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The efficiency of volatile fatty acid (VFA) production in a thermophilic aerobic digester (TAD) process using primary sludge was studied under two oxygenation states and detentions times ranging from 12 to 24 hours. The highest VFA concentration increase occurred in the 18 hour anaerobic aerated digester (O2 flow rate: 0.025 m3/m37h; ORP: less than -300 mV) from 0.047 mg HAc/mgVSS in the feed to 0.106 mg HAc/mg VSS in the effluent. The anoxic condition (O2 flow rate: 0.14 m3/m37h; ORP: between 0 to -225 mV) resulted in VFA utilisation and a final concentration of only 0.001 mg HAc/mg VSS. Under the anaerobic aerated condition, acetic acid constituted the largest fraction of short chain volatile fatty acids at an average of 60.4% and propionic trailedat 19.3%. The fraction of butyric and valeric acids were 12.2% and 8.1% respectively. It was found that with a decreasing oxygen supply and a decreasing detention time (HRT), the soluble organic carbon to ammonia ratio (SOC:NH3) increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arabidopsis thaliana ribosomal protein (r-protein) RPL23A-1 shows 54% amino acid sequence identity to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae equivalent r-protein, L25. AtRPL23A-1 also shows high amino acid sequence identity to members of the L23/L25 r-protein family in other species. R-protein L25 in S. cerevisiae has been identified as a primary rRNA-binding protein that directly binds to a specific site on yeast 26S rRNA. It is translocated to the nucleolus where it binds to 26S rRNA during early large ribosome subunit assembly; this binding is thought to play an important role in ribosome assembly. The S. cerevisiae mutant strain YCR61 expresses L25 when grown on galactose, but not glucose, medium. Transformation of YCR61 with a shuttle vector containing the AtRPL23A-1 cDNA allowed transformed colonies to grow in and on glucose selection medium. R-protein AtRPL23A-1 can complement the L25 mutation, demonstrating the functional equivalence of the two r-proteins and introducing AtRPL23A-1 as the first plant member of the L23/L25 r-protein family.