Fluorescent probe for imaging intercellular tension: molecular force approach.

Cellular mechanical force plays a crucial role in numerous biological processes, including wound healing, cell development, and metastasis. To enable imaging of intercellular tension, molecular tension probes were designed, which offer a simple and efficient method for preparing Au-DNA intercellular tension probes with universal applicability. The proposed approach utilizes gold nanoparticles linked to DNA hairpins, enabling sensitive visualization of cellular force .

Organic-inorganic haloargentate hybrids of [Me-dabco]AgX (X = I or Br) with halide ions manipulating the crystal structure, phase transition, and dielectric behavior.

Two haloargentate hybrids, [Me-dabco]AgX (Me-dabco = 1-methyl-1,4-diazabicyclo-[2.2.2]octan-1-ium, X = I (1) or Br (2)), with the same formula but different structures have been synthesized by a slow evaporation method and characterized by microanalysis, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric, and powder X-ray diffraction techniques.

Dielectrics and possible ferroelectricity in diol/glycerol covalently grafted kaolinites.

Kaolinite possesses a structure with asymmetrically layered 1 : 1 dioctahedral aluminum silicate, and this structural property provides a useful platform for creating new cost-efficient functional materials that require noncentrosymmetric crystal packing. In this study, we prepared three covalently grafted kaolinites of propanediol (PD)/butanediol (BD)/glycerol (GL) by forming Al-O-C bonds between the OH groups of PD/BD/GL and the surface of kaolinite (K). Three covalently grafted kaolinites (K-PD, K-BD and K-GL) were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and microanalysis for C, H and N elements.

Imaging the oxygen wave with a single bioluminescent bacterium.

We developed a capability of a monolayer of bioluminescent (BL) bacteria for spatiotemporally visualizing the heterogeneous distribution and dynamic evolution of interfacial oxygen concentration, resulting in the discovery of spontaneous and stochastic oxygen waves at the interface between the substrate and an undisturbed, apparently still solution. Wild type bacteria, , spontaneously emit light during the native metabolism processes, , bioluminescence. The emission intensity is sensitively regulated by oxygen concentration.

Rapid and multiplex preparation of engineered porin A (MspA) nanopores for single molecule sensing and sequencing.

Acknowledging its unique conical lumen structure, porin A (MspA) was the first type of nanopore that has successfully sequenced DNA. Recent developments of nanopore single molecule chemistry have also suggested MspA to be an optimum single molecule reactor. However, further investigations with this approach require heavy mutagenesis which is labor intensive and requires high end instruments for purifications.

Tracking the optical mass centroid of single electroactive nanoparticles reveals the electrochemically inactive zone.

The inevitable microstructural defects, including cracks, grain boundaries and cavities, make a portion of the material inaccessible to electrons and ions, becoming the incentives for electrochemically inactive zones in single entity. Herein, we introduced dark field microscopy to study the variation of scattering spectrum and optical mass centroid (OMC) of single Prussian blue nanoparticles during electrochemical reaction. The "dark zone" embedded in a single electroactive nanoparticle resulted in the incomplete reaction, and consequently led to the misalignment of OMC for different electrochemical intermediate states.

Discovery and biosynthesis of bosamycins from sp. 120454.

Nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) that are synthesized by modular megaenzymes known as nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are a rich source for drug discovery. By targeting an unusual NRPS architecture, we discovered an unusual biosynthetic gene cluster () from sp. 120454 and identified that it was responsible for the biosynthesis of a series of novel linear peptides, bosamycins.

Single molecule observation of hard-soft-acid-base (HSAB) interaction in engineered porin A (MspA) nanopores.

In the formation of coordination interactions between metal ions and amino acids in natural metalloproteins, the bound metal ion is critical either for the stabilization of the protein structure or as an enzyme co-factor. Though extremely small in size, metal ions, when bound to the restricted environment of an engineered biological nanopore, result in detectable perturbations during single channel recordings. All reported work of this kind was performed with engineered α-hemolysin nanopores and the observed events appear to be extremely small in amplitude (∼1-3 pA).

Comprehensively understanding the steric hindrance effect on the coordination sphere of Pb ions and photophysical nature of two luminescent Pb(ii)-coordination polymers.

New luminescent Pb(ii)-coordination polymers (Pb(ii)-CPs), [Pb(2-anc)] (1) and [Pb(3-qlc)(HO)] (2) (2-anc = 2-aminonicotinate, 3-qlc = 3-quinolinecarboxylate), were synthesized by a solvothermal reaction and characterized using microanalysis, IR spectrometry and thermogravimetric analysis. Single crystal structure analysis revealed that the Pb ion displays a hemi-directed coordination geometry in 1 and a holo-directed coordination geometry in 2. The difference between the coordination spheres of 1 and 2 is related to the steric hindrance effect of the ligands.

Modulating the electronic structure of a semiconductor to optimize its electrochemiluminescence performance.

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a light emission process originating from the energy relaxation of excited chemical states. For semiconducting materials, the ECL performance highly depends on the electronic band structure and the relaxation dynamics of charge carriers in excited states. Even though extensive investigations have been attempted, how the electronic structure relates to and affects the final ECL performance has not been fully understood thus far.

Determination of phosphite in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Phosphite (HPO3(2-), +3), a reduced P species in the P biogeochemical cycle, was monitored in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWTP) that uses an anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic-membrane bioreactor (A(2)/O-MBR) technology for treating mixed wastewater (56% industrial wastewater and 44% domestic wastewater) from June 2013 to May 2014. Wastewater samples were collected from influent after having gone through the fine grille, anaerobic tank, anoxic tank, and aerobics tank, respectively. The final stage yielded effluent.