9 research outputs found
Closely related fungi employ diverse enzymatic strategies to degrade plant biomass
Background Plant biomass is the major substrate for the production of biofuels and biochemicals, as well as food, textiles and other products. It is also the major carbon source for many fungi and enzymes of these fungi are essential for the depolymerization of plant polysaccharides in industrial processes. This is a highly complex process that involves a large number of extracellular enzymes as well as non-hydrolytic proteins, whose production in fungi is controlled by a set of transcriptional regulators. Aspergillus species form one of the best studied fungal genera in this field, and several species are used for the production of commercial enzyme cocktails. Results It is often assumed that related fungi use similar enzymatic approaches to degrade plant polysaccharides. In this study we have compared the genomic content and the enzymes produced by eight Aspergilli for the degradation of plant biomass. All tested Aspergilli have a similar genomic potential to degrade plant biomass, with the exception of A. clavatus that has a strongly reduced pectinolytic ability. Despite this similar genomic potential their approaches to degrade plant biomass differ markedly in the overall activities as well as the specific enzymes they employ. While many of the genes have orthologs in (nearly) all tested species, only very few of the corresponding enzymes are produced by all species during growth on wheat bran or sugar beet pulp. In addition, significant differences were observed between the enzyme sets produced on these feedstocks, largely correlating with their polysaccharide composition. Conclusions These data demonstrate that Aspergillus species and possibly also other related fungi employ significantly different approaches to degrade plant biomass. This makes sense from an ecological perspective where mixed populations of fungi together degrade plant biomass. The results of this study indicate that combining the approaches from different species could result in improved enzyme mixtures for industrial applications, in particular saccharification of plant biomass for biofuel production. Such an approach may result in a much better improvement of saccharification efficiency than adding specific enzymes to the mixture of a single fungus, which is currently the most common approach used in biotechnology.Peer reviewe
4to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, TecnologĂa e InnovaciĂłn para la Sociedad. Memoria acadĂ©mica
Este volumen acoge la memoria acadĂ©mica de la Cuarta ediciĂłn del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, TecnologĂa e InnovaciĂłn para la Sociedad, CITIS 2017, desarrollado entre el 29 de noviembre y el 1 de diciembre de 2017 y organizado por la Universidad PolitĂ©cnica Salesiana (UPS) en su sede de Guayaquil.
El Congreso ofreciĂł un espacio para la presentaciĂłn, difusiĂłn e intercambio de importantes investigaciones nacionales e internacionales ante la comunidad universitaria que se dio cita en el encuentro. El uso de herramientas tecnolĂłgicas para la gestiĂłn de los trabajos de investigaciĂłn como la plataforma Open Conference Systems y la web de presentaciĂłn del Congreso http://citis.blog.ups.edu.ec/, hicieron de CITIS 2017 un verdadero referente entre los congresos que se desarrollaron en el paĂs.
La preocupaciĂłn de nuestra Universidad, de presentar espacios que ayuden a generar nuevos y mejores cambios en la dimensiĂłn humana y social de nuestro entorno, hace que se persiga en cada ediciĂłn del evento la presentaciĂłn de trabajos con calidad creciente en cuanto a su producciĂłn cientĂfica.
Quienes estuvimos al frente de la organizaciĂłn, dejamos plasmado en estas memorias acadĂ©micas el intenso y prolĂfico trabajo de los dĂas de realizaciĂłn del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, TecnologĂa e InnovaciĂłn para la Sociedad al alcance de todos y todas
Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries
Abstract
Background
Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres.
Methods
This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and lowâmiddle-income countries.
Results
In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of âsingle-useâ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for lowâmiddle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia.
Conclusion
This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both highâ and lowâmiddleâincome countries
A single amino acid change (Y318F) in the L-arabitol dehydrogenase (LadA) from Aspergillus niger results in a significant increase in affinity for D-sorbitol
International audienc
Additional file 2: of Closely related fungi employ diverse enzymatic strategies to degrade plant biomass
Combines Additional file Tables S2âS4 (excel format). Table S2A. Numbers of putative genes per CAZy family for the 10 genomes addressed in this study. Table S2B. Numbers of putative genes per Plant Polysaccharide Degradation-related CAZy family for the 10 genomes addressed in this study. Table S3A. Orthology clusters of feruloyl esterase (SF), glycoside hydrolase (GH), carbohydrate esterase and polysaccharide lyase (PL) families. Table S3B. Orthology clusters of auxiliary activities (AA). Table S4A. Detection of proteins in cultures grown on wheat bran sorted by CAZy family. Table S4B. Detection of proteins in cultures grown on sugar beet pulp sorted by CAZy family. Table S4C. Detected proteins in cultures grown on wheat bran sorted by number of species that contain an orthologue. Table S4D. Detected proteins in cultures grown on sugar beet pulp sorted by number of species that contain an orthologue
Additional file 1: of Closely related fungi employ diverse enzymatic strategies to degrade plant biomass
Combines Additional File Figures S1âS4 and Table S1. Figure S1: Hydrolytic enzyme activity profiles of the eight species. Figure S2: Laccase activity of the eight species. Figure S3: Differences in feruloyl esterase production. Figure S4: Conserved SDS-PAGE profiles for isolates of the same species. Table S1. Strains used in this study
Subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin for prevention of disease in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trialResearch in context
Summary: Background: Anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin (hIG) can provide standardized and controlled antibody content. Data from controlled clinical trials using hIG for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 outpatients have not been reported. We assessed the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin 20% (C19-IG20%) compared to placebo in preventing development of symptomatic COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We did a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in asymptomatic unvaccinated adults (â„18 years of age) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 days between April 28 and December 27, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a blinded subcutaneous infusion of 10 mL with 1 g or 2 g of C19-IG20%, or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who remained asymptomatic through day 14 after infusion. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of individuals who required oxygen supplementation, any medically attended visit, hospitalisation, or ICU, and viral load reduction and viral clearance in nasopharyngeal swabs. Safety was assessed as the proportion of patients with adverse events. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of potential benefit in the target population in a planned interim analysis conducted in December 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT04847141. Findings: 461 individuals (mean age 39.6 years [SD 12.8]) were randomized and received the intervention within a mean of 3.1 (SD 1.27) days from a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. In the prespecified modified intention-to-treat analysis that included only participants who received a subcutaneous infusion, the primary outcome occurred in 59.9% (91/152) of participants receiving 1 g C19-IG20%, 64.7% (99/153) receiving 2 g, and 63.5% (99/156) receiving placebo (difference in proportions 1 g C19-IG20% vs. placebo, â3.6%; 95% CI -14.6% to 7.3%, p = 0.53; 2 g C19-IG20% vs placebo, 1.1%; â9.6% to 11.9%, p = 0.85). None of the secondary clinical efficacy endpoints or virological endpoints were significantly different between study groups. Adverse event rate was similar between groups, and no severe or life-threatening adverse events related to investigational product infusion were reported. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that administration of subcutaneous human hyperimmune immunoglobulin C19-IG20% to asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe but did not prevent development of symptomatic COVID-19. Funding: Grifols