Hubei University of Technology

Zheng J., Wittouck S., Salvetti E., Franz C.M., Harris H.M., Mattarelli P., O’Toole P.W., Pot B., Vandamme P., Walter J., Watanabe K., Wuyts S., Felis G.E., Gänzle M.G., Lebeer S.

The genus Lactobacillus comprises 261 species (at March 2020) that are extremely diverse at phenotypic, ecological and genotypic levels. This study evaluated the taxonomy of Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae on the basis of whole genome sequences. Parameters that were evaluated included core genome phylogeny, (conserved) pairwise average amino acid identity, clade-specific signature genes, physiological criteria and the ecology of the organisms. Based on this polyphasic approach, we propose reclassification of the genus Lactobacillus into 25 genera including the emended genus Lactobacillus , which includes host-adapted organisms that have been referred to as the Lactobacillus delbrueckii group, Paralactobacillus and 23 novel genera for which the names Holzapfelia, Amylolactobacillus, Bombilactobacillus, Companilactobacillus, Lapidilactobacillus, Agrilactobacillus, Schleiferilactobacillus, Loigolactobacilus, Lacticaseibacillus, Latilactobacillus, Dellaglioa, Liquorilactobacillus, Ligilactobacillus, Lactiplantibacillus, Furfurilactobacillus, Paucilactobacillus, Limosilactobacillus, Fructilactobacillus, Acetilactobacillus, Apilactobacillus, Levilactobacillus, Secundilactobacillus and Lentilactobacillus are proposed. We also propose to emend the description of the family Lactobacillaceae to include all genera that were previously included in families Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae . The generic term ‘lactobacilli’ will remain useful to designate all organisms that were classified as Lactobacillaceae until 2020. This reclassification reflects the phylogenetic position of the micro-organisms, and groups lactobacilli into robust clades with shared ecological and metabolic properties, as exemplified for the emended genus Lactobacillus encompassing species adapted to vertebrates (such as Lactobacillus delbrueckii , Lactobacillus iners , Lactobacillus crispatus , Lactobacillus jensensii, Lactobacillus johnsonii and Lactobacillus acidophilus ) or invertebrates (such as Lactobacillus apis and Lactobacillus bombicola ).

Klionsky D.J., Abdel-Aziz A.K., Abdelfatah S., Abdellatif M., Abdoli A., Abel S., Abeliovich H., Abildgaard M.H., Abudu Y.P., Acevedo-Arozena A., Adamopoulos I.E., Adeli K., Adolph T.E., Adornetto A., Aflaki E., et. al.

ABSTRACT In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

Cao L., Lu W., Mata A., Nishinari K., Fang Y.

• Chemical structure affected the gelation of alginate and pectin in a different way • pH, temperature and co-solute can significantly influence the gelation process • Pectin showed a different gelation mechanism from alginate • Oligosaccharides potentially can control the gelation of alginate and pectin Alginate and pectin are emblematic natural polyuronates that have been widely used in food, cosmetics and medicine. Ca-dependent gelation is one of their most important functional properties. The gelation mechanisms of alginate and pectin, known as egg-box model, were believed to be basically the same, because their Ca-binding sites show a mirror symmetric conformation. However, studies have found that the formation and the structure of egg-box dimmers between alginate and pectin were different. Very few studies have reviewed those differences. Therefore, this study was proposed to first summarize the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can influence the gelation of alginate and pectin. The differences in the effect of these factors on the gelation of alginate and pectin were then discussed. Meanwhile, the similarity and difference in their gelation mechanism was also summarized. The knowledge gained in this review would provide useful information for the practical applications of alginate and pectin.

Hu C., Lu W., Mata A., Nishinari K., Fang Y.

Alginate is an important natural biopolymer and has been widely used in the food, biomedical, and chemical industries. Ca 2+ -induced gelation is one of the most important functional properties of alginate. The gelation mechanism is well-known as egg-box model, which has been intensively studied in the last five decades. Alginate also forms gels with many other monovalent, divalent or trivalent cations, and their gelation can possess different mechanisms from that of Ca 2+ -induced gelation. The resulted gels also exhibit different properties that lead to various applications. This study is proposed to summarize the gelation mechanisms of alginate induced by different cations, mainly including H + , Ca 2+ , Ba 2+ , Cu 2+ , Sr 2+ , Zn 2+ , Fe 2+ , Mn 2+ , Al 3+ , and Fe 3+ . The mechanism of H + -induced gelation of alginate mainly depends on the protonation of carboxyl groups. Divalent ions-induced gelation of alginate show different selection towards G, M, and GM blocks. Trivalent ions can bind to carboxyl groups of uronates with no selection. The properties and applications of these ionotropic alginate gels are also discussed. The knowledge gained in this study would provide useful information for the practical applications of alginate. • Ions-induced gelation of alginate has different mechanisms. • Egg-box model is a typical ion-dependent gelation mechanism of alginate. • Alginate gels formed through different ions show different characteristics.

Zhao X., Hu H., Wang X., Yu X., Zhou W., Peng S.

PLA is a renewable, bio-based, and biodegradable aliphatic thermoplastic polyester that is considered a promising alternative to petrochemical-derived polymers in a wide range of commodity and engineering applications.

Zhang L., Mu R., Zhan Y., Yu J., Liu L., Yu Y., Zhang J.

Improving energy efficiency and lowering carbon emissions are of great importance to realize the "dual carbon" goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Digital economy is a new engine of economic development, but whether or how it affects energy efficiency and carbon emissions are unclear. Utilizing panel data of China's 30 provinces from 2012 to 2019, this study empirically explores the relationships among digital economy, energy efficiency, and carbon emissions. Meanwhile, from the perspective of energy efficiency, applying mediation models and panel threshold model, it analyzes the direct, indirect, and nonlinear influencing mechanisms of digital economy on carbon emissions. The results reflect that the development of digital economy in China intensifies carbon emissions. Energy efficiency serves as a vital partial mediator between the two. The enhancement of energy efficiency can lower carbon emissions. However, the development of digital economy is not conducive to improving energy efficiency, thereby, indirectly increasing carbon emissions. The mediating effect of energy efficiency accounts for 30.58 % of the total effect of digital economy on carbon emissions. Meanwhile, taking energy efficiency into account, the impact of digital economy on carbon emissions has a significant double-threshold effect and presents an N-shaped trend. [0.824, 0.912] is the optimal range of energy efficiency, within which the growth of the digital economy can empower carbon emission abatement to some extent. In addition, the expansion of population size, the coal-based energy consumption structure, and the industrial structure significantly increase carbon emissions. The improvements in living standards and environmental regulations can help to decrease carbon emissions, but the emission abatement effects are not significant. Those conclusions reveal the importance of optimizing the level and quality of digital economy and adopting differentiated digital economy development policies based on energy efficiency to achieve carbon emission reduction.

Zhou C., Yi C., Yi Y., Qin W., Yan Y., Dong X., Zhang X., Huang Y., Zhang R., Wei J., Ali D.W., Michalak M., Chen X., Tang J.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies and has an extremely poor diagnosis and prognosis. The development of resistance to gemcitabine is still a major challenge. The long noncoding RNA PVT1 was reported to be involved in carcinogenesis and chemoresistance; however, the mechanism by which PVT1 regulates the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine remains poorly understood. The viability of pancreatic cancer cells was assessed by MTT assay in vitro and xenograft tumor formation assay in vivo. The expression levels of PVT1 and miR-619-5p were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Western blotting analysis and qRT-PCR were performed to assess the protein and mRNA levels of Pygo2 and ATG14, respectively. Autophagy was explored via autophagic flux detection under confocal microscopy and autophagic vacuole investigation under transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The functional role and mechanism of PVT1 were further investigated by gain- and loss-of-function assays in vitro. In the present study, we demonstrated that PVT1 was up-regulated in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cell lines. Gain- and loss-of-function assays revealed that PVT1 impaired sensitivity to gemcitabine in vitro and in vivo. We further found that PVT1 up-regulated the expression of both Pygo2 and ATG14 and thus regulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling and autophagic activity to overcome gemcitabine resistance through sponging miR-619-5p. Moreover, we discovered three TCF/LEF binding elements (TBEs) in the promoter region of PVT1, and activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling mediated by the up-regulation of Pygo2 increased PVT1 expression by direct binding to the TBE region. Furthermore, PVT1 was discovered to interact with ATG14, thus promoting assembly of the autophagy specific complex I (PtdIns3K-C1) and ATG14-dependent class III PtdIns3K activity. These data indicate that PVT1 plays a critical role in the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer to gemcitabine and highlight its potential as a valuable target for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Yang S., Zhang C., Jiang J., Zhang W., Zhang L., Wang Y.

State-of-health (SOH) monitoring of lithium-ion batteries plays a key role in the reliable and safe operation of battery systems. Influenced by multiple factors, SOH is an aging path-dependent parameter, which challenges its accurate estimation and prediction. Numerous methods have been proposed for lithium-ion batteries SOH diagnostics and prognostics, but there is little discussion on how to characterize SOH. In this paper, we first review the existing characteristic parameters in defining battery SOH at cell-level and pack-level, and then propose some suggestions for SOH definitions. The impact of external influencing factors on battery degradation is introduced to lay a foundation for SOH estimation. SOH estimation methods are categorized by the parameters used to define SOH, i.e. capacity, impedance and aging-mechanism parameters. We discuss the goals of SOH monitoring and summarize its applications from short- and long-term perspectives accordingly. Finally, the challenges and future trends of battery SOH diagnostics and prognostics are thoroughly analyzed and discussed, in order to provide a comprehensive understanding for researchers and technologists. • Discuss how to comprehensively characterize battery SOH at cell-level and pack-level. • Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the SOH estimation methods from the perspective of data acquisition sources. • Present the gaps between existing research on SOH estimations and SOH applications. • Summarize the challenges and prospects for SOH characterizations, estimations and applications.

Fang G., Liu Z., Han C.

A new strategy by NiFeOOH and Co-Pi as double layer cocatalysts for modification of BiVO4 to improve the PEC water splitting performance has been proposed. The heterojunction structure formed by BiVO4 and NiFeOOH broadens the light absorption range and accelerates the internal separation of photogenerated carriers, and then quickly captures holes to enter the Co-Pi layer. The holes are efficiently used for the water oxidation on the surface of the photoelectrode through a cyclic catalytic process in the Co-Pi layer. The BiVO4/NiFeOOH/Co-Pi core-shell structure can effectively increase the active surface area and accelerate the interface charge transfer. LSV exhibits excellent photocurrent density (2.03 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE) and lower onset potential (~0.031 V vs. RHE) due to the efficient separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers. The results indicate that the photoelectrode is expected to be used in practical applications. Additionally, the efficiency of the hydrogen and oxygen evolution is improved greatly. This strategy is expected to be applied to other candidate photoanodes for PEC water splitting.

Xu L.

Many control techniques rely on the mathematical models of the systems to be controlled. This paper copes with the modelling problem of dynamical systems aiming to develop highly accurate modelling approaches. By an impulse response identification experiment, the dynamical observations with increasing data length are designed for the purpose of capturing the real-time information of systems and serving for on-line identification. According to the different features of the parameters of the systems to be identified, two separable identification models are constructed through the parameter decomposition and the model decomposition for simplifying the structure of the original identification model. On basis of the separable identification models, a separable Newton recursive parameter estimation approach is developed by means of the Newton search for acquiring highly accurate parameter estimates. In terms of the coupled terms in the separated sub-algorithms, a joint estimation algorithm is presented for removing the coupled terms. The experimental results through the Monte-Carlo tests show that the obtained parameter estimates through the separable algorithm are more accurate than those obtained by the Newton recursive estimation method without the model separation.