The nucleotide sequence deduced from the amino acid sequence of the scorpion insectotoxin AaIT was chemically synthesized and was expressed in Escherichia coli. The authenticity of this in vitro expressed peptide was ...The nucleotide sequence deduced from the amino acid sequence of the scorpion insectotoxin AaIT was chemically synthesized and was expressed in Escherichia coli. The authenticity of this in vitro expressed peptide was confirmed by N-terminal peptide sequencing. Two groups of bioassays, artificial diet incorporation assay and contact insecticidal effect assay, were carried out separately to verify the toxicity of this recombinant toxin. At the end of a 24 h experimental period, more than 60% of the testing diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) larvae were killed in both groups with LC50 value of 18.4 microM and 0.70 microM respectively. Cytotoxicity assay using cultured Sf9 insect cells and MCF-7 human cells demonstrated that the toxin AaIT had specific toxicity against insect cells but not human cells. Only 0.13 microM recombinant toxin was needed to kill 50% of cultured insect cells while as much as 1.3 microM toxin had absolutely no effect on human cells. Insect cells produced obvious intrusions from their plasma membrane before broken up. We infer that toxin AaIT bind to a putative sodium channel in these insect cells and open the channel persistently, which would result in Na+ influx and finally cause destruction of insect cells.展开更多
One-stage partial nitrification coupled with anammox(PN/A)technology effectively reduces the energy consumption of a biological nitrogen removal system.Inhibiting nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB)is essential for this t...One-stage partial nitrification coupled with anammox(PN/A)technology effectively reduces the energy consumption of a biological nitrogen removal system.Inhibiting nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB)is essential for this technology to maintain efficient nitrogen removal performance.Initial ammonium concentration(IAC)affects the degree of inhibited NOB.In this study,the effect of the IAC on a PN/A biofilm was investigated in a moving bed biofilm reactor.The results showed that nitrogen removal efficiency decreased from 82.49%±1.90%to 64.57%±3.96%after the IAC was reduced from 60 to 20 mg N/L,while the nitrate production ratio increased from 13.87%±0.90%to 26.50%±3.76%.NOB activity increased to1,133.86 mg N/m^(2)/day after the IAC decreased,approximately 4-fold,indicating that the IAC plays an important inhibitory role in NOB.The rate-limiting step in the mature biofilm of the PN/A system is the nitritation process and is not shifted by the IAC.The analysis of the microbial community structure in the biofilm indicates that the IAC was the dominant factor in changes in community structure.Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia were the main anammox bacteria,and Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the main AOB and NOB,respectively.IAC did not affect the difference in growth between Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia.Thus,modulating the IAC promoted the PN/A process with efficient nitrogen removal performance at medium to low ammonium concentrations.展开更多
The entomopathogenic fungus Isaria fumosorosea Wize, formerly known as Paecilomyces fumosoroseus is reported as a promising biocontrol agent for controlling subterranean termites, particularly those belonging to the f...The entomopathogenic fungus Isaria fumosorosea Wize, formerly known as Paecilomyces fumosoroseus is reported as a promising biocontrol agent for controlling subterranean termites, particularly those belonging to the family Rhinotermitidae. In Malaysia, the family Rhinotermitidae includes two species of subterranean termites with extremely high economic importance; namely Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren, and the Asian SLubterranean Termite (Coptotermes gestroi Wasmann). To comprehend the potential control of this soil-dwelling fungus against these subterranean termites in Malaysia, an investigation was carried out by testing the pathogenecity of 11 isolates against these termite species. All isolates showed pathogenic potential against the termite (Mortality rate of C. curvignathus:84.4%; C. gestroi:67.3%). IsolatePF49 was the most effective against both species of termites and was further tested for its virulence and mycosis.The LC_(50) values of PF49 against C. curvignathus and C.gestroi were 7.55×103 and 1.09×102 conidia/ml,respectively. The average number of days required to complete the mycosis process in C. curvignathus and C.gestroi were 4.7 and 8 days, respectively. These fungi are believed useful for protecting living trees, plants, wood,wood structures, and other cellulosic materials susceptible to termite infestation and damage.展开更多
The trend of distance learning education has increased year by year because of the rapid advancement of information and communication technologies. Distance learning system can be regarded as one of ubiquitous computi...The trend of distance learning education has increased year by year because of the rapid advancement of information and communication technologies. Distance learning system can be regarded as one of ubiquitous computing applications since the learners can study anywhere even in mobile environments. However, the instructor cannot know if the learners comprehend the lecture or not since each learner is physically isolated. Therefore, a framework which detects the learners’ concentration condition is required. If a distance learning system obtains the information that many learners are not concentrated on the class due to the incomprehensible lecture style, the instructor can perceive it through the system and change the presentation strategy. This is a context-aware technology which is widely used for ubiquitous computing services. In this paper, an efficient distance learning system, which accurately detects learners’ concentration condition during a class, is proposed. The proposed system uses multiple biological information which are learners’ eye movement metrics, i.e. fixation counts, fixation rate, fixation duration and average saccade length obtained by an eye tracking system. The learners’ concentration condition is classified by using machine learning techniques. The proposed system has performed the detection accuracy of 90.7% when Multilayer Perceptron is used as a classifier. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed eye metrics has been confirmed. Furthermore, it has been clarified that the fixation duration is the most important eye metric among the four metrics based on the investigation of evaluation experiment.展开更多
基金This work was supported by a grant from 863High Technology Program,Chinese Ministry of Sci-ence and Technology
文摘The nucleotide sequence deduced from the amino acid sequence of the scorpion insectotoxin AaIT was chemically synthesized and was expressed in Escherichia coli. The authenticity of this in vitro expressed peptide was confirmed by N-terminal peptide sequencing. Two groups of bioassays, artificial diet incorporation assay and contact insecticidal effect assay, were carried out separately to verify the toxicity of this recombinant toxin. At the end of a 24 h experimental period, more than 60% of the testing diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) larvae were killed in both groups with LC50 value of 18.4 microM and 0.70 microM respectively. Cytotoxicity assay using cultured Sf9 insect cells and MCF-7 human cells demonstrated that the toxin AaIT had specific toxicity against insect cells but not human cells. Only 0.13 microM recombinant toxin was needed to kill 50% of cultured insect cells while as much as 1.3 microM toxin had absolutely no effect on human cells. Insect cells produced obvious intrusions from their plasma membrane before broken up. We infer that toxin AaIT bind to a putative sodium channel in these insect cells and open the channel persistently, which would result in Na+ influx and finally cause destruction of insect cells.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52070153,52200175)the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi,China(No.2023-YBSF-283)。
文摘One-stage partial nitrification coupled with anammox(PN/A)technology effectively reduces the energy consumption of a biological nitrogen removal system.Inhibiting nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB)is essential for this technology to maintain efficient nitrogen removal performance.Initial ammonium concentration(IAC)affects the degree of inhibited NOB.In this study,the effect of the IAC on a PN/A biofilm was investigated in a moving bed biofilm reactor.The results showed that nitrogen removal efficiency decreased from 82.49%±1.90%to 64.57%±3.96%after the IAC was reduced from 60 to 20 mg N/L,while the nitrate production ratio increased from 13.87%±0.90%to 26.50%±3.76%.NOB activity increased to1,133.86 mg N/m^(2)/day after the IAC decreased,approximately 4-fold,indicating that the IAC plays an important inhibitory role in NOB.The rate-limiting step in the mature biofilm of the PN/A system is the nitritation process and is not shifted by the IAC.The analysis of the microbial community structure in the biofilm indicates that the IAC was the dominant factor in changes in community structure.Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia were the main anammox bacteria,and Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the main AOB and NOB,respectively.IAC did not affect the difference in growth between Ca.Brocadia and Ca.Jettenia.Thus,modulating the IAC promoted the PN/A process with efficient nitrogen removal performance at medium to low ammonium concentrations.
基金funded by Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS) provided by Universiti Putra Malaysia
文摘The entomopathogenic fungus Isaria fumosorosea Wize, formerly known as Paecilomyces fumosoroseus is reported as a promising biocontrol agent for controlling subterranean termites, particularly those belonging to the family Rhinotermitidae. In Malaysia, the family Rhinotermitidae includes two species of subterranean termites with extremely high economic importance; namely Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren, and the Asian SLubterranean Termite (Coptotermes gestroi Wasmann). To comprehend the potential control of this soil-dwelling fungus against these subterranean termites in Malaysia, an investigation was carried out by testing the pathogenecity of 11 isolates against these termite species. All isolates showed pathogenic potential against the termite (Mortality rate of C. curvignathus:84.4%; C. gestroi:67.3%). IsolatePF49 was the most effective against both species of termites and was further tested for its virulence and mycosis.The LC_(50) values of PF49 against C. curvignathus and C.gestroi were 7.55×103 and 1.09×102 conidia/ml,respectively. The average number of days required to complete the mycosis process in C. curvignathus and C.gestroi were 4.7 and 8 days, respectively. These fungi are believed useful for protecting living trees, plants, wood,wood structures, and other cellulosic materials susceptible to termite infestation and damage.
文摘The trend of distance learning education has increased year by year because of the rapid advancement of information and communication technologies. Distance learning system can be regarded as one of ubiquitous computing applications since the learners can study anywhere even in mobile environments. However, the instructor cannot know if the learners comprehend the lecture or not since each learner is physically isolated. Therefore, a framework which detects the learners’ concentration condition is required. If a distance learning system obtains the information that many learners are not concentrated on the class due to the incomprehensible lecture style, the instructor can perceive it through the system and change the presentation strategy. This is a context-aware technology which is widely used for ubiquitous computing services. In this paper, an efficient distance learning system, which accurately detects learners’ concentration condition during a class, is proposed. The proposed system uses multiple biological information which are learners’ eye movement metrics, i.e. fixation counts, fixation rate, fixation duration and average saccade length obtained by an eye tracking system. The learners’ concentration condition is classified by using machine learning techniques. The proposed system has performed the detection accuracy of 90.7% when Multilayer Perceptron is used as a classifier. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed eye metrics has been confirmed. Furthermore, it has been clarified that the fixation duration is the most important eye metric among the four metrics based on the investigation of evaluation experiment.
