Lipase-producing fungi for potential wastewater treatment and bioenergy production

The use of fungal biomass as a lipase biocatalyst represents an attractive approach for the treatments of oil wastewater as well as for the production of biodiesel from oil and residual grease, due to its greater  stability, possibility of reuse, and lower cost. In this work, 20 filamentous fungi were isolated from the grease trap scum of a restaurant at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The fungi included those belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Beauveria, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Penicillium, Rhizomucor, and Verticillium. Fungal lipase activity and biomass production were quantified. Lipase activity ranged from 0.13 U mg-1 protein of Rhizomucor sp. ECGF18 to 18.06 U mg-1 protein of Penicillium sp. ECGF02, and the biomass production ranged from 7.61 mg mL-1 for  Cladosporium sp. ECGF19 to 12.68 mg mL-1 for Rhizomucor sp. ECGF18. In the sequence, Penicillium sp. ECGF02 and Rhizomucor sp. ECGF18, were previously select and, further evaluated in solid-state fermentation. Results confirmed the high extracellular lipase-activity of Penicillium sp.ECG02 and the high intracellular lipase activity of Rhizomucor sp. ECG18. Rhizomucor sp. ECG18 showed potential for use in future research, in the form of whole-cell lipases, wastewater treatment, and as a biocatalyst in the production of biodiesel from oil residues.Key words: Lipase-producing fungi, wastewater treatment, bioenergy

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Validação de método analítico livre de acetonitrila para análise de microcistinas por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência

Blooms of cyanobacteria represent a public health risk due to their cyanotoxins such as microcystins. Liquid chromatography techniques to separate and quantify microcystins invariably use acetonitrile as the organic component of the mobile phase. The price and availability of acetonitrile together with its elevated toxicity encourage the validation of acetonitrile-free methods of microcystin analysis. In this work, methanol was employed as the organic solvent of the mobile phase and the validation method was performed with different environmental water samples. The method showed limits of detection between 0.17 and 0.25 µg/L and of quantification between 0.55 and 0.82 µg/L for the microcystin variants: -RR, -YR, -LR, -LA

Harvesting Microalgal Biomass grown in Anaerobic Sewage Treatment Effluent by the Coagulation-Flocculation Method: Effect of pH

ABSTRACT Harvesting is a critical step in microalgal biomass production process for many reasons. Among the existing techniques available for harvesting and dewatering microalgal biomass, recovery from aqueous medium by coagulation-flocculation has been the most economically viable process, althoughit is highly dependent on pH. This study aims to assess alternative coagulants compared to the standard coagulant aluminum sulfate for microalgal biomass recovery from anaerobic effluent of domestic sewage treatment. The effluent quality was also analyzed after biomass recovery. Coagulants represented by modified tannin, cationic starch and aluminum sulfate recovered more than 90% of algae biomass, at concentrations greater than 80 mg/L, in the pH range 7-10. Cationic starch promoted higher microalgal biomass recovery with a wider pH range. Powdered seeds of Moringa oleifera and Hibiscus esculentus(okra) gum promoted biomass removal of 50%, only in the acidic range of pH. After sedimentation of the microalgal biomass, the effluents showed a removal of >80% for phosphorus and nitrogen values and >50% for BOD and COD when using aluminum sulfate, cationic starch and modified tannin as coagulants. Natural organic coagulants in a wide pH range can replace aluminum sulfate, a reference coagulant in microalgal biomass recovery, without decreasing microalgal biomass harvesting efficiency and the quality of the final effluent

The transition from Pangea amalgamation to fragmentation: Constraints from detrital zircon geochronology on West Iberia paleogeography and sediment sources

Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology data from late Carboniferous to Triassic clastic sedimentary rocks in SW Iberia were used to investigate the regional paleogeography during the transition from Pangea amalgamation to breakup. The major U-Pb zircon age peaks are middle Devonian to Carboniferous (similar to 390-300 Ma), Cambrian Ordovician (similar to 530-440 Ma), Cryogenian-Ediacaran (similar to 750-540 Ma), Stenian-Tonian (similar to 1.2-0.9 Ga) and Paleoproterozoic (similar to 2.3-1.8 Ga). Rapid exhumation of Variscan crystalline rocks at the contact between the South Portuguese zone and Ossa Morena Zone, explains the abundance of late Paleozoic ages in the upper Carboniferous-lower Permian continental successions. The U-Pb zircon data constrain the maximum depositional age of the Santa Susana Basin to c. 304 Ma and the Viar Basin to c. 297 Ma. The Triassic sequences, despite being c. 100 Ma younger than the Variscan tectonothermal events, contain low proportions of late Paleozoic zircon. The major peaks in all zircon spectra closely resemble those found in the adjacent basement rocks, indicating small source areas, mainly located near the rift shoulders. Longer travelled fluvial systems are postulated for the eastern portions of the Algarve Basin, which was closer to the westward advancing Tethys Ocean than the rift basins of West Iberia. Sequences that contain significant proportions of similar to 1.2-0.9 Ga zircon are probably recycled from post-collisional Carboniferous-Permian continental deposits that were more extensive than those found today. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BSAB/1233/2011]; Iberoamerican Santander (Banco Santander) grant; Science Foundation Ireland [12/IP/1663]