Novel hydroxyapatite/graphene oxide/collagen bioactive composite coating on Ti16Nb alloys by electrodeposition

A novel implant coating material containing graphene oxide (GO) and collagen (COL), and hydroxyapatite (HA) was fabricated with the aid of tannic acid by electrodeposition. The surface of Ti16Nb alloy was subjected to anodic oxidation, and then HA-GO coating was applied to Ti16Nb surface by cathodic method. Then, COL was deposited on the surface of the HA-GO coating by the biomimetic method. HA, HA-GO, HA-GO-COL coatings on the surface of the Ti16Nb alloy have increased the corrosion resistance by the formation of a barrier layer on the surface. For HA-GO-COL coating, the highest corrosion resistance is obtained due to the compactness and homogeneity of the coating structure. The contact angle of the bare Ti16Nb is approximately 65 degrees, while the contact angle of the coated samples is close to 0 degrees. Herein, the increased surface wettability is important for cell adhesion. The surface roughness of the uncoated Ti16Nb alloy was between 1 and 3 mu m, while the surface roughness of the coated surfaces was measured between 20 and 110 mu m. The contact between the bone and the implant has been improved. Graphene oxide-containing coatings have improved the antibacterial properties compared to the GO-free coating using S. aureus. The hardness and elastic modulus of the coatings were measured by the nanoindentation test, and the addition of GO and collagen to the HA coating resulted in an increase in strength. The addition of GO to the HA coating reduced the viability of 3 T3 fibroblast cells, whereas the addition of collagen to HA-GO coat increased the cell adhesion and viability

Comparative Analysis of the Flavobacterium columnare Genomovar I and II Genomes

Columnaris disease caused by Gram-negative rod Flavobacterium columnare is one of the most common diseases of catfish. F. columnare is also a common problem in other cultured fish species worldwide. F. columnare has three major genomovars; we have sequenced a representative strain from genomovar I (ATCC 49512, which is avirulent in catfish) and genomovar II (94-081, which is highly pathogenic in catfish). Here, we present a comparative analysis of the two genomes. Interestingly, F. columnare ATCC 49512 and 94-081 meet criteria to be considered different species based on the Average Nucleotide Identity (90.71% similar) and DNA–DNA Hybridization (42.6% similar). Genome alignment indicated the two genomes have a large number of rearrangements. However, function-based comparative genomics analysis indicated that the two strains have similar functional capabilities with 2,263 conserved orthologous clusters; strain ATCC 49512 has 290 unique orthologous clusters while strain 94-081 has 391. Both strains carry type I secretion system, type VI secretion system, and type IX secretion system. The two genomes also have similar CRISPR capacities. The F. columnare strain ATCC 49512 genome contains a higher number of insertion sequence families and phage regions, while the F. columnare strain 94-081 genome has more genomic islands and more regulatory gene capacity. Transposon mutagenesis using Tn4351 in pathogenic strain 94-081 yielded six mutants, and experimental infections of fish showed hemolysin and glycine cleavage protein mutants had 15 and 10% mortalities, respectively, while the wild-type strain caused 100% mortalities. Our comparative and mutational analysis yielded important information on classification of genomovars I and II F. columnare as well as potential virulence genes in F. columnare strain 94-081