Although archaea, Gram-negative bacteria, and mammalian cells constitutively secrete membrane vesicles (MVs) as a mechanism for cell-free intercellular communication, this cellular process has been overlooked in Gram-positive bacteria. Here, we found for the first time that Gram-positive bacteria naturally produce MVs into the extracellular milieu. Further characterizations showed that the density and size of Staphylococcus aureus-derived MVs are both similar to those of Gram-negative bacteria. With a proteomics approach, we identified with high confidence a total of 90 protein components of S. aureus-derived MVs. In the group of identified proteins, the highly enriched extracellular proteins suggested that a specific sorting mechanism for vesicular proteins exists. We also identified proteins that facilitate the transfer of proteins to other bacteria, as well to eliminate competing organisms, antibiotic resistance, pathological functions in systemic infections, and MV biogenesis. Taken together, these observations suggest that the secretion of MVs is an evolutionally conserved, universal process that occurs from simple organisms to complex multicellular organisms. This information will help us not only to elucidate the biogenesis and functions of MVs, but also to develop therapeutic tools for vaccines, diagnosis, and antibiotics effective against pathogenic strains of Gram-positive bacteria.

Background: Evolutionary relationships among the 11 extant orders of insects that undergo complete metamorphosis, called Holometabola, remain either unresolved or contentious, but are extremely important as a context for accurate comparative biology of insect model organisms. The most phylogenetically enigmatic holometabolan insects are Strepsiptera or twisted wing parasites, whose evolutionary relationship to any other insect order is unconfirmed. They have been controversially proposed as the closest relatives of the flies, based on rDNA, and a possible homeotic transformation in the common ancestor of both groups that would make the reduced forewings of Strepsiptera homologous to the reduced hindwings of Diptera. Here we present evidence from nucleotide sequences of six singlecopy nuclear protein coding genes used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships and estimate evolutionary divergence times for all holometabolan orders.

Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a collection of diverse inherited disorders featuring dental-enamel defects in the absence of significant nondental symptoms. AI phenotypes vary and are categorized as hypoplastic, hypocalcified, and hypomaturation types. Phenotypic specificity to enamel has focused research on genes encoding enamel-matrix proteins. We studied two families with autosomal-dominant hypocalcified AI and have identified nonsense mutations (R325X and Q398X) in the FAM83H gene on chromosome 8q24.3. The mutations perfectly cosegregate with the disease phenotype and demonstrate that FAM83H is required for proper dental-enamel calcification.

In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of a highly sensitive flexible temperature sensor with a bioinspired octopus-mimicking adhesive. A resistor-type temperature sensor consisting of a composite of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM)-temperature sensitive hydrogel, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate, and carbon nanotubes exhibits a very high thermal sensitivity of 2.6%·°C between 25 and 40 °C so that the change in skin temperature of 0.5 °C can be accurately detected. At the same time, the polydimethylsiloxane adhesive layer of octopus-mimicking rim structure coated with pNIPAM is fabricated through the formation of a single mold by utilizing undercut phenomenon in photolithography. The fabricated sensor shows stable and reproducible detection of skin temperature under repeated attachment/detachment cycles onto skin without any skin irritation for a long time. This work suggests a high potential application of our skin-attachable temperature sensor to wearable devices for medical and health-care monitoring.

offering comfort to the user. Wearable electronics can be integrated into common textiles or be directly attached onto human skin to perform various functions, for instance, measuring pulses, sensing toxins in the environment, analyzing bodily fluids such as sweat, injecting medication, and informing the user of such activities. Aside from their biomedical purposes, wearable electronics with touchpads and displays, and smart functions, including Internet communication and facial and sound recognition, can also be developed to benefit and assist with daily activities. In addition to functionality, flexibility and stretchability are desired attributes of the components of wearable electronics so that the electronics can exhibit mechanical stability against deformation due to human motions without a deterioration in performance. Many flexible/stretchable devices were developed for integration into wearable devices such as various sensors including bio-signal [1-3] and environmental sensors, [4,5] solar cells, [6,7] energy harvesters, [8] antennas, [9,10] and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. [11] Moreover, together with other flexible/ stretchable devices, energy storage devices used for powering the active devices on wearable electronics should also be able to withstand deformation. The energy storage devices built for wearable electronics should meet specific criteria, such as having a small size and high efficiency, and being flexible, lightweight, and biocompatible. [12,13] Among the various energy storage devices, supercapacitors are considered one of the most promising candidates in wearable electronics. Rechargeable metal-ion batteries such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely used as energy storage devices in commercial applications owing to their large energy density. Compared to the batteries, supercapacitors have simpler structures, faster charge-discharge time, higher power density of ≈10 kW kg −1 , and longer cycle life over 100 000 cycles. Owing to supercapacitors' uncomplicated architecture, their miniaturization has been extensively studied, resulting in micro-supercapacitors (MSCs). An MSC is a supercapacitor whose total device area is on the square millimeter or centimeter scale, and/or a supercapacitor with a thickness of <10 µm. [14] Materials with a high surface area such as foamstructured materials or nanocarbon-based materials can be utilized to reduce the size and weight of a supercapacitor and to With the miniaturization of personal wearable electronics, considerable effort has been expended to develop high-performance flexible/stretchable energy storage devices for powering integrated active devices. Supercapacitors can fulfill this role owing to their simple structures, high power density, and cyclic stability. Moreover, a high electrochemical performance can be achieved with flexible/stretchable supercapacitors, whose applications can be expanded through the introduction of additional novel functionalities. Here, recent advances in and future prospects for flexible/s...