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Due to their relatively high compatibility with specific photonic structures, strong light-matter interactions and unique nonlinear optical response, two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, are attractive for ultrafast photonics applications. Here, we fabricate MoS 2 /graphene nanocomposites by a typical hydrothermal method. In addition, we systematically investigate their nonlinear optical responses. Our experiments indicate that the combined advantages of ultrafast relaxation, a broadband response from graphene and the strong light-matter interaction from MoS 2 , can be integrated together by composition. The optical properties in terms of carrier relaxation dynamics, saturation intensity and modulation depth suggest great potential for the MoS 2 /graphene nanocomposites in photonics applications. We have further fabricated 2D nanocomposites based optical saturable absorbers and integrated them into a 1.5 μm Erbium-doped fiber laser to demonstrate Q-switched and mode-locked pulse generation. The fabrication of 2D nanocomposites assembled from different types of 2D materials, via this simple and scalable growth approach, paves the way for the formation and tuning of new 2D materials with desirable photonic properties and applications.

As one of the complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), diabetic cataract (DC) has become the critical cause of vision impairment. MCL1 is an antiapoptotic protein in the BCL2 family that plays an important role in cell survival and proliferation. The role of MCL1 in DC remains unclear. Exploring the function of MCL1 and its underlying regulatory mechanism in DC can provide new prevention ideas. Here, high-glucose (HG)-cultured lens epithelial cells (LECs) and streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic model rats were used. MTT assays, western blotting, immunohistochemical (IHC) assays and propidium iodide (PI) staining were utilized to analyse LECs apoptosis. Immunofluorescence staining was used to assess ROS levels in LECs in a high-glucose environment. Overexpression experiments and co-IP analyses were performed to assess the protein‒protein interaction between MCL1 and USP10. The results showed that HG induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in LECs and induced cataract in diabetic rats. MCL1 overexpression inhibited HG-induced apoptosis. Moreover, USP10 stabilized the MCL1 protein by binding to and deubiquitinating MCL1, and this binding was attenuated in HG environments. Furthermore, the antioxidant (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) significantly delayed cataract progression in diabetic rats by reversing oxidative stress-induced LECs apoptosis in a HG environment. In summary, our experiments revealed that USP10 inhibited LECs apoptosis and the occurrence of DC in a HG environment by deubiquitination and stabilization of MCL1. The antioxidant EGCG significantly delayed cataract progression in diabetic rats by reversing oxidative stress-induced LECs apoptosis in a HG environment. Our study helps elucidate the molecular mechanism of DC and provides new therapeutic targets and ideas for the subsequent development of nonsurgical treatment options.

Anterior segment (AS) diseases are a major group of ocular disorders that impair ocular surface homeostasis, optical transparency, aqueous humor circulation, and postoperative visual quality, including Dry Eye Disease (DED), corneal injury, Infectious Keratitis (IK), uveitis, glaucoma, and Posterior Capsule Opacification (PCO). The therapeutic goal of these diseases extends beyond symptom relief toward the establishment of integrated treatment systems capable of overcoming complex ocular barriers and actively regulating the pathological immune microenvironment and inflammatory cascades through efficient drug loading, controlled release, and tissue repair. However, conventional ophthalmic formulations such as eye drops and ointments remain limited by tear dilution, blinking clearance, nasolacrimal drainage, corneal epithelial barriers, restriction by the Blood-Aqueous Barrier (BAB), and poor long-term compliance, making it difficult to maintain effective drug concentrations at lesion sites. Hydrogels, composed of hydrated polymeric networks, have emerged as promising platforms for AS disease therapy owing to their excellent biocompatibility, transparency, tunable mechanical properties, tissue adhesiveness, stimuli responsiveness, and extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking structures. Depending on clinical requirements, hydrogels can be engineered into adhesive eye drops, thermosensitive in situ gels, corneal repair scaffolds, drug-eluting contact lenses, intracapsular drug reservoirs, and functionalized intraocular lenses (IOLs) to prolong ocular retention, enhance trans-barrier delivery, reduce administration frequency, and remodel the pathological microenvironment through anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, antioxidative, antibacterial, pro-regenerative, and anti-fibrotic effects. Centered on the “loading−release−repair” principle, this review systematically summarizes material design, functional mechanisms, and application advances of hydrogels in the treatment of prevalent AS diseases, aiming to provide insights for performance optimization, disease−specific adaptation, and clinical translation of next−generation ocular hydrogels with immune-microenvironment targeting capabilities.

Low temperature storage is widely used for storage and transportation of fruits and vegetables after harvest. As a cold-sensitive fruit vegetable, post-harvest solanaceous vegetables and fruits are susceptible to chilling injury during low temperature storage, which reduces its sensory quality and edible quality and shortens its storage period, thus leading to huge economic losses. Therefore, it is an essential to clarify the occurrence mechanism of chilling injury caused by low temperature storage in solanaceous vegetables and fruits, and to propose corresponding prevention and control measures for chilling injury. In recent years, a series of progress has been made in the research on chilling injury prevention and control and low temperature stress tolerance of solanaceous vegetables and fruits. This paper describes the chilling injury symptoms of postharvest solanaceous vegetables and fruits, clarifies the physiological and biochemical mechanisms in the chilling injury process, the molecular mechanisms, and prevention and control measures, and summarizes the latest research advancements on chilling injury and chilling tolerance regulation of solanaceous vegetables and fruits, which can provide valuable references for low temperature storage and chilling injury prevention and control measures of solanaceous vegetables and fruits.

Porcine rotavirus A (PoRVA) is an enteric pathogen capable of causing severe diarrhea in suckling piglets. Investigating the prevalence and molecular characteristics of PoRVA in the world, including China, is of significance for disease prevention. In 2022, a total of 25,768 samples were collected from 230 farms across China, undergoing porcine RVA positivity testing. The results showed that 86.52% of the pig farms tested positive for porcine RVA, with an overall positive rate of 51.15%. Through the genetic evolution analysis of VP7, VP4 and VP6 genes, it was revealed that G9 is the predominant genotype within the VP7 segment, constituting 56.55%. VP4 genotypes were identified as P[13] (42.22%), P[23] (25.56%) and P[7] (22.22%). VP6 exhibited only two genotypes, namely I5 (88.81%) and I1 (11.19%). The prevailing genotype combination for RVA was determined as G9P[23]I5. Additionally, some RVA strains demonstrated significant homology between VP7, VP4 and VP6 genes and human RV strains, indicating the potential for human RV infection in pigs. Based on complete genome sequencing analysis, a special PoRVA strain, CHN/SD/LYXH2/2022/G4P[6]I1, had high homology with human RV strains, revealing genetic reassortment between human and porcine RV strains in vivo. Our data indicate the high prevalence, major genotypes, and cross-species transmission of porcine RVA in China. Therefore, the continuous monitoring of porcine RVA prevalence is essential, providing valuable insights for virus prevention and control, and supporting the development of candidate vaccines against porcine RVA.

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a major constraint on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) production, yet the molecular basis of quantitative resistance remains poorly understood. In this study, comparative transcriptome profiling was performed on resistant (‘ZM3’) and susceptible (‘ZM86’) tomato inbred lines following pathogen inoculation in roots, stems, and leaves. Differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were conducted to identify resistance-associated regulatory modules and hub genes. The results revealed distinct gene expression patterns between the two genotypes after infection. Several co-expression modules were significantly associated with resistance or susceptibility traits. Functional enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in plant hormone signal transduction, plant–pathogen interaction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and cell wall modification. Genes related to ethylene and salicylic acid signaling were strongly induced following infection, whereas brassinosteroid-associated genes showed genotype-dependent expression patterns. Network analysis further identified several hub genes within defense-related modules, including ACO (Solyc04g007980), ERF1 (Solyc09g091950), MAPK9, receptor-like kinase RLK (Solyc07g006770), and a dirigent family gene (Solyc10g008900). Taken together, our results suggest that tomato resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum involves a coordinated defense network integrating hormone-mediated transcriptional regulation and structural reinforcement, and provides candidate genes for breeding bacterial wilt-resistant cultivars.

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) extracted and isolated from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are of interest for drug development due to their wide range of biological activities. However, the overwhelming majority of APIs in TCMs (T-APIs), including flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids and phenolic acids, are limited by their poor physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties, such as solubility, dissolution performance, stability and tabletability for drug development. Cocrystallization of these T-APIs with coformers offers unique advantages to modulate physicochemical properties of these drugs without compromising the therapeutic benefits by non-covalent interactions. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current challenges, applications, and future directions of T-API cocrystals, including cocrystal designs, preparation methods, modifications and corresponding mechanisms of physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties. Moreover, a variety of studies are presented to elucidate the relationship between the crystal structures of cocrystals and their resulting properties, along with the underlying mechanism for such changes. It is believed that a comprehensive understanding of cocrystal engineering could contribute to the development of more bioactive natural compounds into new drugs.

We report the spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM) effect for solution dispersions of black phosphorus (BP). The experimental results suggest that this concentration-dependent coherent light diffraction is due to the ultrafast and large third-order optical nonlinearity of BP. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility of BP has been simply obtained about 10 −19  m 2 /V 2 by analyzing the experimental results. The fast relaxation time during dynamic relaxation is obtained as 0.13 ps. Our experimental results imply novel potential application of BP in ultrafast nonlinear phase modulation devices based on their nonlinear optical response.

Current eggplant variety breeding is still mainly based on conventional methods, and there remains a lack of effective molecular breeding systems for complex traits controlled by multiple genes, such as yield and quality. To accelerate the research progress of eggplant genetics and molecular breeding, it is necessary to implement a genome-based breeding strategy. Therefore, in this study, a SNP array containing 50K liquid-phase probes was designed on the basis of the resequencing data of 577 eggplants. The developed 50K liquid-phase probes were used to perform targeted capture sequencing on 12 eggplant lines, and the efficiency of probe capture exceeded 99.25%. Principal component, phylogenetic, and population structure analyses divided the 577 eggplants into 7 subgroups, and statistical analysis was performed on the fruit shape and color of the materials in the different subgroups. Further analysis of the geographical distribution of 428 Chinese eggplant materials revealed that the geographical regions of different subgroups were similar. The 50K SNP liquid-phase array was used to perform bulked- segregant analysis combined with whole-genome resequencing (BSA-seq) of fruit shape in the F population, which consisted of 1435 lines constructed with E421 as the maternal parent and 145 as the paternal parent. The BSA-seq data were located in the 78444173-84449348 interval on chromosome 3, with a size of 6 Mb, which was narrowed to 712.6 kb through fine mapping. Further sequence alignment and expression analysis revealed as a candidate gene controlling eggplant fruit shape. The 50K SNP liquid-phase array can be widely used in future eggplant molecular breeding research.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1492242.].