Hollow cobalt oxide nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for Zn–air battery

Rational design of low-cost, highly electrocatalytic activity, and stable bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction(OER) has been a great significant for metal–air batteries. Herein, an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst based on hollow cobalt oxide nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets(Co/N-Pg) is fabricated for Zn–air batteries. A lowcost biomass peach gum, consisting of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen without other heteroatoms, was used as carbon source to form carbon matrix hosting hollow cobalt oxide nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the melamine was applied as nitrogen source and template precursor, which can convert to carbon-based template graphitic carbon nitride by polycondensation process. Owing to the unique structure and synergistic effect between hollow cobalt oxide nanoparticles and Co-N-C species, the proposal Co/N-Pg catalyst displays not only prominent bifunctional electrocatalytic activities for ORR and OER, but also excellent durability. Remarkably, the assembled Zn–air battery with Co/N-Pg air electrode exhibited a low discharge-charge voltage gap(0.81 V at 50 mA cm^-2) and high peak power density(119 mW cm^-2) with long-term cycling stability. This work presents an effective approach for engineering transition metal oxides and nitrogen modified carbon nanosheets to boost the performance of bifunctional electrocatalysts for Zn–air battery.

Infected cell protein 0 functional domains and their coordination in herpes simplex virus replication

Herpes simplex virus 1(HSV-1) is a ubiquitous human pathogen that establishes latent infection in ganglia neurons. Its unique life cycle requires a balanced "conquer and compromise" strategy to deal with the host anti-viral defenses. One of HSV-1 α(immediate early) gene products, infected cell protein 0(ICP0), is a multifunctional protein that interacts with and modulates a wide range of cellular defensive pathways. These pathways may locate in different cell compartments, which then migrate or exchange factors upon stimulation, for the purpose of a concerted and effective defense. ICP0 is able to simultaneously attack multiple host pathways by either degrading key restrictive factors or modifying repressive complexes. This is a viral protein that contains an E3 ubiquitin ligase, translocates among different cell compartments and interacts with major defensive complexes. The multiple functional domains of ICP0 can work independently and at the same time coordinate with each other. Dissecting the functional domains of ICP0 and delineating the coordination of these domains will help us understand HSV-1 pathogenicity as well as host defense mechanisms. This article focuses on describing individual ICP0 domains, their biochemical properties and their implication in HSV-1 infection. By putting individual domain functions back into the picture of host anti-viral defense network, this review seeks to elaborate the complex interactions between HSV-1 and its host.

High variation of fungal communities and associated potential plant pathogens induced by long-term addition of N fertilizers rather than P, K fertilizers: A case study in a Mollisol field

Nitrogen(N),phosphate(P),and potassium(K)are the three most important nutrients applied into agricultural soils,but the impacts of their single or combined application on soil fungal community structure and stability are still open questions.Using qPCR and Illumina Miseq sequencing,the variation of soil fungal communities in response to long-term addition of N,P,or K fertilization alone and their combinations in a Mollisol field was investigated in this study.In addition,the fungal community resistance indices and network structure were studied.Results showed that N fertilizations(N,NK,NP and NPK treatments)rather than P,K fertilizations(P,K and PK treatments)significantly increased fungal abundance,but decreased fungal diversity and shifted fungal community structures when compared to non-fertilization(NoF).Additionally,N fertilization treatments presented lower resistance of fungal communities to environment disturbances than those of P,K fertilization treatments.More numbers and higher abundances of changed fungal taxa at the genus and OTU levels were induced by N fertilizations rather than by addition of P,K fertilizers.In addition,N fertilizations induced a more changeable fungal network and complex pathogenic subnetwork with many positive interactions among responding plant pathogens(RP,the changeable plant pathogens induced by fertilizers addition compared to NoF)when compared to P,K fertilizations.These RP directly and negatively influenced fungal community resistance examined by structural equation modeling(SEM),which were indirectly detrimental to soybean yields.Our findings revealed that addition of N fertilizers significantly disturbed fungal communities and promoted pathogenic interactions,and provided insights into the optimization of fertilization strategies toward agricultural sustainability.