Longwei Wang

Conventional strategies rely on complex surface modifications rather than leveraging the intrinsic biological behavior of nanomaterials to achieve tumor selectivity. Here, we introduce a biological behavior-driven nanoplatform, Bi₂S₃@3-MA, in which Bi₂S₃ nanoflowers are engineered by simple surface conjugation with an MMP2-responsive 3-methyladenine peptide (3-MA) to achieve selective tumor cell death. Midsized Bi₂S₃@3-MA (370 nm) preferentially accumulates in tumor tissue. In the tumor microenvironment (TME), elevated MMP2 expression cleaves the peptide linker, triggering the TME-specific release of the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA. This tumor-selective autophagy blockade promotes the aggregation of Bi₂S₃ nanoflowers into micron-scale structures within the acidic lysosomal milieu, culminating in the lysosomal membrane disruption of tumor cells. Furthermore, micron-scale aggregates in tumor cells exhibit enhanced photothermal ablation, overcoming protective autophagy-induced resistance to hyperthermia. In contrast, the rapid renal clearance of pH-responsive degraded particles (pH ∼ 6.5-7.4) minimizes off-target exposure of normal tissues, and protective autophagy preserves the lysosomal integrity of normal cells. Bi₂S₃@3-MA mediates complete tumor eradication in murine breast cancer models through the synergistic combination of photothermal ablation and autophagy inhibition. Additionally, the inherent CT contrast of Bi₂S₃ permits real-time visualization of nanoparticle biodistribution and treatment response. Collectively, these results establish a paradigm in which the deliberate integration of intrinsic biological behavior affords highly selective cancer therapy while minimizing systemic toxicity.

Enzymes are still indispensable for bio-assaying methods in biomolecule detection by far. The unsatisfied long-term instability, high cost, and susceptibility to the physical environment of natural enzymes are obvious weak points. Here, we developed peroxidase-like heterostructured nanozyme, vertically arraying molybdenum disulfide nanosheets on a substrate layer of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (MoS₂/N-rGO), with a well-pleasing stability that is characterized by the retained enzymatic activity and maintained structure after 2 years of casual storage at ambient temperatures or 80 cycles of catalytic reaction. The catalytic kinetics of the as-prepared heterostructured nanozyme was superior to some reported nanozymes and even horse radish peroxidase, which was demonstrated due to the defect-rich MoS₂ with Mo and S vacancies and nitrogen-doped rGO experimentally and theoretically. The vertically heterostructured nanozyme exhibited adequate analytical performance in sensitive and quantitative detection of glucose and glutathione (GSH), with a large dynamic sensing range and extremely low limit of detection (0.02 and 0.12 μM (3σ/slope) for glucose and GSH, respectively). We hope this inspired artificial nanozyme will contribute to the future development in sensitive detection of other biomolecules in physiological conditions.

Nanostructured semiconductors with photocatalytic activity have many potential applications. So far, it is still a difficult task to ameliorate the photocatalytic performance of single-phase semiconductors through simple and inexpensive means. Herein, the Ni doped Sn3O4 (Ni-Sn3O4) was synthesized by doping non-noble metal Ni in the lattice of Sn3O4 nanosheets through a facile one-pot synthesis approach. The Ni doping can as an act of a growth structure directing agent increasing Sn3O4 crystallinity which indicted by the characterization of TEM, XRD and Raman. The Ni-Sn3O4 exhibits an excellent photocatalytic H2 production performance under visible light irradiation (about 25.6 µmol·h−1g−1), around 3.4 times higher than that of the pure Sn3O4. Such high H2 generation rate is mainly ascribe to the enhanced crystallinity, Ni doping promotes separation of photogenerated carriers and light absorption capacity. This method of effectively increasing the catalytic activity of single-phase catalysts by simple and inexpensive means shows great prospect.

A novel actinomycete, designated strain XZ 46^T, was isolated from acid sandy soil collected from the Tibetan Plateau, China. Its taxonomic position was determined using a polyphasic approach. Strain XZ 46^T shows the typical morphological and chemotaxonomic features of members of the genus Streptomyces: slightly yellow to brown substrate mycelia and grayish white to slightly yellow aerial hyphae forming cylindrical and spiny spores; meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall peptidoglycan; MK-9(H₈), MK-9(H₄) and MK-9(H₂) as predominant menaquinones; diphosphatidylglycerol, phospatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol as main polar lipids; and iso-C_15:0, iso-C_16:0 and anteiso-C_15:0 as major cellular fatty acids. The G+C content of the draft genome sequence, consisting of 8,995,813 bp, is 71.23%. The16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain XZ 46^T shows high sequence similarity to Streptomyces luteogriseus NBRC 13402^T as well as forming an independent lineage clade with it in phylogenetic trees. Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of five housekeeping genes (atpD, gyrB, recA, rpoB and trpB) illustrated that Streptomyces hawaiiensis is also a very closely related taxon. However, DNA–DNA hybridization, MLSA evolutionary distance and phenotypic properties demonstrate that strain XZ 46^T can be distinguished from these phylogenetically related Streptomyces species. Therefore, it is concluded that strain XZ 46^T represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces tibetensis is sp. nov. proposed. The type strain is XZ 46^T (= CGMCC 4.7579^T = KCTC 49221^T).

Antibacterial photocatalytic therapy has been reported as a promising alternative water disinfection technology for combating antibiotic‐resistant bacteria. Numerous inorganic nanosystems have been developed as antibiotic replacements for bacterial infection treatment, but these are limited due to the toxicity risk of heavy metal species. Organic semiconductor photocatalytic materials have attracted great attention due to their good biocompatibility, chemically tunable electronic structure, diverse structural flexibility, suitable band gap, low cost, and the abundance of the resources they require. An all‐organic composite photocatalytic nanomaterial C₃N₄/perylene‐3,4,9,10‐tetracarboxylic diimide (PDINH) heterostructure is created through recrystallization of PDINH on the surface of C₃N₄ in situ, resulting in enhanced photocatalytic efficiency due to the formation of a basal heterostructure. The absorption spectrum of this composite structure can be extended from ultraviolet to near‐infrared light (750 nm), enhancing the photocatalytic effect to produce more reactive oxygen species, which have an excellent inactivation effect on both Gram‐negative and positive bacteria, while demonstrating negligible toxicity to normal tissue cells. An efficient promotion of infectious wound regeneration in mice with Staphylococcus aureus infected dermal wounds is demonstrated. This all‐organic heterostructure shows great promise for use in wound disinfection.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting offers a promising strategy for converting solar energy to chemical fuels. Herein, a piezoelectric‐effect–enhanced full‐spectrum photoelectrocatalysis with multilayered coaxial titanium dioxide/barium titanate/silver oxide (TiO₂/BTO/Ag₂O) nanorod array as the photoanode is reported. The vertically grown nanorods ensure good electron conductivity, which enables fast transport of the photogenerated electrons. Significantly, the insertion of a piezoelectric BaTiO₃ (BTO) nanolayer at the p‐type Ag₂O and n‐type TiO₂ interface created a polar charge‐stabilized electrical field. It maintains a sustainable driving force that attract the holes of TiO₂ and the electrons of Ag₂O, resulting in greatly increased separation and inhibited recombination of the photogenerated carriers. Furthermore, Ag₂O as a narrow bandgap semiconductor has a high ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–vis–NIR) photoelectrocatalytic activity. The TiO₂/BTO/Ag₂O, after poling, successfully achieves a prominent photocurrent density, as high as 1.8 mA cm⁻² at 0.8 V versus Ag/Cl, which is about 2.6 times the TiO₂ nanorod photoanode. It is the first time that piezoelectric BaTiO₃ is used for tuning the interface of p‐type and n‐type photoelectrocatalyst. With the enhanced light harvesting, efficient photogenerated electron–hole pairs' separation, and rapid charge transfer at the photoanode, an excellent photoelectrocatalytic activity is realized.

A novel actinomycete, designated strain NX62^T, was isolated from desert soil obtained from Isolaginsha, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. Its taxonomic position was determined using a polyphasic approach. The strain shows the typical morphological and chemotaxonomic features of members of the genus Lentzea: slight to dark yellow substrate mycelia and white to greyish white aerial hyphae fragmenting into rod-shaped elements; meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall peptidoglycan; MK-9(H₄) and MK-9(H₂) as menaquinones; diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, hydroxy-phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol as main polar lipids; iso-C_16:0 and iso-C_17:0 as major cellular fatty acids; and DNA G+C content of 70.1 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain NX62^T shows high similarity to Lentzea cavernae SYSU K10001^T (99.3%) and Lentzea albida IFO 16102^T (98.9%), and formed a monophyletic clade with L. cavernae SYSU K10001^T in the phylogenetic tree. Based on a comparison of the phenotypic properties and the low level of DNA–DNA relatedness, strain NX62^T can be distinguished from phylogenetically related Lentzea species. Therefore, it is concluded that strain NX62^T represents a novel species of the genus Lentzea, for which the name Lentzea isolaginshaensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NX62^T (= CGMCC 4.7522^T = KCTC 49179^T).