The co-dispersal strategy of (Verrucariaceae) shapes an unusual lichen population structure.

The reproduction and dispersal strategies of lichens play a major role in shaping their population structure and photobiont diversity. Sexual reproduction, which is common, leads to high lichen genetic diversity and low photobiont selectivity. However, the lichen genus adopts a special co-dispersal model in which algal cells from the photobiont and ascospores from the mycobiont are released together into the environment.

The performance of homopolymer detection using dichromatic and tetrachromatic fluorogenic next-generation sequencing platforms.

Objectives: Homopolymer (HP) sequencing is error-prone in next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays, and may induce false insertion/deletions and substitutions. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of dichromatic and tetrachromatic fluorogenic NGS platforms when sequencing homopolymeric regions.

Results: A HP-containing plasmid was constructed and diluted to serial frequencies (3%, 10%, 30%, 60%) to determine the performance of an MGISEQ-2000, MGISEQ-200, and NextSeq 2000 in HP sequencing.

Transcriptional analysis of the dimorphic fungus Umbilicaria muehlenbergii reveals the molecular mechanism of phenotypic transition.

The lichen-forming fungus Umbilicaria muehlenbergii undergoes a phenotypic transition from a yeast-like to a pseudohyphal form. However, it remains unknown if a common mechanism is involved in the phenotypic switch of U. muehlenbergii at the transcriptional level.

Understanding and Calibration of Charge Storage Mechanism in Cyclic Voltammetry Curves.

Noticeable pseudo-capacitance behavior out of charge storage mechanism (CSM) has attracted intensive studies because it can provide both high energy density and large output power. Although cyclic voltammetry is recognized as the feasible electrochemical technique to determine it quantitatively in the previous works, the results are inferior due to uncertainty in the definitions and application conditions. Herein, three successive treatments, including de-polarization, de-residual and de-background, as well as a non-linear fitting algorithm are employed for the first time to calibrate the different CSM contribution of three typical cathode materials, LiFePO , LiMn O and Na Fe (PO ) P O , and achieve well-separated physical capacitance, pseudo-capacitance and diffusive contributions to the total capacity.

Mg storage properties of hollow copper selenide nanocubes.

Rechargeable Mg batteries are thought to be suitable for scalable energy-storage applications because of their high safety and low cost. However, the bivalent Mg2+ cations suffer from sluggish solid-state diffusion kinetics. Herein, a hollow morphological approach is introduced to design copper selenide cathodes for rechargeable Mg batteries.

Correction to: Structure and function of the Arctic and Antarctic marine microbiota as revealed by metagenomics.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Structure and function of the Arctic and Antarctic marine microbiota as revealed by metagenomics.

Background: The Arctic and Antarctic are the two most geographically distant bioregions on earth. Recent sampling efforts and following metagenomics have shed light on the global ocean microbial diversity and function, yet the microbiota of polar regions has not been included in such global analyses.

Results: Here a metagenomic study of seawater samples (n = 60) collected from different depths at 28 locations in the Arctic and Antarctic zones was performed, together with metagenomes from the Tara Oceans.

Flexible high dielectric thin films based on cellulose nanofibrils and acid oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Flexible high dielectric materials are of prime importance for advanced portable, foldable and wearable devices. A series of flexible high dielectric thin films based on cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and acid oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (-MWCNT) was prepared in aqueous solution. Though no organic solvent was involved during the preparation, the SEM images showed that -MWCNTs have good distribution within the CNF matrix.

High dielectric thin films based on barium titanate and cellulose nanofibrils.

A series of composite films based on tetragonal barium titanate (BTO) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) with high dielectric constant are prepared using a casting method in aqueous solution. No organic solvent is involved during the preparation, which demonstrates the environmental friendliness of the novel material. With less than 30 wt% of filler loading, the excellent distribution of BTO nanoparticles within the CNF matrix is revealed by the FE-SEM images.

CoSe hollow microspheres, nano-polyhedra and nanorods as pseudocapacitive Mg-storage materials with fast solid-state Mg diffusion kinetics.

CoSe materials with different nanostructures are used as pseudocapacitive Mg-storage cathodes, which exhibit fast solid-state Mg ions diffusion kinetics. In this work, CoSe with different nanostructures including hollow microspheres (H-CoSe), nano-polyhedra (P-CoSe) and nanorods (R-CoSe) are fabricated by using facile one-step hydrothermal methods, and used as pseudocapacitive electrodes for rechargeable Mg batteries. It is observed that R-CoSe exhibits the highest reversible capacity of 233 mA h g at 50 mA g and an excellent rate capability of 116 mA h g at 500 mA g, ascribing to the 1D nanorod structure which facilitates the solid-state Mg diffusion.

Facile synthesis and electrochemical Mg-storage performance of SbSe nanowires and BiSe nanosheets.

Rechargeable Mg batteries are considered as low-cost and reliable candidates for efficient energy storage, but their development is blocked by the lack of suitable cathode materials. In this work, Sb2Se3 nanowires and Bi2Se3 nanosheets are fabricated by facile one-step hydrothermal methods and their Mg-storage performances are systematically investigated. The results show that the Bi2Se3 nanosheets with stable hierarchical 2D structure exhibit a better performance.

Water masses influence bacterioplankton community structure in summer Kongsfjorden.

To ascertain the saying "Everything is everywhere, but the environment selects", it was imperative to find out the main factor influencing bacterioplankton composition at genus level of Kongsfjorden where was influenced both by glacier melting water and Atlantic water. Thus, bacterioplankton diversity was investigated using pyrosequencing. In addition, nutrients, chlorophyll a, in situ temperature and salinity were measured.

Rechargeable Mg batteries based on a AgS conversion cathode with fast solid-state Mg diffusion kinetics.

Rechargeable Mg batteries are promising candidates for highly safe, large-scale energy storage batteries due to the low-cost and non-dendritic metallic Mg anode. However, exploring high-performance cathodes remains a great challenge blocking their development. Herein, a rechargeable Mg battery is established with a AgS conversion cathode, providing a highly reversible capacity of 120 mA h g at 50 mA g, a superior rate capability of 70 mA h g at 500 mA g, and an outstanding long-term cyclability over 400 cycles.

Rechargeable Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries based on a Berlin green cathode and a metallic Mg anode.

Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries featuring a dendrite-free Mg anode and an alkali-metal-ion storage cathode are promising safe energy storage systems. However, the compatibility between cathode materials and insertion cations might largely limit the electrochemical performance of the cathodes. In this work, three types of Mg-M (M = Li, Na and K) dual-metal-ion batteries are constructed with a Berlin green (FeFe(CN)6) cathode.

a-MoS@CNT nanowire cathode for rechargeable Mg batteries: a pseudocapacitive approach for efficient Mg-storage.

Rechargeable Mg batteries are promising candidates for highly safe large-scale energy storage batteries owing to their low-cost and non-dendritic metallic Mg anode. However, exploration of high-performance cathodes remains a great challenge hindering their development. Herein, a new pseudocapacitive Mg-storage nanowire material (a-MoS3@CNT) is constructed with a carbon nanotube (CNT) core and an amorphous MoS3 (a-MoS3) outer layer (15 nm thick).

Zero-strain NaFe(PO) as a novel cathode material for sodium-ion batteries.

We report for the first time a zero-strain cathode, NaFe(PO), for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). This new iron-based polyanionic cathode delivers a reversible capacity of 66.5 mA h g at 5 mA g with almost 100% capacity retention over 1000 cycles under 200 mA g, and the outstanding performance benefits from single-phase-transition processes with a tiny volume change of only ∼0.

Recent Progress in Rechargeable Sodium-Ion Batteries: toward High-Power Applications.

The increasing demands for renewable energy to substitute traditional fossil fuels and related large-scale energy storage systems (EES) drive developments in battery technology and applications today. The lithium-ion battery (LIB), the trendsetter of rechargeable batteries, has dominated the market for portable electronics and electric vehicles and is seeking a participant opportunity in the grid-scale battery market. However, there has been a growing concern regarding the cost and resource availability of lithium.

Small-Scale Soil Microbial Community Heterogeneity Linked to Landform Historical Events on King George Island, Maritime Antarctica.

Although research on microbial biogeography has made great progress in the past decade, distributions of terrestrial microbial communities in extreme environments such as Antarctica are not well understood. In addition, knowledge of whether and how historical contingencies affect microbial distributions at small spatial scales is lacking. Here, we analyzed soil-borne microbial (bacterial, archaeal, and fungal) communities in 12 quadrat plots around the Fildes Region of King George Island, maritime Antarctica, and the communities were divided into two groups according to the soil elemental compositions and environmental attributes of Holocene raised beach and Tertiary volcanic stratigraphy.

sp. nov. (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta), a lichen epiphytic alga from Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica.

A single-celled green alga Shunan Cao & Qiming Zhou, , isolated from a specimen of Antarctic lichen (Vahl) Gray, is described and illustrated based on a comprehensive investigation of morphology, ultrastructure, ecology and phylogeny. The cells of are ovoid to long ellipsoidal and measured 3-5 µm × 6-12 µm. The new species has distinct ITS rDNA and SSU rDNA sequences and differs from the phylogenetic closely related species , and in cell size, distribution and habitat.

Copper sulfide nanoparticles as high-performance cathode materials for magnesium secondary batteries.

Magnesium secondary batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage systems with high safety, because of the dendrite-free electrodeposition of the magnesium anode. However, the search for available cathode materials remains a significant challenge, hindering their development. In this work, we report copper sulfide nanoparticles as high-performance cathode materials for magnesium secondary batteries, which deliver a high reversible capacity of 175 mA h g-1 at 50 mA g-1.

Exploring the roles of substrate-binding surface of the chaperone site in the chaperone activity of trigger factor.

Trigger factor (TF) is a key component of the prokaryotic chaperone network, which is involved in many basic cellular processes, such as protein folding, protein trafficking, and ribosome assembly. The major chaperone site of TF has a cradle-like structure in which protein substrate may fold without interference from other proteins. Here, we investigated in vivo and in vitro the roles of hydrophobic and charged patches on the edge and interior of cradle during TF-assisted protein folding.

sp. nov. from the Antarctic lichen .

The single celled green alga Shunan Cao & Qiming Zhou, was isolated from the Antarctic torrential lichen (Jacq.) Bory. It is described and illustrated based on a comprehensive study of its morphology, ultrastructure, ecology and phylogeny.

High Rate, Long Lifespan LiV O Nanorods as a Cathode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

LiV O nanorods with controlled size are successfully synthesized using a nonionic triblock surfactant Pluronic-F127 as the structure directing agent. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy techniques are used to characterize the samples. It is observed that the nanorods with a length of 4-8 µm and diameter of 0.

Distribution patterns of haplotypes for symbionts from Umbilicaria esculenta and U. muehlenbergii reflect the importance of reproductive strategy in shaping population genetic structure.

Background: The diversity of lichen fungal components and their photosynthetic partners reflects both ecological and evolutionary factors. In present study, molecular investigations of the internal transcribed spacer of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS nrDNA) region were conducted to analyze the genetic diversity of Umbilicaria esculenta and U. muehlenbergii together with their associated green algae.

Determination of taurine in human tear fluid by capillary electrophoresis with indirect amperometric detection based on electrogenerated bromine.

A new method for the determination of taurine was developed based on indirect amperometric detection after capillary electrophoresis. A serial dual-electrode detector comprising an on column Pt film electrode (upstream electrode) and an end column Pt microdisk electrode (downstream electrode) was utilized to conduct the indirect amperometric detection. Bromide is oxidized to bromine at upstream electrode and reduced back to bromide at downstream electrode.