Reconstitution of biologically active polymersomes from the frozen or solid state into any fluid state is still a challenging issue for the design of new biological experiments and for the formulation of therapeutic agents. To gain knowledge about the reconstitution of pH-responsive and photo-crosslinked polymersomes, surface-functionalized and enzyme-containing polymersomers were cryogenically frozen ( 20 C) or freeze-dried with inulin as the lyoprotectant (0.1% w/v) and stored for a defined time period. Reconstituting those polymersomes in solution by thawing or a re-dispersing process revealed their original physical properties as well as their function as a pH-switchable enzymatic nanoreactor.

A novel method to prepare BC nanocomposites reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is reported. A simple hydrazine treatment is shown to in-situ reduce the graphene oxide (GO) incorporated to BC films while increasing their conductivity. Raman spectroscopy was used to confirm the presence of graphene and assess the effect of the hydrazine treatment on its structure. XRD tests revealed no changes on BC structure. We hypothesize that this treatment removes the hydroxyl and epoxy groups present on the reduced graphene and increases the content of nonoxygenated carbon. These changes account for the increase in conductivity of the BC-based films, which behaved as an insulating material before the hydrazine treatment and reach an average conductivity value of 12 S/m after such a treatment.

This work was supported by the Vice-Rectorate for Research of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of Peru (CONCYTEC/FONDECYT). The authors thank the staff at CAM-PUCP for help with the SEM images.

Here, we report the annotated genome sequences of two Shewanella sp. strains isolated from textile industry wastewater effluent in Peru. Potential genes for encoding enzymes that enable the strain to decolorize and degrade textile azo dyes were detected in both genomes. © 2019 Fuentes et al.