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Dietary fiber, polysaccharides and phenols are the representative functional components in wheat bran, which have important nutritional properties and pharmacological effects. However, the most functional components in wheat bran exist in bound form with low bioaccessibility. This paper reviews these functional components, analyzes modification methods, and focuses on novel solid-state fermentation (SSF) strategies in the release of functional components. Mining efficient microbial resources from traditional fermented foods, exploring the law of material exchange between cell populations, and building a stable self-regulation co-culture system are expected to strengthen the SSF process. In addition, emerging biotechnology such as synthetic biology and genome editing are used to transform the mixed fermentation system. Furthermore, combined with the emerging physical-field pretreatment coupled with SSF strategies applied to the modification of wheat bran, which provides a theoretical basis for the high-value utilization of wheat bran and the development of related functional foods and drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Ethanol and osmotic stresses are the major limiting factors for brewing strong beer with high‐gravity wort. Breeding of yeast strains with high osmotic and ethanol tolerance and studying very‐high‐gravity (VHG) brewing technology is of great significance for brewing strong beer. RESULTS: This study used an optimized microbial microdroplet culture (MMC) system for adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae YN81 to improve its tolerance to osmotic and ethanol stress. Meanwhile, we investigated the VHG and VHG with added ethanol (VHGAE) brewing processes for the evolved mutants in brewing strong beer. The results showed that three evolved mutants were obtained; among them, the growth performance of YN81mc‐8.3 under 300, 340, 380, 420 and 460 g L−1 sucrose stresses was greater than that of the other strains. The ethanol tolerance of YN81mc‐8.3 was 12%, which was 20% higher than that of YN81. During strong‐beer brewing in a 100 L cylindrical cone‐bottom tank, the sugar utilization and ethanol yield of YN81mc‐8.3 outperformed those of YN81 in both the VHG and VHGAE brewing processes. Measurement of the diacetyl concentration showed that YN81mc‐8.3 had a stronger diacetyl reduction ability; in particular, the real degree of fermentation of beers brewed by YN81mc‐8.3 in VHG and VHGAE brewing processes was 75.35% and 66.71%, respectively – higher than those of the two samples brewed by YN81. Meanwhile, the visual, olfactive and gustative properties of the strong beer produced by YN81mc‐8.3 were better than those of the other beers. CONCLUSION: In this study, the mutant YN81mc‐8.3 and the VHGAE brewing process were optimal and represented a better alternative strong‐beer brewing process. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common genetic mutations are absent in neuroblastoma, one of the most common childhood tumours. As a demethylase of 5‐methylcytosine (m5C) modification, TET1 plays an important role in tumourigenesis and differentiation. However, the association between TET1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to neuroblastoma has not been reported. Three TET1 gene polymorphisms (rs16925541 A > G, rs3998860 G > A and rs12781492 A > C) in 402 Chinese patients with neuroblastoma and 473 cancer‐free controls were assessed using TaqMan. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between TET1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to neuroblastoma. The GTEx database was used to analyse the impact of these polymorphisms on peripheral gene expression. The relationship between gene expression and prognosis was analysed using Kaplan–Meier analysis with the R2 platform. We found that both rs3998860 G > A and rs12781492 A > C were significantly associated with increased neuroblastoma risk. Stratified analysis further showed that rs3998860 G > A and rs12781492 A > C significantly increased neuroblastoma risk in certain subgroups. In the combined risk genotype model, 1–3 risk genotypes significantly increased risk of neuroblastoma compared with the 0 risk genotype. rs3998860 G > A and rs12781492 A > C were significantly associated with increased STOX1 mRNA expression in adrenal and whole blood, and high expression of STOX1 mRNA in adrenal and whole blood was significantly associated with worse prognosis. In summary, TET1 gene polymorphisms are significantly associated with increased neuroblastoma risk; further research is required for the potential mechanism and therapeutic prospects in neuroblastoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]