光生物反应器中螺旋藻培养条件的优化

利用正交实验对搅拌式光生物反应器中钝顶螺旋藻(Spirulina platensis Geitl)的培养条件即搅拌速度、通气量和光照强度进行优化.实验结果表明:当培养温度为30℃时,通过正交实验所获得的最佳培养条件为搅拌转速120 r·min-1,通气量80 L·h-1,光照强度5000lx.在最佳培养条件下,收获时螺旋藻的干重为1.922 g·L-1.根据回归模型得到相应的优化条件为:光照强度5000lx,通气量150L·h-1,搅拌转速111.70r·min-1,收获量(干重)的预测值为2.293 g·L-1.另外,10%的接种量有利于螺旋藻的生长.     

芦荟胡萝卜汁复合饮料的研制

以芦荟和胡萝卜为原料,通过正交实验确定了复合饮料的最佳配方,研制出一种口味独特又具有保健功能的复合饮料.     

生物垃圾处理过程中渗滤液混凝处理的实验研究

通过对混凝剂(PAS)用量、酸度、温度对垃圾处理过程中渗滤液混凝效果影响的研究,结果表明:用聚合硫酸铝进行混凝处理时,对渗滤液的氨氮处理效果不佳,对CODcr和浊度处理效果甚佳.根据三因素三水平的正交实验,得出处理过程中三个因素对CODcr去除率影响的主次关系为:pH＞聚合硫酸铝的用量＞温度.验证试验结果表明:混凝剂加入量15mL(10%)、pH为6.7、温度为50℃时为最优化工艺条件,CODcr去除率达到76.2%.     

烟草工程专业微生物学课程教学初探

烟草工程专业行业性明显,特色鲜明,微生物学是必修课程。为加强针对性,在当前没有专门教材的情况下,以现有教材为基础进行了适当取舍,只讲授必要的理论知识,实践教学着重规范实验操作,掌握基本技术,培养无菌意识。     

高效苯酚降解菌细胞固定化方法与条件的研究

含酚废水是一种难降解有机废水,对环境污染非常严重。目前常利用细菌处理含酚废水。但利用细菌处理含酚废水存在一些缺点,为此将1株高效苯酚降解菌进行细胞固定化。采用正交实验设计方法确定了该菌株固定化的最佳条件,并且考察了该固定化细胞降解苯酚的最佳条件。实验表明:该菌株的固定化细胞降解苯酚能力和耐受苯酚能力均大于游离细胞,经36 h可将1 800 mg/L苯酚降解完全。其降解苯酚的最适温度为30℃,最佳pH值为5~9。     

医学微生物实验课教学的思考

医学微生物学是高等医学院校课程体系的重要组成部分,实验课在本课程中占有重要的地位。为提高学生学习的主动性及积极性,进而提高教学质量,作者就几年来教学经验谈些体会。     

Bringing back the fruit into fruit fly-bacteria interactions

Female Mediterranean fruit flies ( Ceratitis capitata ) oviposit in fruits, within which the larvae develop. This development is associated with rapid deterioration of the fruit, and frequently with invasion by secondary pests. Most research on the associations between medflies and microorganisms has focused on the bacteria inhabiting the digestive system of the adult fly, while the role of the fruit in mediating, amplifying or regulating the fruit fly microflora has been largely neglected. In this study, we examine the hypothesis that the host fruit plays a role in perpetuating the fly-associated bacterial community. Using direct and cultured-based approaches, we show that this community is composed in its very large majority of diazotrophic and pectinolytic Enterobacteriaceae. Our data suggest that this fly-associated enterobacterial community is vertically transmitted from the female parent to its offspring. During oviposition, bacteria are transferred to the fruit, establish and proliferate within it, causing its decay. These results show that the host fruit is indeed a central partner in the fruit fly–bacterial interaction as these transmitted bacteria are amplified by the fruit, and subsequently maintained throughout the fly's life. This enterobacterial community may contribute to the fly's nitrogen and carbon metabolism, affecting its development and ultimately, fitness.     

The economics of altruistic punishment and the maintenance of cooperation

Explaining the evolution and maintenance of cooperation among unrelated individuals is one of the fundamental problems in biology and the social sciences. Recent findings suggest that altruistic punishment is an important mechanism maintaining cooperation among humans. We experimentally explore the boundaries of altruistic punishment to maintain cooperation by varying both the cost and the impact of punishment, using an exceptionally extensive subject pool. Our results show that cooperation is only maintained if conditions for altruistic punishment are relatively favourable: low cost for the punisher and high impact on the punished. Our results indicate that punishment is strongly governed by its cost-to-impact ratio and that its effect on cooperation can be pinned down to one single variable: the threshold level of free-riding that goes unpunished. Additionally, actual pay-offs are the lowest when altruistic punishment maintains cooperation, because the pay-off destroyed through punishment exceeds the gains from increased cooperation. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that punishment decisions come from an amalgam of emotional response and cognitive cost-impact analysis and suggest that altruistic punishment alone can hardly maintain cooperation under multi-level natural selection. Uncovering the workings of altruistic punishment as has been done here is important because it helps predicting under which conditions altruistic punishment is expected to maintain cooperation.     

Effect of different primate species on germination of Ficus (Urostigma) seeds

We examined the germination of Ficus seeds (subgenus Urostigma) after defecation by six primate species (New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes). Seeds from figs (control) and primate feces were placed in a thermostatically controlled chamber for 30 days. Seeds defecated by Alouatta palliata, A. pigra, and Cercopithecus aethiops showed significantly higher germination rates than control seeds. In addition, seeds from A. palliata feces germinated significantly faster than control seeds and seeds from C. aethiops and Pan troglodytes. These differences may be due to the different digestive characteristics of the six primate species. Zoo Biol 23:273–278, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

How labile are the egg‐laying preferences of seed beetles?

Abstract.  1. Previous studies have produced conflicting results with respect to the genetic lability of host preference in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus .
2. In this study, replicate lines of an Asian population were kept on an ancestral host (mung bean) or switched to a novel host (cowpea). After 40+ generations, lines were assayed for host preference (in choice tests) and host acceptance (under no-choice conditions), and were compared to African lines chronically associated with cowpea.
3. Host preference diverged in the expected direction. When presented a mixture of cowpeas and mung beans, females from the cowpea lines laid a greater fraction of their eggs on cowpea than did females from the mung bean lines. Preference for cowpea was nearly as strong in the cowpea lines as it was in the cowpea-adapted African lines.
4. In contrast, the experimental host shift did not affect long-term host acceptance. African females laid more eggs if given cowpeas than if given mung beans, but realised fecundities in the cowpea and mung bean lines were similar on the two hosts. Females from all lines laid more eggs if they were reared on cowpea than on mung bean, but rearing host had no effect on either relative host acceptance or host preference.
5. Comparisons with earlier studies suggest that the lability of host preference varies among beetle populations, which precludes generalisation at the species level. Because lines were maintained under no-choice conditions, modification of host preference probably occurred via a lower acceptance threshold for the novel host, without a concomitant change in the long-term acceptance of the ancestral host.