Investigation of metal ions binding of humic substances using fluorescence emission and synchronous‐scan spectroscopy

Abstract

The binding site interactions of IHSS humic substances, Suwannee River Humic Acid, Suwannee River Fulvic Acid, Nordic Fulvic Acid, and Aldrich Humic Acid with various metals ions and a herbicide, methyl viologen were investigated using fluorescence emission and synchronous‐scan spectroscopy. The metal ions used were, Fe(III), Cr(III), Cr(VI), Pb(II), Cu(II) and Ni(II). Stern‐Volmer constants, K_SV for these quenchers were determined at pH 4 and 8 using an ionic strength of 0.1M. For all four humic substances, and at both pH studied, Fe(III) was found to be the most efficient quencher. Quenching efficiency was found to be 3–10 times higher at pH 8. The bimolecular quenching rate constants were found to exceed the maximum considered for diffusion controlled interactions, and indicate that the fluorophore and quencher are in close physical association. Synchronous‐scan spectra were found to change with pH and provided useful information on binding site interactions between humic substances and these quenchers.     

Aniline removal by Photocatalytic reaction of iron(iii) mediated with dissolved organic matter

When light (> 370 nm) was allowed to interact with an aqueous solution containing dissolved organic matter (DOM) and Fe(III), removal of aniline (AN) was observed. This was due to the photocatalytic reaction of Fe(III) mediated by DOM. Syringic acid (SYA) and humic acid (HA) were used as DOM in the present study. The ¹⁵N‐NMR spectrum of the product mixture from the light irradiation of the SYA/Fe(III) system demonstrated that AN was covalently bound to SYA. The kinetics of AN removal were, therefore, interpreted by assuming covalent binding between DOM and AN. The amounts of covalent binding sites and the apparent second‐order rate constants could be evaluated, and the amounts of covalent binding sites decreased with the increases of the concentration of DOM. This is attributed that the polymerization of DOM by the photo‐oxidation competed with the covalent binding between AN and DOM.     

Tomato microtubule-associated protein end-binding protein 1 (EB1) mediates tolerance to salt stress北大核心CSCD

The dynamics of microtubules is regulated mainly by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) and plays an important role in plant development and response to environmental signals. End-binding protein 1 (EB1) is a MAP specially binding to the microtubule plus end. Blast search of tomato genome showed two EB1 genes, which were named as SlEB1a (Solyc03g116370) and SlEB1b (Solyc02g092950) in this study. Transgenic tomato plants over-expressing SlEB1a or RNA interfering both SlEB1a and SlEB1b were constructed, and their sensitivity to microtubule depolymerization drug propyzamide and salt stress were analyzed. In this study, we determined the role of tomato EB1 (SlEB1) in the response to salt stress. Compared to the wild-type control plants, OE plants were more sensitive to 1 μmol/L propyzamide, whereas RNAi plants were more tolerant to 1 μmol/L propyzamide; in contrast, OE plants were more tolerant to 100 mmol/L NaCl, whereas RNAi plants were more sensitive to 100 mmol/L NaCl. Thus, SlEB1 might positively regulate salt stress response by negatively regulating the dynamics of tomato cortical microtubules. This study forms a basis for how cortical microtubule dynamics plays a role in plant response to salt stress. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

不同季节大气可吸入颗粒物(PM_(10))诱导小鼠原代培养神经元炎性及其级联损伤效应

为了探讨不同季节可吸入颗粒物(PM10)对神经元的损伤效应,本研究通过建立小鼠大脑皮层原代神经元体外染毒模型,考察了不同季节PM10对炎性因子诱导型一氧化氮合酶(iNOS)、环氧化酶-2(COX-2)和黏附分子(ICAM-1)表达水平的影响,并探讨了与之耦联的磷酸化Ca2+/钙调蛋白依赖性蛋白激酶Ⅱα(p-Ca MKⅡα)、环磷腺苷效应元件结合蛋白(p-CREB)及即早基因(c-jun、c-fos)的表达情况.结果表明,PM10暴露刺激神经元炎性细胞因子释放增加,显著上调p-Ca MKⅡα和p-CREB的水平,并刺激即早基因的高表达,且以冬季PM10的效应最为明显.由此提示,PM10暴露可能通过炎症反应机制激活Ca2+-Ca MK-CREB通路,进而刺激即早基因表达引发神经毒性作用,而冬季PM10中多环芳烃类物质负荷可能是造成效应季节性差异的主要原因.     

Speciation evolutions of target metals （Cd,Pb） influenced by chlorine and sulfur during sewage sludge incineration

In sludge incineration, the thermal behavior of heavy metal is a growing concern. In this work, the combined analysis of metal partitioning behavior between vapor phase and condensed phase, speciation redistribu- tion in condensed phase and the difference of metal species in binding energy was carried out to investigate the possible volatilization-condensation mechanism of heavy metals in high-temperature sludge incineration. It was found that there were two steps in metal volatilization. The initial volatilization of heavy metal originated from their exchangeable （EXC）, carbonate bound （CAR） and iron- manganese bound （FM） fractions, which is primarily composed of simple substance, chlorides, oxides and sulfides. With the increase of chlorine and sulfur in sludge, the inner speciation redistribution of heavy metals occurred in condensed phase, which was an important factor affecting the potential volatility of heavy metals. A partial of metal species with complexed （COM） and residual （RES） fractions gradually decomposed into simple substance or ions, oxides and carbonates, which signifi- cantly strengthened the second volatility. In presence of chlorine, about 46% of Cd with the RES fraction disappeared when the volatility rate of Cd increased by 44.89%. Moreover, about 9% of Pb with COM fraction disappeared when there was an increase of nearly 10% in the volatilization rate. Thus, the second volatilization was mainly controlled by the decomposition of metal species with COM and RES fractions. By virtue of XRD analysis and the binding energy calculation, it was found that metal complex and silicates were inclined to decompose under high temperature due to poor thermo stability as compared with sulfates.     

Exploration of the key functional proteins from an efficient cellulolytic microbial consortium using dilution-to-extinction approach

In the present study, the cellulose binding proteins(CBPs) secreted by a putative cellulolytic microbial consortium were isolated and purified by affinity digestion. The purified CBPs were subsequently separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(SDS-PAGE). Using mass spectrometric analyses, eight CBPs were identified and annotated to be similar to known proteins secreted by Clostridium clariflavum DSM 19732 and Paenibacillus sp. W-61. In addition, in combination with dilution-to-extinction approach and zymogram analysis technique, CBPs 6(97 k Da) and 12(52 k Da) were confirmed to be the key functional proteins that influence cellulolytic activities. Moreover, structural domain analyses and enzymatic activity detection indicated that CBPs 6 and 12 contained glycoside hydrolase families(GH) 9 and 48 catalytic modules, which both revealed endoglucandase and xylanase activities. It was suggested that the coexistence of GH9 and GH48 catalytic domains present in these two proteins could synergistically promote the efficient degradation of cellulose.     

Effect of in vitro administered 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) on DNA-binding activities of nuclear transcription factors in NIH-3T3 mouse fibroblasts

Abstract

Most modern pesticides are expensive. Application of excessive dosage rates is likely to cause undesirable biological side‐effects and is economically wasteful. Non‐uniform distribution of the spray cloud, or application at the wrong time, may result in failure to control the pest. It is the responsibility of the field operator to acquire sufficient knowledge and skill to ensure proper use of the control agents, to increase efficiency of their usage and to reduce unwanted side‐effects. To achieve this goal, he must take into consideration the various physical factors that govern field performance of pesticides.

A simple relationship exists between the spray volume and emission rate used, and droplet size produced. The use of extremely low spray volumes (i.e., those less than 2.0 litre per ha) for forest insect control in Canada, as opposed to higher volumes used in agriculture, necessitates the release of fine droplets (ranging from 20 to 70 μm in diameter) to obtain adequate coverage of the target area. These droplets take a long time to sediment downwards, evaporate in‐flight, become smaller in size and/or form powdery residues, thus contributing to off‐target drift and impaired droplet adhesion to target surfaces. Physical factors such as rain washing, degradation by sunlight and erosion by wind also influence the longevity of pesticide deposits on foliage which is crucial during the critical period of pest control.

Factors affecting the mode of entry into insects are related to the type of ingredients used in formulation. If a pesticide acts via crawling contact, formulations which would provide surface deposits would be more beneficial than emulsions or oil‐based mixes which tend to undergo penetration into foliar cuticle. Physical factors that affect field performance of a pesticide tank mix are related to phase separation and ‘breakdown of emulsions’ in the application equipment; ‘agglomeration and caking’ of wettable powder dispersions at the bottom of the tank; impaired flow behaviour of highly viscous formulations; and coarse atomization of high‐viscosity tank mixes leading to poor target cover.     

Characterization of binding site heterogeneity for copper within dissolved organic matter fractions using two-dimensional correlation fluorescence spectroscopy

The heterogeneity of copper binding characteristics for dissolved organic matter (DOM) fractions was investigated based on the fluorescence quenching of the synchronous fluorescence spectra upon the addition of copper and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS). Hydrophobic acid (HoA) and hydrophilic (Hi) fractions of two different DOM (algal and leaf litter DOM) were used for this study. For both DOM, fluorescence quenching occurred at a wider range of wavelengths for the HoA fractions compared to the Hi fractions. The combined information of the synchronous and asynchronous maps derived from 2D-COS provided a clear picture of the heterogeneous distribution of the copper binding sites within each DOM fraction, which was not readily recognized by a simple comparison of the changes in the synchronous fluorescence spectra upon the addition of copper. For the algal DOM, higher stability constants were exhibited for the HoA versus the Hi fractions. The logarithms of the stability constants ranged from 4.8 to 6.1 and from 4.5 to 5.0 for the HoA and the Hi fractions of the algal DOM, respectively, depending on the associated wavelength and the fitted models. In contrast, no distinctive difference in the binding characteristics was found between the two fractions of the leaf litter DOM. This suggests that influences of the structural and chemical properties of DOM on copper binding may differ for DOM from different sources. The relative difference of the calculated stability constants within the DOM fractions were consistent with the sequential orders interpreted from the asynchronous 2D-COS. It is expected that 2D-COS will be widely applied to other DOM studies requiring detailed information on the heterogeneous nature and subsequent effects under a range of environmental conditions.     

部分取代芳烃对绿藻毒性的研究和QSAR分析

本文测定了３０余种取代芳烃对一种绿藻（斜生栅藻）的ＥＣ５０值（即与对照相比，使藻的生长率下降５０％的有机物浓度）并结合发光菌的毒性数据，研究了这类物质结合与活性的定量关系，用辛醇水分配系数和特殊分子连接性指数可以较好地预测反应性有机物的毒性。     

河北省环渤海地区可持续发展中水环境约束与对策

河北省环渤海地区是河北省对外开放的前沿,本文分析了其可持续发展过程中水资源短缺、水质污染及过量开采水资源导致的地面沉降等相关问题并提出了相应对策。