Objective: SARS-CoV-2 is capable of expressing its functional proteins in a stage-separated manner within host cells, relying primarily on its unique RNA folding structures, which induce a frameshift during translation of viral genes on host ribosomes. This highly conserved region forms unique secondary structures known as pseudoknots, along with slippery sequence, and connecting nucleotides (nt), forming a so-called frameshift stimulation element (FSE). FSE introduces an invariant programmed -1 ribosomal frameshifting (-1 PRF) at a specific slippery site. Previous studies have demonstrated that even in prokaryotic systems, the coronavirus FSE structure of only 88 nt can induce frameshift expression. Given that multiple secondary structural variations exist for the FSE and neighboring region, 88 nt do not encompass all potential secondary structures, the 88 nt FSE together with its following 49 nt sequence is selected to investigate frameshift phenomena. Methods: The current study aimed to explore frameshift translation of an extended SARS-CoV-2 FSE (translated as pseudoknot peptide) in Escherichia coli and its influencing factors. A fusion reporter gene was constructed for E. coli expression, encoding red fluorescent protein (RFP), followed by a pseudoknot peptide and a lacZ' fragment (the α subunit of β-galactosidase). Simultaneous expression of RFP and lacZ' allows detection of frameshift translation events by observing changes in colony color. Results: Fluorescence microscopy results demonstrated strikingly uneven patterns of fusion gene expression across colonies. SDS-PAGE analyses reveal that frameshift translation does occur through SARS-CoV-2's FSE on E. coli ribosomes, but frameshift efficiency remains very low compared to efficiency in the human host. Conclusion: By generating various mutants of FSE, the key slippery sequence and the importance of linker length essential for frameshift are confirmed. Further studies reveal that SARS-CoV-2's FSE maintains a dynamic balance between non-frameshift and frameshift translation in E. coli, which is influenced by various factors, such as colony density, cultural temperature, or even low concentrations of guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl). Using the current fusion gene expression system, gentamicin derivatives are identified as interfering molecules capable of modulating SARS-CoV-2's FSE frameshift.

Objective: To construct an actively targeted metalloenzyme nanoplatform Zn/Cu@CM for the efficient killing of tumor cells. Methods: The prepared Zn/Cu NPs and Zn/Cu@CM were characterized using TEM, particle size and zeta potential, XRD, XPS, and SDS-PAGE. The catalytic generation of hydroxyl radicals(·OH) by Zn/Cu NPs was investigated using methylene blue (MB) as a probe. The cytotoxicity of Zn/Cu NPs was verified by CCK-8 assays. The capacity for catalytic generation of ·OH was further explored through cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) staining experiments. Finally, apoptosis and active targeting were investigated using flow cytometry and cellular targeting experiments. Results: Uniform spherical Zn/Cu@CM nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 20 to 200 nm were successfully synthesized. Methylene blue experiments demonstrated that Zn/Cu NPs could efficiently catalyze the generation of ·OH in the tumor microenvironment (TME). CCK-8 assays indicated that after co-culture with normal mouse fibroblast cells (L929), the cell viability remained above 82% at a nanoparticle concentration of 200 μg/mL, whereas it was less than 25% when co-cultured with breast cancer cells (4T1). ROS staining experiments confirmed that Zn/Cu@CM produced a significant amount of ROS inside tumor cells to kill them. Flow cytometry revealed that at the Zn/Cu@CM concentration of 150 μg/mL, cell necrosis and apoptosis accounted for 61.3% and 0.349%, respectively, indicating that the composite nanoparticles could efficiently generate ROS leading to cell necrosis and thus kill tumor cells. Cellular targeting experiments confirmed the good targeting ability of Zn/Cu@CM. Conclusion: The actively targeted Zn/Cu@CM composite nanoparticles were successfully constructed, and a series of characterization and cellular experiments proved their ability to efficiently kill tumor cells. This provides a valuable reference for the application of multifunctional nanocomposite materials in antitumor therapy and offers new insights for further dual-targeted tumor killing.

Objective: This study aimed to isolate and characterize Aeromonas phages, establishing a foundation for developing phage-based control methods for Aeromonas. Methods: Aeromonas hydrophila A050 served as the host bacterium for the phage screening. The biological characteristics of the phage, including the one-step growth curve, optimal multiplicity of infection, and temperature and pH stability, were assessed using the double-layer plate method; the morphology of the phage was observed by electron microscopy; the phage genome was sequenced using the Illumina Hiseq platform, and analyzed by the online tools Blastn, CGView, VipTree, VIRIDIC and the Mauve software. Results: A novel phage phiA050 was isolated with transparent, halo-free plaques. The diameter of the plaque was (0.10 ± 0.02) cm. Phage phiA050 had a regular icosahedral head with a diameter of (70.8 ± 2.7) nm and a tail with a length of (71.3 ± 3.7) nm. Phage phiA050 was able to lyse 19 out of 68 Aeromonas strains. Against the host Aeromonas hydrophila A050, it has an optimal infection multiplicity of 0.001. The one-step growth curve showed that it had a latency of 30 min and a burst size of 158 PFU/cell. The pH range of tolerance is between 4 ~ 10. The high temperature of tolerance is up to 50℃ for 1 h, and few survive at 60℃. The genome length of phage phiA050 is 53 322 bp with a G + C content of 44.75%, containing 61 predicted opening reading frames (ORFs). The similarity between phage phiA050 and the closest Erwinia phage Faunus was found to be only 36.30% by blast. Therefore, the phage phiA050 should be classified as a new genus and species according to the classification criteria of the ICTV. Conclusion: A novel species, phage phiA050, was isolated and identified. Its genomic similarity to any other phage in existing NCBI databases is very low, suggesting that it has unique research value and application prospects.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is recognized for its rapid reaction time, high specificity, and low hardware requirements, and is often used as the core method for nucleic acid amplification in point-of-care testing (POCT) products for molecular nucleic acid detection. The molecular POCT products based on isothermal amplification consist of three core units according to the detection process: sample pretreatment, nucleic acid molecular amplification, and product detection. Each unit is interlinked, which determines the performance of the product and its performance in clinical applications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, LAMP and its derivative technologies moved rapidly from the laboratory to the clinic, leading to a surge in the development of numerous molecular POCT products. These advancements have accelerated the development of nucleic acid detection technology in terms of solutions, cost, and effectiveness, promoting the application of this technology in various scenarios such as home, community, customs, and field settings, ushering in a period of rapid growth. This article first provides an overview of the latest technological development of the three core units of isothermal amplification molecular POCT products. It also reviews the principles, composition, product performance, and application effectiveness of isothermal amplification molecular POCT products for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens since 2019. Additionally, it discusses the current state of technology integration and future product development trends of LAMP with microfluidics, immunochromatography lateral flow assays, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR).

Metallothioneins (MTs) are a class of non-enzyme metal-binding proteins with low molecular weight and rich cysteine residues. MTs have many biological functions, such as regulating metal homeostasis, resisting oxidative stress, and screening heavy metals. They are widely used in food, medicine, environment, cosmetics and other fields. There have been a lot of studies on the gene discovery, expression regulation, structural characterization, functional identification and application range expansion of MTs. However, MTs are far from being fully understood due to the diversity and complexity of their species, structure and function. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the literature related to MTs in the world, the current research status and dynamic hot spots in the field of MTs were reviewed, which mainly included the following five aspects: the species and structures, gene expression and its regulation, zinc and copper homeostasis, the role of MTs in the biomedical field, and the application of MTs in the remediation of heavy metal contamination. After sorting out the problems and challenges in the field, it was found that the future research of MTs tends to: the development of microbial-derived MTs, efficient expression and preparation of MTs, establishment of new high-resolution characterization methods for MTs, exploration of the correlation between metal bio-dynamics and induced expression, and application expansion of MTs.

mRNA-based drugs have great potential for clinical applications, and the main challenge is to develop safe and efficient ways to deliver bioactive drugs that do not activate the immune system. With respect to mRNA vaccines, researchers are increasing the stability of mRNA by altering its structure and promoting systemic tolerance of antigen delivery by reducing mRNA immunogenicity, but naked mRNA delivery is inefficient and antigen protein production is low. Researchers are using lipid nanoparticles to facilitate mRNA delivery and protect it from extracellular degradation, which is an important milestone in mRNA-based drug development. Before the great success of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines, people had already been working on developing mRNA-based drugs for therapeutic purposes such as cancer vaccines, and had built up a large technical reserve. This review first discusses the synthesis, modification and different delivery systems of mRNA-based drugs, then summarizes the clinical research progress of mRNA-based drugs in the direction of infectious diseases, and finally discusses the intellectual property prospects as well as the latest market trends and future applications of mRNA-based drugs.

Microalgae are considered to be renewable biological resources with extensive application potential in modern agriculture. Microalgae not only provide high-value feed and feed additives for the breeding industry, but also provide biofertilizers, biostimulants and biocontrol agents for the planting industry. At the same time, microalgae exhibit advantages in the treatment of agricultural wastewater, as well as in soil improvement and restoration. The research progress made in recent years on the diversified application of microalgae in agricultural fields such as breeding, planting and agricultural environmental protection was summarized. According to the current technical challenges and cognitive limitations in realizing the extensive application of microalgae in agriculture, future research directions such as promoting the improvement of microalgae production technology, improving the utilization efficiency of microalgae and exploring the application of microalgae in circular agriculture are proposed. The research could provide technical support for the comprehensive promotion of microalgae in modern agriculture, and further promote the sustainable development of modern agriculture.

At present, the environmental pollution caused by the irregular discharge of organic waste (mainly kitchen waste, garden waste, agricultural and livestock waste, sewage sludge, etc.) has become increasingly serious. Therefore, finding a green method to deal with organic waste has become a research hotspot. Anaerobic digestion has been widely used as one of the commonly used methods for the treatment of organic waste. However, under the stress of microplastics in organic wastes, the efficiency of anaerobic digestion is often decreased, thus reducing the utilization rate of organic waste. The effects of conductive materials on alleviating the inhibition of microplastics on anaerobic digestion of organic wastes and the effects of quorum sensing and interspecies electron transfer on functional microorganisms were analyzed. The mechanism of conductive materials to improve the anaerobic digestion efficiency of organic wastes containing microplastics was discussed, which provided a solution for the treatment of organic wastes caused by microplastic pollutants.

Biosemiconductor is an emerging frontier direction in the integration of biology and information, which has the potential to fundamentally redefine the design and construction of semiconductors and break through the technological bottlenecks of biological systems. Through literature review, text mining, and bibliometric methods, this study analyzes the research layout and development trends in the field of biosemiconductor based on paper and patent data, aiming to show the current status and trends of global biosemiconductor development. The research results indicate that the United States and the European Union are actively developing key areas of biosemiconductor such as DNA data storage and biocomputing. In addition, the United States, Germany, and South Korea have strong research and development capabilities, while China ranks second in the world in published papers and first in patent application in the field of biosemiconductor. Currently, research in the field of biosemiconductor has entered a period of rapid development, with high research interest in semiconductor biosensors, biochips, and biocomputing, etc.

The layout of national forward-looking exploratory projects is of great significance for the strategic direction of science and technology and major breakthroughs in scientific and technological innovation. Based on the exploratory projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States, the multi-dimensional analysis of the projects funded in the field of biological sciences was carried out to clarify the research layout and exploratory research direction in this field, aiming to provide reference for the layout and direction of scientific research projects in China. The results showed that from 2014 to 2023, the number of NSF funded exploratory projects in the field of biological sciences was 507, with a decreasing trend each year. The duration of funding was mainly distributed between 2 and 3 years, accounting for 42.2% of the total funded projects, and almost 3/4 of the projects had received continued funding. The cumulative amount of funding was about 120 million, with an average of about 235 000 per project. The funding division were from the Biological Infrastructure, the Environmental Biology, the Emerging Frontiers, the Integrative Organismal Systems, the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. The Environmental Biology received the largest number of funding, accounting for 33.9%. The Integrative Organismal Systems received the largest amount of funding, about $\$$44.248 million. The directions of funding include Cross-BIO Activities, Plant Genome Research Project, Population & Community Ecology, Genetic Mechanisms, and Systems and Synthetic Biology. Among them, the Plant Genome Research Project had the highest funding density, with a focus on Population & Community Ecology, Genetic Mechanisms, and Molecular Biophysics. GVF-Global Venture Fund, Innovation: Bioinformatics, Physics of Living Systems were new project directions from 2021 to 2023, with more than $\$$300 000 in grants for neuroscience education, quantum biology, and genetic models. The article suggests experiences that China can learn from in scientific research funding, including the management mechanism of exploratory projects, funding areas and research layout, and interdisciplinary cooperation methods.

With the increasing global demand for sustainable energy and chemicals, the use of non-food biomass resources to replace traditional fossil energy and produce high value-added chemicals has become an important direction for scientific research and industrial development. Major global economies, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan, have prioritized the development of biomass energy and chemicals at the national strategic level, aiming to support the achievement of carbon neutrality goals and to address the finite nature of natural resources. In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the field of non-food biomass conversion. Researchers have been engaged in continuous optimization of pre-treatment processes and equipment, exploration of bioconversion microbial resources and enzyme systems, and design of more efficient catalysts and catalytic processes. These efforts have been directed towards overcoming the challenges of lignin conversion and expansion of biomass conversion application areas. In terms of industrial practice, companies such as Brazil’s Raízen, Finland’s UPM and China’s Fengyuan Bio have demonstrated the potential for high-value utilization of biomass resources through the implementation of innovative technologies and business models, thereby establishing a model for the development of the global biomass industry. In order to facilitate the further development of China’s non-food biomass conversion industry, it is essential that future efforts be supported by technological innovation, industrial policy support, industry chain cooperation, market orientation and international cooperation.

As a critical technology for the development of China’s vaccine industry, adjuvant research has been listed as one of the key technology projects in the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the development of the pharmaceutical industry. This paper utilizes the global patent database Patsnap to retrieve and analyze 11 356 patents related to vaccine adjuvants. By conducting a multi-dimensional statistical analysis of patent application trends, technology lifecycle, source countries and regions, innovation entities, market layout, and mainstream adjuvant research trends, the study reveals the current state and development trends of global vaccine adjuvant research. The results show that global vaccine adjuvant patents are primarily filed by enterprises and are widely distributed globally. In contrast, China’s patent filings in the vaccine adjuvant field are relatively limited, with most concentrated domestically. In terms of technological composition, vaccine adjuvants are mainly divided into four categories: aluminum salt adjuvants, emulsion adjuvants, immune enhancers, and nanoadjuvants. Regarding research hotspots, aluminum salt adjuvants continue to dominate, while nanoadjuvants, as a new type of adjuvant, are developing rapidly and are expected to be a focus of future research. Despite weak accumulation in the field of immune enhancers, China has shown outstanding performance in the field of nanoadjuvants, which is expected to become a key point for China to break through the technical bottleneck in vaccine adjuvants.