Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of the WRKY Gene Family and Cold Stress Response in Acer truncatum.

WRKY transcription factors constitute one of the largest gene families in plants and are involved in many biological processes, including growth and development, physiological metabolism, and the stress response. In earlier studies, the WRKY gene family of proteins has been extensively studied and analyzed in many plant species. However, information on WRKY transcription factors in Acer truncatum has not been reported. In this study, we conducted genome-wide identification and analysis of the WRKY gene family in A. truncatum, 54 WRKY genes were unevenly located on all 13 chromosomes of A. truncatum, the highest number was found in chromosomes 5. Phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, and conserved motif identification were constructed, and the results affirmed 54 AtruWRKY genes were divided into nine subgroup groups. Tissue species analysis of AtruWRKY genes revealed which were differently exhibited upregulation in flower, leaf, root, seed and stem, and the upregulation number were 23, 14, 34, 18, and 8, respectively. In addition, the WRKY genes expression in leaf under cold stress showed that more genes were significantly expressed under 0, 6 and 12 h cold stress. The results of this study provide a new insight the regulatory function of WRKY genes under abiotic and biotic stresses.

Precisely Engineering Architectures of Co/C Sub-Microreactors for Selective Syngas Conversion.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is an effective route to produce olefins, gasoline, diesel, and oxygenates from syngas (CO + H2 ). However, it still remains a challenge for regulating the product distribution of FTS. Here, a series of Co/C sub-microreactors with precise designed nanoarchitectures are synthesized for selective syngas conversion. Through a combination of surface protection-assisted etching and following carbonization process, Co/C sub-microreactors with solid cube, double-shelled hollow box, and hollow box architectures, namely, Co/C-Cube, Co/C-DBox, Co/C-Box can be obtained. In FTS, comparing with solid Co/C-Cube, double-shelled hollow structured Co/C-DBox is inclined to grow long-chain hydrocarbon products, whereas hollow structured Co/C-Box avails the formation of short-chain hydrocarbon chemicals. Therefore, shape selective catalysis and controlled product distribution of FTS are realized by tuning the architectures of Co/C sub-microreactors. It is expected to fundamentally unravel the heterogeneous catalytic process via upfront designing and precisely regulating the architectures of micro/nanoreactors.

Modular Construction of Prussian Blue Analog and TiO2 Dual-Compartment Janus Nanoreactor for Efficient Photocatalytic Water Splitting.

Janus structures that include different functional compartments have attracted significant attention due to their specific properties in a diverse range of applications. However, it remains challenge to develop an effective strategy for achieving strong interfacial interaction. Herein, a Janus nanoreactor consisting of TiO2 2D nanocrystals integrated with Prussian blue analog (PBA) single crystals is proposed and synthesized by mimicking the planting process. In situ etching of PBA particles induces nucleation and growth of TiO2 nanoflakes onto the concave surface of PBA particles, and thus enhances the interlayer interaction. The anisotropic PBA-TiO2 Janus nanoreactor demonstrates enhanced photocatalytic activities for both water reduction and oxidation reactions compared with TiO2 and PBA alone. As far as it is known, this is the first PBA-based composite that serves as a bifunctional photocatalyst for solar water splitting. The interfacial structure between two materials is vital for charge separation and transfer based on the spectroscopic studies. These results shed light on the elaborate construction of Janus nanoreactor, highlighting the important role of interfacial design at the microscale level.

Carbon-based catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is an essential approach to convert coal, biomass, and shale gas into fuels and chemicals, such as lower olefins, gasoline, diesel, and so on. In recent years, there has been increasing motivation to deploy FTS at commercial scales which has been boosting the discovery of high performance catalysts. In particular, the importance of support in modulating the activity of metals has been recognized and carbonaceous materials have attracted attention as supports for FTS. In this review, we summarised the substantial progress in the preparation of carbon-based catalysts for FTS by applying activated carbon (AC), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs), carbon spheres (CSs), and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derived carbonaceous materials as supports. A general assessment of carbon-based catalysts for FTS, concerning the support and metal properties, activity and products selectivity, and their interactions is systematically discussed. Finally, current challenges and future trends in the development of carbon-based catalysts for commercial utilization in FTS are proposed.

Development and Transferability of EST-SSR Markers for Pinus koraiensis from Cold-Stressed Transcriptome through Illumina Sequencing.

Pinus koraiensis has significant economic and ecological value in Northeast China. However, due to the lack of suitable molecular markers, only a few available microsatellite markers were developed for further population genetics studies. In this study, for the first time we developed expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers from the cold-stressed transcriptome of P. koraiensis using Illumina Sequencing. We identified a total of 7,235 EST-SSRs from 97,376 sequences, and we tested their transferability among seven related Pinus species. The results showed that trinucleotides were the most abundant type of repeat (1287, 18.74%) excluding mononucleotides, followed by dinucleotides (1284, 18.7%) and tetranucleotides (72, 1.05%). The most dominant dinucleotides and trinucleotide repeat motifs were AT/AT (535, 7.79%) and AAT/ATT (103, 1.5%). The observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.002 to 0.986 and 0.017 to 0.743, respectively, and the polymorphism information content (PIC) values and number of alleles (Na) varied from 0.029 to 0.794 and 2 to 23, respectively. A total of 8 natural P. koraiensis populations were divided into two main genetic clusters. Furthermore, nine of twenty polymorphic primer pairs were successfully amplified in seven Pinus species, and at least 80% of the successful P. koraiensis EST-SSR primers could be amplified in more than four species (16, 80%). Combined results for the development of EST-SSR markers in P. koraiensis and transferability among related species would contribute to improved studies on the genetic diversity and population structure in P. koraiensis and phylogenetic relationships among Pinus species. They would also provide a significant source for quantitative trait locus analysis.

Computational simulation and preparation of fluorescent magnetic molecularly imprinted silica nanospheres for ciprofloxacin or norfloxacin sensing.

A magnetic molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensor for the sensitive and convenient determination of ciprofloxacin or norfloxacin in human urine was synthesized and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Both cadmium telluride quantum dots and ferroferric oxide nanoparticles are introduced into the polymer for the rapid separation and detection of the target molecules. The synthesized molecularly imprinted polymers were applied to detect ciprofloxacin or its structural analog norfloxacin in human urine with the detection limit 130 ng/mL. A computational study was developed to evaluate the template-monomer geometry and interaction energy in the polymerization mixture to determine the reaction molar ratio of the template and monomer molecules.