A sustainable and efficient recycling strategy of feather waste into keratin peptides with antimicrobial activity.

The study aimed to propose an efficient and eco-friendly strategy to improve the utilization of feather waste and converting it into high-valued antimicrobial products. Under the synergistic effect of instant catapult steam explosion (ICSE) (1.5 MPa-120 s), over 90% of chicken feather powder (CFP) was degraded into soluble peptides via keratinolysis within 3 h, about 90% of which were smaller than 3 kDa, indicating an overwhelming advantage than general proteolysis.

Catalytic Cooperation between a Copper Oxide Electrocatalyst and a Microbial Community for Microbial Electrosynthesis.

Electrocatalytic metals and microorganisms can be combined for CO conversion in microbial electrosynthesis (MES). However, a systematic investigation on the nature of interactions between metals and MES is still lacking. To investigate this nature, we integrated a copper electrocatalyst, converting CO to formate, with microorganisms, converting CO to acetate.

Covalent Bonding of Chlorogenic Acid Induces Structural Modifications on Sunflower Proteins.

Proteins and phenols coexist in the confined space of plant cells leading to reactions between them, which result in new covalently bonded complex molecules. This kind of reactions has been widely observed during storage and processing of plant materials. However, the nature of the new complex molecules and their physicochemical properties are largely unknown.