Nanofiltration membranes attract extensive attention in solute selective separation, especially in resource extraction and recovery. A prevalent strategy to enhance the monovalent and multivalent ion selective separation performance involves modifying the membrane surface charge properties to influence the Donnan exclusion. However, the counterion adsorption and shielding effects are aggravated with increasing ionic strength, which severely weaken the Donnan exclusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFN-methyladenosine (mA), a reversible and dynamic RNA modification, plays pivotal roles in regulating stem cell pluripotency and early embryogenesis. Disruptions in mA homeostasis lead to profound developmental defects, impairing processes such as stem cell self-renewal, lineage specification, oocyte maturation, zygotic genome activation, and maternal RNA degradation after fertilization. Beyond its well-recognized roles in mRNA transport, stability, and translation, recent studies have highlighted mA's critical role in transcriptional regulation through intricate RNA-chromatin interactions, notably involving chromatin-associated regulatory RNAs (carRNAs) and retrotransposon RNAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe overactivation of transposable elements (TEs) is a significant threat to male reproduction, particularly during the delicate process of spermatogenesis. Here, we report that zinc finger protein ZCCHC8-a key component of the nuclear exosome targeting (NEXT) complex that is involved in ribonucleic acid (RNA) surveillance-is required for TE silencing during spermatogenesis. Loss of ZCCHC8 results in delayed meiotic progression and reduced production of round spermatids (RS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNucleic Acids Res
January 2025
Utilizing base-conversion (BC) techniques, single-base resolution profiling of RNA and DNA modifications has significantly advanced. BC strategies range from one-way conversions (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTopological spin textures are of great significance in magnetic information storage and spintronics due to their high storage density and low drive current. In this work, the transformation of magnetic configuration from chaotic labyrinth domains to uniform stripe domains was observed in MnFeCoGe magnets. This change occurs due to the noncollinear magnetic structure switching to a uniaxial ferromagnetic structure with increasing Co content, as identified by neutron diffraction results and Lorentz transmission electron microscopy (L-TEM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMotivation: The burgeoning generation of single-cell or spatial multiomic data allows for the characterization of gene regulation networks (GRNs) at an unprecedented resolution. However, the accurate reconstruction of GRNs from sparse and noisy single-cell or spatial multiomic data remains challenging.
Results: Here, we present SCRIPro, a comprehensive computational framework that robustly infers GRNs for both single-cell and spatial multi-omics data.
furan nanothreads have all oxygen atoms arranged on one side of the thread backbone; these polar threads present intriguing opportunities in electromechanical response owing to their rigid ladder-like backbone. We retrained a C/H/O reactive force field to simulate their response to external electric field for both end-anchored individual threads and bulk nanothread crystals, contrasting the results to those for poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer. Whereas the field induces a length-independent torque in PVDF through backbone rotation about σ bonds, furan-derived nanothreads generate a length-dependent torque by progressively twisting their rigid backbone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenomics Proteomics Bioinformatics
July 2024
The development and maturation of follicles is a sophisticated and multistage process. The dynamic gene expression of oocytes and their surrounding somatic cells and the dialogs between these cells are critical to this process. In this study, we accurately classified the oocyte and follicle development into nine stages and profiled the gene expression of mouse oocytes and their surrounding granulosa cells and cumulus cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInternal N-methyladenosine (mA) modifications are among the most abundant modifications of messenger RNA, playing a critical role in diverse biological and pathological processes. However, the functional role and regulatory mechanism of mA modifications in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection remains unknown. Here, we report that methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14)-dependent mA methylation of NAPDH oxidase 2 (Nox2) mRNA was crucial for the host immune defense against M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCTCF is crucial for chromatin structure and transcription regulation in early embryonic development. However, the kinetics of CTCF chromatin occupation in preimplantation embryos have remained unclear. In this study, we used CUT&RUN technology to investigate CTCF occupancy in mouse preimplantation development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a streamlined method to covalently bond hydroxylated carbon nanotubes (CNOH) within a polyphenol matrix, all achieved through a direct, solvent-free process. Employing an extremely small concentration of CNOH (0.01% w/w) along with topologically contrasting linkers led to a maximum of 5-fold increase in modulus and a 25% enhancement in tensile strength compared to the unaltered matrix, an order of magnitude greater reinforcement (w/w) compared to state-of-the-art melt-processed nanocomposites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Death Differ
March 2024
Pancreatic β-cell failure by WFS1 deficiency is manifested in individuals with wolfram syndrome (WS). The lack of a suitable human model in WS has impeded progress in the development of new treatments. Here, human pluripotent stem cell derived pancreatic islets (SC-islets) harboring WFS1 deficiency and mouse model of β cell specific Wfs1 knockout were applied to model β-cell failure in WS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are an important basis for hair follicle morphogenesis and hair cycle growth. This cell type also represents an excellent model for studying the gene function and molecular regulation of the hair growth cycle, including proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Basically, the functional investigation of hair growth-regulating genes demands a sufficient amount of HFSCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rewriting the genomes of living organisms has been a long-standing aim in the biological sciences. The revelation of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology has revolutionized the entire biological field. Since its emergence, this technology has been widely applied to induce gene knockouts, insertions, deletions, and base substitutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the deformation of energy storage electrodes at a local scale and its correlation to electrochemical performance is crucial for designing effective electrode architectures. In this work, the effect of electrolyte cation and electrode morphology on birnessite (δ-MnO) deformation during charge storage in aqueous electrolytes was investigated using a mechanical cyclic voltammetry approach via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In both KSO and LiSO electrolytes, the δ-MnO host electrode underwent expansion during cation intercalation, but with different potential dependencies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMETTL3 and METTL14 are two components that form the core heterodimer of the main RNA m6A methyltransferase complex (MTC) that installs m6A. Surprisingly, depletion of METTL3 or METTL14 displayed distinct effects on stemness maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC). While comparable global hypo-methylation in RNA m6A was observed in Mettl3 or Mettl14 knockout mESCs, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and aging are tightly regulated by paracrine factors from the bone marrow niche. However, whether HSC rejuvenation could be achieved by engineering a bone marrow niche ex vivo remains unknown. Here, we show that matrix stiffness fine-tunes HSC niche factor expression by bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHow to increase meat production is one of the main questions in animal breeding. Selection for improved body weight has been made and, due to recent genomic advances, naturally occurring variants that are responsible for controlling economically relevant phenotypes have been revealed. The () gene, a superstar gene in animal breeding, was discovered as a negative controller of muscle mass.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHistone modifications play critical roles in regulating gene expression and present dynamic changes during early embryo development. However, how they are reprogrammed during human prenatal germline development has not yet been elucidated. Here, we map the genome-wide profiles of three key histone modifications in human primordial germ cells (hPGCs) from weeks 8 to 23 of gestation for the first time by performing ULI-NChIP-seq.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroorganisms
November 2022
The intestine is a complex micro-ecosystem, and its stability determines the health of animals. Different dietary nutritional levels affect the intestinal microbiota and health. In this study, the nutritional levels of energy and protein in the diet of goats were changed, and the body weight was measured every 15 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanofiltration (NF) is an effective technology for removing trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), while the inherent trade-off effect between water permeance and solute rejections hinders its widespread application in water treatment. Herein, we propose a novel scheme of "monomers with sacrificial groups" to regulate the microstructure of the polyamide active layer via introducing a hydrolyzable ester group onto piperazine to control the diffusion and interfacial polymerization process. The achieved benefits include narrowing the pore size, improving the interpore connectivity, enhancing the microporosity, and reducing the active layer thickness, which collectively realized the simultaneous improvement of water permeance and enhancement of TrOCs rejection performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanofiltration (NF), highly prospective for drinking water treatment, faces a challenge in simultaneously removing emerging contaminants while maintaining mineral salts, particularly divalent cations. To overcome this challenge, NF membranes possessing small pores concomitant with highly negatively charged surfaces were synthesized via a two-step fabrication strategy. The key is to generate a polyamide active layer having a loose and carboxyl group-abundant segment on top and a dense barrier segment underneath.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: After domestication, the evolution of phenotypically-varied sheep breeds has generated rich biodiversity. This wide phenotypic variation arises as a result of hidden genomic changes that range from a single nucleotide to several thousands of nucleotides. Thus, it is of interest and significance to reveal and understand the genomic changes underlying the phenotypic variation of sheep breeds in order to drive selection towards economically important traits.
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