Two-Stage Bioconversion of Cellulose to Single-Cell Protein and Oil via a Cellulolytic Consortium.

A novel approach for converting non-edible plant biomass into single-cell protein and oil (SCPO) via consolidated bioprocessing has been established, leveraging aerotolerant thermophilic cellulolytic consortia consisting mainly of Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum, Sporolactobacillus spp. and Clostridium sensu stricto to achieve the rapid and complete conversion of crystalline cellulose into a consistent cocktail of lactate, acetate and ethanol. This cocktail is an excellent substrate for cultivating organisms for SCPO production and food and feed applications, including Cyberlindnera jadinii, Yarrowia lipolytica and Corynebacterium glutamicum. Cultivation on this cocktail resulted in yields (YX/S) of up to 0.43 ± 0.012 g/g, indicating a yield from cellulose (YX/Cellulose) of up to 0.27 ± 0.007 g/g (dwb). The resulting SCPO was rich in protein (42.5% to 57.9%), essential amino acids (27.8% to 43.2%) and lipids (7.9% to 8.4%), with unsaturated fatty acid fractions of up to 89%. Unlike fermentation feedstocks derived from easily digested feedstocks (i.e., food waste), this approach has been applied to cellulosic biomass, and this mixed-culture bioconversion can be carried out without adding expensive enzymes. This two-stage cellulosic bioconversion can unlock non-edible plant biomass as an untapped feedstock for food and feed production, with the potential to strengthen resiliency and circularity in food systems

UL24 herpesvirus determinants of pathogenesis: Roles in virus-host interactions

Members of the UL24 herpesvirus gene family are determinants of pathogenesis. The gene is widely conserved across the Orthoherpesviridae family, also commonly referred to as Herpesviridae. In this review, the impact of UL24 homologs on pathogenesis as studied with different model systems is presented, as well as mechanistic aspects related to the different roles of UL24 proteins in virus-host cell interactions. The targeting of UL24 for the development of therapeutic applications is also discussed.</br

Behavioural responses to acute warming precede critical shifts in the cellular and physiological thermal stress responses in a salmonid fish (brook trout, <i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i>).

From a conservation perspective, it is important to identify when sub-lethal temperatures begin to adversely impact an organism. However, it is unclear whether, during acute exposures, sub-lethal cellular thresholds occur at similar temperatures to other physiological or behavioural changes, or at temperatures associated with common physiological endpoints measured in fishes to estimate thermal tolerance. To test this, we estimated temperature preference (15.1±1.1°C, mean±s.d.) using a shuttle box, agitation temperature (22.0±1.4°C), defined as the point where a fish exhibits a behavioural avoidance response, and the upper thermal limit (CTmax, 28.2±0.4°C) for 1 year old brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) acclimated to 10°C. We then acutely exposed a different subset of fish to the mean temperatures associated with the pre-determined physiological endpoints and sampled tissues when they reached the target temperature or after 60 min of recovery at 10°C for transcriptomic analysis. We used qPCR to estimate mRNA transcript levels of genes associated with heat shock proteins, oxidative stress, apoptosis and inducible transcription factors. A major shift in the transcriptome response occurred once the agitation temperature was reached, which may identify a possible link between the cellular stress response and the behavioural avoidance response

Potential mode of action of multispecies inoculums on wheat growth under water stress

Manipulating microbial communities could increase crop resistance to environmental stressors such as drought. It is, however, not clear what would be the best approach to do so and what microbial traits are important. Here, we first compare multispecies inoculums created using different approaches. The only inoculum that increased wheat fresh biomass under drought was the one created from 25 isolates that had showed a capacity to grow under high osmolarity. We then looked at two potential mechanisms of action of this inoculum: (i) direct action, by sequencing and screening the genomes of the inoculated bacteria, (ii) indirect action, by sequencing the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene and internal transcribed spacer region of rhizosphere, root, and leaves microbial communities. The microbes in the inoculum harbored many traits related to plant growth promotion, competition, and water stress resistance. The inoculation also resulted in significant shifts in the microbial communities associated with wheat, including some microorganisms (e.g. Rhizobium, Shinella, and Klebsiella) previously reported to improve plant drought resistance. We conclude that the inoculum studied here increased wheat growth because it potentially acted on two fronts: directly, through the traits it was selected for, and indirectly, through inducing shifts in the resident plant microbial communities.</br

Analysis of Atmospheric Precursors at the Time of the Earthquake Using Satellite Images.

Changes in the earth’s and the atmosphere’s physical and chemical properties are known as earthquake precursors before the earthquake. These precursors could range from some seconds to years before the earthquake occurs. One of these sign markers could be the changes in the atmospheric conditions prevailing in an area before and after the earthquake. One of the pre-indicators of an earthquake is the clouds before the earthquake. These clouds are entirely different in shape and nature, with other factors including changes in the ionosphere, thermal fluxes, synoptic patterns, and atmospheric parameters. This research has investigated and analyzed the earthquake in Azgeleh on November 12, 2017 (a city in Kermanshah province, located in the west of Iran). Also, this research is a 38-day time series (35 days before and two days after the earthquake) and uses different atmospheric parameters such as zonal and meridional wind, relative humidity, air pressure, air temperature, and land surface temperature (LST) for investigation. The results showed that this earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale caused abnormalities in the atmospheric parameters, including an unusual increase in relative humidity up to 2.8 times on November 17, but on the day of the earthquake, there was a 3% decrease in relative humidity and severe temperature changes for a week before the earthquake; it was at 1000 hPa. Also, the days before the earthquake caused sudden changes in synoptic patterns, the formation of earthquake clouds, and increased wind speed in the region. Also, thermal anomaly results showed a strong correlation between the earthquake center and the fault surface. Hence, continuous monitoring of the existing markers makes it possible to know the probability of an earthquake occurrence

IceEB: An ensemble-based method to map river ice type from radar images.

This paper introduces IceEB, i.e., an innovative ensemble-based method that is designed to automate mapping of river ice types using radar imagery. Its goal is the merger of outcomes from three classifiers (IceMAP-R, RIACT, and IceBC) through ensemble-estimation, resulting in a highly performant and fully automated river ice-type map, which is applicable under all meteorological conditions. The first step of our research is the development of a meta-classifier and a confidence estimation index, then we validate our method using ground-truth datasets and finally compare the performance between IceEB and the original classifiers. The anticipated outcome was a map exhibiting superior results compared to individual classifiers. Validation and comparison of IceEB employed six RADARSAT-2 HH-HV C-band images that were selected from historical datasets of Quebec and Alberta rivers (Canada). IceEB integrates RADARSAT-2 satellite imagery, a digital elevation model, and a river mask, undergoing preprocessing tasks before activating the three initial classifiers. The meta-classifier then performs ensemble-based classification, yielding a legend comprised of water, sheet ice and rubble ice. This approach facilitates broad participation in validation data collection, differentiation between ice covers and ice jams, and minimization of assumptions regarding ice formation. We conclude that IceEB successfully combines existing radar remote sensing ice- classification models to create accurate river ice-type maps. IceEB’s ensemble-based approach outperforms individual classifiers, achieving overall accuracy >91 % for each class. Shortcomings of the original classifiers are effectively offset through parallel use, resulting in marked improvements in automation and generalizability across diverse Canadian meteorological conditions

Ce₂O₃ and TiO₂ p-n heterojunction for enhanced degradation of p-nitrophenol under visible light.

A sol–gel method is used to synthesize TiO2, using few organic products. In order to increase the photocatalytic activity in the near visible range (395 nm), cerium is used as a dopant at various concentrations ranging from 0.03 mol% to 4.40 mol%. The addition of cerium leads to the formation of p-n heterojunctions between Ce2O3 and TiO2, multiplying by 2 (under UV–visible light) or 2.6 (under visible light) the photocatalytic efficiency of the composite material with the best dopant amount, i.e. 0.06 mol% of cerium. X-ray diffraction showed the formation of TiO2 in its anatase form, while nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms showed changes in specific surface area as a function of the percentage of cerium added. The presence of cerium (III) in the sample is confirmed by XPS and the amount is determined quantitatively by ICP. DRUS analysis highlights the difference in bandgap caused by the Ce2O3 incorporated into the sample. In order to compare the different photocatalysts obtained, the degradation of p-nitrophenol is tested in their presence in water under UV light as well as a wavelength close to the visible range, i.e. 395 nm. Finally, based on the results obtained by electron paramagnetic resonance, a photoactivation mechanism of the mixed oxide is proposed

Autophagy machinery as exploited by viruses

Viruses adapt and modulate cellular pathways to allow their replication in host cells. The catabolic pathway of macroautophagy, for simplicity referred to as autophagy, is no exception. In this review, we discuss anti-viral functions of both autophagy and select components of the autophagy machinery, and how viruses have evaded them. Some viruses use the membrane remodeling ability of the autophagy machinery to build their replication compartments in the cytosol or efficiently egress from cells in a non-lytic fashion. Some of the autophagy machinery components and their remodeled membranes can even be found in viral particles as envelopes or single membranes around virus packages that protect them during spreading and transmission. Therefore, studies on autophagy regulation by viral infections can reveal functions of the autophagy machinery beyond lysosomal degradation of cytosolic constituents. Furthermore, they can also pinpoint molecular interactions with which the autophagy machinery can most efficiently be manipulated, and this may be relevant to develop effective disease treatments based on autophagy modulation

SMDesigner: a program to design sequence mutations to assess RNA structure

RNA structure plays a crucial role in its function. With the advancement of deep sequencing technology, numerous new ncRNA sequences have been discovered. However, functional analysis of these sequences is lagging. Traditionally, mutations are designed to affect the RNA structure and prepared one by one for experimental assessment of function. For large scale characterization of structure/function relationship in many RNAs, we developed a program: Structure Mutation Designer (SMDesigner) which makes both disruptive and compensatory mutations according to structure information automatically. To test if the program works well, we designed mutations for riboswitches with SMDesigner and experimentally assessed six riboswitches and their mutant sequences to verify the structure and function change with in-line probing assay. The in-line probing results show that five of six sequence structure patterns changed as we excepted validating that SMDesigner can be useful to explore structured RNA function. SMDesigner can be download at: https://github.com/lilihou/SMDesigner_0.1/tree/main/dist.</br

Resilient climate urbanism and the politics of experimentation for adaptation

Cities are increasingly pursuing actions to become more resilient in the face of climate change and to seize related economic growth opportunities. Recent contributions have argued that “climate urbanism” is emerging as a hegemonic trend that is structuring climate adaptation with a focus on the selective securing of vital infrastructure for growth, promoting an apolitical vision of resilience and exacerbating inequalities. Developing situated understandings of these dynamics and their contestation seems key. We analyse this trend of climate urbanism in a specific setting of climate adaptation experiment: living labs. We investigate and intervene on two key processes of the politics of climate experimentation – making for compelling urban projects and focusing on infrastructure reconfiguration – whereby living labs could challenge or, conversely, amplify negative trends of climate urbanism. Our research in Montreal shows the value of understanding the subjectivities of the practitioners involved and the fields of political struggles where adaptation lands. Although the negative trends of climate urbanism appear very resilient and living labs have important limitations, we believe they can be used to muddle through pathways for more debates, equity and justice in climate adaptation