Soybean protein exhibits nutritional significance for the control of metabolic syndrome, and evidence suggests that gut microbiota are implicated in the control of metabolic disorders. This study aimed to investigate the modulation of pepsin-released peptides of soybean 7S globulin on gut microbiota and possible association between changes of gut microbiota composition and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)−peptide interaction. In vitro fermentation experiments showed that the extension region (ER) fragments of soybean 7S globulin selectively suppressed proinflammatory Gram-negative bacteria. ER peptides also promoted the highest production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which were associated with increase of the relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillaceae. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and Langmuir monolayer studies demonstrated that ER peptides exhibited high affinity to LPS in the presence of Ca 2+ and developed into β-sheet-rich aggregate structures, thus weakening the stability of LPS monolayers. This finding supplies a possible explanation for improvement of the effects of soybean 7S globulin on metabolic disease.

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Lithography plays a vital important role in modern information technologies. Patterning at the nanoscale in a handy way is highly desired for both scientific and industrial purposes. In this work, we propose a convenient nanolithography method based on Fresnel diffraction patterns. We start with the explanation of the "dense-inside-sparse-outside" Fresnel diffraction fringes resulted from apertures of finite extent, using the fast Fourier transform algorithm by appropriately choosing the number of uniformly spaced samples. Moderately focusing the diffraction patterns via high-numerical-aperture objectives (we term the method “Fresnel diffraction lithography”), the rotationally symmetric patterns with a minimum feature size of ~190 nm, and the scanning lines with a width of ~350 nm are realized, respectively, though the calculation using vectorial diffraction theory suggests a better resolution when perfectly focused. This method shows good tolerance to defocus and does not require complex lens combinations or micro/nano-diffraction optical elements, may therefore find applications in widespread areas, e.g., functional metasurfaces, as a novel and low-cost nano-patterning technology with sub-wavelength resolution and high flexibility.