Possible domestication of uranium oxides using biological assistance reduction

Uranium has been defined in material research engineering field as one of the most energetic radioactive elements in the entire Mendeleev periodic table. The manipulation of uranium needs higher theories and sophisticated apparatus even in nuclear energy extraction or in many other chemical applications. Above the nuclear exploitation level, the chemical conventional approaches used, require a higher temperature and pressure to control the destination of ionic form. However, it has been discovered later that at biological scale, the manipulation of this actinide is possible under friendly conditions. The review summarizes the relevant properties of uranium element and a brief characterization of nanoparticles, based on some structural techniques. These techniques reveal the common link between chemical approaches and biological assistance in nanoparticles. Also, those biological entities have been able to get it after reduction. Uranium is known for its ability to destroy ductile materials. So, if biological cell can really reduce uranium, then how does it work?     

Expression of Aspergillus niger N5-5 in E. coli and purification and identification of products

Due to the feature of high hydrolysis, tannase is widely used in food, beverage, brewing and other fields. However, high cost in producing natural tannase makes it difficult to apply tannase to industry in a large-scale. Microbial expression systems can be used for preparing numerous amount of enzyme at low cost, so in this paper Aspergillus niger N5-5 was expressed using E. coli system. Specific primers were designed based on the Aspergillus niger N5-5 sequence N3 (GenBank, No.: KP677552), and tannase gene tan was promoted to carry 6 His tag and enzyme cutting site which contains NdeI/HindIII using PCR amplification. Then, tannase gene tan was connected to expression vector by NdeI/HindIII enzyme cutting. In this way, recombinant expression vector tan-pET43.1a was formed. Then, the expression vector pET43.1a by NdeI/HindIII enzyme cutting was transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) to induce expression of Aspergillus niger N5-5. When the induced fungi were disrupted by the ultrasonic wave, the crude enzyme was extracted and purified by using the IMAC, and then the activity of the crude enzyme and pure enzyme was determined. According to the results of determination of the tannase activity, the tannase activity of the crude enzyme was greatly improved after the crude enzyme was purified, and the specific activity of the pure enzyme was about 8 times of that of the crude enzyme. The results of SDS-PAGE of the pure enzyme showed that the molecular mass of the pure enzyme was about 65 kDa/64–65 kDa, which was consistent with the expected result (64.2 kDa), It can be concluded that the crude enzyme solution was purified successfully. The results of pure enzyme’s protein identification by Western Blotting showed that clear protein bands pro-3 were observed. Molecular mass of clear protein bands pro-3 was about 65 kDa, which was in line with the expected results (64.2 kDa). It can be seen that the aforementioned expression protein could be specifically combined with His tag. It proved expression protein to be a recombinant fusion protein with 6 His tag.     

红花注射液对气虚血瘀证模型大鼠基因调控作用的研究

目的:采用基因芯片技术,分别构建气虚血瘀证大鼠和红花注射液给药处理后气虚血瘀证大鼠的差异基因表达谱,比较并分析,筛选出红花能够治疗气虚血瘀证的关键基因群,并推测其起治疗作用的基因组调控机制。方法:15只SD大鼠随机分为模型组、给药组、空白对照组。模型组和给药组采用疲劳游泳和饥饿饲养处理。造模一周后,给药组尾静脉注射红花注射液(100mg/kg/d),模型组给予相同体积生理盐水;对照组不做任何处理。造模进行两周后处死大鼠,取血检验血流变指标并评价造模情况;另抽取足够的血分离mRNA并逆转录杂交基因芯片;扫描信号分析确定受红花注射液调控的基因;并通过基因数据库查询相关基因功能,结合相关文献分析初步探讨红花作用的机制。结果:两周后经过检验和观察发现模型组大鼠在不同切率下的全血粘度增加,并且其体征表现出虚弱和瘀血的状态、体重下降,确定造模成功;给药组大鼠则相对于模型组的各项检测指标和状态有所改善,确认药物有疗效。在差异基因的比较中,空白组相对于给药组上调基因252条,下调基因54条;给药组相对于模型组上调基因196条,下调基因32条;两次差异表达基因中有16条相同基因,这些差异基因涉及到炎症损伤、免疫调节反应等方面。结论:红花注射液对于气虚血瘀证有治疗作用,在基因层次上是通过抗炎症损伤机制实现的。     

Rhodobacteraceae on the marine brown alga Fucus spiralis are abundant and show physiological adaptation to an epiphytic lifestyle

Macroalgae harbour specific microbial communities on their surface that have functions related to host health and defence. In this study, the bacterial biofilm of the marine brown alga Fucus spiralis was investigated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon-based analysis and isolation of bacteria. Rhodobacteraceae (Alphaproteobacteria) were the predominant family constituting 23% of the epibacterial community. At the genus level, Sulfitobacter, Loktanella, Octadecabacter and a previously undescribed cluster were most abundant, and together they comprised 89% of the Rhodobacteraceae. Supported by a specific PCR approach, 23 different Rhodobacteraceae-affiliated strains were isolated from the surface of F. spiralis, which belonged to 12 established and three new genera. For seven strains, closely related sequences were detected in the 16S rRNA gene dataset. Growth experiments with substrates known to be produced by Fucus spp. showed that all of them were consumed by at least three strains, and vitamin B₁₂ was produced by 70% of the isolates. Since growth of F. spiralis depends on B₁₂ supplementation, bacteria may provide the alga with this vitamin. Most strains produced siderophores, which can enhance algal growth under iron-deficient conditions. Inhibiting properties against other bacteria were only observed when F. spiralis material was present in the medium. Thus, the physiological properties of the isolates indicated adaption to an epiphytic lifestyle.