Manmade high-performance polymers are typically non-biodegradable and derived from petroleum feedstock through energy intensive processes involving toxic solvents and byproducts. While engineered microbes have been used for renewable production of many small molecules, direct microbial synthesis of high-performance polymeric materials remains a major challenge. Here we engineer microbial production of megadalton muscle titin polymers yielding high-performance fibers that not only recapture highly desirable properties of natural titin (i.e., high damping capacity and mechanical recovery) but also exhibit high strength, toughness, and damping energy — outperforming many synthetic and natural polymers. Structural analyses and molecular modeling suggest these properties derive from unique inter-chain crystallization of folded immunoglobulin-like domains that resists inter-chain slippage while permitting intra-chain unfolding. These fibers have potential applications in areas from biomedicine to textiles, and the developed approach, coupled with the structure-function insights, promises to accelerate further innovation in microbial production of high-performance materials.

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A fluorescent probe for CO detection was prepared, showing a simple structure, being metal-free, and having an excellent detection performance.

Zinc ion is closely related to human health. Its content in human body is small, while the effect is large. However, it is not the more the better, must be in a scienti c balance. Therefore, it is signi cant to the rapid detection of Zn 2+ in the environment and organism. Herein, a uorescent probe based on 2-hydroxy-1-naphthalene formaldehyde and furan-2-carbohydrazide was conveniently synthesized via Schiff base reaction. And this probe has been successfully applied to the accurate and quantitative detection of Zn 2+ in real samples, showing turn on uorescence, good selectivity, very low detection limit, real time response and reusability. In addition, this probe has the potential application to trace Zn 2+ in living cells with low cytotoxicity.

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