Reprogrammable elastomers with dynamic covalent bonds are of paramount significance for emerging applications such as adaptive optics and soft robotics. In their Research Article (e202116219), Ling Wang, Wei Feng, and co‐workers describe mechanochromic, shape‐programmable, and self‐healable cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers obtained by introducing dynamic covalent boronic ester bonds into the main‐chain chiral liquid crystalline polymer networks.

Chiral nanomaterials with intrinsic chirality or spatial asymmetry at the nanoscale are currently in the limelight of both fundamental research and diverse important technological applications due to their unprecedented physicochemical characteristics such as intense light-matter interactions, enhanced circular dichroism, and strong circularly polarized luminescence. Herein, we provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art advances in liquid crystal-templated chiral nanomaterials. The chiroptical properties of chiral nanomaterials are touched, and their fundamental design principles and bottom-up synthesis strategies are discussed. Different chiral functional nanomaterials based on liquid-crystalline soft templates, including chiral plasmonic nanomaterials and chiral luminescent nanomaterials, are systematically introduced, and their underlying mechanisms, properties, and potential applications are emphasized. This review concludes with a perspective on the emerging applications, challenges, and future opportunities of such fascinating chiral nanomaterials. This review can not only deepen our understanding of the fundamentals of soft-matter chirality, but also shine light on the development of advanced chiral functional nanomaterials toward their versatile applications in optics, biology, catalysis, electronics, and beyond.

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The combination of 17beta-estradiol with TCDD may facilitate the onset of endometriosis and contribute to its development by increasing the invasion of ESC mediated by CC-motif chemokines.

It is very important but usually difficult to extract high quality DNA from plants for molecular work since there exist a great deal of polysaccharides, hydroxybenzenes, esters and other secondary metabolities. In this paper we provide a simple modified CTAB (mCTAB) protocol for extracting plant DNA. The mCTAB method protocol includes 18 steps.(1) Weigh ca. 20 mg of dry plant tissue and ground into powder with sand using a mortar or a pestle. Remove the powder into a 2.0 mL microcentrifuge tube. (2) Add 1.0 mL pre-cooled buffer A (Table 2) to the tube, mix well and incubate the tube on ice for 15 min. Mix sample 2-3 times during incubation by inverting the tube. (3) Centrifuge the tube at 7 000 ×g for 10 min. Discard the supernatant liquid by pouring it out of the tube. (4) Repeat step 2 and 3 until the supernatant is not viscous. (5) Add 0.7 mL buffer B (Table 3), mix well and incubate at 65°C for 90-120 min. Mix the sample several times during incubation by inverting the tube. ( 6) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, remove the supernatant to a new microcentrifuge tube. The precipitate is reusable from step 5 if necessary. (7) Add 0.7 mL CI (chloroform: isoamyl alcohol=24:1, v/v), mix it well for 10 min by inverting tube gently. (8) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g, for 10 min, carefully remove the supernatant to a new 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. (9) Repeat step 7 and 8 until no precipitate appearing between the two layers of liquid after centrifuging. (10) Add 0.5 mL pre-cooled isopropanol, carefully mix well . Incubate at -20°C for 20 min. (11) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, discard the supernatant, centrifuge the tube briefly to collect the remaining liquid and remove it by pipetting. (12) Add 0.1 mL RNase (100 mg•L -1 ) and incubate at 37°C for 30-60 min. (13) Add 0.1 mL ddH 2 O, 0.1 mL 5 mol•L -1 NaCl and 0.8 mL pre-cooled ethanol (95%), carefully mix well. ( 14) Centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 10 min, discard the supernatant. (15) Add 0.5 mL 75% ethanol, re-suspend the pellet, centrifuge at 10 000 ×g for 2 min, discard the supernatant. ( 16) Repeat step 15. (17) Add 0.1 mL TE to dissolve DNA after ethanol has evaporated. ( 18)Estimate the concentration and the purity of the DNA solution. Store it at 4°C for immediate use, at -20°C for short time storage and -80°C for long time storage. We compared our protocol with four frequently used and commercially available kits. The result showed that our mCTAB method yielded much more DNA of high quality that is suitable for PCR amplification but with much lower cost.