Self-supporting Ti3C2Tx foam/S cathodes with high sulfur loading for high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, with high theoretical energy density, cost-effective preparation and environmental benignancy, have been deemed as new encouraging energy storage solutions. However, their development and applications are limited by their low practical energy density and rapid capacity fading. Herein, self-supporting Ti3C2Tx foam, as a novel sulfur host, was synthesized via direct stacking of Ti3C2Tx flakes into film followed by hydrazine-induced foaming. This Ti3C2Tx foam exhibits a well-defined porous structure, increased surface area, enlarged pore volume, and enhanced exposure of Lewis acidic sites, thus effectively strengthening the capability of physical and chemical co-adsorption for polysulfides under a high sulfur loading of 5.1 mg cm-2. Combined with a favorable electrolyte wettability and extraordinary structural stability, the resultant self-supporting Ti3C2Tx foam/S cathodes demonstrated excellent performances: a high initial discharge capacity (1226.4 mA h g-1 at 0.2C), exceptional rate performance (711.0 mA h g-1 at 5C), and extraordinary long-term cycling stability (689.7 mA h g-1 at 1C after 1000 cycles with ultralow capacity decay of ≈0.025% per cycle). Remarkably, the self-supporting structure confers a significantly elevated gravimetric energy density (1297.8 W h kg-1). Therefore, this elaborately designed Ti3C2Tx foam/S cathode opens new delightful opportunities for constructing practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.

Developing multi-cellular tumor spheroid model (MCTS) in the chitosan/collagen/alginate (CCA) fibrous scaffold for anticancer drug screening.

In this work, a 3D MCTS-CCA system was constructed by culturing multi-cellular tumor spheroid (MCTS) in the chitosan/collagen/alginate (CCA) fibrous scaffold for anticancer drug screening. The CCA scaffolds were fabricated by spray-spinning. The interactions between the components of the spray-spun fibers were evidenced by methods of Coomassie Blue stain, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Co-culture indicated that MCF-7 cells showed a spatial growth pattern of multi-cellular tumor spheroid (MCTS) in the CCA fibrous scaffold with increased proliferation rate and drug-resistance to MMC, ADM and 5-Aza comparing with the 2D culture cells. Significant increases of total viable cells were found in 3D MCTS groups after drug administration by method of apoptotic analysis. Glucose-lactate analysis indicated that the metabolism of MCTS in CCA scaffold was closer to the tumor issue in vivo than the monolayer cells. In addition, MCTS showed the characteristic of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) which is subverted by carcinoma cells to facilitate metastatic spread. These results demonstrated that MCTS in CCA scaffold possessed a more conservative phenotype of tumor than monolayer cells, and anticancer drug screening in 3D MCTS-CCA system might be superior to the 2D culture system.

The impact of glycerol organosolv pretreatment on the chemistry and enzymatic hydrolyzability of wheat straw.

Given that the glycerol organosolv pretreatment (GOP) can effectively improve the hydrolyzability of various lignocellulosic substrates, physicochemical changes of the substrate before and after the pretreatment was characterized to elucidate what is responsible for it. The effect of GOP on the main components and hydrolyzability of wheat straw was revisited. Results demonstrate that the GOP should be a promising candidate for the current pretreatment. Then the composition and structure of substrates was measured at multi-dimensional scales by using various analytic equipment such as TGA, SEM, AFM, CLSM, FT-IR, XRD and solid-state CP/MAS (13)C NMR. This paper reports some new insights on the mechanism behind that, which can be beneficial for further development, optimization, and scale-up of the GOP process.

Relationship of trehalose accumulation with ethanol fermentation in industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains.

The protective effect and the mechanisms of trehalose accumulation in industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were investigated during ethanol fermentation. The engineered strains with more intercellular trehalose achieved significantly higher fermentation rates and ethanol yields than their wild strain ZS during very high gravity (VHG) fermentation, while their performances were not different during regular fermentation. The VHG fermentation performances of these strains were consistent with their growth capacity under osmotic stress and ethanol stress, the key stress factors during VHG fermentation. These results suggest that trehalose accumulation is more important for VHG fermentation of industrial yeast strains than regular one. The differences in membrane integrity and antioxidative capacity of these strains indicated the possible mechanisms of trehalose as a protectant under VHG condition. Therefore, trehalose metabolic engineering may be a useful strategy for improving the VHG fermentation performance of industrial yeast strains.

Genomic structural variations contribute to trait improvement during whole-genome shuffling of yeast.

Whole-genome shuffling (WGS) is a powerful technology of improving the complex traits of many microorganisms. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the altered phenotypes in isolates were less clarified. Isolates with significantly enhanced stress tolerance and ethanol titer under very-high-gravity conditions were obtained after WGS of the bioethanol Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain ZTW1. Karyotype analysis and RT-qPCR showed that chromosomal rearrangement occurred frequently in genome shuffling. Thus, the phenotypic effects of genomic structural variations were determined in this study. RNA-Seq and physiological analyses revealed the diverse transcription pattern and physiological status of the isolate S3-110 and ZTW1. Our observations suggest that the improved stress tolerance of S3-110 can be largely attributed to the copy number variations in large DNA regions, which would adjust the ploidy of yeast cells and expression levels of certain genes involved in stress response. Overall, this work not only constructed shuffled S. cerevisiae strains that have potential industrial applications but also provided novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of WGS and enhanced our knowledge on this useful breeding strategy.

Construction of novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains for bioethanol active dry yeast (ADY) production.

The application of active dry yeast (ADY) in bioethanol production simplifies operation processes and reduces the risk of bacterial contamination. In the present study, we constructed a novel ADY strain with improved stress tolerance and ethanol fermentation performances under stressful conditions. The industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain ZTW1 showed excellent properties and thus subjected to a modified whole-genome shuffling (WGS) process to improve its ethanol titer, proliferation capability, and multiple stress tolerance for ADY production. The best-performing mutant, Z3-86, was obtained after three rounds of WGS, producing 4.4% more ethanol and retaining 2.15-fold higher viability than ZTW1 after drying. Proteomics and physiological analyses indicated that the altered expression patterns of genes involved in protein metabolism, plasma membrane composition, trehalose metabolism, and oxidative responses contribute to the trait improvement of Z3-86. This work not only successfully developed a novel S. cerevisiae mutant for application in commercial bioethanol production, but also enriched the current understanding of how WGS improves the complex traits of microbes.

Biological pretreatment of corn stover with ligninolytic enzyme for high efficient enzymatic hydrolysis.

Aiming at increasing the efficiency of transferring corn stover into sugars, a biological pretreatment was developed and investigated in this study. The protocol was characterized by the pretreatment with crude ligninolytic enzymes from Phanerochete chrysosporium and Coridus versicolor to break the lignin structure in corn stover, followed by a washing procedure to eliminate the inhibition of ligninolytic enzyme on cellulase. By a 2 d-pretreatment, sugar yield from corn stover hydrolysis could be increased by 50.2% (up to 323 mg/g) compared with that of the control. X-ray diffractometry and FT-IR analysis revealed that biological pretreatment could partially remove the lignin of corn stover, and consequently enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of cellulose and hemeicellulose. In addition, the amount of microbial inhibitors, such as acetic acid and furfural, were much lower in biological pretreatment than that in acid pretreatment. This study provided a promising pretreatment method for biotransformation of corn stovers.

Isolation and characterization of a novel endoglucanase from a Bursaphelenchus xylophilus metagenomic library.

A novel gene (designated as cen219) encoding endoglucanase was isolated from a Bursaphelenchus xylophilus metagenomic library by functional screening. Sequence analysis revealed that cen219 encoded a protein of 367 amino acids. SDS-PAGE analysis of purified endoglucanase suggested that Cen219 was a monomeric enzyme with a molecular mass of 40 kDa. The optimum temperature and pH for endoglucanase activity of Cen219 was separately 50 °C and 6.0. It was stable from 30 to 50 °C, and from pH 4.0 to 7.0. The activity was significantly enhanced by Mn(2+) and dramatically reduced by detergent SDS and metals Fe(3+), Cu(2+) or Hg(2+). The enzyme hydrolyzed a wide range of ß-1, 3-, and ß-1, 4-linked polysaccharides, with varying activities. Activities towards microcrystalline cellulose and filter paper were relatively high, while the highest activity was towards oat gum. The Km and Vmax of Cen219 towards CMC was 17.37 mg/ml and 333.33 U/mg, respectively. The findings have an insight into understanding the molecular basis of host-parasite interactions in B. xylophilus species. The properties also make Cen219 an interesting enzyme for biotechnological application.

[Screening and identifying cellulose degrading bacteria associated with Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and cloning corresponding genes].

OBJECTIVE: To screen, identify bacterial strains with high capability to degrade cellulose from bacteria associated with Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and to clone related genes. METHODS: First, we collected B. xylophilus samples from pine wood nematode disease areas in Nanyang, Henan province, China. Then, we obtained the bacterial strains with high cellulase activities by primarily screening according to Congo red plate methods. The bacterial strain was classified by phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. We designed degenerate primes according to the known endoglucanase gene sequences in GenBank to carry out PCR, and analyzed the cloned sequence. RESULTS: We obtained seven bacterial strains with high cellulase activities. Among them, the bacterial strain numbered C8 showed the highest cellulase activities. The bacterium was classified to be Enterobacter genus. The full length of a cellulase gene cDNA (1104 bp) (GenBank JQ845065) coding region was successfully cloned. The homogeneous analysis demonstrated that the deduced nucleotide and amino acid of the gene separately shared 97% and 92% with the cellulase from E. aerogenes KCTC 2190, and 82% with the endo-1,4-D-glucanase gene from Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 82% with the a cellulase gene from unculturable bacteria. CONCLUSION: It was a novel cellulose gene cloned from B. xylophilus associated bacteria.

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of acid-pretreated corncobs with a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing beta-glucosidase.

To reduce the cellobiose inhibition of exoglucanase and endogulcanase and enhance cellulose hydrolysis during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), a beta-glucosidase encoding gene named BGL1 was cloned from Saccharomycopsis fibuligera and integrated into the chromosomal rDNA region of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae industrial strain NAN-27 producing NAN-227. Compared with the parental strain, which had no detectable activity, the beta-glucosidase specific activity in NAN-227 was 1.02 IU/mg of protein. When cellobiose was used as the sole carbon source in a shake-flask, NAN-227 consumed 6.2g/L of cellobiose and produced 3.3g/L of ethanol in 48 h. The yield was 0.532 g/g. The parent strain only consumed 1.92 g/L of cellobiose and no ethanol was detected. During the SSF of acid-pretreated corncobs NAN-227 produced 20 g/L of ethanol at 72 h, which was similar to the parent strain when 20IU of beta-glucosidase/g of substrate was added.