The community ecology perspective of omics data

The measurement of uncharacterized pools of biological molecules through techniques such as metabarcoding, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and metaproteomics produces large, multivariate datasets. Analyses of these datasets have successfully been borrowed from community ecology to characterize the molecular diversity of samples (ɑ-diversity) and to assess how these profiles change in response to experimental treatments or across gradients (β-diversity). However, sample preparation and data collection methods generate biases and noise which confound molecular diversity estimates and require special attention. Here, we examine how technical biases and noise that are introduced into multivariate molecular data affect the estimation of the components of diversity (i.e., total number of different molecular species, or entities; total number of molecules; and the abundance distribution of molecular entities). We then explore under which conditions these biases affect the measurement of ɑ- and β-diversity and highlight how novel methods commonly used in community ecology can be adopted to improve the interpretation and integration of multivariate molecular data. Video Abstract

Potential of microbiome-based solutions for agrifood systems

Host-associated microbiomes are central to food production systems and human nutrition and health. Harnessing the microbiome may help increase food and nutrient security, enhance public health, mitigate climate change and reduce land degradation. Although several microbiome solutions are currently under development or commercialized in the agrifood, animal nutrition, biotechnology, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and health sectors , fewer products than expected have been successfully commercialized beyond food processing, and fewer still have achieved wider adoption by farming, animal husbandry and other end-user communities. This creates concerns about the translatability of microbiome research to practical applications. Inconsistent efficiency and reliability of microbiome solutions are major constraints for their commercialization and further development, and demands urgent attention

Chemical synthesis and characterization of CdSe thin films deposited by SILAR technique for optoelectronic applications

CdSe thin films were deposited on the glass substrate by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Different sets of the film are prepared by changing the number of immersion cycles as 30, 40, 50 and 60. Further the effect of a number of immersion cycles on the characteristic structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of the films are studied. The XRD studies revealed that the deposited films showed hexagonal structure with most prominent reflection along (1 0 1) plane. Moreover, the peak intensity of (1 0 1) plane is found to be increased as the number of immersion cycles is increased. All the thin films look relatively smooth and homogeneous covering the entire surface area in FESEM image. Optical properties of the CdSe thin films for a different number of immersion cycles were studied, which indicates that the absorbance increases with the increase in the immersion cycles. Furthermore, the optical band-gap in conjunction with the electrical resistivity was found to get decreased with increase in the immersion cycles. A good correlation between the number of immersion cycles and the physical properties indicates a simple method to manipulate the CdSe material properties for optoelectronic applications

A new route of magnetic biochar based polyaniline composites for supercapacitor electrode materials

In this paper, abundantly available durian's rind was opted as raw material to synthesize magnetic biochar in the presence of three different metallic salts by employing a novel vacuum condition in an electrical muffle furnace. Magnetic biochar was successfully produced with a maximum BET surface area value of 835 m2/g at the pyrolysis temperature and time of 800 °C and 25 min. This magnetic biochar was successfully employed to support and disperse polyaniline (PANI) particles for the application as supercapacitor electrode materials. The produced magnetic biochar - PANI composite exhibited an enhanced specific capacitance compared to the pure PANI and magnetic biochar. The highest specific capacitance of 615 F/g at 10 mV/s and energy density of 76.88 Wh/kg were demonstrated by the MBCA composite, which is considered favorably high compared to the existing PANI coated carbon composites. This magnetic biochar - PANI composites exhibits a good potential for future supercapacitor applications