The advent of bioethanol production has generated abundant lignin-derived byproducts which contain proteins and polysaccharides. These byproducts are inapplicable for direct material applications. In this study, lignin-derived byproducts were used for the first time as carbon precursors to construct an interconnected hierarchical porous nitrogen-doped carbon (HPNC) via hydrothermal treatment and activation. The obtained HPNC exhibited favorable features for supercapacitor applications, such as hierarchical bowl-like pore structures, a large specific surface area of 2218 m(2) g(-1), a high electronic conductivity of 4.8 S cm(-1), and a nitrogen doping content of 3.4%. HPNC-based supercapacitors in a 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte exhibited high-rate performance with a high specific capacitance of 312 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1) and 81% retention at 80 A g(-1) as well as an excellent cyclic life of 98% initial capacitance after 20 000 cycles at 10 A g(-1). Moreover, HPNC-based supercapacitors in the ionic liquid electrolyte of EMI-BF4 displayed an enhanced energy density of 44.7 Wh kg(-1) (remaining 74% of max value) at an ultrahigh power density of 73.1 kW kg(-1). The proposed strategy may facilitate lignin utilization and lead to a green bioethanol production process.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly immune-suppressive tumor with a low response rate to single checkpoint blockade therapy. ETS homologous factor (EHF) is a tumor suppressor in PDAC. Here, we report a novel function of EHF in pancreatic cancer immune microenvironment editing and efficacy prediction for anti-PD1 therapy. Our findings support that the deficiency of tumoral EHF induced the accumulation of regulatory T (T reg) cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and a decrease in the number of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Mechanistically, EHF deficiency induced the conversion and expansion of T reg cells and MDSCs through inhibiting tumor TGFβ1 and GM-CSF secretion. EHF suppressed the transcription of TGFB1 and CSF2 by directly binding to their promoters. Mice bearing EHF overexpression tumors exhibited significantly better response to anti-PD1 therapy than those with control tumors. Our findings delineate the immunosuppressive mechanism of EHF deficiency in PDAC and highlight that EHF overexpression may improve PDAC checkpoint immunotherapy.

Diffusible signal factor (DSF) represents a family of widely conserved quorum sensing (QS) signals involved in the regulation of virulence factor production in many Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Quorum quenching, which disrupts QS either by degradation of QS signals or interference of signal generation or perception, is a promising strategy for prevention and control of QS-mediated bacterial infections. In this study, a novel DSF-degrading strain, HN-2, was isolated from contaminated soil and identified as Cupriavidus sp. The isolate exhibited superior DSF degradation activity and completely degraded 2 mmol·L–1 of DSF within 24 h. Analysis of the degradation products of DSF by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry led to the identification of trans-2-decenoic acid methyl ester as the main intermediate product, suggesting that DSF could be degraded by oxidation and hydroxylation. Moreover, this study presents for the first time, evidence that Cupriavidus sp. can reduce the black rot disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). Application of the HN-2 strain as a biocontrol agent could substantially reduce the disease severity. These findings reveal the biochemical basis of a highly efficient DSF-degrading bacterial isolate and present a useful agent for controlling infectious diseases caused by DSF-dependent bacterial pathogens.

Quorum sensing (QS) is a cell-cell communication mechanism among bacterial populations that is regulated through gene expression in response to cell density. The pathogenicity of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is modulated by the diffusible signal factor (DSF)-mediated QS system. DSF is widely conserved in a variety of gram-negative bacterial pathogens. In this study, DSF-degrading bacteria and their enzymes were thoroughly explored as a biocontrol agent against Xcc. The results indicated that a novel DSF-degrading bacterium, Acinetobacter lactucae QL-1, effectively attenuated Xcc virulence through quorum quenching. Lab-based experiments indicated that plants inoculated with QL-1 and Xcc had less tissue decay than those inoculated with Xcc alone. Co-inoculation of strains Xcc and QL-1 significantly reduced the incidence and severity of disease in plants. Similarly, the application of crude enzymes of strain QL-1 substantially reduced the disease severity caused by Xcc. The results showed that strain QL-1 and its enzymes possess promising potential, which could be further investigated to better protect plants from DSF-dependent pathogens.

Taste peptides, as an important component of protein-rich foodstuffs, potentiate the nutrition and taste of food. Thereinto, umami-and bitter-taste peptides have been ex tensively reported, while their taste mechanisms remain unclear. Meanwhile, the identification of taste peptides is still a time-consuming and costly task. In this study, 489 peptides with umami/ bitter taste from TPDB (http://tastepeptides-meta.com/) were collected and used to train the classification models based on docking analysis, molecular descriptors (MDs), and molecular fingerprints (FPs). A consensus model, taste peptide docking machine (TPDM), was generated based on five learning algorithms (linear regression, random forest, gaussian naive bayes, gradient boosting tree, and stochastic gradient descent) and four molecular representation schemes. Model interpretive analysis showed that MDs (VSA_EState, MinEstateIndex, MolLogP) and FPs (598, 322, 952) had the greatest impact on the umami/bitter prediction of peptides. Based on the consensus docking results, we obtained the key recognition modes of umami/bitter receptors (T1Rs/T2Rs):(1) residues 107S-109S, 148S-154T, 247F-249A mainly form hydrogen bonding contacts and (2) residues 153A-158L, 163L, 181Q,

5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an important platform molecule in the synthesis of various chemicals and materials. Herein, we reported a simple and effective dehydration of glucose-based carbohydrates to HMF in a biphasic system containing cyclopentyl methyl ether as the organic phase and AlCl3 with minute amounts of HCl as co-catalysts. The results showed that the mixed catalysts had a positive synergistic catalytic effect on glucose conversion to HMF compared with single AlCl3 or HCl catalyst. For glucose, the highest HMF yield of 54.5% was achieved at 175 °C for 20 min. More importantly, the optimal catalytic system was so efficient that it achieved one of the highest reported yields of HMF (30.5%) directly from corncob acid hydrolysis residues. Thus, the catalytic system can become a promising route for effective utilization of biomass in future biorefineries.