Insurance as a Tool for Managing Risks in Agriculture

The article views the contradiction between necessity for agricultural reproduction of rational parameters for providing food security of the country and reduction of investments, primarily internal, into agrarian sphere of the economy. This condition causes the necessity for development of measures facilitating the stabilization of the sources for reproduction process in the sphere and its development. It was found that one of the most effective measures aimed at the solution of this problem is insurance. However, according to the analysis of current situation in Stavropol Krai, this tool didn’t achieve a lot of success. Taking into account the found drawbacks of the existing mechanism of agricultural insurance, the authors substantiated the necessity for unification of agricultural enterprises into societies of mutual insurance support for reproduction for the purpose of minimization of risks of reduction of profit, caused by the specifics of business in this sphere. Besides, the authors offer the mechanism for their functioning and the methodology for calculation of insurance rates, differentiated according to groups of husbandries as to the type of provided reproductional process, and developed the recommendations for increase of interest of enterprises in entering the societies of mutual insurance support for reproduction. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5p22

Microbial communities colonising plastics during transition from the wastewater treatment plant to marine waters

BACKGROUND: Plastics pollution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are two major environmental threats, but potential connections between plastic associated biofilms, the 'plastisphere', and dissemination of AMR genes are not well explored.RESULTS: We conducted mesocosm experiments tracking microbial community changes on plastic surfaces transitioning from wastewater effluent to marine environments over 16 weeks. Commonly used plastics, polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) incubated in wastewater effluent, river water, estuarine water, and in the seawater for 16 weeks, were analysed via 16S rRNA gene amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing. Within one week, plastic-colonizing communities shifted from wastewater effluent-associated microorganisms to marine taxa, some members of which (e.g. Oleibacter-Thalassolituus and Sphingomonas spp., on PET, Alcanivoracaceae on PET and PP, or Oleiphilaceae, on all polymers), were selectively enriched from levels undetectable in the starting communities. Remarkably, microbial biofilms were also susceptible to parasitism, with Saprospiraceae feeding on biofilms at late colonisation stages (from week 6 onwards), while Bdellovibrionaceae were prominently present on HDPE from week 2 and LDPE from day 1. Relative AMR gene abundance declined over time, and plastics did not become enriched for key AMR genes after wastewater exposure.CONCLUSION: Although some resistance genes occurred during the mesocosm transition on plastic substrata, those originated from the seawater organisms. Overall, plastic surfaces incubated in wastewater did not act as hotspots for AMR proliferation in simulated marine environments.</p

Microbial β-glucosidases from cow rumen metagenome enhance the saccharification of lignocellulose in combination with commercial cellulase cocktail

BACKGROUND: A complete saccharification of plant polymers is the critical step in the efficient production of bio-alcohols. Beta-glucosidases acting in the degradation of intermediate gluco-oligosaccharides produced by cellulases limit the yield of the final product. RESULTS: In the present work, we have identified and then successfully cloned, expressed, purified and characterised 4 highly active beta-glucosidases from fibre-adherent microbial community from the cow rumen. The enzymes were most active at temperatures 45–55°C and pH 4.0-7.0 and exhibited high affinity and activity towards synthetic substrates such as p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (pNPbetaG) and pNP-beta-cellobiose, as well as to natural cello-oligosaccharides ranging from cellobiose to cellopentaose. The apparent capability of the most active beta-glucosidase, herein named LAB25g2, was tested for its ability to improve, at low dosage (31.25 units g(-1) dry biomass, using pNPbetaG as substrate), the hydrolysis of pre-treated corn stover (dry matter content of 20%; 350 g glucan kg(-1) dry biomass) in combination with a beta-glucosidase-deficient commercial Trichoderma reseei cellulase cocktail (5 units g(-1) dry biomass in the basis of pNPbetaG). LAB25g2 increased the final hydrolysis yield by a factor of 20% (44.5 ± 1.7% vs. 34.5 ± 1.5% in control conditions) after 96–120 h as compared to control reactions in its absence or in the presence of other commercial beta-glucosidase preparations. The high stability (half-life higher than 5 days at 50°C and pH 5.2) and 2–38000 fold higher (as compared with reported beta-glucosidases) activity towards cello-oligosaccharides may account for its performance in supplementation assays. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that beta-glucosidases from yet uncultured bacteria from animal digestomes may be of a potential interest for biotechnological processes related to the effective bio-ethanol production in combination with low dosage of commercial cellulases

Screening and Characterization of Novel Polyesterases from Environmental Metagenomes with High Hydrolytic Activity against Synthetic Polyesters

International audienc

Bioprospecting reveals class III ω-transaminases converting bulky ketones and environmentally relevant polyamines

Amination of bulky ketones, particularly in (R) configuration, is an attractive chemical conversion; however, known ω-transaminases (ω-TAs) show insufficient levels of performance. By applying two screening methods, we discovered 10 amine transaminases from the class III ω-TA family that were 38% to 76% identical to homologues. We present examples of such enzymes preferring bulky ketones over keto acids and aldehydes with stringent (S) selectivity. We also report representatives from the class III ω-TAs capable of converting (R) and (S) amines and bulky ketones and one that can convert amines with longer alkyl substituents. The preference for bulky ketones was associated with the presence of a hairpin region proximal to the conserved Arg414 and residues conforming and close to it. The outward orientation of Arg414 additionally favored the conversion of (R) amines. This configuration was also found to favor the utilization of putrescine as an amine donor, so that class III ω-TAs with Arg414 in outward orientation may participate in vivo in the catabolism of putrescine. The positioning of the conserved Ser231 also contributes to the preference for amines with longer alkyl substituents. Optimal temperatures for activity ranged from 45 to 65°C, and a few enzymes retained ≥50% of their activity in water-soluble solvents (up to 50% [vol/vol]). Hence, our results will pave the way to design, in the future, new class III ω-TAs converting bulky ketones and (R) amines for the production of high-value products and to screen for those converting putrescine

Activity screening of environmental metagenomic libraries reveals novel carboxylesterase families

Metagenomics has made accessible an enormous reserve of global biochemical diversity. To tap into this vast resource of novel enzymes, we have screened over one million clones from metagenome DNA libraries derived from sixteen different environments for carboxylesterase activity and identified 714 positive hits. We have validated the esterase activity of 80 selected genes, which belong to 17 different protein families including unknown and cyclase-like proteins. Three metagenomic enzymes exhibited lipase activity, and seven proteins showed polyester depolymerization activity against polylactic acid and polycaprolactone. Detailed biochemical characterization of four new enzymes revealed their substrate preference, whereas their catalytic residues were identified using site-directed mutagenesis. The crystal structure of the metal-ion dependent esterase MGS0169 from the amidohydrolase superfamily revealed a novel active site with a bound unknown ligand. Thus, activity-centered metagenomics has revealed diverse enzymes and novel families of microbial carboxylesterases, whose activity could not have been predicted using bioinformatics tools

Pressure adaptation is linked to thermal adaptation in salt-saturated marine habitats

The present study provides a deeper view of protein functionality as a function of temperature, salt and pressure in deep-sea habitats. A set of eight different enzymes from five distinct deep-sea (3040–4908 m depth), moderately warm (14.0–16.5°C) biotopes, characterized by a wide range of salinities (39–348 practical salinity units), were investigated for this purpose. An enzyme from a ‘superficial’ marine hydrothermal habitat (65°C) was isolated and characterized for comparative purposes. We report here the first experimental evidence suggesting that in saltsaturated deep-sea habitats, the adaptation to high pressure is linked to high thermal resistance (P value = 0.0036). Salinity might therefore increase the temperature window for enzyme activity, and possibly microbial growth, in deep-sea habitats. As an example, Lake Medee, the largest hypersaline deepsea anoxic lake of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, where the water temperature is never higher than 16°C, was shown to contain halopiezophilic-like enzymes that are most active at 70°C and with denaturing temperatures of 71.4°C. The determination of the crystal structures of five proteins revealed unknown molecular mechanisms involved in protein adaptation to poly-extremes as well as distinct active site architectures and substrate preferences relative to other structurally characterized enzymes.European Community project MAMBA (FP7-KBBE-2008-226977). This grant BIO2011-25012 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (formerly MICINN). European Commission for ‘MicroB3’ grant (FP7-OCEAN.2011-2 (contract Nr 287589)). Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Ontario Genomics Institute (grant 2009-OGI-ABC-1405) and U.S. National Institutes of Health (grants GM074942 and GM094585). Midwest Center for Structural Genomics).http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1462-2920hb2016Biochemistr

Genome sequence and functional genomic analysis of the oil-degrading bacterium Oleispira antarctica

M.K. and P.N.G. designed the work; T.N.C. performed physiological studies; M.K., M.F., Y.A.-R., A.B., N.L.-C., M.E.G., O.R.K., T.Y.N., S.K., I.L., O.V.G., M.M.Y. R.R. and P.N.G. were associated with genome annotation; H.J.H. performed lipids and FAME analysis; M.F., M-l.F., S.J., S.C. and J.P.A performed chaperonin anti-proteome analysis; A.-x. S., O.K., O.E., P.A.P., P.S. and Y.K. were associated with structural proteomics; A.T. and R.F. were associated with functional proteomics; H.L. performed electron microscopy; R.D. performed real-time PCR; M.M.-G. and M.F. performed DIGE proteome analysis; M.G. was involved in siderophore production; O.N.R. performed genomic islands’ analysis; H.T. performed storage lipid compounds’ analysis; P.N.G. coordinated manuscript writing.Accession Codes: The genome sequence of Oleispira antarctica RB-8 has been deposited in GenBank under accession core FO203512. Protein structures have deposited in PDB under accession codes 3QVM (a/b hydrolase, OLEAN_C08020), 3QVQ (phosphodiesterase, OLEAN_C20330), 3M16 (transaldolase, OLEAN_C18160), 3LQY (isochorismatase, OLEAN_C07660), 3LNP (amidohydrolase, OLEAN_C13880), 3V77/3L53 (fumarylacetoacetate isomerase/hydrolase, OLEAN_C35840), 3VCR/3LAB (2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase, OLEAN_C25130), 3IRU (phoshonoacetaldehyde hydrolase, OLEAN_C33610), 3I4Q (inorganic pyrophosphatase, OLEAN_C30460), 3LMB (protein with unknown function, OLEAN_C10530).Ubiquitous bacteria from the genus Oleispira drive oil degradation in the largest environment on Earth, the cold and deep sea. Here we report the genome sequence of Oleispira antarctica and show that compared with Alcanivorax borkumensis—the paradigm of mesophilic hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria—O. antarctica has a larger genome that has witnessed massive gene-transfer events. We identify an array of alkane monooxygenases, osmoprotectants, siderophores and micronutrient-scavenging pathways. We also show that at low temperatures, the main protein-folding machine Cpn60 functions as a single heptameric barrel that uses larger proteins as substrates compared with the classical double-barrel structure observed at higher temperatures. With 11 protein crystal structures, we further report the largest set of structures from one psychrotolerant organism. The most common structural feature is an increased content of surface-exposed negatively charged residues compared to their mesophilic counterparts. Our findings are relevant in the context of microbial cold-adaptation mechanisms and the development of strategies for oil-spill mitigation in cold environments.We acknowledge the funding from the EU Framework Program 7 to support Projects MAMBA (226977), ULIXES (266473), MAGIC PAH (245226) and MICROB3 (287589) This work received the support of the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Ontario Genomics Institute (grant 2009-OGI-ABC-1405 to A.F.Y. and A.S.), and the U.S. Government National Institutes of Health (grants GM074942 and GM094585 (to A.S. through Midwest Center for Structural Genomics). The study was supported by the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through project KU 2679/2-1 and BU 890/21-1. We thank the sequencing team of the AG Reinhardt for technical assistance and Alfred Beck for computational support. The skilful work of electron microscopic sample preparation by Mrs. Ingeborg Kristen (Dept. VAM, HZI Braunschweig) is gratefully acknowledged. Authors thank Professor Ken Timmis for his critical reading the manuscript and useful comments.http://www.nature.com/naturecommunicationsam201

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049