Symbiotic Bacteria in Gills and Guts of Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis) Differ from the Free-Living Bacteria in Water

Aquatic animals have a close relationship with water, but differences in their symbiotic bacteria and the bacterial composition in water remains unclear. Wild or domestic Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis) and the water in which they live were collected from four sampling sites in Jiangsu and Shanghai, China. Bacterial composition in water, gills or guts of E. sinensis, were compared by high-throughput sequencing using 16S rRNA genes. Analysis of >660,000 sequences indicated that bacterial diversity was higher in water than in gills or guts. Tenericutes and Proteobacteria were dominant phyla in guts, while Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were dominant in gills and water. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that microbiota from gills, guts or water clearly separated into three groups, suggesting that crabs harbor a more specific microbial community than the water in which they live. The dominant OTUs in crab gut were related to Mycoplasmataceae, which were low in abundance in gills, showing that, like mammals, crabs have body-site specific microbiota. OTUs related to Ilumatobacter and Albimonas, which are commonly present in sediment and seawater, were dominant in gills but almost absent from the sampled water. Considering E. sinensis are bottom-dwelling crustacean and they mate in saline water or seawater, behavior and life cycle of crabs may play an important role in shaping the symbiotic bacterial pattern. This study revealed the relationship between the symbiotic bacteria of Chinese mitten crab and their habitat, affording information on the assembly factors of commensal bacteria in aquatic animals.     

Lactic Acid Production from Pretreated Hydrolysates of Corn Stover by a Newly Developed Bacillus coagulans Strain

An inhibitor-tolerance strain, Bacillus coagulans GKN316, was developed through atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) mutation and evolution experiment in condensed dilute-acid hydrolysate (CDH) of corn stover. The fermentabilities of other hydrolysates with B. coagulans GKN316 and the parental strain B. coagulans NL01 were assessed. When using condensed acid-catalyzed steam-exploded hydrolysate (CASEH), condensed acid-catalyzed liquid hot water hydrolysate (CALH) and condensed acid-catalyzed sulfite hydrolysate (CASH) as substrates, the concentration of lactic acid reached 45.39, 16.83, and 18.71 g/L by B. coagulans GKN316, respectively. But for B. coagulans NL01, only CASEH could be directly fermented to produce 15.47 g/L lactic acid. The individual inhibitory effect of furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), vanillin, syringaldehyde and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (pHBal) on xylose utilization by B. coagulans GKN316 was also studied. The strain B. coagulans GKN316 could effectively convert these toxic inhibitors to the less toxic corresponding alcohols in situ. These results suggested that B. coagulans GKN316 was well suited to production of lactic acid from undetoxified lignocellulosic hydrolysates.     

和厚朴酚抑制耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌生物被膜形成

【目的】研究和厚朴酚(HNK)抑制MRSA生物被膜(BF)形成的作用机制。【方法】使用TTC法测定了HNK对供试菌株BF的形成和成熟BF的抑制作用;刚果红平板法定性检测了HNK对PIA合成的影响;分光光度法测定了HNK对供试菌株eDNA释放量的影响;RT-PCR技术检测了HNK对供试菌株icaA、cidA以及agrA基因表达量的影响。【结果】HNK对MRSA 41573 BF的形成和成熟BF均有较强的抑制作用,其中,HNK抑制MRSA 41573 BF形成的MIC和MBC分别为10μg/mL和20μg/mL;抑制成熟BF的MIC和MBC分别为50μg/mL和100μg/mL。当用亚抑菌浓度的HNK与万古霉素联合作用后,可显著提高成熟BF对万古霉素的敏感性。HNK能显著抑制PIA的合成,且呈浓度剂量依赖。HNK能抑制供试菌株eDNA的释放量,其中1/8 MIC的HNK作用供试菌株16 h后,与对照组相比,e DNA的释放量降低了28.3%。HNK可抑制供试菌株BF形成的相关基因,其中1/2 MIC的HNK作用供试菌株16 h后,与对照相比,icaA的表达量降低了59.1%,cidA的表达量降低了56%,agrA的表达量降低了72.3%。【结论】HNK能显著抑制MRSA 41573 BF的形成,其作用机制主要是通过抑制icaA和cidA基因表达量,影响PIA和eDNA的合成,进而抑制BF的形成。此外HNK也可通过调控细菌的QS系统影响BF的形成。     

Graphene oxide supported rhombic dodecahedral Cu2O nanocrystals for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen

In this work, a simple electrochemical immunosensor was developed for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) based on rhombic dodecahedral Cu₂O nanocrystals–graphene oxide–gold nanoparticles (rCu₂O–GO–AuNPs). GO as the template and surfactant resulting in rCu₂O exhibit improved rhombic dodecahedral structure uniformity and excellent electrochemical performance. Moreover, GO was found to be able to effectively improve the long stability of rCu₂O on the electrode response. Under optimal conditions, the immunosensor showed a low limit of detection (0.004 ng ml⁻¹) and a large linear range (0.01–120 ng ml⁻¹). This work presents a potential alternative for the diagnostic applications of GO-supported special morphology materials in biomedicine and biosensors.     

Generation of chemically induced mutations using in vitro propagated shoot tip tissues for genetic improvement of fruit trees

Mutagenesis via treatment of seeds with chemical mutagens such as ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) has been widely used for crop improvement. However, this approach is not suitable for some crop species such as clonally propagated crops and allogamous perennial plants characteristically with high levels of genome heterozygosity and a long life cycle. Here, we report direct treatment of in vitro-induced peach shoot tip tissues with EMS for generation of mutations in peach, a perennial, woody fruit tree. We optimized EMS dosage and exposure time and found that treatment of the explants with 0.2 % EMS for 16 h was optimal for generation of genetic variations. So far we have generated nearly 2000 peach seedlings. Typical EMS-induced phenotypic variations were present in the seedlings. Next generation sequencing and subsequent data analyses were performed to monitor the efficiency of mutagenesis. The mutation rate was estimated to be one mutation per 150 kilobase pairs in the mutagenized population, suggesting effectiveness of this method in inducing mutagenesis in peach. Taken together, our data open an avenue for the generation of mutant populations suitable for crop improvement in allogamous perennial plants including fruit trees and clonally propagated plants.

     

Length‐weight relationships of five fish species from the Yalong and Wujiang rivers (tributaries of Yangtze River,China)

Length‐weight relationships (LWRs) were determined for five endemic fish species from the Yalong and Wujiang rivers (tributaries of the Yangtze River, China): Folifer brevifilis (Peters, 1881), Pelteobagrus ussuriensis (Dybowski, 1872), Schistura fasciolata (Nichols & Pope, 1927), Triplophysa daqiaoensis (Ding, 1993) and Triplophysa orientalis (Herzenstein, 1888). Samples were obtained between April 2004 and July 2014 using various fishing gear (set nets, drift gill nets, fish cages, hook and electro fishing). For each specimen from each species the sample size was recorded, total length and weight were measured and the LWR determined. Further, the 95% confidence intervals of a and b, and coefficient of correlation were estimated. Prior to this study, the LWRs for these five species were unknown.     

High‐throughput multiplex cpDNA resequencing clarifies the genetic diversity and genetic relationships among Brassica napus,Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea

Brassica napus (rapeseed) is a recent allotetraploid plant and the second most important oilseed crop worldwide. The origin of B. napus and the genetic relationships with its diploid ancestor species remain largely unresolved. Here, chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) from 488 B. napus accessions of global origin, 139 B. rapa accessions and 49 B. oleracea accessions were populationally resequenced using Illumina Solexa sequencing technologies. The intraspecific cpDNA variants and their allelic frequencies were called genomewide and further validated via EcoTILLING analyses of the rpo region. The cpDNA of the current global B. napus population comprises more than 400 variants (SNPs and short InDels) and maintains one predominant haplotype (Bncp1). Whole‐genome resequencing of the cpDNA of Bncp1 haplotype eliminated its direct inheritance from any accession of the B. rapa or B. oleracea species. The distribution of the polymorphism information content (PIC) values for each variant demonstrated that B. napus has much lower cpDNA diversity than B. rapa; however, a vast majority of the wild and cultivated B. oleracea specimens appeared to share one same distinct cpDNA haplotype, in contrast to its wild C‐genome relatives. This finding suggests that the cpDNA of the three Brassica species is well differentiated. The predominant B. napus cpDNA haplotype may have originated from uninvestigated relatives or from interactions between cpDNA mutations and natural/artificial selection during speciation and evolution. These exhaustive data on variation in cpDNA would provide fundamental data for research on cpDNA and chloroplasts.