Genesis of a novel Shigella flexneri serotype by sequential infection of serotype-converting bacteriophages SfX and SfI

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Shigella flexneri </it>is the major pathogen causing bacillary dysentery. Fifteen serotypes have been recognized up to now. The genesis of new <it>S. flexneri </it>serotypes is commonly mediated by serotype-converting bacteriophages. Untypeable or novel serotypes from natural infections had been reported worldwide but have not been generated in laboratory.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A new <it>S. flexneri </it>serotype-serotype 1 d was generated when a <it>S. flexneri </it>serotype Y strain (native LPS) was sequentially infected with 2 serotype-converting bacteriophages, SfX first and then SfI. The new serotype 1 d strain agglutinated with both serotype X-specific anti-7;8 grouping serum and serotype 1a-specific anti- I typing serum, and differed from subserotypes 1a, 1b and 1c. Twenty four <it>S. flexneri </it>clinical isolates of serotype X were all converted to serotype 1 d by infection with phage SfI. PCR and sequencing revealed that SfI and SfX were integrated in tandem into the <it>proA-yaiC </it>region of the host chromosome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings suggest a new <it>S. flexneri </it>serotype could be created in nature. Such a conversion may be constrained by susceptibility of a strain to infection by a given serotype-converting bacteriophage. This finding has significant implications in the emergence of new <it>S. flexneri </it>serotypes in nature.</p

Plants water status of the shelterbelt along the Tarim Desert Highway

The plant water consumption and irrigation management are the core issue of the sustainable growing of the Tarim Desert Highway shelterbelt in the hyperaride Taklimakan Desert. The stem sap flow, water status and water consumption of shelterbelt plants were studied, then, the issue of the water save in the process of shelterbelt irrigation management was discussed by measuring the sap flow of shelterbelt plants with a stem sap flow gauge. The stem sap flow exhibited a distinct diurnal course with maximum values between 10:00 and 15:00, and minimum values between 00:00 and 03:00. Generally, sap flow was lower at night than during the day. The daily average stem sap flow of Calligonum arborescens, Tamarix ramosissima and Haloxylon ammodendron (diameter 1.9-2.0 cm) was 67.2 g.h(-1), 77.05 g.h(-1) and 61.54 g.h(-1) respectively. The sap flow was influenced by environmental factors, and the solar radiation, wind velocity, temperature and relative humidity were significantly correlative with plant stem sap flow. The annual water consumption of 8-a Calligonum arborescens, Tamarix ramosissima and Haloxylon ammodendron was 1937.80 kg, 1253.39 kg and 1026.96 kg, while daily average water consumption was 9.69 kg, 6.27 kg and 5.13 kg respectively. Under drip irrigation, soil moisture content of the shelterbelt in different months indicated no obvious fluctuation, and soil moisture was adequate. The predawn and midday plant water potential reflected that the plant water status was in good conditions. There is still some water-saving space if optimizing the present water management, integrating water resources conservation and protection performance

Physiological response of natural C-taklimakanensis BRPan et GMShen to unconfined groundwater in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert

Calligonum. taklimakanensis B.R.Pan et G.M.Shen is an indigenous species that grows in the Taklimakan Desert. This study shows the relationship between C. taklimakanensis B.R.Pan et G.M.Shen and water conditions in the hinterland of the desert. The results show that: (1) Depth of water table is an important factor that affects water potential (Psi(p), Psi(A)), osmotic potential (Psi(sat), Psi(tlp)), relative water content (RWCtlp, ROWCtlp), and transpiration rate. (2) The degree of mineralization has a significant impact on the water potential of plants. A high degree of mineralization can strongly reduce plant productivity. (3) C. taklimakanensis B.R.Pan et G.M.Shen reduces the temperature of assimilation sticks through a high transpiration rate and maintains relatively high water content to adapt to drought and hot weather conditions in the hinterland of the desert. In addition, C. taklimakanensis B.R.Pan et G.M.Shen adapts to the water status in the desert through self-regulation or even sacrificing productivity

Photosynthesis responses of endemic shrubs of Taklimakan Desert to adverse temperature, humidity and radiation

Under the native habitat conditions, the seasonal gas exchange characteristics of two natural endemic plant species, Calligonum taklimakanensis B.R. Pan &amp; GM. Shen and Tamarix taklamakanensis M.T. Liu, which are located in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert, are measured and compared by Li-6400 photosynthesis system. The results indicate that temperature (degrees C), solar radiation (PAR), soil water content (SWC), and other environmental factors have obvious seasonal variations and the gas exchange characteristics of two plants have different changes in different growing seasons. For C. taklimakanensis, both in July and September, its daily changes of net photosynthetic rate tend to be obvious double peak curve, but in July its peak appeared earlier. Besides its maximum net photosynthetic rate (P-max), apparent quantum efficiency (Phi), range of effective photosynthetic radiation significantly less than that in September. Moreover, its water use efficiency (WUE) in July was also lower than that in September due to the higher transpiration rate (T-r). For T. taklamakanensis, although its daily change of net photosynthetic rate is a single peak curve in September, its peak time has not changed, and except that its WUE is higher in September like C. taklimakanensis, the maximum net photosynthetic rate (P-max), apparent quantum efficiency (Phi), light saturation point, and range of effective photosynthetic radiation has not changed or slightly declined. That is to say C. taklimakanensis select a season that habitat was better (like September) to progress relative effectively photosynthesis accumulation, in contrast, T. taklamakanensis still keep a relatively stable photosynthesis rate in different growth seasons. The difference of gas exchange characteristics of the two plants in different seasons shows that adaptation strategies of the two plants to extreme conditions in desert are different. Besides, both the higher photosynthetic accumulation rate and the higher water use efficiency in September also indicate that these two endemic desert shrubs possess the abilities and strategies to make the best of limited natural resources

Roadmap for Sustainable Mixed Ionic‐Electronic Conducting Membranes

Mixed ionic‐electronic conducting (MIEC) membranes have gained growing interest recently for various promising environmental and energy applications, such as H₂ and O₂ production, CO₂ reduction, O₂ and H₂ separation, CO₂ separation, membrane reactors for production of chemicals, cathode development for solid oxide fuel cells, solar‐driven evaporation and energy‐saving regeneration as well as electrolyzer cells for power‐to‐X technologies. The purpose of this roadmap, written by international specialists in their fields, is to present a snapshot of the state‐of‐the‐art, and provide opinions on the future challenges and opportunities in this complex multidisciplinary research field. As the fundamentals of using MIEC membranes for various applications become increasingly challenging tasks, particularly in view of the growing interdisciplinary nature of this field, a better understanding of the underlying physical and chemical processes is also crucial to enable the career advancement of the next generation of researchers. As an integrated and combined article, it is hoped that this roadmap, covering all these aspects, will be informative to support further progress in academics as well as in the industry‐oriented research toward commercialization of MIEC membranes for different applications

Optimal configuration of a power grid system with a dynamic performance sharing mechanism

Performance sharing is an effective policy for a power grid system to satisfy the power demand of different districts to greatest extent. Through transmission lines, the districts with sufficient power can share the redundant power with the districts with power deficit. The existing research has incorporated the performance sharing mechanism into systems with simple structures such as parallel systems and series-parallel systems. However, little concentration has been spent on more complex structures. This necessitates the need of this paper that models a power distribution with a more complex reliability structure. We assume that the system is composed of generators and nodes. Both the performance of each generator and the demand of each node in the network are assumed to be random variables. This paper first proposes a dynamic performance sharing policy to minimize the unsupplied demand for a given system with fixed capacity and demand. The optimal allocation of generators, which minimizes the expected system unsupplied demand, is then studied. Numerical examples are proposed to illustrate the applications of the proposed procedures

A Novel Escherichia coli O157:H7 Clone Causing a Major Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Outbreak in China

An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in China in 1999 caused 177 deaths due to hemolytic uremic syndrome. Sixteen outbreak associated isolates were found to belong to a new clone, sequence type 96 (ST96), based on multilocus sequence typing of 15 housekeeping genes. Whole genome sequencing of an outbreak isolate, Xuzhou21, showed that the isolate is phylogenetically closely related to the Japan 1996 outbreak isolate Sakai, both of which share the most recent common ancestor with the US outbreak isolate EDL933. The levels of IL-6 and IL-8 of peripheral blood mononuclear cells induced by Xuzhou21 and Sakai were significantly higher than that induced by EDL933. Xuzhou21 also induced a significantly higher level of IL-8 than Sakai while both induced similar levels of IL-6. The expression level of Shiga toxin 2 in Xuzhou21 induced by mitomycin C was 68.6 times of that under non-inducing conditions, twice of that induced in Sakai (32.7 times) and 15 times higher than that induced in EDL933 (4.5 times). Our study shows that ST96 is a novel clone and provided significant new insights into the evolution of virulence of E. coli O157:H7