Dataset Information

Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze.

ABSTRACT: Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO₂ by NO₂ is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH₃ neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO₂ oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH₃ and NO₂ control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.

SUBMITTER: Wang G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5137769 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze.

Wang Gehui G Zhang Renyi R Gomez Mario E ME Yang Lingxiao L Levy Zamora Misti M Hu Min M Lin Yun Y Peng Jianfei J Guo Song S Meng Jingjing J Li Jianjun J Cheng Chunlei C Hu Tafeng T Ren Yanqin Y Wang Yuesi Y Gao Jian J Cao Junji J An Zhisheng Z Zhou Weijian W Li Guohui G Wang Jiayuan J Tian Pengfei P Marrero-Ortiz Wilmarie W Secrest Jeremiah J Du Zhuofei Z Zheng Jing J Shang Dongjie D Zeng Limin L Shao Min M Wang Weigang W Huang Yao Y Wang Yuan Y Zhu Yujiao Y Li Yixin Y Hu Jiaxi J Pan Bowen B Cai Li L Cheng Yuting Y Ji Yuemeng Y Zhang Fang F Rosenfeld Daniel D Liss Peter S PS Duce Robert A RA Kolb Charles E CE Molina Mario J MJ

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20161114 48

Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO<sub>2</sub> by NO<sub>2</sub> is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditio ...[more]

PMID: 27849598

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Project description:Protein haze formation in bottled wines is a significant concern for the global wine industry, and wine clarification before bottling is therefore a common but expensive practice. Previous studies have shown that wine yeast strains can reduce haze formation through the secretion of certain mannoproteins, but it has been suggested that other yeast-dependent haze protective mechanisms exist. On the other hand, the addition of chitin has been shown to reduce haze formation, likely because grape chitinases have been shown to be the major contributors to haze. In this study, Chardonnay grape must fermented by various yeast strains resulted in wines with different protein haze levels, indicating differences in haze-protective capacities of the strains. The cell wall chitin levels of these strains were determined, and a strong correlation between cell wall chitin levels and haze protection capability was observed. To further evaluate the mechanism of haze protection, Escherichia coli-produced green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged grape chitinase was shown to bind efficiently to yeast cell walls in a cell wall chitin concentration-dependent manner, while commercial chitinase was removed from synthetic wine in quantities that also correlated with the cell wall chitin levels of the strains. Our findings suggest a new mechanism of reducing wine haze, and we propose a strategy for optimizing wine yeast strains to improve wine clarification.IMPORTANCE In this study, we establish a new mechanism by which wine yeast strains can impact the protein haze formation of wines, and we demonstrate that yeast cell wall chitin binds grape chitinase in a chitin concentration-dependent manner. We also show that yeast can remove this haze-forming protein from wine. Chitin has in the past been shown to efficiently reduce wine haze formation when added to the wine in high concentration as a clarifying agent. Our data suggest that the selection of yeast strains with high levels of cell wall chitin can reduce protein haze. We also investigate how yeast cell wall chitin levels are affected by environmental conditions.

Dataset Information

Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze.

Publications

Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze.

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