Tunable electron-flexural phonon interaction in graphene heterostructures.

Peculiar electron-phonon interaction characteristics underpin the ultrahigh mobility1, electron hydrodynamics2-4, superconductivity5 and superfluidity6,7 observed in graphene heterostructures. The Lorenz ratio between the electronic thermal conductivity and the product of the electrical conductivity and temperature provides insight into electron-phonon interactions that is inaccessible to past graphene measurements. Here we show an unusual Lorenz ratio peak in degenerate graphene near 60 kelvin and decreased peak magnitude with increased mobility. When combined with ab initio calculations of the many-body electron-phonon self-energy and analytical models, this experimental observation reveals that broken reflection symmetry in graphene heterostructures can relax a restrictive selection rule8,9 to allow quasielastic electron coupling with an odd number of flexural phonons, contributing to the increase of the Lorenz ratio towards the Sommerfeld limit at an intermediate temperature sandwiched between the low-temperature hydrodynamic regime and the inelastic electron-phonon scattering regime above 120 kelvin. In contrast to past practices of neglecting the contributions of flexural phonons to transport in two-dimensional materials, this work suggests that tunable electron-flexural phonon couping can provide a handle to control quantum matter at the atomic scale, such as in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene10 where low-energy excitations may mediate Cooper pairing of flat-band electrons11,12.

Topological polarons in halide perovskites.

Halide perovskites emerged as a revolutionary family of high-quality semiconductors for solar energy harvesting and energy-efficient lighting. There is mounting evidence that the exceptional optoelectronic properties of these materials could stem from unconventional electron-phonon couplings, and it has been suggested that the formation of polarons and self-trapped excitons could be key to understanding such properties. By performing first-principles simulations across the length scales, here we show that halide perovskites harbor a uniquely rich variety of polaronic species, including small polarons, large polarons, and charge density waves, and we explain a variety of experimental observations. We find that these emergent quasiparticles support topologically nontrivial phonon fields with quantized topological charge, making them nonmagnetic analog of the helical Bloch points found in magnetic skyrmion lattices.

Excitonic Polarons and Self-Trapped Excitons from First-Principles Exciton-Phonon Couplings.

Excitons consist of electrons and holes held together by their attractive Coulomb interaction. Although excitons are neutral excitations, spatial fluctuations in their charge density couple with the ions of the crystal lattice. This coupling can lower the exciton energy and lead to the formation of a localized excitonic polaron or even a self-trapped exciton in the presence of strong exciton-phonon interactions. Here, we develop a theoretical and computational approach to compute excitonic polarons and self-trapped excitons from first principles. Our methodology combines the many-body Bethe-Salpeter approach with density-functional perturbation theory and does not require explicit supercell calculations. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate our method for a compound of the halide perovskite family.

Outcomes of antiretroviral treatment for 0-14-year-old children living with HIV in Ganzhou, China, 2006-2023.

BACKGROUND: Studies on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in children living with HIV (CLHIV) are limited due to the small population and low accession rate of ART. METHODS: All 0-14-year-old CLHIV admitted to the Ganzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January 2006 to June 2023 were included retrospectively. The information of treatment regimens, disease progression, and laboratory tests of the patients under ART were used to explore the outcomes and impacts of long-term ART. The normality of all the data was tested by the Shapiro-Wilk test. RESULTS: From 2006 to 2023, 18 CLHIV were reported in Ganzhou. Among them, 11 received ART and were followed up for 60.0 ± 48.4 months. After receiving ART, the median viral load of them decreased from 89,600 copies/ml to 22 copies/ml (P = 0.007), the median CD4+ T cell count increased from 380.7 cells/µL to 661.9 cells/µL (P = 0.028), and the median CD8+ T cell count decreased from 1065.8 cells/µL to 983.3 cells/µL (P = 0.584). The laboratory test results regarding liver function, renal function, blood cell count, and glucolipid metabolism tended to be within normal reference ranges, and the mean height-for-age z-score and weight-for-age z-score increased. However, all the three CLHIV who received cotrimoxazole developed pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, upper respiratory infection, skin lesions, bacterial pneumonia and/or thrush; the mean body-mass-index-for-age z-score decreased from 0.52 to -0.63. CONCLUSION: For CLHIV, ART could effectively inhibit the replication of HIV and improve the immune function of patients. More studies that focus on ART in CLHIV are urgently needed.

Methylprednisolone pulse therapy promotes the differentiation of regulatory T cells by inducing the apoptosis of CD4+ T cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the differentiation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) induced by methylprednisolone (MP) pulse therapy in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: We enrolled 30 patients with SLE and analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) before and after MP pulse therapy. Peripheral Tregs, apoptosis of PBMCs subsets, and TGFß production by monocytes was quantified by flow cytometry. Proliferation and IFN-γ production of CD4+ T cells were measured. Furthermore, TGFß1 production by human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM) stimulated with MP-treated CD4+ T cells were quantified by ELISA. RESULTS: Peripheral Tregs was significantly increased after MP pulse therapy (6.76 ± 1.46% vs. 3.82 ± 1.02%, p < 0.01), with an expansion of Nrp1- induced Tregs (4.54 ± 0.46% vs. 1.75 ± 0.38%, p < 0.01). Proliferation and IFN-γ production of CD4+ T cells were significantly decreased after MP pulse therapy. MP pulse therapy induced CD4+ T cell apoptosis (early apoptosis, 26.34 ± 3.54% vs. 14.81 ± 2.89%, p < 0.01) and TGFß expression on monocytes (6.02% vs. 2.45%, p < 0.01). Furthermore, MP induced CD4+ T cell apoptosis in vitro, which stimulated HMDM to produce TGFß. Moreover, elevated TGFß level in supernatant from HMDM stimulated with MP-treated CD4+ T cells promoted Tregs differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: MP pulse therapy induces CD4+ T cell apoptosis, which promotes monocytes to produce TGFß and further facilitates Tregs differentiation. Newly-differentiated Tregs suppress proliferation and IFN-γ production of CD4+ T cells and contribute to immunoregulatory milieu after MP pulse therapy.

PP2Acα regulates epidermal cell proliferation via the EGFR/AKT/mTOR pathway in psoriasis-like skin lesions caused by PPP2CA deficiency.

Psoriasis, a common skin disease, endangers human physiological and mental health; however, its pathogenesis remains unclear. Keratinocyte proliferation is a typical pathological characteristic of psoriasis. Serine/threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is one of the most important phosphatases for maintaining normal phosphorylation levels in humans. PP2Acα is the alpha subtype of the PP2A C subunit (encoded by PPP2CA), which maintains the catalytic functions of PP2A. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is activated by phosphorylation (p-EGFR) to regulate the downstream signalling pathway to promote epidermal cell proliferation. Previous studies have found that PPP2CA induced epidermal hyperplasia, keratinization and other pathological phenomena similar to those in mouse models of psoriasis. The present study showed that PP2Acα negatively regulated EGFR phosphorylation and epidermal cell proliferation, and EGFR inhibitors could alleviate PP2Acα by inhibiting epidermal cell proliferation. This study further examined the effect of mechanisms on epidermal cell proliferation and the downstream signalling pathway of EGFR using molecular technological methods to explore new ideas for treating psoriasis.

Erratum: Unified Approach to Polarons and Phonon-Induced Band Structure Renormalization [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 076402 (2022)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.076402.

Unified Approach to Polarons and Phonon-Induced Band Structure Renormalization.

Ab initio calculations of the phonon-induced band structure renormalization are currently based on the perturbative Allen-Heine theory and its many-body generalizations. These approaches are unsuitable to describe materials where electrons form localized polarons. Here, we develop a self-consistent, many-body Green's function theory of band structure renormalization that incorporates localization and self-trapping. We show that the present approach reduces to the Allen-Heine theory in the weak-coupling limit, and to total energy calculations of self-trapped polarons in the strong-coupling limit. To demonstrate this methodology, we reproduce the path-integral results of Feynman and diagrammatic Monte Carlo calculations for the Fröhlich model at all couplings, and we calculate the zero point renormalization of the band gap of an ionic insulator including polaronic effects.

Aequorivita iocasae sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from sediment collected at a cold seep field in the South China Sea.

A moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain KX20305T, was isolated from sediment collected from a cold seep field in the South China Sea. Cells of strain KX20305T were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic, oxidase- and catalase-positive, and grew optimally at 25-30 °C, pH 6.0-8.0 and with 3-6 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KX20305T grouped with members of the genus Aequorivita, including Aequorivita aquimaris D-24T (98.3 % sequence similarity), Aequorivita vladivostokensis KMM 3516T (98.1 %) and Aequorivita echinoideorum CC-CZW007T (97.5 %). Genome sequencing of strain KX20305T revealed a genome size of 3.35 Mb and a DNA G+C content of 38.71 mol%. Genomic average nucleotide identity (orthoANI) values of strain KX20305T with A. aquimaris D-24T, A. vladivostokensis KMM 3516T and A. echinoideorum JCM 30378T were 83.8, 81.7 and 75.4 %, respectively, while in silico DNA-DNA hybridization (GGDC) values for strain KX20305T with these strains were 27.2, 25.0 and 19.6 %, respectively. The major fatty acids of strain KX20305T were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and 10-methyl C16 : 0/iso-C17 : 1 ω9c. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). The polar lipids mainly comprised phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. Based on comparative analysis of phylogenetic, phylogenomic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain KX20305T represents a novel species of the genus Aequorivita, for which the name Aequorivita iocasae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KX20305T (=KCTC 82699T=MCCC 1K06238T=JCM 34635T).

Anisotropic Full-Gap Superconductivity in 2M-WS2 Topological Metal with Intrinsic Proximity Effect.

Layered 2M-WS2 is recently observed to show Majorana bound states in vortices, but its superconducting pairing mechanism remains unknown, hindering the understanding of its topological superconducting nature. Using the ab initio Migdal-Eliashberg theory and electron-phonon Wannier interpolation, we demonstrate that both bulk and bilayer 2M-WS2 have a single anisotropic full-gap superconducting order of s-wave symmetry. We successfully reproduce the experimental superconducting critical temperature for the bulk and predict the bilayer 2M-WS2, a two-dimensional (2D) Z2 topological metal with nontrivial edge states right at the Fermi energy, to superconduct at 7 K, much higher than that in most 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). A distinct proximity-enhanced surface superconductivity is further revealed by simulating quasiparticle density of states. This work unveils a universal electron-phonon full-gap pairing in 2M group VI TMDs and suggests a strong intrinsic surface-bulk proximity effect for 2M-WS2, paving the way to engineering topological superconductivity in TMD-based nanoscale devices.

Nonadiabatic Dynamics of Photocatalytic Water Splitting on A Polymeric Semiconductor.

To elucidate the nature of light-driven photocatalytic water splitting, a polymeric semiconductor-graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-has been chosen as a prototype substrate for studying atomistic water spitting processes in realistic environments. Our nonadiabatic quantum dynamics simulations based on real-time time-dependent density functional theory reveal explicitly the transport channel of photogenerated charge carriers at the g-C3N4/water interface, which shows a strong correlation to bond re-forming. A three-step photoreaction mechanism is proposed, whereas the key roles of hole-driven hydrogen transfer and interfacial water configurations were identified. Immediately following photocatalytic water splitting, atomic pathways for the two dissociated hydrogen atoms approaching each other and forming the H2 gas molecule are demonstrated, while the remanent OH radicals may form intermediate products (e.g., H2O2). These results provide critical new insights for the characterization and further development of efficient water-splitting photocatalysts from a dynamic perspective.

A glimpse of deep-sea adaptation in chemosynthetic holobionts: Depressurization causes DNA fragmentation and cell death of methanotrophic endosymbionts rather than their deep-sea Bathymodiolinae host.

Bathymodiolinae mussels are typical species in deep-sea cold seeps and hydrothermal vents and an ideal model for investigating chemosynthetic symbiosis and the influence of high hydrostatic pressure on deep-sea organisms. Herein, the potential influence of depressurization on DNA fragmentation and cell death in Bathymodiolinae hosts and their methanotrophic symbionts were surveyed using isobaric and unpressurized samples. As a hallmark of cell death, massive DNA fragmentation was observed in methanotrophic symbionts from unpressurized Bathymodiolinae while several endonucleases and restriction enzymes were upregulated. Additionally, genes involved in DNA repair, glucose/methane metabolism as well as two-component regulatory system were also differentially expressed in depressurized symbionts. DNA fragmentation and programmed cell death, however, were rarely detected in the host bacteriocytes owing to the orchestrated upregulation of inhibitor of apoptosis genes and downregulation of caspase genes. Meanwhile, diverse host immune recognition receptors were promoted during depressurization, probably enabling the regain of symbionts. When the holobionts were subjected to a prolonged acclimation at atmospheric pressure, alternations in both the DNA fragmentation and the expression atlas of aforesaid genes were continuously observed in symbionts, demonstrating the persistent influence of depressurization. Contrarily, the host cells demonstrated certain tolerance against depressurization stress as expression level of some immune-related genes returned to the basal level in isobaric samples. Altogether, the present study illustrates the distinct stress responses of Bathymodiolinae hosts and their methanotrophic symbionts against depressurization, which could provide further insight into the deep-sea adaptation of Bathymodiolinae holobionts while highlighting the necessity of using isobaric sampling methods in deep-sea research.

Frequency of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, non-ST-segment myocardial infarction, and unstable angina: results from a Southwest Chinese Registry.

The burden of cardiovascular disease is predicted to escalate in developing countries. The aim of this study is to assess the characteristics, management strategies and outcomes of the patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who were admitted to hospitals under the chest pain center mode in southwest P. R. China. Adults hospitalized with a diagnosis of ACS were enrolled in the retrospective, observational registry between January 2017 and June 2019 at 11 hospitals in Chengdu, P. R. China. The collected data included the patients' baseline characteristics, clinical management and in-hospital outcomes. After Statistical analysis, (1) A total of 2857 patients with ACS, among which 1482 have ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 681 have non-STEMI (NSTEMI) and 694 have unstable angina (UA) were enrolled in the study. (2) 61.3% of the ACS patients received reperfusion therapy. More patients with STEMI underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with NSTEMI/UA patients (80.6% vs. 38.8%, P < 0.001), while thrombolytics were administered in only 1.8% of STEMI patients. (3) The median time from symptoms to hospital was 190 min (IQR 94-468) in STEMI, 283 min (IQR 112-1084) in NSTEMI and 337 min (IQR 97-2220) in UA (P < 0.001), and the door-to-balloon time for primary PCI (pPCI) was 85 min (IQR 55-121) in STEMI. (4) The in-hospital outcomes for STEMI patients included death (8.1%) and acute heart failure (22.6%), while the outcomes for those with NSTEMI and UA were better: death (4.0% and 0.9%, P < 0.001) and acute heart failure (15.3% and 9.9%, P < 0.001). (5) Antiplatelet drugs, lipid-lowering drugs, ß-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) /angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) were used in about 98.3%, 95.0%, 67.7% and 54.3% of the ACS patients, respectively. Therefore, the management capacity in Chengdu has relatively increased compared with previous studies, but important gaps still exist compared with developed countries, especially regarding the management of the NSTEMI/UA patients.

microRNAs facilitate comprehensive responses of Bathymodiolinae mussel against symbiotic and nonsymbiotic bacteria stimulation.

Bathymodiolinae mussels are dominant species in cold seeps and hydrothermal vents and could harbor endosymbionts in gill bacteriocytes. However, mechanisms underlying the symbiosis have remained largely undisclosed for years. In the present study, the global expression pattern of immune-related genes and miRNAs were surveyed in Gigantidas platifrons during bacterial challenges using enriched symbiotic methane oxidation bacteria MOBs or nonsymbiotic Vibrio. As a result, multiple pattern recognition receptors were found differentially expressed at 12 h and 24 h post bacteria challenges and distinctly clustered between stimulations. Dozens of immune effectors along with signal transducers were also modulated simultaneously during MOB or Vibrio challenge. A total of 459 miRNAs were identified in the gill while some were differentially expressed post MOB or nonsymbiotic bacteria challenge. A variety of immune-related genes were annotated as target genes of aforesaid differentially expressed miRNAs. As a result, biological processes including the immune recognition, lysosome activity and bacteria engulfment were suggested to be dynamically modulated by miRNAs in either symbiotic or nonsymbiotic bacteria challenge. It was suggested that G. platifrons mussels could maintain a robust immune response against invading pathogens while establishing symbiosis with chemosynthetic bacteria with the orchestra of immune-related genes and miRNAs.

Elevated EPSTI1 promote B cell hyperactivation through NF-κB signalling in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterised by aberrant B cell hyperactivation, whose mechanism is partially understood. METHODS: We performed whole transcriptome sequencing of B cells from three pSS patients and three matched healthy controls (HC). Differentially expression genes (DEGs) were confirmed with B cells from 40 pSS patients and 40 HC by quantitative PCR and western blot. We measured the proliferation potential and immunoglobulins production of siRNA-transfected or plasmid-transfected B cells stimulated with cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) or anti-IgM. We also explored Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) signalling to reveal the potential mechanism of B cell hyperactivation in pSS. RESULTS: We identified 77 upregulated and 32 downregulated DEGs in pSS B cells. We confirmed that epithelial stromal interaction (EPST1) expression in pSS B cells was significantly higher than that from HCs. EPSTI1-silencing B cells stimulated with CpG were less proliferated and produced lower level of IgG and IgM comparing with control B cells. EPSTI1-silencing B cells expressed lower level of p-p65 and higher level of IκBα, and B cells with overexpressed EPSTI1 showed higher level of p-p65 and lower level of IκBα. Finally, IκBα degradation inhibitor Dehydrocostus Lactone treatment attenuated p65 phosphorylation promoted by EPSTI1. CONCLUSION: Elevated EPSTI1 expression in pSS B cells promoted TLR9 signalling activation and contributed to the abnormal B cell activation, which was promoted by facilitating p65 phosphorylation and activation of NF-κB signalling via promoting IκBα degradation. EPSTI1 might be implicated in pSS pathogenesis and was a potential therapeutic target of pSS.

Integrated Plasmonics: Broadband Dirac Plasmons in Borophene.

The past decade has witnessed numerous discoveries of two-dimensional (2D) semimetals and insulators, whereas 2D metals were rarely identified. Borophene, a monolayer boron sheet, has recently emerged as a perfect 2D metal with unique electronic properties. Here we study collective excitations in borophene, which exhibit two major plasmon modes with low damping rates extending from the infrared to ultraviolet regime. The anisotropic 1D plasmon originates from electronic transitions of tilted Dirac cones in borophene, analogous to that in extreme doped graphene. These features enable borophene as an integrated platform of 1D, 2D, and Dirac plasmons, promising for directional polariton transport and broadband optical communication in next-generation optoelectronic devices.

Salinimonas iocasae sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from a polychaete tube in a hydrothermal field.

A moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain KX18D6T, was isolated from the tube of the polychaete Paralvinella hessleri collected from a hydrothermal field located in the Okinawa Trough. Strain KX18D6T was Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, facultatively anaerobic, motile, oxidase- and catalase-positive, and grew optimally at 30-35 °C, pH 7.0 and in the presence of 3-5 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KX18D6T grouped with the members of the genus Salinimonas, including Salinimonas chungwhensis BH030046T (97.7 % sequence similarity), Salinimonas lutimaris DPSR-4T (97.2 %) and Salinimonas sediminis N102T (96.4 %). Genome sequencing of strain KX18D6T revealed a genome size of 4.16 Mb and a DNA G+C content of 47.3 mol%. Genomic average nucleotide identity (orthoANI) values of strain KX18D6T with S. chungwhensis DSM 16280T, S. lutimaris KCTC 23464T and S. sediminis N102T were 76.2, 73.1 and 73.2 %, respectively, while the in silico DNA-DNA hybridization (GGDC) values for strain KX18D6T with these strains were 25.3, 17.7 and 18.0 %, respectively. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c/C16 : 1 ω6c), C16 : 0 and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c/C18 : 1 ω6c). The predominant respiratory quinone was ubiquinone 8, and the predominant polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. On the basis of comparative analysis of phylogenetic, phylogenomic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain KX18D6T (=KCTC 72464T=MCCC 1K03884T) is clearly distinguishable from the type strains of species of the genus Salinimonas and is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Salinimonas, for which the name Salinimonas iocasae sp. nov. is proposed.

Marinobacter fonticola sp. nov., isolated from deep sea cold seep sediment.

In this study, we report a novel Gram-negative bacterium, designated as strain CS412T, isolated from deep-sea sediment collected in a cold seep area of the South China Sea. Growth of strain CS412T occurred at 4-40 °C (optimum, 28 °C), pH 5.0-11.0 (optimum, pH 6.0) and with 0-19 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1-2 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data indicated that strain CS412T belonged to the genus Marinobacter. The closest phylogenetic neighbours of strain CS412T were Marinobacter pelagius HS225T (96.9 %), Marinobacter szutsaonensis NTU-104T (96.8%), Marinobacter santoriniensis NKSG1T (96.4%) and Marinobacter koreensisdd-M3T (96.3 %). The genomic DNA G+C content of strain CS412T was 58.0 mol%. The principal respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9). The polar lipids of CS412T contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, aminophospholipidand and four glycolipids. The major fatty acids of CS412T contained cyclo-C19 : 0ω8c, C16 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c and C18 : 1ω7c 11-methyl. The results of phylogenetic, physiological, biochemical and morphological analyses suggested that strain CS412T represents a novel species of the genus Marinobacter, and the name Marinobacter fonticola sp. nov. is proposed with the type species CS412T (=CCTCC AB 2019197T=KCTC 72475T).

Nitrincola iocasae sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from sediment collected at a cold seep field in the South China Sea.

A novel bacterium, designated strain KXZD1103T, was isolated from sediment collected at a cold seep field of the Formosa Ridge in the South China Sea. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, facultatively anaerobic, motile, oxidase- and catalase-positive, and grew optimally at 28 °C, pH 6.0-pH 7.0 and in the presence of 1-3 % (w/v) NaCl. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c/C18 : 1 ω6c), summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c/C16 : 1 ω6c) and C16 : 0. The major respiratory ubiquinone was Q-8. The predominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain KXZD1103T grouped with members of the genus Nitrincola, with Nitrincola lacisaponensis 4CAT (98.1 % sequence similarity) and Nitrincola schmidtii R4-8T (97.7 %) as its closest neighbours. Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 4.17 Mb and a DNA G+C content of 50.1 %. Genomic average nucleotide identity values for strain KXZD1103T with the type strains within the genus Nitrincola ranged from 71.0 to 75.7 %, while the in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values for strain KXZD1103T with these strains ranged from 16.1 to 21.6 %. On the basis of the results of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain KXZD1103T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Nitrincola, for which the name Nitrincola iocasae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KXZD1103T (=KCTC 72678T=MCCC 1K04283T).

Construction of electrochemical sensing interface towards Cd(II) based on activated g-C3N4 nanosheets: considering the effects of exfoliation and protonation treatment.

There is an urgent need to construct highly selective low-cost sensors for fast detection of toxic metal ions such as cadmium. When compared with 3D bulk materials, 2D layered materials after activation treatments show superior performances for electrochemical metal ion detection. The bulk graphitic carbon nitride (hereafter b-g-C3N4) was prepared by thermal polymerization with urea as a precursor; it was then activated through ultrasonic liquid exfoliation and protonation which resulted in successful fabrication of activated ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets (hereafter a-g-C3N4). The a-g-C3N4-modified glassy carbon electrode demonstrates excellent electrochemical performances for Cd2+ detection with 22.668 µA/µM sensitivity and 3.9 nM LOD (S/N = 3) due to high specific surface area and active sites created on the 2D layered structure. The chemical interference of Pb2+, Cu2+, and Hg2+ on Cd2+ detection was minimal. We have also measured Cd2+ in natural water and rice samples using the newly developed a-g-C3N4-modified electrode with high spike recoveries. Our results demonstrate the potential applications of newly developed a-g-C3N4-modified electrode for rapid detection of toxic metal ions in different sample matrixes. Graphical Abstract The activated g-C3N4 nanosheets (a-g-C3N4) were synthesized and used to construct electrochemical sensors with high sensitivity and anti-interference performance.