Seaweeds are industrially exploited for obtaining pigments, polysaccharides, or phenolic compounds with application in diverse fields. Nevertheless, their rich composition in fiber, minerals, and ...proteins, has pointed them as a useful source of these components. Seaweed proteins are nutritionally valuable and include several specific enzymes, glycoproteins, cell wall-attached proteins, phycobiliproteins, lectins, or peptides. Extraction of seaweed proteins requires the application of disruptive methods due to the heterogeneous cell wall composition of each macroalgae group. Hence, non-protein molecules like phenolics or polysaccharides may also be co-extracted, affecting the extraction yield. Therefore, depending on the macroalgae and target protein characteristics, the sample pretreatment, extraction and purification techniques must be carefully chosen. Traditional methods like solid-liquid or enzyme-assisted extraction (SLE or EAE) have proven successful. However, alternative techniques as ultrasound- or microwave-assisted extraction (UAE or MAE) can be more efficient. To obtain protein hydrolysates, these proteins are subjected to hydrolyzation reactions, whether with proteases or physical or chemical treatments that disrupt the proteins native folding. These hydrolysates and derived peptides are accounted for bioactive properties, like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, or antihypertensive activities, which can be applied to different sectors. In this work, current methods and challenges for protein extraction and purification from seaweeds are addressed, focusing on their potential industrial applications in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.
Chlorophyll
f
is a new type of chlorophyll isolated from cyanobacteria. The absorption and fluorescence characteristics of chlorophyll
f
permit these oxygenic-photosynthetic organisms to thrive in ...environments where white light is scarce but far-red light is abundant. To explore the ligand properties of chlorophyll
f
and its energy transfer profiles we established two different in vitro reconstitution systems. The reconstituted peridinin-chlorophyll
f
protein complex (chlorophyll
f
-PCP) showed a stoichiometry ratio of 4:1 between peridinin and chlorophyll
f
, consistent with the peridinin:chlorophyll
a
ratio from native PCP complexes. Using emission wavelength at 712 nm, the excitation fluorescence featured a broad peak at 453 nm and a shoulder at 511 nm confirming energy transfer from peridinin to chlorophyll
f
. In addition, by using a synthetic peptide mimicking the first transmembrane helix of light-harvesting chlorophyll proteins of plants, we report that chlorophyll
f
, similarly to chlorophyll
b
, did not interact with the peptide contrarily to chlorophyll
a
, confirming the accessory role of chlorophyll
f
in photosystems. The binding of chlorophyll
f
, even in the presence of chlorophylls
a
and
b
, by PCP complexes shows the flexibility of chlorophyll-protein complexes and provides an opportunity for the introduction of new chlorophyll species to extend the photosynthetic spectral range.
Cyanobacteria are highly abundant in the oceans and are constantly exposed to lytic viruses. The T4-like cyanomyoviruses are abundant in the marine environment and have broad host-ranges relative to ...other cyanophages. It is currently unknown whether broad host-range phages specifically tailor their infection program for each host, or employ the same program irrespective of the host infected. Also unknown is how different hosts respond to infection by the same phage. Here we used microarray and RNA-seq analyses to investigate the interaction between the Syn9 T4-like cyanophage and three phylogenetically, ecologically and genomically distinct marine Synechococcus strains: WH7803, WH8102 and WH8109. Strikingly, Syn9 led a nearly identical infection and transcriptional program in all three hosts. Different to previous assumptions for T4-like cyanophages, three temporally regulated gene expression classes were observed. Furthermore, a novel regulatory element controlled early-gene transcription, and host-like promoters drove middle gene transcription, different to the regulatory paradigm for T4. Similar results were found for the P-TIM40 phage during infection of Prochlorococcus NATL2A. Moreover, genomic and metagenomic analyses indicate that these regulatory elements are abundant and conserved among T4-like cyanophages. In contrast to the near-identical transcriptional program employed by Syn9, host responses to infection involved host-specific genes primarily located in hypervariable genomic islands, substantiating islands as a major axis of phage-cyanobacteria interactions. Our findings suggest that the ability of broad host-range phages to infect multiple hosts is more likely dependent on the effectiveness of host defense strategies than on differential tailoring of the infection process by the phage.
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•A variety of approaches for the extraction of lipids from microalgae were reviewed.•The bioactivity of microalgae lipids is summarized.•Innovative techniques have advantages in ...improving yield and reducing pollution.
Microalgae, as a photosynthetic autotrophic organism, contain a variety of bioactive compounds, including lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, which have been applied in food, medicine, and fuel industries, among others. Microalgae are considered a good source of marine lipids due to their high content in unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) and can be used as a supplement/replacement for fish-based oil. The high concentration of docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acids (EPA) in microalgae lipids, results in important physiological functions, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immune regulation, being also a prerequisite for its development and application. In this paper, a variety of approaches for the extraction of lipids from microalgae were reviewed, including classical and innovative approaches, being the advantages and disadvantages of these methods emphasized. Further, the effects of microalgae lipids as high value bioactive compounds in human health and their use for several applications are dealt with, aiming using green(er) and effective methods to extract lipids from microalgae, as well as develop and extend their application potential.
Photosynthetic manipulation provides new opportunities for enhancing crop yield. However, understanding and quantifying the importance of individual and multiple manipulations on the seasonal biomass ...growth and yield performance of target crops across variable production environments is limited. Using a state‐of‐the‐art cross‐scale model in the APSIM platform we predicted the impact of altering photosynthesis on the enzyme‐limited (Ac) and electron transport‐limited (Aj) rates, seasonal dynamics in canopy photosynthesis, biomass growth, and yield formation via large multiyear‐by‐location crop growth simulations. A broad list of promising strategies to improve photosynthesis for C3 wheat and C4 sorghum were simulated. In the top decile of seasonal outcomes, yield gains were predicted to be modest, ranging between 0% and 8%, depending on the manipulation and crop type. We report how photosynthetic enhancement can affect the timing and severity of water and nitrogen stress on the growing crop, resulting in nonintuitive seasonal crop dynamics and yield outcomes. We predicted that strategies enhancing Ac alone generate more consistent but smaller yield gains across all water and nitrogen environments, Aj enhancement alone generates larger gains but is undesirable in more marginal environments. Large increases in both Ac and Aj generate the highest gains across all environments. Yield outcomes of the tested manipulation strategies were predicted and compared for realistic Australian wheat and sorghum production. This study uniquely unpacks complex cross‐scale interactions between photosynthesis and seasonal crop dynamics and improves understanding and quantification of the potential impact of photosynthesis traits (or lack of it) for crop improvement research.
Summary Statement
Grain yield per area information of photosynthetically manipulated crop plants is limited. Cross‐scale modelling predicted how growth dynamics of wheat and sorghum crops can be affected and quantified various manipulation impacts on grain yield in multiple environments for crop improvement research.
Algae are considered pigment-producing organisms. The function of these compounds in algae is to carry out photosynthesis. They have a great variety of pigments, which can be classified into three ...large groups: chlorophylls, carotenoids, and phycobilins. Within the carotenoids are xanthophylls. Xanthophylls (fucoxanthin, astaxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-cryptoxanthin) are a type of carotenoids with anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities, due to their chemical structure rich in double bonds that provides them with antioxidant properties. In this context, xanthophylls can protect other molecules from oxidative stress by turning off singlet oxygen damage through various mechanisms. Based on clinical studies, this review shows the available information concerning the bioactivity and biological effects of the main xanthophylls present in algae. In addition, the algae with the highest production rate of the different compounds of interest were studied. It was observed that fucoxanthin is obtained mainly from the brown seaweeds
,
,
,
spp., and
spp. The main sources of astaxanthin are the microalgae
,
and
sp. Lutein and zeaxanthin are mainly found in algal species such as
,
,
spp., or
spp. However, the extraction and purification processes of xanthophylls from algae need to be standardized to facilitate their commercialization. Finally, we assessed factors that determine the bioavailability and bioaccesibility of these molecules. We also suggested techniques that increase xanthophyll's bioavailability.
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•Non-intrusive industrial retrofitted approach supporting collaborative maintenance.•Augmented human–machine behaviour models in traditional manufacturing.•Convergent methodology to ...support non-digitised legacy manufacturing equipment.•Real-time digital learning strategies integration in aged manufacturing machines.•Remote collaborative assistance to maintenance staff during COVID-19 confinement.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak impact on the world economy has boosted the increasing business needs to force manufacturing plants adapting to unpredictable changes and ensuring the continuity of industrial production. The demand for asset monitoring solutions and specialised support at the shop floor has become an increasingly important digital priority in industry that pushes human–machine technological upgrades leading to digital workforce skills assessment. In the case of traditional manufacturing, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) face the challenge of managing digital technologies and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) maturity models with a low adoption rate. In this digital context very few SMEs with traditional means have anticipated the latest advances in maintenance strategies impeded by technical and economical barriers. This work presents a human–machine technological integration solution in traditional manufacturing based on a non-intrusive retrofitting development with interoperable I4.0 tools. The method provides a common and rapidly deployable hardware and software architecture supporting an HMI-based legacy maintenance approach and addresses its evaluation focused on the physical-digital convergence of older industrial systems. A case study applying a digital process approach integrated with condition-based maintenance (CBM) techniques, has been carried out on a CNC milling machine and reproduced in an injection moulding machine during COVID-19 alert state. These already existing scenarios served to deploy digital retrofitting and communication strategies without interfering in working conditions. Patterns extracted from the machines were monitored in real-time interacting with the operational knowledge of the experienced staff. In this way, we provided an original contribution to confront human–machine challenges with improvements applied in traditional manufacturing, where workers and industrial systems were collaboratively updated with augmented digital strategies and proactive CBM environments.
To better understand the coordination between dark and light reactions during the transition from C
to C
photosynthesis, we optimized a method for separating thylakoids from mesophyll (MC) and bundle ...sheath cells (BSCs) across different plant species. We grew six Paniceae grasses including representatives from the C
, C
-C
and C
photosynthetic types and all three C
biochemical subtypes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent malic enzyme (NAD-ME) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) in addition to Zea mays under control conditions (1000 μmol quanta m
s
and 400 ppm of CO
). Proteomics analysis of thylakoids under native conditions, using blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), demonstrated the presence of subunits of all light-reaction-related complexes in all species and cell types. C
NADP-ME species showed a higher photosystems I/II ratio and a clear accumulation of the NADH dehydrogenase-like complexes in BSCs, while Cytb
f was more abundant in BSCs of C
NAD-ME species. The C
PEPCK species showed no clear differences between cell types. Our study presents, for the first time, a good separation between BSC and MC for a C
-C
intermediate grass which did not show noticeable differences in the distribution of the thylakoid complexes. For the NADP-ME species Panicum antidotale, growth at glacial CO
(180 ppm of CO
) had no effect on the distribution of the light-reaction complexes, while growth at low light (200 μmol quanta m
s
) promoted the accumulation of light-harvesting proteins in both cell types. These results add to our understanding of thylakoid distribution across photosynthetic types and subtypes, and introduce thylakoid distribution between the MC and BSC of a C
-C
intermediate species.
The current Web of Data is producing increasingly large RDF datasets. Massive publication efforts of RDF data driven by initiatives like the Linked Open Data movement, and the need to exchange large ...datasets has unveiled the drawbacks of traditional RDF representations, inspired and designed by a document-centric and human-readable Web. Among the main problems are high levels of verbosity/redundancy and weak machine-processable capabilities in the description of these datasets. This scenario calls for efficient formats for publication and exchange.
This article presents a binary RDF representation addressing these issues. Based on a set of metrics that characterizes the skewed structure of real-world RDF data, we develop a proposal of an RDF representation that modularly partitions and efficiently represents three components of RDF datasets: Header information, a Dictionary, and the actual Triples structure (thus called HDT). Our experimental evaluation shows that datasets in HDT format can be compacted by more than fifteen times as compared to current naive representations, improving both parsing and processing while keeping a consistent publication scheme. Specific compression techniques over HDT further improve these compression rates and prove to outperform existing compression solutions for efficient RDF exchange.
(1) Background: Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is responsible for a large part of many health benefits associated to Mediterranean diet as it is a fundamental ingredient of this diet. The ...peculiarities of this golden, highly valued product are in part due to the requirements that must be met to achieve this title, namely, it has to be obtained using exclusively mechanical procedures, its free acidity cannot be greater than 0.8%, it must not show sensory defects, and it has to possess a fruity taste. (2) Methods: All these characteristics are key factors to EVOO quality, thus the chemical composition of these many health-promoting compounds, such as unsaturated fatty acids (which are also the major compounds, especially oleic acid), as well as minor components such as tocopherols or phenolic compounds (which behave as natural antioxidants) must be preserved. (3) Results: Due to the presence of all these compounds, the daily consumption of EVOO entails health benefits such as cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor properties or acting as regulator of the intestinal microbiota, among others. (4) Conclusions: Taking all together, conserving EVOO chemical composition is essential to preserve its properties, so it is worth to control certain factors during storage like exposure to light, temperature, oxygen presence or the chosen packaging material, to maintain its quality and extend its shelf-life until its consumption.
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