Polydopamine-Bi2WO6-Decorated Gauzes as Dual-Functional Membranes for Solar Steam Generation and Photocatalytic Degradation Applications

The dual-functional Bi2WO6/polydopamine (PDA)-modified gauze membrane has been developed for applications in photocatalytic degradation and solar steam generation. Two types of membrane were prepared by changing the growth sequence of Bi2WO6 nanomaterials and PDA on gauze substrates. The spatial distribution of Bi2WO6 and polydopamine has a great influence on light absorption, photocatalytic degradation, and solar steam generation performances. Bi2WO6 photocatalysts can absorb short-wavelength light for the photocatalytic decoloration of organic dyes. The photothermal polydopamine can convert light into heat for water evaporation. Besides, the gauze substrate provides water transport channels to facilitate water evaporation. The morphology, surface chemistry, and optical properties of Bi2WO6-PDA modified gauzes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance spectra. The photothermal properties, wetting properties, and solar steam generation rates of the composite films were also studied. Degradation of 96% of indigo carmine was achieved after being irradiated for 120 min in the presence of G/PDA/BWNP. The water evaporation rates of the G/BWP/PDA sample under the irradiation of an Xe lamp (light intensity = 1000 W/m2) reached 1.94 kg·m−2·h−1.

Preparation and characterization of recombinant human glutathione transferase P1 and screening of novel enzyme inhibitors

Human glutathione transferase P1 (GSTP1) plays an important role in the second phase of xenobiotic biotransformation and in the regulation of apoptotic signal pathways. Directed screening of new enzyme inhibitors is an actual task since selective suppression of GSTP1 activity in tumor cells may substantially increase their sensitivity to chemotherapy. Known methods to obtain recombinant GSTP1 with a hexahistidine tag in the structure are complex, laborious, and suffer from significant losses of the enzyme activity. With the aim to create a simple and effective bacterial expression system for tagless GSTP1 posessing native structure and high activity, in the present work the full-length gstp1 gene was cloned into the pTXB1 plasmid vector, followed by transformation of E. coli cells. The optimized expression level amounted to 30–32 mg of the enzyme per liter of broth. Using glutathione-containing affinity membranes, the purified enzyme was isolated from bacterial lysate with the yield of 75.7 % and specific activity of 102.6 U/mg protein. The enzyme homogeneity was confirmed by gel-electrophoretic and mass-spectrometric data. Physico-chemical and catalytic properties of recombinant GSTP1 practically coincided with those of the native erythrocytary enzyme. The results of in silico and in vitro screening allowed to reveal structural factors and interactions determining the efficiency of the enzyme inhibition by carbocyclic and N-heterocyclic ligands. The preferable orientation of “good” inhibitors in the GSTP1 H-site was also established. Three strong enzyme inhibitors were found: 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione, Alizarin Red S, and indigo carmine, with their respective IC50 values of 31, 16 and 2.3 μM. The new inhibitors are of certain interest for the development of novel lead structures with potential antitumor activity.

Isolation and characterization of indigo-reducing bacteria and analysis of microbiota from indigo fermentation suspensions

ABSTRACT In natural indigo dyeing, the water-insoluble indigo included in the composted indigo leaves called sukumo is converted to water-soluble leuco-indigo through the reduction activities of microorganisms under alkaline conditions. To understand the relationship between indigo reduction and microorganisms in indigo-fermentation suspensions, we isolated and identified the microorganisms that reduce indigo and analyzed the microbiota in indigo-fermentation suspensions. Indigo-reducing microorganisms, which were not isolated by means of a conventional indigo carmine-reduction assay method, were isolated by using indigo as a direct substrate and further identified and characterized. We succeeded in isolating bacteria closely related to Corynebacterium glutamicum, Chryseomicrobium aureum, Enterococcus sp. for the first time. Anthraquinone was found to be an effective mediator that facilitated the indigo-reduction activity of the isolated strains. On analysis of the microbiota in indigo-fermentation suspensions, the ratio of indigo-reducing bacteria and others was found to be important for maintaining the indigo-reduction activity.