV2, which is associated with tumorigenesis in EC, creates an avenue for dual-targeted therapy. We exploited the dual-targeting antitumor efficacy against EC. Methods We isolated antigen-specific TCRs (asTCRs) from a naive library constructed with TCRs obtained from enriched cytotoxic T lymphocytes. The robustness of our asTCRs and their TCR-T cell derivatives, Tranilast (TRPV2 inhibitor), and their bivalent treatment were evaluated with prospective cross-reactive human-peptide variants and tumor cells. Results Our study demonstrated that our naive unenhanced asTCRs and their TCR-Ts perpetuated their cognate HLA-A*02:01/NY-ESO-1(157–165) specificity, killing varying EC cells with higher cytotoxicity compared to the known affinity-enhanced TCR (TCRe) and its wild-type (TCR0) which targets the same NY-ESO-1 antigen. Furthermore, the TCR-Ts and Tranilast bivalent treatment showed superior EC killing compared to any of their monovalent treatments of either TCR-T or Tranilast. Conclusion Our findings suggest that dual-targeted immunotherapy may have a superior antitumor effect. Our study presents a technique to evolve novel, robust, timely therapeutic strategies and interventions for EC and other malignancies.

Rhododendron fortunei (Ericaceae) possesses valuable horticultural and medicinal values. However, the genomic information on R. fortunei is very limited. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome (cp) of R. fortunei was assembled and annotated, SSR loci were characterised, comparative genomic analysis was carried out, and phylogenetic research was also performed. The results showed that the R. fortunei cp genome was of a typical quadripartite structure (200,997 bp). The lengths of the large single copy region (LSC), the inverted repeat regions (IR), and the small single copy region (SSC) were 109,151 bp, 2,604 bp, and 44,619 bp, respectively. A total of 147 unique genes were identified, including 99 protein-coding genes, 42 tRNA genes, and 6 rRNA genes, respectively. Leucine (11.51%) and cysteine (1.15%) were the highest and lowest representative amino acids, respectively. The total of 30 codons with obvious codon usage bias were all A/U-ending codons. Among the 77 simple sequence repeats, the majority were mononucleotide A/T repeats located in the intergenic spacer region. Five gene regions showed high levels of nucleotide diversity (Pi > 0.03). The comparative genome analysis revealed 7 hotspot intergenic regions (trnI-rpoB, trnTrpl16, rpoA-psbJ, rps7-rrn16, ndhI-rps16, rps16-rps19, and rrn16-trnI), showing great potential as molecular makers for species authentication. Expansion and contraction were detected in the IR region of the R. fortunei cp genome. In the phylogenetic tree, R. fortunei was closely related to R. platypodum. This research will be beneficial for evolutionary and genetic diversity studies of R. fortunei and related species among the Ericaceae family.

Abstract Rhododendron pulchrum sweet, a member of the Ericaceae family possessing valuable horticultural properties, is widely distributed in the temperate regions. Though serving as bioindicator of metal pollution, the molecular mechanism regulating flowering in R. pulchrum is very limited. Illumina sequencing was performed to identify critical miRNAs in the synthesis of flavonoids at different developmental stages. Totally, 722 miRNAs belonging to 104 families were screened, and 84 novel mature miRNA sequences were predicted. The miR166, miR156, and miR167-1 families were dominant. In particular, 126 miRNAs were significantly differentially expressed among four different flowering stages. Totally, 593 genes were differentially regulated by miRNAs during the flower development process, which were mostly involved in “metabolic pathways”, “plant hormone signal transduction”, and “mitosis and regulation of biosynthetic processes”. In pigment biosynthesis and signal transduction processes, gra-miR750 significantly regulated the expression of flavonoid 3’,5’-hydroxylase; aof-miR171a, aof-miR171b, aof-miR171c, cas-miR171a-3p, and cas-miR171c-3p could regulate the expression of DELLA protein; aof-miR390, aof-miR396b, ath-miR3932b-5p, cas-miR171a-3p, aof-miR171a, and aof-miR171b regulated BAK1 expression. This research showed great potentials for genetic improvement of flower color traits for R. pulchrum and other Rhododendron species.

Abstract Background Three-North Afforestation Program (TNAP) in China is the largest ecological restoration project on Earth (ongoing from 1978 to 2050), harboring a huge area of newly planted forests, which provides a wealth of goods and ecosystem services that benefit society at levels ranging from region to East Asia. This project-induced carbon (C) sink has been expected to be large, but its size and location remain uncertain. Results In this study, we investigated the changes in the C stocks of biomass, soil C and the C accumulation benefited from the ecological effects in the project areas from 1978 to 2017 within the Three-North regions (4.069 × 106 km2), and evaluated its project-induced C sequestration. Using a combination of remote sensing images, field observations and national forest inventory data, we estimated a total ecosystem sink of 47.06 Tg C per year (1 Tg = 1012 g) increased by the TNAP implementation. Importantly, we first found that the C sink via the ecological effects of this project could contribute to a high proportion up to 15.94%, indicating a critical role of ecological effects in shaping the distribution of C stocks in the protective forests. This finding suggests that it is necessary to explicitly consider carbon sequestration benefited from the ecological effects when estimating C sink and parameterizing C models of the restoration projects in China and globally. Conclusions Our results update the estimates of C pools in the world's largest ecological restoration project area, demonstrating that this project has substantially contributed to mitigating the climate change.

Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are highly important in biomedicine and hold great potential in clinical treatment for various diseases. In recent years, the capabilities of MSCs have been under extensive investigation for practical application. Regarding therapy, the efficacy usually depends on the amount of MSCs. Nevertheless, the yield of MSCs is still limited due to the traditional cultural methods. Herein, we proposed a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold prepared using poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanofiber with polylysine (PLL) grafting, to promote the growth and proliferation of MSCs derived from the human umbilical cord (hUC-MSCs). We found that the inoculated hUC-MSCs adhered efficiently to the PLGA scaffold with good affinity, fast growth rate, and good multipotency. The harvested cells were ideally distributed on the scaffold and we were able to gain a larger yield than the traditional culturing methods under the same condition. Thus, our cell seeding with a 3D scaffold could serve as a promising strategy for cell proliferation in the large-scale production of MSCs. Moreover, the simplicity and low preparation cost allow this 3D scaffold to extend its potential application beyond cell culture. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Special separation membranes are widely employed for separation and purification purposes under challenging operating conditions due to their low energy consumption, excellent solvent, and corrosion resistance. However, the development of membranes is limited by corrosion‐resistant polymer substrates and precise interfacial separation layers. Herein, polyaniline (PANI) is employed to achieve insitu anchoring of multiple interfaces, resulting in the fabrication of polyaniline@graphene oxide/polyether ether ketone (PANI@GO/PEEK) membranes. Insitu growth of PANI achieves the adequate bonding of the PEEK substrate and GO separation interface, which solves the problem of solution processing of PEEK and the instability of GO layers. By bottom‐up confined polymerization of aniline, it could control the pore size of the separation layer, correct defects, and anchor among polymer, nano‐separation layer, and nano‐sheet. The mechanism of membrane construction within the confined domain and micro‐nano structure modulation is further explored. The membranes demonstrate exceptional stability realizing over 90% rejection in 2 m HCl, NaOH, and high temperatures. Additionally, –membranes exhibit remarkable durability after 240 days immersion and 100 h long‐term operation, which display the methanol flux of 50.2 L m−2 h−1 and 92% rejection of AF (585 g mol−1). This method substantially contributes to special separation membranes by offering a novel strategy.

Abstract Background Granivore-mediated seed dispersal is susceptible to changes in seed availability and silvicultural management, which alters synzoochorous interactions in the antagonism-mutualism continuum and affects the seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE), and eventually, the plant recruitment. We conducted a whole-year study of seed addition to quantify the granivores-Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) synzoochorous interactions and the SDE in the same secondary forests with two treatments. Both treatments had seed source limitations: one was caused by the disappearance of Korean pine due to the historical disturbance, the other by pinecone harvesting in Korean pine plantations adjacent to the secondary forests. Thinning with different intensities (control, 25%, and 50%) were also performed to further explore the synzoochorous interactions and SDE in response to silvicultural management in the second type of forests. Results Source limitation increased the proportion of pre- and post-dispersal seed predation, and made the granivores-Korean pine interaction shift more towards antagonism, with the estimated SDE of 2.31 and 3.60, respectively, for the secondary forests without and with Korean pine. Thinning with different intensities did not alleviate the reactions towards antagonism but altered SDE; granivores occurrence decreased, but the proportion of pre- and post-dispersal seed predation increased, resulting in a fivefold decreased seedling recruitment in 25% thinning (the lowest SDE of 0.26). Conclusion The source limitation coupling thinning biased the synzoochorous interactions more towards antagonism and significantly lowered granivore-mediated SDE, which limited the successful recruitment of Korean pine in secondary forests. Forest managers should control pinecone harvesting, protect the synzoochorous interaction, and take into account masting event for Korean pine regeneration in the future.

Monoon laui (Merr.) B. Xue and R.M.K. Saunders 2012 is produced in Hainan province. The trunk is straight, the wood texture is straight, and the material is slightly soft, which is suitable for furniture and building materials. In our study, we report and characterize the complete plastome of M. laui The complete length of the plastome of M. laui possesses 161,181 bp, including a large single-copy (LSC) of 89,556 bp, small single-copy (SSC) of 18,977 bp, and two inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,313 bp. The overall G/C content in the plastome of M. laui is 39.13%. The plastome contains 257 genes, consisting of 130 protein-coding genes (16 of which are duplicated in the IR), 37 tRNA genes (seven of which are duplicated in the IR), and eight rRNA genes (5S rRNA, 4.5S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and 23S rRNA). Here, we explore the phylogenetic relationships and make contributions to the conservation genetics of the specie of M. laui using the complete plastome sequence.

Abstract Confined polymerization is an effective method for precise synthesis, which can further control the micro‐nano structure inside the composite material. Polyaniline (PANI)‐based composites are usually prepared by blending and original growth methods. However, due to the strong rigidity and hydrogen bonding of PANI, the content of PANI composites is low and easy to agglomerate. Here, based on confined polymerization, it is reported that polyaniline /polyether ether ketone (PANI/PEEK) film with high PANI content is synthesized in situ by a one‐step method. The micro‐nano structure of the two polymers in the confined space is further explored and it is found that PANI grows in the free volume of the PEEK chain, making the arrangement of the PEEK chain more orderly. Under the best experimental conditions, the prepared 16 µm‐PANI/PEEK film has a dielectric constant of 205.4 (dielectric loss 0.401), the 75 µm‐PANI/PEEK film has a conductivity of 3.01×10−4 S m−1. The prepared PANI/PEEK composite film can be further used as electronic packaging materials, conductive materials, and other fields, which has potential application prospects in anti‐static, electromagnetic shielding materials, corrosion resistance, and other fields.

Alpha-lipoic acid (LA) is an important enzyme cofactor widely used by organisms and is also a natural antioxidant for the treatment of pathologies driven by low levels of endogenous antioxidants. In order to establish a safer and more efficient process for LA production, we developed a new biological method for LA synthesis based on the emerging knowledge of lipoic acid biosynthesis. We first cloned the lipD gene, which encodes the lipoyl domain of the E2 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase, allowing high levels of LipD production. Plasmids containing genes for the biosynthesis of LA were subsequently constructed utilizing various vectors and promotors to produce high levels of LA. These plasmids were transformed into the Escherichia coli strain BL21. Octanoic acid (OA) was used as the substrate for LA synthesis. One transformant, YS61, which carried lipD, lplA, and lipA, produced LA at levels over 200-fold greater than the wild-type strain, showing that LA could be produced efficiently in E. coli using genetic engineering methods.

Besides amino acid decarboxylation, the ADP biosynthetic pathway was reported to enhance survival under extremely acidic conditions in Escherichia coli (Sun et al., J. Bacteriol. 193∶ 3072-3077, 2011). E. coli has two pathways for ATP synthesis from ADP: glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. We found in this study that the deletion of the F(1)Fo-ATPase, which catalyzes the synthesis of ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate using the electro-chemical gradient of protons generated by respiration in E. coli, decreased the survival at pH 2.5. A mutant deficient in hemA encoding the glutamyl tRNA reductase, which synthesizes glutamate 1-semialdehyde also showed the decreased survival of E. coli at pH 2.5. Glutamate 1-semialdehyde is a precursor of heme synthesis that is an essential component of the respiratory chain. The ATP content decreased rapidly at pH 2.5 in these mutants as compared with that of their parent strain. The internal pH was lowered by the deletion of these genes at pH 2.5. These results suggest that respiration and the F(1)Fo-ATPase are still working at pH 2.5 to enhance the survival under such extremely acidic conditions.

To examine the effects of thinning intensity on wind vulnerability and regeneration in a coastal pine (Pinus thunbergii) forest, thinning with intensities of 20%, 30% and 50% was conducted in December 1997; there was an unthinned treatment as the control (total 8 stands). We re-measured the permanent sites to assess the regeneration characteristics 11 years after thinning. In the 50% thinned stand, seedlings aged from 2 to 10 years exhibited the highest pine seedling density and growth. The age composition ranged from 1-3 years with densities of 9.9 and 5.1 seedlings m(-2) in 30% and 20% thinned stands; only 1-year-old seedlings with a density of 6.1 seedlings m(-2) in the unthinned stand. Similar trends were found for the regeneration of broadleaved species such as Robinia pseudoacacia and Prunus serrulata. We speculate that the canopy openness and moss coverage contributed to the regeneration success in the 50% thinned stand, while the higher litter depth and lack of soil moisture induced the regeneration failure in the unthinned stand. The stands thinned at 20% or 30% were less favourable for pine regeneration than the stands thinned at 50%. Therefore, thinning with less than 30% canopy openness (20% and 30% thinned stands) should be avoided, and thinning at higher than 30% canopy openness (50% thinned stand, approximately 1500 stems ha(-1) at ages 40-50 years) is suggested for increasing regeneration in the coastal pine forest. The implications of thinning-based silviculture in the coastal pine forest management are also discussed. The ongoing development of the broadleaved seedlings calls for further observations.

The article explores legal issues concerning the applicability of due diligence in cyberspace operations. Topics discussed include the 2021 United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE) report about the cyberspace application of the due diligence principle, the cyber due diligence approach of countries such as Norway, Japan, and Germany, and the way states may utilize due diligence to address the misuse of information and communications technologies (ICT).

A sonic anemometer (sonic) reports 3-dimensional wind and sonic temperature (Ts) by measuring the time of ultrasonic signals flying along each of its three sonic paths whose geometry of lengths and angles in the sonic coordinate system was precisely determined through production calibrations and was embedded into the sonic's firmware. If the sonic path geometry is deformed, although correctly measuring the time, the sonic continues to use its embedded geometry data for internal computations, resulting in incorrect data. However, if the geometry is re-measured (i.e. recalibrated) to update sonic firmware, the sonic can resume reporting correct data. In some cases, where immediate recalibration is not possible, a deformed sonic can be used because ultrasonic signal-flying time is still correctly measured. For example, transportation of a sonic to Antarctica in 2015 resulted in a geometrically deformed sonic. Immediate deployment was critical, so the deformed sonic had been used until a replacement arrived in 2016. To recover data from this deformed sonic, equations and algorithms were developed and implemented into the post-processing software to recover wind data with/without transducer shadow correction and Ts data with crosswind correction. Using two geometric datasets, production calibration and recalibration, post-processing recovered the wind and Ts data from May 2015 to January 2016. The recovery reduced the difference of 9.60 to 8.93°C between measured and calculated Ts to 0.81 to -0.45°C, which is within the expected range due to normal measurement errors. The recovered data were further processed to derive fluxes. Since such data reacquisition is time-consuming and expensive, this data recovery approach is a cost-effective and time-saving option applicable to similar cases. The equation development can be a reference to the studies on related topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term stressful utilization of forests and grasslands has led to ecosystem degradation and C loss. Since the late 1970s China has launched six key national ecological restoration projects to protect its environment and restore degraded ecosystems. Here, we conducted a large-scale field investigation and a literature survey of biomass and soil C in China's forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems across the regions where the six projects were implemented (~16% of the country's land area). We investigated the changes in the C stocks of these ecosystems to evaluate the contributions of the projects to the country's C sink between 2001 and 2010. Over this decade, we estimated that the total annual C sink in the project region was 132 Tg C per y (1 Tg = 1012 g), over half of which (74 Tg C per y, 56%) was attributed to the implementation of the projects. Our results demonstrate that these restoration projects have substantially contributed to CO2 mitigation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ATP participates in many cellular metabolic processes as a major substrate to supply energy. Many systems for acidic resistance (AR) under extremely acidic conditions have been reported, but the role of ATP has not been examined. To clarify whether or not ATP is necessary for the AR in Escherichia coli, the AR of mutants deficient in genes for ATP biosynthesis was investigated in this study. The deletion of purA or purB, each of which encodes enzymes to produce AMP from inosinate (IMP), markedly decreased the AR. The content of ATP in these mutants decreased rapidly at pH 2.5 compared to that of the wild type. The AR was again decreased significantly by the mutation of adk, which encoded an enzyme to produce ADP from AMP. The DNA damage in the purA and purB mutants was higher than that in the wild type. These results demonstrated that metabolic processes that require ATP participate in survival under extremely acidic conditions, and that one such system is the ATP-dependent DNA repair system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]