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•New polyaramide-coated silica sorbents for one-step isolation of DNA were prepared.•Polyaramide coatings poorly retain DNA but effectively retain RNA and proteins.•Explicit ...dependence of the sorption capacity on the protein nature is observed.•Sorption behavior of the obtained materials is determined by different mechanisms.•Sorption properties are similar to fluoropolymers- and polyaniline-coated sorbents.
The effect of chemical composition and morphology of the surface layers of new polyaramide-containing sorbents on the mechanism of selective sorption of nucleic acids and proteins was investigated as compared to the previously studied sorbents modified with fluoropolymers and polyaniline (high-throughput materials providing one-step isolation of DNA from biological mixtures). A series of silica-based sorbents modified with polyaramides having consistently varying structure and containing the set of “key” structural elements (aromatic units and nitrogen atoms in the backbone, fluorinated groups), and various donor and acceptor moieties was prepared. The chemical composition of the polymer coatings was evaluated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The surface morphology was studied by scanning probe microscopy. The sorption properties were investigated by passing the mixtures containing DNA, RNA and proteins of different nature through the cartridges containing the obtained sorbents. All the investigated materials weakly retain double-stranded DNA but effectively retain RNA and proteins. The sorption capacity of the sorbents depends on the protein nature. The observed sorption behavior was shown to be determined by the chemical structure and not by the morphology of the polymer coating. It was proposed that similarity of the sorption properties of the series of chemically different polymers could be determined by similar total input of different sorption mechanisms.
Background Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the human health. It is involved in the digestion and protects the host against external pathogens. Examination of the intestinal ...microbiome interactions is required for understanding of the community influence on host health. Studies of the microbiome can provide insight on methods of improving health, including specific clinical procedures for individual microbial community composition modification and microbiota correction by colonizing with new bacterial species or dietary changes. Methodology/Principal Findings In this work we report an agent-based model of interactions between two bacterial species and between species and the gut. The model is based on reactions describing bacterial fermentation of polysaccharides to acetate and propionate and fermentation of acetate to butyrate. Antibiotic treatment was chosen as disturbance factor and used to investigate stability of the system. System recovery after antibiotic treatment was analyzed as dependence on quantity of feedback interactions inside the community, therapy duration and amount of antibiotics. Bacterial species are known to mutate and acquire resistance to the antibiotics. The ability to mutate was considered to be a stochastic process, under this suggestion ratio of sensitive to resistant bacteria was calculated during antibiotic therapy and recovery. Conclusion/Significance The model confirms a hypothesis of feedbacks mechanisms necessity for providing functionality and stability of the system after disturbance. High fraction of bacterial community was shown to mutate during antibiotic treatment, though sensitive strains could become dominating after recovery. The recovery of sensitive strains is explained by fitness cost of the resistance. The model demonstrates not only quantitative dynamics of bacterial species, but also gives an ability to observe the emergent spatial structure and its alteration, depending on various feedback mechanisms. Visual version of the model shows that spatial structure is a key factor, which helps bacteria to survive and to adapt to changed environmental conditions.
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