Compression Behaviour of Natural and Reconstituted Clays

International audienceThe intercept of the log(1+e) - logσv' straight line is introduced to describe the effect of the starting point on the compressibility of natural and reconstituted clays. It is found that when the effective stress exceeds the remoulded yield stress, the compression behaviour of reconstituted clays is controlled solely by the water content at the remoulded yield stress and the liquid limit. Comparison of the compression behaviour of natural and reconstituted clays indicates that their difference in compressibility is caused by soil structure and the difference in water content at the compression starting point. The compression behaviour of natural clays can be classified into three regimes: 1) the pre-yield regime characterised by small compressibility with soil structure restraining the deformation up to the consolidation yield stress; 2) the transitional regime characterised by a gradual loss of soil structure when the effective stress is between the consolidation yield stress and the transitional stress; and 3) the post-transitional regime characterised by the same change law in compression behaviour as reconstituted clays when the effective stress is higher than the transitional stress. For the investigated clays, the transitional stress is 1.0-3.5 times the consolidation yield stress. The compression index varies solely with the void ratio at an effective stress of 1.0 kPa for both natural clays in post-transitional regime and reconstituted clays when the effective stress exceeds the remoulded yield stress, and when compressed in such cases the compression curves of both natural clays and reconstituted clays can be normalised well to a unique line using the void index

MqsR/MqsA Toxin/Antitoxin System Regulates Persistence and Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas putida KT2440

Bacterial toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems have received increasing attention due to their prevalence, diverse structures, and important physiological functions. In this study, we identified and characterized a type II TA system in a soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440. This TA system belongs to the MqsR/MqsA family. We found that PP_4205 (MqsR) greatly inhibits cell growth in P. putida KT2440 and Escherichia coli, the antitoxin PP_4204 (MqsA) neutralizes the toxicity of the toxin MqsR, and the two genes encoding them are co-transcribed. MqsR and MqsA interact with each other directly in vivo and MqsA is a negative regulator of the TA operon through binding to the promoter. Consistent with the MqsR/MqsA pair in E. coli, the binding of the toxin MqsR to MqsA inhibits the DNA binding ability of MqsA in P. putida KT2440. Disruption of the mqsA gene which induces mqsR expression increases persister cell formation 53-fold, while overexpressing mqsA which represses mqsR expression reduces persister cell formation 220-fold, suggesting an important role of MqsR in persistence in P. putida KT2440. Furthermore, both MqsR and MqsA promote biofilm formation. As a DNA binding protein, MqsA can also negatively regulate an ECF sigma factor AlgU and a universal stress protein PP_3288. Thus, we revealed an important regulatory role of MqsR/MqsA in persistence and biofilm formation in P. putida KT2440

On the volumetric strain-time curve patterns of dredged clays during primary consolidation

International audienceThirteen one-dimensional consolidation tests with step loading were performed on dredged clays reconstituted at different initial water contents. Both vertical deformation and pore pressure were measured during primary consolidation, which refers to the time-dependent compression process associated with the dissipation of pore pressure. The pore pressure changes were investigated by considering the maximum and the residual values. The development of compression during pore pressure dissipation was analysed to identify the change patterns in volumetric strain-time curves. Three types of change patterns were found during the primary consolidation, and the remoulded yield stress was found to be the key factor in classifying the change patterns. The inflexion point is absent for types 1 and 2, indicating that the end of primary consolidation cannot be determined by the commonly used Taylor and Casagrande methods. Type 3 shows an inverse 'S' shape, suggesting that the end of primary consolidation determined based on the compression-time curves occurs before the completion of pore pressure dissipation

Determining the virgin compression lines of reconstituted clays at different initial water contents

International audienceForty-eight consolidometer tests were performed on various natural clays and a kaolinite clay reconstituted in the laboratory at different initial water contents using a modified consolidometer apparatus. These data together with those published previously allow a multi-regression analysis for the development of an approach for determining the intrinsic compression parameters that depend on initial water content and liquid limit. The approach proposed by Burland can be thereby extended to provide an expression describing the compression response of a wide range of clays. Based on the intrinsic concept, a simple way of determining the virgin compression lines of reconstituted clays is also proposed using the density of soil particles, initial water content, and liquid limit

Effect of Initial Water Content on Undrained Shear Behaviour of Reconstituted Clays

International audienc

Biofilm Formation and Heat Stress Induce Pyomelanin Production in Deep-Sea Pseudoalteromonas sp. SM9913

Pseudoalteromonas is an important bacterial genus present in various marine habitats. Many strains of this genus are found to be surface colonizers on marine eukaryotes and produce a wide range of pigments. However, the exact physiological role and mechanism of pigmentation were less studied. Pseudoalteromonas sp. SM9913 (SM9913), an non-pigmented strain isolated from the deep-sea sediment, formed attached biofilm at the solid–liquid interface and pellicles at the liquid–air interface at a wide range of temperatures. Lower temperatures and lower nutrient levels promoted the formation of attached biofilm, while higher nutrient levels promoted pellicle formation of SM9913. Notably, after prolonged incubation at higher temperatures growing planktonically or at the later stage of the biofilm formation, we found that SM9913 released a brownish pigment. By comparing the protein profile at different temperatures followed by qRT-PCR, we found that the production of pigment at higher temperatures was due to the induction of melA gene which is responsible for the synthesis of homogentisic acid (HGA). The auto-oxidation of HGA can lead to the formation of pyomelanin, which has been shown in other bacteria. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer analysis confirmed that the pigment produced in SM9913 was pyomelanin-like compound. Furthermore, we demonstrated that, during heat stress and during biofilm formation, the induction level of melA gene was significantly higher than that of the hmgA gene which is responsible for the degradation of HGA in the L-tyrosine catabolism pathway. Collectively, our results suggest that the production of pyomelanin of SM9913 at elevated temperatures or during biofilm formation might be one of the adaptive responses of marine bacteria to environmental cues

Type II toxin/antitoxin system ParE(SO)/CopA(SO) stabilizes prophage CP4So in Shewanella oneidensis

Toxin/antitoxin (TA) loci are commonly found in mobile genetic elements such as plasmids and prophages. However, the physiological functions of these TA loci in prophages and cross-regulation among these TA loci remain largely unexplored. Here, we characterized a newly discovered type II TA pair, ParE(SO)/CopA(SO), in the CP4So prophage in Shewanella oneidensis. We demonstrated that ParE(SO)/CopA(SO) plays a critical role in the maintenance of CP4So in host cells after its excision. The toxin ParE(SO) inhibited cell growth, resulting in filamentous growth and eventually cell death. The antitoxin CopA(SO) neutralized the toxicity of ParE(SO) through direct protein-protein interactions and repressed transcription of the TA operon by binding to a DNA motif in the promoter region containing two inverted repeats [5-GTANTAC (N)(3) GTANTAC>-3]. CopA(SO) also repressed transcription of another TA system PemK(SO)/PemI(SO) in megaplasmid pMR-1 of S. oneidensis through binding to a highly similar DNA motif in its promoter region. CopA(SO) homologs are widely spread in Shewanella and other Proteobacteria, either as a component of a TA pair or as orphan antitoxins. Our study thus illustrated the cross-regulation of the TA systems in different mobile genetic elements and expanded our understanding of the physiological function of TA systems