Transcriptomic and physiological analysis of common duckweed Lemna minor responses to NH4(+) toxicity.

BACKGROUND: Plants can suffer ammonium (NH4 (+)) toxicity, particularly when NH4 (+) is supplied as the sole nitrogen source. However, our knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of NH4 (+) toxicity is still largely unknown. Lemna minor, a model duckweed species, can grow well in high NH4 (+) environment but to some extent can also suffer toxic effects. The transcriptomic and physiological analysis of L. minor responding to high NH4 (+) may provide us some interesting and useful information not only in toxic processes, but also in tolerance mechanisms. RESULTS: The L. minor cultured in the Hoagland solution were used as the control (NC), and in two NH4 (+) concentrations (NH4 (+) was the sole nitrogen source), 84 mg/L (A84) and 840 mg/L (A840) were used as stress treatments. The NH4 (+) toxicity could inhibit the growth of L. minor. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell death were studied using stained fronds under toxic levels of NH4 (+). The malondialdehyde content and the activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase increased from NC to A840, rather than catalase and ascorbate peroxidase. A total of 6.62G nucleotides were generated from the three distinct libraries. A total of 14,207 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among 70,728 unigenes were obtained. All the DEGs could be clustered into 7 profiles. Most DEGs were down-regulated under NH4 (+) toxicity. The genes required for lignin biosynthesis in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway were up-regulated. ROS oxidative-related genes and programmed cell death (PCD)-related genes were also analyzed and indicated oxidative damage and PCD occurring under NH4 (+) toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The first large transcriptome study in L. minor responses to NH4 (+) toxicity was reported in this work. NH4 (+) toxicity could induce ROS accumulation that causes oxidative damage and thus induce cell death in L. minor. The antioxidant enzyme system was activated under NH4 (+) toxicity for ROS scavenging. The phenylpropanoid pathway was stimulated under NH4 (+) toxicity. The increased lignin biosynthesis might play an important role in NH4 (+) toxicity resistance.

Transcriptome profiling of Zymomonas mobilis under furfural stress.

Furfural from lignocellulosic hydrolysates is the prevalent inhibitor to microorganisms during cellulosic ethanol production, but the molecular mechanisms of tolerance to this inhibitor in Zymomonas mobilis are still unclear. In this study, genome-wide transcriptional responses to furfural were investigated in Z. mobilis using microarray analysis. We found that 433 genes were differentially expressed in response to furfural. Furfural up- or down-regulated genes related to cell wall/membrane biogenesis, metabolism, and transcription. However, furfural has a subtle negative effect on Entner-Doudoroff pathway mRNAs. Our results revealed that furfural had effects on multiple aspects of cellular metabolism at the transcriptional level and that membrane might play important roles in response to furfural. This research has provided insights into the molecular response to furfural in Z. mobilis, and it will be helpful to construct more furfural-resistant strains for cellulosic ethanol production.

Enrichment of waste sewage sludge for enhancing methane production from cellulose.

Low ability of waste sewage sludge to degrade cellulose is observed due to its less cellulolytic bacteria content. The enrichment of sewage sludge in the absence or presence of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was conducted to improve anaerobic digestion (AD) of cellulose in this study. Compared to initial sewage sludge (IS), enriched sludge without CMC addition (ES) displayed 69.81% higher CH4 yield and about 1.7-fold greater anaerobic biodegradation of cellulose. In particular, bacterial and archaeal diversities in samples inoculated with ES were significantly altered, with Ruminiclostridium and Methanobacterium as the predominant genera. Enriched sludge with CMC addition (ESC) displayed enhanced methane production at initial cellulose fermentation but showed no distinct difference compared with the control after incubation 24 days. These findings suggest that enrichment of waste sewage sludge without CMC addition is more beneficial for promoting AD of cellulose, providing a novel insight for efficient energy utilization of lignocellulosic wastes.

Bamboo: a new source of carbohydrate for biorefinery.

Bamboo is perennial woody grass, which distributed widely in the world and belonged to the Gramineae family and Bambuseae subfamily. It may be consider as a candidate lignocellulosic substrate for bio-ethanol production for its environmental benefits and higher annual biomass yield. The conversion of bamboo into bio-ethanol, bio-methane, natural food, flavonoids, and functional xylo-oligosaccharides production were reviewed in this paper. Future prospects for research include pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation will also be performed to improve the whole process of ethanol production more economical. And revealing the molecular regulation mechanism of the fast growth of bamboo will provide chance for improving bamboo or other energy plants biomass yield through genetic engineering.