Project description:Xylose-utilizing yeasts with tolerances to fermentation inhibitors (such as weak organic acids) and high temperature are needed for cost-effective simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) of lignocellulosic materials. We constructed a novel xylose-assimilating Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain with improved fermentation performance under heat and acid co-stress using the genome shuffling technique. Two xylose-utilizing diploid yeasts with different genetic backgrounds were used as the parental strains for genome shuffling. The hybrid strain Hyb-8 showed significantly higher xylose fermentation ability than both parental strains (Sun049T-Z and Sun224T-K) under co-stress conditions of heat and acids. To screen for genes that might be important for fermentation under heat and acid co-stress, a transcriptomic analysis of hybrid strain Hyb-8 and its parental strains was performed.
Project description:Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) are increasingly incorporated into consumer products that are disposed into sewage. In wastewater treatment, MNMs adsorb to activated sludge biomass where they may impact biological wastewater treatment performance, including nutrient removal. Here, we studied MNM effects on bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), specifically polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), biosynthesis because of its importance to enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (EBPR). Activated sludge was sampled from an anoxic selector of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and PHB-containing bacteria were concentrated by density gradient centrifugation. After starvation to decrease intracellular PHB stores, bacteria were nutritionally augmented to promote PHB biosynthesis while being exposed to either MNMs (TiO2 or Ag) or to Ag salts (each at a concentration of 5 mg L-1). Cellular PHB concentration and PhyloChip community composition were analyzed. The final bacterial community composition differed from activated sludge, demonstrating that laboratory enrichment was selective. Still, PHB was synthesized to near-activated sludge levels. Ag salts altered final bacterial communities, although MNMs did not. PHB biosynthesis was diminished with Ag (salt or MNMs), indicating the potential for Ag-MNMs to physiologically impact EBPR through the effects of dissolved Ag ions on PHB producers. 18 samples; Triplicate PHB-enriched bacterial communities recovered from activated sludge were exposed to nanoparticle (TiO2 or Ag) or AgNO3 (as a silver control) or were not exposed to an nanoparticles (control) to determine if the naoparticles affected PHB production.
Project description:Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) are increasingly incorporated into consumer products that are disposed into sewage. In wastewater treatment, MNMs adsorb to activated sludge biomass where they may impact biological wastewater treatment performance, including nutrient removal. Here, we studied MNM effects on bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), specifically polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), biosynthesis because of its importance to enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (EBPR). Activated sludge was sampled from an anoxic selector of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and PHB-containing bacteria were concentrated by density gradient centrifugation. After starvation to decrease intracellular PHB stores, bacteria were nutritionally augmented to promote PHB biosynthesis while being exposed to either MNMs (TiO2 or Ag) or to Ag salts (each at a concentration of 5 mg L-1). Cellular PHB concentration and PhyloChip community composition were analyzed. The final bacterial community composition differed from activated sludge, demonstrating that laboratory enrichment was selective. Still, PHB was synthesized to near-activated sludge levels. Ag salts altered final bacterial communities, although MNMs did not. PHB biosynthesis was diminished with Ag (salt or MNMs), indicating the potential for Ag-MNMs to physiologically impact EBPR through the effects of dissolved Ag ions on PHB producers.
Project description:Clostridium ljungdahlii not only utilizes CO, but also H2 as energy source during autotrophic growth. In theory, CO is a more energetically and thermodynamically favourable energy source than H2 in the gas fermentation of C. ljungdahlii. However, how C. ljungdahlii conserves energy for growth and ethanol/acetate formation grown on CO or CO2/H2 is not in great detail. In this study, C. ljungdahlii was fermented on CO and CO2/ H2 at pH 6.0 with 0.1 MPa gas pressure. C. ljungdahlii produced 27 g/L acetate, 9 g/L ethanol, 8 g/L 2,3-butanediol and traces of lactate in the presence of CO as energy source, while it produced 25.8 0.1 g/L acetate, 1.8 0.1 g/L ethanol, 0.7 0.01g/L 2,3-butanediol and trances of lactate in the same fermentation condition using H2 as energy source. Therefore, comparative transcriptomes between cells grown on CO and cells grown on H2/CO2 were performed to investigate gene expression profiles based on three biological replicates.
Project description:The yeast Dekkera bruxellensis is as ethanol tolerant as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and may be found in bottled wine. It causes the spoilage of wine, beer, cider and soft drinks. In wines, the metabolic products responsible for spoilage by Dekkera bruxellensis are mainly volatile phenols. These chemical compounds are responsible for the taints described as M-bM-^@M-^XM-bM-^@M-^XmedicinalM-bM-^@M-^YM-bM-^@M-^Y in white wines (due to vinyl phenols) and as M-bM-^@M-^XM-bM-^@M-^XleatherM-bM-^@M-^YM-bM-^@M-^Y, M-bM-^@M-^XM-bM-^@M-^Xhorse sweatM-bM-^@M-^YM-bM-^@M-^Y and M-bM-^@M-^XM-bM-^@M-^XstableM-bM-^@M-^YM-bM-^@M-^Y in red wines (due to ethyl phenols mainly 4-ethylphenol). Apart from the negative aroma nuances imparted by these yeasts, positive aromas such as M-bM-^@M-^XsmokyM-bM-^@M-^Y, M-bM-^@M-^XspicyM-bM-^@M-^Y and M-bM-^@M-^XtoffeeM-bM-^@M-^Y are also cited. Our goal was to identify the impact that the wine spoilage yeast Dekkera bruxellensis has on fermenting S. cerevisiae cells, especially on its gene expression level. To this end we co-inoculated both yeast species at the start of fermentation in a synthetic wine must, using S. cerevisiae-only fermentations without Dekkera bruxellensis as a control. All fermentations were employed in special membrane reactors (50 KDa pore size cut-off) physically separating Dekkera bruxellensis from wine yeast S. cerevisiae. Biomass separation with this membrane was done to abolish the possibility of hybridizing also D. bruxellensis probes on Agilent V2 (8x15K format) G4813 DNA microarrays designed just for S. cerevisiae ORF targets. The 50 KDa pore membrane separating both yeasts allowed the exchange of ethanol, metabolites and sugars during the fermentation. Fermentations were carried out in synthetic wine must in duplicate for both the control S. cerevisiae (strain Lalvin EC1118) and mixed fermentation. Sampling of yeast S. cerevisiae for RNA extractions were performed at 22 h of fermentation, during the exponential growth phase of S. cerevisiae, at 92 h and 144 h of fermentation, during its early and late stationary growth phase and at 187 h of fermentation, during its phase of growth decline.
Project description:The xylose fermentation rate during xylose consumption phase after glucose depleted in glucose-xylose co-fermentation (defined as GX stage) was much lower than that when xylose was the sole carbon source (defined as X stage). BSGX001 and XH7 are two engineered strains that have the xylose-utilizing capacity. Here,we investigate the transcriptional differences between GX stage and X stage of BSGX001 and XH7, respectively.