Agrobacterial Transformation Enhancement by Improved Competent Cell Preparation and Optimized Electroporation.

The introduction of plasmids into cells is one of the key steps in the -mediated transformation of plants for gene editing applications. Depending on chromosomal background, some strains exhibit a very low transformation efficiency, which results in a low number of colonies for subsequent screening and thus limits the potential for automated high-throughput transformation processes, especially with low copy or large plasmids. This study demonstrates improvements of transformation frequency by modifying the competent cell preparation process and optimizing electroporation parameters for two strains.

Increased Regular Season Soft Tissue Injury Rates in National Football League (NFL) Players May Be Associated With the Canceled 2020 NFL Preseason Due to COVID-19.

Introduction The purpose of this study is to evaluate the rates of regular season soft tissue injuries in National Football League (NFL) players during the 2020 season, which had a canceled preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This study retrospectively reviewed the injury rates of the 2020-2021 NFL regular season in comparison to the 2018-2019 NFL regular season using publicly available injury data. The focus of our analysis was comparing the following soft tissue injuries: hamstring, groin, calf, quadriceps, thigh, knee - anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), pectoral, and Achilles.

Impact of carbon monoxide partial pressures on methanogenesis and medium chain fatty acids production during ethanol fermentation.

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) are important biofuel precursors. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a sustainable electron and carbon donor for fatty acid elongation, since it is metabolized to MCFA precursors, it is toxic to most methanogens, and it is a waste product generated in the gasification of waste biomass. The main objective of this work was to determine if the inhibition of methanogenesis through the continuous addition of CO would lead to increased acetate or MCFA production during fermentation of ethanol.

Determining the Mechanism for Low Sludge Yields in the Cannibal Solids Reduction System.

  Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and solids concentrations in samples from the Interchange Bioreactor (IBR), and return activated sludge (RAS) from Cannibal facilities having low and high sludge yields, were analyzed to understand the mechanisms behind low sludge production. Low sludge yields correlated to more EPS degradation, higher concentrations of iron, and reducing conditions in the IBR. In the low yield facilities, iron was reduced when the RAS passed through the anaerobic and reducing conditions of the IBR, and this led to more EPS solubilization and degradation.

Shifting the balance of fermentation products between hydrogen and volatile fatty acids: microbial community structure and function.

Fermentation is a key process in many anaerobic environments. Varying the concentration of electron donor fed to a fermenting community is known to shift the distribution of products between hydrogen, fatty acids and alcohols. Work to date has focused mainly on the fermentation of glucose, and how the microbial community structure is affected has not been explored.

Combining microbial cultures for efficient production of electricity from butyrate in a microbial electrochemical cell.

Butyrate is an important product of anaerobic fermentation; however, it is not directly used by characterized strains of the highly efficient anode respiring bacteria (ARB) Geobacter sulfurreducens in microbial electrochemical cells. By combining a butyrate-oxidizing community with a Geobacter rich culture, we generated a microbial community which outperformed many naturally derived communities found in the literature for current production from butyrate and rivaled the highest performing natural cultures in terms of current density (∼ 11A/m(2)) and Coulombic efficiency (∼ 70%). Microbial community analyses support the shift in the microbial community from one lacking efficient ARB in the marine hydrothermal vent community to a community consisting of ∼ 80% Geobacter in the anode biofilm.

Selective enrichment yields robust ethene-producing dechlorinating cultures from microcosms stalled at cis-dichloroethene.

Dehalococcoides mccartyi strains are of particular importance for bioremediation due to their unique capability of transforming perchloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) to non-toxic ethene, through the intermediates cis-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC). Despite the widespread environmental distribution of Dehalococcoides, biostimulation sometimes fails to promote dechlorination beyond cis-DCE. In our study, microcosms established with garden soil and mangrove sediment also stalled at cis-DCE, albeit Dehalococcoides mccartyi containing the reductive dehalogenase genes tceA, vcrA and bvcA were detected in the soil/sediment inocula.

Enrichment and analysis of anode-respiring bacteria from diverse anaerobic inocula.

One of the limitations currently faced by microbial electrochemical cell (MXC) technologies lies in the shortage of different organisms capable of forming a biofilm and channeling electrons from substrates to the anode at high current densities. Using a poised anode (-0.30 V vs Ag/AgCl) and acetate as the electron donor in a MXC, we demonstrated the presence of highly efficient anode-respiring bacteria (ARB) able to produce high current densities (>1.