Browsing by Department "Agricultural Chemistry"

Bacteriophages substantially contribute to bacterial mortality in the ocean and play critical roles in global biogeochemical processes. Alteromonas is a ubiquitous bacterial genus in global tropical and temperate waters, which can cross-protect marine cyanobacteria and thus has important ecological benefits. However, little is known about the biological and ecological features of Alteromonas phages (alterophages). Here, we describe a novel alterophage vB_AmeP-R8W (R8W), which belongs to the Autographiviridae family and infects the deep-clade Alteromonas mediterranea. R8W has an equidistant and icosahedral head (65 ± 1 nm in diameter) and a short tail (12 ± 2 nm in length). The genome size of R8W is 48,825 bp, with a G + C content of 40.55%. R8W possesses three putative auxiliary metabolic genes encoding proteins involved in nucleotide metabolism and DNA binding: thymidylate synthase, nucleoside triphosphate pyrophosphohydrolase, and PhoB. R8W has a rapid lytic cycle with a burst size of 88 plaque-forming units/cell. Notably, R8W has a wide host range, such that it can infect 35 Alteromonas strains; it exhibits a strong specificity for strains isolated from deep waters. R8W has two specific receptor binding proteins and a compatible holin– endolysin system, which contribute to its wide host range. The isolation of R8W will contribute to the understanding of alterophage evolution, as well as the phage–host interactions and ecological importance of alterophages. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Thallium (Tl) is a highly toxic environmental contaminant. To understand the mechanism controlling the mobility and availability of Tl in soil, the adsorption and desorption of Tl(I) were evaluated for six soils. The maximum Tl adsorption capacities of the soils ranged from 6.9 to 244.5 mmol kg?1. The corresponding Tl LIII-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) data revealed that illite, vermiculite, and smectite are the preferential soil constituents for adsorbing Tl(I). Tl(I) adsorption by the soils was reversible in the low Tl adsorption regime and exhibited various degrees of hysteresis as the amount of absorbed Tl increased. The Tl(I) adsorption and extent of adsorption reversibility were mainly dependent on the type and content of clay minerals and exchangeable cations in different soils. Despite high Tl(I) adsorption by the soils, the reversibility of Tl(I) adsorption may result in relatively high mobility and availability of Tl(I) in soils, leading to high environmental risk. Ignoring the reversibility of Tl adsorption could lead to an erroneous prediction of the mobility and availability of Tl in soils and a significant underestimation of the environmental risk posed by Tl in the environment. ? 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Li/Al layered double hydroxide (Li/Al LDH), known as anionic clay, comprises positive charges, which are counter-balanced by interlayer anions. The material is capable of adsorbing anions through ion-exchange reaction. This property of LDH leads to its potential application in scavenging anionic contaminants, such as Cr(VI) in the waste streams. In this study, the adsorption of Cr(VI) by Li/Al LDH was investigated at 10 and 30°C. The results showed that Cr(VI) adsorption was relatively rapid; however, a portion of adsorbed Cr(VI) was released over the reaction time and the releasing rate was dependent on reaction temperature. Particularly at 30°C as high as 80.1% of adsorbed Cr(VI) was released after 24 h reaction. The release of adsorbed Cr(VI) is due to the deintercalation of Li+ from Li/Al LDH structures in aqueous solution and gibbsite, which was used as the precursor to synthesize Li/Al LDH, was the product of the deintercalation reaction. The Li deintercalation reaction of Li/Al LDH and its dependence on temperature of may be utilized to develop a method of treating Cr(VI)-containing wastes and recovering Cr(VI). That is, Li/Al LDH can be used as an adsorbent to remove Cr(VI) in wastewater. Then the Cr(VI)-bearing LDH particles are collected and re-suspended in hot water to enhance Li deintercalation and Cr(VI) desorption. Consequently Cr(VI) can be recovered from the solution and the solid product, i.e., gibbsite, can be recycled for further uses.