Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and structurally related factors use several intracellular signaling pathways in addition to Smad signaling to regulate a wide array of cellular functions. These ...non-Smad signaling pathways are activated directly by ligand-occupied receptors to reinforce, attenuate, or otherwise modulate downstream cellular responses. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the mechanisms by which non-Smad signaling pathways are directly activated in response to ligand binding, how activation of these pathways impinges on Smads and non-Smad targets, and how final cellular responses are affected in response to these noncanonical signaling modes.
Cyclodextrins (CDs), which are a class of cyclic oligosaccharides extracted from the enzymatic degradation of starch, are often utilized in molecular recognition and assembly constructs, primarily ...via host–guest interactions in water. In this review, recent progress in CD‐based supramolecular nanoassemblies that are sensitive to chemical, biological, and physical stimuli is updated and reviewed, and intriguing examples of the biological functions of these nanoassemblies are presented, including pH‐ and redox‐responsive drug and gene delivery, enzyme‐activated specific cargo release, photoswitchable morphological interconversion, microtubular aggregation, and cell–cell communication, as well as a geomagnetism‐controlled nanosystem for the suppression of tumor invasion and metastasis. Moreover, future perspectives and challenges in the fabrication of intelligent CD‐based biofunctional materials are also discussed at the end of this review, which is expected to promote the translational development of these nanomaterials in the biomedical field.
Recent progress in cyclodextrin‐based multistimuli‐responsive supramolecular assemblies is systematically reviewed, their biological functions are presented by selecting some representative examples, and future perspectives and challenges in this promising field are discussed.
The innovation on the low dimensional nanomaterials brings the rapid growth of nano community. Developing the controllable production and commercial applications of nanomaterials for sustainable ...society is highly concerned. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with sp2 carbon bonding, excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, as well as transport properties are selected as model nanomaterials to demonstrate the road of nanomaterials towards industry. The engineering principles of the mass production and recent progress in the area of CNT purification and dispersion are described, as well as its bulk application for nanocomposites and energy storage. The environmental, health, and safety considerations of CNTs, and recent progress in CNT commercialization are also included. With the effort from the CNT industry during the past 10 years, the price of multi‐walled CNTs have decreased from 45 000 to 100 $ kg−1 and the productivity increased to several hundred tons per year for commercial applications in Li ion battery and nanocomposites. When the prices of CNTs decrease to 10 $ kg−1, their applications as composites and conductive fillers at a million ton scale can be anticipated, replacing conventional carbon black fillers. Compared with traditional bulk chemicals, the controllable synthesis and applicationsof CNTs on a million ton scale are still far from being achieved due to the challenges in production, purification, dispersion, and commercial application. The basic knowledge of growth mechanisms, efficient and controllable routes for CNT production, the environmental and safety issues, and the commercialization models are still inadequate. The gap between the basic scientific research and industrial development should be bridged by multidisciplinary research for the rapid growth of CNT nano‐industry.
The mass production engineering principles and advances in carbon nanotube (CNT) purification, dispersion, as well as bulk applications for nanocomposite and energy storage are reviewed. The environmental, health, and safety considerations of CNTs, and the recent progress on CNT commercialization are also included. The gap between the basic scientific research and industrial development should be bridged by multidisciplinary research for the rapid growth of CNT nano‐industry.
The minimal flavor structures for both quarks and leptons are proposed to address fermion mass hierarchy and flavor mixings by bi-unitary decomposition of the fermion mass matrix. The real matrix M0f ...is completely responsive to family mass hierarchy, which is expressed by a close-to-flat matrix structure. The left-handed unitary phase FLf provides the origin of CP violation in quark and lepton mixings, which can be explained as a quantum effect between Yukawa interaction states and weak gauge states. The minimal flavor structure is realized by just 10 parameters without any redundancy, corresponding to 6 fermion masses, 3 mixing angles and 1 CP violation in the quark/lepton sector. This approach provides a general flavor structure independent of the specific quark or lepton flavor data. We verify the validation of the flavor structure by reproducing quark/lepton masses and mixings. Some possible scenarios that yield the flavor structure are also discussed.
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is envisioned to be an essential component of the paradigm for beyond 5G networks as it can potentially provide similar or higher array gains with much lower ...hardware cost and energy consumption compared with the massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. In this paper, we focus on one of the fundamental challenges, namely the channel acquisition, in a RIS-assisted multiuser MIMO system. The state-of-the-art channel acquisition approach in such a system with fully passive RIS elements estimates the cascaded transmitter-to-RIS and RIS-to-receiver channels by adopting excessively long training sequences. To estimate the cascaded channels with an affordable training overhead, we formulate the channel estimation problem in the RIS-assisted multiuser MIMO system as a matrix-calibration based matrix factorization task. By exploiting the information on the slow-varying channel components and the hidden channel sparsity, we propose a novel message-passing based algorithm to factorize the cascaded channels. Furthermore, we present an analytical framework to characterize the theoretical performance bound of the proposed estimator in the large-system limit. Finally, we conduct simulations to verify the high accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Transition metal (TM)‐based bimetallic spinel oxides can efficiently activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) presumably attributed to enhanced electron transfer between TMs, but the existing model cannot ...fully explain the efficient TM redox cycling. Here, we discover a critical role of TM−O covalency in governing the intrinsic catalytic activity of Co3−xMnxO4 spinel oxides. Experimental and theoretical analysis reveals that the Co sites significantly raises the Mn valence and enlarges Mn−O covalency in octahedral configuration, thereby lowering the charge transfer energy to favor MnOh–PMS interaction. With appropriate MnIV/MnIII ratio to balance PMS adsorption and MnIV reduction, the Co1.1Mn1.9O4 exhibits remarkable catalytic activities for PMS activation and pollutant degradation, outperforming all the reported TM spinel oxides. The improved understandings on the origins of spinel oxides activity for PMS activation may inspire the development of more active and robust metal oxide catalysts.
The Mn−O covalency was enlarged by the Co sites mainly in the octahedral configuration, which results in a decreased charge transfer energy to favor Mn–PMS interaction and enhance MnIV reduction to boost PMS activation activity of Co‐Mn spinel oxides.
SUMMARY
Wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV) causes severe wheat viral disease in Asia. However, the viral suppressor of RNA silencing (VSR) encoded by WYMV has not been identified. Here, the P1 protein ...encoded by WYMV RNA2 was shown to suppress RNA silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana. Mutagenesis assays revealed that the alanine substitution mutant G175A of P1 abolished VSR activity and mutant Y10A VSR activity remained only in younger leaves. P1, but not G175A, interacted with gene silencing‐related protein, N. benthamiana calmodulin‐like protein (NbCaM), and calmodulin‐binding transcription activator 3 (NbCAMTA3), and Y10A interacted with NbCAMTA3 only. Competitive Bimolecular fluorescence complementation and co‐immunoprecipitation assays showed that the ability of P1 disturbing the interaction between NbCaM and NbCAMTA3 was stronger than Y10A, Y10A was stronger than G175A. In vitro transcript inoculation of infectious WYMV clones further demonstrated that VSR‐defective mutants G175A and Y10A reduced WYMV infection in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), G175A had a more significant effect on virus accumulation in upper leaves of wheat than Y10A. Moreover, RNA silencing, temperature, and autophagy have significant effects on the accumulation of P1 in N. benthamiana. Taken together, WYMV P1 acts as VSR by interfering with calmodulin‐associated antiviral RNAi defense to facilitate virus infection in wheat, which has provided clear insights into the function of P1 in the process of WYMV infection.
Significance Statement
This study reveals that the wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV) P1 acts as VSR by interfering with calmodulin‐associated antiviral RNAi defense and facilitates virus infection in wheat. Results of our research provide clear insights and solutions for further understanding the role of P1 in process of WYMV infection.
A friction layer with stability and durability is important to promote the practical application of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). In this work, a two‐dimensional cobalt coordination polymer ...(Co‐CP) was successfully synthesized using cobalt nitrate, 4,4′,4′′‐tricarboxyltriphenylamine and 2,2′‐bipyridine. To clearly clarify the effect of the doping proportions of Co‐CP and the types of composite polymers on the output performance of the TENG, Co‐CP was combined with two organic polymers having different polarities (polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and ethyl cellulose (EC)) to form a series of composite films, which were used as the friction electrode materials to fabricate TENGs. Electrical characterizations indicated that a high output current and voltage were obtained from the TENG based on 15 wt.% Co‐CP incorporated in PVDF (Co‐CP@PVDF), which could be further improved by the Co‐CP@EC composite film at the same doping ratio. Furthermore, the optimally fabricated TENG was demonstrated to prevent electrochemical corrosion of carbon steel.
A cobalt(II) coordination complex was synthesized and incorporated into organic polymers to form composite films, which were used as friction materials to improve the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerators for self‐powered electrochemical cathodic protection.
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