Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences

Clinical management of periodontitis requires addressing both bacterial infection and the deficient osteogenic microenvironment to optimize tissue regeneration. Electroactive biomaterials have demonstrated promise in bone regeneration, but are insufficient to enduringly synergize antibacterial properties with optimal immunomodulatory and tissue remodeling effects within the complex inflammatory microenvironment. Here, this study proposes an efficient, dynamic magnetoelectric conversion-based therapeutic strategy, which integrates antibacterial activity and immunomodulation to optimize periodontal tissue regeneration. Magnetic field-sensitive CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 nanoparticles (CFO-BFO NPs) are developed as a pioneering magnetoelectric biomaterial for periodontitis therapy. Magnetoelectric CFO-BFO NPs significantly enhance osteogenesis of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) and exhibit potent antibacterial activity in vitro. Crucially, magnetoelectric coupling stimulation can program macrophage from the M1 to M2 phenotype via the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, thereby enhancing osteogenesis. Moreover, magnetoelectric CFO-BFO NPs can also alleviate tissue inflammation and accelerate infected periodontal bone regeneration in Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis)-mediated periodontitis mice models. After 4 weeks of treatment, the bone volume fraction (BV/TV) in the magnetoelectric CFO-BFO NPs group approached healthy levels. This study pioneers the application of magnetoelectric coupling materials for periodontitis treatment and provides a novel strategy for enhancing the therapeutic effects of electroactive biomaterials on periodontitis.

Engineered ascorbate peroxidase APEX2 has been widely used for spatially restricted profiling of subcellular biomolecules, but its catalytic efficiency toward newly developed probes such as biotin-aniline (Btn-An) remains suboptimal. To overcome this limitation, we performed yeast surface display-based directed evolution to enhance APEX2 activity toward Btn-An. The resulting variant, L242FAPEX2, exhibits an approximately two-fold improvement in labeling efficiency, likely through enhanced enzyme-substrate interactions. This increased activity enables rapid and efficient proximity labeling while maintaining spatial specificity. After validating its performance at the ER membrane, we applied L242FAPEX2 to profile the transcriptome proximal to the midbody and identified ANLN as a previously unreported midbody-localized mRNA during telophase. Drug perturbation and reporter assays further revealed that ANLN mRNA targeting to the midbody occurs co-translationally and depends on its nascent N-terminal peptide. Together, this work establishes L242FAPEX2 as an improved and versatile tool for spatially resolved transcriptomics in complex subcellular contexts.

Global climate change and the energy crisis pose severe challenges to sustainable development, driving the urgent need for innovative carbon-neutral technological pathways. Among various potential solutions, photocatalytic CO2 reduction technology attracts significant attention for its ability to directly utilize solar energy to convert CO2 into high-value-added fuels and chemicals. However, in practical application environments, the low concentration of CO2 and the pronounced inhibitory effect of oxygen on the catalytic reaction have long constrained the scalable development of this technology. This review systematically elaborates on the latest significant advancements in the field of photocatalytic CO2 reduction under close-to-realistic conditions (containing 0.04% or 15% CO2 and 5%-20% O2 under simulated solar light), focusing on three main technological directions: integrated CO2 capture and conversion, CO2-preferential microenvironment engineering, and O2-assisted CO2 reduction mechanisms. These interconnected research pathways have collectively driven a paradigm shift in the field from "passively avoiding oxygen interference" to "actively harnessing oxygen synergy." This progress has preliminarily overcome key bottlenecks such as low conversion efficiency of dilute CO2, intense competitive oxygen reduction reactions, and high energy consumption for product separation. These advancements provide the way for distributed carbon-neutral technologies and shifting CO2 utilization from idealized systems toward real-world applications.

The increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria challenges current skin disinfection strategies, while the non-degradability of traditional cationic antimicrobials limits their clinical safety. Conventional photodynamic therapy is limited by complex application requirements. To address these limitations, we developed a biodegradable, sunlight-activated photodynamic cationic nanospray (NPPORPMn). Under environmentally friendly and readily accessible sunlight irradiation (NPPORPMn+L), NPPORPMn efficiently generates reactive oxygen species and works synergistically with its quaternary ammonium cations to exert potent antibacterial effects. This dual-action significantly reduces the inflammatory response in infected microenvironments and accelerates wound healing in infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Skin disinfection experiments further demonstrate that NPPORPMn+L can eliminate pathogenic bacteria and resident microbial communities on the skin surface. This study presents an innovative, biodegradable, and clinically safe nanospray platform that harnesses the convenience of sunlight activation to provide a promising strategy for combating antibiotic-resistant infections.