Comparison of Bacterial and Archaeal Microbiome in Two Bioreactors Fed with Cattle Sewage and Corn Biomass

The bacterial and archaeal communities of two full-scale biogas producing plants (P1 and P2), associated with a 999 kW cogeneration unit, both located in North Italy, were analyzed at start up and fully operating phases, by means of various molecular approaches: (i) Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis; (ii) cloning and sequencing of PCR amplicons of archaeal genes 16Srrna and mcrA; (iii) 16S rDNA high throughput next generation sequencing. P1 and P2 use the same technology and both were fed with cattle manure and corn silage. During the study of P1 also the post digester (fed with pig manure) was analyzed. The aim of this research was to characterize the bacterial and archaeal communities in two very similar plants to profile the core microbiota. The results of this analysis highlighted that the two plants (producing comparable quantities of volatile fatty acids, biogas, and energy) differed in anerobic microbiota (Bacteria and Archaea). Notably the methanogenic community of P1 was dominated by the strict acetoclastic Methanosaeta (Methanothrix) (up to 23.05%) and the unculturable Candidatus Methanofastidiosum (up to 32.70%), while P2 was dominated by the acetoclastic, but more substrate-versatile, Methanosarcina archaeal genus (49.19%). The data demonstrated that the performances of plants with identical design, in similar operating conditions, yielding comparable amount of biogas (average of 7237 m3 day−1 and 7916 m3 day−1 respectively for P1 and P2), VFA (1643 mg L− 1 and 1634 mg L−1) and energy recovery (23.90–24 MWh day−1), depend on the stabilization of effective and functionally optimized methanogenic communities, but these communities aretaxonomically different in the two biodigesters

Gene expression during transition from dormancy to sprouting in potato tubers.

In: Benkeblia N, Tennant P (Eds) Potato I

Smart agriculture for food quality: facing climate change in the 21st century

Climate change, with increasing temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, constitutes a severe threat to the environment and all living organisms. In particular, numerous studies suggest severe consequences for the health of crop plants, affecting both the productivity and quality of raw material destined to the food industry. Of particular concern is the reduction of proteins and essential micronutrients as iron and zinc in crops. Fighting this alarming trends is the challenge of Climate-Smart Agriculture with the double goal of reducing environmental impacts (use of pesticides, nitrogen and phosphorus leaching, soil erosion, water depletion and contamination) and improving raw material and consequently food quality. Organic farming, biofertilizers and to a lesser extent nano-carriers, improve the antioxidant properties of fruits, but the data about proteins and micronutrients are rather contradictory. On the other hand, advanced devices and Precision Agriculture allow the cultivations to be more profitable, efficient, contributing more and more to reduce pest diseases and to increase the quality of agricultural products and food safety. Thus, nowadays adoption of technologies applied to sustainable farming systems is a challenging and dynamic issue for facing negative trends due to environmental impacts and climate changes

Simultaneous enumeration of Campylobacter jejuni and Salmonella enterica genome equivalents by melting curve analysis following duplex real time PCR in the presence of SYBR Green

Chicken meat and eggs contaminated with Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter jejuni are among the major causes of gastrointestinal infections in humans. Determining the numbers of these pathogens at various stages of the food supply chain is critical to the validation of steps designed to produce safer food. In the current study, duplex real time PCR in the presence of SYBR Green was carried out with DNA extracted from pure cultures of the two pathogens and from chicken meat samples spiked with them. The peak areas of derivative of dissociation curves (PADDC), obtained after 35 PCR cycles were calculated and plotted against known genome equivalents (GEs) in a standard curve. The method provided an estimation for the number of GEs in a 25 μL PCR sample when 102-105GEs were present, similar to those obtained with duplex qPCR based on TaqMan probes by other authors, but with reduced costs

Utilisation and limitations of pseudocereals (quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat) in food production: a review

Background Pseudocereals, especially quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat, have attracted an increasing amount of attention because of their nutritive and health-benefiting properties, and their suitability for people suffering from coeliac disease and gluten intolerance. However, the utilisation of pseudocereals is hampered by the presence of anti-nutritional compounds (phytates and saponins) and/or substances that yield a bitter taste in the seeds, the latter of which must be minimised before or during food processing, consequently increasing the cost and risk of environmental contamination. Scope and approach The objective of this review is to analyse issues relating to the use of pseudocereals in food production, including: i ) technological limits in the food industry; ii ) agronomic limitations to pseudocereal cultivation and distribution; iii ) technological and biotechnological tools for addressing these issues; and iv ) socio-economic and ethical implications of extensive cultivation. Key findings and conclusions Although pseudocereals have great potential for use in the food industry, they cannot completely replace true cereals due to the presence of compounds that confer undesirable organoleptic and technological characteristics to their products. As the growth in pseudocereal cultivation, especially that of quinoa, remains largely restricted to the nations in which the pseudocereals originated, it is imperative that the excessive exploitation of resources be avoided in these areas. Moreover the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of small farmers is necessary, since they manage the germplasm of these species. Biotechnologies are valuable tools for exploiting the considerable diversity of these species for breeding programs aimed to improve palatable, technological and agronomic characteristics

Applicability of SCAR markers to food genomics: olive oil traceability.

DNA analysis with molecular markers has opened a shortcut toward a genomic comprehension of complex organisms. The availability of micro-DNA extraction methods, coupled with selective amplification of the smallest extracted fragments with molecular markers, could equally bring a breakthrough in food genomics: the identification of original components in food. Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) have been instrumental in plant genomics because they may allow rapid and reliable analysis of multiple and potentially polymorphic sites. Nevertheless, their direct application to the analysis of DNA extracted from food matrixes is complicated by the low quality of DNA extracted: its high degradation and the presence of inhibitors of enzymatic reactions. The conversion of an AFLP fragment to a robust and specific single-locus PCR-based marker, therefore, could extend the use of molecular markers to large-scale analysis of complex agro-food matrixes. In the present study is reported the development of sequence characterized amplified regions (SCARs) starting from AFLP profiles of monovarietal olive oils analyzed on agarose gel; one of these was used to identify differences among 56 olive cultivars. All the developed markers were purposefully amplified in olive oils to apply them to olive oil traceability

Overexpression of znt1 and nramp4 from the ni hyperaccumulator noccaea caerulescens population monte prinzera in arabidopsis thaliana perturbs fe, mn and ni accumulation

Metalliferous soils are characterized by a high content of metal compounds that can hamper plant growth. The pseudometallophyte Noccaea caerulescens is able to grow on metalliferous substrates by implementing both tolerance and accumulation of usually toxic metal ions. Expression of particular transmembrane transporter proteins (e.g., members of the ZIP and NRAMP families) leads to metal tolerance and accumulation, and its comparison between hyperaccumulator N. caerulescens with non-accumulator relatives Arabidopsis thaliana and Thlaspi arvense has deepened our knowledge on mechanisms adopted by plants to survive in metalliferous soils. In this work, two transporters, ZNT1 and NRAMP4, expressed in a serpentinic population of N. caerulescens identified on the Monte Prinzera (Italy) are considered, and their expression has been induced in yeast and in A. thaliana. In the latter, single transgenic lines were crossed to test the effect of the combined over-expression of the two transporters. An enhanced iron and manganese translocation towards the shoot was induced by overexpression of NcZNT1. The combined overexpression of NcZNT1 and NcNRAMP4 did perturb the metal accumulation in plants

A quadruplex PCR (qxPCR) assay for adulteration in dairy products

This study describes the development of a quadruplex quantitative Real Time PCR (qxPCR) based on SYBR®GreenER chemistry, for rapid identification of DNA of cow, goat, sheep and buffalo in dairy products, and for quantification of cow DNA in these products. The platform was applied to: (i) mixes of milks at fixed percentages; (ii) cheeses prepared with the same mixes; (iii) commercial dairy products. The methodology enabled the detection of DNA from cow in mixes of milk and cheeses with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1%. When applied to commercial dairy products the qxPCR gave results comparable with each single-plex Real Time PCR. A good correlation (R(2)>0.9) between peaks' area of derivative of melting curves of amplicons and percentages of cow milk in milk mixes and cheeses, allows for an estimation of cow DNA in a dynamic range varying from 0.1-5% to 1-25%