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Escherichia coli contains operons called "addiction modules," encoding toxin and antitoxin, which are responsible for growth arrest and cell death. Here, we demonstrate that MazF toxin encoded by "mazEF addiction module" is a sequence-specific (ACA) endoribonuclease functional only for single-stranded RNA. MazF works as a ribonuclease independent of ribosomes, and is, therefore, functionally distinct from RelE, another E. coli toxin, which assists mRNA cleavage at the A site on ribosomes. Upon induction, MazF cleaves whole cellular mRNAs to efficiently block protein synthesis. Purified MazF inhibited protein synthesis in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell-free systems. This inhibition was released by MazE, the labile antitoxin against MazF. Thus, MazF functions as a toxic endoribonuclease to interfere with the function of cellular mRNAs by cleaving them at specific sequences leading to rapid cell growth arrest and cell death. The role of such endoribonucleases may have broad implication in cell physiology under various growth conditions.

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The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201901673.Low-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) exhibit excellent stability in comparison with 3D perovskites; however, the relatively low power conversion efficiency (PCE) limits their future application. In this work, a new fluorine-substituted phenylethlammonium (PEA) cation is developed as a spacer to fabricate quasi-2D (4FPEA) 2 (MA) 4 Pb 5 I 16 (n = 5) perovskite solar cells. The champion device exhibits a remarkable PCE of 17.3% with a J sc of 19.00 mA cm −2 , a V oc of 1.16 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 79%, which are among the best results for low-dimensional RPP solar cells (n ≤ 5). The enhanced device performance can be attributed as follows: first, the strong dipole field induced by the 4-fluoro-phenethylammonium (4FPEA) organic spacer facilitates charge dissociation. Second, fluorinated RPP crystals preferentially grow along the vertical direction, and form a phase distribution with the increasing n number from bottom to the top surface, resulting in efficient charge transport. Third, 4FPEA-based RPP films exhibit higher film crystallinity, enlarged grain size, and reduced trap-state density. Lastly, the unsealed fluorinated RPP devices demonstrate superior humidity and thermal stability. Therefore, the fluorination of the long-chain organic cations provides a feasible approach for simultaneously improving the efficiency and stability of low-dimensional RPP solar cells. Perovskite Solar CellsOrganic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have attracted tremendous attention due to their high absorption coefficients, [1] high charge carrier mobility, [2] high defect tolerance, [3] and long diffusion lengths. [4] Although the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has reached 23.32% in the past few years, the intrinsic material instability of 3D perovskites still remain unresolved, which hinder the future commercialization of perovskite solar cells. [5] Compared