Microbe-cellulose hydrogels as a model system for particulate carbon degradation in soil aggregates.

Particulate carbon (C) degradation in soils is a critical process in the global C cycle governing greenhouse gas fluxes and C storage. Millimeter-scale soil aggregates impose strong controls on particulate C degradation by inducing chemical gradients of e.g.

Co-immobilization of AOA strains with anammox bacteria in three different synthetic bio-granules maintained under two substrate-level conditions.

Hydrogel encapsulation of ammonium oxidizing archaea (AOA) along with anammox bacteria holds potential to enable mainstream partial nitritation (PN)-anammox process attributing to AOA's high affinity to ammonia and oxygen. This study explored the growth of AOA and anammox in hydrogel-based synthetic biogranules by testing two AOA strains, three types of hydrogel beads and two substrate levels, to identify the optimal combination favoring the concomitant growth of AOA and anammox. The AOA Nitrososphaera viennensis (AOA-NV) exhibited higher abundance (10 AOA/16S) than the AOA-DW (10 AOA/16S) during the entire experimental period.

Mainstream nitrogen removal from low temperature and low ammonium strength municipal wastewater using hydrogel-encapsulated comammox and anammox.

Application of partial nitritation (PN)-anammox to mainstream wastewater treatment faces challenges in low water temperature and low ammonium strength. In this study, a continuous flow PN-anammox reactor with hydrogel-encapsulated comammox and anammox was designed and operated for nitrogen removal from mainstream wastewater with low temperature. Long-term operation with synthetic and real wastewater as the feed demonstrated nearly complete ammonium and total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal by the reactor at temperatures as low as 10 °C.

Old-growth trees host a unique suite of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and other root-associated fungal taxa in their canopy soil environment.

Canopy soils occur on tree branches throughout the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest Coast and are recognized as a defining characteristic of these ecosystems. Certain tree species extend adventitious roots into these canopy soil environments. Yet, research on adventitious root-associated fungi remains limited.

Simultaneous anaerobic carbon and nitrogen removal from primary municipal wastewater with hydrogel encapsulated anaerobic digestion sludge and AOA-anammox coated hollow fiber membrane.

In this study, a one-stage continuous-flow membrane-hydrogel reactor integrating both partial nitritation-anammox (PN-anammox) and anaerobic digestion (AD) was designed and operated for simultaneous autotrophic nitrogen (N) and anaerobic carbon (C) removal from mainstream municipal wastewater. In the reactor, a synthetic biofilm consisting of anammox biomass and pure culture ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) were coated onto and maintained on a counter-diffusion hollow fiber membrane to autotrophically remove nitrogen. Anaerobic digestion sludge was encapsulated in hydrogel beads and placed in the reactor to anaerobically remove COD.

Photoinhibition of comammox reaction in in a dose- and wavelength-dependent manner.

Apparent contribution of complete ammonia-oxidizing organisms (comammox) to the global nitrogen cycle highlights the necessity for understanding niche differentiation of comammox bacteria among other ammonia oxidizers. While the high affinity for ammonia of the comammox species suggests their niche partitioning is expected to be centered in oligotrophic environments, their absence in nutrient-depleted environments (such as the oceans) suggests that other (abiotic) factors might control their distribution and spatial localization within microbial communities. Many ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing organisms are sensitive to light; however, the photosensitivity of comammox has not been explored.

Tailoring polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate (PVA-SA) hydrogel beads by controlling crosslinking pH and time.

Hydrogel-encapsulated catalysts are an attractive tool for low-cost intensification of (bio)-processes. Polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate hydrogels crosslinked with boric acid and post-cured with sulfate (PVA-SA-BS) have been applied in bioproduction and water treatment processes, but the low pH required for crosslinking may negatively affect biocatalyst functionality. Here, we investigate how crosslinking pH (3, 4, and 5) and time (1, 2, and 8 h) affect the physicochemical, elastic, and process properties of PVA-SA-BS beads.

A rapid approach to profiling diverse fungal communities using the MinION™ nanopore sequencer.

The Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION™ sequencer holds the capability to generate long amplicon reads; however, only a small amount of information is available regarding methodological approaches and the ability to identify a broad diversity of fungal taxa. To assess capabilities, three fungal mock communities were sequenced, each of which had varying ratios of 16 taxa. The data were processed through our selected pipeline.

Effects of Antagonists on Mycotoxins of Seedborne spp. in Sweet Corn.

species coexist as toxigenic, systemic pathogens in sweet corn seed production in southwestern Idaho, USA. We hypothesized that fungal antagonists of seedborne would differentially alter production of mycotoxins directly and/or systemically. We challenged the complex by in vitro antagonism trials and in situ silk and seed inoculations with fungal antagonists.

Novel promoter sequence required for manganese regulation of manganese peroxidase isozyme 1 gene expression in Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

Manganese peroxidase (MnP) is a major, extracellular component of the lignin-degrading system produced by the wood-rotting basidiomycetous fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The transcription of MnP-encoding genes (mnps) in P. chrysosporium occurs as a secondary metabolic event, triggered by nutrient-nitrogen limitation.