With the advantages of low cost, non-pollution, and strong controllability over composition, morphology, nanostructures, as well as surface characters, carbon-based nanomaterials are regarded as ideal substitutes of traditional platinum-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysis in ORR-involved devices. Herein, an in situ ZnO activation-coupled electrospinning strategy was employed to facilely construct nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanofibers (NPCNF) for flexible Zn−air batteries. In situ formation and thermal removal of ZnO make a critical difference in construction of micro/meso-hierarchically porous structures as well as highly active N-doped sites, therefore generating self-standing carbon nanofibers with high nitrogen doping content as well as specific Brunauer− Emmett−Teller of 501 m 2 /g and 5.6 at. %. As a result, the prepared NPCNF as a self-standing electrode delivers an excellent performance both in alkaline liquid-state and quasi-solid-state Zn−air batteries, giving the possibility of applications in flexible devices.

Background Pathogens have evolved diverse lifestyles and adopted pivotal new roles in both natural ecosystems and human environments. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their adaptation to new lifestyles are obscure. Comparative genomics was adopted to determine distinct strategies of plant ascomycete fungal pathogens with different lifestyles and to elucidate their distinctive virulence strategies. Results We found that plant ascomycete biotrophs exhibited lower gene gain and loss events and loss of CAZyme-encoding genes involved in plant cell wall degradation and biosynthesis gene clusters for the production of secondary metabolites in the genome. Comparison with the candidate effectome detected distinctive variations between plant biotrophic pathogens and other groups (including human, necrotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens). The results revealed the biotroph-specific and lifestyle-conserved candidate effector families. These data have been configured in web-based genome browser applications for public display (http://lab.malab.cn/soft/PFPG). This resource allows researchers to profile the genome, proteome, secretome and effectome of plant fungal pathogens. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated different genome evolution strategies of plant fungal pathogens with different lifestyles and explored their lifestyle-conserved and specific candidate effectors. It will provide a new basis for discovering the novel effectors and their pathogenic mechanisms.

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The BCR-associated protein 31 (BAP31), a transmembrane protein in the endoplasmic reticulum, participates in the regulation of immune cells, such as microglia and T cells, and has potential functions in macrophages that remain to be unexplored. In this study, we designed and bred macrophage-specific BAP31 knockdown mice to detect the polarization and functions of macrophages. The results revealed that M2 macrophage-associated genes were suppressed in mouse bone marrow–derived macrophages of Lyz2 Cre-BAP31flox/flox mice. Multiple macrophage-associated transcription factors were demonstrated to be able to be regulated by BAP31. Among these factors, C/EBPβ was the most significantly decreased and was regulated by early growth response 2. BAP31 could also affect C/EBPβ via modulating IL-4Rα ubiquitination and proteasome degradation in IL-4–stimulated macrophages. Furthermore, we found that BAP31 affects macrophages functions, including angiogenesis and skin fibrosis, during the wound healing process through IL-4Rα, as confirmed by infection with adeno-associated virus–short hairpin (sh)-IL-4Rα in Lyz2 Cre-BAP31flox/flox mice. Our findings indicate a novel mechanism of BAP31 in regulating macrophages and provide potential solutions for the prevention and treatment of chronic wounds.

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