Phylogenetic relationships of glyptosternoid fishes (Siluriformes : Sisoridae) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences

To explore phylogenetic relationships among glyptosternoid fishes, we determined nucleotide sequences of the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene region (1138 base pair). Thirteen species of glyptosternoid fishes and six species of non-glyptosternoids represent 10 sisorid genera were examined. Molecular phylogenetic trees were constructed using the maximum parsimony, minimum evolution, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses support the monophyly of glyptosternoids, but our hypothesis of internal relationships differs from previous hypothesis. Results indicated that glyptosternoid is a monophyletic group and genera Glyptosternum and Exostoma are two basal species having a primitive position among it. Genera Euchiloglanis and Pareuchiloglanis form a sister-group. Then they form a sister-group with Pseudexostoma plus Oreoglanis. Our result also found that Pareuchiloglanis anteanalis might be considered as the synonyms of Parechiloglanis sinensis, and genus Euchiloglanis might have only one valid species, Euchiloglanis davidi. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Molecular phylogenetic relationships of Eastern Asian Cyprinidae (Pisces : Cypriniformes) inferred from cytochrome b sequences

Complete mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences of 54 species, including 18 newly sequenced, were analyzed to infer the phylogenetic relationships within the family Cyprinidae in East Asia. Phylogenetic trees were generated using various tree-building methods, including Neighbor-joining (NJ), Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods, with Myxocyprinus asiaticus (family Catostomidae) as the designated outgroup. The results from NJ and ML methods were mostly similar, supporting some existing subfamilies within Cyprinidae as monophyletic, such as Cultrinae, Xenocyprinae and Gobioninae (including Gobiobotinae). However, genera within the subfamily "Danioninae" did not form a monophyletic group. The subfamily Leuciscinae was divided into two unrelated groups: the "Leuciscinae" in East Asia forming as a monophyletic group together with Cultrinae and Xenocyprinae, while the Leuciscinae in Europe, Siberia, and North America as another monophyletic group. The monophyly of subfamily Cyprininae sensu Howes was supported by NJ and ML trees and is basal in the tree. The position of Acheilognathinae, a widely accepted monophyletic group represented by Rhodeus sericeus, was not resolved.

Sequence analysis of cytochrome b gene indicates that East Asian group of cyprinid subfamily Leuciscinae (Teleostei : Cyprinidae) evolved independently

The sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of cyprinid subfamily Leuciscinae are analyzed. Phylogenetic trees generated with methods of neighbor-joining, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony with Phenacogrammus as an outgroup indicate that Leuciscinae is not a monophyletic group but includes two discrete subgroups. The East Asian group of the subfamily Leuciscinae, including the genera Ctenopharyngodon, Elopichthys, Luciobrama, Mylopharyngodon, Ochetobius, and Squaliobarbus, is close to Aristichthys and Hypophthalmichthys, and they form a monophyletic group which is distant from the leuciscine genera in Europe, Siberia and North America, such as Phoxinus, Leuciscus, Abramis, Rutilus, Chondrostoma, Alburnus, Opsopoedus, Lythrurus, and Pimephales. Our study suggests that the diversified East Asian group of the subfamily Leuciscinae should have an independent origination.

Construction and characterization of a novel recombinant single-chain variable fragment antibody against White Spot Syndrome Virus from shrimp

An antibody phage display library against White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) was constructed. After four rounds of panning against WSSV, 192 out of 480 clones displayed WSSV binding activity. One of the positive clones, designated A1, had relatively higher activity specifically binding to WSSV A1-soluble, single-chain fragment variable (scFv) antibody has an affinity constant (K-aff) of 2.02 +/- 0.42 x 10(9) M-1. Dot blot assays showed that A1-soluble scFv could detect WSSV directly from shrimp hemolymph after 24-h feeding infection by WSSV. A1 scFv has potential for the development of a cheap, simple and sensitive diagnostic kit for WSSV in the field. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative ontogenetic behavior and migration of kaluga, Huso dauricus, and Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii, from the Amur River

We conducted laboratory experiments with kaluga, Huso dauricus, and Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii, to develop a conceptual model of early behavior. We daily observed embryos (first life phase after hatching) and larvae (period initiating exogenous feeding) to day-30 (late larvae) for preference of bright habitat and cover, swimming distance above the bottom, up- and downstream movement, and diel activity. Day-0 embryos of both species strongly preferred bright, open habitat and initiated a strong, downstream migration that lasted 4 days (3 day peak) for kaluga and 3 days (2 day peak) for Amur sturgeon. Kaluga migrants swam far above the bottom (150 cm) on only 1 day and moved day and night; Amur sturgeon migrants swam far above the bottom (median 130 cm) during 3 days and were more nocturnal than kaluga. Post-migrant embryos of both species moved day and night, but Amur sturgeon used dark, cover habitat and swam closer to the bottom than kaluga. The larva period of both species began on day 7 (cumulative temperature degree-days, 192.0 for kaluga and 171.5 for Amur sturgeon). Larvae of both species preferred open habitat. Kaluga larvae strongly preferred bright habitat, initially swam far above the bottom (median 50-105 cm), and migrated downstream at night during days 10-16 (7-day migration). Amur sturgeon larvae strongly avoided illumination, had a mixed response to white substrate, swam 20-30 cm above the bottom during most days, and during days 12-34 (most of the larva period) moved downstream mostly at night (23-day migration). The embryo-larva migration style of the two species likely shows convergence of non-related species for a common style in response to environmental selection in the Amur River. The embryo-larva migration style of Amur sturgeon is unique among Acipenser yet studied.

Mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence variations and phylogeny of the East Asian bagrid catfishes

The mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene was sequenced from 8 bagrid catfishes in China. Aligned with cytochrome b sequences from 9 bagrid catfishes in Japan, Korea and Russia retrieved from GenBank, and selected Silurus meridionalis, Liobagrus anguillicauda, Liobagrus reini and Phenacogrammus interruptus as outgroups, we constructed a matrix of 21 DNA sequences. The Kimura's two-parameter distances were calculated and molecule phylogenetic trees were constructed by using the maximum parsimony (MP) and neighbor-joining (NJ) methods. The results show that (i) there exist 3-bp deletions of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene compared with cypriniforms and characiforms; (ii) the molecular phylogenetic tree suggests that bagrid catfishes form a monophyletic group, and the genus Mystus is the earliest divergent in the East Asian bagrid catfishes, as well as the genus Pseudobagrus is a monophyletic group but the genus Pelteobagrus and Leiocassis are complicated; and 60 the evolution rate of the East Asian bagrids mitochondrial cytochrome b gene is about 0.18%-0.30% sequence divergence per million years.

Sequences of cytochrome b gene for primitive cyprinid fishes in East Asia and their phylogenetic concerning

1140 bp of cytochrome b gene were amplified and sequenced from 14 species of primitive cyprinid fishes in East Asia. Aligned with other ten cytochrome b gene sequences of cyprinid fish from Europe and North America retrieved from Gene bank, we obtained a matrix of 24 DNA sequences. A cladogram was generated by the method of Maximum likelihood for the primitive cyprinid fishes. The result indicated that subfamily Leuciscinae and Danioninae do not form a monophyletic group. In the subfamily Danioninae, Opsariichthys biden and Zacco platypus are very primitive and form a natural group and located at the root. But the genera in subfamily Danioninae are included in different groups and have not direct relationship. Among them, Aphyocypris chinensis and Yaoshanicus arcus form a monophyletic group. Tanichthys albonubes and Gobiocypris rarus have a close relation to Gobioninae. The genus Danio is far from other genera in Danioninae, In our cladogram, the genera in Leuciscinae were divided into two groups that have no direct relationship. The genera in Leuciscinae distributed in Europe, Sibera and North America, including Leuciscus, Rutilus, Phoxinus, N. crysole, Opsopoeodus emilae, form a monophyletic group. And the Leuciscinae in southern China including Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Mylopharyngodon piceus, Squalibarbus and Ochetobius elongatus have a common origination.

Investigation of Electronic Energy Levels in InAs Quantum Dot with Shape of Lens by Using B-Spline Technique

The dependence of the electronic energy levels on the size of quantum dots (QDs) with the shape of spherical lens is studied by using the B-spline technique for the first time. Within the framework of the effective-mass theory, the values of electronic energy levels are obtained as a function of the height, radius and volume of QDs, respectively. When the height or radius of QDs increases, all the electronic energy levels lower, and the separations between the energy levels decrease. For lens-shape QDs, height is the key factor in dominating the energy levels comparing with the effect of radius, especially in dominating the ground-state level. These computational results are compared with that of other theoretical calculation ways. The B-spline technique is proved to be an effective way in calculating the electronic structure in QDs with the shape of spherical lens.

Band gap narrowing in heavily B doped Si1-xGex strained layers

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the effect of heavy B doping and strain in Si1-xGex strained layers. On the one hand, bandgap narrowing (BGN) will be generated due to the heavy doping, on the other hand, the dopant boron causes shrinkage in the lattice constant of SiGe materials, thus will compensate for part of the strain. Taking the strain compensation of B into account for the first time and uesing the with semi-empirical method, the Jain-Roulston model is modified. And the real BGN distributed between the conduction and valence bands is calculated, which is important for the accurate design of SiGe HBTs.

Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra of self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots

Two types of InAs self-assembled Quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that, compared to QDs grown on GaAs substrate, QDs grown on InGaAs layer has a significantly enhanced density. The short spacing (several nanometer) among QDs stimulates strong coupling and leads to a large red-shift of the 1.3 mu m photoluminescence (PL) peak. We study systematically the dependence of PL lifetime on the QDs size, density and temperature (1). We found that, below 50 K, the PL lifetime is insensitive to temperature, which is interpreted from the localization effects. As T increases, the PL lifetime increases, which can be explained from the competition between the carrier redistribution and thermal emission at higher temperature. The increase of carriers in QDs migrated from barriers and wetting layer (WL), and the redistribution of carriers among QDs enhance the PL lifetime as T increases. The thermal emission and non-radiative recombination have effects to reduce the PL lifetime at higher T. As a result, the radiative recombination lifetime is determined by the wave function overlapping of electrons and holes in QDs, and QDs with different densities have different PL lifetime dependence on the QDs size. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrical properties of B-doped polycrystalline silicon thin films prepared by rapid thermal chemical vapour deposition

In this paper, about 30 mu m thick B-doped polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films were deposited on quartz substrates, n-type single crystalline silicon wafers and p(++)-type poly-Si ribbons by a rapid thermal chemical vapour deposition system in a temperature range from 1000 to 1150 degrees C. Activation energy measurement and room temperature/temperature dependent Hall effect measurement were performed on the poly-Si thin films prepared on the former two kinds of substrates, respectively. It seems that the electrical properties of as-prepared poly-Si thin films could be qualitatively explained by Seto's grain boundary (GB) trapping theory although there is a big difference between our samples and Seto's in gain size and film thickness etc. The experimental results reconfirm that GB itself is a kind of most effective recombination center with trapping level near the midgap and trapping state density in the order of 1012 cm(-2) magnitude. Electron beam induced current measurements on the poly-Si thin films prepared on the poly-Si ribbons also show that severe recombination occurs at the positions of GBs. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

The plasmon resonance absorption of Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite films

The plasmon resonance absorption of the Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite film is investigated. The measured absorption spectra are compared with those calculated by the Mie theory. The results indicate that the Mie theory on the basis of classical electrodynamics can only partially explain the optical absorption spectra of the Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite film. We believe that the plasmon resonance absorption is mainly an intrinsic quality of the metal particle, and can be explained only with the electronic structure of the metal particle. In the latter, surface resonance state is introduced to systematically discuss the optical absorption spectra of the Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite film. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Exciton localization in In0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs quantum wire structures grown on (553)B-oriented GaAs substrate

Using time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements, we have studied the exciton localization effect in InGaAs/GaAs quantum wire (QWR) structures formed in corrugated narrow InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown on (553)B GaAs substrate. The PL decay time in the QWR structure was found to be independent of the temperature for T < 70 K, showing a typical dynamical behavior of the localized excitons. This result is in striking contrast to the corresponding quantum well structures, where a linear increase of the PL decay time was observed. In addition, an increase of the exciton lifetime was observed at low temperature for the QWR structure as compared to a reference InGaAs/GaAs quantum well sample (1200 vs 400 ps). The observed longer decay time was attributed to the reduction in the spatial coherence of excitons in the QWR-like structure. In PL measurements, a significant polarization anisotropy was also found in our narrow InGaAs/GaAs QWs grown on (553)B GaAs. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

InAs self-assembled quantum dots grown on an InP (311)B substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy on a (311)B InP substrate. Transmission electron microscopy clearly shows that a high density of smaller InAs islands can be obtained by using such a high index substrate. After introducing a lattice-matched underlying In0.52Al0.24Ga0.24As layer, the InAs QDs are much more uniform in size and form two-dimensional well ordered arrays. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra also confirm that the InAs QDs grown on underlying In0.52Al0.24Ga0.24As have a better quality than those grown in the In0.52Al0.48As matrix. A simple calculation indicates that the redshift of the PL peak energy mainly results from InAs QDs on underlying In0.52Al0.24Ga0.24As of large size. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

The effect of substrate orientation on the morphology of InAs nanostructures on (001) and (11n)A/B(n=1-5) InP substrates

Strained InAs nanostructures have been grown by solid-source molecular beam epitaxy in In0.52Al0.48As matrix on different InP substrate surfaces ((0 0 1) and (1 1 n)A/B (n = 1 - 5)). The morphology of the nanostructures was characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM results reveal interesting differences in the size, shape, and alignment of the nanostructures between different oriented surfaces. It was found that some faceted nanostructures tend to form on A-type surfaces, the shape and the alignment of these nanostructures show clear dependence on the substrate orientation. Samples grown on (0 0 1) and B-type surfaces showed preferentially dense round dots. Dots formed on (1 1 3)B, (1 1 3)B and (1 1 5)B surfaces have a higher dot density and size homogeneity, which shows a potential for the production of high-quality and customized self-assembled quantum dots for photonics applications. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.