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Dyes, a kind of visible chemical, have severe deleterious effects on human health and ecological environment. In this work, batch biosorption experiments were carried out under various experimental conditions such as pH value and agitation time to optimize the potentiality of Enteromorpha prolifera for the removal of malachite green (MG) dye from aqueous solution (70·7%). Then, the algal biomass was treated with a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in helium for 4 and 10 min to enhance MG removal efficiency (84·7 and 96·6%). In addition, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy in combination with scanning electron microscopy was employed to monitor the chemical and physical changes of algal cells treated by DBD. This study illustrates that DBD may serve as an effective tool to activate the functional groups on the cell wall surface for dye binding, and it even offers an alternative new technique to improve the adsorption properties of native biosorbents for the removal of toxic dyes from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Dwarf bunt of wheat, caused by Tilletia controversa Kühn, is a destructive disease on wheat as well as an important international quarantined disease in many countries. The objective of this investigation was to develop a diagnostic molecular marker generated from amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) for rapid identification of T. controversa. Methods and Results: A total of 30 primer combinations were tested by AFLP to detect DNA polymorphisms between T. controversa and related species. The primer combination E08/M02 generated a polymorphic pattern displaying a 451-bp DNA fragment specific for T. controversa. The marker was converted into a sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR), and specific primers (SC-0149/SC-02415), designed for use in PCR detection assays, amplified a unique DNA fragment in all isolates of T. controversa, but not in the related pathogens. The detection limit with the primer set SC-0149/SC-02415 was 10 ng of DNA which could be obtained from 11 μg of teliospores in a 25- μl PCR reaction. Conclusions: An approach to distinguish T. controversa from similar pathogenic fungi has been developed based on the use of a SCAR marker. Significance and Impact of the Study: Development of the simple, high throughput assay kit for the rapid diagnosis of dwarf bunt of wheat and detection of T. controversa is anticipated in further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]