Nature has created an efficient sterilization model, i.e., the in situ bacterial capture and killing process via bacteriophages. The bacteriophage is a virus with a unique spiny tail foot; in general, it can capture bacteria and subsequently release nucleic acid to achieve replication and kill bacteria. We define this two-steps process as the localized "capture and killing" (LCK) action. Therefore, it is believed that this bioinspired LCK action may provide massive possibilities for developing efficient disinfection strategies as alternatives to conventional clinical antibiotic treatments. Two concepts must be carefully designed and integrated to construct the bionic nanosystem with LCK action. i) Developing the spiky nanostructures to enhance the interactions between nanomaterials and pathogenic bacteria; [11,12] meanwhile, the spiky structure must be mesoporous to load and release bactericidal substances. [13] ii) Second, developing an efficient and robust bactericidal system without using any antibiotics. [14-18] Compared to many traditional bactericidal molecules, antibacterial strategies based on reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been intensively studied. [19] Due to its short life cycle, ROS can only cause irreversible damage to substances immediately around it. This spatially confined activity helps to develop targeted applications as well as guarantee excellent biocompatibility during usage. [20,21] Moreover, the molecular weight of ROS is very Besides the pandemic caused by the coronavirus outbreak, many other pathogenic microbes also pose a devastating threat to human health, for instance, pathogenic bacteria. Due to the lack of broad-spectrum antibiotics, it is urgent to develop nonantibiotic strategies to fight bacteria. Herein, inspired by the localized "capture and killing" action of bacteriophages, a virus-like peroxidase-mimic (V-POD-M) is synthesized for efficient bacterial capture (mesoporous spiky structures) and synergistic catalytic sterilization (metalorganic-framework-derived catalytic core). Experimental and theoretical calculations show that the active compound, MoO 3 , can serve as a peroxocomplex-intermediate to reduce the free energy for catalyzing H 2 O 2 , which mainly benefits the generation of •OH radicals. The unique virus-like spikes endow the V-POD-M with fast bacterial capture and killing abilities (nearly 100% at 16 µg mL-1). Furthermore, the in vivo experiments show that V-POD-M possesses similar disinfection treatment and wound skin recovery efficiencies to vancomycin. It is suggested that this inexpensive, durable, and highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) catalytic active V-POD-M provides a promising broad-spectrum therapy for nonantibiotic disinfection. The global pandemic caused by the outbreak of coronavirus has aroused tremendous attention across broad scientific communities. Besides the coronavirus pandemic, many other pathogenic microbes also pose a devastating threat to human health. For instance, pathogenic bacteria have infected millions of people and caused almos...

Recent emerged metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), as superior drug carriers, provide novel strategies to combat pathogenic bacterial infections. Although various antibacterial metal ions can be easily introduced in MOFs for chemical bacterial ablation, such a single-model bactericidal method suffers from high-dose use, limited antibacterial efficiency, and slow sterilization rate. Hence, developing a dual bactericidal system is urgently required. Herein, we report an MOF/Ag-derived nanocomposite with efficient metal-ion-releasing capability and robust photo-to-thermal conversion effect for synergistic sterilization. The MOF-derived nanocarbon consisting of metallic zinc and a graphitic-like carbon framework is first synthesized, and then Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) are evenly introduced via the displacement reaction between Zn and Ag+. Upon near-infrared irradiation, the fabricated nanoagents can generate massive heat to destroy bacterial membranes. Meanwhile, abundant Zn2+ and Ag+ ions are released to make chemical damage to bacterial intracellular substances. Systematic antibacterial experiments reveal that such dual-antibacterial effort can endow the nanoagents with nearly 100% bactericidal ratio for highly concentrated bacteria at a very low dosage (0.16 mg/mL). Furthermore, the nanoagents exhibit less cytotoxicity, which provides potential possibilities for the applications in the biological field. In vivo assessment indicates that the nanocomposites can realize rapid and safe wound sterilization and are expected to be an alternative to antibiotics. Overall, we present an easily fabricated structure-engineered nanocomposite with chemical and photothermal effects for broad-spectrum bacterial sterilization.

Pathogenic drug-resistant bacteria represent a threat to human health, for instance, the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). There is an ever-growing need to develop non-antibiotic strategies to fight bacteria without triggering drug resistance. Here, we design a hedgehog artificial macrophage with atomic-catalytic centers to combat MRSA by mimicking the “capture and killing” process of macrophages. The experimental studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the synthesized materials can efficiently capture and kill MRSA by the hedgehog topography and substantial generation of •O2− and HClO with its Fe2N6O catalytic centers. The synthesized artificial macrophage exhibits a low minimal inhibition concentration (8 μg/mL Fe-Art M with H2O2 (100 μM)) to combat MRSA and rapidly promote the healing of bacteria-infected wounds on rabbit skin. We suggest that the application of this hedgehog artificial macrophage with “capture and killing” capability and high ROS-catalytic activity will open up a promising pathway to develop antibacterial materials for bionic and non-antibiotic disinfection strategies.

The extensive research into developing new nanomedicines during the past few years has witnessed significant progress in diverse biomedical fields, especially for combating drug resistance in antitumor and antibacterial therapies. Recently, transition-metal-based enzymatic nanoagents (TM-EnzNAs) with catalytic production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been designed and intensively explored, which have become powerful nanoplatforms and exciting research frontiers in constructing next-generation nanotherapeutics to combat drug-resistant tumors and bacteria. Here, the focus is on the recent design, fundamental principles, and material chemistries in developing and applications of TM-EnzNAs. At first, the different ROS-producing mechanisms and the key factors to enhance ROS level are carefully concluded, and the analytic methods are systematically summarized. Then, the rationally engineered TM-EnzNAs via different synthetic approaches with high ROS producing efficiencies are comprehensively discussed, especially the catalytic activities, mechanisms, and structure-function relationships. After that, the representative applications of these ROS-catalytic TM-EnzNAs for antitumor and bacterial eradication are summarized in detail. Finally, the primary challenges and future perspectives have also been outlined. It is anticipated new therapeutic insights into combating drug-resistant tumors and bacteria will be provided, and significant new inspiration for designing future enzymatic nanoagents is offered.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether early weaning-induced growth retardation could be attenuated by increased consumption of methionine as DL-methionine (DLM) or DL-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyrate (HMTBA) in both lactating sows and weaned piglets. Therefore, diets containing DLM and HMTBA at 25 % of the total sulphur-containing amino acids (AA) present in the control (CON) diet were fed to lactating sows and weaned piglets and their responses were evaluated. Compared with the CON dietfed sows, the HMTBA diet-fed sows exhibited a tendency (P, 0·10) towards higher plasma taurine concentrations and the DLM dietfed sows had higher (P,0·05) plasma taurine concentrations, but lower (P, 0·05) isoleucine concentrations. Suckling piglets in the HMTBA treatment group had higher (P,0·05) intestinal reduced glutathione (GSH) content, lower (P,0·05) oxidised glutathione (GSSG):GSH ratio, and higher (P, 0·05) plasma cysteine and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity than those in the CON and DLM treatment groups. The feed intake (P, 0·05) and body weight of piglets averaged across post-weaning (PW) days were higher (P, 0·05) in the HMTBA treatment group than in the DLM treatment group and were higher (P, 0·05) and tended (P, 0·10) to be higher, respectively, in the HMTBA treatment group than in the CON treatment group. Increased (P,0·05) GSSG content and GSSG:GSH ratio and down-regulated (P,0·05) expression of nutrient transport genes were observed in the jejunum of piglets on PW day 7 than on PW day 0. On PW day 14, the HMTBA diet-fed piglets had higher (P, 0·05) intestinal GSH content than the CON diet-fed piglets and higher (P,0·05) plasma GPx activity, villus height and goblet cell numbers than the CON diet-and DLM diet-fed piglets. In conclusion, early weaning-induced growth retardation appears to be attenuated through changes in plasma AA profiles and elevation of growth performance and intestinal antioxidant capacity in piglets following increased consumption of methionine as HMTBA.

Currently, the development of advanced 2D nanomaterials has become an interdisciplinary subject with extensive studies due to their extraordinary physicochemical performances. Beyond graphene, the emerging 2D‐material‐derived electrocatalysts (2D‐ECs) have aroused great attention as one of the best candidates for heterogeneous electrocatalysis. The tunable physicochemical compositions and characteristics of 2D‐ECs enable rational structural engineering at the molecular/atomic levels to meet the requirements of different catalytic applications. Due to the lack of instructive and comprehensive reviews, here, the most recent advances in the nanostructure and catalytic center design and the corresponding structure–function relationships of emerging 2D‐ECs are systematically summarized. First, the synthetic pathways and state‐of‐the‐art strategies in the multifaceted structural engineering and catalytic center design of 2D‐ECs to promote their electrocatalytic activities, such as size and thickness, phase and strain engineering, heterojunctions, heteroatom doping, and defect engineering, are emphasized. Then, the representative applications of 2D‐ECs in electrocatalytic fields are depicted and summarized in detail. Finally, the current breakthroughs and primary challenges are highlighted and future directions to guide the perspectives for developing 2D‐ECs as highly efficient electrocatalytic nanoplatforms are clarified. This review provides a comprehensive understanding to engineer 2D‐ECs and may inspire many novel attempts and new catalytic applications across broad fields.

Novel bionanocatalysts have opened a new era in fighting multidrug‐resistant (MDR) bacteria. They can kill bacteria by elevating the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of chemicals like H2O2. However, ROSs’ ultrashort diffusion distance limit their bactericidal activity. We present a nanohook‐equipped bionanocatalyst (Ni@Co‐NC) with bacterial binding ability that shows robust ROS‐generating capacity under physiological H2O2 levels. The Ni@Co‐NC's pH‐dependent performance confines its effects to the biofilm microenvironment, leaving healthy tissue unaffected. Furthermore, it can generate heat upon NIR laser irradiation, enhancing its catalytic performance while achieving heat ablation against bacteria. With the Ni@Co‐NC's synergistic effects, bacterial populations fall by >99.99 %. More surprisingly, the mature biofilm shows no recurrence after treatment with the Ni@Co‐NC, demonstrating its tremendous potential for treating MDR bacterial related infections.

Novel bionanocatalysts have opened a new era in fighting multidrug‐resistant (MDR) bacteria. They can kill bacteria by elevating the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of chemicals like H2O2. However, ROSs’ ultrashort diffusion distance limit their bactericidal activity. We present a nanohook‐equipped bionanocatalyst (Ni@Co‐NC) with bacterial binding ability that shows robust ROS‐generating capacity under physiological H2O2 levels. The Ni@Co‐NC's pH‐dependent performance confines its effects to the biofilm microenvironment, leaving healthy tissue unaffected. Furthermore, it can generate heat upon NIR laser irradiation, enhancing its catalytic performance while achieving heat ablation against bacteria. With the Ni@Co‐NC's synergistic effects, bacterial populations fall by >99.99 %. More surprisingly, the mature biofilm shows no recurrence after treatment with the Ni@Co‐NC, demonstrating its tremendous potential for treating MDR bacterial related infections.