In Situ Raman Monitoring of Trace Antibiotics in Different Harsh Water Environments

In situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS)is a widely used operando analytical technique,while facing numerous complex factors in applications under aqueous environment,such as low detection sensitivity,poor anti-interference capability,etc.,resulting in unreliable detectability.To address these issues,herein a new hydrophobic SERS strategy has been attempted.By comprehensively designing and researching a SERS-active structure of superhydrophobic ZnO/Ag nanowires,we demonstrate that hydrophobicity can not only draw analytes from water onto substrate,but also adjust"hottest spot"from the bottom of the nanowires to the top.As a result,the structure can simultaneously concentrate the dispersed molecules in water and the enhanced electric field in structure into a same zone,while perfecting its own anti-interference ability.The underwater in situ analytical enhancement factor of this platform is as high as 1.67×10^(11),and the operando limited of detection for metronidazole(MNZ)reaches to 10^(-9)M.Most importantly,we also successfully generalized this structure to various real in situ detection scenarios,including on-site detection of MNZ in corrosive urine,real-time warning of wrong dose of MNZ during intravenous therapy,in situ monitoring of MNZ in flowing wastewater with particulate interference,etc.,demonstrating the great application potential of this hydrophobic platform.This work realizes a synergistic promotion for in situ SERS performance under aqueous environment,and also provides a novel view for improving other in situ analytical techniques.

Chickpea C2H2-Type Zinc Finger Protein ZF2 is a Positive Regulator in Drought Response in Arabidopsis

Drought is a major abiotic stress limiting agricultural crops production worldwide.In our study,we isolated a novel C2H2-type zinc finger protein gene ZF2 from chickpea.ZF2 consisted of 232 amino acids with two QALGGH motifs in Cys2/His2 zinc finger domain.Transient expression analysis of ZF2:GFP fusion protein showed that ZF2 was a nuclear localized protein.In the yeast assay system,the full-length of ZF2 did not show transcriptional activation.Expression of ZF2 gene was enhanced by treatments of several abiotic stresses and phytohormones.The promoter region of ZF2 contained multiple stress-and hormone-related cis-elements.Overexpression of ZF2 in Arabidopsis significantly improved the root length and fresh weight at seedling stage and enhanced the survival rates and proline content under drought treatment.These results indicated that ZF2 functioned as a positive regulator in drought response.

GWAS unravels acid phosphatase ACP2 as a photosynthesis regulator under phosphate starvation conditions through modulating serine metabolism in rice

Inorganic phosphorus(Pi)deficiency significantly impacts plant growth,development,and photosynthetic efficiency.This study evaluated 206 rice accessions from a MiniCore population under both Pi-sufficient(Pi^(+))and Pi-starvation(Pi^(-))conditions in the field to assess photosynthetic phosphorus use efficiency(PPUE),defined as the ratio of A_(sat)^(Pi^(-))to A_(sat)^(Pi^(+)).A genome-wide association study and differential gene expression analyses identified an acid phosphatase gene(ACP2)that responds strongly to phosphate availability.Overexpression and knockout of ACP2 led to a 67%increase and 32%decrease in PPUE,respectively,compared with wild type.Introduction of an elite allele A,by substituting the v5 SNP G with A,resulted in an 18%increase in PPUE in gene-edited ACP2 rice lines.The phosphate-responsive gene PHR2 was found to transcriptionally activate ACP2 in parallel with PHR2 overexpression,resulting in an 11%increase in PPUE.Biochemical assays indicated that ACP2 primarily catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphoethanolamine and phospho-L-serine.In addition,serine levels increased significantly in the ACP2^(vBG)overexpression line,along with a concomitant decrease in the expression of all nine genes involved in the photorespiratory pathway.Application of serine enhanced PPUE and reduced photorespiration rates in ACP2 mutants under Pi-starvation conditions.We deduce that ACP2 plays a crucial role in promoting photosynthesis adaptation to Pi starvation by regulating serine metabolism in rice.