Partitioning of polycyclic musk compounds in soil and aquatic environment—experimental determination of K<Subscript>DOC</Subscript>

Purpose  

Polycyclic musk compounds (PMC) are used as fragrances in cosmetics and detergents and enter rivers via domestic wastewater and sewage treatment plants. Soils can be contaminated by PMC through application of sewage sludge. Accumulation of PMC occurs in sediments and biota due to their persistence and lipophilicity. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is of special relevance for their transport and behavior in the environment as it acts as solubilizer and carrier in aquatic and terrestrial systems. With the distribution coefficient K_DOC, one can predict their affinity to DOM. Different approaches exist to determine K_DOC, resulting in a range of coefficients for a number of organic pollutants. The objective of this study was to determine K_DOC values for PMC using solid-phase microextraction (SPME).     

UV Light-Assisted Degradation of Methyl Orange,Methylene Blue,Phenol, Salicylic Acid,and Rhodamine B: Photolysis Versus Photocatalyis

Methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), phenol (F), salicylic acid (SA), and rhodamine B (ROD) were used as substrates during the photodegradation experiments in the absence and in the presence of nanostructured Ag/titania-silica. The catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscope high-angle annular dark field (STEM-HAADF), stereological analysis, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The results were fitted on pseudo-first and pseudo-second kinetic order models. The film diffusion was also determined. The photolysis degrades MO and F to a greater extent than the photocatalysis. The degradation of SA occurred at the same rate either by photolysis or by photocatalysis. MB was best removed by photocatalysis. With regard to the photocatalysis, the highest rates of film diffusion were obtained for MB, F, and ROD, meaning that these molecules crossed the film to arrive at the catalyst surface more rapidly than the others. For MO and MB, the results followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model while for SA, F, and ROD, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was more appropriate.     

Abortion in goats by Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 in Spain

An abortion outbreak occurred in a goat herd of Murciano‐Granadina breed in Almeria Region in Spain where 80 pregnant females aborted. All bacteriological and parasitological examinations resulted negative, whereas virological investigations and real‐time PCR assay showed the presence of Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 DNA in the pathological specimens from aborted foetuses. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the DNA was highly close related to the Swiss strain E‐CH (99.7%) and a little less extent to the Italian BA.1 strain (99.4%). Histopathological examination revealed multifocal, well‐circumscribed, 50‐ to 200‐μm‐diameter foci of coagulative necrosis in the liver, lungs and kidneys of three foetuses. In the periphery of the necrosis, there were frequently epithelial cells with the chromatin emarginated by large, round, amphophilic intranuclear viral inclusion bodies. The source of the infection in the herd could not clearly find out even some hypothesis were formulated. This seems to be the first report of an abortion outbreak due to Caprine alphaherpesvirus 1 in a goat herd in Spain.     

Microarray analysis of global gene regulation in the Cry1Ab-resistant and Cry1Ab-susceptible strains of Diatraea saccharalis

BACKGROUND: Extensive adoption of transgenic Bt corn in recent years for stalk borer control has increased risk of resistance evolution in the target pest populations. A Bt‐resistant strain of the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis, was approximately 100‐fold more tolerant to Cry1Ab toxin than the susceptible counterpart. To gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Bt resistance, the Cry1Ab‐susceptible (Cry1Ab‐SS) and Cry1Ab‐resistant (Cry1Ab‐RR) strains of D. saccharalis were subjected to a microarray analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that the expression levels of many genes were significantly different between the Cry1Ab‐RR and Cry1Ab‐SS strains. Microarray analysis of 7145 cDNAs revealed 384 differentially expressed genes. A total of 273 genes were significantly upregulated 2–51.6‐fold, and 111 genes were significantly downregulated 2–22.6‐fold in the Cry1Ab‐RR strain. The upregulation of three potential resistance‐related genes, coding for a glutathione S‐transferase (GST), a chymotrypsin‐like protease (CHY) and a lipase (LP), was confirmed using real‐time PCR, indicating a reproducibility of the microarray data. Ontology analysis revealed that more than twice the number of metabolic‐related genes were upregulated compared with downregulated genes with the same biological function. Up to 35.2% of the upregulated genes in the resistant strain were associated with catalytic activity, while only 9.5% of the downregulated genes were related to the same catalytic molecular function. CONCLUSION: The large portion of metabolic‐ or catalytic‐related genes with significant upregulations indicated a potential large increase in metabolic or catalytic activities in the Cry1Ab‐RR strain. This cDNA microarray gene expression data could be used to characterize and identify new genes that may be associated with Bt resistance in D. saccharalis. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

An engineered microbial platform for direct biofuel production from brown macroalgae

Prospecting macroalgae (seaweeds) as feedstocks for bioconversion into biofuels and commodity chemical compounds is limited primarily by the availability of tractable microorganisms that can metabolize alginate polysaccharides. Here, we present the discovery of a 36-kilo-base pair DNA fragment from Vibrio splendidus encoding enzymes for alginate transport and metabolism. The genomic integration of this ensemble, together with an engineered system for extracellular alginate depolymerization, generated a microbial platform that can simultaneously degrade, uptake, and metabolize alginate. When further engineered for ethanol synthesis, this platform enables bioethanol production directly from macroalgae via a consolidated process, achieving a titer of 4.7% volume/volume and a yield of 0.281 weight ethanol/weight dry macroalgae (equivalent to ~80% of the maximum theoretical yield from the sugar composition in macroalgae).