Corrigendum: Advancements in understanding the molecular and immune mechanisms of Bartonella pathogenicity.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1196700.].

Advancements in understanding the molecular and immune mechanisms of Bartonella pathogenicity.

Bartonellae are considered to be emerging opportunistic pathogens. The bacteria are transmitted by blood-sucking arthropods, and their hosts are a wide range of mammals including humans. After a protective barrier breach in mammals, Bartonella colonizes endothelial cells (ECs), enters the bloodstream, and infects erythrocytes. Current research primarily focuses on investigating the interaction between Bartonella and ECs and erythrocytes, with recent attention also paid to immune-related aspects. Various molecules related to Bartonella's pathogenicity have been identified. The present review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the newly described molecular and immune responses associated with Bartonella's pathogenicity.

Generation and comprehensive analysis of Synechococcus elongatus-Aspergillus nidulans co-culture system for polyketide production.

BACKGROUND: Artificial microbial consortia composed of heterotrophic and photoautotrophic organisms represent a unique strategy for converting light energy and carbon dioxide into high-value bioproducts. Currently, the types of desired bioproducts are still limited, and microbial fitness benefit rendered by paired partner generally needs to be intensified. Exploring novel artificial microbial consortia at a laboratory scale is an essential step towards addressing this unmet need. This study aimed to conduct and analyze an artificial consortium composed of cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus FL130 with the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans TWY1.1 for producing fungi-derived secondary metabolite of polyketide neosartoricin B. RESULTS: Polyketide-producing A. nidulans TWY1.1 substantially ameliorated the growth and the survival of sucrose-secreting cyanobacterium S. elongatus FL130 in salt-stressed environments. Besides sucrose, comparable amounts of other carbohydrates were released from axenically cultured FL130 cells, which could be efficiently consumed by TWY1.1. Relative to axenically cultured FL130, less glycogen was accumulated in FL130 cells co-cultured with TWY1.1, and the glycogen phosphorylase gene catalyzing the first step for glycogen degradation had two-fold expression. Different from axenically cultured filamentous fungi, abundant vacuoles were observed in fungal hyphae of TWY1.1 co-cultured with cyanobacterium FL130. Meanwhile, FL130 cells displayed a characteristic pattern of interacting with its heterotrophic partner, densely dispersing along certain hyphae of TWY1.1. Finally, polyketide neosartoricin B was produced from TWY1.1 in FL130-TWY1.1 co-cultures, which was tightly adjusted by nitrogen level. CONCLUSION: Overall, the results thoroughly proved the concept of pairing cyanobacteria with filamentous fungi to build artificial consortia for producing fungi-derived biomolecules.

The Synergistic Toughening and Strengthening Effects of Cork Particles and Nanocellulose on Rosin-Based Epoxy Resin.

In order to develop a bio-based epoxy resin with high mechanical and thermal performance, cork particles and nanocellulose were introduced into the rosin-based epoxy resin to improve the toughness, stiffness and thermal stability. The flexural properties of the epoxy composites indicated that the strength and modulus were reduced when the content of cork particles was relatively high (>3%) due to the low stiffness and modulus of cork itself. However, the flexural performance was significantly improved after the addition of 1% nanocellulose. In contrast to the flexural properties, the impact toughness results showed the synergistic toughening effects of nanocellulose and cork particles on the rosin-based epoxy resin. The highest impact toughness of 13.35 KJ/m2 was found in the epoxy composite with 1% cellulose nanofibers and 3% cork particles, an increase of 149.07% compared to the neat epoxy. Cork particle size also had a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the composites. Both the flexural and impact results showed first a rise and then a fall with a decrease in the cork size. TGA results indicated cork particles and nanocellulose could have a synergistic enhancing effect on the thermal stability of the rosin-based epoxy resin. This work can add value to rosin and cork waste and widen the industrial applications of the epoxy resin.

Bioactive Edible Sodium Alginate Films Incorporated with Tannic Acid as Antimicrobial and Antioxidative Food Packaging.

Currently, biodegradable and functional food packaging materials have attracted more and more attention due to their potential advantages. Biopolymers are one of the promising materials used to produce biodegradable food packaging films, and sodium alginate (SA) is one of the most used polysaccharides. In this work, we explored a novel edible sodium alginate (SA)/tannic acid (TA) film as biodegradable active food packaging material. The impact of TA concentration on the UV light blocking ability, transparency, water vapor barrier ability, mechanical strength, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity of the SA-TA films was comprehensively investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results revealed that strong hydrogen bonding was the main intermolecular interaction between SA and TA. As TA concentration in the films increased, the water vapor permeability (WVP) decreased from 1.24 × 10-6 to 0.54 × 10-6 g/m/h/Pa, the DPPH radical scavenging activity increased from 0.008% to 89.02%. Moreover, the incorporation of TA effectively blocked UV light and elevated antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. Overall, the SA films with TA exhibited better water vapor barrier ability, remarkable UV-light barrier ability and antioxidant activity while showing a slight decrease in light transmittance. These results indicated the potential application of TA as a functional additive agent for developing multifunctional food packaging materials.

Comparison of fertilizer use efficiency in grain production between developing countries and developed countries.

BACKGROUND: The investigation of chemical fertilization intensity (FI) and efficiency can provide basal data for decision-making in food production and environmental impact assessments of fertilization. The present study aimed to compare trends of the FI and efficiency during 1961-2018 in developed and developing countries using a simple method. RESULTS: The FI in China increased rapidly from approximately 5 kg ha-1 in 1961 to the highest value of 282 kg ha-1 in 2014, and then decreased to approximately 231 kg ha-1 in 2018. Although the fertilizer allocation efficiency (FAE) showed a slight downward trend, a slight upward trend was observed for fertilizer integrated efficiency (FIE). FIs in India, Iran and Turkey continuously increased from 5 kg ha-1 in 1961 to 116, 49(148 in 2006),120 kg ha-1 in 2018, respectively, whereas FAEs showed a significant fluctuation around horizontal direction or downward trends and their FIEs showed a slight fluctuation downward. The FIs of Britain, Germany and France, excluding USA, increased rapidly from approximately 200-400 kg ha-1 in 1960s to peaks of 430-530 kg ha-1 in 1980s, decreasing to 150-340 kg ha-1 around 2010, and then increased to the current level of 200-350 kg ha-1 , whereas FAEs and FIEs increased rapidly. CONCLUSION: France and Germany were found to have moderate chemical fertilizer input and the highest FIE. Thus, their experiences of ecological agricultures in both countries could provide good examples for developing countries to follow. In brief, models of FAE and FIE are an easier way of reflecting fertilizer efficiencies in developed and developing countries. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

A shared effect of paroxetine treatment on gray matter volume in depressive patients with and without childhood maltreatment: A voxel-based morphometry study.

AIMS: This study assessed whether antidepressant drug treatment has a common effect on gray matter (GM) volume in MDD patients with and without childhood maltreatment (CM). METHODS: T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 168 participants, including 51 MDD patients with CM, 31 MDD patients without CM, 48 normal controls with CM, and 38 normal controls without CM. MDD patients received 6 months of treatment with paroxetine, and 24 patients with CM, and 16 patients without CM received a second MRI scan. A whole-brain voxel-based morphometry approach was used to estimate GM volume in each participant at two time points. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the effects of MDD and CM on GM volume at baseline. Repeated measures two-way ANOVA was used to determine the treatment-by-CM interactive effect and main effect of treatment during paroxetine treatment. We further investigated the relationship between GM volume and clinical variables. RESULTS: At baseline, significant MDD-by-CM interactive effects on GM volume were mainly observed in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left entorhinal cortex, and left cuneus. GM volume was significantly lower mainly in the right middle temporal gyrus in patients with MDD than in normal controls. We did not find any significant treatment-by-CM interactive effects. However, a treatment-related increase in GM was found in the right middle temporal gyrus in both MDD groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that paroxetine treatment operates via a shared neurobiological mechanism in MDD patients with and without CM.