Mapping Dynamic Protein Clustering with AIEgen-Active Chemigenetic Probe.

Protein clustering/disassembling is a fundamental process in biomolecular condensates, playing crucial roles in cell fate decision and cellular homeostasis. However, the inherent features of protein clustering, especially for its reversible behavior and subtle microenvironment variation, present significant hurdles in probe chemistry for tracking protein clustering dynamics. Herein, we report a bilateral-tailored chemigenetic probe, in which an "amphiphilic" AIEgen QMSO3Cl is covalently conjugated to a protein tag that is genetically fused to protein-of-interest (POI).

Ultrasensitive detection of microRNAs based on cascade amplification strategy of RCA-PER and Cas12a.

Since microRNAs (miRNAs) serve as markers for early cancer diagnosis, it is crucial to develop a novel biosensor to detect miRNAs quickly, sensitively and selectively. Hence, we developed a fluorescence biosensor based on target miRNA-initiated rolling circle amplification (RCA) to generate RCA products with multiple tandem catalytic hairpin DNA templates that trigger primer exchange reactions (PER) which extend short single-strand DNA (ssDNA) primers into long ssDNA. Subsequently, the long ssDNA activates the -cleavage activity of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas12a system to cleave a fluorescent reporter chain, enabling ultrasensitive detection of miRNAs through the output fluorescence signal.

Effect of A-DNA and B-DNA Conformation on the Interplay between Local Excitations and Charge-Transfer States in the Ultrafast Decay of Guanine-Cytosine Stacked Dimers: A Quantum Dynamical Investigation.

We here simulate in the gas phase the population dynamics of guanine/cytosine (GC) and cytosine/guanine (CG) stacked dimers in B-DNA and A-DNA arrangement, following excitation in the lowest-energy band, and considering the four lowest-energy ππ* bright excited states, the three lowest-energy π* states, and the G → C charge-transfer (CT) state. We resort to a generalized Linear Vibronic Coupling (LVC) model parametrized with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) computations, exploiting a fragment-based diabatization and we run nonadiabatic quantum dynamical simulations with the multilayer version of the Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) approach. G → C CT results in a major decay process for GC in B-DNA but less in A-DNA arrangement, where also the population transfer to the lowest-energy excited state localized on C is an important intermonomer process.

Effect of zero-valent iron particle size on alleviating acid stress in anaerobic digestion of food waste.

This work evaluated the effect of zero-valent iron (ZVI) particle size (150 μm-100 nm) on the performance of food waste anaerobic digestion (AD) under various acid stress conditions. The results indicated that ZVI significantly improved the AD performance, ensuring successful CH production even under high acid stress. However, the extent of this promoting effect was highly dependent on the particle size.

Mitochondrial targeted drug Dichloroacetate protects against sulfur mustard-induced neurotoxicity via the PDK/PDH axis and Akt/Nrf2 pathway.

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a major toxic chemical threat to public health. Mitochondrial dysfunction is considered a critical contributing factor to mustard agent-induced damage. The brain is vulnerable to SM, which can lead to various types of acute and long-term psychiatric distress after exposure, but the neurotoxic mechanisms of SM, let alone drug candidates, are seldom studied.