Hainan Normal University

As a global health threat, early and effective diagnosis and treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is crucial. Once the optimal treatment window is missed, NAFLD will progress to various severe and irreversible liver dysfunctions, imposing a heavy burden on patients and the medical system. Here, a novel "D-π-A" type fluorescent probe (CzTP-CNPh) has been successfully constructed for exploring changes in lipid droplets (LDs) viscosity during the process of nonalcoholic fatty liver development. Research results show that probe CzTP-CNPh exhibits excellent viscosity sensitivity, high selectivity, a large Stokes shift, outstanding LDs-targeting ability and so on. Based on these advantages, this probe enables the visualization of viscosity changes in LDs within cells and zebrafish. More importantly, imaging experiments in cellular and tissue models reveal that LDs viscosity tends to increase during NAFLD progression. This work offers the insights for enhancing the understanding of LDs in pathological processes, potentially aiding in the early diagnosis of NAFLD.

Soft gels, a category of soft materials, consist of polymer networks with small molecules, such as water or other solvents. They possess mechanical flexibility and softness along with tunable physical and chemical functionalities. These gels are capable of responding to external stimuli, such as temperature, pH, light, and electric and magnetic fields, making them highly suitable for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, sensors, and soft robotics. As many advantages as soft gels have, there are many more mechanisms to be understood to bridge clear structure-function relationships. There is also a continuous need to facilitate these new functionalities into the device or product technologies. In this Account, we aim to provide an overview of recent progress in functional soft gels with a focus on structural design and innovative fabrication techniques. We start with exploring how structural design can impart diverse functionalities to soft gels. This is followed by a discussion of mechanics with an emphasis on elastic instabilities that are deliberately introduced and controlled to achieve shape morphing. The multilength scale instabilities will be linked with local to global surface deformation and/or macroscopic deformation of gel objects. We then examine how chemical modificationsespecially cross-linking and network formationcontribute to the architecture and functionality of soft gels. These chemical modifications have been harnessed to enrich the designability of the gel to enable extra function or provide dedicated controllability. Manufacturing techniques also play a vital role in establishing structural varieties that enable programmable responses to external stimuli for specific applications. We offer a quick scan on the frontier technologies on fabricating soft gel-based devices with an alignment to the advanced manufacturing trend with novelty structural design. Finally, the applications of functional soft gels were selectively scoped in areas such as sensing, energy and sustainable materials, and biomedical devices. They are well-suited for both diagnostic and therapeutic functions. All the above applications will be enabled by the novel structural design with realization of unique structure-property relationships. Designed structures can be programmed to exhibit specific mechanical behaviors, which, in turn, enable responsive and functional soft gels. Importantly, when a stimulus activates the designated trigger points, the engineered structure responds in the manner that we designed. This interplay within the gel ultimately manifests as a controllable response, highlighting how transformative structural engineering serves as the foundation for achieving multifunctionality. We conclude by highlighting the current challenges and future directions in the development of high-performance functional soft gels through structure-based design.

Germin-like proteins (GLPs) constitute a large class of proteins in response of various biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. However, their detail mechanisms on high salinity in Sesuvium portulacastrum is still unclear. In this study, we performed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry-based proteomics study and found the accumulation of GLPs in the leaves of plants supplied with 600 mM NaCl is significantly enhanced. Genome-wide analysis of the SpGLP gene family characterized 50 members distributing on its 17 chromosomes with different density. Subcellular localization prediction demonstrated all SpGLPs are extracellular proteins. Phylogenetic tree analysis classified the 50 GLP genes into seven subgroups. Exon/intron organization analysis revealed a similar structure among these genes, with distinct variations in intron length and exon size. The 50 SpGLP proteins contain ten conserved motifs. Promoter regions inside their genes contain a variety of regulatory elements that respond to plant hormone and stress conditions. RNA-seq analysis revealed these SpGLP genes are tissue-specific and they showed different responses to various salt ions and different concentration of NaCl treatments. Furthermore, both qRT-PCR analysis and overexpression results in different Arabidopsis thaliana lines indicated that the SpGLP239 gene is vital for the plant's adaptation to salt-stressed environment. Our findings might lay a theoretical foundation on further practical exploration of salt-tolerant capacity genes in this true halophyte for transgenic crops and managing soil salinization.