This study examined the influence of pyrolysis temperature on biochar characteristics and evaluated its suitability for carbon capture and energy production. Biochar was produced from corn stover ...using slow pyrolysis at 300, 400 and 500°C and 2 hrs holding time. The experimental biochars were characterized by elemental analysis, BET, FTIR, TGA/DTA, NMR (C-13). Higher heating value (HHV) of feedstock and biochars was measured using bomb calorimeter. Results show that carbon content of corn stover biochar increased from 45.5% to 64.5%, with increasing pyrolysis temperatures. A decrease in H:C and O:C ratios as well as volatile matter, coupled with increase in the concentration of aromatic carbon in the biochar as determined by FTIR and NMR (C-13) demonstrates a higher biochar carbon stability at 500°C. It was estimated that corn stover pyrolysed at 500°C could provide of 10.12 MJ/kg thermal energy. Pyrolysis is therefore a potential technology with its carbon-negative, energy positive and soil amendment benefits thus creating win- win scenario.
Studies of genetic adaptation, a central focus of evolutionary biology, most often focus on the host’s genome and only rarely on its co-evolved microbiome. The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) offers ...one of the most extreme environments for the survival of human and other mammalian species. Yaks (Bos grunniens) and Tibetan sheep (T-sheep) (Ovis aries) have adaptations for living in this harsh high-altitude environment, where nomadic Tibetan people keep them primarily for food and livelihood 1. Adaptive evolution affects energy-metabolism-related genes in a way that helps these ruminants live at high altitude 2, 3. Herein, we report convergent evolution of rumen microbiomes for energy harvesting persistence in two typical high-altitude ruminants, yaks and T-sheep. Both ruminants yield significantly lower levels of methane and higher yields of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) than their low-altitude relatives, cattle (Bos taurus) and ordinary sheep (Ovis aries). Ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing reveals significant enrichment in VFA-yielding pathways of rumen microbial genes in high-altitude ruminants, whereas methanogenesis pathways show enrichment in the cattle metagenome. Analyses of RNA transcriptomes reveal significant upregulation in 36 genes associated with VFA transport and absorption in the ruminal epithelium of high-altitude ruminants. Our study provides novel insights into the contributions of microbiomes to adaptive evolution in mammals and sheds light on the biological control of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock enteric fermentation.
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•High-altitude adaptation produces convergent phenotypes of rumen metabolism•Microbial community structures and compositions contribute to convergent adaptation•Results show convergence of microbial genes in VFAs and methane-yielding pathways•Microbiomes co-evolve with host genomes for extremely environmental adaptation
Zhang et al. observe both low-methane emissions and high-VFA production in high-altitude mammals. Using ultra-deep metagenomic sequencing, the authors show co-enrichment in VFA-yielding pathways of rumen microbial genes in high-altitude species, suggesting convergent evolution of rumen microbiomes for their hosts’ energy harvesting persistence.
Dietary selection and intake affect the survival and health of mammals under extreme environmental conditions. It has been suggested that dietary composition is a key driver of gut microbiota ...variation; however, how gut microbiota respond to seasonal dietary changes under extreme natural conditions remains poorly understood. Sequencing plant trnL (UAA) region and 16S rRNA gene analysis were employed to determine dietary composition and gut microbiota in freely grazing yaks on the Tibetan plateau. Dietary composition was more diverse in winter than in summer, while Gramineae and Rosaceae were consumed frequently all year. Turnover of seasonal diet and gut microbiota composition occurred consistently. Yaks shifted enterotypes in response to dietary change between warm and cold seasons to best utilize nitrogen and energy, in particular in the harsh cold season. Our findings provide insights into understanding seasonal changes of diet-microbiota linkages in the adaptation of mammals to high altitudes.
•Cholesterol-lowering effects of LAB isolates from yak yoghurt were investigated.•L. plantarum LP3 was screened out due to its high cholesterol-lowering activity.•The strain exhibited an excellent ...tolerance to simulated GI tract.•It effectively alleviated the hyperlipidemia in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet.•The strain could be a potential probiotics to be used in functional food.
The objectives of the present study were to screen cholesterol-lowering lactic acid bacteria from traditional fermented Tibetan yak milk, and to evaluate their potential use as cholesterol-reducing probiotics in rats. A total of 115 isolates were evaluated for their cholesterol-lowering and probiotic profiles by in vitro assays, and a strain with good performance in in vitro test was selected to test its probiotic effects in rats fed a high cholesterol diet. Results showed that the strain of L. plantarum Lp3 had a high cholesterol-reducing rate (73.3%) and survival rate in simulated gastrointestinal fluids. Administration of Lp3 to rats fed a high-cholesterol diet promoted notable declines in serum and liver cholesterol and triglycerides levels, and reduced lipid deposition in the cytoplasm of rat’s liver tissue. These results suggest that the strain of L. plantarum Lp3 could be a potential probiotic to treat hyperlipidemia and to be used in functional food.
Globally methane (CH4) emissions from ruminant livestock account for 29% of total CH4 emissions. Inherited variation about CH4 emissions of different animal species might provide new opportunity for ...manipulating CH4 production. Six rumen-simulating fermenters (Rusitec) were set up for this study lasting for 16 d. The diet consisted of forage to concentrate ratio of 50:50 with barley straw as the forage. Treated vessels were supplied with rumen fluid from yak or cattle (3 vessels per animal species). Microbial growth was measured using 15N as a marker. The microbial community structure from liquid- and solid-fraction of each vessel was determined based on the 16S rRNA genes targeting both bacteria and archaea with MiSeq platform. CH4 yield was lower when the inoculum used from yak than that from cattle (0.26 and 0.33 mmol CH4/g dry matter intake, respectively). Lower H2 production was observed in Rusitec fermenters with rumen fluid from yak compare with that from cattle (0.28 and 0.86 mmol/d, respectively). The apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fiber, the isovalerate percentage with respect to the total amount of volatile fatty acids, the hydrogen recovery, and the proportion of liquid-associated microbial nitrogen derived from ammonia-nitrogen were higher in Rusitec fermenters incubated with rumen fluid from cattle than that from yak. The relative abundances of methanogens were no difference between two animal species. We hypothesize that more H2 production contributes to the higher methane emissions in cattle compare with yak.
Global warming is one of the most common environmental challenges faced by cold-water fish farming. Heat stress seriously affects the feeding, growth, immunity, and disease resistance of fish. These ...changes are closely related to the destruction of intestinal barrier function, the change of intestinal microbiota, and metabolic dysfunction. However, the causal relationship between the phenotypic effects of heat stress as well as intestinal and metabolic functions of fish is unknown. In the current study, the optimal growth temperature (16°C) of rainbow trout was used as the control group, while the fish treated at 22.5°C, 23.5°C, and 24.5°C for 24 h, respectively, were the treatment groups. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed that with the increase in temperature, the relative abundance and diversity of intestinal microbiota decreased significantly, while the number of Mycoplasma, Firmicutes, and Tenericutes increased significantly. Non-targeted metabolomics analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and correlation analysis showed that the changes of metabolites related to amino acids, vitamins, and short-chain fatty acids in serum of rainbow trout under acute heat stress were strongly correlated with the decrease of relative abundance of various intestinal microbiota, especially
,
,
,
, and
. In addition, we also found that acute heat stress seriously affected the intestinal structure and barrier function, and also caused the pathological damage of epithelial cells. These results indicate that the gut microbiome of acute heat-stressed rainbow trout could mediate metabolite transfer through the gut barrier by affecting its integrity. Significant changes in gut morphology, permeability, antioxidant capacity, and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels were observed. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the changes of intestinal microbiota under heat stress to help understand the regulatory mechanism of heat stress and protect the intestinal health of rainbow trout from the negative effects of rising water temperature.
Domestic yaks (Bos grunniens) provide meat and other necessities for Tibetans living at high altitude on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and in adjacent regions. Comparison between yak and the closely ...related low-altitude cattle (Bos taurus) is informative in studying animal adaptation to high altitude. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of a female domestic yak generated using Illumina-based technology at 65-fold coverage. Genomic comparisons between yak and cattle identify an expansion in yak of gene families related to sensory perception and energy metabolism, as well as an enrichment of protein domains involved in sensing the extracellular environment and hypoxic stress. Positively selected and rapidly evolving genes in the yak lineage are also found to be significantly enriched in functional categories and pathways related to hypoxia and nutrition metabolism. These findings may have important implications for understanding adaptation to high altitude in other animal species and for hypoxia-related diseases in humans.
The structure and diversity of human gut microbiota are directly related to diet, though less is known about the influences of ethnicity and diet-related behaviors, such as fasting (intermittent ...caloric restriction). In this study, we investigated whether fasting for Ramadan altered the microbiota in Chinese and Pakistani individuals. Using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing and self-reported dietary intake surveys, we determined that both the microbiota and dietary composition were significantly different with little overlap between ethnic groups. Principal Coordinate Analyses (PCoA) comparison of samples collected from both groups before and after fasting showed partial separation of microbiota related to fasting in the Pakistani group, but not in the Chinese group. Measurement of alpha diversity showed that Ramadan fasting significantly altered the coverage and ACE indices among Chinese subjects, but otherwise incurred no changes among either group. Specifically,
and
drove predominance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the Pakistani group, while
(phylum Bacteroidetes) were the most prevalent among Chinese participants both before and after fasting. We observed significant enrichment of some specific taxa and depletion of others in individuals of both populations, suggesting that fasting could affect beta diversity. Notably,
, and
were more abundant in the Chinese group after fasting, while
, and
were significantly enriched after fasting in the Pakistani group. Evaluation of the combined groups showed that genera
, and
were all significantly decreased after fasting. Analysis of food intake and macronutrient energy sources showed that fat-derived energy was positively associated with
and
, but negatively associated with
In addition, the consumption of sweets was significantly positively correlated with the prevalence of
Our study indicated that diet was the most significant influence on microbiota, and correlated with ethnic groups, while fasting led to enrichment of specific bacterial taxa in some individuals. Given the dearth of understanding about the impacts of fasting on microbiota, our results provide valuable inroads for future study aimed at novel, personalized, behavior-based treatments targeting specific gut microbes for prevention or treatment of digestive disorders.
The microbial community of the yak (
Bos grunniens
) rumen plays an important role in surviving the harsh Tibetan environment where seasonal dynamic changes in pasture cause nutrient supply ...imbalances, resulting in weight loss in yaks during the cold season. A better understanding of rumen microbiota under different feeding regimes is critical for exploiting the microbiota to enhance feed efficiency and growth performance. This study explored the impact of different dietary energy levels on feed efficiency, rumen fermentation, bacterial community, and abundance of volatile fatty acid (VFA) transporter transcripts in the rumen epithelium of yaks. Fifteen healthy castrated male yaks were divided into three groups and fed with low (YL), medium (YM), and high energy (YH) levels diet having different NEg of 5.5, 6.2, and 6.9 MJ/kg, respectively. The increase in feed efficiency was recorded with an increase in dietary energy levels. The increase in dietary energy levels decreased the pH and increased the concentrations of acetate, propionate, butyrate, and valerate in yak rumens. The increase in the mRNA abundance of VFA transporter genes (
MCT1
,
DRA
,
PAT1
, and
AE2
) in the rumen epithelium of yaks was recorded as dietary energy level increased. High relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were recorded with the increase in dietary energy levels. Significant population shifts at the genus level were recorded among the three treatments. This study provides new insights into the dietary energy-derived variations in rumen microbial community.
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