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Endophytic strains belonging to the Bacillus cereus group were isolated from the halophytes Atriplex halimus L. (Amaranthaceae) and Tamarix aphylla L. (Tamaricaceae) from costal and continental regions in Algeria. Based on their salt tolerance (up to 5%), the strains were tested for their ability to alleviate salt stress in tomato and wheat. Bacillus sp. strain BH32 showed the highest potential to reduce salinity stress (up to + 50% and + 58% of dry weight improvement, in tomato and wheat, respectively, compared to the control). To determine putative mechanisms involved in salt tolerance and plant growth promotion, the whole genome of Bacillus sp. BH32 was sequenced, annotated, and used for comparative genomics against the genomes of closely related strains. The pangenome of Bacillus sp. BH32 and its closest relative was further analyzed. The phylogenomic analyses confirmed its taxonomic position, a member of the Bacillus cereus group, with intergenomic distances (GBDP analysis) pinpointing to a new taxon (digital DNA-DNA hybridization, dDDH 70%). Genome mining unveiled several genes involved in stress tolerance, production of anti-oxidants and genes involved in plant growth promotion as well as in the production of secondary metabolites. KEY POINTS : • Bacillus sp. BH32 and other bacterial endophytes were isolated from halophytes, to be tested on tomato and wheat and to limit salt stress adverse effects. • The strain with the highest potential was then studied at the genomic level to highlight numerous genes linked to plant growth promotion and stress tolerance. • Pangenome approaches suggest that the strain belongs to a new taxon within the Bacillus cereus group.

In this paper we employ a lifecycle model that uses utility of consumption and bequest to determine an optimal Deferred Income Annuity (DIA) purchase policy. We lay out a mathematical framework to formalize the optimization process. The method and implementation of the optimization is explained, and the results are then analyzed. We extend our model to control for asset allocation and show how the purchase policy changes when one is allowed to vary asset allocation. Our results indicate that(i) refundable DIAs are less appealing than non-refundable DIAs because of the loss of mortality credits; (ii) the DIA allocation region is larger under the fixed asset allocation strategy due to it becoming a proxy for fixed-income allocation; and (iii) when the investor is allowed to change asset-allocation, DIA allocation becomes less appealing. However, a case for higher DIA allocation can be made for those individuals who perceive their longevity to be higher than the population.

Lignosulfonate-based bioactive coatings as soil improvers for lawns were developed using laccase as a biocatalyst. Incorporation of glycerol, xylitol and sorbitol as plasticizers considerably reduced the brittleness of the synthesized coatings of marine carbonate granules while thermal enzyme inactivation at 100 °C enabled the production of stable coatings. Heat inactivation produced stable coatings with a molecular weight of 2000 kDa and a viscosity of 4.5 × 10−3 Pas. The desired plasticity for the spray coating of soil improver granules was achieved by the addition of 2.7% of xylitol. Agriculture beneficial microorganisms (four different Bacillus species) were integrated into the coatings. The stable coatings protected the marine calcium carbonate granules, maintained the viability of the microorganisms and showed no toxic effects on the germination and growth of model plants including corn, wheat, salad, and tomato despite a slight delay in germination. Moreover, the coatings reduced the dust formation of soil improvers by 70%. CO2 emission analysis showed potential for the reduction of up to 3.4 kg CO2-eq. kg−1 product, making it a viable alternative to fossil-based coatings.

The 2019 SECURE Act provides safe harbor protections to employers who evaluate the costs of providing guaranteed income including gathering information on competing providers. Annuities can be more difficult to evaluate than mutual funds because annuity expenses can be opaque, financial strength matters, and insurer competitiveness can change over time. We find significant variation in the payout rates across providers over time. While the payout rankings of annuity companies (e.g., best to worst) are fairly sticky over the short-term, over the full period of the analysis the correlation declines effectively to zero (versus the initial rankings). This suggests individuals or institutions who choose a single annuity provider based on income payout should revisit the decision regularly to ensure the quotes are still competitive. Companies for which immediate annuities are a higher fraction of total sales tend to rank higher and remain so more persistently over time.

Cyclic lipopeptides (cLP) and especially surfactins produced by Bacillus spp. trigger biofilm formation and root colonization and are crucial for biocontrol activity and systemic resistance in plants. Bacillus atrophaeus 176s isolated from the moss Tortella tortuosa produces the cLP fengycins, iturins and surfactins, possesses antifungal activities and can protect tomato, lettuce and sugar beet against Rhizoctonia solani infection. In B. atrophaeus we identified for the first time the variant surfactin C, which differs from surfactin A produced by B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens by an isoleucine instead of a leucine at position 7 of the lipopeptide backbone. The analysis of the complete surfactin gene clusters revealed that the dissimilarity is encoded in the adenylation domain of srfC and show that surfactin variations are distributed in a species-specific manner in bacilli. We demonstrate that the surfactin A and C with subtle structural differences have varying signal strengths on biofilm formation and root colonization and act specifically on the respective producing strain. This became evident as biofilm formation and root colonization but not swarming motility in surfactin biosynthesis mutants was restored differentially in the presence of exogenously supplemented cognate and non-cognate surfactin variants.

The paper is based on an analysis of companies and entrepreneurs who have made business (performed their activity) in the period of 2010-2014. We also analyzed the number of entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises, number of employees, gross social value, exports, imports, number of importers and exporters. The aim of the paper is the projection of macroeconomic indicators by 2025 in the Republic of Serbia, with emphasis put onto improvement of business conditions with the aim of Serbian economy growth. The result of the research should show that the macroeconomic projections in the SME sector are on the path of recovery and growth, but they are conditional on the quality of fiscal policy, reforms implementation pace, financial incentives, and creating an environment whose ultimate goal would be strengthening of the private sector and creating even favorable business conditions.

Porous electrochemical supercapacitive materials, as an important type of new-generation energy storage devices, require detailed analysis and knowledge of their capacitive performances under different charging/discharging regimes. An investigation of the responses to dynamic perturbations of typical representatives, noble metal oxides, carbonaceous materials and RuO2-impregnated carbon blacks, by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is presented. This presentation follows a brief description of supercapacitive behavior and origin of pseudo-capacitive response of noble metal oxides. For all the investigated materials, the electrical charging/discharging equivalent of the EIS response was found to obey the transmission line model envisaged as a so-called 'resistor/capacitor (RC) ladder'. The ladder features are correlated to material physicochemical properties, its composition and the composition of the electrolyte. Fitting of the EIS data of different supercapacitive materials to appropriate RC ladders enables in-depth profiling of the capacitance and pore resistance of their porous thin-layers and finally the complete revelation of capacitive energy storage issues. . Istraživanja poroznih elektrohemijskih superkondenzatorskih materijala, kao važne vrste uređaja za skladištenje energije nove generacije, zahtevaju detaljnu analizu i poznavanje njihovih kondenzatorskih odlika pri različitim režimima punjenje/pražnjenje. Prikazani su rezultati ovih istraživanja, u formi odgovora na dinamičku pobudu, tipičnih predstavnika ovih materijala: oksida plemenitih metala, ugljeničnih materijala i ugljeničnih prahova impregniranih oksidom rutenijuma, koji su dobijeni spektroskopijom elektrohemijske impedancije (SEI). Ovom prikazu predhodi sažet opis superkondenzatorskog ponašanja i porekla pseudokondenzatorkog odgovora oksida plemenitih metala. Električni ekvivalent pri punjenju/pražnjenju svih ispitivanih materijala odgovara modelu transmisione linije predstavljene tzv. 'otpornik/kondezator (RC) lestvicom'. Odlike lestvice su korelisane sa fizičko-hemijskim svojstvima materijala, njihovim sastavom, kao i sa sastavom elektrolita. Usklađivanje SEI podataka različitih superkondenzatorskih materijala sa odgovarajućom RC lestvicom omogućava analizu raspodele kapacitivnosti i otpornosti u porama kroz tanki porozni sloj materijala i konačno rasvetljavanje odlika superkondenzatorskog tipa skladištenja energije. .

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an important staple crop worldwide, it has been cultivated in the Andean Altiplano under low-input farming practices at high altitudes and under harsh environment for centuries. We analyzed secondary metabolite (SM) gene diversity encoded in the potato rhizosphere microbiome during plant growth at three distinct sites located in the Andes at high altitudes by 454-pyrosequencing of non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide biosynthetic genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the majority of rhizosphere SM-encoding sequences differed from previously known sequences and may have distinct ancestors. In particular, actinobacterial methyl-malonyl-CoA transferase and acyl carrier protein from Firmicutes, both involved in the synthesis of SMs, showed widespread distribution of clades which were clearly distinct from sequences deposited in public databases, and only 11% of these sequences could be linked to the production of specific classes of SMs. Although the same cultivar was analyzed, SM gene composition radically differed among plant growth stages and across sites, suggesting a distinct repertoire of SM genes that likely encode diverse SM structures. Also, great diversity of non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide biosynthetic pathways in potato-associated microbiomes in the Andean highlands may represent a rich source of novel natural products.

Cyclic lipopeptides (cLP) and especially surfactins produced by Bacillus spp. trigger biofilm formation and root colonization and are crucial for biocontrol activity and systemic resistance in plants. Bacillus atrophaeus 176s isolated from the moss Tortella tortuosa produces the cLP fengycins, iturins and surfactins, possesses antifungal activities and can protect tomato, lettuce and sugar beet against Rhizoctonia solani infection. In B. atrophaeus we identified for the first time the variant surfactin C, which differs from surfactin A produced by B. subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens by an isoleucine instead of a leucine at position 7 of the lipopeptide backbone. The analysis of the complete surfactin gene clusters revealed that the dissimilarity is encoded in the adenylation domain of srfC and show that surfactin variations are distributed in a species-specific manner in bacilli. We demonstrate that the surfactin A and C with subtle structural differences have varying signal strengths on biofilm formation and root colonization and act specifically on the respective producing strain. This became evident as biofilm formation and root colonization but not swarming motility in surfactin biosynthesis mutants was restored differentially in the presence of exogenously supplemented cognate and non-cognate surfactin variants.

We report here the draft genome sequence of Paenibacillus polymyxa strain CCI-25, which displays strong antifungal and antibacterial activities in vitro . The genome encompasses nonribosomal peptide synthetases predicted to encode a tridecaptin, polymyxin, fusaricidin, an iturin-like synthetase, a lantibiotic similar to paenicidin A, as well as a type 1 polyketide synthase.

The properties of activated titanium anodes, RuO2-TiO2/Ti and RuO2--TiO2-IrO2/Ti, prepared from oxide sols by the sol-gel procedure, are reviewed. RuO2 and TiO2 sols were synthesized by forced hydrolysis of the corresponding chlorides in acid medium. The morphology of the prepared sols was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The chemical composition of the RuO2 sol was determined by X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The loss of electrocatalytic activity of a RuO2-TiO2/Ti anode during an accelerated stability test was investigated by examination of the changes in the electrochemical characteristics in the potential region of the chlorine and oxygen evolution reaction, as well as on the open circuit potential. These electrochemical characteristics were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization measurements. The changes in electrochemical characteristics of the anode prepared by the sol-gel procedure were compared to the changes registered for an anode prepared by the traditional thermal decomposition of metal chlorides. The comparison indicated that the main cause for the activity loss of the sol-gel prepared anode was the electrochemical dissolution of RuO2, while in the case of thermally prepared anode the loss was mainly caused by the formation of an insulating TiO2 layer in the coating/Ti substrate interphase. The results of an accelerated stability test on RuO2-TiO2/Ti and RuO2--TiO2-IrO2/Ti anodes showed that the ternary coating is considerably more stable than the binary one, which is the consequence of the greater stability of IrO2 in comparison to RuO2. U radu je dat je pregled svojstava aktiviranih titanskih anoda, RuO2-TiO2/Ti i RuO2--TiO2-IrO2/Ti, dobijenih sol-gel postupkom od neorganskih oksidnih solova. RuO2 i TiO2 solovi dobijeni su forsiranom hidrolizom odgovarajućih hlorida metala u kiseloj sredini. Morfologija dobijenih solova ispitivana je transmisionom elektronskom mikroskopijom. Hemijski sastav RuO2 sola ispitivan je difrakcijom x-zraka i termogravimetrijskom analizom. Mehanizam gubitka elektrokatalitičke aktivnosti RuO2-TiO2/Ti anoda ispitivan je praćenjem promena elektrohemijskih svojstava anode u reakcijama izdvajanja hlora i kiseonika, kao i na potencijalu otvorenog kola, tokom degradacije anode. Ove elektro-hemijske karakteristike anode ispitivane su metodama ciklične voltametrije, spektroskopije elektrohemijske impedancije i polarizacionim merenjima. Promene u elektrohemijskim svojstvima anode dobijene sol-gel postupkom poređene su sa promenama koje su registrovane za RuO2-TiO2/Ti anodu dobijenu tradicionalnim postupkom termičke razgradnje hlorida metala. Na osnovu ovih ispitivanja proizilazi da je osnovni uzrok gubitka elektrokatalitičke aktivnosti anode dobijene sol-gel postupkom elektrohemijsko rastvaranje RuO2, dok je uzrok degradacije anode dobijene termičkom razgradnjom rast neprovodnog TiO2 sloja u međufazi prevlaka/titanska podloga. Rezultati ubrzanog testa stabilnosti RuO2-TiO2/Ti i RuO2-TiO2-IrO2/Ti anode pokazuju da je trojna prevlaka znatno stabilnija od dvojne, zbog veće stabilnosti oksida iridijuma u poređenju sa oksidom rutenijuma.

In skeletal muscle, the cytolinker plectin is prominently expressed at Z-disks and the sarcolemma. Alternative splicing of plectin transcripts gives rise to more than eight protein isoforms differing only in small N-terminal sequences (5–180 residues), four of which (plectins 1, 1b, 1d, and 1f) are found at substantial levels in muscle tissue. Using plectin isoform–specific antibodies and isoform expression constructs, we show the differential regulation of plectin isoforms during myotube differentiation and their localization to different compartments of muscle fibers, identifying plectins 1 and 1f as sarcolemma-associated isoforms, whereas plectin 1d localizes exclusively to Z-disks. Coimmunoprecipitation and in vitro binding assays using recombinant protein fragments revealed the direct binding of plectin to dystrophin (utrophin) and β-dystroglycan, the key components of the dystrophin–glycoprotein complex. We propose a model in which plectin acts as a universal mediator of desmin intermediate filament anchorage at the sarcolemma and Z-disks. It also explains the plectin phenotype observed in dystrophic skeletal muscle of mdx mice and Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients.

Historical review and actual situation of metallurgy at Kosovo and Metohija has been presented in this paper. That region is known by metallurgical production of ferrous and nonferrous precious metals from ancient times to nowadays. By the end of twentieth century, the production of ferronickel started. The destruction of Yugoslavia and wars during nineties caused the stop of production. Beside the presence of the international forces in the last six years, there was no renewal of metallurgical production.

A mathematical model has been set up for current efficiency in a chlorate cell acting as an ideal electrochemical tubular reactor with a linear increase in hypochlorite concentration from the entrance to the exit. Good agreement was found between the results on current efficiency experimentally obtained under simulated industrial chlorate production conditions and the theoretical values provided by the mathematical model. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 172057 i br. 172062]

Plectin, a major linker and scaffolding protein of the cytoskeleton, has been shown to be essential for the mechanical integrity of skin, skeletal muscle, and heart. Studying fibroblast and astroglial cell cultures derived from plectin (−/−) mice, we found that their actin cytoskeleton, including focal adhesion contacts, was developed more extensively than in wild-type cells. Also it failed to show characteristic short-term rearrangments in response to extracellular stimuli activating the Rho/Rac/Cdc42 signaling cascades. As a consequence, cell motility, adherence, and shear stress resistance were altered, and morphogenic processes were delayed. Furthermore, we show that plectin interacts with G-actin in vitro in a phosphatidylinositol-4,5-biphosphate-dependent manner and associates with actin stress fibers in living cells. The actin stress fiber phenotype of plectin-deficient fibroblasts could be reversed to a large degree by transient transfection of full-length plectin or plectin fragments containing the amino-terminal actin-binding domain (ABD). These results reveal a novel role of plectin as regulator of cellular processes involving actin filament dynamics that goes beyond its proposed role in scaffolding and mechanical stabilization of cells.

We have generated a series of plectin deletion and mutagenized cDNA constructs to dissect the functional sequences that mediate plectin's interaction with intermediate filament (IF) networks, and scored their ability to coalign or disrupt intermediate filaments when ectopically expressed in rat kangaroo PtK2 cells. We show that a stretch of approximately 50 amino acid residues within plectin's carboxy-terminal repeat 5 domain serves as a unique binding site for both vimentin and cytokeratin IF networks of PtK2 cells. Part of the IF-binding domain was found to constitute a functional nuclear localization signal (NLS) motif, as demonstrated by nuclear import of cytoplasmic proteins linked to this sequence. Site directed mutagenesis revealed a specific cluster of four basic amino acid residues (arg4277-arg4280) residing within the NLS sequence motif to be essential for IF binding. When mutant proteins corresponding to those expressed in PtK2 cells were expressed in bacteria and purified proteins subjected to a sensitive quantitative overlay binding assay using Eu3+-labeled vimentin, the relative binding capacities of mutant proteins measured were fully consistent with the mutant's phenotypes observed in living cells. Using recombinant proteins we also show by negative staining and rotary shadowing electron microscopy that in vitro assembled vimentin intermediate filaments become packed into dense aggregates upon incubation with plectin repeat 5 domain, in contrast to repeat 4 domain or a mutated repeat 5 domain.

Deamination of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) is a key plant-beneficial trait found in many plant growth-promoting bacteria. In this study, we analysed ACC deaminase genes (acdS) of bacterial endophytes colonizing field-grown potato plants. PCR analysis revealed the presence of two types of acdS genes, the dominant one showing high homology to an acdS gene derived from Pseudomonas fluorescens. Construction, functional screening and sequence analysis of metagenomic libraries revealed clones containing the acdS gene identified in the PCR library. Sequence analysis of one metagenomic clone identified the entire acdS operon of an uncultivated endophyte and revealed that the acdS gene is coupled upstream with an acdR transcriptional regulator gene as previously found in P. putida strain UW4 (Grichko and Glick 2000). However, in-silico analysis of 195 fully sequenced, acdS-containing bacterial genomes revealed that the majority of strains, including numerous strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, do not contain an acdR regulatory gene in the vicinity of the acdS gene or elsewhere in the genome. The acdR (+)-acdS (+) operon was exclusively found in several Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria most prominently in the genus Burkholderia.

In order to understand the role of TiO2 in the deactivation mechanism of an active RuO2–TiO2 coating, an additional TiO2 layer was introduced in the support coating interphase of regular Ti//[RuO2–TiO2 anode in one case and on the surface of the coating in the other. The electrochemical behavior of these, with TiO2 enriched, anodes was compared with the behavior of anodes with regular RuO2–TiO2 coatings, which were subjected to an accelerated stability test. A high-frequency semicircle in the complex plane plot obtained by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, for a regular RuO2–TiO2 coating corresponds to TiO2 enrichment in the coating as a consequence of anode corrosion. In the case of the coatings with additional TiO2 layers, a high-frequency semicircle was not observed. The additional TiO2 layers increase the coating overall resistance and influence the coating impedance behavior at low frequencies. Similar equivalent electrical circuits were used to analyze the impedance behavior of coatings having an additional TiO2 layer at different position within RuO2–TiO2 coating. U cilju ispitivanja uloge titan-oksida u deaktivaciji RuO2–TiO2 prevlake na titanskoj podlozi, ispitivane su osobine anoda sa dodatnim slojem TiO2 u međufazi podloga prevlaka, odnosno na površini prevlake. Elektrohemijsko ponašanje ovih upoređeno je sa ponašanjem anoda sa uobičajenom RuO2–TiO2 prevlakom, kao i sa onima koje su bile podvrgnute ubrzanom testu stabilnosti. Pojava polukruga u visoko-frekventnoj oblasti u dijagramima u kompleksnoj ravni, koja je registrovana spektroskopijom elektrohemijske impedancije za uobičajene RuO2–TiO2 prevlake, a koja je posledica obogaćivanja prevlake sa TiO2 tokom njene deaktivacije, nije uočena kod anoda sa dodatim TiO2 slojem. Dodati TiO2 slojevi povećavaju omsku otpornost prevlake i utiču na impedancijsko ponašanje pri niskim frekvencijama. Za analizu impedancijskog ponašanja prevlaka sa dodatim TiO2 slojevima kao i uobičajenih RuO2–TiO2 prevlaka koje su deaktivirane korišćena su slična ekvivalentna električna kola.

Plectin, the largest and most versatile member of the cytolinker/plakin family of proteins characterized to date, has a tripartite structure comprising a central 200 nm-long (α)-helical rod domain flanked by large globular domains. The C-terminal domain comprises a short tail region preceded by six highly conserved repeats (each 28–39 kDa), one of which (repeat 5) contains plectin's intermediate filament (IF)-binding site. We used recombinant and native proteins to assess the effects of plectin repeat 5-binding to IF proteins of different types. Quantitative Eu(3+)-based overlay assays showed that plectin's repeat 5 domain bound to type III IF proteins (vimentin) with preference over type I and II cytokeratins 5 and 14. The ability of both types of IF proteins to self-assemble into filaments in vitro was impaired by plectin's repeat 5 domain in a concentration-dependent manner, as revealed by negative staining and rotary shadowing electron microscopy. This effect was much more pronounced in the case of vimentin compared to cytokeratins 5/14. Preassembled filaments of both types became more and more crosslinked upon incubation with increasing concentrations of plectin repeat 5. However, at high proportions of plectin to IF proteins, disassembly of filaments occurred. Again, vimentin filaments proved considerably more sensitive towards disassembly than those composed of cytokeratins 5 and 14. In general, IFs formed from recombinant proteins were found to be slightly more responsive towards plectin influences than their native counterparts. A dose-dependent plectin-inflicted collapse and putative disruption of IFs was also observed in vivo after ectopic expression of vimentin and plectin's repeat 5 domain in cotransfected vimentin-deficient SW13 (vim(-)) cells. Our results suggest an involvement of plectin not only in crosslinking and stabilization of cytoskeletal IF networks, but also in regulation of their dynamics.

The effect of formaldehyde on the oxidation of 2-propanol and vice versa on gold single crystal planes (100 and 111) was studied. An activating effect in the reaction of the simultaneous oxidation of 2-propanol and formaldehyde was obtained on a gold (100) plane. In the case of a gold (111) electrode, the activation effect was not obtained. It was concluded that the adsorption of formaldehyde on the electrode surface prevents the adsorption of poisoning species formed during the electro-oxidation of 2-propanol on the Au(100) plane, while this is not the case on the Au(111) plane. The different behavior is caused by the difference in the symmetry of the surface atoms of these two Au single crystal planes. . Ispitivan je uticaj formaldehida na oksidaciju 2-propanola i vice versa na monokristalima zlata orijentacija (100) i (111). U reakciji simultane oksidacije 2-propanola i formaldehida na monokristalu zlata orijentacije (100) dobijen je aktivacioni efekat. Ovaj efekat nije dobijen na elektrodi od zlata orijentacije (111). Zaključeno je da prisustvo adsorbovanog formaldehida onemogućava adsorpciju čvrsto vezanih intermedijera formiranih tokom elektrooksidacije 2-propanola, koji se ponašaju kao otrovi za elektrodu, na ravni (100). Ovo nije slučaj na ravni (111). Različito ponašanje je uzrokovano razlikama u simetriji i energijama površinskih atoma na ove dve monokristalne ravni. .

Lignosulfonate-based bioactive coatings as soil improvers for lawns were developed using laccase as a biocatalyst. Incorporation of glycerol, xylitol and sorbitol as plasticizers considerably reduced the brittleness of the synthesized coatings of marine carbonate granules while thermal enzyme inactivation at 100 °C enabled the production of stable coatings. Heat inactivation produced stable coatings with a molecular weight of 2000 kDa and a viscosity of 4.5 × 10−3 Pas. The desired plasticity for the spray coating of soil improver granules was achieved by the addition of 2.7% of xylitol. Agriculture beneficial microorganisms (four different Bacillus species) were integrated into the coatings. The stable coatings protected the marine calcium carbonate granules, maintained the viability of the microorganisms and showed no toxic effects on the germination and growth of model plants including corn, wheat, salad, and tomato despite a slight delay in germination. Moreover, the coatings reduced the dust formation of soil improvers by 70%. CO2 emission analysis showed potential for the reduction of up to 3.4 kg CO2-eq. kg−1 product, making it a viable alternative to fossil-based coatings.