Untethered small actuators have various applications in multiple fields. However, existing small-scale actuators are very limited in their intractability with their surroundings, respond to only a single type of stimulus and are unable to achieve programmable structural changes under different stimuli. Here, we present a multiresponsive patternable actuator that can respond to humidity, temperature and light, via programmable structural changes. This capability is uniquely achieved by a fast and facile method that was used to fabricate a smart actuator with precise patterning on a graphene oxide film by hydrogel microstamping. The programmable actuator can mimic the claw of a hawk to grab a block, crawl like an inchworm, and twine around and grab the rachis of a flower based on their geometry. Similar to the large- and small-scale robots that are used to study locomotion mechanics, these small-scale actuators can be employed to study movement and biological and living organisms.
Soil rhizospheric metaproteomics is a powerful scientific tool to uncover the interactions between plants and microorganisms in the soil ecosystem. The present study established an extraction method suitable for different soils that could increase the extracted protein content. Close to 1000 separate spots with high reproducibility could be identified in the stained 2-DE gels. Among the spots, 189 spots representing 122 proteins on a 2-DE gel of rice soil samples were successfully identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS. These proteins mainly originated from rice and microorganisms. They were involved in protein, energy, nucleotide, and secondary metabolisms, as well as signal transduction and resistance. Three characteristics of the crop rhizospheric metaproteomics seemed apparent: (1) approximately one-third of the protein spots could not be identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF/MS, (2) the conservative proteins from plants formed a feature distribution of crop rhizospheric metaproteome, and (3) there were very complex interactions between plants and microorganisms existing in a crop rhizospheric soil. Further functional analysis on the identified proteins unveiled various metabolic pathways and signal transductions involved in the soil biotic community. This study provides a paradigm for metaproteomic research on soil biology.
Screening crop accessions for allelopathic activity is of paramount importance for crop allelopathy research. Previous bioassays often did not use a mixed culture of donor and target plants, did not use soil and were not conducted under natural conditions. In this study, we designed an inhibitory-circle method in which a rice accession (donor plant) and Echinochloa crus-galli (target plant) were cultured together in paddy soil under natural conditions. First, we determined that the highest allelopathic activity of allelopathic rice accession PI312777 was at the 5-leaf stage, and the suitable distance of rice seedlings and E. crus-galli was 12 cm apart. This method was then validated by a field test. A further 40 rice accessions were evaluated for allelopathic activity to E. crus-galli using this method. Two rice accessions, PI312777 and Taichung Native 1, had highly allelopathic activity to E. crus-galli (inhibitory rate > 50%), while another accession, Lemont, had non-allelopathic activity. These experimental results were in accordance with previous studies using direct field experiments. The inhibitory-circle method integrated three necessary conditions, that is donor and target plants grown together, with soil as the medium and under natural conditions for reliable results. The 'inhibitory-circle method', which combined donor and target plants, soil medium and field conditions, can give reliable results in one step, compared with laboratory screening methods. Also, the 'inhibitory-circle method' gave results in 30-35 days, thereby substantially reducing the requirements for time, labour and cost.
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