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The influence of fire regimes on soil microbial diversity in montane grasslands is a relatively unexplored area of interest. Understanding the belowground diversity is a crucial stepping-stone toward unravelling community dynamics, nutrient sequestration, and overall ecosystem stability. In this study, metabarcoding was used to unravel the impact of fire disturbance regimes on bacterial and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community structures in South African montane grasslands that have been subjected to an intermediate (up to five years) term experimental fire-return interval gradient. Bacterial communities in this study exhibited a shift in composition in soils subjected to annual and biennial fires compared to the controls, with carbon and nitrogen identified as significant potential chemical drivers of bacterial communities. Shifts in relative abundances of dominant fungal operational taxonomic units were noted, with Glomeromycota as the dominant arbuscular mycorrhiza observed across the fire-return gradient. A reduction in mycorrhizal root colonisation was also observed in frequently burnt autumnal grassland plots in this study. Furthermore, evidence of significant mutualistic interactions between bacteria and fungi that may act as drivers of the observed community structure were detected. Through this pilot study, we can show that fire regime strongly impacts bacterial and fungal communities in southern African montane grasslands, and that changes to their usually resilient structure are mediated by seasonal burn patterns, chemical drivers, and mutualistic interactions between these two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the feeding behaviour (particularly gut fullness and evacuation, preying on rotifers and feeding preference in the water column) of the calanoid copepod, Pseudodiaptomus hessei, as a potential live feed species for aquaculture. Fed and starved, male and female P. hessei were fed rotifers (Brachionus plicatilis) in the presence and absence of microalgae for 24 hr. Starved copepods consumed more rotifers (11.31 ± 1.01, individual rotifers) than fed (8.06 ± 1.01, individual rotifers) while the number of rotifers consumed in the presence of microalgae was similar when fed or starved. Gut fullness and evacuation was determined by feeding copepods two different cell size microalgae species (Tetraselmis suecica and Isochrysis galbana). Gut fullness and evacuation percentage were observed under the dissecting microscope (as 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%). Copepods fed on T. suecica (large cell) filled their guts more rapidly, while those fed on I. galbana (small cell) evacuated their guts faster. Feeding preference was determined using a multifactorial experiment where copepods were fed two microalgae species, T. suecica and I. galbana, each presented as benthic and planktonic food sources. P. hessei preferred to feed on planktonic microalgae first regardless of microalgae choice species for ±80 min, before shifting to benthic food source. This information can be used as baseline information for aquaculturists to rear the species as live feed for marine fish larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocatalytic conversion of 5-substituted hydantoin derivatives is an efficient method for the production of unnatural enantiomerically pure amino acids. The enzymes required to carry out this hydrolysis occur in a wide variety of eubacterial species each of which exhibit variations in substrate selectivity, enantiospecificity, and catalytic efficiency. Screening of the natural environment for bacterial strains capable of utilizing hydantoin as a nutrient source (as opposed to rational protein design of known enzymes) is a cost-effective and valuable approach for isolating microbial species with novel hydantoin-hydrolysing enzyme systems. Once candidate microbial isolates have been identified, characterization and optimization of the activity of target enzyme systems can be achieved by subjecting the hydantoin-hydrolysing system to physicochemical manipulations aimed at the enzymes activity within the natural host cells, expressed in a heterologous host, or as purified enzymes. The latter two options require knowledge of the genes encoding for the hydantoin-hydrolysing enzymes. This chapter describes the methods that can be used in conducting such development of hydantoinase-based biocatalytic routes for production of target amino acids.