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To obtain the deformation of the solid Earth from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-observed velocity field, the loading effect of the surface mass variations should be effectively deducted. However, the GNSS-observed velocity field in mainland China is currently limited only to the loading correction calculated using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spherical harmonic coefficients, which is equivalent to the approximately 300-km smoothed result in the spatial domain; thus, the derived tectonic deformation is inaccurate. Therefore, it is important to study and identify a reasonable method for calculating the loading effect of the surface mass change model and to carry out an effective loading correction of the GNSS velocity field. In this study, the performances of two calculation methods, namely the GRACE spherical harmonic coefficient and Green's function, were analyzed and compared. In addition, we constructed a comprehensive model of the global surface mass variations, calculated the vertical load velocity in mainland China using Green's function method and compared the results with those for the GRACE spherical harmonic products. We found that the difference between the results of the GRACE spherical harmonic coefficient and Green's function methods was more than 1 mm/yr in the North China Plain, implying that the GRACE spherical harmonic coefficient method cannot be used for loading correction of the observed GNSS vertical velocity field. In contrast, the loading effect calculated using Green's function method can be more effectively applied for loading correction of the GNSS vertical velocity field in mainland China. The GNSS-observed velocity exhibited a clear uplift in the North China Plain and the west glacier areas; however, the GNSS velocity fields were significantly reduced after the loading correction, indicating that the observed GNSS vertical velocity fields were mainly caused by the surface mass loading due to the negative correlation between the vertical load velocity and the surface mass changes. Moreover, we found that the loading correction accounted for more than 50 per cent of the GNSS vertical velocity field in most of the glaciated regions in eastern and western China, and the maximum value exceeded 300 per cent, indicating that the loading effect was large. Finally, we obtained the GNSS vertical velocity field for mainland China with a loading correction. Additionally, the spectral characteristics of the time-varying gravity field in mainland China were investigated. The results showed that clear annual, semi-annual and 10-year medium- and long-period signals exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As important chemical raw materials and potential nutritional supplements, microbial lipids play an important role in ensuring economic development, food security, and energy security. Compared with non-natural hosts, oleaginous yeasts exhibit obvious advantages in lipid yield and productivity and have great potential to be genetically engineered into an oil cell factory. The main bottleneck in the current oleaginous yeasts engineering is the lack of genetic manipulation tools. Fortunately, the rapid development of synthetic biology has provided numerous new approaches, resources, and ideas for the field. Most importantly, gene editing technology mediated by CRISPR/Cas systems has been successfully applied to some oleaginous yeasts, almost completely rewriting the development pattern of genetic manipulation technology applicable. This paper reviews recent progress in genetic technology with regard to oleaginous yeasts, with a special focus on transformation methods and genome editing tools, discussing the effects of some important genetic parts. Key points: •Contribution of microbiotechnology in food safety and biofuel by oleaginous yeasts. •Advancement of genetic manipulation and transformation for oleaginous yeasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The red yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides naturally produces microbial lipids and carotenoids. In the past decade or so, many studies demonstrated R. toruloides as a promising platform for lipid production owing to its diverse substrate appetites, robust stress resistance and other favorable features. Also, significant progresses have been made in genome sequencing, multi-omic analysis and genome-scale modeling, thus illuminating the molecular basis behind its physiology, metabolism and response to environmental stresses. At the same time, genetic parts and tools are continuously being developed to manipulate this distinctive organism. Engineered R. toruloides strains are emerging for enhanced production of conventional lipids, functional lipids as well as other interesting metabolites. This review updates those progresses and highlights future directions for advanced biotechnological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Butanol is an important bulk chemical, as well as a promising renewable gasoline substitute, that is commonly produced by solventogenic Clostridia. The main cost of cellulosic butanol fermentation is caused by cellulases that are required to saccharify lignocellulose, since solventogenic Clostridia cannot efficiently secrete cellulases. However, cellulolytic Clostridia can natively degrade lignocellulose and produce ethanol, acetate, butyrate and even butanol. Therefore, cellulolytic Clostridia offer an alternative to develop consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), which combines cellulase production, lignocellulose hydrolysis and co‐fermentation of hexose/pentose into butanol in one step. This review focuses on CBP advances for butanol production of cellulolytic Clostridia and various synthetic biotechnologies that drive these advances. Moreover, the efforts to optimize the CBP‐enabling cellulolytic Clostridia chassis are also discussed. These include the development of genetic tools, pentose metabolic engineering and the improvement of butanol tolerance. Designer cellulolytic Clostridia or consortium provide a promising approach and resource to accelerate future CBP for butanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ton-scale pilot solvents fermentation from sweet sorghum stalk juice is reported. • The minimal medium used contains only juice, industrial water, (NH 4) 2 SO 4 and CaCO 3. • A simple and reliable non-anaerobic inoculation method was developed and applied. • Solvents titer of pilot-scale fermentation is comparable to corn-based process. • 800 kg solvents were produced with a yield of 0.45 g/g in continuous fermentation. Solvent production from non-grain crops as the substrate via microbial fermentation has been projected to replace highly polluting and unsustainable chemical production methods in fossil oil refinery. Although a promising process pilot-scale studies, the prerequisite for production at industrial scale, are rare. This study reports a complete pilot test process using sweet sorghum stalk juice as feedstock, including the acquisition of sweet sorghum stalk juice, laboratory screening of suitable strains, optimization of industrial conditions, and a pilot-scale test at Yuanxing Bioenergy Co., ltd., China. Strain CIBT S0031 (Clostridium saccharobutylicum DSM13864) performed exceptionally in sweet sorghum stalk juice fermentation compared to other solventogenic clostridia tested. Furthermore, a simple and reliable non-anaerobic inoculation method applicable to extensive industrial solvent fermentation was developed. The optimal minimal medium was adapted for pilot scale fermentation, containing only sweet sorghum stalk juice diluted with industrial water, 1.5 g/L ammonium sulfate, and 1 g/L calcium carbonate. The solvent titers of single batch fermentation (2.36 m3), fed-batch (2.28 m3), and semi-continuous fermentation (7.14 m3) reached 16.5 g/L, 19.29 g/L, and 18.39 g/L, respectively, which replicated the laboratory results at the ton-scale. In the multi-stage process for continuous fermentation (total of 48.3 m3, chained with one breeding tank and three fermenters of 16 m3), 800 kg of solvents was produced with a yield of 0.45 g /g, comparable to corn-based fermentation. This study verified the effectiveness of the tested strain and the pilot process, thus laying a solid foundation for the large-scale production of solvents from a non-grain crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient fermentative production of solvents (acetone, n -butanol, and ethanol) from a lignocellulosic feedstock using a single process microorganism has yet to be demonstrated. Herein, we developed a consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) based on a twin-clostridial consortium composed of Clostridium cellulovorans and Clostridium beijerinckii capable of producing cellulosic butanol from alkali-extracted, deshelled corn cobs (AECC). To accomplish this a genetic system was developed for C. cellulovorans and used to knock out the genes encoding acetate kinase ( Clocel_1892 ) and lactate dehydrogenase ( Clocel_1533 ), and to overexpress the gene encoding butyrate kinase ( Clocel_3674 ), thereby pulling carbon flux towards butyrate production. In parallel, to enhance ethanol production, the expression of a putative hydrogenase gene ( Clocel_2243 ) was down-regulated using CRISPR interference (CRISPRi). Simultaneously, genes involved in organic acids reassimilation ( ctfAB, cbei_3833/3834 ) and pentose utilization ( xylR, cbei_2385 and xylT, cbei_0109 ) were engineered in C. beijerinckii to enhance solvent production. The engineered twin-clostridia consortium was shown to decompose 83.2 g/L of AECC and produce 22.1 g/L of solvents (4.25 g/L acetone, 11.5 g/L butanol and 6.37 g/L ethanol). This titer of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) approximates to that achieved from a starchy feedstock. The developed twin-clostridial consortium serves as a promising platform for ABE fermentation from lignocellulose by CBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solventogenic clostridia are native producers of ethanol and many higher alcohols employing a broad range of cheap renewable substrates, such as lignocellulosic materials and C1 gases (CO and CO 2 ). These characteristics enable solventogenic clostridia to act as flexible microbial platforms for the production of liquid biofuels. With the rapid development of genetic tools in recent years, the intrinsic intractability of clostridia has been largely overcome, thus, engineering clostridia for production of chemicals and fuels has attracted increasing interests. Here, we provide an overview of recent progress in the production of alcohols based on solventogenic clostridia. Saccharolytic, cellulolytic and gas-fermenting clostridia are discussed, with a special focus on strategies for metabolic engineering to enable and to improve clostridia for the production of higher alcohols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing concern on fossil fuels depletion and global environmental deterioration has recently renewed interest in butanol production from lignocellulose by acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation. Unfortunately, there was barely microorganism possessing the compound ability of lignocellulose decomposition and solvents production natively. Comparing with complicated genetic and metabolic engineering strategy to engineer native cellulolytic or solventogenic bacteria, mixed culture is a convenient and feasible approach for ABE fermentation by consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) from lignocellulose. But few communities of microorganisms succeeded in producing butanol of high titer or productivity without adding butyrate. Here a novel strategy for sequential co-culture of Clostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 and Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 was proposed to produce solvents efficiently in one pot reaction with alkali extracted corn cobs (AECC), a low-cost renewable feedstock, as the sole carbon source. In this strategy, soluble sugars accumulation by C. thermocellum hydrolyzing AECC was considered to be paramount for the CBP and was promoted considerably by contrast with previous co-culture studies. Under the combinatorial optimal culture parameters for sugars accumulation and ABE production, the CBP decomposed 88.9 g L −1 of AECC and manufactured ABE 19.9 g L −1 (acetone 3.96, butanol 10.9 and ethanol 5.04 g L −1 ) in 200 h without feeding butyrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-zero-dimensional quantum dots (QDs) have garnered significant attention owing to their distinct structural attributes, quantum confinement behaviors, optoelectronic characteristics, etc. Regrettably, their susceptibility to stability poses a challenge. In this context, leveraging rational component regulation and crystallization process optimization strategies, we presented the successful preparation of CdS QDs silicate glass through the amalgamation of melt-quenching and controlled crystallization. The optical and morphological analysis substantiated the accomplishment of in-situ precipitation of CdS QDs within the glass matrix, with grain sizes <20 nm. Integrating CdS QDs into an inorganic glass matrix remarkably augmented its fluorescence thermal stability, enabling the preservation of 85.1 % of the room-temperature luminescent intensity even at an elevated temperature of 150 °C. Moreover, the encapsulated W-LED device by near-UV LED chip, CdS QDs glass, and BaMgAl 10 O 17 :Eu2+ phosphor exhibited a warm white-light emission characterized by suitable chromaticity coordinates (0.3741, 0.3452) and a notably high color rendering index (CRI = 93). Ultimately, the radioluminescence behavior of CdS QDs glass was unveiled by utilizing it as the scintillator wafer in an X-ray imaging system, which clearly demonstrated the structure of spring encapsulated within an opaque capsule. In a nutshell, these demonstrations unequivocally emphasize the substantial potential merits of CdS QDs glass, particularly in the domains of long-term W-LED lighting and X-ray imaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An efficient electroporation protocol for C. diolis is developed. • Optimal electro-transformation efficiency is 692 transformants/ug DNA. • Heterologous genes are overexpressed in C. diolis for the first time. • The study paved the way for metabolic engineering of C. diolis. Clostridium diolis can efficiently utilize various inexpensive, renewable resources such as crude glycerol and lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate to produce bulk chemicals and fuels. However, its study has been impeded by the lack of efficient plasmids electro-transformation techniques. In this study, an efficient electroporation protocol for C. diolis was developed and two replicons functional in C. diolis were identified. After optimizing parameters, the electro-transformation efficiency was enhanced from 5 to 692 transformants/ug DNA. Moreover, metabolic engineering of C. diolis was performed as proof of concept for the first time. By simply overexpressing heterologous genes based on the replicable plasmids, the strain was engineered to improve productions of diol (1,3-propanediol) and n-alcohol (butanol), and to enable butyl acetate synthesis in vivo , respectively under different culture conditions. This work represented a milestone of breeding C. diolis using metabolic engineering, and paved the way for studying C. diolis on the molecular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has gained widespread application in food analysis, disease diagnosis, fingerprint analysis, and security monitoring. However, the lack of efficient, broadband NIR luminescent materials hinders the full potential of this technology. Here, an ultra-broadband and high-efficiency Cr3+-doped multi-phase glass-ceramics containing MgAl 2 O 4 , Al 2 SiO 5 , and SiO 2 nanocrystals was discovered, which exhibited an ultra-broadband NIR emission (λ em ∼ 900 nm) with a full width at half maximum more than 300 nm and a high internal quantum yield of 50.9% under the excitation of 465 nm blue light. Moreover, the integrated emission intensity at 100 °C and 150 °C can keep 88% and 77% of that at room temperature. The ultra-broadband, high efficiency, and thermally robust luminescence of this Cr3+-doped multi-phase glass-ceramics can be attributed to the selective enrichment of Cr3+ ions into different nanocrystals with octahedral sites, and medium electron-photon coupling effect. The NIR glass-ceramics-converted light-emitting diode constructed by the glass-ceramics combined with 465 blue LED chip produced an excellent NIR output and photoelectric conversion efficiency of 274 mW/1007 mW and 3.43%/2.79% at 100 mA/320 mA drive current, which demonstrated superior overall performance to the NIR device built by using the well-known NIR phosphors. Additionally, the NIR camera can capture the image of license plate and nectarine, as well as identify the residual drug content in the bottle under the irradiation of the NIR device constructed by the glass-ceramics. This work not only presented an ultra-broadband and high-efficiency NIR material but also highlights a design strategy to effectively enhance the efficiency and broadband characteristics of NIR glass-ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-butanol is an important chemical and can be naturally synthesized by Clostridium species; however, the poor n-butanol tolerance of Clostridium impedes the further improvement in titer. In this study, Lactobacillus brevis, which possesses a higher butanol tolerance, was selected as host for heterologous butanol production. The Clostridium acetobutylicum genes thl, hbd, and crt which encode thiolase, β-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, and crotonase, and the Treponema denticola gene ter, which encodes trans-enoyl-CoA reductase were cloned into a single plasmid to express the butanol synthesis pathway in L. brevis. A titer of 40 mg/L n-butanol was initially achieved with plasmid pLY15-opt, in which all pathway genes are codon-optimized. A titer of 450 mg/L of n-butanol was then synthesized when ter was further overexpressed in this pathway. The role of metabolic flux was reinforced with pLY15, in which only the ter gene was codon-optimized, which greatly increased the n-butanol titer to 817 mg/L. Our strategy significantly improved n-butanol synthesis in L. brevis and the final titer is the highest achieved amongst butanol-tolerant lactic acid bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phloroglucinol is an important chemical intermediate which has been tentatively produced by engineered bacteria. However, its biosynthesis in industry is limited due to its natural antibacterial activity. Our study firstly selected Yarrowia lipolytica as the chassis strain, which was verified to be tolerable to phloroglucinol. Then the gene of type III polyketone synthase PhlD (the key biosynthetic gene) was overexpressed to facilitate phloroglucinol production with a concentration of 107.4 mg/L. Furthermore, we introduced the prokaryotic nanocompartment to assist the intracellular catalytic activity. The results showed that the concentration of phloroglucinol was increased by about 2.5 times, indicating this multifunctional nanocompartment is orthogonal to the physiological activities of Y. lipolytica. Additionally, fermentations with xylose and lignocellulosic hydrolysates as the carbon source were performed with the engineered Y. lipolytica, resulting in a total concentration of 580.2 mg/L and 328.9 mg/L, respectively. These findings revealed the potential of Y. lipolytica in phloroglucinol production and provided an effective nanocompartment strategy to improve the catalytic activity of the enzyme for boosting phloroglucinol production. Key points: • The first time to select and use Y. lipolytica to produce phloroglucinol. • Successful construction of prokaryotic nanocompartment in Y. lipolytica to increase production of phloroglucinol. • Lignocellulose hydrolysate is used as a substrate in fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yarrowia lipolytica is categorized as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) organism and is a heavily documented, unconventional yeast that has been widely incorporated into multiple industrial fields to produce valuable biochemicals. This study describes the construction of a CRISPR-Cas9 system for genome editing in Y. lipolytica using a single plasmid (pCAS1yl or pCAS2yl) to transport Cas9 and relevant guide RNA expression cassettes, with or without donor DNA, to target genes. Two Cas9 target genes, TRP1 and PEX10, were repaired by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination, with maximal efficiencies in Y. lipolytica of 85.6 % for the wild-type strain and 94.1 % for the ku70/ ku80 double-deficient strain, within 4 days. Simultaneous double and triple multigene editing was achieved with pCAS1yl by NHEJ, with efficiencies of 36.7 or 19.3 %, respectively, and the pCASyl system was successfully expanded to different Y. lipolytica breeding strains. This timesaving method will enable and improve synthetic biology, metabolic engineering and functional genomic studies of Y. lipolytica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mandelic acid and its derivatives are an important class of chemical synthetic blocks, which is widely used in drug synthesis and stereochemistry research. In nature, mandelic acid degradation pathway has been widely identified and analysed as a representative pathway of aromatic compounds degradation. The most studied mandelic acid degradation pathway from Pseudomonas putida consists of mandelate racemase, S‐mandelate dehydrogenase, benzoylformate decarboxylase, benzaldehyde dehydrogenase and downstream benzoic acid degradation pathways. Because of the ability to catalyse various reactions of aromatic substrates, pathway enzymes have been widely used in biocatalysis, kinetic resolution, chiral compounds synthesis or construction of new metabolic pathways. In this paper, the physiological significance and the existing range of the mandelic acid degradation pathway were introduced first. Then each of the enzymes in the pathway is reviewed one by one, including the researches on enzymatic properties and the applications in biotechnology as well as efforts that have been made to modify the substrate specificity or improving catalytic activity by enzyme engineering to adapt different applications. The composition of the important metabolic pathway of bacterial mandelic acid degradation pathway as well as the researches and applications of pathway enzymes is summarized in this review for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mycogone perniciosa disease of Agaricus bisporus is highly contagious, with insignificant early symptoms and a long infestation period. Currently, there is a lack of a convenient and rapid means to detect the disease for early control. By using the transmission route of the disease, this paper focuses on M. perniciosa chlamydospore detection in contaminated soil. Microscopic hyperspectral images of M. perniciosa chlamydospore in contaminated soil were obtained to establish a detection model. Given a small target and a complex background, we proposed an improved spore detection model based on a faster regional convolutional neural network (Faster R-CNN). Furthermore, we combined the residual network Resnet50 and feature pyramid network (FPN) to extract thick spore target features at multiple scales. Meanwhile, we optimized the region proposal network (RPN) region proposal generation by adding two small scales to improve the performance of the detection model. The first three principal components (with 95% or more information) and RGB images were selected as model inputs, respectively, and the final average precision (AP) was 94.68% and 92.35%, respectively. This PC-based model also was compared to the VGG16 and Resnet50-based feature extraction networks of Faster R-CNN and Darknet53-based feature extraction network of the YOLOv3 model, and the AP was found to improve by 5.41%, 4.78%, and 6.34%, respectively. The results showed that micro-hyperspectral imaging combined with deep learning methods could accurately detect the chlamydospore in the soil, providing new methods and ideas for the early prevention and detection of M. perniciosa disease of A. bisporus. [Display omitted] • A new means of early warning of disease infection in A. bisporus cultivation. • Micro-hyperspectral imaging were combined with deep learning for target detection. • An improved spore detection model based on Faster-RCNN was proposed. • PCA images got from micro-hyperspectral images provide richer feature information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the roles of the bacteria in tumor development and progression is a rapidly emerging field. Increasing evidence links bacteria with the modification of the tumor immune microenvironment, which greatly influences the antitumor response. In view of the individual immune effects of various bacteria in various tumors, developing personalized bacteria-modulating therapy may be a key to successful antitumor treatment. This review emphasizes the critical role of the bacteria in immune regulation, including both the tumor bacteria and gut bacteria. Aiming at tumor-related bacteria, we focus on various precise modulation strategies and discuss their impact and potential for tumor suppression. Finally, engineered bacteria with tumor-targeting ability could achieve precise delivery of various payloads into tumors, acting as a precision tool. Therefore, a precise tumor-related bacteria therapy may be a promising approach to suppress the development of tumors, as well as an adjuvant therapy to improve the antitumor efficacy of other approaches. Key points: • The mini-review updates the knowledge on complex effect of bacteria in TME. • Insight into the interaction and adjustment of bacteria in gut for TME. • Prospects and limitations of bacteria-related personalized therapy in the clinical anticancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Adaptive evolution improved the aromatic aldehydes tolerance of Y. lipolytica. • The transcriptomics of the aromatic aldehydes tolerate strain was analyzed. • Two genes were confirmed as the key targets for detoxification in Y. lipolytica. • The first report on the aromatic aldehyde conversion in Y. lipolytica. Yarrowia lipolytica is an efficient oleaginous yeast, whereas its activity is typically reduced by inhibitors present in lignocellulosic hydrolysate. Understanding the response mechanism of Y. lipolytica to hydrolysate inhibitors and developing inhibitor tolerant strains are vital to lignocellulose valorization by this promising species. In this study, through adaptive laboratory evolution on three representative aromatic aldehyde inhibitors, evolved strains were obtained. Fermentation phenotype suggested that aromatic aldehydes conversion was one main reason for high tolerance of adapted strains. Transcriptome profiling analysis and reverse metabolic engineering confirmed that overexpressing the aldehyde ketone reductase gene YALI0_B07117g and aldehyde dehydrogenase gene YALI0_B01298g effectively converted aromatic aldehyde to corresponding alcohols and acids. The potential degradation pathways for aromatic aldehyde inhibitors in Y. lipolytica XYL+ were then discussed. This study provided insights to the aromatic aldehyde degradation in Y. lipolytica and a reliable basis for the development of aromatic aldehyde tolerant strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yarrowia lipolytica strain is a promising cell factory for the conversion of lignocellulose to biofuels and bioproducts. Despite the inherent robustness of this strain, further improvements to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors toxicity tolerance of Y. lipolytica are also required to achieve industrial application. Here, adaptive laboratory evolution was employed with increasing concentrations of ferulic acid. The adaptive laboratory evolution experiments led to evolve Y. lipolytica strain yl-XYL + *FA*4 with increased tolerance to ferulic acid as compared to the parental strain. Specifically, the evolved strain could tolerate 1.5 g/L ferulic acid, whereas 0.5 g/L ferulic acid could cause about 90% lethality of the parental strain. Transcriptome analysis of the evolved strain revealed several targets underlying toxicity tolerance enhancements. YALI0_E25201g, YALI0_F05984g, YALI0_B18854g, and YALI0_F16731g were among the highest upregulated genes, and the beneficial contributions of these genes were verified via reverse engineering. Recombinant strains with overexpressing each of these four genes obtained enhanced tolerance to ferulic acid as compared to the control strain. Fortunately, recombinant strains with overexpression of YALI0_E25201g, YALI0_B18854g, and YALI0_F16731g individually also obtained enhanced tolerance to vanillic acid. Overall, this work demonstrated a whole strain improvement cycle by "non-rational" metabolic engineering and presented new targets to modify Y. lipolytica for microbial lignocellulose valorization. Key points: • Adaptive evolution improved the ferulic acid tolerance of Yarrowia lipolytica • Transcriptome sequence was applied to analyze the ferulic acid tolerate strain • Three genes were demonstrated for both ferulic acid and vanillic acid tolerance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Context: Although vertebral augmentation with bone cement has been commonly used to treat symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, relatively little is known about the impact of augmentation on the adjacent spinal components.Purpose: To determine the imaging effects of vertebral augmentation on the adjacent discs, the augmented vertebra, and the involved spinal segment.Study Design: Retrospective radiographic study.Patient Sample: Patients with acute osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures who underwent vertebral augmentation or nonoperative treatments.Outcome Measures: On baseline and follow-up mid-sagittal T2W magnetic resonance images, quantitative measurements of disc degeneration, including disc height, bulging, and signal, vertebral height, wedge angle, and segmental kyphotic angle were acquired.Methods: Lumbar spine magnetic resonance images of patients with acute osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures at a local hospital in Eastern China between 2010 and 2017 were reviewed. Student's t-tests and χ2 tests were used to examine the differences of baseline and changes over time between vertebrae underwent vertebral augmentation and those did not. Paired t-tests were used to examine the differences between baseline and follow-up to study the changes of adjacent disc degeneration, creep deformity of the vertebra and progression of segmental kyphosis.Results: There were 112 acute vertebral compression fractures (72 treated with kyphoplasty and 40 with nonoperative treatments) in 101 subjects. At final follow-up (mean 21.5 months), the cranial disc of the augmented vertebra decreased in height (p<.001), and both cranial and caudal discs decreased in signal intensity (p≤.02). The discs in the nonoperative group did not undergo such degenerative changes. For the fractured vertebra, vertebral height significantly decreased (p<.01 for both) and vertebral wedge angle significantly increased (p≤.01 for both), regardless of augmentation treatment or not. Segmental kyphotic angle significantly increased in vertebral fractures that underwent vertebral augmentation (p<.001), but not in those underwent nonoperative treatments.Conclusions: Patients that underwent vertebral augmentation had more advanced disc degeneration at adjacent disc levels as compared to those without augmentation. The fractured vertebral body height decreased and the wedge angle increased, regardless of vertebral augmentation treatment or not. Vertebral augmentation may be associated with increased creep deformity of the adjacent vertebra and the progression of segmental kyphosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support vector machine (SVM) is always used for face recognition. However, kernel function selection is a key problem for SVM. This paper tries to make some contributions to this problem with focus on optimizing the parameters in the selected kernel function to improve the accuracy of classification and recognition of SVM. Firstly, an improved artificial fish swarm optimization algorithm (IAFSA) is proposed to optimize the parameters in SVM. In the improved version of artificial fish swarm optimization algorithm, the visual distance and the step size of artificial fish are adjusted adaptively. In the early stage of convergence, artificial fish are widely distributed, and the visual distance and step size take larger values to accelerate the convergence of the algorithm. In the later stage of convergence, artificial fish gathered gradually, and the visual distance and the step size were given small values to prevent oscillation. Then the optimized SVM is used to recognize face images. Simultaneously, in order to improve the accuracy rate of face recognition, an improved local binary pattern (ILBP) is proposed to extract features of face images. Numerical results show the advantage of our new algorithm over a range of existing algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:The aim of this study was to compare the operative and postoperative outcomes of laparoscopic ureteroureterostomy (LAP-UU) using a retrograde ureteroscopy-assisted technique with laparoscopic ureteroneocystostomy (LAP-UNC) in treating ureteral injury after gynecological surgery. Materials and methods:The study analyzed 60 ureteral injury repairs performed between May 2010 and February 2016 in patients who underwent either LAP-UU using the retrograde ureteroscopy-assisted technique (n = 26) or LAP-UNC (n = 34). Demographic parameters, operative variables and perioperative outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. The chi-squared test, Fisher’s exact test and Student’st test were used for statistical analyses. Results:Demographic and clinical data revealed no significant differences between patients in each group in terms of age, body mass index, length of obstruction, incidence of postoperative urinary leakage, incidence of urinary tract infection during hospitalization, oral antibiotics, mean hospital stay, incidence of recurrent obstruction, rate of conversion to open surgery and mean operative time. The LAP-UU group had significantly less estimated blood loss (85 ± 40 vs 120 ± 35 ml,p = .0006) and a significantly lower incidence of vesicoureteral reflux (grade I) on cystography (0/26 vs 6/34,p = .031) during a mean follow-up of 36.5 months (range 7–71 months). Conclusions:Compared with LAP-UNC, LAP-UU is also a technically feasible and safe option for repairing distal ureteral injury secondary to gynecological surgery. The intraoperative retrograde ureteroscopy-assisted technique during LAP-UU contributes to precise localization of the lesion, reduces intraoperative bleeding, enables sufficient dissection of the intramural ureter and preserves its natural antireflux mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungus Mycogone perniciosa is a major pathogen of the common button mushroom Agaricus bisporus. Analysis of genetic diversity in M. Perniciosa may assist in developing methods for prophylaxis and treatment of M. Perniciosa infections. For this, it is necessary to classify M. Perniciosa into relevant class groups quickly and efficiently. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR), and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to obtain genetic fingerprints and assess the genetic variation among 49 strains of M. perniciosa collected from different areas of Fujian Province in China. Analysis of DNA sequence polymorphism revealed two major distinct groups (Group I and Group II). Specific DNA fragments that were identified through RAPD, ISSR, and SRAP markers were sequenced and used for the designing of stable sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers. The resulting SCAR markers were then validated against the classified groups of M. perniciosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rich consumer online text data are embedded in the cloud platform. Using new technologies has become a central issue for acquiring consumer preference, analyzing consumer demand, and performing personalized recommendation services. In order to recommend the cloud platform services efficiently and accurately, this paper proposes a personalized recommendation model referred to as Residual bi-directional Recurrent Neural Network with Dual Attentive mechanism (BiRDA) for the service recommend to cloud platforms, by combining users' long-term preferences with instant interest. The proposed recommender prototype is summarized as follows. (1) Analyzing the relationship between long-term preferences and instant interests based on co-opetition theory. (2) Extracting users' online text data from the cloud platform. (3) Deriving the product attribute words of user preference using an analysis of online text data. (4) Product attribute words are transformed into the form of word vectors. (5) The word vector is input into the Residual bi-directional Recurrent Neural Network (Res-BiRNN) to make the prediction. On the one hand, the long-term preference is expressed by the user's field of expertise (i.e., answer content). On the other hand, the even interest is expressed by the user's changing interest (i.e., question data). (6) Assigning different weights to long-term preferences and instant interest using the dual attention mechanism to output predictions. (7) Generating recommendation lists for users based on the predicted values. Accordingly, BiRDA is compared with five state-of-the-art recommendation methods (i.e., DREAM, BINN, SHAN, Caser, and DeepMove), as well as six variants of the BiRDA model, Using users' Q&A datasets from NiorcngeCDS cloud platform, XMAKE cloud platform, and Asksubarme cloud platform as examples. The experiments show that the proposed method is more efficient and accurate than the other models. Therefore, the study offers some important insights into allowing a large number of resources under the cloud platform to be fully utilized and provides a novel idea for the construction of the cloud platform front-end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • SCRaMbLE was applied for obtaining efficient cellobiose-utilizing S. cerevisiae. • SCRaMbLE contributed to generating a variety of random mutants in a short time. • The deletion of MXR1 and ADK2 is beneficial to accelerating cellobiose utilization. • The deletion of MXR1 and ADK2 improved 4.4% and 6.5% cellulosic ethanol production. Lack of cellobiose utilization capability for many microorganisms results in carbon source waste in lignocellulosic biorefinery. In this study, genes for cellobiose transport and hydrolysis were introduced to Saccharomyces cerevisiae synV, a semi-synthetic yeast with an inducible SCRaMbLE (Synthetic Chromosome Rearrangement and Modification by LoxPsym-mediated Evolution) system incorporated into its chromosome V, endowing cellobiose utilization capability to this strain. Thereafter, two evolved strains with 98.1% and 79.2% improvement, respectively, in cellobiose utilization rate were obtained through induced SCRaMbLE. Further studies suggested that the enhanced cellobiose utilization capability directly correlated with copy number increases of introduced genes and some chromosome structural variations. In particular, it was experimentally demonstrated for the first time that deletion of redox stress related gene MXR1 and ATP conversion related gene ADK2 contributed to enhanced cellobiose conversion. Thereafter, the effectiveness of MXR1 and ADK2 deletions was demonstrated in artificial hydrolysate and rice straw hydrolysate, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presented an improved data aggregation scheduling algorithm without communication collision aimed to solve the minimum latency data aggregation scheduling problem under the physical interference model. The algorithm applied cluster-based aggregation mechanism integrating with local aggregation tree-based aggregation mechanism. At the beginning, sensor moted in each small area form a cluster. After the cluster head in each cluster had aggregation data from all the members, these cluster heads formed a new cluster in a larger area. Comparing with the existing algorithms, this algorithm didn't transmit data from member node to cluster head in each cluster directly. However, it constructed a local data aggregation tree root at the head using a certain method for each cluster. And then, it partitioned the whole network into square cells with the same side length and each cell contains only one node. Lastly, it colored these square cells in order to let the member node with the same color, having been aggregated data from its children or having no child, to transmit data according to the local aggregation tree. Simulation results show that this algorithm has lower average latencies than previous works and it has a latency bound with (5+logK+1Δ)(K+1)². [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• MnO 2 @LNP was synthesized through reaction of lignin with KMnO 4 at room temperature. • Nano-MnO 2 with sizes ranging from 3 to 5 nm were dispersed within lignin nanoparticles. • Maximum adsorption capacity of 806 mg/g for methylene blue can be achieved. • Adsorption followed Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model. • The adsorbents can be regenerated at acidic pH and reused for at least five cycles. In this study, a facile method to prepare MnO 2 nanodots modified lignin nanocomposite (MnO 2 @LNP) was developed for efficient dye removal. The MnO 2 @LNP displayed hierarchical spherical nanostructures, where the MnO 2 nanodots were evenly dispersed within the lignin nanosphere. Compared with lignin nanoparticles, the as-prepared MnO 2 @LNP exhibits higher surface area and can be separated after adsorption. It showed excellent adsorption capacity (806 mg/g) towards a typical cationic dye, methylene blue (MB), at a fast removal rate, where more than 80% of adsorption capacity was reached within 5 min at room temperature. The high adsorption capacity was contributed by the high surface area and negative charge on the adsorbent. The adsorption process is pH-responsive and exothermic, and the spent adsorbent can be reused for at least five cycles. This study displayed an efficient method to prepare MnO 2 @LNP for the high-value utilization of lignin-derived from lignocellulosic biorefinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignin is the most abundant aromatic substrate on Earth and its valorization technologies are still under developed. Depolymerization and fragmentation are the predominant preparatory strategies for valorization of lignin to chemicals and fuels. However, due to the structural heterogeneity of lignin, depolymerization and fragmentation typically result in diverse product species, which require extensive separation and purification procedures to obtain target products. For lignin valorization, bacterial-based systems have attracted increasing attention because of their diverse metabolisms, which can be used to funnel multiple lignin-based compounds into specific target products. Here, recent advances in lignin valorization using bacteria are critically reviewed, including lignin-degrading bacteria that are able to degrade lignin and use lignin-associated aromatics, various associated metabolic pathways, and application of bacterial cultures for lignin valorization. This review will provide insight into the recent breakthroughs and future trends of lignin valorization based on bacterial systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440 is a “generally recognized as safe”-certified strain with robust property and versatile metabolism. Thus, it is an ideal candidate for synthetic biology, biodegradation, and other biotechnology applications. The known genome editing approaches of Pseudomonas are suboptimal; thus, it is necessary to develop a high efficiency genome editing tool. Results: In this study, we established a fast and convenient CRISPR–Cas9 method in P. putida KT2440. Gene deletion, gene insertion and gene replacement could be achieved within 5 days, and the mutation efficiency reached > 70%. Single nucleotide replacement could be realized, overcoming the limitations of protospacer adjacent motif sequences. We also applied nuclease-deficient Cas9 binding at three locations upstream of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) for transcriptional inhibition, and the expression intensity of eGFP reduced to 28.5, 29.4, and 72.1% of the control level, respectively. Furthermore, based on this CRISPR–Cas9 system, we also constructed a CRISPR–Cpf1 system, which we validated for genome editing in P. putida KT2440. Conclusions: In this research, we established CRISPR based genome editing and regulation control systems in P. putida KT2440. These fast and efficient approaches will greatly facilitate the application of P. putida KT2440. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]