Multifunctionalization of wool fabrics through nanoparticles: A chemical route towards smart textiles.

A new approach towards the design of smart nanotextiles with innovative properties is presented. Silica (SiO2), titania (TiO2), and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs), were synthesized without the use of any toxic organic compound and then were used, alone and in combination, to functionalize wool fabrics. Electrostatic forces, influenced by a low pH of the solutions, allowed the interactions between wool fabrics and NPs, enabling a robust functionalization. This was verified by X-ray microfluorescence and visualized by scanning electron microscopy measurements. The antibacterial Ag NPs were embedded in a polymer, alginic acid, to reduce the possible side effect due to their direct contact with the skin. SiO2 NPs, instead, were used to change the hydrophilicity of wool while the functionalization with TiO2 NPs was chosen to provide self-cleaning properties. The antibacterial activity of the fabrics was studied against the bacteria Escherichia coli, while the hydrophilicity of wool was studied by contact angle measurements and the self-cleaning properties were tested by estimating the visible discoloring of a dye stain under sunlight irradiation. Interestingly the combination of three different types of NPs provided the best results. SiO2 and Ag made the wool superhydrophilic providing at the same time the best antibacterial properties, while fabrics with titania (alone or in combination) were hydrophobic and showed the best self-cleaning properties.

Development and validation of a dedicated microarray for the evaluation of bovine mammary gland health status and milk quality.

The purpose of this study was the output and set up of the milk array, a dedicated array designed to investigate the expression levels of many genes involved in cow mammary gland inflammation and milk production regulation. First, a new targeted genes panel was selected. Successively, the microarray reliability was examined by yellow and dye swap experiments using the normal and mastitic mammary gland samples from the same cow. The sensitivity and reliability were evaluated using different amounts of the same mastitic mammary gland RNA: a good linear regression (R (2) = 0.758) was obtained also using only 3 µg of RNA. We used both reverse transcriptase RT-qPCR and the microarray to analyze 100 bovine genes (96 known to be involved in inflammation and milk production regulation and four housekeeping genes) in pooled total RNA isolated from tissue samples. All genes were detectable by RT-qPCR and microarray: a good mean correlation coefficient over all samples of 0.885 showed that both methods were similarly well suited to analyze gene expression in these samples. This report describes the development of small DNA microarray of fully defined genes suitable for analysis of expression of many genes involved in cow mammary gland inflammation and milk production regulation; this platform will prove useful as diagnostic tool prototype to perform a more in-depth analysis of the milk quality and mammary glands health status.

FTIR nanobiosensors for Escherichia coli detection.

Infections due to enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (Escherichia coli) have a low incidence but can have severe and sometimes fatal health consequences, and thus represent some of the most serious diseases due to the contamination of water and food. New, fast and simple devices that monitor these pathogens are necessary to improve the safety of our food supply chain. In this work we report on mesoporous titania thin-film substrates as sensors to detect E. coli O157:H7. Titania films treated with APTES ((3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane) and GA (glutaraldehyde) were functionalized with specific antibodies and the absorption properties monitored. The film-based biosensors showed a detection limit for E. coli of 1 × 10(2) CFU/mL, constituting a simple and selective method for the effective screening of water samples.

Solubilization methods and reference 2-DE map of cow milk fat globules.

Milk fat globules (MFGs) are secretory vesicles assembled and secreted by mammary epithelial cells during lactation. They consist of fat globules surrounded by a lipid bilayer membrane which is derived from the apical membrane of the lactating cells. MFGs contain, besides lipids, proteins from the apical plasma membrane and from the cytoplasmatic material. Their peculiar vesicle nature makes them a suitable and easily available source of biological material in monitoring the physiopathological state of the mammary gland. Unfortunately, the conspicuous lipidic component of MFGs consistently limits protein extraction and purification for MFG proteomic investigations. This work deals with the development of a suitable procedure for protein extraction from the cow MFGs in order to qualitatively and quantitatively improve 2-D electropherograms of the MFG. MFGs were purified from raw milk by centrifugation and then delipidated/precipitated. The resulting protein pellets were solubilised using four different 2-D SDS PAGE compatible lysis buffers. Applied methodological procedures for protein extraction and evaluation of the resulting 2-D protein-pattern are presented and discussed. Using these procedures a reference 2-D map of cow milk fat globules is also reported. The majority of the obtained identifications was represented by proteins involved in lipid synthesis or in fat globule secretion.

A single nucleotide polymorphism in the sheep kappa-casein coding region.

Genetic polymorphisms in CSN3 gene in Pag (Croatia), Sarda (Italy) and Pramenka (Serbia) sheep breeds were investigated. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was localized by sequence analysis (sequence submitted to GenBank under accession AY237637) relying on an original primer pair. Primers for sequencing (kappa-casF and kappa-casR) were designed on the available CSN3 sequences to amplify the genomic region encoding the major part of the mature protein (exon 4). An SNP was detected at position 237 of the sheep kappa-casein mRNA (reference sequence: GenBank X51822), where a thymine was substituted for a cytosine. The SNP was typed by conventional PCR and SYBR Green I-based real-time PCR. C and T alleles were discriminated using a dedicated set of primers that consisted of one common forward primer (SNP-TC) and two reverse primers (SNP-T and SNP-C), the latter two differing in the 3' end base and in the presence of a 12 bp poly-G tail in SNP-C. The SNP was found in both the heterozygous and the homozygous state in Sarda and Pramenka breeds, and in the heterozygous state only in the Pag breed. The observed allelic frequencies of the SNP were 0.12 in Pag, 0.27 in Sarda and 0.45 in Pramenka.

Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis): complete nucleotide mitochondrial genome sequence.

In this work, we report the whole sequence of the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) mitochondrial genome. The water buffalo mt molecule is 16.355 base pair length and shows a genome organization similar to those reported for other mitochondrial genome. These new data provide an useful tool for many research area, i.e. evolutionary study and identification of food origin.

The complete coding region sequence of river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) SRY gene.

The Y-linked SRY gene is responsible for testis determination in mammals. Mutations in this gene can lead to XY Gonadal Dysgenesis, an abnormal sexual phenotype described in humans, cattle, horses and river buffalo. We report here the complete river buffalo SRY sequence in order to enable the genetic diagnosis of this disease. The SRY sequence was also used to confirm the evolutionary divergence time between cattle and river buffalo 10 million years ago.