Cell surface hydrophobicity and colony morphology of Trichosporon asahii clinical isolates

Trichosporon asahii is a pathogenic basidiomycetous yeast. Individual strains of T. asahii have different colony morphologies. However, it is not clear whether cell surface phenotypes differ among the colony morphologies. Here we characterized the cell surface hydrophobicity and analysed the carbohydrate contents of the cell surface polysaccharides in T. asahii clinical isolates with various colony morphologies. Among the three distinctive colony morphologies obtained from one clinical isolate, the white‐type morphology exhibited higher hydrophobicity. The hydrophobicity of heat‐killed T. asahii cells was greatly reduced after periodate oxidation of the cell surface carbohydrates. Furthermore, the cell wall and extracellular polysaccharide components differed among the morphologies. Our results suggest that T. asahii cell surface hydrophobicity is affected by cell surface carbohydrate composition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

N-(18-Hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-Glutamine: A Newly Discovered Analog of Volicitin in Manduca sexta and its Elicitor Activity in Plants

Plants attacked by insect herbivores release a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that serve as chemical cues for host location by parasitic wasps, natural enemies of the herbivores. Volicitin, N-(17-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine, is one of the most active VOC elicitors found in herbivore regurgitants. Our previous study revealed that hydroxylation on the 17th position of the linolenic acid moiety of N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine increases by more than three times the elicitor activity in corn plants. Here, we identified N-(18-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine (18OH-volicitin) from larval gut contents of tobacco hornworm (THW), Manduca sexta. Eggplant and tobacco, two solanaceous host plants of THW larvae, and corn, a non-host plant, responded differently to this new elicitor. Eggplant and tobacco seedlings emitted twice the amount of VOCs when 18OH-volicitin was applied to damaged leaf surfaces compared to N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine, while both these fatty acid amino acid conjugates (FACs) elicited a similar response in corn seedlings. In both solanaceous plants, there was no significant difference in the elicitor activity of 17OH- and 18OH-volicitin. Interestingly, other lepidopteran species that have 17OH-type volicitin also attack solanaceous plants. These data suggest that plants have developed herbivory-detection systems customized to their herbivorous enemies.     

Fatty Acid Amides,Previously Identified in Caterpillars,Found in the Cricket <Emphasis Type="Italic">Teleogryllus taiwanemma</Emphasis> and Fruit Fly <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila melanogaster</Emphasis> Larvae

Fatty acid amides (FAAs) are known elicitors that induce plants to release volatile compounds that, in turn, attract foraging parasitoids. Since the discovery of volicitin [N-(17-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine] in the regurgitant of larval Spodoptera exigua, a series of related FAAs have been identified in several other species of lepidopteran caterpillars. We screened 13 non-lepidopteran insects for the presence of FAAs and found that these compounds were present in adults of two closely related cricket species, Teleogryllus taiwanemma and T. emma (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), and larvae of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae). When analyzed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-ion trap-time-of-flight (LCMS-IT-TOF), the gut contents of both crickets had nearly identical FAA composition, the major FAAs comprising N-linolenoyl-l-glutamic acid and N-linoleoyl-l-glutamic acid. There were also two previously uncharacterized FAAs that were thought to be hydroxylated derivatives of these glutamic acid conjugates, based on their observed fragmentation patterns. In addition to these four FAAs containing glutamic acid, N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine and a small amount of volicitin were detected. In D. melanogaster, N-linolenoyl-l-glutamic acid and N-linoleoyl-l-glutamic acid were the major FAAs found in larval extracts, while hydroxylated glutamic acid conjugates, volicitin and N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine, were detected as trace components. Although these FAAs were not found in ten of the insects studied here, their identification in two additional orders of insects suggests that FAAs are more common than previously reported and may have physiological roles in a wide range of insects besides caterpillars.     

Ultra-thinning Processing of Dielectric Substrates by Precision Abrasive Machining

The ultra-thin dielectric substrate was obtained by precision grinding and lapping/polishing. In the precision grinding, the substrate was thinned until 50 μm in thickness using fine-grained diamond wheels and a polishing pad. The substrates in the lapping and polishing were thinned to 17 μm in thickness with good flatness. The good flatness was produced by hard polishing pad made of polyvinyl chloride resin owing to their mechanical properties of high fixed grain density. These were confirmed by detailed AFM observations. Finally, the substrates were segmentalized to produce five thousand small tips (2 mm × 0.4 mm) by a precision dicing device.     

Fabrication of sensor for reactive oxygen species using gold electrodes modified with electropolymerized porphyrins and application for detection of stress of plants

Reactive Oxygen Spiecies (ROS) such as superoxide anion radical (.O(2)(-)) act as signals for the activation of stress-response and defense pathways. However, excess ROS generated by perturbing .O(2)(-) homeostasis stimulated many environmental stress, including intense light, drought, temperature stress, herbicides, induce high radical toxicity. Consequently, quantitative analysis of .O(2)(-) is a subject of intense research, since most of ROS are derived from .O(2)(-). Iron meso-tetrakis(3-thienyl)porphyrin complexes were electropolymerized onto a Au wire electrode. The modified Au electrode were applied to .O(2)(-) sensor to detect catalytic oxidation current of .O(2)(-) which was generated as an intermediate during the oxidation of xanthine by catalystic XOD. It was revealed that the sensor was quantitative to measure .O(2)(-). The modified Au electrode were applied to measure oxidation current of .O(2)(-) in mung beans under environmental stress condition. Plants were grown in atmosphere, 25 degrees C and in black darkness. The other plants were exposed to oxygen excess. The oxidation current of .O(2)(-) were increased plants were grown by high-oxygen environment compared to plants were grown at atmosphere. This experiment was indicated that environmental stress such as hyperoxia induced excess .O(2)(-) and Au wire sensor using iron porphyrin complexes is capable of .O(2)(-) detection in plants under environmental stresses.     

Coating of Fine-Grained Silicon Nitride Whiskers on Fiber-like Silicon Nitride

Fine-grained silicon nitride (Si3N4) whiskers were coated on Si3N4 fibers through a vapor-liquid-solid mechanism under the following process. After the oxide glass of a Si-Al-Y-O system was coated on seed Si3N4 fibers, the coated fibers were heated at 1490°C and 700° in the vapor of the Si-N system which was generated by decomposition of amorphous Si3N4. The resulting specimens looked just like rose twigs. The Si3N4 whiskers were precipitated by nucleation in a liquid phase generated by melting of the oxide glass layers on the Si3N4 fibers.     

Line identification of boron and nitrogen emissions in extreme-and vacuumultraviolet wavelength ranges in the impurity powder dropping experiments of the Large Helical Device and its application to spectroscopic diagnostics

An impurity powder dropper was installed in the 21 st campaign of the Large Helical Device experiment(Oct. 2019–Feb. 2020) under a collaboration between the National Institute for Fusion Science and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the purposes of real-time wall conditioning and edge plasma control. In order to assess the effective injection of the impurity powders,spectroscopic diagnostics were applied to observe line emission from the injected impurity. Thus,extreme-ultraviolet(EUV) and vacuum-ultraviolet(VUV) emission spectra were analyzed to summarize observable impurity lines with B and BN powder injection. Emission lines released from B and N ions were identified in the EUV wavelength range of 5–300 ? measured using two grazing incidence flat-field EUV spectrometers and in the VUV wavelength range of 300–2400 ? measured using three normal incidence 20 cm VUV spectrometers. BI–BV and NIII–NVII emission lines were identified in the discharges with the B and BN powder injection, respectively. Useful B and N emission lines which have large intensities and are isolated from other lines were successfully identified as follows: BI(1825.89, 1826.40) ?(blended), BII 1362.46 ?, BIII(677.00, 677.14,677.16) ?(blended), BIV 60.31 ?, BV 48.59 ?, NIII(989.79, 991.51, 991.58) ?(blended), NIV765.15 ?, NV(209.27, 209.31) ?(blended), NVI 1896.80 ?, and NVII 24.78 ?. Applications of the line identifications to the advanced spectroscopic diagnostics were demonstrated, such as the vertical profile measurements for the BV and NVII lines using a space-resolved EUV spectrometer and the ion temperature measurement for the BII line using a normal incidence 3 m VUV spectrometer.     

Effect of the preparation conditions of zirconium phosphate on the characteristics of Sr immobilization

The proton-type crystalline zirconium phosphate, HZr₂(PO₄)₃, was obtained by a thermal decomposition of NH₄Zr₂(PO₄)₃ at different temperatures from 400 to 800 °C, where NH₄Zr₂(PO₄)₃ was obtained in advance by a hydrothermal synthesis using a mixed solution of ZrOCl₂, H₃PO₄ and H₂C₂O₄ with different processing times from 5 to 72 h. Sr ion was immobilized to HZr₂(PO₄)₃ by treating the mixture of HZr₂(PO₄)₃ and Sr(NO₃)₂ aqueous solution in an autoclave at 250 °C. Immobilizing and leaching performance of St in HZr₂(PO₄)₃ were discussed.