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A series of room temperature ionic liquids (ILs), in which cholinium acts as the cation and amino acids as the anions, were prepared via a simple and green chemical route, and characterized. Most of the ILs dissolved lignin efficiently and selectively (with solubilities of 140-220 mg of lignin per g of IL). The solubility of xylan in these ILs (which ranged from <1 to 85 mg g -1 ) depended on the nature of the anion, while cellulose was scarcely soluble (<5 mg g -1 ). In addition, enzymatic hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose and rice straw was enhanced significantly after pretreatment using the IL [Ch][Gly].Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been attracting increasing attention as electrolyte materials, catalysts and solvents for synthesis, catalysis and extraction etc., due to their excellent properties such as low vapor pressure, nonflammability, high thermal and chemical stability, and outstanding ability to dissolve a wide range of compounds.

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A series of Sn-doped TiO2 with Sn content ranging from 0.25 to 1 mol % were successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method, and its performance as the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was investigated. TEM and XRD results indicate that the doping has no effect on the morphology and the crystal form of TiO2. The shift of XRD peaks observed at higher angle and the XPS results indicate Sn4+ ions incorporation into the TiO2 lattice. The flatband potential of Sn-TiO2 films shifts from −0.505 V (vs SCE) to −0.55 V with increasing Sn content from 0 to 1 mol at. %, which is beneficial to the increase of V oc. The higher transfer rate of electrons in the Sn-doped TiO2 films than in the undoped TiO2 films is confirmed by IMPS measurements, which is favorable to the higher J sc. IMVS and EIS measurements indicate that the charge recombination increases with increasing Sn doping content. Taking these factors, the optimum efficiency of 8.31% was found at 0.5 mol % Sn-doped TiO2 based DSSCs, which gave an efficiency improved by 12.1% compared with that of the cells based on pure TiO2 (7.45%). This work shows that Sn-doped TiO2 is a most interesting material and has good potential for application in photoenergy conversion devices.

Hyperuricaemia is an important risk factor for many diseases including gout, hypertension, and type II diabetes. The gut microbiota is associated with hyperuricaemia and has also been demonstrated to play significant roles in the effects of drug therapy. This study used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to explore alterations of the gut microbiome associated with allopurinol and benzbromarone treatment in the male rat with hyperuricaemia. After drug treatment, both allopurinol and benzbromarone caused an increase of the genera Bifidobacterium and Collinsella and a decrease of the genera Adlercreutzia and Anaerostipes. In addition, allopurinol and benzbromarone caused respective unique changes in genera. The genera Bilophila, Morganella, and Desulfovibrio specifically decreased due to allopurinol treatment. Decreased Butyricimonas and Ruminococcus and increased Proteus were caused by benzbromarone treatment. The PICRUST analysis indicated that allopurinol renovated the disorder of nucleotide metabolism and benzbromarone renovated the disorder of lipid metabolism in the gut microbiota of male rats with hyperuricaemia. These findings demonstrated that the gut microbiota may be altered by the treatment of hyperuricaemia with allopurinol and benzbromarone in male rats. Such alterations of the gut microbiota could be considered as indicators of the effectiveness of drug therapy.

Reversible phosphorylation of LHCII, the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II, controls its migration between the two photosystems (state transitions), and serves to adapt the photosynthetic machinery of plants and green algae to short-term changes in ambient light conditions. The thylakoid kinase STN7 is required for LHCII phosphorylation and state transitions in vascular plants. Regulation of STN7 levels occurs at the post-translational level, depends on the thylakoid redox state, and might involve reversible autophosphorylation. Here, we have analysed the effects of different light conditions and chemical inhibitors on the abundance of STN7 transcripts and their products. This analysis was performed in wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants, in several photosynthetic mutants, and in lines overexpressing STN7 (oeSTN7) or expressing mutant variants of STN7 carrying single or double cysteine-serine exchanges. It was found that accumulation of the STN7 protein is also controlled at the level of transcript abundance. Under certain conditions, exposure to high light or far-red light treatment, the relative decreases in LHCII phosphorylation can be attributed to decreases in STN7 abundance. Nevertheless, inhibitor experiments showed that redox control of LHCII kinase activity persists in oeSTN7 plants. STN7 dimers were found in oeSTN7 plants and in lines with single cysteine-serine exchanges, indicating that dimerisation involves disulphide bridges. We speculate that transient STN7 dimerisation is required for STN7 activity, and that the altered dimerisation behaviour of oeSTN7 plants might be responsible for the unusually high phosphorylation of LHCII in the dark found in this genotype.