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Abstract: Natural nano-structural attapulgite clay was purified by mechanical stirring with the aid of ultrasonic wave and its structure and morphology was investigated by XRD and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cytochrome c was immobilized on attapulgite modified glassy carbon electrode. The interaction between Cytochrome c and attapulgite clay was examined by using UV–vis spectroscopy and electrochemical methods. The direct electron transfer of the immobilized Cytochrome c exhibited a pair of redox peaks with formal potential of about 17mV (versus SCE) in 0.1mol/L, pH 7.0, PBS. The electrode reaction showed a surface-controlled process with the apparent heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (k s) of 7.05s−1 and charge-transfer coefficient (α) of 0.49. Cytochrome c immobilized on the attapulgite modified electrode exhibits a remarkable electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The calculated apparent Michaelis–Menten constant was 470μmol/L, indicating a high catalytic activity of Cytochrome c immobilized on attapulgite modified electrode to the reduction of H2O2. Based on these, a third generation of reagentless biosensor can be constructed for the determination of H2O2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mesoporous Cu 2 O particles with different morphologies were synthesized via simple one-pot reactions. Effects of reducing agents, dispersant, template, and temperature on the structure of the prepared materials were investigated. Mesoporous flower-shaped Cu 2 O materials were obtained at 70 ℃ using glucose as a reductant . Different hollow microsphere shapes of Cu 2 O could be prepared at 40 ℃ using another type of reductant, ascorbic acid . The results indicated that the uniform morphology of synthesized Cu 2 O with mesopores presented a maximum specific surface area of 45.3 m 2 /g. Furthermore, the as-prepared Cu 2 O particles showed good photodegradation efficiencies of methyl orange in the range of 86.0–93.7%, depending on their morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flanking genomic sequences refer to the DNA sequences flanking specific sites of known sequences in chromosome, which contain information such as candidate genes, transcriptional regulation, chromosome structure, and biosafety, and play an important role in genomics research. Flanking sequence acquisition technologies are mainly used in the cloning of regulatory sequences such as promoters and enhancers, identification of T-DNA or transposon insertion sites, chromosome walking, genome-wide gap filling, etc. It is an important means of structural genomics research and functional genomics research. It is applied in the identification of transgenic plants and animals and their safety management. With the development of molecular biology, many methods for obtaining flanking sequences have been established, including plasmid rescue, inverse PCR, ligation-mediated PCR, semi-random primer PCR, whole-genome resequencing etc. In this review, we summarize and compared different methods for acquiring flanking genomic sequence. The principles and research progress of each approach are discussed.

Curcumin is a polyphenol extracted from turmeric rhizome and has multiple pharmacological roles. Recently,its anticancer properties have been recognized. Also,curcumin regulates autophagy in tumor cells via signaling pathways including AMP-activated protein kinase,mammalian target of rapamycin,transcription factor EB,Beclin-1,B-cell lymphoma 2,and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Considering the complicated crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis,in this article we summaize the mechanism of curcumin-induced autophagy and its effect on apoptosis,with an attempt to provide insights on tumor therapy.

The availability of T-DNA insertion sites is very important for plant functional genomics research and the screening and identification of transgenic plants. However, the present protocols for identifying T-DNA insertion sites, like reverse PCR and semi-random primer PCR, are not only complex and time-consuming, but also inefficient. In this paper, a DNA pool of three transgenic plants was sequenced by whole-genome resequencing, and four T-DNA insertion sites were identified by blasting using transgenic T-DNA sequences. After PCR and Southern blot analysis, the T-DNA insertion sites of the three transgenic plants were successfully confirmed, and one of the transgenic plants showed two insertion sites. In conclusion, this study established a simple, reliable and efficient method for obtaining T-DNA insertion sites in transgenic plants.

A novel vector pBIN-35S-GFP was constructed from the plasmids of pBIN19, pGFP, and pCHS, which included gfp gene driven by the CaMV 35S promoter. The hairy roots of Petunia hybrida were induced by wild-type Agrobacterium rhizogenes K599 harboring pBIN-35S-GFP with the frequency of 45%. The PCR results showed that rolB from K599 Ri plasmid and gfp from pBIN-35S-GFP were co-transformed into the genome of P. hybrida. The high activity of green fluo-rescence protein was detected by fluorescence microscopy. In particularly, the vector carries multiple cloning sites at both 5' and 3' of the CaMV 35S promoter, which allows easy exchange 35S promoter to study other promoter functions. In addition, there are multiple cloning sites at 5' end and one-sites of EcoRand Bsmsites at 3' end of gfp. Therefore, it supports to fusion target genes to expression fusion protein and can be replaced with any other genes of interest for genetic transforma-tion.