Synthetic Technology Research Articles

A Review of Antimicrobial Peptides: Structure, Mechanism of Action, and Molecular Optimization Strategies

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are bioactive macromolecules that exhibit antibacterial, antiviral, and immunomodulatory functions. They come from a wide range of sources and are found in all forms of life, from bacteria to plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates, and play an important role in controlling the spread of pathogens, promoting wound healing and treating tumors. Consequently, AMPs have emerged as promising alternatives to next-generation antibiotics. With advancements in systems biology and synthetic biology technologies, it has become possible to synthesize AMPs artificially. We can better understand their functional activities for further modification and development by investigating the mechanism of action underlying their antimicrobial properties. This review focuses on the structural aspects of AMPs while highlighting their significance for biological activity. Furthermore, it elucidates the membrane targeting mechanism and intracellular targets of these peptides while summarizing molecular modification approaches aimed at enhancing their antibacterial efficacy. Finally, this article outlines future challenges in the functional development of AMPs along with proposed strategies to overcome them.

R744 Refrigeration Solution for Small Supermarkets

Application based technology solution is nowadays preferred to achieve the performance of the cooling system configuration at its best. Therefore, benchmarking is an essential criterion which would add value to the optimum system design for various applications. In this study, a case study is carried out for a Milk Bar (small supermarket) to evaluate the potential of R744 cooling system for the similar cooling demand and tropical conditions. Field data collected during a particular time and temperature zone is further used to develop a yearly round performance of the HFC plug-in cabinets for MT and LT applications. The data is further used to develop a centralized R744 booster system that would meet the similar cooling load and demand of all the cabinets in the shop. Based on the cooling loads for the HFC unit, the yearly performance of the R774 booster system is calculated and compared to the existing plug-in solution. It is observed that the yearly electric energy consumption for the R744 centralized refrigeration system is 3.3 M W·h, 24% lower than with the existing solution based on HFCs. Moreover, the economic prospective of the R744 is further discussed to alternative material for the components and centralized unit structure which could empower the system with more reliability and an effective substitute to the synthetic technology for smaller supermarkets. This article is a translation of the article by Singh S, Pardiñas ÁÁ, Hafner A, Schlemminger C, Banasiak K. R744 Refrigeration Solution for Small Supermarkets. In: Proceedings of the 9th IIR Conference on the Ammonia and CO2 Refrigeration Technologies. Ohrid: IIF/IIR, 2021. DOI: 10.18462/iir.nh3-co2.2021.0030 Published with the permission of the copyright holder.

Green Chemistry in Pharmaceutical Synthesis: Sustainable Strategies for Drug Production

The world is shifting from traditional synthetic or chemical technologies towards greener methods due to increasing concerns about maintaining a clean and sustainable environment. The development of eco-friendly products through processes that support environmental sustainability is referred to as a "green approach." In the pharmaceutical industry, there is growing attention to green synthesis of chemicals and materials, both in research and applied science, because green chemistry eliminates harmful processes and materials while promoting innovation in drug and therapeutic agent development. Green chemistry encompasses chemical reactions that minimize environmental impact and reduce toxicity. This field is rapidly evolving within pharmaceutical synthesis, focusing on the creation of sustainable medicines. This review explores the principles and practical applications of this innovative strategy within the pharmaceutical sector. By using environmentally friendly chemical processes, green chemistry reduces hazardous materials and pollution. Its aim is to mitigate the environmental footprint of drug production without compromising the quality and effectiveness of medicines. The approach also emphasizes the use of renewable and sustainable resources, such as shifting from petrochemical-based to bio-based feedstocks, allowing pharmaceutical companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions

New functionally substitutes cyclopropanecarboxylic acids as ethylene biosynthesis innovative regulators

Background: Derivatives of small carbocycles (cyclobutanes and cyclopropanes) are known as bioactive molecules. Both their natural and synthetic representatives have multiple applications. Particularly, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) serves as the well-studied ethylene biosynthesis precursor. The development of new functionally substituted cyclopropane carboxylic acids, which show promise as effective inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis, is crucial for regulating the plant cycle and preserving the quality of fruits and vegetables. Objectives: This research focused on the in-silico studies aimed at developing a universal and affordable methodology for synthesizing new analogs of ACC and assessing their modulating activity on ethylene biosynthesis in plants. The findings from this in silico research provide a foundation for the upcoming in vitro studies. Results: The elaborated efficient catalytic system [Cu(I) salt/amine/DMSO] enabled the synthesis of model compounds under mild conditions, resulting in increasing yields up to quantitative levels. For bioactivity preliminary assessment we performed in silico research of newly synthesized (E)-2-phenyl-1-chlorocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and drug-design an appropriate 1-amino-derivative as the inhibitor of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase 2 (ACO2) of Arabidopsis thaliana. Docking results showed certain advantages of the newly synthesized compound in comparison to well-known inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis. Conclusions: The recommended synthetic technology has increased efficiency in yield quantification. In silico studies, a high affinity for ACO2 has been demonstrated. The synthesized compounds exhibit superior characteristics compared to widely used market preparations for regulating ethylene biosynthesis. More detailed comparative in vitro studies are planned. Keywords: plant growth regulation, cyclopropane carboxylic acids, ethylene biosynthesis inhibitors, molecular docking, atom transfer radical addition (ATRA), Cu(I) Complex catalyst.

Ground subsidence prediction with high precision: a novel spatiotemporal prediction model with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar technology

ABSTRACT As the extraction of mineral resources intensifies, ground subsidence in mining areas has escalated, posing substantial challenges to sustainable development and operational safety. This subsidence, resulting directly from mining activities, significantly compromises the safety of nearby residents by damaging residential structures and infrastructure. Thus, developing precise and dependable methods for predicting ground subsidence is crucial. This study introduces an innovative Cabs-Unet model, which enhances the U-Net architecture by integrating a Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) and Depthwise Separable Convolutions (DSC). This model aims to predict the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) time series. Employing Small Baseline Subset Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SBAS InSAR) technology, we gathered and validated data on ground subsidence at the Pengzhuang coal mine from May 2017 to November 2021, covering 130 scenes, with its accuracy corroborated by levelling survey results. An empirical evaluation of the Cabs-Unet model in two distinct subsidence zones demonstrated superior performance over conventional methods like Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory (ConvLSTM) and Predictive Recurrent Neural Network (PredRNN), with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values of 1.44 and 1.70, respectively. These findings highlight the model’s efficacy in accurately predicting spatiotemporal InSAR ground subsidence. Further predictive analysis using InSAR data indicated an expected increase in subsidence, projecting cumulative declines of −457 mm in Area A and −1278 mm in Area B by 17 July 2022. Our model proves effective in assessing subsidence, promptly detecting potential risks and facilitating the rapid implementation of risk mitigation strategies.

Enantioselective synthesis of saddle-shaped eight-membered lactones with inherent chirality via organocatalytic high-order annulation

Inherently chiral medium-ring derivatives have important applications in many research fields, such as materials science, molecular recognition, and asymmetric catalysis. However, the enantioselective assembly of these molecules, especially by organocatalytic strategies, remains a formidable challenge, and few methods are available. Here, we report the enantioselective NHC-catalyzed (NHC: N-heterocyclic carbenes) formal high-order (5 + 3) annulation of 1-(2-indolyl)naphthalen-2-ols with ynals. In the presence of an NHC pre-catalyst, base, Lewis acid and oxidant, this protocol enables the catalytic formation of C–C and C-O bonds, providing practical and facile access to an array of inherently chiral saddle-shaped eight-membered lactones featuring an oxocin-2-one scaffold with structural diversity in good efficiency and excellent enantiocontrol. Moreover, the scale-up preparation and representative late-stage transformations of the eight-membered lactones further demonstrate the application potential of this synthetic technology.

Biosafety risks, control, and biocontainment of engineered microalgae

Microalgae, with the ability to harness solar energy to fix CO2 and convert it into organic compounds, have emerged as promising green cell factories. With the rapid development of cutting-edge biotechnologies, the research and application of photosynthetic microalgae have been expanding, leading to comprehensive and in-depth engineering of microalgae. The synthetic biology and genome editing technologies have enabled the applications of microalgae in medicine, agriculture, food, energy, and the environment. However, the survival and spreading of engineered microalgae in the natural environment pose potential safety risks to ecosystems and human health. To curb the risks caused by the spreading of engineered microalgae in the environment, biosafety policies should be formulated for engineered microalgae and the prevention and control technologies should be developed. Toward this goal, researchers have developed biocontainment systems, including positive strategies such as the design of toxic protein-based kill switches and passive strategies such as knocking out essential genes to construct the strains with nutritional deficiencies, thereby spatially containing engineered microalgae. This article summarizes the application of cutting-edge biotechnologies in the engineering of microalgae, the biosafety risks and management regulations associated with the escape of engineered microalgae, and the progress in novel biocontainment technologies established for engineered microalgae. Finally, this article gives insights into the future development direction of microalgae biocontainment.

Visible-Light-Mediated Ni-Catalyzed Gas-Free Carboxylation: Stereodivergent Synthesis of E- and Z-Acrylic Acids.

Stereodivergent syntheses of different scaffolds from identical starting materials by switching the fewest parameters are among the most appealing synthetic technologies. Herein, a visible-light mediated Ni-catalyzed carboxylation of vinyl halides with formates has been developed, affording acrylic acids in both Z- and E-configurations from identical vinyl halides. The reaction features Ni-catalyzed gas-free carboxylation of vinyl halides by utilizing formates as a surrogate of carbon dioxide.

Ultrasonic imaging assisted by Phase Coherence and Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technology

Abstract B-Scan is widely applied in ultrasonic testing. However, the imaging quality is affected by noise and acoustic diffusion. This paper proposed a method combining synthetic aperture focusing technology (SAFT) and phase-coherent imaging (PCI) technology to improve image quality. In SAFT, a transducer at different positions is utilized to form an array, which represents a large aperture transducer to obtain high resolution. By constructing a weight matrix based on the phase of signals, PCI is used to modify the SAFT imaging, thus the signal-to-noise ratio is significantly improved. In this paper, finite element models were built and the corresponding simulations were carried out first. Then, the Hilbert transform was implemented to all the simulated echoes with artificial white noise. The amplitudes and phases were extracted, whilst the amplitudes were used to construct SAFT images. The phases were used to construct a coherent weight matrix. Finally, images of SAFT modified by phase-coherent matrix were reconstructed and compared with SAFT images and B-scan. It verifies that the SAFT-PCI method can improve the image effectively.

Enterprise Credit Risk Assessment Based on Hybrid Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Model

This article uses a hybrid fuzzy synthetic evaluation model to evaluate the credit risk of Shouguang vegetable enterprises, and designs four risk levels: impact degree, occurrence probability, risk manageability and government support level. The model uses average score technology to calculate the scores of secondary indicators, primary indicators and evaluation targets at each level, uses sorting technology to sort secondary indicators and primary indicators at each level, and uses fuzzy synthetic evaluation technology to construct Shouguang enterprise credit risk evaluation. The model uses the geometric mean method to calculate the comprehensive score, and summarizes the comprehensive score results to make decisions. Among them, the data in this article comes from a questionnaire, which was completed by a total of 41 professionals who have a better understanding of the credit risks of Shouguang vegetable companies Through calculation, the comprehensive credit risk score of Shouguang Vegetable Enterprise is 2.8585. The risk is medium risk. Banks can lend based on the operation of specific enterprises. The calculation results also show that the risk assessment results at different levels are not completely consistent. The main first-level risk indicators at the first three levels are "enterprise technological innovation" and "enterprise financial status", and the main first-level risk indicators at the last level are "Enterprise management level" and "enterprise development plan". Indicators related to corporate technological innovation and financial status are the main influencing indicators of the credit risk of Shouguang vegetable companies.

Integrated Review of Transcriptomic and Proteomic Studies to Understand Molecular Mechanisms of Rice's Response to Environmental Stresses.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is grown nearly worldwide and is a staple food for more than half of the world's population. With the rise in extreme weather and climate events, there is an urgent need to decode the complex mechanisms of rice's response to environmental stress and to breed high-yield, high-quality and stress-resistant varieties. Over the past few decades, significant advancements in molecular biology have led to the widespread use of several omics methodologies to study all aspects of plant growth, development and environmental adaptation. Transcriptomics and proteomics have become the most popular techniques used to investigate plants' stress-responsive mechanisms despite the complexity of the underlying molecular landscapes. This review offers a comprehensive and current summary of how transcriptomics and proteomics together reveal the molecular details of rice's response to environmental stresses. It also provides a catalog of the current applications of omics in comprehending this imperative crop in relation to stress tolerance improvement and breeding. The evaluation of recent advances in CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing and the application of synthetic biology technologies highlights the possibility of expediting the development of rice cultivars that are resistant to stress and suited to various agroecological environments.

Review of the Proteomics and Metabolic Properties of Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Corynebacterium glutamicum (C. glutamicum) has become industrially important in producing glutamic acid and lysine since its discovery and has been the subject of proteomics and central carbon metabolism studies. The proteome changes depending on environmental conditions, nutrient availability, and stressors. Post-translational modification (PTMs), such as phosphorylation, methylation, and glycosylation, alter the function and activity of proteins, allowing them to respond quickly to environmental changes. Proteomics techniques, such as mass spectrometry and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, have enabled the study of proteomes, identification of proteins, and quantification of the expression levels. Understanding proteomes and central carbon metabolism in microorganisms provides insight into their physiology, ecology, and biotechnological applications, such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and industrial enzyme production. Several attempts have been made to create efficient production strains to increase productivity in several research fields, such as genomics and proteomics. In addition to amino acids, C. glutamicum is used to produce vitamins, nucleotides, organic acids, and alcohols, expanding its industrial applications. Considerable information has been accumulated, but recent research has focused on proteomes and central carbon metabolism. The development of genetic engineering technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, has improved production efficiency by allowing precise manipulation of the metabolic pathways of C. glutamicum. In addition, methods for designing new metabolic pathways and developing customized strains using synthetic biology technology are gradually expanding. This review is expected to enhance the understanding of C. glutamicum and its industrial potential and help researchers identify research topics and design studies.

High Throughput Screening of Electroactive Bacteria Using a Cross-Bar Architecture in a 3D Design Array

Promoting extracellular electron transfer (EET) in bacteria has many widespread applications including wastewater treatment and environmental remediation. With the development of synthetic biology technologies that can alter microbial electron transfer routes and enhance their electrogenic capacity, there is a need for high throughput systems to identify the responsible genes and the consequent metabolic pathways in an expeditious way. Conventional platforms utilizing single electrodes, or electrochemical cells, and colorimetric detection suffer from low sensitivity and low throughput. Moreover, they require bulky equipment for readout and fluid handling. Moving towards a nuanced miniaturized electrochemical detection, we propose individually addressable microwells used to monitor electron flux from EET-capable bacteria with the ability to screen a large number of electroactive bacteria for various applications. Materials and method : The device is simple and fabricated with cost-effective electrodes. Carbon felt is used as the working electrode to improve bacterial entrapment and assist in capturing maximum electrons donated by the electroactive bacteria. Silver-silver chloride ink (Ag/AgCl) as the reference electrode will help maintain the potential of with respect to the working electrode. Conductive carbon ink as the counter electrode will promote current collection. The proposed device has the elements of a traditional three electrode system arranged in two different planes resulting in a 3D configuration of electrodes. The reference and counter electrode are on the bottom plane with acrylic wells housed right above each electrode pair, while the working electrode is used in the cross-bar architecture from the top plane as shown in Figure 1(a). The fabrication steps are illustrated in Figure 1(b). This system can be scaled to have 10000 microwells on a single platform with individual addressability of each micro-well array. With this layout, connections from the innermost wells can be drawn effortlessly without any signal damping from the surrounding wells. As a proof of concept, we have fabricated a 9 by 9 array (20cm by 20 cm) as shown in Figure 1(a). Five strains of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, the wild type organism and four modified strains overexpressing variants of MtrA (unmodified MtrA, IV-205, IV-261 and an empty vector), were screened for their current producing capacity [1]. Results:A bacterial load of OD600= 0.065 was sufficient to give a reliable current signal. For each strain, the working electrode was biased at 0.205 V with respect to the reference electrode (Ag/AgCl), and the resulting chronoamperometry signal was recorded as shown in Figure 1(c). The values obtained helped identify the current-producing capacity of each mutant. Among them, the highest peak current was given by mtr A+ (20 μA), and IV – 261 gave a low peak current (2 μA) within 3 minutes, validating the difference in the genetic make-up and EET capabilities. Technical and biological replicates were also conducted for all the 5 strains. The average standard deviation for the technical and biological replicates (n=3, OD600=0.065) was 0.09 μA and 0.56 μA respectively. A similar current trend for the same set of strains was obtained by Ian et al., [1] using a traditional bioelectrochemical system, thus validating our platform’s functionality and integrity. This system allows for parallel screening of wild type and mutant variations of multiple electroactive bacteria as demonstrated. The high throughput feature enabled by this device can also find application to characterize mutants generated by directed evolution workflows. Additionally, mechanical and electrical multiplexing can further improve the electronic instrumentation and connections between the wells for parallel readout and will also minimize human intervention during the current measurements. Chronoamperometry measurements is an important technique to characterize EET. Thus, a low-cost system like ours will help do that in a shorter time frame with minimal bacterial inoculum and for a larger number of electroactive bacterial species. In conclusion, we aim to show that a 3D carbon felt platform is miniaturized, and can be scaled to understand and characterize EET from electroactive bacteria in a high throughput manner. References Ian J. Campbell, Joshua T. Atkinson, Matthew D. Carpenter, Dru Myerscough, Lin Su, Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin, and Jonathan J. Silberg Biochemistry 2022 61 (13), 1337-1350 Figure 1

Spiky Gold Nanoparticles, a Nanoscale Approach to Enhanced Ex Vivo T-Cell Activation.

While existing synthetic technologies for ex vivo T-cell activation face challenges like suboptimal expansion rates and low effectiveness, artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) hold great promise for enhanced T-cell based therapies. In particular, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), known for their biocompatibility, ease of synthesis, and versatile surface chemistry, are strong candidates for use as nanoscale aAPCs. In this study, we developed spiky AuNPs with branched geometries to present activating ligands to primary human T-cells. The special structure of spiky AuNPs enhances biomolecule loading capacity and significantly improves T-cell activation through multivalent binding of costimulatory ligands and receptors. Our spiky AuNPs outperform existing systems including Dynabeads and soluble activators by promoting greater polyclonal expansion of T-cells, boosting sustained cytokine production, and generating highly functional T-cells with reduced exhaustion. In addition, spiky AuNPs effectively activate and expand CD19 CAR-T cells while demonstrating increased in vitro cytotoxicity against target cells using fewer effector cells than Dynabeads. This study underscores the potential of spiky AuNPs as a powerful tool, bringing new opportunities to adoptive cell therapy applications.

Enhanced catalytic performance for gas phase epoxidation of propylene with H2 and O2 by multiple pretreated Au/TS-1 catalysts

Direct epoxidation of propylene (C3H6) with hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) over Au/TS-1 catalyst was promising way for the synthesis of propylene oxide (PO). However, high selectivity of PO (>95 %) and conversion of C3H6 (>5 %) cannot be achieved at the same time. The industrialization process was severely restricted. In this paper, Au/TS-1 catalysts were synthesized by deposition precipitation method with alkali metal promoter. And alkaline gases and silane coupling post-treatment were performed to promote the catalytic activity. The prepared samples exhibited a much better C3H6 conversion (6.5 %) and PO selectivity (95.1 %) compared with general catalyst using normal synthetic technology. Cs2CO3 was beneficial to increasing Au nanoparticles uptake efficiency. Both NH3 and triethoxyvinylsilane post-treatment were good for smaller and more uniform loading of Au nanoparticles. The decreasing in surface hydroxyl density effectively alleviated the occurrence of PO ring opening isomerization. The increased hydrophobicity of TS-1 surface was conducive to the rapid desorption of generated PO and significantly increased PO selectivity. Multiple pretreatment was also favorable for extending the lifetime of Au/TS-1 catalyst.

The Simpler the Better: One‐Pot Production of γ‐Valerolactone from Biomass Conversion through All‐In‐One Sc(OTf)3 Catalyzed Cascade Reaction

Abstractγ‐Valerolactone (GVL) derived from non‐edible biomass resources has attracted much intense attention from both academia and industry, due to its excellent properties as green solvent and ideal renewable feedstock for production of bioenergy and biorefinery. However, the practical application of current synthetic technologies is restricted by complicated catalyst system and high production cost so far. Here we report a simple but highly efficient method to realize one‐pot synthesis of bio‐derived GVL by a series of Lewis acidic triflates (M(OTf)3 (M=Sc3+, Ln3+)) under mild condition, achieving up to 78 % GVL yield from furfural (FUR) without any additives or pretreatments. Systematic mechanistic studies, including reaction monitoring, identification of key intermediates and deuterium control experiments disclose the nature of such one‐pot conversion by all‐in‐one Sc(OTf)3. This system exhibits several excellent features such as commercially available and inexpensive catalyst, 100 % carbon atom‐economy, environmentally friend, simple preparation and separation procedures. This method could also be applied to the upstream raw materials, including xylose, hemicellulose and even corncob, achieving GVL in 36 %, 35 % and 21 % yields in one‐pot manner, respectively.

Fine-scale characterization of the soybean rhizosphere microbiome via synthetic long reads and avidity sequencing

BackgroundThe rhizosphere microbiome displays structural and functional dynamism driven by plant, microbial, and environmental factors. While such plasticity is a well-evidenced determinant of host health, individual and community-level microbial activity within the rhizosphere remain poorly understood, due in part to the insufficient taxonomic resolution achieved through traditional marker gene amplicon sequencing. This limitation necessitates more advanced approaches (e.g., long-read sequencing) to derive ecological inferences with practical application. To this end, the present study coupled synthetic long-read technology with avidity sequencing to investigate eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbiome dynamics within the soybean (Glycine max) rhizosphere under field conditions.ResultsSynthetic long-read sequencing permitted de novo reconstruction of the entire 18S-ITS1-ITS2 region of the eukaryotic rRNA operon as well as all nine hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. All full-length, mapped eukaryotic amplicon sequence variants displayed genus-level classification, and 44.77% achieved species-level classification. The resultant eukaryotic microbiome encompassed five kingdoms (19 genera) of protists in addition to fungi – a depth unattainable with conventional short-read methods. In the prokaryotic fraction, every full-length, mapped amplicon sequence variant was resolved at the species level, and 23.13% at the strain level. Thirteen species of Bradyrhizobium were thereby distinguished in the prokaryotic microbiome, with strain-level identification of the two Bradyrhizobium species most reported to nodulate soybean. Moreover, the applied methodology delineated structural and compositional dynamism in response to experimental parameters (i.e., growth stage, cultivar, and biostimulant application), unveiled a saprotroph-rich core microbiome, provided empirical evidence for host selection of mutualistic taxa, and identified key microbial co-occurrence network members likely associated with edaphic and agronomic properties.ConclusionsThis study is the first to combine synthetic long-read technology and avidity sequencing to profile both eukaryotic and prokaryotic fractions of a plant-associated microbiome. Findings herein provide an unparalleled taxonomic resolution of the soybean rhizosphere microbiota and represent significant biological and technological advancements in crop microbiome research.

Advances and Challenges in Biomanufacturing of Glycosylation of Natural Products

Glycosylation is one of the most common and important modifications in natural products (NPs), which can alter the biological activities and properties of NPs, effectively increase structural diversity, and improve pharmacological activities. The biosynthesis of glycosylation in natural products involves multiple complex biological processes, which are coordinated by many enzymes. UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) play a crucial role in glycosylation modification, and have attracted long-term and widespread research attention. UGTs can catalyze the O-, C-, S-, and N-glycosylation of different substrates, producing a variety of glycosides with broad biological activity, while improving the solubility, stability, bioavailability, pharmacological activity, and other functions of NPs. In recent years, the rapid development of synthetic biology and advanced manufacturing technologies, especially the widespread application of artificial intelligence in the field of synthetic biology, has led to a series of new discoveries in the biosynthesis of NP glycosides by UGT. This work summarizes the latest progress and challenges in the field of NP glycosylation, covering the research results and potential applications of glycosylated derivatives of terpenes, flavonoids, polyphenols, aromatic compounds, and other compounds in terms of biogenesis. Looking to the future, research may leverage artificial intelligence-driven synthetic biology techniques to decipher genes related to the synthetic pathway, which is expected to further promote the large-scale synthesis and application of glycosylated NPs, and increase the diversity of NPs in the pharmaceutical, functional food, and cosmetic industries.

Assessment of the engineering properties of concrete prepared with aggregates developed from waste basalt mud

The development of high-performance aggregate is a key direction of sustainable concrete. One effective synthetic technology for producing artificial aggregates is hydrothermal synthesis. Using waste basalt mud from the construction of a low-carbon industrial park as a raw material further facilitates the utilization of solid waste resources. Therefore, this paper adopted the hydrothermal synthesis method to produce artificial aggregates developed from basalt mud (AABM). Subsequently, it was used to partially replace mechanical aggregate in the preparation of concrete with strength grad C30. The engineering properties of concrete prepared with AABM (C-AABM), including workability, densities, mechanical properties, and frost resistance, were investigated to assess the feasibility of using AABM as concrete aggregates. The results showed that the fluidity of C-AABM can be significantly improved by using AABM. The hardened C-AABM, prepared with 10 ∼ 30 vol% AABM instead of mechanized aggregate, exhibited a dry density decrease of less than 5 %, indicating the feasibility of using AABM for ordinary concrete. However, excessive AABM negatively affected the mechanical properties of the concrete. When the AABM substitution was no more than 15 vol%, the impact of AABM on the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of C-AABM was less than 15 %. Nevertheless, the performance of the concrete deteriorated dramatically with the addition of AABM under freezing conditions. As described, the primary engineering advantage of preparing C30 concrete with AABM is to improve the workability of the fresh matrix without significantly reducing the mechanical properties of the hardened concrete. It proves the viability of AABM as an alternative aggregate for ordinary concrete production.

Towards a Yersinia pestis lipid A recreated in an Escherichia coli scaffold genome.

Synthetic biology and genome engineering capabilities have facilitated the utilization of bacteria for a myriad of applications, ranging from medical treatments to biomanufacturing of complex molecules. The bacterial outer membrane, specifically the lipopolysaccharide (LPS), plays an integral role in the physiology, pathogenesis, and serves as a main target of existing detection assays for Gram-negative bacteria. Here we use CRISPR/Cas9 recombineering to insert Yersinia pestis lipid A biosynthesis genes into the genome of an Escherichia coli strain expressing the lipid IVa subunit. We successfully inserted three genes: kdsD, lpxM, and lpxP into the E. coli genome and demonstrated their expression via reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Despite observing expression of these genes, analytical characterization of the engineered strain's lipid A structure via MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry indicated that the Y. pestis lipid A was not recapitulated in the E. coli background. As synthetic biology and genome engineering technologies advance, novel applications and utilities for the detection and treatments of dangerous pathogens like Yersinia pestis will continue to be developed.