A ClpB Chaperone Knockout Mutant of Mesorhizobium ciceri Shows a Delay in the Root Nodulation of Chickpea Plants

Several molecular chaperones are known to be involved in bacteria stress response. To investigate the role of chaperone ClpB in rhizobia stress tolerance as well as in the rhizobiaplant symbiosis process, the clpB gene from a chickpea microsymbiont, strain Mesorhizobium ciceri LMS-1, was identified and a knockout mutant was obtained. The ClpB knockout mutant was tested to several abiotic stresses, showing that it was unable to grow after a heat shock and it was more sensitive to acid shock than the wild-type strain. A plant-growth assay performed to evaluate the symbiotic performance of the clpB mutant showed a higher proportion of ineffective root nodules obtained with the mutant than with the wild-type strain. Nodulation kinetics analysis showed a 6- to 8-day delay in nodule appearance in plants inoculated with the Delta clpB mutant. Analysis of nodC gene expression showed lower levels of transcript in the Delta clpB mutant strain. Analysis of histological sections of nodules formed by the clpB mutant showed that most of the nodules presented a low number of bacteroids. No differences in the root infection abilities of green fluorescent protein tagged clpB mutant and wild-type strains were detected. To our knowledge, this is the first study that presents evidence of the involvement of the chaperone ClpB from rhizobia in the symbiotic nodulation process

A tool for online multiparameter monitoring of a microalgae culture

Funding Information: This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 512 887227 - MULTI-STR3AM. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio Based Industries Consortium. Publisher Copyright: © 2023We propose a systematic approach for monitoring important productivity parameters in a Dunaliella salina culture using 2D fluorescence data. For this purpose, a methodology based on Machine Learning algorithm Projection to Latent Structures Regression (PLSR) coupled with variable selection strategies was used. Additionally, a robustness analysis is proposed to support the validation of the yielded models and provide a measure of their reliability. Robust (i.e., Q2 ≥ 0.5) and parsimonious (i.e., selecting down to 3 % of the fluorescence variables present in a 250–700 nm wavelength excitation-emission matrix) models were obtained for monitoring cell count, chlorophyll b, total carotenoids and β-carotene culture concentration, and the ratio between total carotenoids and total chlorophylls, all of which were validated with a left-out batch performing with R2 higher than 0.7 except for β-carotene (R2 = 0.54).publishersversionpublishe

Application of bacterial cellulose in the textile and shoe industry: development of biocomposites

Several studies report the potential of bacterial cellulose (BC) in the fashion and leather industries. This work aimed at the development of BC-based composites containing emulsified acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) that are polymerized with the redox initiator system hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and L-ascorbic acid and ferrous sulfate as a catalyst. BC was fermented under static culture. The polymerization of the emulsified organic droplets was tested before and after their incorporation into BC by exhaustion. The composites were then finished with an antimicrobial agent (benzalkonium chloride) and dyed. The obtained composites were characterized in terms of wettability, water vapor permeability (WVP), mechanical, thermal and antimicrobial properties. When AESO emulsion was polymerized prior to the exhaustion process, the obtained composites showed higher WVP, tensile strength and thermal stability. Meanwhile, post-exhaustion polymerized AESO conferred the composite higher hydrophobicity and elongation. The composites finished with the antimicrobial agent showed activity against S. aureus. Finally, intense colors were obtained more uniformly when they were incorporated simultaneously with the emulsified AESO with all the dyes tested.FEDER funds through the Operational Competitiveness Program—COMPETE and by National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136 and UID/CTM/00264/2019 and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bacterial Nanocellulose composites for the textile and leather industries

The tannery industry faces several challenges associated with high environmental impact, scarcity of raw materials and increasing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products. The worldwide production of leather is approximately 20 billion square feet per year (1). To produce one ton of leather 6.7 tons of raw skin are processed (2) an 57,000 liters of water (3) and 3.35 tons of chemicals (4) are needed. Worldwide, for bovine skin, 370 billion litres of water are consumed annually, generating 6.5 million tons of solid waste. The development of leather analogues has thus long been pursued, leading to the appearance of various materials, some synthetic, other natural. Despite the increasing interest and market pull, the market penetration of these alternative products has been relatively modest, due to high production costs, low breathability, high stiffness, accelerated discoloration, among other limitations. Also, recent market trends towards the identification of natural non-cotton derived textiles are emerging. This research intends to contribute to the reduction of the animal hide dependency by the development of composites from bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) as structural material and activated vegetable oils and other hydrophobic polymers, as a flexibilizing, mechanical reinforcing and hydrophobizing agents. The newly developed strategy here presented, based on BNC, aims at meeting the market pull from both the shoe and textiles industries regarding the need for new high-performance natural materials. A novel approach was tested for the bulk and surface modification of BC, combining simplicity, potential for application at large scale and low cost, based on the use of an exhaustion process. Through this process, hydrophobic polymers could be incorporated into the nanofibrillar matrix of BNC, aiming at obtaining a malleable, breathable and water impermeable nanocomposites. This presentation will summarize the main results on the preparation of BC-based composites featuring promising properties for application in the textile and shoe industries (5).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1) confers resistance to DNA-damaging agents in human breast cancer by affecting DNA damage response

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1) belongs to a group of sixteen kinases associated to a poorer prognosis in human breast carcinomas, particularly in estrogen receptor positive cases based on gene expression arrays. In this work we have studied the potential molecular mechanism by which the VRK1 protein can contribute to a poorer prognosis in this disease. For this aim it was first analyzed by immunohistochemistry the VRK1 protein level in normal breast and in one hundred and thirty six cases of human breast cancer. The effect of VRK1 to protect against DNA damage was determined by studying the effect of its knockdown on the formation of DNA repair foci assembled on 53BP1 in response to treatment with ionizing radiation or doxorubicin in two breast cancer cell lines. VRK1 protein was detected in normal breast and in breast carcinomas at high levels in ER and PR positive tumors. VRK1 protein level was significantly lower in ERBB2 positive cases. Next, to identify a mechanism that can link VRK1 to poorer prognosis, VRK1 was knocked-down in two breast cancer cell lines that were treated with ionizing radiation or doxorubicin, both inducing DNA damage. Loss of VRK1 resulted in reduced formation of DNA-damage repair foci complexes assembled on the 53BP1 scaffold protein, and this effect was independent of damaging agent or cell type. This observation is consistent with detection of high VRK1 protein levels in ER and PR positive breast cancers. We conclude that VRK1 can contribute to make these tumors more resistant to DNA damage-based therapies, such as ionizing radiation or doxorubicin, which is consistent with its association to a poor prognosis in ER positive breast cancer. VRK1 is potential target kinase for development of new specific inhibitors which can facilitate sensitization to other treatments in combination therapies; or alternatively be used as a new cancer drugs.M. V-C and M. S-G have JAE-CSIC-Fondo Social Europeo predoctoral fellowships. This work was supported by grants from Ministerio de Educación, Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2010-14935 and CSD2007-0017) and Kutxa-Fundación Inbiomed to P.A.L.Peer Reviewe

Functionalization of textile materials by double barrier discharge plasma

The pre-treatment of textile materials by non-thermal plasma technologies can offer many advantages over conventional chemical processes used to surface modification. This technology doesn’t involve the use of water and chemical reagents, resulting in a more eco-friendly and economical process. In this study air atmospheric pressure plasma treatment at normal ambient conditions was applied in various textile materials, namely: polyamide, polyester, acrylics and wool. The pre-treated textile materials were characterized using advanced instrumental techniques including X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy (XPS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Wettability analysis with different liquids was conducted to study static contact angle as well as surface energy and adhesion work of the plasma-treated fibrous materials. Chemical and physical characterization of the fabric confirmed significant surface alteration. Surface modification concerning the improvement of adhesion regarding a functionalizing substance, i.e. phase change materials (PCM) microcapsules was also investigated

Packaging waste recycling in Europe: is the industry paying for it?

This paper describes and examines the schemes established in five EU countries for the recycling of packaging waste. The changes in packaging waste management were mainly implemented since the Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste entered into force. The analysis of the five systems allowed the authors to identify very different approaches to cope with the same problem: meet the recovery and recycling targets imposed by EU law. Packaging waste is a responsibility of the industry. However, local governments are generally in charge of waste management, particularly in countries with Green Dot schemes or similar extended producer responsibility systems. This leads to the need of establishing a system of financial transfers between the industry and the local governments (particularly regarding the extra costs involved with selective collection and sorting). Using the same methodological approach, the authors also compare the costs and benefits of recycling from the perspective of local public authorities for France, Portugal and Romania. Since the purpose of the current paper is to take note of who is paying for the incremental costs of recycling and whether the industry (i.e. the consumer) is paying for the net financial costs of packaging waste management, environmental impacts are not included in the analysis. The work carried out in this paper highlights some aspects that are prone to be improved and raises several questions that will require further research. In the three countries analyzed more closely in this paper the industry is not paying the net financial cost of packaging waste management. In fact, if the savings attained by diverting packaging waste from other treatment (e.g. landfilling) and the public subsidies to the investment on the “recycling system” are not considered, it seems that the industry should increase the financial support to local authorities (by 125% in France, 50% in Portugal and 170% in Romania). However, in France and Portugal the industry is paying local authorities more than just the incremental costs of recycling (full costs of selective collection and sorting minus the avoided costs). To provide a more definitive judgment on the fairness of the systems it will be necessary to assess the cost efficiency of waste management operators (and judge whether operators are claiming costs or eliciting “prices”)

Forming defects prediction in cup drawing and embossing of a thick steel sheet

The accurate prediction of forming defects is fundamental for the virtual try-out of metallic sheet components. However, the constitutive model can have a strong impact on the numerical predictions, namely the cup earing, the occurrence of wrinkles and the tearing failure. The process conditions considered in this work are the ones established for the “Benchmark 2 - Cup Drawing of Anisotropic Thick Steel Sheet”, proposed under the Numisheet 2018 international conference. The axisymmetric cups are obtained from a steel sheet with 2.8 mm of thickness, resorting to different process conditions to induce different defects. The advanced yield criterion proposed by Cazacu and Barlat is used to define the anisotropic behavior of the blank. The calibration of the material parameters is carried out by fitting the following experimental data from: (i) uniaxial tensile tests performed in every 15ºto the rolling direction; (ii) biaxial tension tests to evaluate the directions of the plastic strain rates in the first quadrant of the yield loci. The numerical predictions are compared with the experimental measurements, allowing to assess the accuracy of the finite element model to predict each type of forming defect. The cup earing and the strain localization are accurately predicted, while the wrinkles amplitude is clearly underestimated.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the projects with reference PTDC/EME-EME/30592/2017 and PTDC/EME-EME/31657/2017 and by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Portugal 2020 program and the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme (CENTRO- 01-0145-FEDER-031657) under the project MATIS (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000014) and UIDB/00285/2020. We also would like to acknowledge the benchmark committee to make available the experimental data used in the present study

Angolan cymbopogon citratus used for therapeutic benefits: nutritional composition and influence of solvents in phytochemicals content and antioxidant activity of leaf extracts

Folk medicine is a relevant and effective part of indigenous healthcare systems which are, in practice, totally dependent on traditional healers. An outstanding coincidence between indigenous medicinal plant uses and scientifically proved pharmacological properties of several phytochemicals has been observed along the years. This work focused on the leaves of a medicinal plant traditionally used for therapeutic benefits (Angolan Cymbopogon citratus), in order to evaluate their nutritional value. The bioactive phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of leaf extracts prepared with different solvents (water, methanol and ethanol) were also evaluated. The plant leaves contained ~60% of carbohydrates, protein (~20%), fat (~5%), ash (~4%) and moisture (~9%). The phytochemicals screening revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, and terpenoids in all extracts. Methanolic extracts also contained alkaloids and steroids. Several methods were used to evaluate total antioxidant capacity of the different extracts (DPPH; NO; and H2O2 scavenging assays, reducing power, and FRAP). Ethanolic extracts presented a significantly higher antioxidant activity (p < 0.05) except for FRAP, in which the best results were achieved by the aqueous extracts. Methanolic extracts showed the lowest radical scavenging activities for both DPPH; and NO; radicals

Economic viability of packaging waste recycling systems: a comparison between Belgium and Portugal

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive has had an undeniable impact on waste management throughout the European Union. Whereas recycling and recovery targets are the same, member states still enjoy a considerable degree of freedom with respect to the practical organization and management strategies adopted. Nevertheless, in all cases, the industry (which brings packaging material onto the market) should be responsible for the costs associated with packaging waste recycling/recovery (following the extended producer responsibility principle). The current paper compares and contrasts the institutional frameworks and financial costs and benefits of waste management operators for Belgium and Portugal. The unit costs of selective collection and sorting of packaging waste are provided for both countries. In Belgium, the costs of recycling seem to be fully supported by the industry (through Fost Plus, the national Green Dot agency). In Portugal the fairness of the recycling system depends on the perspective adopted (economic or strictly financial). Adopting a strictly financial perspective, it seems that Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV, the Portuguese Green Dot agency) should increase the transfers to local authorities. However, the conclusions differ for this country if the avoided costs with refuse collection and other treatment are taken into account