Production of cyanophycin in Rhizopus oryzae through the expression of a cyanophycin synthetase encoding gene

Cyanophycin or cyanophycin granule peptide is a protein that results from non-ribosomal protein synthesis in microorganisms such as cyanobacteria. The amino acids in cyanophycin can be used as a feedstock in the production of a wide range of chemicals such as acrylonitrile, polyacrylic acid, 1,4-butanediamine, and urea. In this study, an auxotrophic mutant (Rhizopus oryzae M16) of the filamentous fungus R. oryzae 99-880 was selected to express cyanophycin synthetase encoding genes. These genes originated from Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803, Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120, and a codon optimized version of latter gene. The genes were under control of the pyruvate decarboxylase promoter and terminator elements of R. oryzae. Transformants were generated by the biolistic transformation method. In only two transformants both expressing the cyanophycin synthetase encoding gene from Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 was a specific enzyme activity detected of 1.5 mU/mg protein. In one of these transformants was both water-soluble and insoluble cyanophycin detected. The water-soluble fraction formed the major fraction and accounted for 0.5% of the dry weight. The water-insoluble CGP was produced in trace amounts. The amino acid composition of the water-soluble form was determined and constitutes of equimolar amounts of arginine and aspartic acid

La piroga monossile del Piave: caratterizzazione fisico-anatomica del legno.

Nell\u2019alveo del fiume Piave, nel comune di Ponte di Piave (Treviso), \ue8 stata occasionalmente rinvenuta nel 2009 una piroga lignea risalente all\u2019alto medioevo. L\u2019imbarcazione \ue8 stata recuperata e sottoposta a studi di caratterizzazione fisico-anatomica del legno, prima di decidere i pi\uf9 opportuni interventi per una sua adeguata musealizzazione. Sono state determinate la specie legnosa, la massa volumica, il massimo contenuto di acqua (MWC), i ritiri dimensionali, la tipologia di degrado. La piroga \ue8 costituita da legno di quercia (con pi\uf9 probabilit\ue0 Farnia, Quercus robur L.), parzialmente degradata da batteri, con elevato MWC e bassa densit\ue0 basale residua

Climate and land use changes, biodiversity and agri-environmental measures in the Belluno province, Italy

This paper presents a synthesis of the results of the ACCELERATES project (Assessing Climate Change Effects on Land Use and Ecosystems from Regional Analysis to the European Scale), obtained in the case study of the Belluno province (north-east Italy), a context chosen as representative of the Alpine area. Selected results of the analysis of the relationships between future scenarios of change, farming systems, land use and biodiversity are presented. An initial historical analysis of the dynamics of land use with respect to the agricultural, socio-economic and demographic dynamics identified the main drivers of change and the positive and negative factors for conservation of the rural land and of biodiversity. In a subsequent stage the scenarios of future climate and land use changes were used to analyse the future for the species selected as indicators of biodiversity in the studied area. The results obtained provided useful information for the identification of suitable agri-environmental policies at the local scale. Maintenance of the livestock production systems typical of mountain agriculture is shown to be the key factor for contrasting land abandonment and the consequent expansion of woodlands, with negative effects in terms of simplification of landscape and impacts on species of naturalistic interest. (copyright) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Monitoring of black grouse in the Belluno province (Eastern Italian Alps)

Grouse New