Subtle Regulation Research Articles

Smart Directional Liquid Manipulation on Curvature-Ratchet Surfaces.

Structured surfaces leverage interfacial energy for directional liquid manipulation without external power, showing tremendous potential in microfluidics, green energy and biomedical applications. While the interplay of interfacial energy between solid surfaces and liquids is crucial for liquid manipulation, a systematic understanding of how the balance in liquid-solid interfacial energy affects liquid behaviors remains lacking. Here, using the curvature-ratchet surface as a generic example, we reveal the complex directional liquid dynamics inherent in the subtle regulation of liquid-solid interfacial energy. We show that curvature and tilt features regulate Laplace pressure asymmetry to enable directional, bidirectional and reverse liquid manipulation. These processes can be modulated by surface free energy and liquid surface tension, and we define their ratio as a new dimensionless number ζ to characterize the liquid-solid interfacial energy relationship. The balanced liquid control happens when ζ ∼ 1, which facilitates versatile liquid behaviors, e.g., fan-shaped spreading, gradient-induced redirection, and back-and-forth transport on various surface array arrangements, all resulting from matching structural designs with the proper ζ. Inspired by this, we showcase an innovative liquid-based information encryption technique, where the liquid displays correct information on preprogrammed surfaces only at designated ζ values. This study lays the groundwork for smart directional liquid manipulation and broadens its application domains.

The GhANT-GoPGF module regulates pigment gland development in cotton leaves.

Gossypium spp. pigment glands are a good model for studying plant secretory cavity structures. GoPGF (GOSSYPIUM PIGMENT GLAND FORMATION) is a well-characterized master transcription factor that controls gland formation in cotton; however, little is known about its transcriptional regulation. This study integrates yeast one-hybrid sequencing data and the previously reported single-cell RNA sequencing data to identify upstream GoPGF binding proteins. Several transcription factors preferentially expressed in pigment gland cells (PGCs) are identified, including the cotton AINTEGUMENTA ortholog GhANT. Silencing of GhANT produces a defective leaf-specific PGC phenotype. Knockdown of GhANT reduces mesophyll gland number and gossypol production, while CRISPR-mediated GhANT knockout suppresses mesophyll development. Overexpression of GhANT increases organ size but not cell size. GhANT binds to two CCG boxes in the GoPGF promoter to trigger GoPGF-GhJUB1-regulated gland formation. Our study dissects the subtle regulation of tissue-specific gland morphogenesis in cotton and provides molecular mechanisms to study secretory cavity structures widespread among vascular plants.

Sink-source driven metabolic acclimation of winter oilseed rape leaves (Brassica napus L.) to drought

The crop cycle of winter oilseed rape (WOSR) incorporates source-to-sink remobilisation during the vegetative stage as a principal factor influencing the ultimate seed yield. These processes are supported by the coordinated activity of the plant’s central metabolism. However, climate change-induced drought will affect the metabolic acclimation of WOSR sink/source relationships at this vegetative stage, with consequences that remain to be determined. In this study, we subjected WOSR to severe soil dehydration for 18 days and analysed the physiological and metabolic acclimation of sink and source leaves along the kinetics in combination with measurements of enzymatic activities and transcript levels. Overall, the acclimation of WOSR to drought led to subtle regulations of central metabolism in relation to leaf growth and Pro-induced osmotic adjustment. Notably, sink leaves drastically reduced their growth and transiently accumulated starch. Subsequent starch degradation correlated with the induction of beta-amylases, sucrose transporters, pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthases and proline accumulation. The functioning of the tricarboxylic acid cycle was also altered in sink leaves, as evidenced by variations in citrate, malate and associated enzymatic activities. The metabolic origin of Pro in sink leaves is discussed in relation to Pro accumulation in source leaves and the up-regulation of amino acid permease 1 and glutamine synthetase genes.

Treatment of acute pharyngitis in rats with season tea decoctions from traditional Chinese medicine through a synergistic and subtle regulation of ARNTL and BHLHE40

Ethnopharmacological relevanceWhile the seasonal variations in the human immune function and many infectious diseases are well-known, to develop therapeutic strategies regarding such seasonality is quite challenging. However, some traditional medical practices have already taken the seasonality into account, such as the “Season Tea” (ST) decoctions investigated in the present study. Aim of the studyWe present a study of the ST decoctions from traditional Chinese medicine, which include four formulae designed for the four seasons, aiming to investigate their pharmacological commonality and distinction. Materials and methodsA rat model of acute pharyngitis was utilized for the pharmacological study, and the effects of the ST decoctions were evaluated through histology, biomedical assays, microarray analysis, real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. ResultsThe experimental data show that all of the four ST formulae display good pharmaceutical effects on acute pharyngitis, and circadian rhythm appears to be a significant pathway for investigating their pharmacological commonality and distinction. Specifically, while all of the four ST decoctions can regulate the circadian-rhythm-related genes ARNTL and BHLHE40, the regulation is along different directions with the modification of the supplements and the substrates in each ST formula. ConclusionThese results indicate the correlation between the acute pharyngitis and circadian rhythm, and illustrate the possibility of synergistically and subtly regulating ARNTL and BHLHE40, which is significant for relevant drug development.

C─H Activation Enables the Construction of New Bis-Polyaryl Phenylpyridine Ruthenium Complexes: Conjugation and Rigidity Synergistic Effect for Advanced Electrochemiluminescence.

The access to bench-stable organometallic compounds unfolds new chemical space for medicinal and material sciences. In particular, stable organoruthenium compounds with constitutional and stereoisomeric forms for subtle regulation of electrochemiluminescence are intriguing and challenging. Here, coordination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on (2-phenylpyridine)2(CO)2Ru complex allows access to bis-polyaryl phenylpyridine (BPP) Ruthenium complex through C─H activation strategy and coupling reactions for installation of the functionalities with steric and electronic purposes. The photoluminescence and electrochemiluminescence of BPP Ru complexes are affected by the actual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons inherent properties. The anthracene derivatized BPP Ru complex (BPP-Ant) shows the best ECL performance and reveals an enormous ECL quantum efficiency of 1.6-fold higher than the golden standard Ru(bpy)3 2+. The unprecedentedly high efficiency is due to the best compromise between the structural conjugation and molecular rigidity from BPP-Ant providing a providential energy gap that facilitated the feasibility of electron transfer and favored the radiative energy release by experimentally and DFT calculations. Moreover, PL and spooling ECL spectroscopies are used to track and link multiple emission peaks of BPP-Ant at 445, 645, and 845nm to different emissive species. These discoveries will add a new member to the efficient ECL ruthenium complex family and bring more potentials.

Coordinated regulatory feedback between estradiol and miR-17-92 cluster in ovaries of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

Endogenous microRNAs (miRNAs), often distributed in clusters, can enable the subtle and precise regulation in gene expression via a variety of ways and different regions. In this study, multiple regulatory patterns for the estrogenic cyp19a1a and hsd17b12a genes by miR-17-92 cluster (miR-17, miR-18a, miR-19a, miR-20a, miR-19b and miR-92a) were investigated in ovaries of Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), the important marine cultured fish in North Asia with sexual dimorphism in growth and sex reversal scenario. Through dual-luciferase reporter assay, the regulation of P. olivaceus estrogenic genes by miR-17-92 cluster could be the combined multi-effect between 3′-UTR and 5′-ends targeting. For cyp19a1a, miR-17/20a induced its expression by binding to the promoter but simultaneously inhibited cyp19a1a through 3′-UTR targeting, while miR-92a activated cyp19a1a by binding to the promoter, which made the overall up-regulation of cyp19a1a more significant. For hsd17b12a, the binding of miR-17/20a and miR-92a to the promoter and the binding of miR-18a to 3′-UTR all inhibited its expression, which ultimately reduced the hsd17b12a level. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments in P. olivaceus ovaries confirmed these canonical and non-canonical regulatory patterns of miR-17-92 cluster, which coordinately reduced the estradiol (E2) level. Moreover, E2 could act as a repressor of miR-17-92 cluster, which may form a regulatory feedback loop whereby E2 regulates estrogenic process through miR-17-92 cluster. These results contributed to a deeper understanding of the miR-17-92 cluster function in teleosts and provided more insights into the molecular mechanism of fish reproductive regulation.

Effect of calcination temperature on Co/sepiolite catalyst for hydrogen production by ethanol steam reforming: Co speciation from phyllosilicate to spinel

Hydrogen production via ethanol steam reforming (ESR) was conducted over amorphous sepiolite (SEP) supported Co based catalysts, deeming as a green and sustainable strategy for renewable energy. However, the subtle regulation to the ESR reactivity of Co/SEP catalysts still remains a challenge. Given the structure sensitive property of ESR, calcination temperature, as a vital regulation parameter, was used to control the key physicochemical properties of catalysts. By various characterization techniques, the results revealed that a calcination temperature mediated metal-support interaction was manifested in the form of Co speciation evolution. With increasing calcination temperature, the occurrence states of Co species change from Co oxides to Co-phyllosilicate then to Co-Al spinel. The ESR experiments indicated that Co/SEP-600 catalyst possessed a suboptimal activity via a dehydrogenation route and a 50 h stability due to a compromising among Co-phyllosilicate dominated MSI, texture, Co0 nanoparticle size and acid-base property. The further improvement of calcination temperature only brought about a poor stability of Co/SEP-700 with a phase transformation or a low activity of Co/SEP-800 with an irreducible Co-Al spinel. Hence, the interaction type of Co with SEP framework Si/Al atoms determined the ESR reactivity of the catalysts, which was modulated by the calcination temperature. Additionally, abundant graphitic coke deposition on the agglomerated Co0 grains was attributed the weak MSI, such as Co/SEP-400, while a slight coke deposition appeared at Co/SEP-800 with an irreducible Co-Al spinel phase.

Full-Color-Adjustable Nanophotonic Device Adopting Electrochromic Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Thin Films.

Intercalation-based organic polymers that shift their colors during ion insertion and extraction provide a significant basis for existing electrochromic technology. Nevertheless, the complexity of modifying the structure in the skeleton or combining several diverse polymers to produce a full-color range has restricted the practical applications of electrochromic materials. Herein, we demonstrate two configurations of the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) Fabry-Perot (F-P) nanocavity-type electrochromic devices fabricated by spray coating lossless PEDOT on the F-P metasurfaces (Cr/ITO/Ag/Cr), which allows full-color response by simply controlling the thickness of dielectric layer indium tin oxide (ITO). However, the reflected light from the PEDOT F-P nanocavity-type electrode can be modulated by electrically controllable optical absorption of PEDOT. Besides, the subtle brightness regulation could be obtained in our F-P nanocavity electrochromic devices via altering the PEDOT thickness. Overall, our results offer a novel perspective for versatile color control of PEDOT.

The Mutation of the DNA-Binding Domain of Fur Protein Enhances the Pathogenicity of Edwardsiella piscicida via Inducing Overpowering Pyroptosis.

Edwardsiella piscicida is an important fish pathogen with a broad host that causes substantial economic losses in the aquaculture industry. Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a global transcriptional regulator and contains two typical domains, the DNA-binding domain and dimerization domain. In a previous study, we obtained a mutant strain of full-length fur of E. piscicida, TX01Δfur, which displayed increased siderophore production and stress resistance factors and decreased pathogenicity. To further reveal the regulatory mechanism of Fur, the DNA-binding domain (N-terminal) of Fur was knocked out in this study and the mutant was named TX01Δfur2. We found that TX01Δfur2 displayed increased siderophore production and enhanced adversity tolerance, including a low pH, manganese, and high temperature stress, which was consistent with the phenotype of TX01Δfur. Contrary to TX01Δfur, whose virulence was weakened, TX01Δfur2 displayed an ascended invasion of nonphagocytic cells and enhanced destruction of phagocytes via inducing overpowering or uncontrollable pyroptosis, which was confirmed by the fact that TX01Δfur2 induced higher levels of cytotoxicity, IL-1β, and p10 in macrophages than TX01. More importantly, TX01Δfur2 displayed an increased global virulence to the host, which was confirmed by the result that TX01Δfur2 caused higher lethality outcomes for healthy tilapias than TX01. These results demonstrate that the mutation of the Fur N-terminal domain augments the resistance level against the stress and pathogenicity of E. piscicida, which is not dependent on the bacterial number in host cells or host tissues, although the capabilities of biofilm formation and the motility of TX01Δfur2 decline. These interesting findings provide a new insight into the functional analysis of Fur concerning the regulation of virulence in E. piscicida and prompt us to explore the subtle regulation mechanism of Fur in the future.

New insight into the traditional model of the coagulation cascade and its regulation: illustrated review of a three-dimensional view

The coagulation process relies on an intricate network of three-dimensional structural interactions and subtle biological regulations. In the present review, we illustrate the state of the art of the structural biology of the coagulation cascade by surveying the Protein Data Bank and the EBI AlphaFold databases. Investigations performed in the last decade have provided structural information on essentially all players involved in the process. Indeed, the initial characterization of specific and rather canonical domains has been progressively extended to complicated multidomain proteins. Recently, the application of cryogenic electron microscopy techniques has unraveled the structural features of highly complex coagulation factors, which has led to enhanced understanding. This review initially focuses on the structure of the individual factors as a function of their involvement in intrinsic, extrinsic, and common pathways. A specific emphasis is given to what is known or unknown on the structural basis of each step of the cascade. Available data providing clues on the structural recognition of the factors involved in the functional partnerships of the pathways are illustrated. Recent structures of important complexes formed by these proteins with regulators are described, focusing on the drugs used as anticoagulants and on their reversal agents. Finally, we highlight the different roles that innovative biomolecules such as aptamers may have in the regulation of the cascade.

Mourners who can not mourn: Argentina's Parque de la Memoria as a spatial threshold of memory

In this paper I explore the subtle regulation of cultural practice in Argentina's Parque de la Memoria. I interpret the Parque de la Memoria, or memory park, as a spatial threshold. When family members of the desaparecidos enter the park they enter the memory of the spatial threshold as what remains (of what remained) of the violent attempt by the Argentine military regime to spatialise political order. The desaparecidos, or disappeared, were to be captured and performatively constituted in the space of exception as the embodiment of a terrorist subversion that threatened Argentina's re-founding as a Western, Christian civilisation. To resist the temptation to leave a flower at the monument as the memory of the spatial threshold between the sacred and profane, life and death, the city and the river, is to hold open the possibility for an alternative politics by maintaining potentiality's link to impotentiality as the ability to not-mourn. It is in this potentiality, not-yet-actualised and thus not exhausted, that space is opened for a post-dictatorship politics in Argentina that would reach beyond the exhausted notions of the need for reconciliation with, or the redemption of, the disappearances of the disappeared.

Toward an Ethical Framework for Smart Cities and the Internet of Things

As smart cities increasingly become real, an ethical framework for them becomes increasingly necessary. Surprisingly, current approaches largely disregard such a framework and concentrate primarily on challenges pertaining to the data lifecycle. However, a smart city involves much more than data gathering: it involves the interactions of residents, businesses, and government agencies with respect to public and private resources subject to potentially subtle regulations and other norms. This article introduces a sociotechnical view of smart cities and shows how it may be profitably mapped to the moral foundation theory to provide a comprehensive ethical framework.

Enzymes and Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation: A New Era for the Regulation of Enzymatic Activity

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is recognized as a mechanism for regulation of enzymatic activity. Biochemical mechanisms include concentrating reactants to enhance reaction rates or sequester enzymes and reactants from each other to reduce the reaction rate. On the other hand, LLPS might also regulate the diffusion of small molecules or important parameters for enzymatic activity (such as modulators, macromolecular crowding and changing the media physicochemical features) increasing or decreasing the reaction rate of the enzymes. Furthermore, the co-compartmentalization of specific enzymes can favour or speed up specific metabolic fluxes. Here, we discuss how LLPS contributed to generate a new era for enzyme regulation and the new possible subtle regulation mechanisms still unexplored.

A versatile and convenient tool for regulation of DNA strand displacement and post-modification on pre-fabricated DNA nanodevices.

Toehold-mediated strand displacement and its regulatory tools are fundamental for DNA nanotechnology. However, current regulatory tools all need to change the original sequence of reactants, making the regulation inconvenient and cumbersome. More importantly, the booming development of DNA nanotechnology will soon promote the production of packaged and batched devices or circuits with specified functions. Regarding standardized, packaged DNA nanodevices, access to personalized post-modification will greatly help users, whereas none of the current regulatory tools can provide such access, which has greatly constrained DNA nanodevices from becoming more powerful and practical. Herein, we developed a novel regulation tool named Cap which has two basic functions of subtle regulation of the reaction rate and erasability. Based on these functions, we further developed three advanced functions. Through integration of all functions of Cap and its distinct advantage of working independently, we finally realized personalized tailor-made post-modification on pre-fabricated DNA circuits. A pre-fabricated dual-output DNA circuit was successfully transformed into an equal-output circuit, a signal-antagonist circuit and a covariant circuit according to our requirements. Taken together, Cap is easy to design and generalizable for all strand displacement-based DNA nanodevices. We believe the Cap tool will be widely used in regulating reaction networks and personalized tailor-made post-modification of DNA nanodevices.

“On Water” Effect for Green Click Reaction: Spontaneous Polymerization of Activated Alkyne with “Inert” Aromatic Amine in Aqueous Media

“On Water” Effect for Green Click Reaction: Spontaneous Polymerization of Activated Alkyne with “Inert” Aromatic Amine in Aqueous Media

Engineering luminescence switching and photochromic performance in tungsten bronze oxides for handwriting display based on variable valence ion strategy

Inorganic luminescence materials with intelligent response to external stimuli have drawn considerable interest owing to their alluring applications. Photochromic (PC) is a reversible process which can be adopted to construct subtle luminescence regulation. However, the PC effect is commonly weak for most inorganic materials. It is still challenging to realize strong luminescence switching and PC effect in general inorganic compounds. To fill this gap, tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) oxides with ingenious upconversion (UC) luminescence modulation and prominent PC phenomenon were designed by introducing variable valence ion (Mo6+). Under this decorating, the UC luminescence switching ratio and PC contrast could be increased up to 2 and 4 times, respectively. The real-time information encoding based on PC and UC modulation was realized in TTB wafer, confirming the instant handwriting dual-mode display capacity. It is believed that this work will shed new light on the designing of terminal display devices.

LANCE: a Label-Free Live Apoptotic and Necrotic Cell Explorer Using Convolutional Neural Network Image Analysis.

Identifying and quantifying cell death is the basis for all cell death research. Current methods for obtaining these quantitative measurements rely on established biomarkers, yet the marker-based approach suffers from limited marker specificity, high cost of reagents, lengthy sample preparation, and fluorescence imaging. Based on the morphological difference, we developed a Live, Apoptotic, and Necrotic Cell Explorer (LANCE) to categorize cell death status in a label-free manner, by incorporating machine learning and image processing. The LANCE workflow includes cropping individual cells from microscopic images having hundreds of cells, formation of an image database of around 5000 events, training and validation of the convolutional neural network models using multiple cell lines, and treatment conditions. With LANCE, we precisely categorized live, apoptotic, and necrotic cells with a high accuracy of 96.3 ± 0.5%. More importantly, the nondestructive label-free LANCE method allows for tracking time dynamics of the cell death process, which enhances the understanding of subtle cell death regulation at the molecular level. Hence, LANCE is a fast, low-cost, and nondestructive label-free method to distinguish cell status, which can be applied to cell death studies as well as many other biomedical applications.

Functional characterization of a cell wall invertase inhibitor StInvInh1 revealed its involvement in potato microtuber size in vitro.

Cell wall invertase (CWI) is as an essential coordinator in carbohydrate partitioning and sink strength determination, thereby playing key roles in plant development. Emerging evidence revealed that the subtle regulation of CWI activity considerably depends on the post-translational mechanism by their inhibitors (INHs). In our previous research, two putative INHs (StInvInh1 and StInvInh3) were expected as targets of CWI in potato (Solanum tubersum), a model species of tuberous plants. Here, transcript analysis revealed that StInvInh1 showed an overall higher expression than StInhInh3 in all tested organs. Then, StInvInh1 was further selected to study. In accordance with this, the activity of StInvInh1 promoter increased with the development of leaves in plantlets but decreased with the development of microtubers in vitro and mainly appeared in vascular bundle. The recombinant protein StInvInh1 displayed inhibitory activities on the extracted CWI in vitro and StInvInh1 interacted with a CWI StcwINV2 in vivo by bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Furthermore, silencing StInvInh1 in potato dramatically increased the CWI activity without changing activities of vacuolar and cytoplasmic invertase, indicating that StInvInh1 functions as a typical INH of CWI. Releasing CWI activity in StInvInh1 RNA interference transgenic potato led to improvements in potato microtuber size in coordination with higher accumulations of dry matter in vitro. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that StInvInh1 encodes an INH of CWI and regulates the microtuber development process through fine-tuning apoplastic sucrose metabolism, which may provide new insights into tuber development.

Structural Fine‐Tuning and In‐situ Generation of P, O Vacancies in Hollow Co‐Ferrocene‐MOFs Derived Phosphides for Efficient Water Oxidation

AbstractAs the high overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction seriously affect the efficiency of water splitting, catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction need further improvement by precise structural design and fine‐tuning. In this study, hollow Co‐Ferrocene‐MOFs derived phosphides are synthesized successfully. Phase conversion and vacancies generation are realized simultaneously in our strategy. By the subtle regulation of doped Zn, metallic Co2P increases gradually in the mixed ConP crystal phases and abundant P, O vacancies generate in‐situ. The synergistic effect of enriched P, O vacancies, metallic Co2P and the unique morphology endows catalysts with more reaction sites and high conductivity, leading to a remarkable catalytical performance. Zn doped CoFeP@NC with Co/Zn feeding ratio of 1 : 3 offers small overpotentials of 270 mV and 313 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm−2, respectively. This study introduces a promising strategy for the synthesis of high efficiency catalysts.

RBM47 is a Critical Regulator of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are pivotal for regulating gene expression as they are involved in each step of RNA metabolism. Several RBPs are essential for viable growth and development in mammals. RNA-binding motif 47 (RBM47) is an RRM-containing RBP whose role in mammalian embryonic development is poorly understood yet deemed to be essential since its loss in mouse embryos leads to perinatal lethality. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the significance of RBM47 in cell-fate decisions of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Downregulation of Rbm47 did not affect mESC maintenance and the cell cycle but perturbed the expression of primitive endoderm (PrE) markers and increased GATA4 + PrE-like cells. However, the PrE misregulation could be reversed by either overexpressing Rbm47 or treating the knockdown mESCs with the inhibitors of FGFR or MEK, suggesting an implication of RBM47 in regulating FGF-ERK signaling. Rbm47 knockdown affected the multi-lineage differentiation potential of mESCs as it regressed teratoma in NSG mice and led to a skewed expression of differentiation markers in serum-induced monolayer differentiation. Further, lineage-specific differentiation revealed that Rbm47 is essential for proper differentiation of mESCs towards neuroectodermal and endodermal fate. Taken together, we assign a hitherto unknown role(s) to RBM47 in a subtle regulation of mESC differentiation.Graphical Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12015-022-10441-w.