Chitosan quaternary ammonium salt-oxidized sodium alginate-glycerol-calcium ion biobased self-healing hydrogels with excellent spontaneous repair performance.

Self-healing hydrogels have attracted wide attention because of their potential applications in various fields. However, the complex processes, environmental requirements, and insufficient functionality limit their practical application. Herein, we synthesized a chitosan quaternary ammonium salt-oxidized sodium alginate-glycerol-calcium ion (HACC-OSA-Gly-Ca) biobased hydrogel with a multi-network structure that exhibits excellent self-healing abilities.

Haploid-genetic screening of trophectoderm specification identifies as a repressor of totipotent-like status.

Trophectoderm (TE) and the inner cell mass are the first two lineages in murine embryogenesis and cannot naturally transit to each other. The barriers between them are unclear and fascinating. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) retain the identities of inner cell mass and TE, respectively, and, thus, are ideal platforms to investigate these lineages in vitro.

[Imprinting genes modified parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells produce full-term mouse via tetraploid complementation].

Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells (pESCs) derived from bi-maternal genomes do not have competency of tetraploid complementation, due to lacking of paternal imprinting genes. To make pESCs possess fully development potentials and similar pluripotency to zygote-derived ESCs, we knocked out one allelic gene of the two essential maternal imprinting genes (H19 and IG) in their differentially methylated regions (DMR) via CRISPR/Cas9 system and obtained double knock out (DKO) pESCs. Maternal pESCs had similar morphology, expression levels of pluripotent makers and in vitro neural differentiation potentials to zygotes-derived ESCs.

Derivation of Haploid Trophoblast Stem Cells via Conversion In Vitro.

Owing to their single genome, haploid cells are powerful to uncover unknown genes by performing genetic screening in mammals. However, no haploid cell line from an extraembryonic lineage has been achieved yet, which limits the application of haploid cells in placental genetic screening. Here, we show that overexpression of Cdx2 can convert haploid embryonic stem cells to trophoblast stem cells (TSCs).

Overexpression of PSP1 enhances growth of transgenic Arabidopsis plants under ambient air conditions.

The importance of the phosphorylated pathway (PPSB) of L-serine (Ser) biosynthesis in plant growth and development has been demonstrated, but its specific role in leaves and interaction with photorespiration, the main leaf Ser biosynthetic pathway at daytime, are still unclear. To investigate whether changes in biosynthesis of Ser by the PPSB in leaves could have an impact on photorespiration and plant growth, we overexpressed PSP1, the last enzyme of this pathway, under control of the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana. Overexpressor plants grown in normal air displayed larger rosette diameter and leaf area as well as higher fresh and dry weight than the wild type.