A facile and efficient method for the precise editing of large viral genomes is required for the selection of attenuated vaccine strains and the construction of gene therapy vectors. The type II prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated (Cas)) RNA-guided nuclease system can be introduced into host cells during viral replication. The CRISPR-Cas9 system robustly stimulates targeted double-stranded breaks in the genomes of DNA viruses, where the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR) pathways can be exploited to introduce site-specific indels or insert heterologous genes with high frequency. Furthermore, CRISPR-Cas9 can specifically inhibit the replication of the original virus, thereby significantly increasing the abundance of the recombinant virus among progeny virus. As a result, purified recombinant virus can be obtained with only a single round of selection. In this study, we used recombinant adenovirus and type I herpes simplex virus as examples to demonstrate that the CRISPR-Cas9 system is a valuable tool for editing the genomes of large DNA viruses.

Electrocatalytic water splitting into H2 and O2 is a key technology for carbon‐neutral energy. Here, we report a modular materials design leading to noble metal‐free composite electrocatalysts, which combine high electrical conductivity, high OER and HER reactivity and high durability. The scalable bottom‐up fabrication allows the stable deposition of mixed metal oxide nanostructures with different functionalities on copper foam electrodes. The composite catalyst shows sustained OER and HER activity in 0.1 m aqueous KOH over prolonged periods (t>10 h) at low overpotentials (OER: ≈300 mV; HER: ≈100 mV) and high faradaic efficiencies (OER: ≈100 %, HER: ≈98 %). The new synthetic concept will enable the development of multifunctional, mixed metal oxide composites as high‐performance electrocatalysts for challenging energy conversion and storage reactions.

To find a high γ-aminobutyric acid-producing lactic acid bacterium, more than 1000 strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from paocai samples in various areas of China were screened by the ability in production of γ-aminobutyric acid, analysed with paper chromatography, HPLC and HPLC-MS. Among them, one strain NCL912 exhibited high ability to convert sodium glutamate to γ-aminobutyric acid. The strain accumulated 149.05 mM of γ-aminobutyric acid in a modified MRS medium containing 3% sodium glutamate after 48 h of static cultivation at 30 °C. This strain was identified as Lactobacillus brevis according to its phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics.

Production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was carried out in Erlenmeyer flasks by Lactobacillus brevis NCL912. Traditional methods were first adopted to select the key factors that impact the GABA production to preliminarily determine the suitable concentration ranges of the key factors. It was found that glucose, soya peptone, Tween-80 and MnSO(4).4H(2)O were the key factors affecting GABA production. Then, response surface methodology was applied to analyze the optimum contents of the four key factors in the medium, and the production of GABA was predicted as 349.69 mM under the optimized conditions with this model. Afterward, the experiment was performed under the optimized conditions, and the yield of GABA reached 345.83 mM, which was 130% higher than the initial medium. The results showed that experimental yield and predicted values of GABA yield were in good agreement.

This review describes major advances in the use of functionalized molecular metal oxides (polyoxometalates, POMs) as water oxidation catalysts under electrochemical conditions. The fundamentals of POM-based water oxidation are described, together with a brief overview of general approaches to designing POM water oxidation catalysts. Next, the use of POMs for homogeneous, solution-phase water oxidation is described together with a summary of theoretical studies shedding light on the POM-WOC mechanism. This is followed by a discussion of heterogenization of POMs on electrically conductive substrates for technologically more relevant application studies. The stability of POM water oxidation catalysts is discussed, using select examples where detailed data is already available. The review finishes with an outlook on future perspectives and emerging themes in electrocatalytic polyoxometalate-based water oxidation research.

The results showed that the hydrolysate derived from cottonseed protein, particularly fraction III, could be a natural antioxidant source suitable for use as a food additive.

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The gelatin was added into pullulan films to improve their performances and lower their cost. The gelatin addition raised the tensile strength of the gelatin-pullulan composite films, and reduced the oxygen permeability. The cost of composite films was reduced comparing to that of the pullulan films. Moreover, the molecular interaction of the composite film was evaluated. The interactions of gelatin and pullulan in the composite films were detected, such as (1) formation of 2 glycosylated proteins; (2) improvement of β-sheet content; (3) formation of the interchain hydrogen bond and a semicrystalline region. Therefore, the molecular interaction was the main reason for the performance improvement of the composite films.