A novel triple responsive smart fluid for tight oil fracturing-oil expulsion integration

The traditional multi-process to enhance tight oil recovery based on fracturing and huff-n-puff has obvious deficiencies,such as low recovery efficiency,rapid production decline,high cost,and complexity,etc.Therefore,a new technology,the so-called fracturing-oil expulsion integration,which does not need flowback after fracturing while making full use of the fracturing energy and gel breaking fluids,are needed to enable efficient exploitation of tight oil.A novel triple-responsive smart fluid based on“pseudo-Gemini”zwitterionic viscoelastic surfactant(VES)consisting of N-erucylamidopropyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-2-hydroxy-1-propane-sulfonate(EHSB),N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-1,3-propanediamine(TMEDA)and sodium p-toluenesulfonate(NaPts),is developed.Then,the rheology of smart fluid is systematically studied at varying conditions(CO_(2),temperature and pressure).Moreover,the mechanism of triple-response is discussed in detail.Finally,a series of fracturing and spontaneous imbibition performances are systematically investigated.The smart fluid shows excellent CO_(2)-,thermal-,and pressure-triple responsive behavior.It can meet the technical requirement of tight oil fracturing construction at 140°C in the presence of 3.5 MPa CO_(2).The gel breaking fluid shows excellent spontaneous imbibition oil expulsion(∼40%),salt resistance(1.2×104 mg/L Na+),temperature resistance(140°C)and aging stability(30 days).

Multifunctional nano-herb based on tumor microenvironment for enhanced tumor therapy of gambogic acid

Multifunctional drug delivery systems(DDSs)have shown great prospects in overcoming the heterogeneous barrier of delivery drugs to the complex tumor microenvironment(TME).In this study,multifunctional AS/Ge-pNAB microgels with dual-active targeting,triple environment responsiveness,and fluorescence imaging capability were prepared through a straightforward procedure.This was aimed to improve the antitumor therapeutic application of gambogic acid(GA)based on the biological characteristics of TME.The microgels have a uniform double-layer structure with aptamer in the outer layer which helps in recognizing receptors on the tumor cells.The GA loaded nano-herb exhibited environment-responsive drug release profiles under acidic pH,reductant and high temperature.The nano-herb significantly improved the accumulation of GA in tumor sites through the synergistic combination of the enhanced permeability and retention effect and dual-ligand mediated internalization.Then,it accelerated intracellular drug release and killed tumor cells.Therefore,the nano-herb had specific therapeutic effects on the tumor in vitro and in vivo as they remarkably inhibited tumor growth while depicting optimal biosafety and lower levels of off-target toxicity.Overall,these findings demonstrate the great potential of the multifunctional AS/Ge-pNAB microgels for precisely targeted GA delivery and open a new avenue for the facile preparation of multifunctional DDSs.

FERONIA Is a Key Modulator of Brassinosteroid and Ethylene Responsiveness in Arabidopsis Hypocotyls

Ethylene signaling is a complex pathway that has been intensively analyzed partly due to its importance to the manifestation of horticultural phenomena, including fruit ripening and tissue senescence. In order to further our un- derstanding of how this pathway is regulated, a screen for Arabidopsis mutants with increased ethylene response was conducted. From this, a mutant was identified as having a dark-grown hypocotyl that is indistinguishable from Col-0 wt in the presence of the ethylene perception inhibitor AgNO3, yet has extreme responsiveness to even low levels of ethylene. Map-based cloning of the mutation revealed a T-DNA insertion in the coding sequence of the receptor-like kinase FERONIA, which is required for normal pollen tube reception and cell elongation in a currently unknown capacity. In contrast to a previous report, analysis of our feronia knockout mutant shows it also has altered responsiveness to brassinosteroids, with etiolated fer-2 seedlings being partially brassinosteroid insensitive with regard to promotion of hypocotyl elonga- tion. Our results indicate that FERONIA-dependent brassinosteroid response serves to antagonize the effect of ethylene on hypocotyl growth of etiolated seedlings, with loss of proper brassinosteroid signaling disrupting this balance and leading to a greater impact of ethylene on hypocotyl shortening.

Lack of ethylene does not affect reproductive success and synergid cell death in Arabidopsis

The signaling pathway of the gaseous hormone ethylene is involved in plant reproduction,growth,devel-opment,and stress responses.During reproduction,the two synergid cells of the angiosperm female gametophyte both undergo programmed cell death(PCD)/degeneration but in a different manner:PCD/degeneration of one synergid facilitates pollen tube rupture and thereby the release of sperm cells,while PCD/degeneration of the other synergid blocks supernumerary pollen tubes.Ethylene signaling was postu-lated to participate in some of the synergid cell functions,such as pollen tube attraction and the induction of PCD/degeneration.However,ethylene-mediated induction of synergid PCD/degeneration and the role of ethylene itself have not been firmly established.Here,we employed the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to knock out the five ethylene-biosynthesis 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase(ACO)genes and created Arabidopsis mutants free of ethylene production.The ethylene-free mutant plants showed normal triple responses when treated with ethylene rather than 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid,but had increased lateral root density and enlarged petal sizes,which are typical phenotypes of mutants defective in ethylene signaling.Using these ethylene-free plants,we further demonstrated that production of ethylene is not necessarily required to trigger PCD/degeneration of the two synergid cells,but certain com-ponents of ethylene signaling including transcription factors ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE 3(EIN3)and EIN3-LIKE 1(EIL1)are necessary for the death of the persistent synergid cell.