Sedum plumbizincicola X.H. Guo et S.B. Zhou ex L.H. Wu (Crassulaceae): a new species from Zhejiang Province, China

Sedum plumbizincicola X.H. Guo et S.B. Zhou ex L.H. Wu (Crassulaceae), a new species restricted to lead–zinc mining areas in Zhejiang Province, China, is described and illustrated. This taxon belongs to sect. Sedum (H. Ohba) S.H. Fu based on the adaxially gibbous carpels and follicles. It superficially resembles S. alfredii Hance and three other Sedum species found in the same area, but differs from these other taxa in bearing 4-merous flowers. Differences in geographical distribution, growth habit, phenology, macromorphology, leaf and stem anatomy, as well as seed micromorphology among S. plumbizincicola, S. alfredii and other related taxa in the genus Sedum are also reported. nrDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequences from seven populations of S. plumbizincicola support the recognition of this as a taxonomic entity distinct from S. alfredii.     

Isolation and partial characterization of a bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus plantarum BM‐1 isolated from a traditionally fermented Chinese meat product

Lactobacillus plantarum BM‐1 isolated from a traditionally fermented Chinese meat product was found to produce a novel bacteriocin that is active against a wide range of gram‐positive and gram‐negative bacteria. Production of the bacteriocin BM‐1 started early in the exponential phase and its maximum activity (5120 AU/mL) was recorded early during the stationary phase (16 hr). Bacteriocin BM‐1 is sensitive to proteolytic enzymes but stable in the pH range of 2.0–10.0 and heat‐resistant (15 min at 121°C). This bacteriocin was purified through pH‐mediated cell adsorption–desorption and cation‐exchange chromatography on an SP Sepharose Fast Flow column. The molecular weight of the purified bacteriocin BM‐1 was determined to be 4638.142 Da by electrospray ionization Fourier transform mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the N‐terminal amino acid sequence was obtained through automated Edman degradation and found to comprise the following 15 amino acid residues: H₂N‐Lys‐Tyr‐Tyr‐Gly‐Asn‐Gly‐Val‐Tyr‐Val‐Gly‐Lys‐His‐Ser‐Cys‐Ser. Comparison of this sequence with that of other bacteriocins revealed that bacteriocin BM‐1 contains the consensus YGNGV amino acid motif near the N‐terminus. Based on its physicochemical characteristics, molecular weight, and N‐terminal amino acid sequence, plantaricin BM‐1 is a novel class IIa bacteriocin.     

水稻Rop基因OsRac5表达特性

Rop在植物生长、发育、免疫及环境信号应答等多种生物学过程中具有重要作用。已有研究显示水稻Rop基因OsRac5可能与育性控制有关,但是该基因的表达特性,以及非生物胁迫和植物生长物质对其表达的影响尚不清楚。本文采用qRT-PCR技术检测了OsRac5在水稻生长发育过程中、非生物胁迫以及植物生长物质处理条件下的表达特性,结果显示OsRac5在水稻生长发育过程中在多种组织广泛表达,尤其在根和雌雄蕊形成期的幼穗中高表达;干旱、高盐和低温等非生物胁迫均能诱导OsRac5表达;ABA、GAs、6-BA等植物生长物质能上调OsRac5基因表达,提示该基因与水稻幼穗发育、抗逆性及细胞生长等过程相关。     

Structural and functional analyses of catalytic domain of GH10 xylanase from Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum JW/SL‐YS485

Xylanases are capable of decomposing xylans, the major components in plant cell wall, and releasing the constituent sugars for further applications. Because xylanase is widely used in various manufacturing processes, high specific activity, and thermostability are desirable. Here, the wild‐type and mutant (E146A and E251A) catalytic domain of xylanase from Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum JW/SL‐YS485 (TsXylA) were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified subsequently. The recombinant protein showed optimal temperature and pH of 75°C and 6.5, respectively, and it remained fully active even after heat treatment at 75°C for 1 h. Furthermore, the crystal structures of apo‐form wild‐type TsXylA and the xylobiose‐, xylotriose‐, and xylotetraose‐bound E146A and E251A mutants were solved by X‐ray diffraction to high resolution (1.32–1.66 Å). The protein forms a classic (β/α)₈ folding of typical GH10 xylanases. The ligands in substrate‐binding groove as well as the interactions between sugars and active‐site residues were clearly elucidated by analyzing the complex structures. According to the structural analyses, TsXylA utilizes a double displacement catalytic machinery to carry out the enzymatic reactions. In conclusion, TsXylA is effective under industrially favored conditions, and our findings provide fundamental knowledge which may contribute to further enhancement of the enzyme performance through molecular engineering. Proteins 2013; 81:1256–1265. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

3D HUMAN MOTION RETRIEVAL BASED ON HUMAN HIERARCHICAL INDEX STRUCTURE

With the development and wide application of motion capture technology, the captured motion data sets are becoming larger and larger. For this reason, an efficient retrieval method for the motion database is very important. The retrieval method needs an appropriate indexing scheme and an effective similarity measure that can organize the existing motion data well. In this paper, we represent a human motion hierarchical index structure and adopt a nonlinear method to segment motion sequences. Based on this, we extract motion patterns and then we employ a fast similarity measure algorithm for motion pattern similarity computation to efficiently retrieve motion sequences. The experiment results show that the approach proposed in our paper is effective and efficient.     

Influence of solids retention time on membrane fouling: characterization of extracellular polymeric substances and soluble microbial products

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of solids retention time (SRT) on membrane fouling and the characteristics of biomacromolecules. Four identical laboratory-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) were operated with SRTs for 10, 20, 40 and 80 days. The results indicated that membrane fouling occurred faster and more readily under short SRTs. Fouling resistance was the primary source of filtration resistance. The modified fouling index (MFI) results suggested that the more ready fouling at short SRTs could be attributed to higher concentrations of soluble microbial products (SMP). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra indicated that the SRT had a weak influence on the functional groups of the total extracellular polymeric substances (TEPS) and SMP. However, the MBR under a short SRT had more low-molecular-weight (MW) compounds (<1 kDa) and fewer high-MW compounds (>100 kDa). Aromatic protein and tryptophan protein-like substances were the dominant groups in the TEPS and SMP, respectively.     

Molecular dynamics study on perfect and defective graphene/calcium-silicate-hydrate composites under tensile loading

ABSTRACT

Atomic models of graphene/calcium-silicate-hydrate (G/C-S-H) are constructed by embedding perfect or defective graphene in molecular structures of amorphous C-S-H. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is utilised to study mechanical properties of the G/C-S-H and the enhancing effect of perfect and defective graphene is compared. The effects of temperature and strain rate on perfect and defective G/C-S-H are also investigated and compared. The results from present simulations show that (i) the defective graphene has better enhancing effect in C-S-H than perfect one and it grows with the increase of defect sizes; (ii) the tensile strength of G/C-S-H decreases with the increase of temperature and the defective G/C-S-H is more susceptible to temperature than the perfect one; (iii) the ultimate strength and the failure strain increase significantly with the increase of strain rate and the effects of strain rate on perfect and defective G/C-S-H are similar. These findings provide important atomic insights for understanding the mechanical behaviours of G/C-S-H composite.