Exploiting lipid droplet metabolic pathway to foster lipid production: oleosin in focus.

In the past decade, there has been an emerging gap between the demand and supply of vegetable oils globally for both edible and industrial use. Lipids are important biomolecules with enormous applications in the industrial sector and a major source of energy for animals and plants. Hence, to elevate the lipid content through metabolic engineering, new strategies have come up for triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation and in raising the lipid or oil yield in crop plants.

Amadori compounds: analysis, composition in food and potential health beneficial functions.

Amadori compounds (ACs) are key intermediates of the Maillard reaction, and found in various thermally processed foods. Simultaneous analysis of multiple ACs is challenging due to the complex amino acid and carbohydrate compositions, and the different food matrices. Most studies focus on the effects of ACs on food flavor and related sensory properties, but not their biological functions.

RNA modifications in plant biotic interactions.

The chemical modification of DNA and proteins is an efficient way of regulating molecular and biological function and affects a plethora of signalling pathways in eukaryotes. Similarly, recent progress in epitranscriptomics shows that RNA modifications also play crucial roles in diverse biological processes. Since their discovery in the 1970s, scientists have attempted to decipher the identity and functions of these modifications in different biological systems.

A study of sheep scab in Northern Ireland including detection and identifying barriers to control.

Background: Sheep scab, caused by the highly infectious mite, is considered to be endemic in Northern Ireland, although little investigation has been reported. A pilot project was undertaken to engage farmers, confirm cases with diagnostic methods and identify specific barriers to control, with the aim of informing future control programmes.

Methods: Through farmers self-reporting suspected outbreaks, on-farm risk assessments and clinical investigations were carried out by the farm's veterinary surgeon, who utilised light microscopy and serological testing to diagnose scab.

Shaping resilience: The critical role of plant response regulators in salinity stress.

Background: Salinity stress affects plant growth, development, biomass, yield, as well as their survival. A series of signaling cascade is activated to cope the deleterious effect of salinity stress. Cytokinins are known for their regulatory roles from cell growth and expansion to abiotic stress signaling.

Autophagy-mediated energy charge sustainability alleviated postharvest quality deterioration of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa).

Fluctuations in energy status are critical physiological factors influencing postharvest fruit quality. However, the role of autophagy, a stress-resistant biological process, in regulating postharvest fruit energy status remains unclear. In this study, we treated strawberry fruit with the autophagy inhibitor hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to investigate the role of autophagy in maintaining energy status.

How Highly Heterogeneous Sensors with Single-Molecule Resolution can Result in Robust Continuous Monitoring Over Long Time Spans.

Biomolecular sensors with single-molecule resolution are composed of multitudes of transducers that measure state changes related to single-molecular binding and unbinding events. Conventionally, signals are aggregated from many individual transducers in order to achieve sufficient statistics. However, by aggregating signals, transducer-to-transducer differences are lost and heterogeneities cannot be studied.

Impact of Hormone on Growth and GA Regulation of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in Suspension-Culture Cells of Cyclocarya paliurus.

Hormones are effective in regulating plant metabolism and, therefore, are often used in plant cell culture to increase the yield of target products. This study investigated the effects of hormones on the growth and anthocyanin biosynthesis of suspension-cultured red Cyclocarya paliurus cells. Additionally, the mechanism by which gibberellin induces anthocyanin biosynthesis was explored through multi-omics integrated analysis and the assay of the dynamic changes in signaling molecule concentration.

Palaearctic flea beetle (Curtis) (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae), herbivore of (garlic mustard), new to North America.

Background: The univoltine leaf beetle (Curtis, 1837b) is native to the Palaearctic Region from Japan to western Europe.This species was previously evaluated as a potential biological control agent against invasive populations of the woodland weed (Bieb.) Cavara & Grande (Brassicaceae) in North America, but rejected because it could harm native and at-risk populations of Brassicaceae.

The Holobiont concept in ruminant physiology - more of the same, or something new and meaningful to food quality, food security, and animal health?

The holobiont concept has emerged as an attempt to recognize and describe the myriad interactions and physiological signatures inherent to a host organism, as impacted by the microbial communities that colonize and/or co-inhabit the environment within which the host resides. The field acknowledges and draws upon principles from evolution, ecology, genetics, and biology, and in many respects has been "pushed" by the advent of high throughput DNA sequencing and, to a lesser extent, other "omics"-based technologies. Despite the explosion in data generation and analyses, much of our current understanding of the human and ruminant "holobiont" is based on compositional forms of data and thereby, restricted to describing host phenotypes via associative or correlative studies.

A global dataset of the national green and blue water footprint of livestock feeds.

Agriculture accounts for a significant share of global freshwater use, with the livestock sector contributing substantially. The production of animal feeds stands out as the step of the production chain responsible for the high water use associated with the consumption of animal-source foods. Estimating the water footprint (WF) of livestock feeds is crucial for sustainable animal farming.

Treated wastewater reuse and its impact on soil properties and potato and corn growth.

Water scarcity is a growing challenge in semi-arid regions. Many farmers have resorted to treated wastewater (TWW) as an available and low-cost water source. This study investigated the impact of irrigating potato (Solanum Tuberosum) and corn (Zea mays) with tertiary-treated (TW) and secondary-treated (SW) wastewater compared to freshwater, over two years.

A smartphone label-free and automated thermo-analytical method based on image analysis to detect microplastics.

Microplastics (MPs) are in some ways the expected product of man-made plastics that are considered as a pollutant ubiquitous in the environment. This is particularly notorious in continental waters, along coastlines, and especially in the North Pacific Gyre, sometimes called the Pacific Garbage Patch. Even now, there is growing concern that MPs can harm wildlife, enter the food chain, and end up in the human body.

Enhanced quasi-meshing hotspot effect integrated embedded attention residual network for culture-free SERS accurate determination of Fusarium spores.

Determination of Fusarium spores is essential for precision control of Fusarium head blight and ensuring agri-food safety. As a highly sensitive real-time detection technique with rich fingerprint information and little influence from water, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been widely applied in the determination of microorganisms. However, fungi determination faces significant challenges including low sensitivity, and poor specificity.

Sulfhydrylation of chlorothalonil in pak choi from cultivation to sample analysis and exposure risk assessment.

The rapid sulfhydrylation of chlorothalonil (CHT) in sulfur-rich vegetable matrices was observed in our previous study. However, the formation pathway, residual behavior, and toxicity of sulfhydrylated CHT remain unclear. In this study, we reveal that 4-sulfhydryl chlorothalonil (4-SH-CHT) can be formed by the reaction of CHT with HS species.

Impact of a reduced metabolizable protein supply during the transition period on the immune and metabolic status of dairy cows.

During the transition period, the incidence of diseases increases due to a negative energy balance that affects metabolic and immune status. Limiting milk production at the beginning of lactation by milking once a day or by incompletely milking twice a day improves the metabolic and immune status of cows. Previous studies have shown that milk production is highly responsive to additional MP.

Milk production and methane emissions from dairy cows fed silages from different grassland species and harvesting frequencies.

The aim of this study was to examine how silages from different grassland species and harvesting frequencies affect feed intake, milk production, and methane (CH) emission in dairy cows. We hypothesized that cows consuming silages of more frequent harvest, grass species with greater organic matter digestibility and legumes with lower NDFom concentration would have greater silage dry matter intake and milk yield and thereby lower CH yield and intensity. Forty Norwegian Red cows were allocated to 5 treatments in a cyclic changeover design with 4 21-d periods (14 d of adaptation, 7 d of data collection).

Efficacy of air and oxygen micro-nano bubble waters against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and impacts on postharvest quality of 'Fan Retief' guava fruit.

This study focused on the application of micro-nano bubbles (MNB) water generated using air or oxygen (O), as an alternative to chlorine-based wash for fruits. For the in vitro and in vivo investigation, 10 spore or conidia/mL Colletotrichum gloeosporioides suspension was used, and treated with solutions of air- or O-MNB for 30- or 60-min, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), and untreated (as control). In the second experiment, freshly harvested guava fruits were washed with tap water (control), NaOCl (standard practice), air- or O-MNB (for 15- or 30-min).

Effect of metal ions on moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for nitrogen removal in wastewater: Performance characteristics, flocculation efficiency and bacterial community.

Advanced operational moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has demonstrated to achieve simultaneous sludge yield minimization and pollutants removal. However, effect of different metal ions on MBBR performance for nutrients removal in wastewater under low carbon to nitrogen ratio is still unclear. Fate of NH-N and NO-N by MBBR were explored under the influence of Mn(II), Cu(II), and Fe(II) at carbon to nitrogen ratio of 5.

Moisture sorption characteristics of crystalline and amorphous 2'-fucosyllactose, a human milk oligosaccharide.

The moisture sorption characteristics of crystalline and amorphous forms of 2'-fucosyllactose (2'-FL) were investigated and compared with those of two forms of lactose. The moisture sorption isotherms showed that, relative to crystalline α-lactose monohydrate (α-LM), crystalline 2'-FL was more susceptible to moisture sorption. Crystalline 2'-FL exhibited a lower deliquescence point (89.

Complete genome sequence of bacteriophage SeKF_80, isolated from wastewater in British Columbia.

is a Gram-negative inhabitant of the gastrointestinal tract of warm-blooded animals and commonly implicated in foodborne illness. Here, we describe the isolation of phage SeKF_80. The 89,965 bp genome contains 174 predicted coding sequences with 44 predicted functions.

Identification of novel fructo-oligosaccharide bacterial consumers by pulse metatranscriptomics in a human stool sample.

Unlabelled: Dietary fibers influence the composition of the human gut microbiota and directly contribute to its downstream effects on host health. As more research supports the use of glycans as prebiotics for therapeutic applications, the need to identify the gut bacteria that metabolize glycans of interest increases. Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) is a common diet-derived glycan that is fermented by the gut microbiota and has been used as a prebiotic.

Poplar Leaf Bud Resin Metabolomics: Seasonal Profiling of Leaf Bud Chemistry in Populus trichocarpa Provides Insight Into Resin Biosynthesis.

Trees in the genus Populus synthesize sticky and fragrant resins to protect dormant leaf buds during winter. These resins contain diverse phenolic metabolites, in particular hydroxycinnamate esters and methylated flavonoids. P.