Upgrading pasta wastes through lactic acid fermentations

During its production process, every kilogram of pasta manufactured generates about 23 g of pasta wastes (PW). Considering the global pasta production, there are about 376 kilotonnes of PW produced every year. In this work, PW were characterised and used as the substrate in lactic acid (LA) fermentations. Enzymatic hydrolysis of 200 g/L of PW allowed for the liberation of sugars with a yield 0.81 gs/gdryPW. After the screening of several B. coagulans, the strain A559 was selected for experiments at the lab and pilot scales. Two fermentation modes were tested during lab scale experiments namely, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation and sequential hydrolysis and fermentation with the latter showing higher yields. The process was scaled up to 50 L where a LA concentration of 47.67 g/L and yield of 0.67 gLA/gdrydPW were achieved

RESPONSES OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS TO MALACHITE GREEN IN THE ASIAN CATFISH COMBINING IN VITRO AND IN VIVO APPROACHES

Malachite green (MG) is used as antiseptic to prevent and treat parasites, fungal and bacterial infections in fish. This disinfectant has been controversial and reported to have carcinogenic properties in mammals and to cause significant toxic effects in fish. Prohibited for use on fish intended for human consumption, this chemical and its residues are still commonly detected in fish products. Our concern is more about the rearing of one particular species, the Asian catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, one of the most economically important fish worldwide. The repeated violations concerning this species raise some questions on human health and risk assessment. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were chosen to allow regular sampling in a limited invasive way. Through the combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches, some potential routes of research on the toxicity of MG in fish PBMC were highlighted. Proteomic analyses performed on both approaches suggested that MG could lead to possible disturbances of DNA transcription and replication as well as of DNA repair processes, potential disruption of normal cell division, disorganization of the cytoskeleton, modification of the expression of several molecular chaperones as well as of proteins linked to the ubiquitin proteasome system. Studies on MG toxicity should focus on the mitochondria that seemed to be an important target of the prohibited disinfectant. No protein involved in the oxidative stress response has been identified in any of the proteomic analyses performed. The glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and the glutathione S-transferase (GST) measured in the gills and in the liver did not show any significant changes while a significant decrease of hepatic catalase activity (47 %) was observed directly after MG exposure. Another aim of this study was to suggest a robust biomarker Protein Expression Signature (PES) to detect the illegal use of MG with the final objective to apply this biomarker signature to an in situ monitoring in fish farm conditions. This PES would consist of 11 suggested proteins differentially expressed following MG treatment up to one month after depuration. Before the use for regulatory purposes, a lot of work is still required and further studies on the suggested proteins are unavoidable to ensure the reliability of these biomarker candidates. Overall, the research project largely contributes to the investigation of MG toxic mechanism of action. Since it seems challenging to replace MG as fungicide, researches on MG toxicity should continue.e vert de malachite (MG) est utilisé comme antiseptique pour prévenir et traiter les parasites, les infections fongiques et bactériennes chez les poissons. Ce désinfectant a été controversé car susceptible d’avoir des propriétés cancérigènes chez les mammifères et d’induire des effets toxiques chez les poissons. Interdit à l’utilisation sur des poissons destinés à la consommation humaine, ce composé et ses résidus sont couramment détectés dans les filets de poissons. Notre étude porte plus particulièrement sur l’élevage du poisson-chat asiatique, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, un des poissons les plus importants d’un point de vue économique. Les violations répétées concernant cette espèce posent des questions en termes de santé humaine et d’évaluation des risques. Les globules blancs mononucléaires du sang périphérique (PBMC) ont été choisis pour nous permettre un échantillonnage régulier peu invasif. Grâce à la combinaison des approches in vitro et in vivo, quelques voies de recherches potentielles sur la toxicité du MG dans les PBMC de poissons ont été soulignées. Les analyses protéomiques ont suggéré que le MG pouvait conduire à de possibles perturbations de la transcription, de la réplication mais également des processus de réparation de l’ADN, des perturbations potentielles de la division cellulaire, une désorganisation du cytosquelette, des modifications de l’expression de chaperones moléculaires, en plus, de protéines liées au système de l’ubiquitine protéasome. Finalement, les études sur la toxicité du MG devraient se focaliser sur les mitochondries qui semblent être une cible importante de ce dernier. Aucune protéine impliquée dans le stress oxydant n’a été identifiée dans les analyses protéomiques. De même, la glutathione peroxidase (GPx) et la glutathione S-transferase (GST), mesurés dans les branchies et le foie n'ont pas montré de variation significative. Une diminution significative de l’activité hépatique de la catalase (47 %), directement après exposition au MG, suggère son effet négatif sur cette enzyme antioxydante. Cette étude avait également pour but de suggérer une signature d’expression protéique biomarqueur robuste pour la détection de l’utilisation illégale du MG, avec, pour objectif final d’appliquer cette signature biomarqueur pour la surveillance dans les fermes aquacoles. Cette dernière serait composée de 11 protéines différentiellement exprimées suite au traitement au MG jusqu’à un mois après décontamination. Avant l’emploi à des fins réglementaires, beaucoup de travail sera encore nécessaire et des études plus approfondies concernant les protéines suggérées sont inévitables pour assurer la fiabilité de ces candidats biomarqueurs. Dans son ensembe, le projet de recherche contribue fortement à l'investigation du méchanisme d'action du MG. Le MG étant difficile à remplacer en tant que fongicide, les recherches sur le MG doivent continuer.(DOCSC03) -- FUNDP, 201

Innovative Biotic Symbiosis for Plastic Biodegradation to Solve their End-of-Life Challenges in the Agriculture and Food Industries

At present just about 30% of the waste plastic collected is efficiently recycled, while the rest is incinerated, disposed in landfills, or can end up in compost and be released in the environment, inducing a very negative effect on safety and health of flora and fauna. Sustainable management of hardly recyclable plastic waste generated by light weight single use packaging and agricultural films can be improved by applying biotechnological approaches, combining microorganisms, new enzymes, earthworms, and insects to work collaboratively, not only to promote the degradation of these plastics but also to obtain, by-products of the biodegradation process to be valorized as fertilizers, functional polysaccharides, etc. In order to develop a feasible process, mapping and characterization of the most diffused agri-food waste plastic were conducted isolating the main types of plastic involved. Plastic waste in agriculture is mainly constituted by polyethylene (PE) both linear low density (LLDPE) and high density (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS), whereas in food packaging polyethylene is still present together with a large presence of polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Combining plastic presence and availability of organisms for their degradability, representative samples of plastics (PE, PET, PS) were selected for analysis of deterioration and potential subsequent biodegradation by enzymes and organisms. To monitor the plastic degradability by enzymes, and larvae, methods for the plastic analysis were set, outlining some differences in virgin and post consumer plastic in particular after use in agriculture, assessing the possibility to monitor the degradability of plastic with time and different treatments, in particular, some evidence of polyethylene degradability from larvae of Tenebrio molitor was observed

Verification of the Biomarker Candidates for Non-small-cell Lung Cancer Using a Targeted Proteomics Approach

Lung cancer, with its high metastatic potential and high mortality rate, is the worldwide leading cause of cancer-related deaths. High-throughput “omics”-based platforms have accelerated the discovery of biomarkers for lung cancer, and the resulting candidates are to be evaluated for their diagnostic potential as noninvasive biomarkers. The evaluation of the biomarker candidates involves the quantitative measurement of large numbers of proteins in bodily fluids using advanced mass spectrometric techniques. In this study, a robust pipeline based on targeted proteomics was developed for biomarker verification in plasma samples and applied to verifying lung cancer biomarker candidates. Highly multiplexed liquid chromatrography-selected reaction monitoring (LC-SRM) assays for 95 potential tumor markers for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were generated to screen plasma samples obtained from 72, early to late stage, patients. A total of 17 proteins were verified as potent tumor markers detectable in plasma and, where available, verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). A novel plasma-based biomarker, zyxin, fulfilled the criteria for a potential early diagnostic marker for NSCLC

Towards a Circular Bioeconomy. VOLATILE FATTY ACID PLATFORM FOR BIOWASTE RECYCLING

Resources in general are not infinitely available, and also renewable resources if consumed outside their normal replacement cycles become scarce. Therefore, the establishment of a circular bioeconomy must respect natural systems and replacement cycles of organic carbon thereby reducing environmental pressure of human consumption. Upcycling of side and biowaste streams towards added value compounds represents hereby a critical aspect reducing land system change and fertilizer use for biomass supply for the bioeconomy. The development of a Volatile Fatty Acids Platform (VFAP) represents an important cornerstone for the upcycling of heterogenous municipal biowaste streams.This e-book was prepared in the context of the EU funded project VOLATILE in accordance with the grant agreement No 720777 (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme)