Spatio-Temporal Variation of the Bacterial Communities along a Salinity Gradient within a Thalassohaline Environment (Saline di Tarquinia Salterns,Italy)

The “Saline di Tarquinia” salterns have been scarcely investigated regarding their microbiological aspects. This work studied the structure and composition of their bacterial communities along the salinity gradient (from the nearby sea through different ponds). The communities showed increasing simplification of pond bacterial diversity along the gradient (particularly if compared to those of the sea). Among the 38 assigned phyla, the most represented were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Differently to other marine salterns, where at the highest salinities Bacteroidetes dominated, preponderance of Proteobacteria was observed. At the genus level the most abundant taxa were Pontimonas, Marivita, Spiribacter, Bordetella, GpVII and Lentibacter. The α-diversity analysis showed that the communities were highly uneven, and the Canonical Correspondence Analysis indicated that they were structured by various factors (sampling site, sampling year, salinity, and sampling month). Moreover, the taxa abundance variation in relation to these significant parameters were investigated by Generalized Linear Models. This work represents the first investigation of a marine saltern, carried out by a metabarcoding approach, which permitted a broad vision of the bacterial diversity, covering both a wide temporal span (two years with monthly sampling) and the entire salinity gradient (from the nearby sea up to the crystallisation ponds).     

Nonlinear frequency response analysis: a recent review and perspectives

The nonlinear frequency response analysis (NFRA) can be seen as an extension of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. NFRA gives a full and detailed representation of the system response and can establish a connection between model parameters and the experimentally observed phenomena. In this article, different theoretical NFRA approaches and the most recent application examples are discussed. A simple electrochemical example is used to showcase the benefits and disadvantages of analyzing the system response by using different approaches. In addition, it was shown how to extract experimental harmonic values and analyze them.     

Synthesis of Heat-resistant Polymers by Thiol–Ene Reaction of N-Allylmaleimide Copolymers Using Glycoluril Crosslinkers with Rigid Molecular Structures

We carried out the thermal curing of the copolymers of N-allylmaleimide (AMI) and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2EHA) using 1,3,4,6-tetra(2-mercaproethyl)glycoluril ( G1 ), 1,3,4,6-tetra(3-mercaptopropyl)glycoluril ( G2 ), 1,3,4,6-tetraallylglycoluril ( G3 ), triallylisocyanurate (TAIC), and pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptobutyrate) (PEMB) as the crosslinkers. Based on the results for the analysis of thiol–ene reactions monitored by IR spectroscopy, it was confirmed that the curing rate significantly depended on the combination of the used crosslinkers. The insoluble fraction after curing was more than 90% for the systems using the glycoluril crosslinkers, while the conversion of the allyl groups was suppressed due to the rigid structure of these crosslinkers. The heat resistance and the mechanical properties of the crosslinked polymers were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, and mechanical tensile tests. For the products cured using the glycoluril crosslinkers, the glass transition temperature (T_g) and the maximum temperature of thermal decomposition (T_max) were 54–59 °C and 395–409 °C, respectively, being higher than those for the cured product prepared with PEMB and TAIC as the conventional crosslinkers. The elasticity (75–139 MPa), the maximum strength (3.0–4.1 MPa), and the adhesion strength (6.7–10.7 MPa) for the polymers cured with the glycoluril crosslinkers, determined by the mechanical tensile and single lap-shear adhesion tests, were higher than those for cured materials produced with PEMB. Thus, the thermal and mechanical properties of the maleimide copolymers were efficiently enhanced by crosslinking using the rigid glycoluril compounds. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58, 923–931     

Rational Design of a Cocktail of Inhibitors against Aβ Aggregation

It has been reported that many molecules could inhibit the aggregation of Aβ (amyloid-β) through suppressing either primary nucleation, secondary nucleation, or elongation processes. In order to suppress multiple pathways of Aβ aggregation, we screened 23 small molecules and found two types of inhibitors with different inhibiting mechanisms based on chemical kinetics analysis. Trp-glucose conjugates ( AS2 ) could bind with fibril ends while natural products ( D3 and D4 ) could associate with monomers. A cocktail of these two kinds of molecules achieved co-inhibition of various fibrillar species and avoid unwanted interference.     

Degeneracy of the Antithrombin Binding Sequence in Heparin: 2-O-Sulfated Iduronic Acid Can Replace the Critical Glucuronic Acid

Heparin binds to and activates antithrombin (AT) through a specific pentasaccharide sequence, in which a trisaccharide subsite, containing glucuronic acid (GlcA), has been considered as the initiator in the recognition of the polysaccharide by the protein. Recently it was suggested that sulfated iduronic acid (IdoA2S) could replace this “canonical” GlcA. Indeed, a heparin octasaccharidic sequence obtained by chemoenzymatic synthesis, in which GlcA is replaced with IdoA2S, has been found to similarly bind to and activate antithrombin. By using saturation-transfer-difference (STD) NMR, NOEs, transferred NOEs (tr-NOEs) NMR and molecular dynamics, we show that, upon binding to AT, this IdoA2S unit develops comparable interactions with AT as GlcA. Interestingly, two IdoA2S units, both present in a ¹C₄-²S₀ equilibrium in the unbound saccharide, shift to full ²S₀ and full ¹C₄ upon binding to antithrombin, providing the best illustration of the critical role of iduronic acid conformational flexibility in biological systems.     

共振瑞利散射法对普萘洛尔特效适配体系的手性分析

本文提出了对于手性药物普萘洛尔手性识别和手性分析的新方法。 该方法引用基于氧化石墨烯的指数富集配体系统进化筛选技术(GO-SELEX),经过10轮优化筛选出对心血管药物普萘洛尔有高度亲和力的特效适配体。 然后通过共振瑞利散射光谱法(RRS)对反应体系进行特效性检测,实验表明S-普萘洛尔和R-普萘洛尔有迥然不同的光谱差异,S-普萘洛尔与特效适配体结合后的RRS显著增强,而R-普萘洛尔与适配体结合后的RRS几乎没有变化。 据此可以对心血管药物手性普萘洛尔进行有效的手性识别。 在考察反应体系和实验条件的基础上,可对S-普萘洛尔进行实验检测,同时对外消旋体中的R-普萘洛尔进行计算分析。 实验对S-普萘洛尔的线性范围为5~275 nmol/L,检测限为0.5 nmol/L。 方法应用于外消旋药片的分析检测,结果令人满意。 实验表明,RRS检测特效适配体结合的手性靶标体系会彰显不同的光谱差异,从而可对手性对映体进行手性识别,尤其是可利用其光谱差异实现同时测定的手性分析,方法可在特殊情形下不经分离而同时测定手性对映体,具有推广应用价值。     

关注长江水质——“绿行之踪”社会实践

2018年和2019年小学期,厦门大学本科生"绿行之踪"社会实践队赴重庆、上海等长江流域主要城市进行社会实践活动,采集了当地的水样,测定了水样中的磷酸根含量和高锰酸盐指数,同时进行了水资源保护的宣传活动和网络问卷调查。