Self-Assembly Strategy for Constructing Porous Boron and Nitrogen Co-Doped Carbon as an Efficient ORR Electrocatalyst toward Zinc-Air Battery.

Carbon nanomaterials doped with N and B could activate nearby carbon atoms to promote charge polarization through the synergistic coupling effect between N and B atoms, thus facilitating adsorption of O2 and weakening O-O bond to enhance oxygen reduction reaction. Herein, a simple and controllable self-assembly strategy is applied to synthesize porous B, N co-doped carbon-based catalysts (BCN-P), which employs the macrocyclic molecule cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) as nitrogen source, and 3D aromatic-like closo-[B12H12]2- as boron source. In addition, polystyrene microspheres are added to help introduce porous structure to expose more active sites. Benefitting from porous structures and the synergistic coupling effect between N and B atoms, BCN-P has a high onset potential (Eonset=0.846 V) and half-wave potential (E1/2=0.74 V) in alkaline media. The zinc-air battery assembled with BCN-P shows high operating voltage (1.42 V), peak power density (128.7 mW cm-2) and stable charge/discharge cycles, which is even comparable with Pt/C.

The SET domain protein PsKMT3 regulates histone H3K36 trimethylation and modulates effector gene expression in the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae.

Plant pathogens secrete effector proteins to overcome host immunity and promote colonization. In oomycete plant pathogens, the expression of many effector genes is altered upon infection; however, the regulatory mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we identified a su(var)3-9, enhancer of zeste, and trithorax (SET) domain protein-encoding gene, PsKMT3, that was highly induced at early infection stages in Phytophthora sojae. Deletion of PsKMT3 led to asexual development and pathogenicity defects. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) and western blot analyses demonstrated that histone H3K36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) was significantly reduced genome-wide in mutants. RNA-seq analysis identified 374 genes encoding secreted proteins that were differentially expressed in pskmt3 at the mycelium stage. The significantly altered genes encompassed the RxLR (Arg-x-Lys-Arg) effector gene family, including the essential effector genes Avh23, Avh181, Avh240, and Avh241. Transcriptome analysis at early infection stages showed misregulation of effector gene expression waves in pskmt3. H3K36me3 was directly and indirectly associated with RxLR effector gene activation. Our results reveal a role of a SET domain protein in regulating effector gene expression and modulating histone methylation in P. sojae.