Hypothesis: Wormlike surfactant micelles (WLMs) are prospective as nanoreactors for micellar copolymerization of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers. Hydrophilic monomers can destroy WLMs. Large size and cylindrical shape of micelles can be preserved by high salt content favoring closer packing of surfactant heads.
Experiments: The effect of a water-soluble monomer (acrylamide) on the structure and rheological properties of giant WLMs of an anionic surfactant potassium oleate at different salt content was investigated by combined experimental (SANS, rheometry, fluorescence and NMR spectroscopy, tensiometry) and molecular dynamics simulations studies.
Findings: At low salt content, when WLMs are linear, acrylamide induces their shortening and transformation into spherical micelles as a result of its incorporation into the micellar corona, leading to the drop of viscosity. At high salt content providing branched WLMs, monomer first triggers their transition to long linear chains, which enhances the viscoelasticity, and then to rods. This is the first report showing that the effect of monomer on the rheological properties is quite different for linear and branched micelles. Using branched micelles allows preserving large WLMs at high water-soluble monomer content, which is favorable for their use as nanoreactors for synthesis of copolymers with high degree of blockiness, which give mechanically tough polymer gels.
Salt damage is a major issue that causes a decline in crop yield. WRKY transcription factors (TFs) extensively regulate plant biotic and abiotic stress responses, growth, and development. WRKY45 is crucial in regulating leaf senescence, low phosphorus responses, and cadmium stress response in Arabidopsis.
Nowadays, consumption of fish is becoming a public health concern due to quality and safety issues. This study was designed to assess the proximate composition, microbial quality, and heavy metal accumulation in the Nile tilapia fillet at three selected landing sites in Lake Tana. Fifteen samples were collected and analyzed.
A novel bacterial strain, HK31-G, was isolated from a subsurface geothermal aquifer (Hellisheidi, SW-Iceland) and was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene along with phylogenomic position indicated that the novel strain belongs to the genus Phenylobacterium. Cells are motile Gram-negative thin rods.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA; Ohio State Biochemistry Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. Electronic address:
Streptococcus pyogenes (Sp) Cas9 has been widely utilized to edit genomes across diverse species. To achieve high efficiency and specificity as a gene editing enzyme, Sp Cas9 undergoes a series of sequential conformational changes during substrate binding and catalysis. Here, we employed single molecule FRET techniques to investigate the effect of different KCl concentrations on conformational dynamics of Sp Cas9 in the presence or absence of a single-guide RNA (sgRNA).
Staphylococcus warneri is a gram-positive mesophilic bacterium, resilient to extreme environmental conditions. To unravel its Osmotic Tolerance Response (OTR), we conducted proteomic and metabolomic analyses under drought (PEG) and salt (NaCl) stresses. Our findings revealed 1340 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) across all treatments.
