An underlying goal of synthetic biology is to make the process of engineering biological systems easier and more reliable. In support of this goal, we developed BioBrick assembly standard 10 to enable the construction of systems from standardized genetic parts. The BioBrick standard underpins the distributed efforts by the synthetic biology research community to develop a collection of more tha...

Liquids and gels are common delivery forms used in commercial ant baits, but the relative effectiveness of each is unknown. We compared the feeding responses of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), to liquid and gel compositions of sucrose. In choice assays, more workers were counted on gel than liquid; however, substantially more liquid was consumed. Because workers could stand on the...

Although a high degree of improvisation is the hall mark of Carnatic music, it still revolves around compositions mostly written in the past 250 years. The music is carried down the generations by oral tradition. A composition may be preceded by or interspersed with improvisations. Carnatic music notation uses the sol-fa (sa ri ga ma pa da ni for the 7 notes) which is written on one line and th...

Many of the health benefits associated with Aloe vera have been attributed to the polysaccharides contained in the gel of the leaves. These biological activities include promotion of wound healing, antifungal activity, hypoglycemic or antidiabetic effects antiinflammatory, anticancer, immunomodulatory and gastroprotective properties. While the known biological activities of A. vera will be brie...

We compared the ability of two enzymes to catalyze the formation of gels from solutions of gelatin and chitosan. A microbial transglutaminase, currently under investigation for food applications, was observed to catalyze the formation of strong and permanent gels from gelatin solutions. Chitosan was not required for transglutaminase-catalyzed gel formation, although gel formation was faster, an...

Using PCR-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses of oral bacterial samples in 20 mother-child dyads, this study demonstrated a high degree of similarity of bacterial compositions between the mothers and their children; the two may share as much as 94% of their oral bacterial spectra, including cariogenic species.

This paper undertakes a parallel analysis of the gelation mechanisms, structure and rheological properties of gelatin and collagen gels. Although the molecular compositions of collagen and gelatin are almost identical, gelation proceeds from distinct mechanisms and leads to different types of molecular assemblies. First are presented the properties of the solutions, based on their structural an...

Collagen gels provide a biocompatible matrix for replacing soft tissues, but it is essential to determine whether the mechanical properties of the matrix can be retained after cell ingrowth into the collagen scaffold. We have determined the mechanical strength of four collagen gel compositions (plain collagen; collagen-chrondroitin-6-sulphate glycosaminoglycan (GAG); collagen crosslinked with c...

DNAs from the genomes of Clostridium perfringens and Cytophaga johnsonii display orthodox A-DNA and B-DNA structures despite their high (A+L) nucleotide content. Unique structures, such as those found for synthetic DNAs having specific special sequences, do therefore not necessarily occur for DNAs having more random base sequence even if these have unusual base compositions. Clostridium perfrin...

A Glycoprotein, particularly high in tumors, has been extracted from Morris 5123C rat hepatomas and purified. The compound constitutes a major binding component for 67Ga in this hepatoma. It has a molecular weight of approximately 45,000. Its molecular weight was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate:polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by Sephadex G-200 superfine gel filtration. The steps inv...