Window to China
The population of this species has fallen to about 1000 and is close to extinction. In a program of the Ministry of Agriculture, supported by WWF, 8 captured animals were translocated 400 km to two places upstream to start a new population. CAS news release, March 30, 2015
The group around ZHAO Zongbao has used labeled SAM methylation to analyse the type and amount of methylated proteins in various organisms including S. cerevisiae. For the first time, a full coverage of protein methylation was achieved. CAS news release, March 24, 2015
The group of Yuepeng HAN have found that a special R2R3-type transcription factor regulates if peaches of thePrunus persica (L.) Batsch variety, native to China, develop into yellow or blood-fleshed fruits. In white-fleshed fruits, the expression of this transcription factor PpMYB10.1 cannot be activated due to the lack of expression of a BL gene; in blood-fleshed fruits, BL acts with PpNAC1 to activate the transcription of PpMYB10.1, but their transactivation activity was repressed in the presence of the repressor PpSPL1. CAS news release, March 27, 2015
The group around Minghui WANG has used fiber-bundle theory to model a snake-like robot which keeps head up and moves like a snake, with minimum friction. The development is done in cooperation with Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto. CAS news release, March 26, 2015
Using improved ink-print technology for a nano silver paste printing process at high-speed, high-precision control and on large arrays, crystalline silicon solar cells could be manufactured with an improved solar cell conversion efficiency of 0.6%, reduced silver material consumption by 40 percent, resulting in reduced operating costs 0.60 ~ 0.80 yuan / piece. CAS news release, March 25, 2015
In a publication in Angew. Chemie Int. Edition, Shiping SONG and Chunhai FAN summarize recent developments of their conceptual work on rolling-circle DNA amplification and DNA origami technology. The projects describe cooperative work with CAS Shanghai Institute of Biophysics Yuan YAN et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2015, 127, 2461-2465) DOI: 10.1002/anie.201408247
Streptothricins are atypical aminoglycoside antibiotics possessing antibacterial and antifungal activities. Zhongshengmycin, a product of streptothricins, is widely used as agriculture antibiotic for crop protection. A defect of this product is that it contains various streptothricin components which make product quality control very difficult. The group of CHEN Yihua has elucidated the biosynthetic pathway of the D-gulosamine moiety and found two novel enzymatic catalysts were involved in this process. Zhengyan GUO et al., Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201412190
The study was done by the team of Guojiang WU who assembled the 320,5 MBp genome and found some 27000 protein-coding genes. They identified some 1200 genetic markers and anchored over 80 % of the genome to the 11 chromosomes. Jatropha is a potential source for technical oils. CAS news release, July 25, 2015
Beijing Sanlian Hope New Synthetic Technical Services Co, an engineering and technical operation services company for the production of nylon polymerization and spinning, has signed a contract with Cathay on polyamide 56 (Tailun) polymerization and spinning. Cathay Industrial Biotech Co., Ltd. is a leader in industrial biotechnology on bio-based long-chain dicarboxylic acids, bio-butanol, bio-based pentamethylenediamine and many other industrial technology. China Bio news release, March 20, 2015
The team around Houchuan TAO has used FAD-dependant glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH) and laccase (laccase) to build a high-performance glucose / oxygen biological, with a maximum output power density of 98 μW cm-2, and an open circuit potential of up to 0.78 V. Further studies showed that Cu2 + which inhibits the potential of the fuel cell, can be removed by L- cysteine (L-Cys), thus effectively restoring fuel cell activity. CAS news release, March 23, 2015