Fumigant Activity of Bacterial Volatile Organic Compounds against the Nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Meloidogyne incognita

Plant-parasitic nematodes infect a diversity of crops, resulting in severe economic losses in agriculture. Microbial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are potential agents to control plant-parasitic nematodes and other pests. In this study, VOCs emitted by a dozen bacterial strains were analyzed using solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Fumigant toxicity of selected VOCs, including dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), 2-butanone, 2-pentanone, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, anisole, 2,5-dimethylfuran, glyoxylic acid, and S-methyl thioacetate (MTA) was then tested against Caenorhabditis elegans. DMDS and MTA exhibited much stronger fumigant toxicity than the others. Probit analysis suggested that the values of LC₅₀ were 8.57 and 1.43 μg/cm³ air for DMDS and MTA, respectively. MTA also showed stronger fumigant toxicity than DMDS against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita, suggesting the application potential of MTA.     

Kinetic Resolution of 2-Substituted 1,2-Dihydroquinolines by Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydroarylation

Main observation and conclusion A highly efficient kinetic resolution of racemic 2-substituted 1,2-dihydroquinolines via Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydroarylation...     

Morphine-induced conditioned place preference in mice: Metabolomic profiling of brain tissue to find “molecular switch” of drug abuse by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Conditioned place preference (CPP) is a widely used model to explore the mechanism of context-dependent learning. In this work, we developed a GC–MS method to investigate the metabolites in mice brain which was used to study the mechanism of context-dependent learning associated with rewarding effect of morphine. Metabolites were extracted from brain tissues and derivatized followed by analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In total, 69 peaks were identified as known compounds. By a Wilcoxon ran sum test with p value ≤0.05, 21 metabolites were selected and considered as the potential biomarkers of morphine in mice brain. Using principal component analysis (PCA) and receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves, a model was constructed with a combination of these 21 metabolic markers. Multivariate statistics of the model yielded separation between the two groups with an area under the curve value of 0.947. Some metabolites were further discussed in detail about their pathway. Results showed that our technique can be successfully applied to profile for biomarkers and in understanding molecular mechanisms of drug abuse.     

Ultrathin Alternating Copolymer Nanotubes with Readily Tunable Surface Functionalities

Well‐defined ultrathin nanotubes (30 nm in diameter and of micrometer‐scale length) were generated through the self‐assembly of a novel alternative copolymer synthesized using an epoxy–thiol click‐chemistry reaction. The self‐assembly mechanism was investigated both by experiments and using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The obtained nanotubes can be readily functionalized with carboxy groups, amino groups, peptides, or other groups by simple modular click copolymerization.     

Synthesis of fluorinated hyperbranched polymers capable as highly hydrophobic and oleophobic coating materials

A series of coating materials were prepared from two classes of hyperbranched polymers containing short fluorocarbon chains (HPEFs/HPUFs). The obtained hyperbranched polymers were characterized by FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹⁹F NMR, GPC and TG analyses. HPEFs/HPUFs exhibited very low surface free energies (13.67-24.49 mJ/m²) which almost are independent of their internal backbone but dependent on the terminal fluorocarbon chains. Highly hydrophobic and/or oleophobic surfaces of cotton woven fabric can be achieved from these polymers by solution-immersion coating method. The static and dynamic wettabilities of the HPEFs/HPUFs treated fabrics have been investigated. The static contact angles reached to 146°, 122° and 102° for water, hexadecane and decane, respectively. The lowest contact angle hysteresis reached to 5.9°.     

Dynamic Variation of Amino Acid Contents and Identification of Sterols in Xinyang Mao Jian Green Tea

As important biomolecules in Camellia sinensis L., amino acids (AAs) are considered to contribute to the overall green tea sensory quality and undergo dynamic changes during growth. However, limited by analytical capacity, detailed AAs composition in different growth stages remains unclear. To address this question, we analyzed the dynamic changes of 23 AAs during leaf growth in Xinyang Mao Jian (XYMJ) green tea. Using amino acid analyzer, we demonstrated that most AAs are abundant on Pure Brightness Day and Grain Rain Day. After Grain Rain, 23 AAs decreased significantly. Further analysis shows that theanine has a high level on the day before Spring Equinox and Grain Rain, accounting for 44–61% of the total free AAs content in tea leaves. Glu, Pro, and Asp are the second most abundant AAs. Additionally, spinasterol and 22,23-dihydrospinasterol are first purified and identified in ethanol extract of XYMJ by silica gel column chromatography method. This study reveals the relationship between plucking days and the dynamic changes of AAs during the growth stage and proves the rationality of the traditional plucking days of XYMJ green tea.     

Joint Optimization of Control Strategy and Energy Consumption for Energy Harvesting WSAN

With the rapid development of wireless sensor technology, recent progress in wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) with energy harvesting provide the possibility for various real-time applications. Meanwhile, extensive research activities are carried out in the fields of efficient energy allocation and control strategy design. However, the joint design considering physical plant control, energy harvesting, and consumption is rarely concerned in existing works. In this paper, in order to enhance system control stability and promote quality of service for the WSAN energy efficiency, a novel three-step joint optimization algorithm is proposed through control strategy and energy management analysis. First, the optimal sampling interval can be obtained based on energy harvesting, consumption, and remaining conditions. Then, the control gain for each sampling interval is derived by using a backward iteration. Finally, the optimal control strategy is determined as a linear function of the current plant states and previous control strategies. The application of UAV formation flight system demonstrates that better system performance and control stability can be achieved by the proposed joint optimization design for all poor, sufficient, and general energy harvesting scenarios.     

Covalent labeling of a chromatin reader domain using proximity-reactive cyclic peptides

Chemical probes for chromatin reader proteins are valuable tools for investigating epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and evaluating whether the target of interest holds therapeutic potential. Developing potent inhibitors for the plant homeodomain (PHD) family of methylation readers remains a difficult task due to the charged, shallow and extended nature of the histone binding site that precludes effective engagement of conventional small molecules. Herein, we describe the development of novel proximity-reactive cyclopeptide inhibitors for PHD3—a trimethyllysine reader domain of histone demethylase KDM5A. Guided by the PHD3–histone co-crystal structure, we designed a sidechain-to-sidechain linking strategy to improve peptide proteolytic stability whilst maintaining binding affinity. We have developed an operationally simple solid-phase macrocyclization pathway, capitalizing on the inherent reactivity of the dimethyllysine ε-amino group to generate scaffolds bearing charged tetraalkylammonium functionalities that effectively engage the shallow aromatic ‘groove’ of PHD3. Leveraging a surface-exposed lysine residue on PHD3 adjacent to the ligand binding site, cyclic peptides were rendered covalent through installation of an arylsulfonyl fluoride warhead. The resulting lysine-reactive cyclic peptides demonstrated rapid and efficient labeling of the PHD3 domain in HEK293T lysates, showcasing the feasibility of employing proximity-induced reactivity for covalent labeling of this challenging family of reader domains.

We describe the development of covalent cyclic peptide ligands which target a chromatin methylation reader domain using a proximity-reactive sulfonyl fluoride moiety.     

CFD-DEM-VDGM method for simulation of particle fluidization behavior in multi-ring inclined-hole spouted fluidized bed

The simulation of particle fluidization behavior in a complex geometry with a large number of particles is challenging owing to the complexity of unstructured c...     

Established Liposome-Coated IMB16-4 Polymeric Nanoparticles (LNPs) for Increasing Cellular Uptake and Anti-Fibrotic Effects In Vitro

As a global health problem, liver fibrosis still does not have approved treatment. It was proved that N-(3,4,5-trichlorophenyl)-2(3-nitrobenzenesulfonamide) benzamide (IMB16-4) has anti-hepatic fibrosis activity. However, IMB16-4 displays poor water solubility and poor bioavailability. We are devoted to developing biodegraded liposome-coated polymeric nanoparticles (LNPs) as IMB16-4 delivery systems for improving aqueous solubility, cellular uptake, and anti-fibrotic effects. The physical states of IMB16-4−LNPs were analyzed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results show that IMB16-4−LNPs increased the drug loading compared to liposomes and enhanced cellular uptake behavior compared with IMB16-4−NPs. In addition, IMB16-4−LNPs could repress the expression of hepatic fibrogenesis-associated proteins, indicating that IMB16-4−LNPs exhibited evident anti-fibrotic effects.