Wild type and control cells were highly motile forming a rough colony with an irregular border (Figure 2A). In contrast, polyP-deficient cells displayed a round regular smooth colony (Figure 2A). The change observed in colony PKA activator morphology could be directly a consequence of the absence of exopolymer production observed in the cells (Figure 2B) and in a P. aeruginosa PAO1 ppk1 mutant [22] but also due to the variation in the LPS core reported here. Altogether, the results suggest that

biofilm formation capabilities of polyP-deficient mutants, may not only be attributed to the defect in exopolymer formation, but also to their altered LPS structure. Figure 2 Colony morphology of polyP-deficient cells of Pseudomonas sp . B4. Pseudomonas sp. B4 polyP-deficient and control cells were grown in LB plates for 48 h and the colonies were photographed by using a magnifying glass (A). Unstained cells were analyzed by LY2874455 research buy transmission electron microscopy (B). Finally, during the entrance in stationary

phase of growth in rich medium (LB) it was observed that polyP-deficient cells became highly filamentous compared to control cells most likely reflecting NVP-BGJ398 nmr a cell division malfunction (Figure 3). Different defined media supplemented with various carbon sources were tested and this behaviour was found only during the entry into the stationary phase of growth in LB medium. Figure 3 PolyP-deficient cells become filamentous during stationary phase of growth. Pseudomonas sp. B4 polyP-deficient and control cells were grown in LB medium and observed by using phase contrast-optical microscopy (A) and transmission electron microscopy of unstained cells (B). Magnified view of polyP-deficient cells (C). Arrows indicate the septum. Differential proteomics of polyP-deficient Pseudomonas sp. B4 To gain insight into the effect of polyP deficiency and the metabolic adjustments taking place during the cellular response, the

proteomes of Pseudomonas sp. B4 polyP-deficient and control cells were compared by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) (Figure 4). We analyzed extracellular and total cell-free proteomes from planctonic cells grown in LB medium during exponential and stationary phase of growth and also analyzed the total Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) cell-free proteome of the colony biofilm. These 8 samples were analyzed by using biological and experimental duplicates. This procedure yielded 81 spots of interest (proteins differentially expressed under polyP-deficiency) that were analysed by mass spectrometry resulting in 78 proteins that could be identified. Thirty-five different proteins whose expression consistently changed between the control and polyP-deficient cells in the conditions assayed are listed in Tables 1 and 2. Gel spots details are seen in Figures 5 and 6. Next, a summary of some relevant functional categories over- and under-represented during polyP deficiency is presented.

CrossRef 14. Sasidharan A, Panchakarla LS, Chandran P, Menon D, Nair S, Rao CNR, Koyakutty M: Differential nano-bio interactions and toxicity effects of pristine versus functionalized graphene. Nanoscale 2011,3(6):2461–2464.CrossRef 15. Li Y, Liu Y, Fu YJ, Wei TT, Le Guyader L, Gao G, Liu RS, Chang YZ, Chen CY: The triggering of apoptosis in macrophages

by pristine https://www.selleckchem.com/products/i-bet151-gsk1210151a.html graphene through the MAPK and TGF-beta signaling pathways. Biomaterials 2012,33(2):402–411.CrossRef 16. Chen GY, Yang HJ, Lu CH, Chao YC, Hwang SM, Chen CL, Lo KW, Sung LY, Luo WY, Tuan HY, Hu YC: Simultaneous induction of autophagy and toll-like receptor signaling pathways by graphene oxide. Biomaterials 2012,33(27):6559–6569.CrossRef 17. Liu W, Zhang SP, Wang LX, Qu C, Zhang CW, Hong L, Yuan L, Huang ZH, Wang Z, Liu SJ, Jiang GB: CdSe quantum dot (QD)-induced morphological and functional impairments to liver in mice. PLoS One 2011,6(9):e24406.CrossRef ACP-196 order 18. Qu GB, Wang XY, Liu Q, Liu R, Yin NY, Ma J, Chen LQ, He JY, Liu SJ, Jiang GB: The ex vivo and in vivo biological performances of graphene oxide and the impact of surfactant on graphene oxide’s biocompatibility. J Environ Sci 2013,25(5):1–9. 19. Zhang J, Socolovsky Dabrafenib M, Gross AW, Lodish HF: Role of Ras signaling in erythroid differentiation

of mouse fetal liver cells: functional analysis by a flow cytometry-based novel culture system. Blood 2003,102(12):3938–3946.CrossRef 20. Lok CN, Ho CM, Chen R, He QY, Yu WY, Sun H, Tam PK, Chiu JF, Che CM: Silver nanoparticles: partial oxidation and antibacterial Sucrase activities. J Biol Inorg Chem 2007,12(4):527–534.CrossRef 21. Liu S, Goldstein RH, Scepansky EM, Rosenblatt M: Inhibition of Rho-associated kinase signaling

prevents breast cancer metastasis to human bone. Cancer Res 2009,69(22):8742–8751.CrossRef 22. Liu Y, Pop R, Sadegh C, Brugnara C, Haase VH, Socolovsky M: Suppression of Fas-FasL coexpression by erythropoietin mediates erythroblast expansion during the erythropoietic stress response in vivo. Blood 2006,108(1):123–133.CrossRef 23. Vanoers MHJ, Reutelingsperger CPM, Kuyten GAM, Vondemborne AEGK, Koopman G: Annexin-V for flow cytometric detection of phosphatidylserine expression on B-cells undergoing apoptosis. Blood 1994,84(10):A291-A291. 24. Cho SJ, Maysinger D, Jain M, Roder B, Hackbarth S, Winnik FM: Long-term exposure to CdTe quantum dots causes functional impairments in live cells. Langmuir 2007,23(4):1974–1980.CrossRef 25. Clift MJ, Rothen-Rutishauser B, Brown DM, Duffin R, Donaldson K, Proudfoot L, Guy K, Stone V: The impact of different nanoparticle surface chemistry and size on uptake and toxicity in a murine macrophage cell line. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2008,232(3):418–427.CrossRef 26. Zhang LW, Monteiro-Riviere NA: Mechanisms of quantum dot nanoparticle cellular uptake. Toxicol Sci 2009,110(1):138–155.CrossRef 27.

According to this act, chicken embryo is not definite as the animal. Fertilized eggs

(n = 150; 56 ± 2.2 g) from hens of the Ross line were obtained from a commercial hatchery and stored at 12°C for 4 days. After 4 days, the eggs were weighed and randomly divided into six groups (n = 25 eggs per group). The control group was not treated, while the other groups were treated find more with 1, 5, 10, 15, or 20 μg/ml of NP-Pt solutions. The experimental solutions were given in ovo by injection into the albumen (at two-thirds of the egg’s height from the blunt end) using a sterile 1-ml insulin syringe. Injection consisted of 0.3-ml NP-Pt hydrocolloid. The injection holes were sterilized, and the eggs were then incubated at 37.5°C and 60% humidity and were turned once per hour for 19 days. At day 20 of incubation, the embryos were sacrificed by decapitation. Embryos and organs (brain, heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius) were weighed and evaluated by Hamburger GSK621 in vitro and Hamilton [18] (HH) standards. Biochemical indices Blood serum samples were collected from the jugular vein on

the 20th day of incubation. The samples were centrifuged at 3,000 rpm for 15 min (Sorvall ST 16, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA), and concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), asparagine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glucose level, and blood urea nitrogen were measured in the blood serum. Biochemistry markers were examined using a dry chemistry Temsirolimus equipment Vitros DT 60 II (Johnston and Johnston, New Brunswick, NJ, USA). Brain morphology: examination of brain tissue microstructure Chicken brains (n = 12), three from the control group and nine from groups treated with 1, 10, and 20 μg/ml of NP-Pt solutions, were sampled

and fixed in 10% buffered formalin (pH 7.2). Fixed samples were dehydrated in a graded series of ethanols, embedded in Paraplast, and cut into 5-μm sections using a microtome (Leica RM 2265, Leica, Nussloch, Germany). The morphology of the chicken brains was examined using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Proliferating cells were identified via immunohistochemistry using antibodies directed against Cytidine deaminase proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) [19]. Apoptotic cells were detected using rabbit polyclonal anti-caspase-3 antibody (C8487, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, St. Louis, MO, USA). Sections for this purpose were incubated for 1 h with the rabbit polyclonal anti-caspase-3 antibody at room temperature and were visualized with Dako EnVision+System-HRP (Dako K 4010, Dako A/S, Glostrup, Denmark), while further procedures were identical as for PCNA detection. The proliferation and apoptosis levels were expressed as the number of PCNA-positive cells and caspase-3-positive cells in the chicken brain cortex, respectively (the area counted was 3,500 μm2).

Previous studies have shown that NAC could decrease biofilm formation by a variety of bacteria [4–6] and that it inhibited bacterial adherence, reduced the production of extracellular polysaccharide matrix, while promoting the disruption of mature biofilms, and reduced sessile cell viability [4, 7]. Olofsson [7] studied the biofilms of 10 bacterial strains isolated from a paper mill. These results showed that EPS production decreased significantly in the presence of NAC (0.25 mg/ml). Although the growth didn’t affected the most of tested bacteria, the average reduction in the CA4P amount of EPS produced was 58% ± 20%; the presence of NAC reduced

the number of attached multi-species community bacteria by as much as 76% ± 46%. There is only one article demonstrated the inhibitory effect of NAC on P. aeruginosa adherence and biofilm formation in vitro by the number of viable cell counts previously, and also revealed that ciprofloxacin/NAC combination showed the highest ability

to inhibit biofilm synthesis and disrupt preformed 4SC-202 cell line mature biofilms [19]. In our research, inhibitory effects of drugs on biofilms not only determined by the viable count technique, but also were imaged using CLSM and quantified biofilm structures by COMSTAT program, EPS production in the presence of NAC also be examined quantitatively. CLSM can provide three-dimensional, noninvasive inspection and computer reconstruction of mature biofilms BCKDHA without

appreciable distortion of architecture in a manner similar to computer-assisted tomography and magnetic resonance imaging methods. COMSTAT comprises some features for quantifying three-dimensional biofilm image stacks [20]. Biomass represents the overall volume of the biofilm, substratum coverage reflects how efficiently the substratum is colonized by bacteria of the CP673451 cell line population, the surface area of biomass is the area which summation of all biomass voxel surfaces exposed to the background, the surface to volume ratio is the surface area divided by the bio-volume which indicates how the biofilm adapts to the environment, roughness provides a measure of how much the thickness of the biofilm varies, and it is also an indicator of biofilm heterogeneity. Our results showed that NAC dispersed the biofilms formed by P. aeruginosa. By visual inspection of CLSM images, NAC disrupted and inhibited PAO1 biofilms, fluorescence and thickness decreased after exposure to NAC and there were dose-dependent effects. Biofilms were nearly detached at 10 mg/ml NAC. Using COMSTAT software, the PAO1 biofilm biomass decreased and its heterogeneity increased gradually in direct proportion to the NAC concentration. NAC also had an independent anti-microbial effect on biofilm-associated P. aeruginosa at 2.5 mg/ml (P <0.01) and had a synergistic effect with CIP.

Results Expression and predictive value of distinct phenotype markers of HSCs in HCC Desmin Dasatinib solubility dmso and GFAP were both negatively expressed in all tissue sections. Vinculin and vimentin were expressed ubiquitously on stromal cells and parenchymal cells and no predictive value was found in HCC patients. Consist with previous data [15, 16], peritumoral α-SMA was significantly related with poor prognosis of these HBV related HCC patients (cut-off: low ≤ 72, high >72, Figure 1 and Table 2). Moreover, peritumoral α-SMA was associated with tumor size, tumor differentiation and TNM stage. On univariate analysis, vascular invasion, TNM stage as well

as peritumoral α-SMA showed prognostic values for both time to recurrence (TTR) and overall survival (OS). Tumor multiplicity was only associated with OS, while AFP and tumor encapsulation can predict TTR, not OS. Then, multivariate analysis was further performed. In addition to peritumoral α-SMA, TNM stage was demonstrated to be related with OS (P = 0.029 and 0.002, respectively) and TTR (P = 0.040 and VX-809 cost 0.018, respectively). Significantly, the predictive significance of peritumoral α-SMA was confirmed in early recurrence (≤ 24 months, Table 3) [15] and AFP-normal subgroups (P = 0.014 for OS; P = 0.013 for TTR). Figure 1 Images of immunostained cells, HE stain and survival curves for univariate analyses. a-l showed vinculin, vimentin and α-SMA

staining cells in intratumoral (a, b, e, f, i and j) and peritumoral areas (c, d, g, h, k and l), respectively (x 200). a, c, e, g, i and k were negative controls. m and n showed HE stain in intratumoral (m) and peritumoral areas (n), respectively (x 200). High density of peritumoral α-SMA was related to decreased OS (o) and TTR (p). Table 2 Prognostic factors for survival and recurrence Factor OS TTR   Univariate Multivariate Univariate Multivariate  

P HR (95% CI) P P HR (95% CI) P AFP (≤20 v >20 ng/ml) NS   NA 0.018   NS Tumor number (single v multiple) 0.032 2.199(1.209-4.003) 0.010 NS   NA Vascular invasion(yes v no) 0.008   NS 0.014 1.690(1.011-2.823) 0.045 Tumor encapsulation PFKL (yes v no) NS   NA 0.048   NS TNM stage (IvII- III) 0.001 2.175(1.326-3.566) 0.002 0.004 1.834(1.111-3.028) 0.018 Peritumoral α-SMA density (low v high) 0.013 2.559(1.101-5.949) 0.029 0.001 2.424(1.040-5.650) 0.040 Univariate analysis: Kaplan-Meier method; multivariate analysis: Cox proportional hazards regression model. Abbreviations: OS: overall survival; TTR: time to recurrence; HR: Hazard Ratio; CI: confidence interval; AFP: alpha fetoprotein; TNM: tumor-node-metastasis; α-SMA: α-smooth muscle actin; NA: not adopted; NS: not learn more significant. Table 3 Prognostic factors for early and late recurrence Factor Early recurrence Late recurrence   Univariate Multivariate Univariate Multivariate   P HR (95% CI) P P HR (95% CI) P AFP(ng/ml)(≤20 v >20) 0.006 1.752(1.035-2.966) 0.037 NS   NA Tumor size (≤5.0 v >5.0) <0.001 2.591(1.631-4.116) <0.001 NS   NA Vascular invasion(yes v no) 0.

Figure 2 Swimming motility by G3 is independent of AHL signalling. One microlitre of overnight cultures of the wild type G3 (A), the control G3/pME6000

(B) and G3/pME6863-aiiA (C) were inoculated onto swim agar plates and incubated at 28°C for 16 h. Lactonase expression in S. plymuthica G3 reduces antifungal activity in vitro Strain G3 exhibited inhibitory effects against several phytopathogenic fungal isolates in vitro and in vivo (data not shown). To determine the effect of quorum quenching by lactonase on antifungal activity, dual cultures were carried out, on single PDA plates, of the strain G3, G3/pME6863-aiiA or G3/CRM1 inhibitor pME6000 with C. parasitica, find more the cause of chestnut blight. After incubation for 4 days at 25°C, the radius of the inhibition zones was measured. Although no large differences

were observed between the wild type G3 and the control strain G3/pME6000, the radius of inhibition zones produced by G3/pME6863-aiiA was significantly decreased compared with the control G3/pME6000 and the wild type G3 at P = 0.01 for C. parasitica (Table 3.). The data showed that antifungal activity by G3 is partially dependent on AHL signaling via regulation of various exoenzymes and secondary metabolites. Table 3 Effect of quorum quenching on antifungal activity in vitr o Phytopathogenic fungus Inhibition zone (mm)*   G3 (wt) G3/pME6863- CB-839 aiiA G3/pME6000 Cryphonectria parasitica a 8.25 ± 0.42 (A) 5.91 ± 0.20 (B) 8.33 ± 0.51 (A) * Radius of inhibition zone on PDA plates in dual culture for 4 days, Data represents mean values ± SD with six replicates. a Different letters in

the same line indicate significant differences at P < 0.01 Abiotic surface adhesion and biofilm formation in S. plymuthica G3 are affected by lactonase expression Many bacteria rely on QS systems to govern various aspects of biofilm development, including adhesion, motility, maturation, and dispersion [10, 37]. Using microtiter plate assays, we evaluated the impact of quorum quenching by aiiA on adhesion to abiotic surfaces in G3. Figure 3A illustrates by OD600, there are no significant difference in bacterial growth rate between the wild type G3, G3/pME6000 and G3/pME6863-aiiA, but the strain G3/pME6863-aiiA showed a significant reduction in adhesion, compared with over the vector control strain G3/pME6000 and the wild type G3 (Figure 3B). Figure 3 Effect of aiiA expression on abiotic surface adhesion by S. plymuthica G3. A: OD600 of G3 bacterial cultures in the presence and absence of the aiiA lactonase gene. B: Absorbance of crystal violet at 570 nm from stained cells bounds to polystyrene microtitre plate as a representation of adhesion. Experiments were done in triplicate. Furthermore, 48 hour flow cell cultures of GFP-tagged G3/pME6863-aiiA and G3/pME6000 were observed and quantified for biofilm formation using CLSM during two independent experiments.

5 μl of each sample were fixed on a glass slide by drying using compressed air. An AFM instrument (MFP-3D, Asylum Research, Santa Barbara, CA) with selleck chemicals llc standard silicon cantilever probes (NCH-W, Nanosensors, Neuchatel, Switzerland) was used under ambient laboratory conditions and operated in tapping mode [26]. Measurement of transepithelial resistance D562 cells were seeded in transwells (6.5 mm, 0.4 μm, polyester membrane, 24 well plate, Corning Costar) at a density of 5 × 104 cells per well and

cultivated in DMEM (Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium, PAA; high glucose, 10% FCS, 2 mM glutamine) for 14 days until they build a transepithelial resistance of at least 1600 Ω·cm-2. Bacteria were subcultured (OD600 of 0.1 from overnight cultures) in 20 ml HI broth for 3.5 h. The pellet was resuspended in 500 μl 1 × PBS. 50 μl of the suspension were used for infection. Measurements of transepithelial resistance of D562 cells during the selleck infection with C. diphtheriae were carried out with a volt-ohm-meter (EVOM2, World Precision Instruments, Berlin, Germany) every 30 min. After 3 h the supernatant of infected

D562 cells was removed and the cells were incubated in fresh DMEM overnight to avoid detrimental effects of excessive bacterial growth. Adhesion assays D562 cells were seeded in 24 well plates (bio-one Cellstar, Greiner, Frickenhausen, Germany) at a density of 2 × 105 cells per well 48 h prior to infection. Bacteria were subcultured (OD600 of 0.1 from overnight cultures) in HI broth for 3.5 h and adjusted to an OD600 of 0.2. A master mix of the inoculum was prepared in DMEM without penicillin/streptomycin at a MOI of 200 (viable counts experiments). The plates were centrifuged for 5 min at 500 × g to synchronize infection and subsequently incubated for 1.5 h. The cells were washed with PBS nine

times, detached with 500 μl trypsin solution (0.12% trypsin, 0.01% EDTA in PBS) per well (5 min, 37°C, 5% CO2, 90% humidity) and lysed with 0.025% Tween 20 for 5 min at 37°C. Serial LEE011 cell line dilutions were made in pre-chilled 1 dipyridamole × PBS and plated on blood agar plates to determine the number of colony forming units (cfu). From this, the percentage of invasive bacteria was calculated [24]. Epithelial cell invasion model D562 cells were seeded in 24 well plates (bio-one Cellstar, Greiner, Frickenhausen, Germany) at a density of 2 × 105 cells per well 48 h prior to infection. Overnight cultures of C. diphtheriae grown in HI were re-inoculated to an OD600 of 0.1 in fresh medium and grown aerobically for another 3.5 h. An inoculum of approximately 1.6 × 108 bacteria ml-1 (MOI = 200) was prepared in DMEM without penicillin/streptomycin and 500 μl per well were used to infect the D562 cells. The plates were centrifuged for 5 min at 500 × g to synchronize infection and subsequently incubated for 1.5 h (37°C, 5% CO2, 90% humidity).

The average dN/dS ratios for three lactobacilli tannase was 0.1373 suggesting that these genes are under neutral (dN/dS = 1) or purifying selection (dN/dS < 1). The levels of sequence identity to other known bacterial tannases,

such as TanA from S. lugdunensis and two putative tannase-coding genes from the whole genome sequence of S. gallolyticus UCN34 (GenBank accession no. YP_003430356 and YP_003431024) were less than 30% (Additional file 1: Figure S2). However, alignment analysis GSK3326595 cell line revealed that these enzymes contained a highly conserved Gly-X-Ser-X-Gly motif (e.g. the 161th to 165th positions of TanLpl sequence), typical of the catalytic triad with a nucleophilic serine found in serine hydrolases [18] (Additional file 1: Figure S2). Although the enzymes were supposed to be secreted, SignalP 4.1 server (http://​www.​cbs.​dtu.​dk/​services/​SignalP/​)

analysis failed to suggest any https://www.selleckchem.com/products/netarsudil-ar-13324.html plausible signal peptide sequence. We sequenced the tannase-coding genes from 24 additional isolates of L. plantarum, L. paraplantarum, and L. pentosus (Additional file 1: Table S1). Their amino acid sequences composed the clades subdividing the species ranged from 99.3%-100% for L. plantarum, 95.5%-100% for L. paraplantarum, and 93.8%-100% for L. pentosus (Figure 1). The comparative analysis revealed that the lactobacilli tannase genes had a restricted diversity, forming a distinct phylogenetic cluster among the known tannases (Additional file 1: Figure S3). TanLpl, TanLpa, and TanLpe are representing a novel subfamily as they showed low amino acid

see more sequence similarity less than 60% with any other reported tannases in DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases. Figure Atazanavir 1 Neighbor-joining phylogenetic consensus tree based on amino acid sequences of TanLpl, TanLpa, and TanLpe. The deduced amino acid sequences of TanLpl, TanLpa, and TanLpe were aligned by the ClustalW method using the MEGA5 software package [12]. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using the neighbor-joining method [13] with MEGA5. The percentage of similarity between nucleotide sequences was calculated using BioEdit software [14]. The analysis was based on 469 residues for TanLpl and TanLpa sequences, and 470 residues for TanLpe sequences. The tannase genes of the L. plantarum WCFS1 (GenBank accession no. YP_004890536) and L. pentosus IG1 (GenBank accession no. CCC17686) were used to align with the corresponding genes obtained in this study. The stability of the groupings was estimated by bootstrap analysis with 1,000 replications. The information of used strains and DDBJ accession numbers are listed in Additional file 1: Table S1. Expression and purification of recombinant tannase It should be noted that we did not obtain any clone that secreted a measurable amount of recombinant tannase protein in the spent medium. Therefore, we obtained the purified recombinant enzymes from bacterial cells of the clones of transformed B.

During osmotic stress, the MDA level in control plants increased abruptly from 2 to 8 days stress period. Conversely, this trend was find more significantly lower in SA, EA and Selleck Alvocidib SA+EA plants. Though, the MDA levels were high in SA treatments at the 8th day of stress but this was significantly lower than that of control plants (Figure 5). Results suggest that the endophyte presence has counteracted

drought stress by minimizing lipid peroxidation. Supper oxide anions (O2-) were not significantly different between EA and SA plants. O2 – levels were higher in control plants under normal conditions. After the exposure to stress conditions (2 and 4 days), the O2 – formation was significantly high in control plants as compared to EA, SA and EA+SA plants. Apoptosis inhibitor After 8th day of stress, the O2 – levels were high in control and SA as compared to EA and SA+EA plants (Figure 5). Enzymatic regulation by endophyte and SA under stress Enzymatic activities were significantly regulated during EA, SA and SA+EA. In catalase activity (CAT), it was significantly higher in EA and SA+EA plants while it was not significantly different between SA and control. In exposure to 2 days stress, the catalase activity was significantly activated in endophytic-associated plants as compared to control plants, SA and SA+EA plants. This activation trend was followed by SA+EA and SA plants respectively (Figure 6). In 4 selleck compound and 8 days of stress, the

catalase activity gradually reduced in EA plants whilst in SA and SA+EA it increased sharply. The catalase activity was significantly higher in SA+EA plants as compared to other treatments and control plants under maximum period of stress. Figure 6 Enzymatic activities of endophyte, SA and endophyte with SA treated plants during drought stress. CAT = catalase; POD = peroxidase; PPO = polyphenol peroxidase. EA = infested with P. resedanum; SA = treated with SA; SA+EA = endophytic fungal associated plants treated with SA. NST, 2-DT, 4-DT and 8-DT represent non-stressed, 2, 4 and 8 days drought stressed plants respectively. The different letter(s) in each stress period showed significant

difference (P<0.05) as evaluated by DMRT. Peroxidase (POD) activities were significantly reduced in control plants with or without stress conditions as compared to other SA, EA and SA+EA plants. Under normal growth conditions, POD activity was significantly higher in EA and SA+EA plants as compared to SA plants (Figure 6). Upon exposure to osmotic stress for 2, 4 and 8 days, the POD activity was significantly higher in EA plants than SA and SA+EA plants and control plants. However, SA+EA plants had higher POD activity as compared to SA and control plants. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities were significantly reduced in control pepper plants. PPO activities increased in a dose dependent manner in EA plants with or without stress conditions.

Figure 4 shows the PL spectra of ZnO NWs grown on GO films and glass substrates. The samples were fabricated exactly under the same conditions and the

growth time was 6 h. For the NWs grown on the glass substrate, the PL spectrum exhibits near-band-edge learn more emission centered at 378 nm and defect emission at around 568 nm. Obviously, the defect-related emission is much stronger than the UV emission, which may be caused by the relatively low crystal quality of hydrothermal grown NWs. In particular, for the NWs grown on the GO films, the near-band UV emission is greatly enhanced and the visible emission of ZnO NWs is greatly suppressed. The relative intensity ratio of these two peaks often has implications on the crystal quality and trapped defect conditions. The intensity ratio of the UV peak and visible peak (I uv/I vis) is 4.33, which is much larger than that of the sample grown on glass substrate (0.37). We contribute this effect to the improved crystal quality or the possible

electron transfer between ZnO NWs and GO films. The oxygen-containing functional Lonafarnib molecular weight groups on GO films may facilitate the initial nucleation of ZnO NWs and decrease the number of deep-level defects. On the other hand, the visible emission quenching may be caused by the electron transfer between the excited ZnO and GO sheets (Figure 4b). As shown in Figure 4b, VAV2 under the UV light radiation, some electrons in the conduction band fell back to the valence band and emitted UV light at 378 nm. However,

some electrons were trapped in the defect states and transported from ZnO to GO rather than fell back to the ZnO valence band. Therefore, the visible light emission was suppressed. Thus, the visible emissions in Figure 4a are weaker in ZnO NWs/GO films than in bare ZnO NWs. Figure 4 Comparison of the PL spectra of ZnO NWs grown on GO films and glass substrate. (a) Visible emissions of the ZnO NWs/GO films. (b) A schematic diagram of the electron transfer between ZnO NWs and GO films. In order to illustrate the positive synergistic effect, we characterized the electrochemical performances of the GO films, ZnO NW arrays, and ZnO NWs/GO heterostructures. The CV characterization was performed in 0.1 M NaSO4 electrolyte at a scan rate of 100 mV s−1. The FHPI purchase results (Figure 5a) show that the CV loop of ZnO NWs/GO heterostructure has the largest integral area among the three samples, which indicates that the composite has positive synergistic effects in specific capacitance. This can be attributed to the unique three-dimensional nanostructure of the ZnO NWs/GO. This structure facilitates fast electron transfer between the active materials and the charge collector. In addition, NWs can present as transport channels for more electrical charges to store and transfer in the electrodes.