Project description:Nowadays one of the main challenges is moving towards an eco-sustainable agriculture, able to preserve the food production through a reduced use of pesticides. The current global food sustenance by intensive agriculture mainly based on economic crop monocultures drastically reduces the biodiversity increasing the yield losses due to biotic and abiotic stress. To try to ensure yield stability also enhancing the plant resistance responses to promote an eco-sustainable management of plant diseases, a technology based on plasma activated water (PAW), characterized by the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, was tested. Differential expression levels of selected genes involved in the plant defence pathways and the microRNAs composition in PAW treated- micropropagated periwinkle shoots and grapevines were analyzed. The results indicate that PAW treatment enhances plant defence responses at both, transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, leading to an increased synthesis in periwinkle of vinblastine and vindoline, anti-oxidant compounds employed in the pharmaceutical industry and in grapevine of resveratrol that is an important compound for human health.
Project description:The research on alternative and sustainable feed ingredients is a challenge to reduce the feed-food competition between humans and monogastrics, in particular pigs. Former food products (FFPs) drop out from the industrial production of food such as pasta, bread, snacks and chips. They have a high nutritional and energetic value and represent an alternative and sustainable feed ingredient. The aim of this study was to apply label-free quantitative peptidomics to assess the impact of the inclusion of FFPs on serum peptidome.
Project description:Phytoplankton-derived metabolites fuel a large fraction of heterotrophic bacterial production in the global ocean, yet methodological challenges have limited our knowledge of organic molecules transferred between these two microbial groups. In an experimental bloom study in which the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana was co-cultured with three heterotrophic marine bacteria, we concurrently measured diatom endometabolites (i.e., potential exometabolite supply) by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and bacterial gene expression (i.e., potential exometabolite uptake) by metatranscriptomic sequencing.
Project description:Genetic engineering of filamentous fungi has promise for accelerating the transition to a more sustainable food system and enhancing the nutritional value, sensory appeal, and scalability of microbial foods. However, genetic tools and demonstrated use cases for bioengineered food production by edible strains are lacking. Here, we developed a synthetic biology toolkit for Aspergillus oryzae, an edible fungus traditionally used in fermented foods and currently used in protein production and meat alternatives. Our toolkit includes a CRISPR-Cas9 method for genome integration, neutral loci, and new promoters. We use these tools to enhance the elevate levels of the nutraceutical ergothioneine and intracellular heme in the edible biomass. The biomass overproducing heme is red in color and is readily formulated into imitation meat patties with minimal processing. These findings highlight the promise of genetic approaches to enhance fungal meat alternatives and provide useful engineering tools for diverse applications in fungal food production and beyond.
Project description:Six bacterial genomes, Geobacter metallireducens GS-15, Chromohalobacter salexigens, Vibrio breoganii 1C-10, Bacillus cereus ATCC 10987, Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni 81-176 and Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 11168, all of which had previously been sequenced using other platforms were re-sequenced using single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing specifically to analyze their methylomes. In every case a number of new N6-methyladenine (m6A) and N4-methylcytosine (m4C) methylation patterns were discovered and the DNA methyltransferases (MTases) responsible for those methylation patterns were assigned. In 15 cases it was possible to match MTase genes with MTase recognition sequences without further sub-cloning. Two Type I restriction systems required sub-cloning to differentiate their recognition sequences, while four MTases genes that were not expressed in the native organism were sub-cloned to test for viability and recognition sequences. No attempt was made to detect 5-methylcytosine (m5C) recognition motifs from the SMRT sequencing data because this modification produces weaker signals using current methods. However, all predicted m6A and m4C MTases were detected unambiguously. This study shows that the addition of SMRT sequencing to traditional sequencing approaches gives a wealth of useful functional information about a genome showing not only which MTase genes are active, but also revealing their recognition sequences. Examination of the methylomes of six different strains of bacteria using kinetic data from single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing on the PacBio RS.
Project description:Origanum oil (ORO), garlic oil (GAO), and peppermint oil (PEO) were shown to effectively lower methane production, decrease abundance of methanogens, and change abundances of several bacterial populations important to feed digestion in vitro. In this study, the impact of these essential oils (EOs, at 0.50 g/L), on the rumen bacterial community composition was further examined using the recently developed RumenBactArray.
Project description:Edible mealworms and crickets are high protein food sources, which have recently emerged on the European market. As the production of edible insects is more sustainable than conventional livestock proteins, they are a promising alternative protein source for human consumption. Protein compositions of mealworms and crickets that underwent different food processing and preparation steps were assessed by LC-MS analysis after tryptic in-gel digestion, and were compared to proteins from chicken breast.