Layered hybrid PAM-DMT for IM/DD OWC systems.

Traditional pulse-amplitude-modulated discrete multitone modulation (PAM-DMT) suffers from poor overall performance of spectral and power efficiencies in optical wireless communication (OWC) systems. We propose layered hybrid PAM-DMT (LHPAM-DMT) to utilize more subcarriers to improve the performance. The real part of frequency domain signal is divided into several layers and symmetry biases are added in time domain to generate real-valued and nonnegative signals for intensity modulation with direct detection (IM/DD) OWC systems. By appropriately designing the orthogonality between the signals in lower layers and signals & added biases in higher layers, we further propose an iterative receiver to recover the transmitted information. Theoretical derivation proves that LHPAM-DMT has higher spectral efficiency than PAM-DMT and lower complexity than layered PAM-DMT. Numerical results suggest that LHPAM-DMT is more power efficient than PAM-DMT as well as direct-current (DC) biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM), one of the most popular schemes.

Experimental study on underwater continuous-variable quantum key distribution with discrete modulation.

We experimentally demonstrated the feasibility of an underwater continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) system based on four-state protocol, which is promising to guarantee the unconditionally secure underwater wireless optical communication. CV-QKD parameter estimation is performed after transmitting quantum coherent signal from Alice to Bob through a water tank. The secure key rate under collective attack of the demonstrated CV-QKD system is estimated as 22.9 kbits/s at a channel loss of 12.4 dB. In addition, the performance is also investigated with various water types and the maximum underwater transmission distance of the demonstrated CV-QKD system is estimated as 148.7 m in the pure sea water.

Streptomyces Spinosirectus sp. nov., Isolated From the Medicinal Plant Xanthium Sibiricum.

A novel actinobacterium, designated strain CRSS-Y-16T, was isolated from the healthy leaves of Xanthium sibiricum, in China and characterized by a polyphasic approach. This strain produced abundant aerial mycelia that generated rod-shaped spores with spiny surfaces. The cell wall contained LL-diaminopimelic acid. The major cellular fatty acids (>10.0%) were C16:0, iso-C16:0, and C18:1 ω9c. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H2) and MK-9(H4). The detected polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, hydroxyl phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositolmannoside, phospholipids of unknown structure containing glucosamine and unidentified phospholipids. The genomic G+C content was 70.7%. The full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain CRSS-Y-16T belonged to the genus Streptomyces and shared <98.7% sequence similarities with all recognized type species of the genus. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this strain formed a distinct branch. Phylogenomic analysis demonstrated that it was closely related to Streptomyces panaciradicis 1MR-8T. However, the clustering patterns resulting from phylogenomic tree verified that strain CRSS-Y-16T represented a novel Streptomyces species. This result was further confirmed by low average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values (87.54% and 30.1%) between them. Based on all these data, it is concluded that strain CRSS-Y-16T represents a novel Streptomyces species, for which the name Streptomyces spinosirectus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CRSS-Y-16T (=MCCC 1K06950T=JCM 35007T).

Towards underwater coherent optical wireless communications using a simplified detection scheme.

In this paper, an effective method of underwater coherent optical wireless communication (UCOWC) with a simplified detection scheme is proposed. The proof-of-concept experiments with M-ary PSK have been conducted with a common laser used for the signal source and local oscillator (LO). The BER performance has been evaluated at different underwater channel attenuations and the maximum achievable attenuation length (AL) with a BER below the forward error correction (FEC) limit of 3.8×10-3 is investigated. The tested system offers data rates of 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 1.5 Gbps with the BPSK, QPSK and 8PSK modulated signals, respectively. The corresponding maximum achievable attenuation lengths are measured as 13.4 AL 12.5 AL, and 10.7 AL. In addition, the performance degradation of the practical system with separate free running lasers for the signal and LO is also estimated. To the best of our knowledge, the UCOWC system is proposed and experimentally studied for the first time. This work provides a simple and effective approach to take advantages of coherent detection in underwater wireless optical communication, opening a promising path toward the development of practical UCOWC with next-generation underwater data transmission requirements on the capacity and transmission distance.

Broadband silicon nitride nanophotonic phased arrays for wide-angle beam steering.

In this Letter, the broadband operation in wavelengths from 520 nm to 980 nm is demonstrated on silicon nitride nanophotonic phased arrays. The widest beam steering angle of 65° on a silicon nitride phased array is achieved. The optical radiation efficiency of the main grating lobe in a broad wavelength range is measured and analyzed theoretically. The optical spots radiated from the phased array chip are studied at different wavelengths of lasers. The nanophotonic phased array is excited by a supercontinuum laser source for a wide range of beam steering for the first time to the best of our knowledge. It paves the way to tune the wavelength from visible to near infrared range for silicon nitride nanophotonic phased arrays.

Streptomyces liangshanensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from rhizosphere soil of Fagopyrum tataricum.

A novel actinomycete strain, designated strain QMT-12T, was isolated from the rhizospheric soils of Fagopyrum tataricum and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Strain QMT-12T was found to have morphological features typical of the genus Streptomyces. The predominant fatty acids included C18:1 cis9 (35.9%), Summed feature 6 (C18:2 cis9, 12/C18:0 a or C18:0 anteiso/C18:2 c) (30.6%) and C16:0 (16.3%). The whole-cell sugars were arabinose and glucose. The whole-cell-wall amino acids included alanine, aspartate, glutamic acid, glycine and LL-diaminopimelic acid. The menaquinones were MK-9, MK-9(H2), MK-9(H4), MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8). The diagnostic phospholipids consisted of diphosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidyl methyl ethanolamine, phospholipids, phosphotidyl inositol, phosphotidylinositol mannosides, and phospholipids of unknown structure containing glucosamine. The full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain QMT-12T belonged to the genus Streptomyces and had 98.2, 98.1, 98.1 and ≤ 98.0% similarities to Streptomyces camponoticapitis 2H-TWYE14T, Streptomyces scopuliridis NRRL B-24574T, Streptomyces inhibens NEAU-D10T and other Streptomyces species with validly published and correct names, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that strain QMT-12T was closely related to Streptomyces inhibens NEAU-D10T. However, the average nucleotide identity value and the digital DNA-DNA hybridization value between strain QMT-12T and S. inhibens NEAU-D10T were 85.0 and 22.3%, respectively, well below 95-96% and 70% cut-off point recommended for delineating species. Based on its phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain QMT-12T (= CICC 11056T = JCM 33963T) represents the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces liangshanensis sp. nov. is proposed.

Streptomyces xanthii sp. nov. and Streptomyces roseirectus sp. nov. isolated from a Chinese medicinal plant.

Two strains of Actinobacteria, designated CRXT-Y-14T and CRXT-G-22T, were isolated from the healthy leaves and seeds, respectively, of a medicinal plant Xanthium sibiricum. Their taxonomic positions were determined using a polyphasic approach. Strain CRXT-Y-14T produced flexuous chains of smooth-surfaced spores. Strain CRXT-G-22T produced straight chains of smooth-surfaced spores. Their morphological features were consistent with the diagnostic characteristics of members of the genus Streptomyces. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses indicated two strains represented members of the genus Streptomyces. CRXT-Y-14T shared 99.3, 98.9, 98.8 % sequence similarities to Streptomyces atriruber NRRL B-24165T, Streptomyces avermitilis MA-4680T and Streptomyces davaonensis JCM 4913T, respectively. Whilst CRXT-G-22T exhibited highest similarity to Streptomyces acidiscabies ATCC 49003T (98.9 %). The results of phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the closest phylogenetic neighbours of strains CRXT-Y-14T and CRXT-G-22T were S. atriruber NRRL B-24165T and S. acidiscabies ATCC 49003T, respectively. The phylogenomic analyses further confirmed the relative relationship between strain CRXT-G-22T and S. acidiscabies ATCC 49003T, but indicated that CRXT-Y-14T could represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyce. However, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between CRXT-Y-14T and strain CRXT-G-22T, between CRXT-Y-14T and S. atriruber NRRL B-24165T, and between CRXT-G-22T and S. acidiscabies ATCC 49003T were 85.4 and 23.2 %, 85.8 and 23.9 % and 89.1 and 34.1 %, respectively, far below the 95~96 and 70 % cut-off points recommended for delineating species. Furthermore, these two novel isolates were distinctly differentiated from their relatives in the genus Streptomyces with respect to phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics. On the basis of these data, CRXT-Y-14T and CRXT-G-22T clearly represent two novel species within the genus Streptomyces, for which the names Streptomyces xanthii sp. nov. (type strain CRXT-Y-14T = MCCC 1K04966T= JCM 34527T) and Streptomyces roseirectus sp. nov. (type CRXT-G-22T = MCCC 1K04979T= JCM 34565T) are proposed.

Proposal of Streptomyces aureorectus (ex Taig et al. 1969) Taig and Solovieva 1986 as a later heterotypic synonym of Streptomyces calvus Backus et al. 1957 (Approved Lists 1980) on the basis of a polyphasic taxonomic approach.

As two separate genomic species, Streptomyces calvus and Streptomyces aureorectus were approved in 1980 and 1986, respectively. However, recently, it has been found that the average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between S. calvus JCM 4326T and S. aureorectus DSM 41692T were 99.19 and 92.70 %, respectively, much higher than 95-96 and 70  % cut-off points proposed and the generally accepted species boundaries. These data indicated that they should be classified as the same genomic species. Furthermore, this result was also supported by a comprehensive comparison of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and physio-biochemical characteristics between the two type strains. All these data indicated that S. calvus and S. aureorectus had the same taxonomic position. In accordance with the principle of priority, it is proposed that S. aureorectus is a later heterotypic synonyms of S. calvus.

Streptomyces genisteinicus sp. nov., a novel genistein-producing actinomycete isolated from a Chinese medicinal plant and proposal of Streptomyces michiganensis Corbaz et al. 1957 as a later heterotypic synonym of Streptomyces xanthochromogenes Arishima et al. 1956.

A novel genistein-producing actinobacterial strain, designated strain CRPJ-33T, was isolated from the healthy leaves of a medicinal plant Xanthium sibiricum collected from Hunan Province, PR China. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated strain CRPJ-33T belonged to the genus Streptomyces and had 99.7, 99.0, 98.9, 98.9, 98.8 and 98.7% sequence similarities to Streptomyces zhihengii YIM T102T, Streptomyces eurocidicus NRRL B-1676T, Streptomyces xanthochromogenes NRRL B-5410T, Streptomyces michiganensis NBRC 12797T, Streptomyces mauvecolor LMG 20100T and Streptomyces lavendofoliae NBRC 12882T, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain CRPJ-33T was most closely related to S. zhihengii YIM T102T. However, digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between them were much less than the recommended threshold values. Furthermore, differential comparisons of the phenotypic characteristics were enough to distinguish strain CRPJ-33T from S. zhihengii YIM T102T. Meanwhile, the ANI and dDDH values or MLSA distances between strain CRPJ-33T and other type strains, which exhibited ≥98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to strain CRPJ-33T, were far away from the recommended threshold values. Based on these results, it is thought that strain CRPJ-33T should represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces genisteinicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CRPJ-33T (=MCCC 1K04965T=JCM 34526T). In addition, the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic characteristics, as well as phylogenetic information revealed that the type strains of S. xanthochromogenes and S. michiganensis should belong to same genomic species. Consequently, it is proposed that S. michiganensis is a heterotypic synonym of S. xanthochromogenes for which an emended description is given.

First Report of Alternaria alternata Causing Leaf Spot of Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) in China.

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is recognized as a healthy food with abundant nutrients and high levels of rutin. In April and May of 2020, an unknown tartary buckwheat leaf spot distinct from Nigrospora leaf spot (Shen et al. 2020) was observed in Xiangxiang, Hunan, China (27°49'54″N, 112°span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'; color:#0000ff">18'48″E.). Disease incidence was 60-70% within three fields (totally 7, 000 m2). The disease occurred after plants emerged. Initial symptoms began as circular, or ellipsoid, chlorotic, water-soaked spots, mostly on leaf apexes or leaf margins. The small spots gradually enlarged and often coalesced to form large circular or irregular, pale to light brown lesions, and the infected leaves eventually withered and fell off. Thirty 2 × 2 mm infected tissue pieces collected from five locations were sterilized in 70% ethanol for 10 S, in 2% NaClO for 30 S, rinsed in sterile water for three times, dried, and placed on PDA with lactic acid (3 ml/L). After 3-5 days at 28°C in the dark, 17 fungal isolates were purified using single-spore isolation method. Almost all fungal isolates had similar morphology. Colonies were initially olive green with white margin and later turned dark olive or black with profuse sporulation. Conidia were borne in long chains, tawny to brownish green, with 1-3 longitudinal and 1-7 transverse septa, pyriform, and measured 9.5-39.6 µm long, and 5.1-12.6 µm wide (n=50). Based on morphological characteristics, the fungus was identified as Alternaria alternata (Simmons 2007). Partial internal transcribed spacer (ITS), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), translation elongation factor 1-α(TEF) and Alternaria major allergen (Alt a1) genes of isolate BLS-1 were amplified using ITS1/ITS4 (Mills et al. 1992), EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), Gpd1/Gpd2 and Alt-4for/Alt-4rev (Lawrence et al. 2013), respectively. Sequences were deposited into GenBank with acc. nos MW453091 (ITS), MW480219 (GAPDH), MW480218 (TEF), and MW480220 (Alt a1). BLASTn analysis showed 99.8% (ITS, MH854758.1), 100% (GAPDH, KP124155.1), 99.8% (TEF, KP125073.1) and 100% (Alt a1, KP123847.1) identity with reference strain CBS 106.24 of A. alternata, confirming isolate BSL-1 to be A. alternata. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree constructed by MEGA7.0 based on concatenated sequences of the four genes indicated that BSL-1 formed a distinct clade with A. alternata CBS 106.24 with 100% bootstrap values. Pathogenicity test was triplicately performed on healthy leaves. Twenty leaves of five 20-day-old plants (cv. Pinku1) were sprayed with conidial suspension (1×106 conidia/ml) collected from PDA cultures with 0.05% Tween 20. An equal number of control leaves were sprayed with sterile water to serve as the controls. Treated plants were kept in a greenhouse at 28±3 °C with relative humidity of 80±5% for 24 h and transferred to natural conditions (22-30°C, RH 50-60%). After 4 to 6 days, all inoculated leaves developed symptoms similar to those observed in the fields, while the control leaves remained healthy. A. alternata was re-isolated from all infected leaves. Occasionally-isolated Diaporthe isolates were not pathogenic. A. alternata causes leaf spot of oat (Zhao et al. 2020) and leaf blight of F. esculentum (Lu et al. 2019). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. alternata causing leaf spot on F. tataricum in China and the world. Effective strategies should be developed to manage the disease.

Over 10 attenuation length gigabits per second underwater wireless optical communication using a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) based receiver.

Underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) will play an important role in the underwater environment exploration and marine resource development due to its advantages of high data rate and good mobility. However, the significant signal power attenuation in the underwater channel limits the transmission distance of UWOC. Attenuation length (AL) is widely used as an indicator for evaluating the UWOC system's long-distance transmission capability. At present, Gbps UWOC is limited within 7AL. Using a SiPM based receiver can dramatically increase the AL that UWOC can support. In this paper, a novel UWOC receiver built from an off-the-shelf SiPM has been demonstrated. The finite pulse width and limited bandwidth of SiPM limit the SiPM based UWOC system's data rate. To boost the system's data rate, an optimum method to process the SiPM's signal has therefore been investigated. Based on these methods, the communication capabilities of the SiPM based UWOC have been investigated experimentally. Results show that the SiPM based receiver can support 11.6AL without turbulence and 9.28AL within weak turbulence (scintillation index = 0.0447) at 1 Gbps.

Steptomyces fagopyri sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from rhizospheric soil of Fagopyrum dibotrys.

A novel actinomycete, designated strain QMT-28T, was isolated from rhizosphere soil of Fagopyrum dibotrys collected from Shuangfeng, Hunan Province, PR China. Strain QMT-28T grew well on International Streptomyces Project series media and formed well-developed, branched substrate hyphae and aerial mycelium that differentiated into loose spiral spore chains consisting of cylindrical spores with smooth surfaces. The diagnostic diamino acid was ll-diaminopimelic acid and the whole-cell sugars were galactose and glucose. The predominant fatty acids were C18 : 1 cis9, summed feature 6 (C18 : 2 cis 9,12/C18 : 0 a) and C16 : 0. The polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, hydroxy phospatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannosides, phospholipids of unknown structure containing glucosamine and several unidentified phospholipids. The major menaquinones were MK-9, MK-9(H2), MK-9(H4), MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8). The genome size of strain QMT-28T was about 8.7 Mbp with a G+C content of 71.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the novel strain was closely related to Streptomyces olivochromogenes DSM 40451T (99.5 % similarity), Streptomyces mirabilis NBRC 13450T (98.9 %), Streptomyces kanamyceticus NBRC 13414T (98.9 %), Streptomyces kaempferi I37T (98.9 %) and Streptomyces arcticus ZLN234T (98.8 %). However, the average nucleotide identity values, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization values and the multilocus sequence analysis evolutionary distances between this strain and closely related strains showed that it belonged to a distinct species. In addition, these results were also supported by differences in the phenotypic characteristics between QMT-28T and five closely related type strains. Consequently, strain QMT-28T should represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, with the suggested name Streptomyces fagopyri sp. nov. The type strain is QMT-28T (=CICC 24808T=JCM 33796T).

Streptomyces paludis sp. nov., isolated from an alpine wetland soil.

A Gram-stain-positive actinobacterium, designated strain GSSD-12T, was isolated from an alpine wetland soil. blast search of the full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence of GSSD-12T indicated it represented a member of the genus Streptomyces, and displayed highest similarity with Streptomyces scopuliridis NRRL B-24574T (99.2 %) and less than 98.6 % similarity with other species of the genus Streptomyces with validly published names. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that GSSD-12T was closely related to S. scopuliridis NRRL B-24574T, Streptomyces odonnellii NRRL B-24891T and Streptomyces lushanensis NRRL B-24994T. However, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization value, the average nucleotide identity value and the multilocus sequence analysis evolutionary distance between this strain and its closest relatives indicated that it represented a distinct species. Furthermore, GSSD-12T was also distinctly differentiated from them by morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics. Therefore, strain GSSD-12T(=CICC 11051T=JCM 33019T) represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces paludis sp. nov. is proposed.

First Report of Nigrospora osmanthi Causing Leaf Spot on Tartary Buckwheat in China.

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is a traditional short-season pseudocereal crop originating in southwest China and is cultivated around the world. Antioxidative substances in buckwheat have been shown to provide many potential cardiovascular health benefits. Between August and November in 2019, a leaf spot was found in several Tartary buckwheat cv. Pinku1 fields in Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province, China. The disease occurred throughout the growth cycle of buckwheat after leaves emerged, and disease incidence was approximately 50 to 60%. Initially infected leaves developed a few round lesions, light yellow to light brown spots. Several days later, lesions began to enlarge with reddish brown borders, and eventually withered and fell off. Thirty lesions (2×2 mm) collected from three locations with ten leaves in each location were sterilized in 70% ethanol for 10 sec, in 2% sodium hypochlorite for 30 sec, rinsed in sterile water for three times, dried on sterilized filter paper, and placed on a potato dextrose PDA with lactic acid (3 ml/L), and incubated at 28°C in the dark for 3 to 5 days. Fungal colonies were initially white and later turned black with the onset ofsporulation. Conidia were single-celled, black, smooth, spherical to subspherical, and measured 9.2 to 15.6 µm long, and 7.1 to 11.6 µm wide (n=30). Each conidium was terminal and borne on a hyaline vesicle at the tip of conidiophores. Morphologically, the fungus was identified as Nigrospora osmanthi (Wang et al. 2017). Identification was confirmed by amplifying and sequencing the ITS region, and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) and partial beta-tublin (TUB2) genes using primers ITS1/ITS4 (Mills et al. 1992), EF1-728F/EF-2 (Carbone and Kohn 1999; O'Donnell et al. 1998) and Bt-2a/Bt-2b (Glass et al. 1995), respectively. BLAST searches in GenBank indicated the ITS (MT860338), TUB2 (MT882054) and TEF1-α (MT882055) sequences had 99.80%, 99% and 100% similarity to sequences KX986010.1, KY019461.1 and KY019421.1 of Nigrospora osmanthi ex-type strain CGMCC 3.18126, respectively. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree constructed using MEGA7.0 with 1,000 bootstraps based on the concatenated nucleotide sequences of the three genes indicated that our isolate was closely related to N. osmanthi. Pathogenicity test was performed using leaves of healthy F. tataricum plants. The conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia/ml) collected from PDA cultures with 0.05% Tween 20 buffer was used for inoculation by spraying leaves of potted 20-day-old Tartary buckwheat cv. Pinku1. Five leaves of each plant were inoculated with spore suspensions (1 ml per leaf). An equal number of control leaves were sprayed with sterile water to serve as a control. The treated plants were kept in a greenhouse at 28°C and 80% relative humidity for 24 h, and then transferred to natural conditions with temperature ranging from 22 to 30°C and relative humidity ranging from 50 to 60%. Five days later, all N. osmanthi-inoculated leaves developed leaf spot symptoms similar to those observed in the field, whereas control leaves remained healthy. N. osmanthi was re-isolated from twelve infected leaves with frequency of 100%, fulfilling Koch's postulates. The genus Nigrospora has been regarded by many scholars as plant pathogens (Fukushima et al. 1998) and N. osmanthi is a known leaf blight pathogen for Stenotaphrum secundatum (Mei et al. 2019) and Ficus pandurata (Liu et al. 2019) but has not been reported on F. tataricum. Nigrospora sphaerica was also detected in vegetative buds of healthy Fagopyrum esculentum Moench (Jain et al. 2012). To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. osmanthi causing leaf spot on F. tataricum in China and worldwide. Appropriate strategies should be developed to manage this disease.

Streptomyces cadmiisoli sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from cadmium-contaminated soil.

A novel Streptomyces strain, ZFG47T, isolated from a cadmium-contaminated soil sample, was taxonomically studied in detail. Strain ZFG47T formed long, flexuous spiral spore chains consisting of elliptoid spores with spiny surfaces. The cell-wall hydrolysates contained ll-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. The major menaquinones consisted of MK-9(H2), MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H8). The major polar lipids contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis indicated that this strain belongs to the genus Streptomyces, showing the highest sequence similarity to Streptomyceskoyangensis VK-A60T (98.7 %). However, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization value, the average nucleotide identity value and the MLSA evolutionary distance between this strain and S. koyangensis VK-A60T showed that it belonged to a distinct species. Furthermore, the novel isolate could be distinctly differentiated from S. koyangensis VK-A60T by morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics. On the basis of the evidence from this polyphasic study, it is concluded that strain ZFG47T represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces cadmiisoli sp. nov. is proposed, with strain ZFG47T (CICC 11050T=JCM 32897T) as the type strain.

Streptomyces cyaneochromogenes sp. nov., a blue pigment-producing actinomycete from manganese-contaminated soil.

A novel actinomycete isolate, designated strain MK-45T, was isolated from soil sampled at a manganese-contaminated area in Xiangtan, China. The isolate formed extensively branched substrate mycelia and aerial mycelia that differentiated into tightly coiled or spiral spore chains with smooth-surfaced spores. The cell-wall hydrolysates contained ll-diaminopimelic acid and traces of meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major menaquinones consisted of MK-9(H4), MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8). The major polar lipids contained diphosphatidylgycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphotidylinositol and phosphotidylinositol mannosides. The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0 and summed feature 3. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences and concatenated partial sequences of the five protein-coding genes indicated that strain MK-45T was a member of the genus Streptomyces and most closely related to Streptomyces caeruleatus GIMN4.002T (99.5 % similarity), Streptomyces curacoi CGMCC 4.1680T (99.5 %), Streptomyces shaanxiensis CCNWHQ 0031T (99.4 %) and Streptomyces cinnabarinus NRRL B12382T (98.9 %), respectively. However, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization values, the average nucleotide identity values and MLSA evolutionary distances between strain MK-45T and them showed that it belonged to a distinct species. Furthermore, the results of morphological, physiological and biochemical tests allowed further phenotypic differentiation of strain MK-45T from the four closely related type strains mentioned above and other species of the genus Streptomyces with which this strain has 98.0-99.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Therefore, it is concluded that strain MK-45T represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomycescyaneochromogenes sp. nov. is proposed, with MK-45T (=CICC 11045T=KCTC 49099T) as the type strain.

Streptomyces manganisoli sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from manganese-contaminated soil.

A novel actinomycete isolate, designated strain MK44T, was isolated from a Manganese-polluted soil sample collected near Xiangtan Manganese Mine, South Central China and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic characterization. Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain MK44T was a member of the genus Streptomyces and most closely related to Streptomyces specialis JCM 16611T (97.9 %) and Streptomyces mayteni JCM 16957T (97.4 %). The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain MK44T and the above two related type species were 30.9±0.3 and 29.9±3.5 %, respectively, values which are far lower than the 70 % threshold for the delineation of a novel prokaryotic species. Furthermore, the results of physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic tests allowed further phenotypic differentiation. Therefore, it is concluded that strain MK44T represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces manganisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MK44T (=GDMCC 4.137T=KCTC 39920T).

Dynamic drag force based on iterative density mapping: A new numerical tool for three-dimensional analysis of particle trajectories in a dielectrophoretic system.

Dielectrophoresis is a widely used means of manipulating suspended particles within microfluidic systems. In order to efficiently design such systems for a desired application, various numerical methods exist that enable particle trajectory plotting in two or three dimensions based on the interplay of hydrodynamic and dielectrophoretic forces. While various models are described in the literature, few are capable of modeling interactions between particles as well as their surrounding environment as these interactions are complex, multifaceted, and computationally expensive to the point of being prohibitive when considering a large number of particles. In this paper, we present a numerical model designed to enable spatial analysis of the physical effects exerted upon particles within microfluidic systems employing dielectrophoresis. The model presents a means of approximating the effects of the presence of large numbers of particles through dynamically adjusting hydrodynamic drag force based on particle density, thereby introducing a measure of emulated particle-particle and particle-liquid interactions. This model is referred to as "dynamic drag force based on iterative density mapping." The resultant numerical model is used to simulate and predict particle trajectory and velocity profiles within a microfluidic system incorporating curved dielectrophoretic microelectrodes. The simulated data are compared favorably with experimental data gathered using microparticle image velocimetry, and is contrasted against simulated data generated using traditional "effective moment Stokes-drag method," showing more accurate particle velocity profiles for areas of high particle density.

Rice WRKY4 acts as a transcriptional activator mediating defense responses toward Rhizoctonia solani, the causing agent of rice sheath blight.

WRKY transcription factors have been implicated in the regulation of transcriptional reprogramming associated with various plant processes but most notably with plant defense responses to pathogens. Here we demonstrate that expression of rice WRKY4 gene (OsWRKY4) was rapidly and strongly induced upon infection of Rhizoctonia solani, the causing agent of rice sheath blight, and exogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET). OsWRKY4 is localized to the nucleus of plant cells and possesses transcriptional activation ability. Modulation of OsWRKY4 transcript levels by constitutive overexpression increases resistance to the necrotrophic sheath blight fungus, concomitant with elevated expression of JA- and ET-responsive pathogenesis-related (PR) genes such as PR1a, PR1b, PR5 and PR10/PBZ1. Suppression by RNA interference (RNAi), on the other hand, compromises resistance to the fungal pathogen. Yeast one-hybrid assay and transient expression in tobacco cells reveal that OsWRKY4 specifically binds to the promoter regions of PR1b and PR5 which contain W-box (TTGAC[C/T]), or W-box like (TGAC[C/T]) cis-elements. In conclusion, we propose that OsWRKY4 functions as an important positive regulator that is implicated in the defense responses to rice sheath blight via JA/ET-dependent signal pathway.