Partition System Research Articles

Genome wide identification and characterization of the amino acid transporter (AAT) genes regulating seed protein content in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Amino acid transporters (AATs), besides, being a crucial component for nutrient partitioning system are also vital for growth and development of the plants and stress resilience. In order to understand the role of AAT genes in seed quality proteins, a comprehensive analysis of AAT gene family was carried out in chickpea leading to identification of 109 AAT genes, representing 10 subfamilies with random distribution across the chickpea genome. Several important stress responsive cis-regulatory elements like Myb, ABRE, ERE were detected in the promoter region of these CaAAT genes. Most of the genes belonging to the same sub-families shared the intron-exon distribution pattern owing to their conserved nature. Random distribution of these CaAAT genes was observed on plasma membrane, vacuolar membrane, Endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi membranes, which may be associated to distinct biochemical pathways. In total 92 out 109 CaAAT genes arise as result of duplication, among which segmental duplication was more prominent over tandem duplication. As expected, the phylogenetic tree was divided into 2 major clades, and further sub-divided into different sub-families. Among the 109 CaAAT genes, 25 were found to be interacting with 25 miRNAs, many miRNAs like miR156, miR159 and miR164 were interacting only with single AAT genes. Tissues specific expression pattern of many CaAAT genes was observed like CaAAP7 and CaAVT18 in nodules, CaAAP17, CaAVT5 and CaCAT9 in vegetative tissues while CaCAT10 and CaAAP23 in seed related tissues as per the expression analysis. Mature seed transcriptome data revealed that genotypes having high protein content (ICC 8397, ICC 13461) showed low CaAATs expression as compared to the genotypes having low protein content (FG 212, BG 3054). Amino acid profiling of these genotypes revealed a significant difference in amount of essential and non-essential amino acids, probably due to differential expression of CaAATs. Thus, the present study provides insights into the biological role of AAT genes in chickpea, which will facilitate their functional characterization and role in various developmental stages, stress responses and involvement in nutritional quality enhancement.

Determining the optimal partition system of a modular building from a circular economy perspective: A multicriteria decision-making process

To evaluate the impact potentials of materials, products, or systems, the existing approach has been to assess their environmental, economic, or social implications to influence decision-making. This has led the construction industry to an eco-efficient range of doing more with less. The current approach, though efficient, is not effective in causing the construction industry to achieve sustainable development. To attain sustainable development, there is the need for intentional design and detailed assessments of the impact potentials of things from the beginning-of-life/design stage of product development. This comprehensive iterative process termed systemic circularity, has been adopted in this study to determine the optimal partition systems for a modular building from a circular economy perspective. The predictive building systemic circularity indicator, complex cost method and life cycle assessment were used to assess the different partition systems' recovery, cost, and impact potentials. A cradle-to-cradle system boundary was adopted, and an end-of-life allocation approach was implemented to help share the benefits/burdens of the processes beyond the system boundary. The VIKOR method was adopted to enhance the selection of the optimal partition. The chosen optimal partition for the case building had 95.83% of mass recyclable, 26.93 kg CO2/m2 in global warming, and cost 4293 RMB/t. Although the selected partition was optimal among the alternatives, its propensity to be the prototype for systemic circularity still needs improvement. Therefore, a best practice model for achieving systemic circularity was proposed, which could lead the construction industry towards sustainable development when adopted.

Organization and replicon interactions within the highly segmented genome of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Borrelia burgdorferi, a causative agent of Lyme disease, contains the most segmented bacterial genome known to date, with one linear chromosome and over twenty plasmids. How this unusually complex genome is organized, and whether and how the different replicons interact are unclear. We recently demonstrated that B. burgdorferi is polyploid and that the copies of the chromosome and plasmids are regularly spaced in each cell, which is critical for faithful segregation of the genome to daughter cells. Regular spacing of the chromosome is controlled by two separate partitioning systems that involve the protein pairs ParA/ParZ and ParB/Smc. Here, using chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), we characterized the organization of the B. burgdorferi genome and the interactions between the replicons. We uncovered that although the linear chromosome lacks contacts between the two replication arms, the two telomeres are in frequent contact. Moreover, several plasmids specifically interact with the chromosome oriC region, and a subset of plasmids interact with each other more than with others. We found that Smc and the Smc-like MksB protein mediate long-range interactions on the chromosome, but they minimally affect plasmid-chromosome or plasmid-plasmid interactions. Finally, we found that disruption of the two partition systems leads to chromosome restructuring, correlating with the mis-positioning of chromosome oriC. Altogether, this study revealed the conformation of a complex genome and analyzed the contribution of the partition systems and SMC family proteins to this organization. This work expands the understanding of the organization and maintenance of multipartite bacterial genomes.

Genetic basis of I-complex plasmid stability and conjugation.

Plasmids are major drivers of increasing antibiotic resistance, necessitating an urgent need to understand their biology. Here we describe a detailed dissection of the molecular components controlling the genetics of I-complex plasmids, a group of antibiotic resistance plasmids found frequently in pathogenic Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae that cause significant human disease. We show these plasmids cluster into four distinct subgroups, with the prototype IncI1 plasmid R64 subgroup displaying low nucleotide sequence conservation to other I-complex plasmids. Using pMS7163B, an I-complex plasmid distantly related to R64, we performed a high-resolution transposon-based genetic screen and defined genes involved in replication, stability, and conjugative transfer. We identified the replicon and a partitioning system as essential for replication/stability. Genes required for conjugation included the type IV secretion system, relaxosome, and several uncharacterised genes located in the pMS7163B leading transfer region that exhibited an upstream strand-specific transposon insertion bias. The overexpression of these genes severely impacted host cell growth or reduced fitness during mixed competitive growth, demonstrating that their expression must be controlled to avoid deleterious impacts. These genes were present in >80% of all I-complex plasmids and broadly conserved across multiple plasmid incompatibility groups, implicating an important role in plasmid dissemination.

Tyrosinase from the peels of Musa cavendish: purification, characterization, immobilization and application in phenol biodegradation

Tyrosinase is an enzyme implicated in fruit ripening and the browning of plant parts exposed to mechanical injury. Tyrosinase has numerous reported biotechnological importance. This enzyme was extracted from the waste peels of Musa cavendish, purified via aqueous two-phase partitioning system (ATPS) and QAE-Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography. The purified tyrosinase was biochemically characterized. Tyrosinase was thereafter immobilized, characterized, and applied in the oxidation of phenols in model wastewaters. After purification, the yield and fold obtained were 23% and 8.0 respectively. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 43.0 kDa. The purified enzyme had an optimum pH and temperature of 6.5 and 60 °C respectively. The (M−1s−1) obtained for substrates such as L-DOPA, catechol and pyrogallol were respectively. The purified enzyme was stable in organic solvents: acetone > ethanol > methanol > n-butanol. Quercetin, ascorbic acid, l-cysteine and arginine were potent inhibitors. The immobilized tyrosinase was more resistant to thermoinactivation than the free enzyme as evidenced by its kinetic ( and thermodynamic ( characteristics. The immobilized tyrosinase removed 70% of 650-µM phenol after 2 h compared to 50% removal by the free tyrosinase. After six repeated cycles of phenol biodegradation using the immobilized enzyme, about 40% of phenol was removed. The fresh peels of M. cavendish served as a green-based source of relatively thermostable immobilized tyrosinase deployable in large-scale biodegradation of phenol-containing wastewater.

Atypical low-copy number plasmid segregation systems, all in one?

Plasmid families harbor different maintenances functions, depending on their size and copy number. Low copy number plasmids rely on active partition systems, organizing a partition complex at specific centromere sites that is actively positioned using NTPase proteins. Some low copy number plasmids lack an active partition system, but carry atypical intracellular positioning systems using a single protein that binds to the centromere site but without an associated NTPase. These systems have been studied in the case of the Escherichia coli R388 and of the Staphylococcus aureus pSK1 plasmids. Here we review these two systems, which appear to be unrelated but share common features, such as their distribution on plasmids of medium size and copy number, certain activities of their centromere-binding proteins, StbA and Par, respectively, as well as their mode of action, which may involve dynamic interactions with the nucleoid-packed chromosome of their hosts.

Tailored pretreatment of serum samples and biomarker extraction afforded by ionic liquids as constituents of aqueous biphasic systems

Prostate cancer serum biomarkers, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prostate specific antigen (PSA), are valuable markers of diagnosis, response to treatment and disease progression. Despite the expected benefits of using PSA to better manage the mortality and morbidity associated to prostate cancer, sample complexity and interference within analysis make its quantification in serum a high-cost and strenuous assignment. Here, we make use of the simple preparation, water-rich environment, and selectivity of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) to develop alternative serum pretreatment strategies. A set of ammonium- and phosphonium-based ionic liquids (ILs) were used as either main phase-forming agents in IL-salt ABS or as adjuvants in polymer-salt ABS, allowing to explore the IL designer solvent nature and versatile role in ABS formation and performance. Serum pretreatment efficiency was evaluated by the capacity of each ABS to simultaneously deplete high abundance serum proteins (immunoglobulin G, IgG, and human serum albumin, HSA) at the systems’ interphase (thus, generating a three-phase partitioning system – ABS-TPP) and extract PSA to a single ABS phase. Regardless of the ABS typology under appraisal (IL-salt or polymer-salt-IL), the proper design of the IL structure is critical for both the ability to deplete high abundance serum proteins and extract PSA. The results demonstrate that, in addition to the proper choice of the ABS typology, a careful adjustment of the IL hydrophobicity is key to achieve the simultaneous depletion of high-abundance proteins and complete PSA extraction in a single step, creating new approaches for PSA analysis and its application in diagnosis/prognosis.

Research on schedulability analysis algorithm of airborne multi partition system

Partition operating system conforming to ARINC653 is widely used in airborne to support application software integration. Under the two-level scheduling model for partition operating system, the demanding real-time requirements of airborne software are usually difficult to obtain effective deterministic guarantee, so it is very important to analyze the schedulability of the system. Judging whether the scheduling table can meet the real-time requirements of the process in the partition through the schedulability analysis algorithm is an effective means to ensure that all processes in the system complete the computing task within the specified time. Based on the method of operations research and the introduction of virtual process, a schedulability analysis algorithm for multi partition system is designed, and the numerical verification is carried out. The verification results show that the algorithm can accurately judge whether the scheduling table matches the process time attribute, give the qualitative analysis conclusion of whether the system can be scheduled, help the system integrator to verify the rationality of the scheduling table before the actual operation of the system, and reduce the risk of test and flight test.

Grep: A Graph Learning Based Database Partitioning System

Database partitioning is a fundamental but challenging task in distributed databases, which selects specific columns as a partitioning key for each table and uses the partitioning key to allocate the table data into different compute nodes in order to maximize the performance. However, this problem is NP-hard and existing distributed databases require users to manually specify the partitioning keys, which may cause potential performance degradation. Although reinforcement learning based methods have been proposed, they have several limitations. First, they do not capture the complex data distributions and query access patterns, and thus involve high computation cost across different compute nodes to answer a query. Second, they involve an expensive step to repetitively partition the data into different compute nodes in order to train a learned key-selection model, which is a waste of time and resources. To address these limitations, we propose a practical learned database partitioning system Grep. We first adopt a graph model to encode data and query features, where vertices are columns, edges are query relations, and the weights of columns are computed based on the localized graph structures (e.g., data diversity, joined columns). We then utilize graph neural networks to embed the partitioning factors into embedding vectors in order to capture the data and query correlations. Next we propose a key-selection model to select appropriate partitioning keys based on the graph model. Finally, we propose an evaluation model to estimate the partitioning performance without actually partitioning the database. We have implemented Grep in a commercial distributed database, and experiments show the effectiveness of our system (e.g., 68% higher throughput for 30K queries in a real banking scenario).

Evolution, persistence, and host adaption of a gonococcal AMR plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era.

Plasmids are diverse extrachromosomal elements significantly that contribute to interspecies dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. However, within clinically important bacteria, plasmids can exhibit unexpected narrow host ranges, a phenomenon that has scarcely been examined. Here we show that pConj is largely restricted to the human-specific pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. pConj can confer tetracycline resistance and is central to the dissemination of other AMR plasmids. We tracked pConj evolution from the pre-antibiotic era 80 years ago to the modern day and demonstrate that, aside from limited gene acquisition and loss events, pConj is remarkably conserved. Notably, pConj has remained prevalent in gonococcal populations despite cessation of tetracycline use, thereby demonstrating pConj adaptation to its host. Equally, pConj imposes no measurable fitness costs and is stably inherited by the gonococcus. Its maintenance depends on the co-operative activity of plasmid-encoded Toxin:Antitoxin (TA) and partitioning systems rather than host factors. An orphan VapD toxin encoded on pConj forms a split TA with antitoxins expressed from an ancestral co-resident plasmid or a horizontally-acquired chromosomal island, potentially explaining pConj's limited distribution. Finally, ciprofloxacin can induce loss of this highly stable plasmid, reflecting epidemiological evidence of transient reduction in pConj prevalence when fluoroquinolones were introduced to treat gonorrhoea.

Water quality online modeling using multi-objective and multi-agent Bayesian Optimization with region partitioning

Monitoring water resources and their quality is an activity that is gaining more importance through the years. Efficient and intelligent monitoring systems must be developed by taking advantage of cutting edge technologies like robotic agents. The utilization of autonomous surface vehicles equipped with water quality sensors is a promising approach to continuously measure physico-chemical parameters related to water quality. However, most of current related works do not acknowledge for the increasing availability and affordability of these systems. Therefore, the current approaches do not generalize well to account for multiple objectives and the involvement of multiple agents. The present work provides one of the first approaches considering the usage of multiple agents equipped with multiple water quality sensors so that online modeling of water bodies is done. Furthermore, the measurements are done considering a Voronoi Region Partitioning system using an underlying Bayesian Optimization with multiple objectives. Results show that the system can robustly obtain very accurate surrogate models despite the limited available information and energy autonomy constraint of the vehicles. When compared with coverage and patrolling-based approaches, the proposed system outperforms these approaches on average by 23.6% and 43.5%, respectively, regarding the error of modeling. The performance of this approach is also enhanced by its robustness and scalability when compared to offline monitoring missions.

Strong quantum nonlocality without entanglement in an n -partite system with even n

In multipartite systems, great progress has been made recently on the study of strong quantum nonlocality without entanglement. However, the existence of orthogonal product sets with strong quantum nonlocality in even party systems remains unknown. Here the even number is greater than four. In this paper, we successfully construct strongly nonlocal orthogonal product sets in $n$-partite systems for all even $n$, which answers the open questions given by Halder et al. [\href{https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.040403} {Phys. Rev. Lett \textbf{122}, 040403 (2019)}] and Yuan et al. [\href{https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.042228} {Phys. Rev. A \textbf{102}, 042228 (2020)}] for any possible even party systems. Thus, we find general construction of strongly nonlocal orthogonal product sets in space $\otimes_{i=1}^{n}\mathcal{C}^{d_{i}}$ ($n,d_{i}\geq 3$) and show that there do exist incomplete orthogonal product bases that can be strongly nonlocal in any possible $n$-partite systems for all even $n$. Our newly constructed orthogonal product sets are asymmetric. We analyze the differences and connections between these sets and the known orthogonal product sets in odd party systems. In addition, we present a local state discrimination protocol for our sets by using additional entangled resource. When at least two subsystems have dimensions greater than three, the protocol consumes less entanglement than teleportation-based protocol. Strongly nonlocal set implies that the information cannot be completely accessed as long as it does not happen that all parties are together. As an application, we connect our sets with local information hiding in multipartite system.

Using three-phase partitioning for the purification and recovery of antibodies from biological media

Antibodies, in particular immunoglobulin G (IgG), are one of the biopharmaceutical industry highflyers, with relevance for the treatment of several diseases. However, the recovery of antibodies from complex biological media with high quality and purity is difficult and requires multi-step and expensive approaches. Herein, we propose a cost-effective approach using three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems based on polyethylene glycol (PEG)-salt aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) with ionic liquids (ILs) as adjuvants for the purification and recovery of IgG antibodies from three biological media, i.e., human serum, and serum-containing and serum-free Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture supernatants. The economic analysis of the developed process was carried out. The results obtained using PEG-salt ABS without ILs and human serum show that IgG could be recovered either at the interphase of the TPP or in the top phase, depending on the molecular weight of the PEG. The system composed of PEG with a molecular weight of 1000 g/mol is the PEG-salt system enabling the highest purity of human polyclonal IgG at the interphase (80.7 %, with a recovery yield of 65.8 %). Still, by adding 1 wt% of the ILs tetra(n-butyl)ammonium bromide ([N4444]Br) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl), it is possible to compete or even outperform the PEG 1000-salt system with no IL regarding purity/recovery performance and production costs under given operation conditions. The best systems were then applied for the purification and recovery of monoclonal antibodies from serum-containing and serum-free culture supernatants. Improved recovery of monoclonal antibodies from serum-free Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture supernatants with a reduction of the host cell proteins (HCPs) content are obtained by introducing ILs as adjuvants in PEG-salt systems, with [N4444]Br providing the lowest production costs. Overall, TPP systems were shown to be not only cost-effective, but also robust and flexible routes to purify and recover IgG from complex biological matrices as shown here with human serum, serum-containing and serum-free cell culture supernatants.

Satisfaction of medical students with the training program at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University

Background: From the academic year 2018-2019, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy has renewed the medical training program in the direction of integration based on competence. One of the mandatory criteria is to survey the satisfaction of medical students with the training program at the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, in order to validate the school’s training quality. A plethora of aspects of the training program was considered in this study, such as objectives and content of the training program, materials and facilities, teaching staff, organization of assessment, and counseling to support students. Objectives: 1) Surveying the fulfillment of medical students with the training program and 2) Finding out some factors related to student contentment with the training program. Materials and methods: Crosssectional descriptive study was applied to investigate the satisfaction of 847 medical students from 1st to 4th year at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy. The data retrieved from the Google form autocomplete toolkit consisted of 2 parts: general information and the satisfaction of medical students with the training program. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 20.0 software. Partition system description was achieved by frequency and rate. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to evaluate the reliability of the satisfactory scale of students with the training quality and the model’s suitability. Linear regression was utilized to assess the correlation of the training quality factors with the satisfaction of students. Results: Overall, 87.8% of students are content with the renewed training program. The linear regression model shows that the students’ fulfillment is determined by lecturers, objectives and contents of the program, administrative organization (structure, evaluation, and support for students), and facility-related factors (materials and training facilities). Conclusions: The satisfaction rate of students reaches 87.8%. The degree of influence of these factors on the satisfaction of medical students with the training program at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy follows a descending order: (1) teaching staff, (2) objectives and content of the training program, (3) organizing, evaluating, and supporting students, (4) materials and facilities for training. Key words: satisfaction, medical students, university training, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Green Community Center: Using Long-life Material for Low Maintenance and Serviceability.

A community center is a building that unites various functions and is adapted to the character of the area and the needs of its residents. If it is related to the Sustainable Development Goals, then one of the targets can be met by providing public spaces that are safe, inclusive, and easily accessible to everyone. Specific space requirements and capacities of different users are a problem in community center so a movable partition system could be one solution. In addition, space configuration can also be arranged so that it is not monotonous by utilizing existing partitions. The problem in this research is how to choose a durable movable partition material for use in a community center. In addition, this study aims to determine durable movable partition materials so that the community center can not only meet the needs of its residents but also have flexible spaces and support sustainable architecture. The method used in this study is a comparative method by analyzing the durability of several materials commonly used as partition materials. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion of research data, the movable partition material that can be used is a PVC board. This is because PVC boards are resistant to water and termites and are not harmful to the environment.

Innovative three-phase partitioning based on deep-eutectic solvents and sugars (sugaring-out effect) for cucumber peroxidase purification

Traditional three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems used for extracting and purifying bioactive substances typically consist of t-butanol and ammonium sulfate. However, the use of volatile and flammable organic solvents and high-concentration inorganic salts results in environmental pollution. Therefore, an innovative TPP based on deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and sugars (sugaring-out effect) was used to extract and preliminarily purify cucumber peroxidase (POD). Various factors affecting the extraction were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). DES-8 (menthol: octanoic acid = 1:1) and sucrose were selected as the optimal constituents of TPP. Under these conditions, the sucrose concentration was 36% (w/v), DES: crude extract (v/v) was 1.4:1, system pH was not adjusted, extraction time was 6 min, and extraction temperature was 31 °C; the enzyme recovery and purification fold reached 84.53% and 5.28, respectively. Recycling experiments demonstrated that the DESs can be well recycled and reused after five recycles. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to analyze cucumber POD, which showed that the TPP system achieved primary purification of cucumber POD. This TPP is much greener and more efficient than traditional TPP systems and shows great application potential in the enzymes and proteins separation field.

Integrated platform resorting to ionic liquids comprising the extraction, purification and preservation of DNA

The large-scale production of therapeutically targeted-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has passed through several challenges, postponing the tangible implementation of an effective, economic and sustainable manufacturing system. Such challenges comprise the need to develop an integrative downstream process able to extract, purify and long-term preserve DNA, whilst reducing the risk of degradation by endonucleases that would compromise their effectiveness as therapeutic products. In this work, three-phase partitioning (TPP) systems formed by the application of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) composed of several biocompatible cholinium-based ionic liquids (ILs), are proposed for the separation of double stranded DNA (dsDNA) from the endonuclease deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I). By taking advantage of the tailor-made properties of ILs, dsDNA can be completely extracted to the IL-rich phase, whereas DNase I is precipitated at the ABS interphase. The ABS/TPP formed by IL cholinium glycolate ([N111(2OH)][Gly]) fulfills the aim of this work, i.e. at ensuring the technical viability of IL-based ABS/TPP for the “one-pot” extraction, purification and long-term preservation of dsDNA. The results reveal the potential of this system to be applied in the bioprocessing of DNA, particularly relevant when envisioning DNA-based therapeutic products.

P 2 Ride: Practical and Privacy-Preserving Ride-Matching Scheme for Ridesharing

As a popular instance of sharing economy, ridesharing has been widely adopted in recent years. To use the convenient ridesharing service, riders and drivers have to share with the service provider their private trip information, which impedes users from freely enjoying the benefits of ridesharing. However, existing studies in ridesharing mainly focus on the optimization of rider-driver matching but ignore the protection of privacy of users. In this paper, we propose P2Ride, a Practical and Privacy-preserving Ride-matching scheme for ridesharing, which enables the service provider to efficiently match drivers with appropriate riders without learning the privacy of both drivers and riders. In P2Ride, we first convert the complex ride-matching computation into equality testing by leveraging overlapping partition systems, and then achieve the privacy-preserving ride-matching by designing a novel non-interactive private equality testing protocol. We prove the security of the proposed P2Ride theoretically. Moreover, a prototype of the P2Ride is implemented, and the experiment results over a real-world dataset demonstrate that the proposed P2Ride can achieve both high ride-matching accuracy and practical efficiency.

Engineering a Synthetic RNA Segregation System

AbstractCells possess a number of active segregation machineries for both chromosomal and large extrachromosomal DNA elements to avoid stochastic loss during cell division. In contrast, system that can be exploited for active, general segregation of RNA molecules including mRNAs or self‐replicating RNA constructs are currently lacking. Here, we present an artificial RNA segregation system derived from the bacterial type II ParMRC plasmid segregation system and the RNA coliphage MS2. We show that fusing the partition protein ParR with the MS2 RNA coat protein enables specific binding to microbeads decorated with RNA‐repeats of the archetypical MS2 RNA operator hairpin. Addition of the actin homologue ParM protein triggers efficient and rapid microbeads segregation via ATP‐dependent ParM polymerization. Our new RNA partitioning system could be used for specific localization of mRNAs and/or the stable maintenance of self‐replicating RNA vectors in various contexts such as living and artificial cells.

Partitioning and recovery of proteases from lizardfish (Saurida micropectoralis) stomach using combined phase partitioning systems and their storage stability.

Partitioning and recovery of proteases from stomach extract (SE) and acidified stomach extract (ASE) of lizardfish using a three-phase partitioning (TPP) system in combination with an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) was optimized. The highest yield and purity were obtained in the interphase of the TPP system, which consisted of a SE or ASE to t-butanol ratio of 1.0 : 0.5 in the presence of 40% (w/w) (NH4)2SO4. Both TPP fractions were further subjected to ATPS. Phase compositions of ATPS including PEG molecular mass and concentrations as well as types and concentrations of salts influenced protein partitioning. The best ATPS conditions for protease partitioning into the top phase from TPP fractions of SE and ASE were 15% Na3C6H5O7-20% PEG1000 and 20% Na3C6H5O7-15% PEG1000, which increased the purity by 4-fold and 5-fold with the recovered activity of 82% and 77%, respectively. ATPS fractions of SE and ASE were subsequently mixed with several PEGs and salts for back extraction (BE). BE using 25% PEG8000-5% Na3C6H5O7 gave the highest PF and yield for both ATPS fractions. SDS-PAGE investigation revealed that the decrease in contaminating protein bands was observed after the combined partitioning systems. BE fractions of SE and ASE were quite stable at -20 and 0 °C up to 14 days. Therefore, the combination of TPP, ATPS and BE could be effectively applied to recover and purify proteases from the stomach of lizardfish.