Biosynthesis of uniform fluorescent-stable telluride quantum dots in Escherichia coli and its detection of Fe in water.

Quantum dots (QDs) containing zinc (Zn) and tellurium (Te) have low toxicity and excellent optoelectronic properties, which make them ideal fluorescent probes for use in environmental monitoring. However, their size/shape distribution synthesized by existing methods is not as good as that of other nanoparticles, thus limiting their application. Exploring whether this kind of QD can be biosynthesized and whether it can act as a nanoprobe are favorable attempts to expand the synthesis method and the application of QDs.

Adaptive Laboratory Evolution Reveals the Selenium Efflux Process To Improve Selenium Tolerance Mediated by the Membrane Sulfite Pump in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Selenium (Se) is a micronutrient in most eukaryotes, and Se-enriched yeast is the most common selenium supplement. However, selenium metabolism and transport in yeast have remained unclear, greatly hindering the application of this element. To explore the latent selenium transport and metabolism mechanisms, we performed adaptive laboratory evolution under the selective pressure of sodium selenite and successfully obtained selenium-tolerant yeast strains.