Quinclorac (QNC) is a highly selective herbicide with hormone-like properties and low toxicity, primarily employed to control barnyard grass in paddy fields. Owing to its extended half-life, it readily accumulates in soil, thereby inhibiting the growth and development of subsequent crops. Additionally, long-term residual accumulation of QNC has notable repercussions on soil microbial communities. Certain bacteria capable of degrading QNC have been identified, effectively diminishing its soil residues and thus mitigating its ecological impact. For the first time, high-throughput sequencing technology (Illumina MiSeq) was employed to assess the influence of both QNC and the newly isolated QNC-degrading bacterial strain D on soil microorganisms in contaminated paddy fields. The study yielded significant findings: substantial variances were observed in the composition and structural diversity of microbial communities across various treatments. Furthermore, strain D demonstrated a restorative effect on microbial community composition and structural diversity. QNC was found to suppress specific functions within soil bacteria and fungi, altering the constitution of functional groups. Interestingly, strain D counteracted the suppressive effect of QNC, contributing positively to the restoration of soil microbial ecology. Consequently, this research offers a novel strain resource and a theoretical foundation for microbiologically mitigating QNC contamination in paddy fields.
Carbon monoxide (CO), hypothetically linked to prebiotic biosynthesis and possibly the origin of the life, emerges as a substantive growth substrate for numerous microorganisms. In anoxic environments, the coupling of CO oxidation with hydrogen (H
Point-of-care testing (POCT) devices represent a growing field that aims to develop low-cost, rapid, sensitive diagnostic testing platforms that are portable and self-contained. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an approach has shown high potential in POCT technology. However, the specificity or ability to uniquely detect a desired biomarker in complex biological samples is a key factor for translating SERS technologies to POCT. Herein, we fabricated cellulose SERS strips (CS) decorated with novel plasmonic nanoparticles, termed graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals (GIANs), for the portable detection of complex biological samples. This CS@GIANs SERS strip was used to detect free bilirubin (BR) in the blood of newborns, a biomarker of jaundice, without sample labeling or prepreparation. CS@GIANs showed superior affinity to hydrophobic BR molecules compared to typical SERS substrate, which reduced the steric hindrance effect from the nonspecific binding of BR with serum albumin in blood and improved sensitivity. Meanwhile, with the separation property of cellulose chromatography papers, CS@GIANs showed superior anti-interference to other biomolecules that had been previously adsorbed on the SERS strip. Moreover, the SERS signal from the graphitic shell of GIANs could be used as a stable internal calibration standard, which improved the reproducibility and accuracy of Raman analysis. Such a cellulose SERS strip holds high potential for enhancing current efforts in the development of rapid and low-cost point-of-care diagnostic testing.
Discrete metal–organic molecules are an ideal class of hybrid templates for in situ encapsulation of different redox-active metal sites inside porous silicate materials. Herein, we report a proposed strategy for the synthesis of a porous metal silicate (PMS) material (denoted as PMS-2) by employing molecular Cu/Co-benzoate coordination complex as the template. The pore distribution, particle size, and redox metallic site could be systematically controlled by tuning the counterbalance of Cu/Co ions, and the concentrations of benzoic acid and tetraethyl orthosilicate. PMS-2 results in low apparent activation temperature of 50 °C and high turnover frequency of 24.9 h–1 at 110 °C for hydrogenation of furfural, which represents the most active catalyst, compared with the noble metal-free catalysts in the literature. The unique catalytic properties of PMS-2 should be ascribed to the synergistic work between Cu and Co metal sites, high surface area (675 m2g–1) and narrow pore size distribution (∼1.5 nm) for the unique PMS material, which can be further developed for extensive catalytic reactions.
An efficient and practical method to construct benzimidazoles via Rh(III)-catalyzed sequential C-H amination and annulation cascade reaction has been developed. The cascade reaction displays high step, atom, and redox economy, is compatible with the air, and has good functional group tolerance and high efficiency. The titled products can be easily further converted into imidazo[4,5-c]acridines, which were observed unique fluorescent properties.
In recent years, with the scale and standardization of Stichopus japonicus mariculture, artificial reefs are increasingly used in S. japonicus farming to promote the development of the S. japonicus aquaculture industry. To provide shelter and improve the habitat environment for S. japonicus, three types of artificial reefs (box-shaped reef, triangular-shaped reef, and trapezoidal-shaped reef) were designed according to the ecological habitats of S. japonicus and the marine environment of Haizhou Bay (China) in the present study. After comprehensively comparing the three reef structures, we found that the trapezoidal-shaped reef has good permeability, a larger attachment area, and excellent anti-slip and anti-overturning properties. Further, the flow field characteristics surrounding a trapezoidal-shaped reef at different angles and flow velocities are investigated by three-dimensional numerical simulations. Then, the impact of the placement distance on the flow field surrounding the artificial reef combination was investigated. At the head-on angle θ = 0°, the upwelling volume increases as the flow velocity increases and then decreases, and the back eddy volume remains relatively constant. At the longitudinal spacing D = 4 L, the large slow-flow area surrounding the reef under this condition is more suitable for the S. japonicus habitat. In this study, the trapezoidal-shaped reef design is suitable and beneficial for S. japonicus aquaculture. Moreover, this study will contribute theoretical references to the design and arrangement of artificial reefs in coastal areas.
Peptide separations that combine high sensitivity, robustness, peak capacity, and throughput are essential for extending bottom-up proteomics to smaller samples including single cells. To this end, we have developed a multicolumn nanoLC system with offline gradient generation. One binary pump generates gradients in an accelerated fashion to support multiple analytical columns, and a single trap column interfaces with all analytical columns to reduce required maintenance and simplify troubleshooting. A high degree of parallelization is possible, as one sample undergoes separation while the next sample plus its corresponding mobile phase gradient are transferred into the storage loop and a third sample is loaded into a sample loop. Selective offline elution from the trap column into the sample loop prevents salts and hydrophobic species from entering the analytical column, thus greatly enhancing column lifetime and system robustness. With this design, samples can be analyzed as fast as every 20 min at a flow rate of just 40 nL/min with close to 100% MS utilization time and continuously for as long as several months without column replacement. We utilized the system to analyze the proteomes of single cells from a multiple myeloma cell line upon treatment with the immunomodulatory imide drug lenalidomide.
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