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ABSTRACT: The anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) and nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane-oxidizing (n-damo) bacteria in a paddy soil core (0-100 cm) were investigated with newly designed primers targeting the hydrazine synthase β-subunit (hzsB) of anammox bacteria and the recently published primers targeting the pmoA and 16S rRNA genes of n-damo bacteria. The hzsB gene was identified as a proper biomarker to explore the anammox bacterial biodiversity and abundance in soil. The anammox bacteria were present throughout the soil core with the highest abundance of 2.7 × 10(6) hzsB copies g(-1) dry soil at 40-50 cm and were not detectable below 70 cm. Sequences related to at least three species of known anammox bacteria, 'Brocadia anammoxidans', 'Brocadia fulgida', and 'Jettenia asiatica' were detected. By combining the analysis of pmoA and 16S rRNA genes, the n-damo bacteria were observed to be present in 30-70 cm with abundance from 6.5 × 10(3) (60-70 cm) to 7.5 × 10(4) (30-40 cm) copies g(-1) dry soil. The pmoA sequences retrieved from different depths closely related to each other and formed a unique clade. Our results showed that anammox and n-damo bacteria co-occurred in the paddy soil. Both of them were abundant in deep layers (30-60 cm) and the community structures changed along depths in the soil core.
FEMS Microbiology Letters 08/2012; 336(2):79-88. · 2.04 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In this study, we investigated the functional role of arginines in the C-terminal (65-67) of BmK AGP-SYPU1, an analgesic peptide from the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch. Using site-directed mutagenesis, arginines at the C-terminal (65-66) were deleted or added to the C-terminal (67). The genes for three mutants of BmK AGP-SYPU1 were obtained by PCR. An analgesic activity assay was used to evaluate the role of arginine residues in the analgesic activity. The three-dimensional structure of BmK AGP-SYPU1 was established by homology modeling. As a result, we showed that the arginines in the C-terminal are crucial for the analgesic activity and may be located at analgesic functional sites. Our work has implications for further modification of scorpion toxins to obtain new analgesic peptides with enhanced activity.
Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 08/2012; 168(2):247-55. · 1.94 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) receptor (TIM-1) polymorphism plays an important role in asthma and autoimmune diseases. Objective. To analyze the association of TIM-1 polymorphism and HAV infection with childhood allergic asthma in Southwest China.
TIM-1 exon 4 (157insMTTTVP) and two polymorphism loci, -416G>C and -1454G>A, in the HAV receptor promoter region were studied. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to test the genotypes of three polymorphism loci among 579 cases of asthma and 524 controls. The HAV infection status was determined in a case-control study with stratified analysis.
HAV exposure associated with childhood allergic asthma in the study population was compared with controls (odds ratio (OR) = 0.181, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.126-0.260, p < .001). The -416G>C polymorphism was associated with asthma (OR = 1.384, 95% CI 1.148-1.669, p < .001), but the insertion variant 157delMTTTVP of exon 4 and the -1454G>A polymorphism were not.
Our results indicated that the -416G>C polymorphism of the TIM-1 gene is associated with childhood allergic asthma, providing a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the allergic asthma among children aged below 15 years in Southwest China.
Journal of Asthma 08/2012; 49(7):697-702. · 1.52 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We demonstrate that the intrinsic properties of monolayer graphene allow it to act as a more effective saturable absorber
for mode-locking fiber lasers when compared to multilayer graphene. The absorption of monolayer graphene can be saturated
at lower excitation intensity compared to multilayer graphene, graphene with wrinkle-like defects, or functionalized graphene.
Monolayer graphene has a remarkably large modulation depth of 65.9%, whereas the modulation depth of multilayer graphene is
greatly reduced due to nonsaturable absorption and scattering loss. Picosecond ultrafast laser pulses (1.23 ps) can be generated
using monolayer graphene as a saturable absorber. Due to the ultrafast relaxation time, larger modulation depth and lower
scattering loss of monolayer graphene, it performs better than multilayer graphene in terms of pulse shaping ability, pulse
stability, and output energy.
KeywordsGraphene–saturable absorber–laser–carrier dynamics–ultrafast photonics
Nano Research 04/2012; 4(3):297-307. · 6.97 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The separation of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene from the metallic catalyst it is grown on, followed by a subsequent transfer to a dielectric substrate, is currently the adopted method for device fabrication. Most transfer techniques use a chemical etching method to dissolve the metal catalysts, thus imposing high material cost in large-scale fabrication. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient, nondestructive electrochemical route for the delamination of CVD graphene film from metal surfaces. The electrochemically delaminated graphene films are continuous over 95% of the surface and exhibit increasingly better electronic quality after several growth cycles on the reused copper catalyst, due to the suppression of quasi-periodical nanoripples induced by copper step edges. The electrochemical delamination process affords the advantages of high efficiency, low-cost recyclability, and minimal use of etching chemicals.
ACS Nano 12/2011; 5(12):9927-33. · 10.77 Impact Factor
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Nature Photonics 05/2011; 5(7):411-415. · 29.28 Impact Factor
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Nanoresearch. 01/2011; 4:297.
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ABSTRACT: The optical conductance of monolayer graphene is defined solely by the fine structure constant. The absorbance has been predicted to be independent of frequency. In principle, the interband optical absorption in zero-gap graphene could be saturated readily under strong excitation due to Pauli blocking. Here, we demonstrate the use of atomic layer graphene as saturable absorber in a mode-locked fiber laser for the generation of ultrashort soliton pulses (756 fs) at the telecommunication band. The modulation depth can be tuned in a wide range from 66.5% to 6.2% by varying the thickness of graphene. Our results suggest that ultrathin graphene films are potentially useful as optical elements in fiber lasers. Graphene as a laser mode locker can have many merits such as lower saturation intensity, ultrafast recovery time, tunable modulation depth and wideband tuneability.
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