RESUMO
The agronomic performance, cell wall characteristics and enzymatic saccharification efficiency of transgenic sugarcane plants with modified lignin were evaluated under replicated field conditions. Caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) was stably suppressed by RNAi in the field, resulting in transcript reduction of 80%-91%. Along with COMT suppression, total lignin content was reduced by 6%-12% in different transgenic lines. Suppression of COMT also altered lignin composition by reducing syringyl units and p-coumarate incorporation into lignin. Reduction in total lignin by 6% improved saccharification efficiency by 19%-23% with no significant difference in biomass yield, plant height, stalk diameter, tiller number, total structural carbohydrates or brix value when compared with nontransgenic tissue culture-derived or transgenic control plants. Lignin reduction of 8%-12% compromised biomass yield, but increased saccharification efficiency by 28%-32% compared with control plants. Biomass from transgenic sugarcane lines that have 6%-12% less lignin requires approximately one-third of the hydrolysis time or 3- to 4-fold less enzyme to release an equal or greater amount of fermentable sugar than nontransgenic plants. Reducing the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass to saccharification by modifying lignin biosynthesis is expected to greatly benefit the economic competitiveness of sugarcane as a biofuel feedstock.
Assuntos
Biocombustíveis , Carboidratos/biossíntese , Fermentação , Lignina/biossíntese , Interferência de RNA , Saccharum/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Supressão Genética , Parede Celular/metabolismo , Ácidos Cumáricos/metabolismo , Hidrólise , Metiltransferases/genética , Plantas Geneticamente Modificadas , Propionatos , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Saccharum/enzimologia , Saccharum/genéticaRESUMO
Anaerobic digestion is an established method for the biological conversion of waste feedstocks to biogas and biomethane. While anaerobic digestion is an excellent waste management technique, it can be susceptible to toxins and pollutants from contaminated feedstocks, which may have a detrimental impact on a digester's efficiency and productivity. Ethylene glycol (EG) is readily used in the heat-transfer loops of anaerobic digestion facilities to maintain reactor temperature. Failure of the structural integrity of these heat transfer loops can cause EG to leak into the digester, potentially causing a decrease in the resultant gas yields. Batch fermentations were incubated with 0, 10, 100 and 500 ppm (parts per million) of EG, and analysis showed that the EG was completely metabolised by the digester microbiome. The concentrations of EG tested showed significant increases in gas yields, however there were no significant changes to the digester microbiome.
Assuntos
Metagenoma , Microbiota , Anaerobiose , Biocombustíveis , EtilenoglicóisRESUMO
Weissella paramesenteroides has potential as an industrial biocatalyst due to its ability to produce lactic acid. A novel strain of W. paramesenteroides was isolated from ensiled sorghum. The genome was sequenced using a hybrid assembly of Oxford Nanopore and Illumina data to produce a 2-Mbp genome and 22-kbp plasmid sequence.
RESUMO
Growth of Bacillus subtilis cells, normally adapted at Earth-normal atmospheric pressure (â¼101.3 kPa), was progressively inhibited by lowering of pressure in liquid LB medium until growth essentially ceased at 2.5 kPa. Growth inhibition was immediately reversible upon return to 101.3 kPa, albeit at a slower rate. A population of B. subtilis cells was cultivated at the near-inhibitory pressure of 5 kPa for 1,000 generations, where a stepwise increase in growth was observed, as measured by the turbidity of 24-h cultures. An isolate from the 1,000-generation population was obtained that showed an increase in fitness at 5 kPa when compared to the ancestral strain or a strain obtained from a parallel population that evolved for 1,000 generations at 101.3 kPa. The results from this preliminary study have implications for understanding the ability of terrestrial microbes to grow in low-pressure environments such as Mars.
Assuntos
Bacillus subtilis/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Pressão Hidrostática , Adaptação Biológica , Bacillus subtilis/fisiologia , Inoculações SeriadasRESUMO
To test the suitability of DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) for characterizing bacterial spore populations in soils, the properties of Bacillus subtilis cells and spores intensely labeled with [(13)C]glucose were characterized. Spore germination, vegetative growth rates, and sporulation efficiency were indistinguishable on glucose versus [(13)C]glucose, as were spore wet heat and UV resistance. Unlabeled and (13)C-labeled spores contained 1.0989 and 74.336 at.% (13)C, and exhibited wet densities of 1.356 and 1.365 g/ml, respectively. Chromosomal DNAs containing (12)C versus (13)C were readily separated by their different buoyant densities in cesium chloride/ethidium bromide gradients.