A novel all-inorganic Cu(OH)2 nanowire-haired membrane with superhydrophilicity and underwater ultralow adhesive superoleophobicity is fabricated by a facile surface oxidation of copper mesh that allows effective separation of both immiscible oil/water mixtures and oil-in-water emulsions solely driven by gravity, with extremely high separation efficiency. The all-inorganic membrane exhibits superior solvent and alkaline resistance and antifouling property compared to organic-based membranes.

The domestic Bactrian camels were treated as one of the principal means of locomotion between the eastern and western cultures in history. However, whether they originated from East Asia or Central Asia remains elusive. To address this question, we perform wholegenome sequencing of 128 camels across Asia. The extant wild and domestic Bactrian camels show remarkable genetic divergence, as they were split from dromedaries. The wild Bactrian camels also contribute little to the ancestry of domestic ones, although they share close habitat in East Asia. Interestingly, among the domestic Bactrian camels, those from Iran exhibit the largest genetic distance and the earliest split from all others in the phylogeny, despite evident admixture between domestic Bactrian camels and dromedaries living in Central Asia. Taken together, our study support the Central Asian origin of domestic Bactrian camels, which were then immigrated eastward to Mongolia where native wild Bactrian camels inhabit.

Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and alpaca (Vicugna pacos) are economically important livestock. Although the Bactrian camel and dromedary are large, typically arid-desert-adapted mammals, alpacas are adapted to plateaus. Here we present high-quality genome sequences of these three species. Our analysis reveals the demographic history of these species since the Tortonian Stage of the Miocene and uncovers a striking correlation between large fluctuations in population size and geological time boundaries. Comparative genomic analysis reveals complex features related to desert adaptations, including fat and water metabolism, stress responses to heat, aridity, intense ultraviolet radiation and choking dust. Transcriptomic analysis of Bactrian camels further reveals unique osmoregulation, osmoprotection and compensatory mechanisms for water reservation underpinned by high blood glucose levels. We hypothesize that these physiological mechanisms represent kidney evolutionary adaptations to the desert environment. This study advances our understanding of camelid evolution and the adaptation of camels to arid-desert environments.

In this Perspective, we present a unique approach to the design and synthesis of giant molecules based on “nanoatoms” for engineering structures across multiple length scales and controlling their macroscopic properties. Herein, “nanoatoms” refer to shape-persistent molecular nanoparticles (MNPs) with precisely defined chemical structures and surface functionalities that can serve as elemental building blocks for the precision synthesis of giant molecules by methods such as sequential “click” approach. Typical “nanoatoms” include those MNPs based on fullerenes, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes, polyoxometalates, and folded globular proteins. The resulting giant molecules are precisely defined macromolecules. They include, but are not limited to, giant surfactants, giant shape amphiphiles, and giant polyhedra. Giant surfactants are polymer tail-tethered “nanoatoms” where the two components have drastic chemical differences to impart amphiphilicity. Giant shape amphiphiles not only are built up by covalently bonded MNPs of distinct shapes where the self-assembly is driven by chemical interactions but also are largely influenced by the packing constraints of each individual shape. Giant polyhedra are either made of a large MNP or by deliberately placing “nanoatoms” at the vertices of a polyhedron. In general, giant molecules capture the essential structural features of their small-molecule counterparts in many ways but possess much larger sizes. They are recognized in certain cases as size-amplified versions of those counterparts, and often, they bridge the gap between small molecules and traditional macromolecules. Highly diverse, thermodynamically stable and metastable hierarchal structures are commonly observed in the bulk, thin film, and solution states of these giant molecules. Controlled structural variations by precision synthesis further reveal a remarkable sensitivity of their self-assembled structures to the primary chemical structures. Unconventional nanostructures can be obtained in confined environments or through directed self-assembly. All the results demonstrate that MNPs are unique elements for macromolecular science, providing a versatile platform for engineering nanostructures that are not only scientifically intriguing but also technologically relevant.

A novel giant surfactant possessing a well-defined hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic polymeric tail, polystyrene-(carboxylic acid-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) conjugate (PS-APOSS), has been designed and synthesized via living anionic polymerization, hydrosilylation, and thiol-ene "click" chemistry. PS-APOSS forms micelles in selective solvents, and the micellar morphology can be tuned from vesicles to wormlike cylinders and further to spheres by increasing the degree of ionization of the carboxylic acid. The effect of APOSS-APOSS interactions was proven to be essential in the morphological transformation of the micelles. The PS tails in these micellar cores were found to be highly stretched in comparison with those in traditional amphiphilic block copolymers, and this can be explained in terms of minimization of free energy. This novel class of giant surfactants expands the scope of macromolecular amphiphiles and provides a platform for the study of the basic physical principles of their self-assembly behavior.

Protein-based hydrogels have emerged as promising alternatives to synthetic hydrogels for biomedical applications, owing to the precise control of structure and function enabled by protein engineering. Nevertheless, strategies for assembling 3D molecular networks that carry the biological information encoded in fulllength proteins remain underdeveloped. Here we present a robust protein gelation strategy based on a pair of genetically encoded reactive partners, SpyTag and SpyCatcher, that spontaneously form covalent isopeptide linkages under physiological conditions. The resulting "network of Spies" may be designed to include celladhesion ligands, matrix metalloproteinase-1 cleavage sites, and full-length globular proteins [mCherry and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)]. The LIF network was used to encapsulate mouse embryonic stem cells; the encapsulated cells remained pluripotent in the absence of added LIF. These results illustrate a versatile strategy for the creation of information-rich biomaterials.protein biomaterials | stem cell encapsulation | cell fate control H ydrogels made from natural or synthetic polymers have been investigated for many years as scaffolds for encapsulated cells (1). The past decade has witnessed a growing trend in hydrogel design that calls for systems capable of controlling the behavior of encapsulated cells by providing, sensing, and responding to biological signals (2). This design criterion demands a new level of craftsmanship from scientists and engineers who wish to incorporate biomolecular species, which may range in size and complexity from small molecules to multidomain proteins, into biomaterials (3). A promising approach to this challenge uses bio-orthogonal chemistry to introduce the species of interest with spatial and temporal control (4-7).Here we discuss an alternative approach, based on the design and expression of artificial proteins that are programmed to form covalent molecular networks, which offers important advantages in the engineering of dynamic biomaterials systems (8, 9). The method requires no chemical reagents, proceeds efficiently under mild conditions (e.g., in aqueous solution at physiological pH, in the presence of ambient levels of oxygen, and at temperatures ranging from 4 to 37°C), allows introduction of biological information in modular fashion, and enables encapsulation of cells without loss of viability.The recent discovery of naturally occurring isopeptide bonds in Gram-positive bacterial adhesins (10) inspired Howarth and coworkers (11, 12) to design a pair of reactive protein partners (SpyTag and SpyCatcher) by splitting the second immunoglobulinlike collagen adhesin domain (CnaB2) of the fibronectin-binding protein (FbaB) of Streptococcus pyogenes. SpyTag-SpyCatcher chemistry forms a specific isopeptide bond between Asp-117 of SpyTag and Lys-31 of SpyCatcher. In a previous study, we demonstrated that placing SpyTag and SpyCatcher at carefully chosen locations within elastin-like proteins (ELPs) enabled efficient synthesis of unusual nonlinea...

A SWCNT/TiO2 nanocomposite ultrathin film that has superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic properties after UV-light irradiation is successfully prepared by coating TiO2 via the sol-gel process onto an SWCNT ultrathin network film. The robust and flexible SWCNT/TiO2 nanocomposite films with a thickness and pore size of tens of nanometers can separate both surfactant-free and surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions in an ultrafast manner with fluxes up to 30 000 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1), which is 2 orders of magnitude higher than commercial filtration membranes with similar separation performance, and with high separation efficiency. Most importantly, the films exhibit excellent antifouling and self-cleaning performance during multiple cycles with the aid of the photocatalytic property of TiO2 nanoparticles. This work provides a route for designing ultrathin and superwetting films for effective separation of oil-in-water emulsions. The SWCNT/TiO2 ultrathin film is potentially useful in treating emulsified wastewater produced in industry and daily life and for purification of crude oil and fuel.

Age at menarche, reproductive years, and menopause status were significantly associated with body composition, insulin sensitivity and blood lipid levels.