[Colonization and disease control and fruit preservation functions of endophytic bacterial strains in lychee].

By spraying the GFP-marked endophytic bacterial strains BS-2-gfp and TB2-gfp, this paper studied their colonization in lychee organs and the functions of the strains in disease control and fruit preservation. The BS-2-gfp and TB2-gfp could colonize and propagate in lychee leaves, flowers, un-matured fruits, and matured fruits, and transfer from the flowers to un-matured fruits. The colonization of BS-2-gfp and TB2-gfp in lychee leaves varied with season and growth stage, being larger in quantity and longer in duration in spring than in autumn. The colonization quantity and duration of the strains also differed in other organs. Both the BS-2-gfp and the TB2-gfp could be isolated and recovered from lychee leaves after 37 d inoculation, the BS-2-gfp could not be isolated from the flowers after inoculation for 10 d, and the BS-2-gfp and TB2-gfp had the largest colonization quantity in matured fruits. The colonization quantity of TB2-gfp in lychee pericarp reached to the maximum (1.90 x 10(6) CFU x g(-1) FM) when the disease index of litchi downy blight had a sharp increase, and, compared with BS-2-gfp, the TB2-gfp had better fruit preservation efficiency, and its colonization quantity in lychee pericarp was also higher. It was suggested that there was a positive correlation between the colonization quantity of test bacterial strains in lychee pericarp and the disease control and fruit preservation effect.

Isolation of GPD promoter from Tremella fuciformis and driving expression of EGFP gene.

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) cDNA was cloned by RT-PCR using total RNA from Tremella fuciformis as template with a pair of degenerate primers. Then, a 500-bp 5'-upstream promoter region of the gene encoding GPD from T. fuciformis genomic DNA was isolated by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR. The cloned promoter was fused to 5'-upstream of enhanced green fluorescent protein gene to construct T. fuciformis expression vector pCB-TEGFP with hygromycin gene as a selectable marker. Electroporation was performed to transfer plasmid DNA of pCB-TEGFP into yeast-like conidia from T. fuciformis. Molecular evidence, including PCR analysis, fluorescence detection, fluorescence spectra assay, and SDS-PAGE, indicated that the EGFP gene had been integrated into the genome of transgenic T. fuciformis strains and was expressed successfully. The results also showed that this promoter could be used to carry out regulated expression of heterologous gene products in T. fuciformis.

[Isolation and identification of a bacterial strain JS018 capable of degrading several kinds of organophosphate pesticides].

Organophosphate pesticides are used widely all over the world and play an important role in plant pest control. However these pesticides are considered as pollutants and harmful to human health. To search for microorganisms that can degrade organophosphate pesticides with high efficiency, a bacterial strain, coded as JS018, was isolated and screened from the soil in the vicinity of Shanming Pesticides Factory, Shanming, Fujian. Laboratory tests showed that the bacterium could degrade several kinds of organophosphate pesticides, such as Parathion-methyl and phoxin. The strain's degrading rates on phoxin, Parathion-methyl, hostathion and dichlorvos in LB liquid fermentation medium for 36 h were 99%, 96%, 80.4% and 69.0% respectively. The bacterial colonies on LB plate appeared shiny and pale-pink in color. The bacteria were Gram-negative coccoids, 0.5 - 0.7 microm in diameter. They grew well at 30 - 38 degrees C and pH 7.0 - 9.0. The optimal temperature and pH for cell growth was 32 degrees C and pH 7.5 - 8.0, respectively. They did not grow in medium containing 6% or more NaCl. The antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that the strain was resistant to ampicillin, penicillin and lincomycin. It was sensitive to kanamycin, tetracycline and gentamicin. Laboratory tests also showed that the strain could ferment D-glucose, trehalose, melezitose and ethanol. It was negative in the production of indole and hydrogen sulfide. It could not liquefy gelatin, utilize citrate, nor ferment L-arabinose, sucrose, D-mannitol, D-xylose, fructose, D-galactose, maltose or lactose. The catalase, urease and nitrate reduction were positive. Based on its morphological, physiological and biochemical properties as well as the 16S rDNA sequence analysis result, the strain was tentatively identified as Roseomonas sp.