Growth, structural, thermal, and optical characteristics of L-asparagine monohydrate doped magnesium sulphate heptahydrate semiorganic crystals

A novel semi-organic crystal has been grown using slow evaporation technique by doping organic compound L-asparagine monohydrate (C4H8N2O3·H2O) with inorganic material Magnesium sulphate heptahydrate (MgSO4·7H2O). The crystallographic parameters like strain, dislocation density and crystallite size were calculated by powder X-ray diffraction method. Functional groups were identified and bond length, force constants were calculated from FT-IR spectroscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was used to identify the constituent elements of the crystal. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters, such as, activation energy Ea, change in Gibb's free energy (ΔG) and change in enthalpy (ΔH) have been determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analysis. Ea, ΔH and ΔG show positive values and change in entropy (ΔS) shows negative ones. The thermal degradation behavior of the crystals has been analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Various optical constants such as optical band gap, lattice dielectric constant, absorbance, extinction coefficient, the ratio of free charge carrier concentration to the effective mass, Urbach energy, optical and electrical conductivities were estimated from UV-vis transmittance data. High optical conductivity (1010 s-1) justifies the good photo response nature of the semi-organic crystal.

Host, pathogen and environment: a bacterial gbpA gene expression study in response to magnesium environment and presence of prawn carapace and commercial chitin

Background

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a Gram-negative halophilic bacterium which is found largely in estuarine and coastal waters. The bacteria has been a main focus in gastro-intestinal infections caused primarily due to the consumption of contaminated seafood. It was shown to survive in magnesium concentrations as high as 300 mM which are toxic to various other micro-organisms. Several genes of V. parahaemolyticus were studied, among which gbpA (N-acetyl glucosamine binding protein) was reported in Vibrio cholerae.

Methods

The current study investigates the V. parahaemolyticus gbpA gene expression at different concentrations of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (MgSO₄·7H₂O, chosen as the magnesium environment), in the presence of the host’s (prawn) carapace and the mimicked carapace [commercial chitin flakes (Sigma)]. The concentrations of MgSO₄·7H₂O utilized were approximately 0, 1, 75, 137, 225 and 300 mM. These were selected based upon the survival conditions required by prawn and bacteria, respectively. 0.05 gm/3 ml of carapace (by dry weight) and commercial chitin flakes were used in the experiments. Bacterial count was performed for the biological triplicates for the 3 experimental setups. The genome of Vibrio parahaemolyticus PCV08-7 (VPPCV08-7) was used as a reference, based on whose translated gbpA gene the probable protein-chemical interactions were determined on the STITCH database.

Results

The GbpA protein was shown to interact with chitin on the STITCH database. In our experiments, the gbpA showed lower gene expression levels at different MgSO₄·7H₂O concentrations in the presence of chitin and carapace, than with the presence of only MgSO₄•7H₂O. In addition, the bacterial count for various concentrations of magnesium used, revealed a distinct decrease in bacterial count within and among each of the three experimental setups.

Conclusion

In the presence of only magnesium, an increase in the gbpA expression with neither chitin nor carapace and vice versa supported by the results from the bacterial counts could help further studies to prove that the moulting phase of prawns may trigger increased expression of the V. parahaemolyticus gbpA gene.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13099-016-0105-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.