Study on Molecular Chain Morphology of Konjac Glucomannan

The long-range structure of konjac glucomannan(KGM)is studied by using laser light scatter(LLS), gel permeation chromatography(GPC)and method of viscosidity. The weight-average molecular weight(Mw), root-mean-square ratio of gyration[(S2)1/2], second viral coefficient(A2)and multi-dispersion coefficient(Mw/Mn)are 1.04×106, 105. 0±0. 9 nm,(-1. 59±0.28)×10-3 mol ml g-2 and 1.015±0.003, respectively. Mark-Houwink equation is established as [η] = 5. 96×10-2Mw0.73 and the molecular chain parameters are as follows: ML=982. 82 nm-1, Lp = 27. 93 nm, d = 0. 74 nm, h = 0. 26 nm, L = l 054.11 nm. Further more molecular chain morphology of KGM is studied by using atom force microscope(AFM)and transmission electronic microscope(TEM), and the result shows that the KGM molecular is an extending semi-flexible linear chain without branch. Therefore, the image of molecular chain morphology confirms the deduction drawn by Mark-Houwink equation and molecular chain parameters.

Charaterization of Citrus Hybrid ＂Huangguogan＂ through the Combination of Morphological and Molecular Markers

Huangguogan, an obvious Citrus hybrid, is suitable for transportation and export and ripens in March or April. Because of late season, it may playa significant role in fruit market. However, its origin is still unconfirmed. The aim of this study was to clarify the possible parentage of Huangguogan via the combination of morphological and molecular markers including simple sequence repeat （SSR） and chloroplast simple sequence repeat （cpSSR）. Analysis of morphological traits including leaf stalk length, phylliform index and fruit shape index indicated that Huangguogan had similarities in morphology with Sweet orange. The SSR Cluster Analysis showed that Huangguogan was clustered together with Hongju tangerine and revealed -80% genetic similarity. They illustrated a close genetic distance between Huangguogan and Hongju tangerine. In addition, the bands of2 polymorphic cpSSR were identical in Huangguoggan and Sweet orange. Consequently, it is likely that its female parentage was the sweet orange （Citrus sinensis （L.） Osbeck） and its male parentage was the tangerine （Citrus reticulata Blanco）.

Morphological and molecular discrimination of green macroalgae Chaetomorpha aerea and C. linum

Green macroalgae Chaetomorpha aerea and C. linum are taxonomically confused. In this paper, we tried morphological and molecular analyses to separate these two species. C. aerea and C. linum can be distinguished from morphological characteritics, such as frond dimension, cells size and shape, their mean length/width ratios（LWR）, and cell walls constriction. Thalli of C. aerea attenuate basipetally, with diameter 270–500 μm at upper portion, 160–360 μm at middle portion, 100–160 μm at basal portion. For the upper part, the length of cells is less than their diameter. Cell walls usually constrict at the dissepiments, which are pellucid or colorless and give the filament beaded appearance. In contrast, thalli of C. linum often have a constant diameter of 90–300 μm within the same individual, cell walls usually do not constrict and cells are cylindrical or barrel shaped. The LWR is larger than that of C. aerea. Results show that the pairwise distance between two species is 3.6%–3.7% for 18 S r RNA gene and 53.5%–54.3% for ITS region. In phylogeny, they distribute at distant clades, which confirms a genetic divergence at molecular level. In addition, morphological data indicates that filament diameter of C. linum samples is highly variable, ranging from 90 μm to 300 μm. Then these two species can be considered as separate species.

Morphological and molecular evidence supports the occurrence of a single species of Zebrias zebrinus along the coastal waters of China

The so-called zebra sole includes a group of small flatfishes characterized by transverse band pairs on the ocular side and distributed throughout shallow waters along the coast of the Indo-West Pacific Ocean. Sev-eral species of the zebra sole have been recorded from the coastal waters of China. Morphological analysis of 1 107 specimens of the zebra sole from 15 successive localities along the China’s coast demonstrated that no significant variations among these localities were found on the basis of meristic counts and morphometric characters. Phylogenetic analysis based onCOI gene sequences of 14 individuals and D-loop of 22 indi-viduals from eight localities showed that they were indistinguishable among these localities. Therefore, both morphological and molecular evidence supported the occurrence of a single species of the zebra sole along the China’s coast. The available name for this species isZebriaszebrinus （Temminck and Schlegel, 1846） in-stead ofZ.zebra （Bloch, 1787）.Zebrias fasciatus（Basilewsky, 1855） andSolea ommatura （Richardson, 1846） are considered here as two synonyms ofZ. zebrinus.

Morphological and Genetical Variability among Rhizoctonia solani Isolates Causing Sheath Blight Disease of Rice

Eighteen isolates of Rhizoctonia solani collected from infected rice plants in four different locations of Bangladesh were studied by using morphological characters and molecular markers. Anastomosis study with a reference isolate confirmed that all the isolates belonged to R. solani. Significant variation was observed in sclerotial size, shape and distribution. Un-weighted pair group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram constructed based on the Gower＇s general similarity coefficient showed that these isolates were grouped into four clusters at the 0.68 similarity coefficent according to morphological characters. Cluster I was a major cluster consisting of 13 isolates, while clusters Ⅱ to Ⅳ consisted of 1 or 2 isolates. Analyses by variable number of tandem repeat and amplified fragment length polymorphism markers showed that the isolates were grouped into five and three clusters at a similarity coefficient of 0.64 and 0.69, respectively. Although most of the variability was found between isolates from different regions as expected, significant variation was observed within the isolates collected from similar agro-ecological regions. Our results suggest the presence of different races of R. solani within the same local geographic regions.

A new species of Macandrewia(Demospongiae,Tetractinellida,Macandrewiidae)from a seamount in the Western Pacific Ocean

A new species of Macandrewia Gray from a seamount near Yap Trench in the Western Pacific Ocean was described.Macandrewia yapensis sp.nov.is distinct from its congeners by possessing a foliate shape with contorted lamellae,tuberculiform terminations of desmas,and unique size of spicules.This is the third species of Macandrewia described from the Pacific Ocean.In addition a partial sequence of COI gene was obtained from the new specimen and then it submitted to GenBank.Phylogenetic tree constructed with the partial COI sequences appears to exhibit a more congruent relationship with morphological data of macandrewiid species compared to 28 S gene tree.

Leptobrachium bompu(Amphibia,Anura,Megophryidae)Discovered in Upper Medog,Tibet,China with Descriptions of its Tadpoles,Advertisement Calls and Systematic Position

Leptobrachium bompu Sondhi and Ohler, 2011 was described based on a single specimen collected from Eaglenest in southern slope of Himalaya（holotype： No. KA0001/200905）. In April, 2014, seven adults and three tadpoles of Leptobrachium bompu were collected from upper Medog, Tibet, China since most the morphological characters of the adult frogs matched the species Leptobrachium bompu, while the tadpoles mentioned above were determined as the same species as the adults by molecular systematics analysis. Three types of iris coloration were found in the seven adult specimens and two types of spiraculum in the three tadpoles. Advertisement calls usually had 6-8 notes and the fundamental frequency ranged from 1076 to 1466 Hz. All the specimens collected at upper Medog were clustered as one lineage with very low genetic variation and located at the base of the phylogenetic tree of the genus Leptobrachium.

Molecular Size and Morphology of Single Chains of Poly（sulfobetaine methacrylate）

The effects of the concentration of sodium chloride in an aqueous solution（cNacl and the temperature on the molecular size of poly（sulfobetaine methacrylate）（PSBMA） were studied via viscometry and dynamic light scattering（DLS）. The morphology of single-chain PSBMA was determined by atomic force microscopy（AFM）. The results demonstrate that the hydrodynamic diameter of PSBMA can be expressed as a continuous function of CNaCl, with the molecular size of PSBMA increasing and eventually approaching an asymptotic value with increasing CNaCl. The molecular size of PSBMA at a lower CNaCI（0.04 mol/L） increases with increasing temperature, which is the opposite of the temperature effect at a higher CNaCl（2.0 mol/L）. Therefore, the internal structure of PSBMA chains in solutions with a low salt concentration differs from that in solutions with a high salt concentration. In addition, the morphology of single chains of PSBMA appears to be spherical, containing 89% void space, and the apparent size of the dried chains is almost identical to that in solution.

Molecular simulation of oligomer inhibitors for calcite scale

Molecular simulation was performed to study the interaction between CaCO3 crystal and several oligomer inhibitors, by using the equilibrium morphology method to calculate the growth morphology of CaCO3 without inhibitors. The calculated morphology agreed well with SEM photographs. Then, a double-layer model was built to investigate the interaction between calcite crystal and oligomer inhibitors containing maleic anhydride （MA） and acrylic acid （AA）. Interaction energy per gram of an oligomer inhibitor was introduced as a scale of inhibition efficiency of different monomers. The results indicated that, for calcite scale inhibition, acrylamide （AM） and vinyl phosphonic acid （VPA） were the most efficient monomers, while allylsulfonic acid （AS） was the poorest. Increasing proportion of AM in dimer inhibitor molecule would improve the inhibition efficiency of MA, though, for a trimer, such as MA-AA-AM, certain sequence of monomers in the inhibitor molecule was necessary besides higher proportion of AM.

Controlling molecular weight of naphthalenediimide-based polymer acceptor P(NDI2OD-T2)for high performance all-polymer solar cells

A widely-used naphthalenediimide （NDI） based electron acceptor P（NDI2OD-T2） with different number- average molecular weight （Mn） of 38 （N2200L）, 56 （N2200M）, 102 （N2200H） kDa were successfully prepared. The effect of molecular-weight on the performance of all-polymer solar cells based on Poly（5-（5-（4,8- bis（ 5-decylthiophen-2-yl ）-6-methylbenzo[1,2-b： 4,5-b＇]dithophen-2-yl ）thiophen-2-yl ）-6,7-difluoro-8- （5-methylthiophen-2-yl）-2,S-bis（3-（octyloxy）phenyl）quinoxaline） （P2F-DE）：N2200 was systematically investigated. The results reveal that N2200 with increased M. show enhanced intermolecular interac- tions, resulting in improved light absorption and electron mobility. However, the strong aggregation trend of N2200H can cause unfavorable morphology for exciton dissociation and carrier transport. The blend film using N2200 with moderate M. actually develops more ideal phase segregation for efficient charge separation and transport, leading to balanced electron/hole mobility and less carrier recombi- nation. Consequently, all-polymer solar cells employing P2F-DE as the electron donor and N2200M as the electron acceptor show the highest efficiency of 4.81%, outperforming those using N2200L （3,07~;） and N2200H （S,92%）. Thus, the Mn of the polymer acceptor plays an important role in all-polymer solar ceils, which allows it to be an effective parameter for the adjustment of the device morphology and efficiency.

Dothideales

The type specimens or representative specimens of the potentially dothidealean genera Bagnisiella,Botryochora,Coccostromella,Columnosphaeria,Delphinel la,Dictyodothis,Discosphaerina,Dothidea,Dothiora,Endodothiora,Jaffuela,Mycoporis,Omphalospora,Pachysacca,Plowrightia,Saccothecium,Stylodothis,Sydowia and Yoshinagaia were examined while,fresh specimens of Aureobasidium pullulans,Dothidea insculpta,Plowrightia ribesia and Saccothecium sepincola were made from Italy and Thailand.An introduction and the history of these genera,their family placement,morphology,and molecular phylogeny are provided.Morphology plus GenBank data are used to provide a systematic treatment of Dothideales.Phylogenetic analysis of LSU,SSU and ITS gene regions was carried out and in the resulting phylogenetic tree the taxa cluster in two clades with high bootstrap support.Clade A comprises Dothideaceae,the family type of Dothideales.The family Dothioraceae is not recognized as a distinct family and is synonymized under Dothideaceae.Neocylindroseptoria is introduced to accommodate Cylindroseptoria pistaciae as it forms a well-supported distinct clade in Dothideaceae.Clade B comprises Aureobasidium,Kabatiella,Pseudoseptoria,Saccothecium and Selenophoma species and Columnosphaeria fagi,for which we propose a new family,Aureobasidiaceae.The recently introduced Sydowia eucalypti also clustered within Clade B and therefore based on morphology and molecular phylogeny a new genus Pseudosydowia is introduced for Sydowia eucalypti.Celosporium laricicola is separated in a distinct clade,and therefore it is placed in Dothideales,genera,incertae sedis.The genera Bagnisiella,Botryochora,Coccostromella,Jaffuela,Lucidascocarpa,Mycoporis,Omphalospora,Pachysacca and Yoshinagaia are excluded from Dothideales and their placements are discussed.

Stipitate hydnoid fungi of the temperate southeastern United States

An 11 year study was conducted to reevaluate the species of stipitate hydnums from the southern United States especially the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding geography.The genera evaluated included Bankera herein reduced to synonym with Phellodon,Hydnellum,Sarcodon,and Phellodon.Basidiomata of many stipitate hydnum species from this region were abundant but nitrogen depositions during the last 20 years have impacted their occurrences.Therefore it became critical to do a definitive study of these fungi using current taxonomic tools.Many species within Hydnellum and Phellodon have a indeterminate type growth often dependant on environmental conditions making discrimination between closely related species difficult without supportive molecular sequence data.Once sequence data(ITS)was obtained a phylogenetic analyzes were conducted and the sequences were compared to those in GenBank with particular attention to European data.A total of 41 distinct taxa were determined and many of those were confirmed based on morphological data.A specific new combination from Bankera fuligineoalbum to Phellodon fuligineoalbus is made herein.Futhermore,Phellodon brunneoolivaceus is described as new based on morphological and sequence data.