China Three Gorges University

About: China Three Gorges University is a education organization based out in Yichang, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Landslide. The organization has 11161 authors who have published 8011 publications receiving 82224 citations. The organization is also known as: Sanxia Daxue.

Essential Role of Sugar Transporter OsSWEET11 During the Early Stage of Rice Grain Filling.

Abstract: This study investigated the role of the sugar transporter OsSWEET11 during the early stage of rice caryopsis development using β-glucoronidase (GUS) to represent its expression, together with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9)-mediated knockout, cross-fertilization and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses. The results showed that OsSWEET11 was expressed strongly in developing caryopsis, particularly in the ovular vascular trace, nucellar epidermis and cross cells. The knockout of OsSWEET11 significantly decreased the sucrose concentration in the mutant embryo sacs and led to defective grain filling compared with that of the wild-type (WT) plant. Moreover, the expression of 2,549 genes in the mutant caryopsis was affected. The grain weight and seed setting percentage were also decreased in the mutants. The cross-fertilization of the mutant and WT rice revealed that the mutated maternal donor induced defective grain filling. These results strongly suggested that OsSWEET11 played an important role in sucrose release from maternal tissue to the maternal-filial interface during the early stage of caryopsis development. It might also induce sucrose release from the ovular vascular trace and cross cells of developing caryopsis. These findings bridge the gap in the understanding of post-phloem sugar transport during the early stage of rice caryopsis development.

Cell-Penetrating Peptide-Mediated Therapeutic Molecule Delivery into the Central Nervous System

Abstract: The blood-brain barrier (BBB), a dynamic and complex barrier formed by endothelial cells, can impede the entry of unwanted substances - pathogens and therapeutic molecules alike - into the central nervous system (CNS) from the blood circulation. Taking into account the fact that CNS-related diseases are the largest and fastest growing unmet medical concern, many potential protein- and nucleic acid-based medicines have been developed for therapeutic purposes. However, due to their poor ability to cross the BBB and the plasma membrane, the above-mentioned bio-macromolecules have limited use in treating neurological diseases. Finding effective, safe, and convenient ways to deliver therapeutic molecules into the CNS is thus urgently required. In recent decades, much effort has been expended in the development of drug delivery technologies, of which cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have the most promising potential. The present review covers the latest advances in CPP delivery technology, and provides an update on their use in CNS-targeted drug delivery.

Anionic Lanthanide MOFs as a Platform for Iron-Selective Sensing, Systematic Color Tuning, and Efficient Nanoparticle Catalysis

Abstract: New porous anionic Ln-MOFs, namely, [Me2NH2][Ln(CPA)2(H2O)2] (Ln = Eu, Gd), have been prepared through the self-assembly of 5-(4-carboxy phenyl)picolinic acid (H2CPA) and lanthanide ions. They feature open anionic frameworks with 1-D hydrophilic channels and exchangeable dimethylamine ions. The Eu phase could detect Fe3+ ions with high selectivity and sensitivity in either aqueous solution or biological condition. The ratios of lanthanide ions on this structure platform could be rationally tuned to not only achieve dichromatic emission colors with linear correlation but also attain three primary colors (RGB) and even white light with favorable correlated color temperature. Furthermore, the Ag(I)-exchanged phases can be readily reduced to afford Ag nanoparticles. The as-prepared Ag@Ln-MOFs composite shows highly efficient catalytic performance for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Resin modified MIL-53 (Fe) MOF for improvement of photocatalytic performance

Abstract: Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are fascinating materials for diverse applications due to their adjustability of aperture and structure Herein, a three-dimensional iron-based MOF with BDC linker (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate), commonly known as MIL-53(Fe), has been synthesized and successfully composited with anionic resin (Amberlite IRA 200) and cationic resin (Amberlite IRA 900) resulting solid composite photocatalysts, AMIL-53 (Fe) and DMIL-53(Fe), respectively In the novel composite photocatalysts, bulky MIL-53(Fe) MOF solids are used as both a support to anchor the finely ground Amberlite IRA resin powders and as a visible light active component for the degradation of organic pollutants in water In addition to being a traditional support, the resins here were used as a co-catalyst (with loading ration of the resin to MIL-53(Fe) is controlled around 20 wt%) to capture and transfer pollutant molecule from bulk solution into the active centers of the composited catalysts Such an immobilization of the resins significantly alters MIL-53 (Fe) activity and degradation selectivity of dye pollutants; after 120 min of visible light illumination (λ ≥ 420 nm) removal yield of SRB (24%) by the bare MIL-53 (Fe) was apparently improved to 96% after MIL-53 (Fe) was modified by Amberlite IRA 900, DMIL-53(Fe) The tunable degradation order was demonstrated by employing AMIL-53 (Fe) for the selective degradation of cationic dyes while DMIL-53 (Fe) for the degradation of anionic dyes Furthermore, the composites activity was optimized by controlling resin to MOF ratio during immobilization Immobilization also improves ease of separation and recyclability of the original MOF Especially, AMIL-53 significantly reduces iron ion leaching resulting in an enhanced stability The photocatalytic mechanism under visible-light irradiation is also discussed

Two-Dimensional (2D) Covalent Organic Framework as Efficient Cathode for Binder-free Lithium-Ion Battery.

Abstract: Searching new organic cathode materials to address the issues of poor cycle stability and low capacity in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is very important and highly desirable. In this research, a 2D boroxine-linked chemically-active pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone (PTO) covalent organic framework (2D PPTODB COFs) was synthesized as an organic cathode material with remarkable electrochemical properties, including high electrochemical activity (four redox electrons), safe oxidation potential window (between 2.3 and 3.08 V vs. Li/Li+ ), superb structural/chemical stability, and strong adhesiveness. A binder-free cathode was obtained by mixing 70 wt % PPTODB and 30 wt % carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a conductive additive. Promoted by the fast kinetics of electrons/ions, high electrochemical activity, and effective π-π interaction between PPTODB and CNTs, LIBs with the as-prepared cathode exhibited excellent electrochemical performance: a high specific capacity of 198 mAh g-1 , a superb rate ability (the capacity at 1000 mA g-1 can reach 76 % of the corresponding value at 100 mA g-1 ), and a stable coulombic efficiency (≈99.6 % at the 150th cycle). This work suggests that the concept of binder-free 2D electroactive materials could be a promising strategy to approach energy storage with high energy density.