An integrative database and its application for plant synthetic biology research.

Plant synthetic biology research requires diverse bioparts that facilitate the redesign and construction of new-to-nature biological devices or systems in plants. Limited by few well-characterized bioparts for plant chassis, the development of plant synthetic biology lags behind that of its microbial counterpart. Here, we constructed a web-based Plant Synthetic BioDatabase (PSBD), which currently categorizes 1677 catalytic bioparts and 384 regulatory elements and provides information on 309 species and 850 chemicals.

Research on Brain Signals Classification Based on Deep Learning.

With the continuous expansion of brain-computer communication, the precise identification of brain signals has become an essential task for brain-computer equipment. However, existing classification methods are primarily concentrated on the extraction features of brain signals and obtain unacceptable performance when directly used the model to a new brain signals data, which is caused by the different people has extraordinary brain signals. In this work, we utilize the deep learning methods not only extract the features of brain signals but also learn the order information of brain signals, which can satisfy the universal brain signals.

Benchmarking Intrinsic Promoters and Terminators for Plant Synthetic Biology Research.

The emerging plant synthetic metabolic engineering has been exhibiting great promise to produce either value-added metabolites or therapeutic proteins. However, promoters for plant pathway engineering are generally selected empirically. The quantitative characterization of plant-based promoters is essential for optimal control of gene expression in plant chassis.

Diversion of metabolic flux towards 5-deoxy(iso)flavonoid production via enzyme self-assembly in .

5-Deoxy(iso)flavonoids are structural representatives of phenylpropanoid-derived compounds and play critical roles in plant ecophysiology. Recently, 5-deoxy(iso)flavonoids gained significant interest due to their potential applications as pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and food additives. Given the difficulties in their isolation from native plant sources, engineered biosynthesis of 5-deoxy(iso)flavonoids in a microbial host is a highly promising alternative approach.

Sustained Delivery of Timolol Using Nanostructured Lipid Carriers-Laden Soft Contact Lenses.

The contact lens prepared by the conventional soaking method using timolol-soaking solution showed poor drug uptake and high burst release with altered critical lens properties. In this study, timolol-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were prepared and evaluated for enhanced timolol uptake and sustained release for the effective management of glaucoma. The characterization studies indicated that timolol-loaded NLCs were spherical in shape with an average size of 130-138 nm and a zeta potential of -46.

Production of plant-specific flavones baicalein and scutellarein in an engineered E. coli from available phenylalanine and tyrosine.

Baicalein and scutellarein are bioactive flavones found in the medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, used in traditional Chinese medicine. Extensive previous work has demonstrated the broad biological activity of these flavonoids, such as antifibrotic, antiviral and anticancer properties. However, their supply from plant material is insufficient to meet demand.

Exosome-mediated small RNA delivery for gene therapy.

Small RNAs, including small interfering RNAs (siRNA) and microRNAs (miRNA), are emerging as promising therapeutic drugs against a wide array of diseases. The key obstacle for the successful clinical application of small RNAs is to develop a safe delivery system directed at the target tissues only. Current small RNA transfer techniques use viruses or synthetic agents as delivery vehicles.

Targeted exosome-mediated delivery of opioid receptor Mu siRNA for the treatment of morphine relapse.

Cell-derived exosomes have been demonstrated to be efficient carriers of small RNAs to neighbouring or distant cells, highlighting the preponderance of exosomes as carriers for gene therapy over other artificial delivery tools. In the present study, we employed modified exosomes expressing the neuron-specific rabies viral glycoprotein (RVG) peptide on the membrane surface to deliver opioid receptor mu (MOR) siRNA into the brain to treat morphine addiction. We found that MOR siRNA could be efficiently packaged into RVG exosomes and was associated with argonaute 2 (AGO2) in exosomes.