NIR Light-Promoted Whole-Cell Catalysis Based on a Light-Harvesting Blackbody Bioreactor

Whole-cell catalysis,which utilizes enzymes expressed in whole organism(e.g.bacteria and fungi)as the catalyst,is a specific mode of biocatalysis.Compared with pure enzyme catalysis,the catalysis with whole-cell catalysts is more cost-effective.However,in the process of whole-cell catalysis,heat treatment is often necessary due to the high optimum temperature of the enzyme.To enable efficient industrial application of whole-cell catalysis,an environmental friendly heating approach is highly desired.Inspired by the light harvest by blackbody materials,in this paper,we introduced a photothermal approach for harnessing the photon energy for enhanced whole-cell catalysis.A blackbody porous sponge(BPS)with excellent photothermal conversion efficiency was prepared as a bioreactor.Escherichia coli expressed with a thermophilic enzyme(β-glucosidase)was utilized as a model whole-cell catalyst.Moreover,the photothermal properties of the BPS and lightassisted whole-cell catalysis were systematically investigated,demonstrating promising application prospects.

Near-Infrared Light-Activatable Melanized Paclitaxel Nano-Self-Assemblies for Synergistic Anti-tumor Therapy

Building self-assembly nanostructures is an important way to overcome the limitations of paclitaxel in tumor therapy.However,this strategy is also faced with challenges,such as difficulties in efficient release and the potential for drug resistance.Herein,we developed a near-infrared light-activatable melanized paclitaxel self-assembly nanoparticles for synergistic anti-tumor therapy.In this strategy,paclitaxel dimer prodrugs were synthesized and paclitaxel nanoparticles were obtained through self-assembly.Finally,the paclitaxel dimer nanoparticles were capped with polydopamine(PDA,melanoidin)and human serum albumin(HSA).The disulfide bonds in paclitaxel dimeric prodrug specifically respond to high concentrations of glutathione(GSH)and reactive oxygen species(ROS)in tumor cells.PDA enhances the biocompatibility of the drug molecules and imparts near-infrared photothermal conversion capability to the nano-self-assemblies.Both the in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that this paclitaxel nanoprodrug exhibited enhanced tumor therapeutic efficacy under near-infrared light irradiation.