A cyanophage capable of infecting Anabaena floaquae was isolated by traditional dilution and plating techniques from a eutrophicated freshwater lake, Dianchi Lake, in Yunnan Province, China, and designated as F1. Morphologically, cyanophage F1 is similar to the bacteriophage T4, and it should belong to Myoviridae. Cyanophage F1 could effectively lyses Anabaena flosaquae cells both on the cyanobacterium plates and in liquid cultures. In microcosm experiments, inoculation of cyanophage F1 could clear the artificial Anabaena flosaqua water blooms within three days. The results could provide important information on the cyanobacterial/phage interactions in the field, and suggested that cyanophage F1 could be a promising bio-control agent in the control of cyanobacterial blooms.
Through nanomanipulation inside scanning electron microscope, a carbon nanotube scanning probe microscope tip was made by connecting a carbon nanotube with a silicon atomic force microscope tip. The carbon nanotube scanning probe microscope tip was then tailored to the desired length and end structure by a "nanoknife," which is a carbon nanotube adhered to a metal tip. Through mapping the same carbon nanotube on SiO(2) substrate, it was found that the lateral resolution of the carbon nanotube tips can be improved significantly through sharpening the tip ends, and the sharpened carbon nanotube tips had better performance than commercial silicon tips.