Thermal Annealing Effect on Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering of Gold Films Deposited on Liquid Substrates.

We prepare metal films with various thicknesses on liquid substrates by thermal evaporation and investigate the annealing effect on these films. Gold films deposited on a silicone oil surface consist of a large number of branched aggregates, which contains plenty of gold nanoparticles. This characteristic morphology is mainly attributed to the isotropic and free-sustained liquid substrate. Thermal annealing results in the reintegration of nanoparticles; thus, the surface morphology and microstructure of gold films change significantly. The dependence of annealing conditions on the surface-enhanced Raman scattering performance of gold films is studied, in which gold films show favorable Raman activity when annealed at certain annealing temperature and the experimental results are verified by simulation analysis. The study on the optimal annealing temperature of surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate will pave the way for the potential application of films deposited on liquid surfaces in microfluidics and enhanced Raman detection.

Antifungal effect and mechanism of garlic oil on Penicillium funiculosum.

Garlic oil is a kind of fungicide, but little is known about its antifungal effects and mechanism. In this study, the chemical constituents, antifungal activity, and effects of garlic oil were studied with Penicillium funiculosum as a model strain. Results showed that the minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs, v/v) were 0.125 and 0.0313 % in agar medium and broth medium, respectively, suggesting that the garlic oil had a strong antifungal activity. The main ingredients of garlic oil were identified as sulfides, mainly including disulfides (36 %), trisulfides (32 %) and monosulfides (29 %) by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MS), which were estimated as the dominant antifungal factors. The observation results by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicated that garlic oil could firstly penetrate into hyphae cells and even their organelles, and then destroy the cellular structure, finally leading to the leakage of both cytoplasm and macromolecules. Further proteomic analysis displayed garlic oil was able to induce a stimulated or weakened expression of some key proteins for physiological metabolism. Therefore, our study proved that garlic oil can work multiple sites of the hyphae of P. funiculosum to cause their death. The high antifungal effects of garlic oil makes it a broad application prospect in antifungal industries.

Efficacy of metal ions and isothiazolones in inhibiting Enterobacter cloacae BF-17 biofilm formation.

Enterobacter cloacae is a nosocomial pathogen. The E. cloacae strain BF-17, with a high capacity for biofilm formation, was screened and identified from industrially contaminated samples, carried out in our laboratory. To develop an efficient strategy to deal with biofilms, we investigated the effects of metal ions, including Na⁺, K⁺, Ca⁺, Mg⁺, Cu⁺, and Mn⁺, and 3 isothiazolones, on elimination of E. cloacae BF-17 biofilm formation by using a 0.1% crystal violet staining method. The results revealed that higher concentrations of Na⁺ or K⁺ significantly inhibited E. cloacae BF-17 biofilm development. Meanwhile, Ca²âº and Mn²âº stimulated biofilm formation at low concentration but exhibited a negative effect at high concentration. Moreover, biofilm formation decreased with increasing concentration of Mg²âº and Cu²âº. The isothiazolones Kathon (14%), 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one (11%), and 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (10%) stimulated initial biofilm formation but not planktonic growth at low concentrations and displayed inhibitory effects on both biofilm formation and planktonic growth at higher concentrations. Unfortunately, the 3 isothiazolones exerted negligible effects on preformed or fully mature biofilms. Our findings suggest that Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²âº, and isothiazolones could be used to prevent and eliminate E. cloacae BF-17 biofilms.

Involvement of outer membrane proteins and peroxide-sensor genes in Burkholderia cepacia resistance to isothiazolone.

Isothiazolones are used as preservatives in various modern industrial products. Although microorganisms that exhibit resistance towards these biocides have been identified, the underlying resistance mechanisms are still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the resistance properties of the following Burkholderia cepacia strains to Kathon (a representative of isothiazolones): a wild-type (WT) strain; a laboratory resistance strain (BC-IR) induced from WT; and an isolated strain (BC-327) screened from industrial contamination samples. The bacterial cell structure was disrupted by 50 µg ml⁻¹ Kathon treatment. BC-IR and BC-327 did not display resistance in the presence of 1 ml L⁻¹ Tween 80, 1 ml L⁻¹ Triton X-100, 0.1 % sodium dodecyl sulfate or 1 mmol L⁻¹ EDTA-2Na. Additionally, BC-IR and BC-327 exhibited lower relative conductivity from 10 to 180 min. The types as well as the levels of outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) were altered among WT, BC-IR and BC-327. Finally, the two Kathon-resistance strains BC-IR and BC-327 presented higher resistance capacity to H2O2. We measured the levels of peroxide-sensor genes and observed that the transcriptional activator oxyR, superoxide dismutase sod1, sod2, catalase cat1 and cat3 were all up-regulated under oxidative conditions for all strains. Taken together, OMPs and peroxide-sensor genes in B. cepacia contributed to isothiazolone resistance; However, the laboratory strain BC-IR exhibited a different resistance mechanism and properties compared to the isolated strain BC-327.

Synthesis and photocatalytic property of Au-TiO2 nanocomposites with controlled morphologies in microfluidic chips.

We present an efficient approach for the consecutive synthesis of Au-TiO2 nanocomposites with controlled morphologies in a microfluidic chip. The seed-mediated growth method was employed to synthesize Au nanorods as the core, and TiO2 layers of varying thicknesses were deposited on the surface or tip of the Au nanorods. Au-TiO2 nanocomposites with core-shell, dumbbell, and dandelion-like structures can be precisely synthesized in a one-step manner within the microfluidic chip by finely tuning the flow rate of NaHCO3 and the amount of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. Furthermore, we have investigated the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposites, and it was found that Au NR-TiO2 core-shell nanostructure with a thin TiO2 shell exhibits superior catalytic performance. This work provides an effective and controlled method for the microscale preparation and photocatalytic application of various Au-TiO2 nanocomposite structures.

Antifungal effects of citronella oil against Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404.

Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids obtained from some aromatic plant materials. Certain essential oils such as citronella oil contain antifungal activity, but the antifungal effect is still unknown. In this study, we explored the antifungal effect of citronella oil with Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404. The antifungal activity of citronella oil on conidia of A. niger was determined by poisoned food technique, broth dilution method, and disc volatility method. Experimental results indicated that the citronella oil has strong antifungal activity: 0.125 (v/v) and 0.25 % (v/v) citronella oil inhibited the growth of 5 × 105 spore/ml conidia separately for 7 and 28 days while 0.5 % (v/v) citronella oil could completely kill the conidia of 5 × 105 spore/ml. Moreover, the fungicidal kinetic curves revealed that more than 90 % conidia (initial concentration is 5 × 105 spore/ml) were killed in all the treatments with 0.125 to 2 % citronella oil after 24 h. Furthermore, with increase of citronella oil concentration and treatment time, the antifungal activity was increased correspondingly. The 0.5 % (v/v) concentration of citronella oil was a threshold to kill the conidia thoroughly. The surviving conidia treated with 0.5 to 2 % citronella oil decreased by an order of magnitude every day, and no fungus survived after 10 days. With light microscope, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope, we found that citronella oil could lead to irreversible alteration of the hyphae and conidia. Based on our observation, we hypothesized that the citronella oil destroyed the cell wall of the A. niger hyphae, passed through the cell membrane, penetrated into the cytoplasm, and acted on the main organelles. Subsequently, the hyphae was collapsed and squashed due to large cytoplasm loss, and the organelles were severely destroyed. Similarly, citronella oil could lead to the rupture of hard cell wall and then act on the sporoplasm to kill the conidia. Nevertheless, the citronella oil provides a potential of being a safe and environmentally friendly fungicide in the future.

Antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles on Staphylococcus aureus.

The antibacterial activity and mechanism of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P were investigated in this study. The experiment results showed the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of Ag-NPs to S. aureus was 20 µg/ml. Moreover, when bacteria cells were exposed to 50 µg/ml Ag-NPs for 6 h, the cell DNA was condensed to a tension state and could have lost their replicating abilities. When S. aureus cells were exposed to 50 µg/ml Ag-NPs for 12 h, the cell wall was breakdown, resulting in the release of the cellular contents into the surrounding environments, and finally became collapsed. And Ag-NPs could reduce the enzymatic activity of respiratory chain dehydrogenase. Furthermore, the proteomic analysis showed that the expression abundance of some proteins was changed in the treated bacterial cell with Ag-NPs, formate acetyltransferase increased 5.3-fold in expression abundance, aerobic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase decreased 6.5-fold, ABC transporter ATP-binding protein decreased 6.2-fold, and recombinase A protein decreased 4.9-fold.

Antibacterial activity and mechanism of silver nanoparticles on Escherichia coli.

The antibacterial activity and acting mechanism of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) on Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 were investigated in this study by analyzing the growth, permeability, and morphology of the bacterial cells following treatment with SNPs. The experimental results indicated 10 microg/ml SNPs could completely inhibit the growth of 10(7) cfu/ml E. coli cells in liquid Mueller-Hinton medium. Meanwhile, SNPs resulted in the leakage of reducing sugars and proteins and induced the respiratory chain dehydrogenases into inactive state, suggesting that SNPs were able to destroy the permeability of the bacterial membranes. When the cells of E. coli were exposed to 50 microg/ml SNPs, many pits and gaps were observed in bacterial cells by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and the cell membrane was fragmentary, indicating the bacterial cells were damaged severely. After being exposed to 10 microg/ml SNPs, the membrane vesicles were dissolved and dispersed, and their membrane components became disorganized and scattered from their original ordered and close arrangement based on TEM observation. In conclusion, the combined results suggested that SNPs may damage the structure of bacterial cell membrane and depress the activity of some membranous enzymes, which cause E. coli bacteria to die eventually.

[Progress in oxyR regulon- the bacterial antioxidant defense system--a review].

The bacterial antioxidant defense system, including oxyR; soxRS; perR and ohrR, is employed to cope with oxidative stress induced by respiration or environmental assaults. oxyR, encompasses the gene encoding OxyR and some other genes and operons regulated by it, has captured the highest attention among these regulons. To date, members of oxyR regulon have been confirmed to participate in many physiological processes including antioxidant defense, repression of spontaneous mutagenesis, virulence, iron metabolism and out membrane protein phase-variation. Though controversy still exists among researchers, molecular mechanism of transcription regulation by OxyR has been intensively investigated in Escherichia coli. The diverse physiological processes participated by oxyR regulon have facilitated its applied research, such as screening for mutagens and dealing with antimicrobial resistance problems frequently occurring in industrial plants. This paper reviewed the recent progress of oxyR regulon, focusing on members regulated; physiological processes participated; mechanics and factors affected its transcription regulation activity, in order to bring some insights to further investigation of antimicrobial resistance and mutagens screening.

[Quantitative competitive RT-PCR and quantitative detection of Escheriia coli acrA-mRNA].

A Quantitative detection assay of acrA-mRNA of Escherichia coli ATCC25922 was developed by Quantitative Competitive RT-PCR. Target Standard(TS) which was same as target-templete acrA was amplified by PCR with P1 and P2 as primers. Internal Standard (IS) which was shorter 68 bp then target-templete acrA was amplified by temperature-gradient-PCR with P1 and P3P2 as primers, whose annealing temperatures ranged from 55-65 degrees C, and the most suitable annealing temperature was acquired at 56 degrees C. Both TS and IS were largely amplified by PCR as above and extracted to store. Co-amplification with both TS and IS as templetes was optimized by temperature-gradient-PCR with P1 and P2 as primers, whose annealing temperatures were ranged from 55-65 degrees C, and then the most suitable annealing temperature was also acquired at 56 degrees C. Then co-amplification optimized as above was did again but with both cDNA of Escherichia coli (with target-templete acrA-cDNA copies unknown) and IS (10-fold serial dilution, and with IS copies known) as templates. The electrophoresis bands were photographed and analysed with UVI band and each band area was acquired, then linear regression analysis was did with SPSS ll.5 and CurveExpert l.3 and a competitive curve was drawn as y = -0.345 + 0.097x. Results revealed that the two kinds of product electrophoresis bands of co-amplification, whose templates were both 10-fold diluted IS and cDNA, could be distinguished clearly in 1.5% agarose gel because of 68bp discrepancy, and showed lighteness dimming gradually with IS copies 10-fold diluting. With the competitive curve, the copies of acrA-mRNA in sample could be counted accurately and easily.

[Cloning, expression and characterization of a new hybrid AMP gene of Hex-Mag].

To enhance the antibacterial ability of Magaininl-12, its N side was joined with an alkaline peptide named Hexapeptide( RRWQWR), which would make Magaininl-12 cling to the membrane of bacterial cells even tighter. According to the partiality codon of Pichia pastoris, a new hybrid antibacterial peptide Hex-Mag was designed based on the sequence of Hexapeptide and Magainin( 1-12). Synthesized through gene splicing by overlap extension, the hybrid gene was cloned into pPIC9 to construct the expression vector pPIC9-HM. After restriction enzyme analysis and purification, the pPIC9-HM was transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115. And the positive clones screened by the phenotype were induced by methanol. After optimized the requirements for the flask-shaking culture fermentation, the hybrid antibacterial peptide was expressed on high level. The new peptide, which has a weight of 2.3kDa, could remain its inhibition activity after treating for more than 3 hours in boiled water. Detected by agrose diffusion assay, Hex-Mag showed its broad-spectrum antibacterial abilities not only to Gram-negative bacteria but also to Gram-positive bacteria. The function of additive positive charges were testified by the antibacterial experiments, and the results showed the activity of Hex-Mag was stronger than that of Magainin1-12 obviously.

Insights into Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027 resistance to isothiazolones through proteomics.

Although many explanations have been proposed for drug resistance to isothiazolones, the scope of cellular and physiological changes associated with this resistance remains unclear. In this study, comparative proteomic profiles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027 (WT) and an induced strain of Pa-R, which showed resistance to Kathon (a type of isothiazolone), were characterized using two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. The results showed that a total of 16 proteins were successfully identified, among which 5 proteins were upregulated and 11 proteins were found to be repressed in Pa-R. At the same time, there were 14 proteins that contributed to metabolic processes, 1 protein (ATP-binding component of ATP-binding cassette [ABC] transporter) was the cellular component, and 1 protein (LolA) exhibited a transporter activity. The respective gene expression patterns of all the identified proteins in both Pa-R and WT were also evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and shown to consistently correlate with those deduced from the proteomic results. Moreover, the resistant levels of Pa-R and WT could be affected by temperature and pH. Additionally, Pa-R exhibited coresistance and cross-resistance to other types of antimicrobial agents. Our results suggest that the resistant levels of P. aeruginosa to isothiazolones could be affected by extracellular factors and the resistance features are a complex system.

Antibacterial activity and kinetics of Litsea cubeba oil on Escherichia coli.

Litsea cubeba oil is extracted from the fresh fruits of Litsea cubeba by distillation. In this study, its chemical constituents, antibacterial activity, kinetics and effects against Escherichia coli were studied. Its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were both 0.125% (v/v) by toxic food method. Moreover, the antibacterial kinetic curves indicated 0.0625% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil was able to prolong the growth lag phase of E. coli cells to approximate 12 hours while 0.125% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil was able to kill the cells completely. Furthermore, transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation showed most E. coli cells treated with 0.125% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil were killed or destroyed severely within 2 hours. The litsea cubeba oil might penetrate and destroy the outer and inner membrane of E. coli cells. Thus many holes and gaps were observed on the damaged cells, which led to their death eventually. The antibacterial effects of litsea cubeba oil mainly attributed to the presence of aldehydes, which accounted for approximately 70% in its whole components analyzed by GC/MS. Based on the antimicrobial properties, litsea cubeba oil would have a broad application in the antimicrobial industry.

Effects of nutritional and environmental conditions on planktonic growth and biofilm formation of Citrobacter werkmanii BF-6.

Citrobacter sp. is a cause of significant opportunistic nosocomial infection and is frequently found in human and animal feces, soil, and sewage water, and even in industrial waste or putrefaction. Biofilm formation is an important virulence trait of Citrobacter sp. pathogens but the process and characteristics of this formation are unclear. Therefore, we employed in vitro assays to study the nutritional and environmental parameters that might influence biofilm formation of C. werkmanii BF-6 using 96-well microtiter plates. In addition, we detected the relative transcript levels of biofilm formation genes by RT-PCR. Our results indicated that the capacity of C. werkmanii BF-6 to form biofilms was affected by culture temperature, media, time, pH, and the osmotic agents glucose, sucrose, NaCl, and KCl. Confocal laser scanning microscopy results illustrated that the structure of biofilms and extracellular polysaccharide was influenced by 100 mM NaCl or 100 mM KCl. In addition, nine biofilm formation genes (bsmA, bssR, bssS, csgD, csgE, csgF, mrkA, mrkB, and mrkE) were found to contribute to planktonic and biofilm growth. Our data suggest that biofilm formation by C. werkmanii BF-6 is affected by nutritional and environmental factors, which could pave the way to the prevention and elimination of biofilm formation using proper strategies.

[H2O2 induces changes in the plasma membrane of Saccharomyces cerevisiae].

This article reviews the recent studies on H2O2 adaptation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. When the cell exposed in the H2O2 sub-lethal doses, the plasma membrane permeability decreased, meanwhile the plasma membrane fluidity is minished. These changes resulted in a gradient across the plasma membrane, which conferring a higher resistance to oxidative stress. Recent work has also shown that the yeast cells adapted to H2O2 would lead to several changes in the expression of genes coding the key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of lipid profile and in the organization of lipid microdomains of the plasma membrane, which finally decreased its' permeability and fluidity. The reorganization of the plasma membrane might be the major mechanism of the H2O2 adaptation. Once the yeast cells adapted to the external H2O2, changes in plasma occurred. The H2O2 dependent signaling pathways in the plasma membrane might be activated by high levels of H2O2. But the details of the signaling events should still be further studies.