Coexistence of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism in hex-GeS nanowires.

The existence of one-dimensional (1D) ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism provides an opportunity to expand the field of research in low-dimensional magnetoelectric and multiferroics and explore the future development of high-performance nanometer devices. Here, we predict a novel 1D ferroelectric hex-GeS nanowire with coexisting ferromagnetism. The electric polarization comes from the atomic displacements between Ge and S atoms, and it exhibits a far-higher than room temperature ferroelectric Curie temperature TEc = 830 K. The ferromagnetism, stemming from the Stoner instability, can be tuned by hole doping and maintained over a wide range of hole concentrations. Additionally, an indirect-direct-indirect band gap transition can be achieved via strain engineering and the bonding nature of the near-band-edge electronic orbitals revealed this transition mechanism. These results offer a platform to investigate 1D ferroelectric and ferromagnetic systems, and the presented hex-GeS nanowire demonstrates the potential for high-performance electronic and spintronic applications.

Well-aligned Nd-doped SnO2 nanorod layered arrays: preparation, characterization and enhanced alcohol-gas sensing performance.

Well-oriented neodymium doped SnO2 layered nanorod arrays were synthesized by a substrate-free hydrothermal route using sodium stannate and sodium hydroxide at 210 °C. The morphology and phase structure of the Nd-doped SnO2 nanoarrays were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the BET method. The results demonstrated that the Nd-doped SnO2 layered nanorod arrays showed a unique nanostructure combined together with double layered arrays of nanorods with a diameter of 12 nm and a length of several hundred nanometers. The Nd-doped layered SnO2 nanoarrays kept the crystal structure of the bulk SnO2 and possessed more surface defects caused by the Nd ions doped into the SnO2 lattice. The Nd dopant acts as a crystallite growth inhibitor to prevent the growth of SnO2 nanorods. An investigation into the gas-sensing properties indicated that the optimized doping level of 3.0 at% Nd-doped SnO2 layered nanorod arrays exhibited an excellent sensing response toward alcohol at a lower temperature of 260 °C. The enhanced sensor performance was attributed to the higher specific surface area, multi-defect surface structure and the excellent catalytic properties of Nd dopant that is able to increase the amount of active sites on the surface of semiconducting oxides. The Nd-doped SnO2 nanoarray sensors were considered to be a promising candidate for trace alcohol detections in environmental gas monitoring.

Cloning, expression and characterization of a new lipase from Yarrowia lipolytica.

Bioinformatic analysis of the Yarrowia lipolytica CLIB122 genome has revealed 18 putative lipase genes all of which were expressed in Escherichia coli and screened for hydrolyzing activities against p-nitrophenyl-palmitate. One positive transformant containing an ORF of 1,098 bp encoding a protein of 365 amino acids was obtained. To characterize its enzymatic properties, the lipase gene was functionally expressed in Pichia pastoris. The resulting lipase exhibited the highest activity towards p-NP-decanoate at pH 7 and 35 °C. In addition, the new lipase had a lower optimal temperature and pH compared to other Y. lipolytica lipases. It was noticeably enhanced by Ca(2+), but was inhibited by PMSF, Hg(2+) and Ni(2+). The new lipase displayed the 1,3-specificity for triolein.

[Heterologous expression and characterization of Yarrowia lipolytica lipase 4 and lipase 5 in Pichia pastoris].

OBJECTIVE: To clone cDNA sequences of lipase 4 (LIP4) and lipase 5 (LIPS), analyze gene structures and express them in Pichia pastoris so as to investigate their enzymatic characteristics. METHODS: We first cloned cDNA sequences of LIP4 and LIP5 by reverse transcription PCR and analyzed their gene structures by SignalP 3.0. Then, intracellular expression vectors pPIC3. 5K-Lip4, pPIC3. 5K-Lip5 and inducible secretion vectors pPIC9K-Lip4, pPIC9K-Lip5 were constructed. All vectors were transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 by electroporation, resulting in a series of engineered strains. After fermentation and NTA-Ni resin purification, the enzymatic properties of LIP4 and LIP5 were examined. RESULTS: The cloned cDNA sequences revealed that there was no intron in both of Lip4 and Lip5. The two lipases both contained catalytic triads and conserved GHSLG motifs. Their optimal substrate, pH, temperature were respectively pNP-caprylate (C8), 7.0 and 40 degrees C. The activities of LIP4 and LIPS were 10.16 U/mg and 5.1 U/mg, respectively. It was found that LIP4 was more sensitive to the variations of pH and temperature than LIP5. LIP4 and LIP5 could both be stimulated by Ca2+, besides LIPS could also be activated by Mg2+. They were both strongly inhibited by Hg2+, Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and Dithiothreitol (DTT). CONCLUSION: The cloning of Lip4 and Lip5, expression in P. pastoris and characterization of their properties would offer a solid basis for their large-scale production and future application. In addition, the results also enriched the data for a systematic research on the lipase gene family of Y. lipolytica.

Surface display of active lipases Lip7 and Lip8 from Yarrowia lipolytica on Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Lipase has been used widely in industry. In this study, we have constructed two recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains displaying two active lipases on the cell surface by cell surface engineering. The genes encoding Yarrowia lipolytica lipases Lip7 and Lip8 were fused with the gene encoding small binding subunit Aga2 of a-agglutinin. Localization of the Lip7 and Lip8 on the cell surface was confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy. Besides, the putative signal sequences of Lip7 and Lip8 were removed to compare their effect on the activities of surface-displayed lipases. The results showed that the activities towards p-nitrophenyl caprylate of surface-displayed Lip7 and Lip8 were 283 U/g (dry cell) and 121 U/g (dry cell), much higher than that using Flo1 as anchor protein in Pichia pastoris, and the putative signal sequences have significant effect on the activities of the displayed lipases; when deleted, the lipases' activities were declined to 65 U/g (dry cell) and 80 U/g (dry cell), respectively. The displayed lipases exhibit a preference for middle chain fatty acids and a high thermal stability. Additionally, from the study, to surface-display a target protein, it is recommendable that the structure feature of the protein should be assayed through bioinformatics methods and then the cell wall proteins with the anchor domain far away from the activity center should be chosen as anchor proteins.

Surface display of active lipase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using Cwp2 as an anchor protein.

Lipase Lip2 from Yarrowia lipolytica was displayed on the cell surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using Cwp2 as an anchor protein. Successful display of the lipase on the cell surface was confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy and halo assay. The length of linker sequences was further examined to confirm that the correct conformation of Lip2 was maintained. The results showed that the displayed Lip2 exhibited the highest activity at 7.6 +/- 0.4 U/g (dry cell) when using (G(4)S)(3) sequence as the linker, with an optimal temperature and pH at 40 degrees C and pH 8.0. The displayed lipase did not lose any activity after being treated with 0.1% Triton X-100 and 0.1% Tween 80 for 30 min, and it retained 92% of its original activity after incubation in 10% DMSO for 30 min. It also exhibited better thermostability than free Lip2 as reported previously.

[Gene cloning, codon optimization and functional expression of Yarrawia lipolytica lipase Lip1].

OBJECTIVE: To implement inducible and constitutive over-expression of Yarrowia lipolytica lipase gene lipl in Pichia pastoris using codon optimization. METHODS: We cloned Y. lipolytica lipase gene lip1 according to codon bias of P. pastoris, and optimized lipl using overlap extension PCR synthesis. Then, we cloned the original and optimized genes into the induced vector pPIC9K and newly built constitutive carrier pGAP9K, and electrotransformated the resultant expression plasmids into P. pastoris GS115. Through G418 resistance screening, high copy transformatants were selected and fermented in shake flasks. P-nitrophenyl palmitate (pNPP) was used as substrates for assay the activities of the expressed lipase, and the characteristics of the lipase were further examined. RESULTS: We successfully cloned lipase gene lip1 from Y. lipolytica, nucleotide sequence revealed that the open reading frame (ORF) had 1461 nucleotides, encoding 486 amino acids, without any intron or any signal peptide. SDS-PAGE analysis and fermentation result showed that the optimized gene had a higher expression level than the original one, and the constitutive expression was superior to the inducible expression. Preliminary analysis showed that the optimal substrate of Lipl was p-nitrophenyl butyrate (C4), the optimum temperature and pH was 45 degrees C and 8.5, respectively. CONCLUSION: Y. lipolytica lipase gene lip1 can be over-expressed through both inducible and constitutive expressions using codon optimization, which lays a solid foundation to further study Y. lipolytica lipase family, and also provides an important prerequisite for scale production and industrial application of the lipase.

[Cell surface display of Yarrowia lipolytica lipase Lip2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a-agglutinin as carrier protein].

OBJECTIVE: In order to display extracellular.lipase Lip2 from Yarrowia lipolytica on the surface of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for whole cell catalysts. METHODS: The mature Lip2 encoding fragment was amplified from Yarrowia lipolytica total DNA, and was inserted into the 3'terminal of AGA2 to give the plasmid pCTLIP2 for surface display of Lip2. Olive oil, tributyrin and p-nitrophenyl palmitate (pNPP) were used as substrates to measure lipase activity. Moreover, the characterization of displayed lipase and its free form was analyzed. RESULTS: The surface displayed lipase was confirmed to be active towards olive oil, tributyrin and p-nitrophenyl palmitate (pNPP), and reached its highest expression level at 182 U/g dry cell after induced by galactose for 72h. The optimum temperature of cell surface displayed Lip2 was 40 degrees C After incubated at 50 degrees C for 4h, the surface displayed lipase retained 23.2% of its full activity, improved a little compared to free Lip2. The surface displayed lipase showed a preference to medium-chain and long-chain fatty acids p-nitrophenyl esters (C8-C16). CONCLUSION: The cell surface display system based on a-agglutinin is an effective system for displaying Lip2, and the whole cell EBY100-pCTLIP2 will be probably suited to a different range of applications.

2D SnO2 Nanosheets: Synthesis, Characterization, Structures, and Excellent Sensing Performance to Ethylene Glycol.

Two dimensional (2D)SnO2 nanosheets were synthesized by a substrate-free hydrothermal route using sodium stannate and sodium hydroxide in a mixed solvent of absolute ethanol and deionized water at a lower temperature of 130 °C. The characterization results of the morphology, microstructure, and surface properties of the as-prepared products demonstrated that SnO2 nanosheets with a tetragonal rutile structure, were composed of oriented SnO2 nanoparticles with a diameter of 6-12 nm. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (FETEM) results demonstrated that the dominant exposed surface of the SnO2 nanoparticles was (101), but not (110). The growth and formation was supposed to follow the oriented attachment mechanism. The SnO2 nanosheets exhibited an excellent sensing response toward ethylene glycol at a lower optimal operating voltage of 3.4 V. The response to 400 ppm ethylene glycol reaches 395 at 3.4 V. Even under the low concentration of 5, 10, and 20 ppm, the sensor exhibited a high response of 6.9, 7.8, and 12.0 to ethylene glycol, respectively. The response of the SnO2 nanosheets exhibited a linear dependence on the ethylene glycol concentration from 5 to 1000 ppm. The excellent sensing performance was attributed to the present SnO2 nanoparticles with small size close to the Debye length, the larger specific surface, the high-energy exposed facets of the (101) surface, and the synergistic effects of the SnO2 nanoparticles of the nanosheets.

The Effect of Eu Doping on Microstructure, Morphology and Methanal-Sensing Performance of Highly Ordered SnO2 Nanorods Array.

Layered Eu-doped SnO2 ordered nanoarrays constructed by nanorods with 10 nm diameters and several hundred nanometers length were synthesized by a substrate-free hydrothermal route using alcohol and water mixed solvent of sodium stannate and sodium hydroxide at 200 °C. The Eu dopant acted as a crystal growth inhibitor to prevent the SnO2 nanorods growth up, resulting in tenuous SnO2 nanorods ordered arrays. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the tetragonal rutile-type structure with a systematic average size reduction and unit cell volume tumescence, while enhancing the residual strain as the Eu-doped content increases. The surface defects that were caused by the incorporation of Eu ions within the surface oxide matrix were observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). The results of the response properties of sensors based on the different levels of Eu-doped SnO2 layered nanoarrays demonstrated that the 0.5 at % Eu-doped SnO2 layered nanorods arrays exhibited an excellent sensing response to methanal at 278 °C. The reasons of the enhanced sensing performance were discussed from the complicated defect surface structure, the large specific surface area, and the excellent catalytic properties of Eu dopant.

Intracellular expression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin improves production of Yarrowia lipolytica lipase LIP2 in a recombinant Pichia pastoris.

The Yarrowia lipolytica lipase LIP2 (YlLIP2) gene lip2 and Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene vgb were co-expressed in Pichia pastoris, both under the control of AOX1 promoter, in order to alleviate respiration limitation under conditions of high cell-density fermentation and enhance YlLIP2 production. The results showed that recombinant P. pastoris strains harboring the lip2 and vgb genes (VHb(+)) displayed higher biomass and YlLIP2 activity than control strains (VHb(-)). Compared with VHb(-) cells, the expression levels of YlLIP2 in VHb-expressing cells when oxygen was not a limiting factor were improved 31.5% in shake-flask culture and 22% in a 10-L fermentor. Under non-limiting dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions, the maximum YlLIP2 activity of VHb(+) in a 10-L fermentor reached 33,000 U/mL. Oxygen limitation had a more negative effect on YlLIP2 productivity in VHb(-) cells than in VHb(+) cells. The highest YlLIP2 activity of VHb(+) cells was approximately 1.84-fold higher than that of VHb(-) cells at lower DO levels. Moreover, the recombinant strain VHb(+) exhibited a higher specific oxygen uptake rate and achieved higher cell viability under oxygen limiting and non-limiting conditions compared with VHb(-) cells. Therefore, the above results suggest that intracellular expression of VHb in recombinant P. pastoris has the potential to improve cell growth and industrial enzyme production.

Constitutive expression of Yarrowia lipolytica lipase LIP2 in Pichia pastoris using GAP as promoter.

A gene encoding Yarrowia lipolytica lipase LIP2 (YlLIP2) was cloned into a constitutive expression vector pGAPZαA and electrotransformed into the Pichia pastoris X-33 strain. The high-yield clones obtained by high copy and enzyme activity screening were chosen as the host strains for shaking flask and fermentor culture. The results showed that glucose was the optimum carbon source for YlLIP2 production, and the maximum hydrolytic activity of recombinant YlLIP2 reached 1,315 U/ml under the flask culture at 28 °C, pH 7.0, for 48 h. The fed-batch fermentation was carried out in 3- and 10-l bioreactors by continuously feeding glucose into the growing medium for achieving high cell density and YlLIP2 yields. The maximum hydrolytic activity of YlLIP2 and cell density obtained in the 3-l bioreactor were 10,300 U/ml and 116 g dry cell weight (DCW)/l, respectively. The peak hydrolytic activity of YlLIP2 and cell density were further improved in the 10-l fermentor where the values respectively attained were 13,500 U/ml and 120 g DCW/l. The total protein concentration in the supernatant reached 3.3 g/l and the cell viability remained approximately 99% after 80 h of culture. Furthermore, the recombinant YlLIP2 produced in P. pastoris pGAP and pAOX1 systems have similar content of sugar (about 12%) and biochemical characteristics. The above results suggest that the GAP promoter-derived expression system of P. pastoris is effective for the expression of YlLIP2 by high cell density culture and is probably an alternative to the conventional AOX1 promoter expression system in large-scale production of industrial lipases.

Preparation of a whole-cell biocatalyst of Aspergillus niger lipase and its practical properties.

Aspergillus niger lipase (ANL), a widely used hydrolase, was displayed for the first time on the surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a-agglutinin as an anchor protein. Localization of ANL on the cell surface was confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy. The displayed ANL was confirmed to be active toward tributyrin and p-nitrophenyl caprylate (pNPC). The hydrolytic activity toward pNPC reached 43.8 U/g of dry cell weight after induction by galactose for 72 h. The ANL-displaying cells were characterized for their use as whole-cell biocatalysts. The optimum temperature was 45 °C, and the pH was 7.0. The cells had good thermostability, retaining almost 80% of the full activity after incubation at 60 °C for 1 h, and >80% of the full activity at 50 °C for 6 h. The displayed lipase showed a preference for medium-chain fatty acid p-nitrophenyl esters. Therefore, the produced whole-cell catalyst is likely to have a wide range of applications.