黄曲霉毒素氧化酶/壳聚糖-单壁碳纳米管/聚邻苯二胺修饰电极对杂色曲霉素的检测

将黄曲霉毒素氧化酶(AFO)固定在壳聚糖(CS)-单壁碳纳米管(SWCNTs)杂交膜中,组装在聚邻苯二胺(POPD)修饰的金电极(Au)表面,制备了对杂色曲霉素(ST)敏感的生物传感器(AFO/CS-SWCNTs/POPD/Au)。运用原子力显微镜(AFM)、傅立叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR)和交流阻抗技术(EIS)对电极组装过程进行了表征。循环伏安法研究表明,AFO在修饰电极上发生了准可逆的氧化还原反应,是表面控制过程,其式量电位为-0.436V(vs.Ag/AgCl),说明包埋在CS-SWCNTs中的AFO和电极之间发生了直接电子传递。AFO修饰电极对ST具有明显的电催化作用,其表观米氏常数appKM为7.13μmol/L,催化电流与ST浓度在10～310ng/mL范围内呈线性关系,相关系数为0.997,检出限为3ng/mL(S/N=3),响应时间小于10s。组装的生物传感器具有较好的稳定性与重现性,连续检测20ng/mL的ST标准溶液11次,电流值RSD为3.9%;放置一个月后,其电流响应值仍为初始值的85.6%。该方法具有较高的选择性和灵敏度,应用于实际样品检测时,其回收率在87.6%～105.5%之间...     

Switching of the Bacterial Flagellar Motor Near Zero Load

Flagellated bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, are able to swim up gradients of chemical attractants by modulating the direction of rotation of their flagellar motors, which spin alternately clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW). Chemotactic behavior has been studied under a variety of conditions, mostly at high loads (at large motor torques). Here, we examine motor switching at low loads. Nano-gold spheres of various sizes were attached to hooks (the flexible coupling at the base of the flagellar filament) of cells lacking flagellar filaments in media containing different concentrations of the viscous agent Ficoll. The speeds and directions of rotation of the spheres were measured. Contrary to the case at high loads, motor switching rates increased appreciably with load. Both the CW → CCW and CCW → CW switching rates increased linearly with motor torque. Evidently, the switch senses stator-rotor interactions as well as the CheY-P concentration.     

Retinoic acid effects on thyroid function of female rats

AimsRetinoic acid is widely used in dermatological treatment and thyroid cancer management; however its possible side-effects on normal thyroid function remains unknown. We aimed to determine the effects of retinoic acid on thyroid function of adult female rats.Main methodsFemale Wistar rats were treated with all-trans-retinoic acid and 13-cis retinoic acid for 14 and 28 days. Then, rats were killed and thyroid function was evaluated.Key findingsSerum T4 and thyrotropin levels remained unchanged, while serum T3 increased in animals treated with all-trans-retinoic acid for 14 days. No changes were observed in hepatic or renal type 1 iodothyronine deiodinase (D1) activities, while thyroid D1 was higher in animals treated for 14 days with all-trans-retinoic acid, which could be related to the increased serum T3 levels. 13-cis retinoic acid increased thyroid iodide uptake after 28 days. These results show effects of retinoic acid treatment on these thyroid proteins: sodium/iodide symporter and deiodinase.SignificanceRetinoic acid is able to interfere with normal thyroid function, increasing thyroid type 1 deiodinase activity, serum T3 levels and sodium/iodide symporter function. However, the effects are time- and retinoic acid isomer-dependent. Since serum thyrotropin levels did not change in any group, the effects observed are probably mediated by a direct retinoic acid effect on the normal thyroid.     

Immunoproteomic analysis of outer membrane proteins and extracellular proteins of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae JL03 serotype 3

Background  

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the causative agent of porcine contagious pleuropneumonia, a highly contagious respiratory infection in pigs, and all the 15 serotypes are able to cause disease. Current vaccines including subunit vaccines could not provide satisfactory protection against A. pleuropneumoniae. In this study, the immunoproteomic approach was applied to the analysis of extracellular and outer membrane proteins of A. pleuropneumoniae JL03 serotype 3 for the identification of novel immunogenic proteins for A. pleuropneumoniae.     

Over-expression of OsAGAP, an ARF-GAP, interferes with auxin influx, vesicle trafficking and root development

Development and organogenesis in both dicot and monocot plants are highly dependent on polar auxin transport (PAT), which requires the proper asymmetric localization of both auxin influx and efflux carriers. In the model dicot plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the trafficking and localization of auxin efflux facilitators such as PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1) are mediated by GNOM, a guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTPases, but molecular regulators of the auxin influx facilitators remain unknown. Here, we show that over-expression of OsAGAP, an ARF-GTPase-activating protein (ARF-GAP) in rice, impaired PAT and interfered with both primary and lateral root development. The lateral root phenotype could be rescued by the membrane-permeable auxin 1-naphthyl acetic acid, but not by indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) or by 2,4-dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid, which require influx facilitators to enter the cells. OsAGAP-over-expressing plants had alterations in vesicle trafficking and localization of the presumptive A. thaliana auxin-influx carrier AUX1, but not in the localization of the auxin efflux facilitators. Together, our data suggest that OsAGAP has a specific role in regulating vesicle trafficking pathways such as the auxin influx pathway, which in turn controls auxin-dependent root growth in plants.     

Climatic‐niche evolution with key morphological innovations across clades within Scutiger boulengeri (Anura: Megophryidae)

The studies of climatic‐niche shifts over evolutionary time accompanied by key morphological innovations have attracted the interest of many researchers recently. We applied ecological niche models (ENMs), ordination method (environment principal component analyses; PCA‐env), combined phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs), and phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) regression methods to analyze the realized niche dynamics and correspondingly key morphological innovations across clades within Scutiger boulengeri throughout their distributions in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) margins of China. Our results show there are six clades in S. boulengeri and obvious niche divergences caused by niche expansion in three clades. Moreover, in our system, niche expansion is more popular than niche unfilling into novel environmental conditions. Annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and precipitation of driest month may contribute to such a shift. In addition, we identified several key climatic factors and morphological traits that tend to be associated with niche expansion in S. boulengeri clades correspondingly. We found phenotypic plasticity [i.e., length of lower arm and hand (LAHL), hind‐limb length (HLL), and foot length (FL)] and evolutionary changes [i.e., snout–vent length (SVL)] may together contribute to niche expansion toward adapting novel niche, which provides us a potential pattern of how a colonizing toad might seed a novel habitat to begin the process of speciation and finally adaptive radiation. For these reasons, persistent phylogeographic divisions and accompanying divergences in niche occupancy and morphological adaption suggest that for future studies, distinct genetic structure and morphological changes corresponding to each genetic clade should be included in modeling niche evolution dynamics, but not just constructed at the species level.     

华南地区瓜类疫霉对甲霜灵的田间抗药性

【目的】了解华南地区瓜类疫霉(Phytophthora melonis)对甲霜灵的田间抗药性。【方法】2007-2010年从广西、广东两省(区)9个市冬瓜和黄瓜产区采集疫病样品,分离纯化瓜类疫霉,分别采用菌落生长速率法和叶盘漂浮法测定瓜类疫霉对甲霜灵的敏感性,并用药剂驯化方法从敏感性菌株诱导瓜类疫霉抗甲霜灵突变体。【结果】从9个市24个样点共分离纯化获得193株瓜类疫霉,抗药性检测结果表明,敏感菌株、中等抗性菌株和抗性菌株分别占测试菌株的29.0%、18.1%和52.8%;不同地区、不同寄主分离的菌株的抗性频率和抗性水平差异较大,来源于广东的菌株抗性频率和抗性水平一般高于来源广西的菌株,分离自黄瓜的菌株高于分离自冬瓜的菌株,大部分样点抗性菌株占据优势群体,个别菌株的抗性指数高达4226.9,叶盘漂浮法测定结果和菌落生长速率法相似;在含药平板上对敏感菌株进行甲霜灵抗性诱导结果表明,从60%的敏感菌株中成功诱导出对甲霜灵抗性稳定的突变体,突变体的抗性水平为敏感性亲本的189-407倍;9株来源于未施用过甲霜灵等苯基酰胺类杀菌剂样点的菌株均为敏感性菌株,其EC50值为0.0429-0.5461μg/mL,将它们EC50的平均值0.3200±0.1617μg/mL确定为华南地区瓜类疫霉对甲霜灵的敏感性基线;对两个样点的监测结果表明,瓜类疫霉抗甲霜灵菌株的频率及抗性指数有逐年增高趋势。【结论】华南广西和广东两省(区)瓜类疫霉对甲霜灵抗性普遍发生,瓜类疫霉对甲霜灵抗药性产生与其和药剂的接触密切相关。瓜类疫霉敏感性基线的建立,可为今后瓜类疫霉抗甲霜灵的评价和进一步监测提供科学依据。     

Efficient conversion of d-glucose into d-sorbitol over MCM-41 supported Ru catalyst prepared by a formaldehyde reduction process

Ru/MCM-41 catalyst prepared by an impregnation-formaldehyde reduction method showed higher catalytic activity and sorbitol selectivity than other catalysts in the hydrogenation of glucose. SEM and XRD indicated the partial surface properties of Ru/MCM-41. Moreover, Ru dispersion and Ru surface area of Ru/MCM-41 were determined by pulse chemisorption, and the result further proved that Ru/MCM-41 had higher catalytic activity. A catalyst recycling experiment demonstrated that Ru/MCM-41 was a better catalyst and it could be reused three or four times. A speculated mechanism was proposed to illustrate the detailed process of d-glucose hydrogenation to produce sorbitol.