Species discrimination and population differentiation in ants using microsatellites.

This study was conducted to establish the regional scale of population differentiation of ants in the wheat belt of central western New South Wales. Microsatellite variation was surveyed at five loci in two morphologically similar ant species (designated "A" and "B") from the Camponotus ephippium complex. Three of the five scored microsatellite loci were highly variable with totals, in the two species, of 11, 13 and 42 alleles. The other loci had two and three alleles. The mean number of alleles per locus per sample ranged from 2.0 to 4.6 for species A and from 1.4 to 3.8 in species B. Mean observed heterozygosity was 0.385 for species A and 0.363 for species B. The geographic distribution of genotypes was significantly non-random for all tested loci in both species. Eight of 47 alleles in species A and 15 of 28 in species B were restricted to a single site. Allelic accumulation percentages were calculated for several orderings of samples - level of heterozygosity, sample size and geographic position. In all orderings three or more samples must be included for more than three-quarters of alleles to be represented.

Measurement of Contact Angles for Fumed Silica Nanospheres Using Enthalpy of Immersion Data.

The hydrophobicity of fine particles is important for their behavior at interfaces, for example, in stabilizing emulsions. In this study, contact angles were evaluated for silanized fumed silica nanospheres with mean primary diameter of about 12 nm, using heat flow microcalorimetry. Three systems were investigated: water-air-nanospheres, toluene-air-nanospheres, and toluene-water-nanospheres. For the water-air-nanospheres system, n-propanol at various concentrations in water was used to aid in dispersing the nanospheres, and the enthalpy of immersion between water, air, and nanospheres was obtained by extraploting to zero n-propanol concentration. Measurements of enthalpy of immersion for toluene-air-nanospheres system were straightforward, as all the nanospheres samples were dispersible in toluene. The enthalpy of immersion for toluene-water-nanospheres system was calculated from the data for the aforementioned first and the second systems. For water-air-nanosphere systems, contact angles were in the range of 14 to 118 degrees, corresponding to enthalpy of immersion from -0.0905 to 0.0041 J/m(2). For the case of toluene-air-nanospheres systems, the contact angles varied from 72 to 94 degrees with corresponding enthalpy of immersion from -0.0295 to -0.0189 J/m(2). For toluene-water-nanospheres systems, however, contact angles were in the range of 0 to 96 degrees, corresponding to enthalpy of immersion from -0.0717 to -0.0175 J/m(2). Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Bacterial adhesion to soil contaminants in the presence of surfactants

It has been proposed that addition of surfactants to contaminated soil enhances the solubility of target compounds; however, surfactants may simultaneously reduce the adhesion of bacteria to hydrophobic surfaces. If the latter mechanism is important for the biodegradation of virtually insoluble contaminants, then the use of surfactants may not be beneficial. The adhesion of a Mycobacterium strain and a Pseudomonas strain, isolated from a creosote-contaminated soil, to the surfaces of highly viscous non-aqueous-phase liquids (NAPLs) was measured. The NAPLs were organic material extracted from soils from two creosote-contaminated sites and two petroleum-contaminated sites. Cells suspended in media with and without surfactant were placed in test tubes coated with an NAPL, and the percentages of cells that adhered to the surface of the NAPL in the presence and absence of surfactant were compared by measuring optical density. Test tubes without NAPLs were used as controls. The presence of either Triton X-100 or Dowfax 8390 at a concentration that was one-half the critical micelle concentration (CMC) inhibited adhesion of both species of bacteria to the NAPLs. Both surfactants, when added at concentrations that were one-half the CMCs to test tubes containing previously adhered bacteria, also promoted the removal of the cells from the surfaces of the NAPL-coated test tubes. Neither surfactant was toxic to the bacteria. Further investigation showed that a low concentration of surfactant also inhibited the growth of both species on anthracene, indicating that the presence of a surfactant resulted in a reduction in the uptake of the solid carbon source.