Theoretical study on the morphology of cobalt nanoparticles modulated by alkali metal promoters

Cobalt nanoparticles(NPs)catalysts are extensively used in heterogeneous catalytic reactions,and the addition of alkali metal promoters is a common method to modulate the catalytic performance because the catalyst's surface structures and morphologies are sensitive to the addition of promoters.However,the underlying modulation trend remains unclear.Herein,the adsorption of alkali metal promoters(Na and K)on the surfaces of face-centered-cubic(FCC)and hexagonal-closest packed(HCP)polymorphous cobalt was systematically investigated using density functional theory.Furthermore,the effect of alkali promoters on surface energies and nanoparticle morphologies was revealed on the basis of Wulff theory.For FCC-Co,the exposed area of the(111)facet in the nanoparticle increases with the adsorption coverage of alkali metal oxide.Meanwhile,the(311),(110),and(100)facets would disappear under the higher adsorption coverage of alkali metals.For HCPCo,the Wulff morphology is dominated by the(0001)and(1011)facets and is independent of the alkali metal adsorption coverage.This work provides insights into morphology modulation by alkali metal promoters for the rational design and synthesis of cobalt-based nanomaterials with desired facets and morphologies.

Iron-based Fischer–Tropsch synthesis of lower olefins: The nature of χ-Fe_5C_2 catalyst and why and how to introduce promoters

As a sustainable and short-flow process, iron-catalyzed direct conversion of CO-rich syngas to lower olefins without intermediate steps, i.e., Fischer–Tropsch-to-Olefins(FTO), has received increasing attention. However, its fundamental understanding is usually limited by the complex crystal phase composition in addition to the interferences of the promoter effects and inevitable catalyst deactivation. Until recently,the combination of multiple in-situ/ex-situ characterizations and theoretical studies has evidenced H?gg iron carbide(χ-Fe_5C_2) as the dominant active phase of iron-based Fischer–Tropsch catalysts. This perspective attempts to review and discuss some recent progresses on the nature of χ-Fe_5C_2 catalyst and the crucial effects of promoters on the FTO performance from theoretical and experimental viewpoints,aiming to provide new insights into the rational design of iron-based FTO catalysts.

Systematic identification of endogenous RNA polymeraseⅢpromoters for efficient RNA guidebased genome editing technologies in maize

Single-guide RNA(sg RNA) is one of the two core components of the CRISPR(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat)/Cas(CRISPR-associated) genome-editing technology. We established an in vitro Traffic Light Reporter(TLR) system, which is designated as the same colors as traffic lights such as green, red and yellow were produced in cells. The TLR can be readily used in maize mesophyll protoplast for a quick test of promoter activity. The TLR assay indicates the variation in transcription activities of the seven Pol III promoters, from 3.4%(U6-1) to over 21.0%(U6-6). The U6-2 promoter, which was constructed to drive sg RNA expression targeting the Zm Wx1 gene, yielded mutation efficiencies ranging from 48.5% to 97.1%. Based on the reported and unpublished data, the in vitro TLR assay results were confirmed to be a readily system and may be extended to other plant species amenable to efficient genome editing via CRISPR/Cas. Our efforts provide an efficient method of identifying native Pol III-recognized promoters for RNA guide-based genome-editing systems in maize.

A comprehensive review of the effect of different kinetic promoters on methane hydrate formation

Gas hydrates have recently emerged as a better alternative for the production,storage,and transportation of natural gases.However,factors like slow formation rate and limited storage capacity obstruct the possible industrial application of this technique.Different types of promoters and synergists have been developed that can improve the kinetics and storage capacity of gas hydrates.This review focuses on different kinetic promoters and synergists that can be utilized to enhance the storage capacity of hydrates.The main characteristics,structure and the possible limitations of the use of these promoters are likewise portrayed in detail.The relationship between structure and storage capacity of hydrates have also been discussed in the review.Current status of production of gas from hydrates,their restrictions,and future difficulties have additionally been addressed in the ensuing areas of the review.

Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over iron catalysts with corncob-derived promoters

A sustainable strategy for Fischer–Tropsch iron catalysts is successfully achieved by embedding of synergistic promoters from a renewable resource, corncob. The iron-based catalysts, named as "corncob-driven"catalysts, are composed of iron species supported on carbon as primary active components and various minerals(K, Mg, Ca, and Si, etc.) as promoters. The corncob-driven catalysts are facilely synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal treatment under mild conditions. The characterization results indicate that the formation of iron carbides from humboldtine is clearly enhanced and the morphology of catalyst particles tends to be more regular microspheres after adding corncob. It is observed that the optimized corncob-driven catalyst exhibits a higher conversion than without promoters' catalyst in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis(ca. 73% vs. ca. 49%). More importantly, a synergistic effect exists in multiple promoters from corncob that can enhance heavy hydrocarbons selectivity and lower CO_2 selectivity, obviously different from the catalyst with promoters from chemicals. The proposed synthesis route of corncob-driven catalysts provides new strategies for the utilization of renewable resources and elimination of environmental pollutants from chemical promoters.

Preparation of Nanoporous Carbonaceous Promoters for Enhanced CO2 Absorption in Tertiary Amines

Aqueous solutions of tertiary amines are promising absorbents for CO2 capture,as they are typically characterized by a high absorption capacity,low heat of reaction,and low corrosivity.However,tertiary amines also exhibit very low kinetics of CO2 absorption,which has made them unattractive options for large-scale utilization.Here,a series of novel nanoporous carbonaceous promoters(NCPs)with different properties were synthesized,characterized,and used as rate promoters for CO2 absorption in aqueous N,N-diethylethanolamine(DEEA)solutions.To prepare a DEEA–NCP nanofluid,NCPs were dispersed into aqueous 3 mol∙L1 DEEA solution using ultrasonication.The results revealed that among microporous(GC)and mesoporous(GS)carbonaceous structures functionalized with ethylenediamine(EDA)and polyethyleneimine(PEI)molecules,the GC–EDA promoter exhibited the best performance.A comparison between DEEA–GC–EDA nanofluid and typical aqueous DEEA solutions highlighted that the GC-EDA promoter enhances the rate of CO2 absorption at 40C by 38.6%(36.8–50.7 kPamin1)and improves the equilibrium CO2 absorption capacity(15 kPa;40C)by 13.2%(0.69–0.78 mol of CO2 per mole of DEEA).Moreover,the recyclability of DEEA–GC–EDA nanofluid was determined and a promotion mechanism is suggested.The outcomes demonstrate that NCP–GC–EDA in tertiary amines is a promising strategy to enhance the rate of CO2 absorption and facilitate their large-scale deployment.

Elucidating the effect of barium halide promoters on La_(2)O_(3)/CaO catalyst for oxidative coupling of methane

The industrialization of oxidative coupling of methane(OCM)is restricted by the low once through yield of C_(2)hydrocarbons.Recently,the halogen-assisted OCM process has been attempted to overcome this issue,but the reaction stability was poor due to the rapid loss of gas-phase halides or molten alkali halides.In this work,the barium salts,particularly barium halides(BaCl_(2)and BaF_(2)),were demonstrated to be efficient promoters to improve the OCM reactivity of La_(2)O_(3)/CaO catalyst by increasing both C_(2)selectivity and C_(2)H_(4)/C_(2)H_(6)ratio,and simultaneously achieving outstanding reaction stability.The promoting mechanism can be understood in two aspects.On the one hand,the introduction of barium salts increased the amount of surface electrophilic oxygen species,serving as the alkaline active sites for selective methane activation.On the other hand,the barium halide additives induced the in-situ formation of methyl halide intermediates facilitating C_(2)H_(6)dehydrogenation,and their intimate contact with catalyst substrate restricted the rapid halogen loss and thereby improved the catalytic stability.This work not only provides a class of efficient OCM catalyst,but also offers a highly stable halogen-assisted reaction strategy.

Genome-wide Characterization of cis-acting Elements in the Promoters of Key Carotenoid Pathway Genes from the Main Species of Genus Citrus

Carotenoids are indispensable for both human health and plant survival.Citrus,is one of the fruit crops richest in carotenoid compounds,with approximately 115 kinds of carotenoids;tremendous diversity in carotenoids composition and concentration exists among various species,showing different colors from nearly white to crimson.The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway and the key carotenogenic genes have been identified in citrus;however,the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain unclear.In this study,among the main species of genus Citrus(primitive,wild,and cultivated),we detected carotenoids in flavedo using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography,and analyzed variations in cis-acting elements in the promoters of key carotenoid pathway genes.Intriguingly,both carotenoid composition and content were generally increased during the evolution of citrus,and the corresponding variations in the promoters were identified,including the gain or loss of critical environmental stress-responsive elements and hormone-responsive elements,which are closely associated with carotenoid enhancement.In addition,pummelo has the most heat-responsive elements,but the Mangshan mandarin does not have this element in the promoters of PSY,which is highly related to their geographical origin and indicate that temperature is a critical environmental signal influencing carotenoid accumulation.Moreover,the abscisic acid-responsive motif was rich in almost all the seven species,but the ethylene-responsive motif was deficient,which demystified the unique phytohormone regulation mechanism of carotenoid accumulation in citrus.Overall,our study provides new insights into the molecular regulatory mechanism of carotenoid enhancement in the evolution of citrus,which can facilitate breeding and cultivation efforts to improve the nutritional quality and esthetic value in citrus and hopefully other fruit crops.

Effects of K and Mn promoters over Fe2O3 on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

Structural and compositional design of core-shell structure is an effective strategy towards enhanced catalysis.Herein,amorphous MnO2 nanosheets and K+-intercalated layered MnO2 nanosheets are controllably assembled over Fe2O3 spindles,in which the MnO2 nanosheets are perpendicularly anchored to the surface of Fe2O3.Such a core shell structure contributes to a high specific surface area and abundant pore channels on the surface of catalysts.In addition,the existence of K+provides large numbers of basic sites and restrains the formation of unpleasant(Fe1-xMnx)3O4.Benefiting from the merits in structure and composition,CO adsorption is enhanced and remaining time of intermediates is prolonged on the surfaces of catalysts during the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis(FTS),facilitating to the formation of active iron carbides and C–C coupling reactions.Resultantly,the Fe2O3@K+-Mn O2 shows both a high CO conversion of 82.3%and a high C5+ selectivity of 73.1%.The present study provides structural and compositional rationales on design high-performance catalysts towards FTS.

Harpin_(xoo) and Its Functional Domains Activate Pathogen-inducible Plant Promoters in Arabidopsis

Harpins are bacterial proteins that can enhance plant growth and defense against pathogens and insects. To elaborate whether harpins perform the diverse functions in coordination with the activation of specific promoters that contain particular elements, we cloned pathogen-inducible plant promoters PPP1, PPP2, and PPP3 from tobacco and investigated their responses to harpinxoo or its truncated fragments DEG, DIR, and DPR (domains for enhancing plant growth, insect resistance and pathogen resistance). PPP1 contains an internal repeat composed of two tandem 111bp fragments; 111bp in the repeat was deleted in PPP2. PPP3 contains a bacteria-inducible element; PPP1 and PPP2 additionally contain TAC-1 and Eli boxes inducible correspondingly by salicylic acid (SA) and elicitors. Function of cloned PPPs was confirmed based on their activation in transgenic Arabidopsis plants by Ralstonia solanacearum (Ralston) or SA. Harpinxoo, DEG, DIR, or DPR activated PPP1 and PPP2 but not PPP3, consistent with the presence of Eli boxes in promoters. PPP1 was ca. 3-fold more active than PPP2, suggesting that the internal repeat affects levels of the promoter activation.

Finding the Hidden Hands:A Case Study of Detecting Organized Posters and Promoters in SINA Weibo

With the development of online social networks,a special group of online users named organized posters(or Internet water army,Internet paid posters in some literatures) have fl ooded the social network communities. They are organized in groups to post with specific purposes and sometimes even confuse or mislead normal users.In this paper,we study the individual and group characteristics of organized posters. A classifier is constructed based on the individual and group characteristics to detect them. Extensive experimental results on three real datasets demonstrate that our method based on individual and group characteristics using SVM model(IGCSVM) is effective in detecting organized posters and better than existing methods. We take a first look at finding the promoters based on the detected organized posters of our IGCSVM method. Our experiments show that it is effective in detecting promoters.

Quick Assessment of Potential Hydrate Promoters for Rapid Formation

Hydrate technology has advanced to greater proportions: implementing the high latent heats as refrigerant, safe carbon capture as carbon sequestration in hydrates, purifying rare gases in hydrates, and safe efficient transport of energy using rapid hydrate formation. These account for only a small amount of the fundamental understanding of gas hydrates and the use of such a novel technology. A quick and broad analysis of novel hydrate promoters is needed to assess the potential of other promoter agents. This will improve the understanding of rapid hydrate formation and fundamental ideas related to the kinetics and formation of hydrates. There are still hundreds of other surfactants that have not been identified for rapid formation. The insurmountable endeavor deters many from trying as it can be like finding a needle in a hay stack. This almost futile endeavor of correctly identifying a surfactant as a promoter agent without doing a formation test can be accomplished with recent techniques. Using Raman and a liquid hydrocarbon (Cyclo-pentane), surfactants may shift the sample’s peak towards the hydrate peak (890 cm–1), thereby identifying it as a choice surfactant for rapid formation of hydrates. With a broad survey of surfactants, understanding fundamental science and engineering kinetics for hydrates will be easily achieved. Finding more effective and novel surfactants for hydrate formations will broaden the field of hydrates and self-assembling crystallization. As hydrate technology broadens, interdisciplinary fields can contribute expertise from surface science to spectroscopy leading to geological formations and engineering kinetics.

Drought-responsive genes expressed predominantly in root tissues are enriched with homotypic cis-regulatory clusters in promoters of major cereal crops

The root appears to be the most relevant organ for breeding drought stress tolerance.However, our knowledge about temporal and spatial regulation of drought-associated genes in the root remains fragmented, especially in crop plants. We performed a meta-analysis of expression divergence of essential drought-inducible genes and analyzed their association with cis-elements in model crops and major cereal crops. Our analysis of42 selected drought-inducible genes revealed that these are expressed primarily in roots,followed by shoot, leaf, and inflorescence tissues, especially in wheat. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis confirmed higher expression of TaDREB2 and TaAQP7 in roots,correlated with extensive rooting and drought-stress tolerance in wheat. A promoter scan up to 2 kb upstream of the translation start site using phylogenetic footprinting revealed708 transcription factor binding sites, including drought response elements(DREs), auxin response elements(Aux REs), MYCREs/MYBREs, ABAREs, and ERD1 in 19 selected genes.Interestingly, these elements were organized into clusters of overlapping transcription factor binding sites known as homotypic clusters(HCTs), which modulate drought physiology in plants. Taken together, these results revealed the expression preeminence of major drought-inducible genes in the root, suggesting its crucial role in drought adaptation. The occurrence of HCTs in drought-inducible genes highlights the putative evolutionary modifications of crop plants in developing drought adaptation. We propose that these DNA motifs can be used as molecular markers for breeding drought-resilient cultivars, particularly in the cereal crops.

Coevolutionary insights between promoters and transcription factors in the plant and animal kingdoms

The divergence and continuous evolution of plants and animals contribute to ecological diversity.Promoters and transcription factors(TFs) are key determinants of gene regulation and transcription throughoutlife.However,theevolutionary trajectories and relationships of promoters and TFs are still poorly understood. Here, we conducted extensive analysis of large-scale multi-omics sequences in 420 animal species and 223 plant species spanning nearly a billion years of evolutionary history. Results showed that promoter GC-contentandTFisoelectricpoints,as features/signatures that accompany long biological evolution, exhibited increasing growth in animal cells but a decreasing trend in plant cells. Furthermore, the evolutionary trajectories of promoter and TF signatures in the animal kingdom provided further evidence that Mammalia as well as Aves evolved directly from the ancestor Reptilia. The strong correlation between promoter and TF signatures indicates that promoters and TFs formed antagonistic coevolution in the animal kingdom, but mutualistic coevolution in the plant kingdom. The distinct coevolutionary patterns potentially drive the plant-animal divergence, divergent evolution and ecological diversity.

A novel voting system for the identification of eukaryotic genome promoters

Motivation: Accurate identification and delineation of promoters/TSSs (transcription start sites) is important for improving genome annotation and devising experiments to study and understand transcriptional regulation. Many promoter identifiers are developed for promoter identification. However, each promoter identifier has its own focuses and limitations, and we introduce an integration scheme to combine some identifiers together to gain a better prediction performance. Result: In this contribution, 8 promoter identifiers (Proscan, TSSG, TSSW, FirstEF, eponine, ProSOM, EP3, FPROM) are chosen for the investigation of integration. A feature selection method, called mRMR (Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance), is novelly transferred to promoter identifier selection by choosing a group of robust and complementing promoter identifiers. For comparison, four integration methods (SMV, WMV, SMV_IS, WMV_IS), from simple to complex, are developed to process a training dataset with 1400 se- quences and a testing dataset with 378 sequences. As a result, 5 identifiers (FPROM, FirstEF, TSSG, epo- nine, TSSW) are chosen by mRMR, and the integration of them achieves 70.08% and 67.83% correct prediction rates for a training dataset and a testing dataset respectively, which is better than any single identifier in which the best single one only achieves 59.32% and 61.78% for the training dataset and testing dataset respectively.

Lineage-Specific Genome Architecture Links Enhancers and Non-coding Disease Variants to Target Gene Promoters

Long-range interactions between regulatory elements and gene promoters play key roles in transcriptional regulation.The vast majority of interactions are uncharted,constituting a major missing link in understanding genome control.Here,we use promoter capture Hi-C to identify interacting regions of 31,253 promoters in 17 human primary hematopoietic cell types.We show that promoter interactions are highly cell type specific and enriched for links between active promoters and epigenetically marked enhancers.Promoter interactomes reflect lineage relationships of the hematopoietic tree,consistent with dynamic remodeling of nuclear architecture during differentiation.Interacting regions are enriched in genetic variants linked with altered expression of genes they contact,highlighting their functional role.We exploit this rich resource to connect non-coding disease variants to putative target promoters,prioritizing thousands of disease-candidate genes and implicating disease pathways.Our results demonstrate the power of primary cell promoter interactomes to reveal insights into genomic regulatory mechanisms underlying common diseases.

Quantitative characterization of filamentous fungal promoters on a single-cell resolution to discover cryptic natural products

Characterization of filamentous fungal regulatory elements remains challenging because of time-consuming transformation technologies and limited quantitative methods.Here we established a method for quantitative assessment of filamentous fungal promoters based on flow cytometry detection of the superfolder green fluorescent protein at single-cell resolution.Using this quantitative method,we acquired a library of 93 native promoter elements from Aspergillus nidulans in a high-throughput format.The strengths of identified promoters covered a 37-fold range by flow cytometry.P_(zipA) and P_(sltA)were identified as the strongest promoters,which were 2.9-and 1.5-fold higher than that of the commonly used constitutive promoter P_(gpdA).Thus,we applied P_(zipA)and P_(sltA)to activate the silent nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene Afpes1 from Aspergillus fumigatus in its native host and the heterologous host A.nidulans.The metabolic products of Afpes1 were identified as new cyclic tetrapeptide derivatives,namely,fumiganins A and B.Our method provides an innovative strategy for natural product discovery in fungi.

Designing artificial synthetic promoters for accurate,smart,and versatile gene expression in plants

With the development of high-throughput biology techniques and artificial intelligence,it has become increasingly feasible to design and construct artificial biological parts,modules,circuits,and even whole systems.To overcome the limitations of native promoters in controlling gene expression,artificial promoter design aims to synthesize short,inducible,and conditionally controlled promoters to coordinate the expression of multiple genes in diverse plant metabolic and signaling pathways.Synthetic promoters are versatile and can drive gene expression accurately with smart responses;they show potential for enhancing desirable traits in crops,thereby improving crop yield,nutritional quality,and food security.This review first illustrates the importance of synthetic promoters,then introduces promoter architecture and thoroughly summarizes advances in synthetic promoter construction.Restrictions to the development of synthetic promoters and future applications of such promoters in synthetic plant biology and crop improvement are also discussed.

Synthetic dual hormone-responsive promoters enable engineering of plants with broad-spectrum resistance

In plant immunity,the mutually antagonistic hormones salicylic acid(SA)and jasmonic acid(JA)are implicated in resistance to biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens,respectively.Promoters that can respond to both SA and JA signals are urgently needed to engineer plants with enhanced resistance to a broad spectrum of pathogens.However,few natural pathogen-inducible promoters are available for this purpose.To address this problem,we have developed a strategy to synthesize dual SA-and JA-responsive promoters by combining SA-and JA-responsive cis elements based on the interaction between their cognate transacting factors.The resulting promoters respond rapidly and strongly to both SA and Methyl Jasmonate(MeJA),as well as different types of phytopathogens.When such a synthetic promoter was used to control expression of an antimicrobial peptide,transgenic plants displayed enhanced resistance to a diverse range of biotrophic,necrotrophic,and hemi-biotrophic pathogens.A dual-inducible promoter responsive to the antagonistic signals auxin and cytokinin was generated in a similar manner,confirming that our strategy can be used for the design of other biotically or abiotically inducible systems.

Influence of seeding promoters on the properties of CVD grown monolayer molybdenum disulfide

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most efficient method to grow large-area two dimensional (2D) transition metal dichiacogenides (TMDCs) in high quality.Monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and seed-assistant are the mostly selected 2D TMDC and growth strategy for such CVD processes,respectively.Though the advantages of seed catalysts in facilitating the nucleation,achieving higher yield and better repeatability,as well as their effects on the morphologies of as-grown MoS2 have been studied,the influence of seeding promoters on both optical and electrical properties of as-grown monolayer MoS2 is not known comprehensively,which is indeed critical for understanding fundamental physics and developing practical application of such emerging 2D semiconductors.In this report,we systematically investigated the effect of different seeding promoters on the properties of CVD-grown monolayer MoS2.It is found that different seed molecules lead to different impacts on the optical and electrical properties of as-grown monolayer MoS2.Among three different seed catalysts (perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid tetrapotassium salt (PTAS),copper phthalocyanine (CuPc),and crystal violet (CV)),PTAS performs better in obtaining large area monolayer MoS2 with good optical quality and high electrical mobility than the other two.Our work gives a guide for modifying the properties of as-grown monolayer MoS2 and other 2D transition metal dichalcogenides in seeding promoters-assisted synthesis process.