Evaluation of a conductometric method to determine the volume fraction of the suspensions of biomembrane-bounded particles.

Supported by the fact of correspondence between the results of several independent techniques compared, we recommend here a conductometric method as a simple, nondestructive and reliable tool for determining the volume fraction of the suspensions of membrane-limited particles of biological relevance. It requires only conductivity measurements on a suspension and its medium.     

受损河岸生态系统生态修复材料的研究

我国城市段河道护岸多使用混凝土等人工建筑材料,其结果导致河岸植物群落丧失,破坏了河岸连接水生态系统和陆地生态系统的纽带作用,其生态作用越来越小.因此恢复重建受损河岸生态系统,需要研究适于河岸生态环境、生态作用好的生态修复材料.以恢复重建城市段受损河岸生态系统为目的,研究了作为受损河岸生态修复材料--芦苇幼苗的快速繁殖技术.结果表明:芦苇秆粗细对芦苇秆的发芽没有显著影响,因此在选取芦苇秆时,尽可能选择休眠芽多的芦苇秆,并且选用细芦苇秆,以便于运输;散状、捆状条件下,芦苇秆的发芽有显著差异,捆状芦苇秆要比散状更易发芽,可培育出优良的芦苇幼苗,因此最好将数个芦苇秆捆成一束浸泡发芽.本研究得出的技术方法,可以减少对芦苇原生地的破坏,并且能够快速、大量繁殖芦苇幼苗,为成功开发植物相容型混凝土河岸生态修复材料奠定了重要基础.     

受损河岸生态系统修复研究进展

基于传统水利工程设计理念修建的河流护岸工程只考虑工程的耐久性及施工的方便性而使用混凝土或钢筋混凝土材料,忽略了河流的生态功能,从而破坏了河流的各种生态过程,导致河流污染严重,生态作用越来越小.分析了国内外关于受损河岸生态系统修复的研究现状及存在的问题,并提出了我国开展受损河岸生态系统修复研究需要解决的问题、应采取的研究方法.     

Chemical and Genetic Diversity of Some Ligularia Species (Compositae) in Northwestern Yunnan and Southwestern Sichuan of China

1Introduction Ligularia Cass., (Compositae) is a highly diversified genus, and more than 100 species of which are distributed in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and adjacent areas. Ligularia species have been studied with respect to secondary metabolites, and many sesquiterpenes of the furanoeremophilane type have been isolated from them. In order to find correlates among these variations, and ultimately understand the diversity-generating mechanism of Ligularia species in the Hengduan Mountains, we initiated an extensive study that uses furanoeremophilanes as a chemical index and the DNA sequence as a genetic index. Furanoeremophilanes have been detected conventionally by Ehrlich' s test, which has been used in a search for novel natural products. As for the DNA sequence, we determined the nucleotide sequence of the atpB-rbcL intergenic region in the present study.     

Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels

Global energy and environmental problems have stimulated increased efforts towards synthesizing biofuels from renewable resources. Compared to the traditional biofuel, ethanol, higher alcohols offer advantages as gasoline substitutes because of their higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity. In addition, branched-chain alcohols have higher octane numbers compared with their straight-chain counterparts. However, these alcohols cannot be synthesized economically using native organisms. Here we present a metabolic engineering approach using Escherichia coli to produce higher alcohols including isobutanol, 1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-phenylethanol from glucose, a renewable carbon source. This strategy uses the host's highly active amino acid biosynthetic pathway and diverts its 2-keto acid intermediates for alcohol synthesis. In particular, we have achieved high-yield, high-specificity production of isobutanol from glucose. The strategy enables the exploration of biofuels beyond those naturally accumulated to high quantities in microbial fermentation.