Programmable Live-Cell CRISPR Imaging with Toehold-Switch-Mediated Strand Displacement

The widespread application of CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed genome engineering. Nevertheless, the precision to control the targeting activity of Cas9 requires further improvement. We report a toehold-switch-based approach to engineer the conformation of single guide RNA (sgRNA) for programmable activation of Cas9. This activation circuit is responsive to multiple inputs and can regulate the conformation of the sgRNA through toehold-switch-mediated strand displacement. We demonstrate the orthogonal suppression and activation of Cas9 with orthogonal DNA inputs. Combination of toehold switches leads to a variety of intracellular Cas9 activation programs with simultaneous and orthogonal responses, through which multiple genome loci are displayed in different colors in a controllable manner. This approach provides a new route for programing CRISPR in living cells for genome imaging and engineering.     

Noninvasive prenatal paternity testing by maternal plasma DNA sequencing in twin pregnancies

SNPs, combined with massively parallel sequencing technology, have proven applicability in noninvasive prenatal paternity testing (NIPPT) for singleton pregnancies in our previous research, using circulating cell-free DNA in maternal plasma. However, the feasibility of NIPPT in twin pregnancies has remained uncertain. As a pilot study, we developed a practical method to noninvasively determine the paternity of twin pregnancies by maternal plasma DNA sequencing based on a massively parallel sequencing platform. Blood samples were collected from 15 pregnant women (twin pregnancies at 9–18 weeks of gestation). Parental DNA and maternal plasma cell-free DNA were analyzed with custom-designed probes covering 5226 polymorphic SNP loci. A mathematical model for data interpretation was established, including the zygosity determination and paternity index calculations. Each plasma sample was independently tested against the alleged father and 90 unrelated males. As a result, the zygosity in each twin case was correctly determined, prior to paternity analysis. Further, the correct biological father was successfully identified, and the paternity of all 90 unrelated males was excluded in each case. Our study demonstrates that NIPPT can be performed for twin pregnancies. This finding may contribute to development in NIPPT and diagnosis of certain genetic diseases.     

A method of identifying the blood contributor in mixture stains through detecting blood-specific mRNA polymorphism

In the past decades, messenger RNA (mRNA) biomarkers have been employed to identify the origin of body fluids in forensic medicine. We hypothesized that the polymorphism of mRNA could be applied to identify individuals in mixture samples composed of two body fluids. In this study, we selected five blood-specific mRNA biomarkers of venous blood (SPTB, CD3G, AMICA1, ANK1, and GYPA) that encompass 16 SNPs to identify the mixture contributor(s). Five specific gene markers for menstrual blood, semen, skin, saliva, and vaginal secretions were amplified and typed as body-fluid positive controls. We established the system of multiplex PCR and single base extension (SBE) reaction followed by CE. The amplicon size was between 90bp and 294bp. The peripheral blood specificity was examined against other human body fluids, including saliva, semen, skin, menstrual blood, and vaginal secretion. The 16 SNPs were peripheral blood specific and could be successfully typed in homemade mixtures which are composed of different body fluids with 1 ng peripheral blood mRNA added. This system showed a supersensitivity (1:100) in detecting the trace amount of peripheral blood mixed in other body fluids and a combined discrimination power (CDP) of 0.99929 in Chinese population. It was the first time to establish a method for identifying the blood donors and deconvoluting mixtures through detecting mRNA polymorphism with SNaPshot assay. This peripheral blood specific SNP typing system showed high sensitivity to the typing of blood source specific markers regardless of other body fluids in the mixture.     

应用于水相有机液流电池的双电子紫精化合物

由3-氯-1,2-丙二醇与4,4'-联吡啶通过简单的一步反应得到具有双电子特性的1,1'-双(2,3-二羟丙基)-(4,4'-联吡啶)二氯化物(DHPV²⁺Cl^2-), 其理论比容量为142.56 mA·h/g. 电化学测试结果表明, 该材料有利于提升电池容量, 且还原电位低至-0.807 V(vs. Ag/AgCl). 以NaCl为支持电解质、 DHPV²⁺Cl^2-为负极活性物质、 氮氧自由基哌啶醇(4-OH-TEMPO)为正极活性物质的全电池电压高达1.562 V, 且可在10~100 mA/cm²的电流密度下稳定运行. 采用25 mA/cm²的电流密度充放电, 活性物质的有效利用率为70.90%. 循环100次后的放电容量保持率为98.09%, 每次循环的容量平均保持率为99.93%, 表现出较好的循环性能.     

使用四乙基氢氧化铵作为有机模板剂和常规硅铝源直接合成SSZ-13沸石分子筛

使用四乙基氢氧化铵作为有机模板剂, 利用常规铝源和硅源而不需要高硅Y沸石作为起始原料, 同时加入适量的沸石晶种直接合成了SSZ-13沸石分子筛. 所合成的沸石产物结晶度好, 具有良好的水热稳定性, 并在氨选择性催化还原(NH₃-SCR)反应中显示出优异的催化性能, 为其在工业上广泛应用提供了可能.     

Metal–Organic Gels from Silver Nanoclusters with Aggregation-Induced Emission and Fluorescence-to-Phosphorescence Switching

Luminescent metal nanoclusters (NCs) are emerging as a new class of functional materials that have rich physicochemical properties and wide potential applications. In recent years, it has been found that some metal NCs undergo aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and an interesting fluorescence-to-phosphorescence (F-P) switching in solutions. However, insights of both the AIE and the F-P switching remain largely unknown. Now, gelation of water soluble, atomically precise Ag₉ NCs is achieved by the addition of antisolvent. Self-assembly of Ag₉ NCs into entangled fibers was confirmed, during which AIE was observed together with an F-P switching occurring within a narrow time scale. Structural evaluation indicates the fibers are highly ordered. The self-assembly of Ag₉ NCs and their photoluminescent property are thermally reversible, making the metal–organic gels good candidates for luminescent ratiometric thermometers.     

Substrate-Induced Dimerization Assembly of Chiral Macrocycle Catalysts toward Cooperative Asymmetric Catalysis

An artificial system of substrate-induced dimerization assembly of chiral macrocycle catalysts enables a highly cooperative hydrogen-bonding activation network for efficient enantioselective transformation. These macrocycles contain two thiourea and two chiral diamine moieties and dimerize with sulfate to form a sandwich-like assembly. The macrocycles then adopt an extended conformation and reciprocally complement the hydrogen-bonding interaction sites. Inspired by the guest-induced dynamic assembly, these macrocycles catalyze the decarboxylative Mannich reaction of cyclic aldimines containing a sulfamate heading group. The imine substrate can be activated toward nucleophilic attack of β-ketoacid by a cooperative hydrogen-bonding network enabled by sulfamate-induced dimerization assembly of the macrocycle catalysts. Highly efficient (>95 % yield in most cases) and enantioselective (up to 97.5:2.5 er) transformation of a variety of substrates using only 5 mol % macrocycle was achieved.     

Visible-Light-Driven Halogen Bond Donor Based Molecular Switches: From Reversible Unwinding to Handedness Inversion in Self-Organized Soft Helical Superstructures

Visible-light-driven molecular switches endowing reversible modulation of the functionalities of self-organized soft materials are currently highly sought after for fundamental scientific studies and technological applications. Reported herein are the design and synthesis of two novel halogen bond donor based chiral molecular switches that exhibit reversible photoisomerization upon exposure to visible light of different wavelengths. These chiral molecular switches induce photoresponsive helical superstructures, that is, cholesteric liquid crystals, when doped into the commercially available room-temperature achiral liquid crystal host 5CB, which also acts as a halogen-bond acceptor. The induced helical superstructure containing the molecular switch with terminal iodo atoms exhibits visible-light-driven reversible unwinding, that is, a cholesteric–nematic phase transition. Interestingly, the molecular switch with terminal bromo atoms confers reversible handedness inversion to the helical superstructure upon irradiation with visible light of different wavelengths. This visible-light-driven, reversible handedness inversion, enabled by a halogen bond donor molecular switch, is unprecedented.     

Formation and Fate of Formaldehyde in Methanol-to-Hydrocarbon Reaction: In Situ Synchrotron Radiation Photoionization Mass Spectrometry Study

HCHO has been confirmed as an active intermediate in the methanol-to-hydrocarbon (MTH) reaction, and is critical for interpreting the mechanisms of coke formation. Here, HCHO was detected and quantified during the MTH process over HSAPO-34 and HZSM-5 by in situ synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry. Compared with conventional methods, excellent time-resolved profiles were obtained to study the formation and fate of HCHO, and other products during the induction, steady-state reaction, and deactivation periods. Similar formation trends of HCHO and methane, and their close correlation in yields suggest that they are derived from disproportionation of methanol at acidic sites. In the presence of Y₂O₃, the amount of HCHO changes, affecting the hydrogen-transfer processes of olefins into aromatics and aromatics into cokes. The yield of HCHO affects the aromatic-based cycle and the formation of ethylene, indicating that ethylene is mainly formed from the aromatic-based cycle.     

常见客体分子对笼型水合物晶格常数的影响

Natural gas hydrates are considered as ideal alternative energy resources for the future, and the relevant basic and applied research has become more attractive in recent years. The influence of guest molecules on the hydrate crystal lattice parameters is of great significances to the understanding of hydrate structural characteristics, hydrate formation/decomposition mechanisms, and phase stability behaviors. In this study, we test a series of artificial hydrate samples containing different guest molecules (e.g. methane, ethane, propane, iso-butane, carbon dioxide, tetrahydrofuran, methane + 2, 2-dimethylbutane, and methane + methyl cyclohexane) by a low-temperature powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Results show that PXRD effectively elucidates structural characteristics of the natural gas hydrate samples, including crystal lattice parameters and structure types. The relationships between guest molecule sizes and crystal lattice parameters reveal that different guest molecules have different controlling behaviors on the hydrate types and crystal lattice constants. First, a positive correlation between the lattice constants and the van der Waals diameters of homologous hydrocarbon gases was observed in the single-guest-component hydrates. Small hydrocarbon homologous gases, such as methane and ethane, tended to form sI hydrates, whereas relatively larger molecules, such as propane and iso-butane, generated sⅡ hydrates. The hydrate crystal lattice constants increased with increasing guest molecule size. The types of hydrates composed of oxygen-containing guest molecules (such as CO₂ and THF) were also controlled by the van der Waals diameters. However, no positive correlation between the lattice constants and the van der Waals diameters of guest molecules in hydrocarbon hydrates was observed for CO₂ hydrate and THF hydrate, probably due to the special interactions between the guest oxygen atoms and hydrate "cages". Furthermore, the influences of the macromolecules and auxiliary small molecules on the lengths of the different crystal axes of the sH hydrates showed inverse trends. Compared to the methane + 2, 2-dimethylbutane hydrate sample, the length of the a-axis direction of the methane + methyl cyclohexane hydrate sample was slightly smaller, whereas the length of the c-axis direction was slightly longer. The crystal a-axis length of the sH hydrate sample formed with nitrogen molecules was slightly longer, whereas the c-axis was shorter than that of the methane + 2, 2-dimethylbutane hydrate sample at the same temperature.