Zwitterionic polymer coatings facilitate the formation of hydration layers via electrostatic interactions on their surfaces and have demonstrated efficacy in preventing biofouling. They have emerged ...as a promising class of marine antifouling materials. However, designing multifunctional, environmentally friendly, and natural products-derived zwitterionic polymer coatings that simultaneously resist biofouling, inhibit protein adhesion, exhibit strong antibacterial properties, and reduce algal adhesion is a significant challenge. This study employed two diisocyanates as crosslinkers and natural urushiol and ethanolamine as raw materials. The coupling reaction of diisocyanates with hydroxyl groups was employed to synthesize urushiol-based precursors. Subsequently, sulfobetaine moieties were introduced into the urushiol-based precursors, developing two environmentally friendly and high-performance zwitterionic-functionalized polyurushiol antifouling coatings, denoted as HUDM-SB and IPUDM-SB. The sulfobetaine-functionalized polyurushiol coating exhibited significantly enhanced hydrophilicity, with the static water contact angle reduced to less than 60°, and demonstrated excellent resistance to protein adhesion. IPUDM-SB exhibited antibacterial efficacy up to 99.9% against common Gram-negative bacteria (
and
) and Gram-positive bacteria (
and
. sp.). HUDM-SB achieved antibacterial efficacy exceeding 95.0% against four bacterial species. Furthermore, the sulfobetaine moieties on the surfaces of the IPUDM-SB and HUDM-SB coatings effectively inhibited the growth and reproduction of algal cells by preventing microalgae adhesion. This zwitterionic-functionalized polyurushiol coating does not contain antifouling agents, making it a green, environmentally friendly, and high-performance biomaterial-based solution for marine antifouling.
Ionic conductive hydrogels have attracted increasing research interest in flexible electronics. However, the limited resilience and poor fatigue resistance of current ionic hydrogels significantly ...restrict their practical application. Herein, an urushiol-based ionic conductive double network hydrogel (PU/PVA-Li) was developed by one-pot thermal initiation polymerization assisted with freeze-thaw cycling and subsequent LiCl soaking. Such a PU/PVA-Li hydrogel comprises a primary network of covalently crosslinked polyurushiol (PU) and a secondary network formed by physically crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) through crystalline regions. The obtained PU/PVA-Li hydrogel demonstrates exceptional mechanical properties, including ultrahigh strength (up to 3.4 MPa), remarkable toughness (up to 1868.6 kJ/m
), and outstanding fatigue resistance, which can be attributed to the synergistic effect of the interpenetrating network structure and dynamic physical interactions between PU and PVA chains. Moreover, the incorporation of LiCl into the hydrogels induces polymer chain contraction via ionic coordination, further enhancing their mechanical strength and resilience, which also impart exceptional ionic conductivity (2.62 mS/m) to the hydrogels. Based on these excellent characteristics of PU/PVA-Li hydrogel, a high-performance flexible strain sensor is developed, which exhibits high sensitivity, excellent stability, and reliability. This PU/PVA-Li hydrogel sensor can be effectively utilized as a wearable electronic device for monitoring various human joint movements. This PU/PVA-Li hydrogel sensor could also demonstrate its great potential in information encryption and decryption through Morse code. This work provides a facile strategy for designing versatile, ultrastrong, and tough ionic conductive hydrogels using sustainable natural extracts and biocompatible polymers. The developed hydrogels hold great potential as promising candidate materials for future flexible intelligent electronics.
Peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1) is an important member of the peroxiredoxin family (PRDX) and is upregulated in a variety of tumors. Previous studies have found that high PRDX1 expression is closely related ...to the metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but the specific molecular mechanism is elusive. To elucidate the role of PRDX1 in the metastasis process of OSCC, we evaluated the expression of PRDX1 in OSCC clinical specimens and its impact on the prognosis of OSCC patients. Then, the effect of PRDX1 on OSCC metastasis and cytoskeletal reconstruction was explored in vitro and in nude mouse tongue cancer models, and the molecular mechanisms were also investigated. PRDX1 can directly interact with the actin‐binding protein Cofilin, inhibiting the phosphorylation of its Ser3 site, accelerating the depolymerization and turnover of actin, promoting OSCC cell movement, and aggravating the invasion and metastasis of OSCC. In clinical samples and mouse tongue cancer models, PRDX1 also increased lymph node metastasis of OSCC and was negatively correlated with the phosphorylation of Cofilin; PRDX1 also reduced the overall survival rate of OSCC patients. In summary, our study identified that PRDX1 may be a potential therapeutic target to inhibit OSCC metastasis.
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Stress‐induced expression of peroxiredoxin 1 (PRDX1) is suspected of facilitating the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The role of PRDX1 in OSCC, however, remains uncertain. Here, the authors investigated the effect of PRDX1 on OSCC progression via cytoskeletal remodeling, a process fundamental to tumor metastasis. Analyses show that PRDX1 interacts with Cofilin, specifically inhibiting serine 3 phosphorylation. In a tongue cancer xenograft mouse model, these effects were found to promote cytoskeletal reconstruction and to accelerate cell migration. The findings identify a contributory role for PRDX1 in OSCC progression and highlight PRDX1 as a potential therapeutic target.
Electroactive biofilms (EABs) are electroactive microorganisms (EAMs) encased in conductive polymers that are secreted by EAMs and formed by the accumulation and cross-linking of extracellular ...polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and other components. EABs are present in the form of multicellular aggregates and play a crucial role in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) for diverse applications, including biosensors, microbial fuel cells for renewable bioelectricity production and remediation of wastewaters, and microbial electrosynthesis of valuable chemicals. However, naturally occurred EABs are severely limited owing to their low electrical conductivity that seriously restrict the electron transfer efficiency and practical applications. In the recent decade, synthetic biology strategies have been adopted to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of EABs, and to enhance the formation and electrical conductivity of EABs. Based on the formation of EABs and extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanisms, the synthetic biology-based engineering strategies of EABs are summarized and reviewed as follows: (i) Engineering the structural components of EABs, including strengthening the synthesis and secretion of structural elements such as polysaccharides, eDNA, and structural proteins, to improve the formation of biofilms; (ii) Enhancing the electron transfer efficiency of EAMs, including optimizing the distribution of c-type cytochromes and conducting nanowire assembly to promote contact-based EET, and enhancing electron shuttles' biosynthesis and secretion to promote shuttle-mediated EET; (iii) Incorporating intracellular signaling molecules in EAMs, including quorum sensing systems, secondary messenger systems, and global regulatory systems, to increase the electron transfer flux in EABs. This review lays a foundation for the design and construction of EABs for diverse BESs applications.
•EABs formation and EET mechanisms are summarized.•Engineering EABs through synthetic biology strategies are summarized.•New insights on further EABs research are presented.
Nowadays, electromagnetic pollution is becoming increasingly severe, causing disturbances to electronic devices and posing a potential threat to human health. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for ...lightweight and efficient electromagnetic wave absorbing (EMA) materials. Our study proposes a dielectric regulation idea to create graphene/polymer efficient electromagnetic wave absorbers. Cyanoethyl cellulose (CEC) with high dielectric real part (ɛ’) and low dielectric imaginary part (ɛ”) is used as the matrix to composite with high-ɛ’ and high-ɛ” reduced graphene oxides (rGO). The interwoven long fibers of CEC provide a framework for rGO attachment, allowing the fabrication of the 3D rGO structure that suppresses graphene stacking and improves the dispersibility of rGO. Beneficial from these advantages, a small addition of rGO makes the rGO/CEC composites acquire high ɛ’ and appropriate ɛ”, which are essential for impedance matching and efficient EMA performance. As a result, the rGO/CEC with only 0.7 wt% rGO achieves the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −42.8 dB at 10.6 GHz with the effective absorption bandwidth (RL < −10 dB) spanning 3.6 GHz. This work demonstrates an effective material-design strategy for developing efficient EMA materials through dielectric regulation, which opens up a new dimension for advanced EMA materials design.
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The physiological role of Geobacter sulfurreducens extracellular cytochrome filaments is a matter of debate and the development of proposed electronic device applications of cytochrome filaments ...awaits methods for large-scale cytochrome nanowire production. Functional studies in G. sulfurreducens are stymied by the broad diversity of redox-active proteins on the outer cell surface and the redundancy and plasticity of extracellular electron transport routes. G. sulfurreducens is a poor chassis for producing cytochrome nanowires for electronics because of its slow, low-yield, anaerobic growth. Here we report that filaments of the G. sulfurreducens cytochrome OmcS can be heterologously expressed in Shewanella oneidensis. Multiple lines of evidence demonstrated that a strain of S. oneidensis, expressing the G. sulfurreducens OmcS gene on a plasmid, localized OmcS on the outer cell surface. Atomic force microscopy revealed filaments with the unique morphology of OmcS filaments emanating from cells. Electron transfer to OmcS appeared to require a functional outer-membrane porin-cytochrome conduit. The results suggest that S. oneidensis, which grows rapidly to high culture densities under aerobic conditions, may be suitable for the development of a chassis for producing cytochrome nanowires for electronics applications and may also be a good model microbe for elucidating cytochrome filament function in anaerobic extracellular electron transfer.
•Cell volume was decreased by accelerating cell division.•EET efficiency increased in positive correction with the cell division rate.•Cell volume decrease facilitated lactate uptake and cellular ...metabolism.•Strengthening riboflavin biosynthesis and transport further facilitated indirect EET.•Engineered strains exhibited superior abilities for pollution treatment.
The slow rate of extracellular electron transfer (EET) of electroactive microorganisms (EAMs) remains a predominate bottleneck that restricts practical applications of bio-electrochemical systems. Cell division has significant effects on cell cycle, morphology, growth and metabolism. However, the relation between cell division and the EET rate of Shewanella oneidensis has not been established. Here, we employed modular engineering strategy to accelerate DNA replication in the C period and divisome formation in the D period of cell cycle, which decreased cellular volume and enhanced the EET efficiency. Assembly of the C and D period modules further decreased the cell volume by 82.0 % and enhanced power density by 3.12-fold. Electrophysiological and transcriptomic analyses synergistically revealed that the programmed cell volume decrease facilitated lactate uptake and cellular metabolism due to the increased specific surface area (SSA), which consequently reinforced intracellular electron generation. Moreover, the reduced cell size facilitated electroactive biofilm formation. Finally, programmed increase in riboflavin biosynthesis and transport further strengthened indirect EET and boosted output power density to 1537.8 ± 116.9 mW m−2, 21.1-fold of that of the WT. The engineered strains exhibited superior abilities for Cr6+ reduction and azo dyes degradation. This study shed light on the underlying mechanism how reduced cell size impacts electrophysiology of EAMs, and indicated accelerating cell division is a promising avenue to increase the EET of EAMs for efficient environmental pollution treatment.
Exoelectrogenic microorganisms (EEMs) catalyzed the conversion of chemical energy to electrical energy via extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanisms, which underlay diverse bio-electrochemical ...systems (BES) applications in clean energy development, environment and health monitoring, wearable/implantable devices powering, and sustainable chemicals production, thereby attracting increasing attentions from academic and industrial communities in the recent decades. However, knowledge of EEMs is still in its infancy as only ∼100 EEMs of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes have been identified, motivating the screening and capture of new EEMs. This review presents a systematic summarization on EEM screening technologies in terms of enrichment, isolation, and bio-electrochemical activity evaluation. We first generalize the distribution characteristics of known EEMs, which provide a basis for EEM screening. Then, we summarize EET mechanisms and the principles underlying various technological approaches to the enrichment, isolation, and bio-electrochemical activity of EEMs, in which a comprehensive analysis of the applicability, accuracy, and efficiency of each technology is reviewed. Finally, we provide a future perspective on EEM screening and bio-electrochemical activity evaluation by focusing on (i) novel EET mechanisms for developing the next-generation EEM screening technologies, and (ii) integration of meta-omics approaches and bioinformatics analyses to explore nonculturable EEMs. This review promotes the development of advanced technologies to capture new EEMs.
•The exoelectrogenic microorganisms (EEMs) distribution and extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanisms are reviewed.•The EEM enrichment, isolation, and bio-electrochemical activity evaluation technologies are summarized and analysed.•Future perspectives, including development of next-generation approaches and nonculturable EEMs screening are overviewed.
Electroactive biofilm plays a crucial rule in the electron transfer efficiency of bio-electrochemical systems (BES). However, the slow rate of interfacial electron transfer (IET) restricts practical ...applications of various BES. Here, a modular engineering strategy was developed to enhance IET rate. Firstly, to accelerate the low transmembrane electron transfer rate caused by insulative cell membrane of Shewanella oneidensis, pili-based artificial conductive nanowires and outer-membrane c-cytochrome OmcF from Geobacter sulfurreducens were heterologously expressed to construct transmembrane electron conduits. Secondly, to improve the low electron transfer rate from S. oneidensis to anode owing to the poor electron collection ability of the anode, N-doped carbon nanotubes and polyriboflavin were used to increase the surface area and active sites of the anode. Thirdly, to further reduce the resistance due to the low conductivity of biofilm, the polydopamine was coated in situ to construct high-speed conductive networks, obtaining an unprecedented power density of 5233.7 ± 364.7 mW/m2, ∼83.1-fold higher than that of the wild-type strain (62.2 ± 5.5 mW/m2), and the maximum coulomb efficiency of ESR1 @PDA was 85.4%, which, to the best of our knowledge, is one of the highest output power densities and coulomb efficiencies that have ever reported in the genetically engineered Shewanella strains. This study demonstrated an integrated biotic-electrode modular engineering strategy to boost power generation of electroactive biofilm via synthetic biology and material engineering.
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•Modular engineering strategy accelerated interfacial electron transfer rate.•Electron transmembrane channel was constructed by e-pili and outer-membrane c-Cyts.•N-CNT and PRF improved electron collection ability of the anode.•PDA was in situ polymerization on cell surface to form highly conductive networks.•An unprecedented maximum power density of 5233.7 mW/m2 was achieved.
