The Influence of Long and Short Cycle Schemes of Self-Cycling Fermentation on the Growth of E. Coli and S. Cerevisiae

Self-cycling fermentation (SCF), a cyclic process in which cells divide once per cycle, has been shown to lead to improvements in productivity during bioconversion and, often, whole-culture synchronization. Previous studies have found that in some cases, the completion of synchronized cell replication occurred simultaneously with depletion of a limiting nutrient. However, exceptions were also observed when the end of cell doubling occurred before the exhaustion of the limiting nutrient. In order to better understand the underlying mechanisms and impacts of these growth patterns on bioprocessing, we investigated the growth of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in long- and short-cycle SCF strategies. Three characteristic events linked to SCF cycles were identified: (1) the completion of synchronized cell replication, (2) the depletion or a plateau of the limiting nutrient, and (3) characteristic points of control parameters (e.g., the minimum of dissolved oxygen and the maximum of carbon dioxide evolution rate). Three major trends stemming from this study and SCF literature were observed: (A) co-occurrence of the three key events in SCF cycles, (B) cycles for which cell replication ended prior to the co-occurrence of the other two events, and (C) cycles for which the time of depletion or a plateau of the limiting nutrient occurred later than the concurrence of the other two events. Based on these observations, a novel definition for SCF is proposed.

Sequestration of P fractions in the soils of an incipient ferralisation chronosequence on a humid tropical volcanic island

Background Phosphorus (P) is the limiting nutrient in many mature tropical forests. The ecological significance of declining P stocks as soils age is exacerbated by much of the remaining P being progressively sequestered. However, the details of how and where P is sequestered during the ageing in tropical forest soils remains unclear. Results We examined the relationships between various forms of the Fe and Al sesquioxides and the Hedley fractions of P in soils of an incipient ferralitic chronosequence on an altitudinal series of gently sloping benches on Green Island, off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. These soils contain limited amounts of easily exchangeable P. Of the sesquioxide variables, only Fe and Al crystallinities increased significantly with bench altitude/soil age, indicating that the ferralisation trend is weak. The bulk of the soil P was in the NaOH and residual extractable fractions, and of low lability. The P fractions that correlated best with the sesquioxides were the organic components of the NaHCO3 and NaOH extracts. Conclusions The amorphous sesquioxides, Feo and Alo, were the forms that correlated best with the P fractions. A substantial proportion of the labile P appears to be organic and to be associated with Alo in organic-aluminium complexes. The progression of P sequestration appears to be slightly slower than the chemical and mineralogical indicators of ferralisation.

Inferring metabolic fluxes in nutrient-limited continuous cultures: A Maximum Entropy Approach with minimum information

We propose a new scheme to infer the metabolic fluxes of cell cultures in a chemostat. Our approach is based on the Maximum Entropy Principle and exploits the understanding of the chemostat dynamics and its connection with the actual metabolism of cells. We show that, in continuous cultures with limiting nutrients, the inference can be done with limited information about the culture: the dilution rate of the chemostat, the concentration in the feed media of the limiting nutrient and the cell concentration at steady state. Also, we remark that our technique provides information, not only about the mean values of the fluxes in the culture, but also its heterogeneity. We first present these results studying a computational model of a chemostat. Having control of this model we can test precisely the quality of the inference, and also unveil the mechanisms behind the success of our approach. Then, we apply our method to E. coli experimental data from the literature and show that it outperforms alternative formulations that rest on a Flux Balance Analysis framework.

Phosphorus uptake by Oscillatoria sp. microalgae for bioavailability under anaerobic condition to predict eutrophication

Phosphorus is generally considered the limiting nutrient for algae growth in the aquatic environment. The phosphorus uptake for algae can give information for bioavailability-P. The contribution of phosphorous to bioavailability was evaluated using uptake-P in water solution under anaerobic conditions. The more is the incubation time, the more is the phosphate bioavailability. The maximum bioavailability occurred at 14 days with a phosphate concentration of 50 ppm resulting in P-available of 18.41 ppm. There was a linear correlation between P-available with P-medium with R2 = 0.97. The phosphorus bioavailability can be resulted from the equation: [P-Available] = 0.3789 x [P-medium]. The phosphate absorbed by the algae Oscillatoria sp in anaerobic conditions with initial concentrations of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm was 5.46, 8.65, 11.63, 17.99 and 18.41 ppm, respectively. The maximum efficiency adsorption occurred in the concentration of 30 ppm with 49.18% adsorption.

357 Effect of Energy Supplementation on Growth, Health, and Carcass Traits of Pasture-raised Lambs

Energy is often the most limiting nutrient in pasture diets. The effect of energy supplementation on the growth, health, and carcass traits of pasture-raised lambs was investigated. Seventy-nine Katahdin ram lambs were delivered to the Western Maryland Research & Education Center on June 15. After an 11-d acclimation period, lambs were allocated to two treatment groups based on age, weight, birth type, and FEC. Lambs in the PASTURE group (n = 40) rotationally grazed 2 ha of high quality, mixed pasture for 102 d. Lambs in the SUPPL group (n = 39) grazed similar pastures and were hand-fed a daily energy supplement (450 g of whole barley). The groups were handled bi-weekly to determine body weights, FAMACHA©, BCS, and dag scores. Individual fecal samples were collected upon arrival and at two additional time points. Lambs were ultrasound scanned on Sept 25 to determine carcass traits. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS, with statistical significance set at P ≤ 0.05. ADG varied considerably among weigh periods. Standard deviations were typically quite large, indicating wide variation in individual performance. Overall, the SUPPL lambs had higher ADG (P < 0.01), more backfat (P < 0.03), and higher BCS (P < 0.01) than the PASTURE lambs. There were no statistical differences in starting weight, ending weight, and loin depth. While internal parasites were not a problem during the study (only one lamb had a FAMACHA© score >4), PASTURE lambs had lower FEC (P < 0.05) on August 17 (240 ± 81 vs. 468 ± 80 epg). The value of additional gain (0.9 kg) would not have covered the cost of feed; however, four lambs were removed from the PASTURE group (due to death or failure to thrive) whereas only two lambs were removed from the SUPPL group. The study will be repeated in 2021 with similar lambs and protocol.

Spatial distribution of nutrients in Maumere Bay, East Nusa Tenggara

The availability of nutrients in the marine environment is very important for primary production and as indicator of the health condition in waters. East Nusa Tenggara Province is one of the province that has a potential fishery, especially in Maumere Bay of Sikka Regency. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the water quality and spatial distribution of nutrients in that area. This study aims to determine water quality, assess water trophic status, and determine limiting factors in Maumere Bay. Sampling was conducted in August 2017 at 14 research stations and 1 daily station. The results showed that the relationship between DIN, DIP, and DSi at the daily station was a weak correlation. DIN reaches maximum concentration after 8 hours, whereas DIP and DSi reach maximum concentration after 12 hours. The average DIN, DIP, and DSi were 1.082 μmol L−1, 0.123 μmol L−1, and 4.544 μmol L−1, respectively. The average DIN/DIP ratio was 11.554. It can be concluded that Maumere Bay is an oligotrophic area and phosphate as a limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth.

Can Top-Down Controls Expand the Ecological Niche of Marine N2 Fixers?

The ability of marine diazotrophs to fix dinitrogen gas (N2) is one of the most influential yet enigmatic processes in the ocean. With their activity diazotrophs support biological production by fixing about 100–200 Tg N/year and turning otherwise unavailable dinitrogen into bioavailable nitrogen (N), an essential limiting nutrient. Despite their important role, the factors that control the distribution of diazotrophs and their ability to fix N2 are not fully elucidated. We discuss insights that can be gained from the emerging picture of a wide geographical distribution of marine diazotrophs and provide a critical assessment of environmental (bottom-up) versus trophic (top-down) controls. We expand a simplified theoretical framework to understand how top-down control affects competition for resources that determine ecological niches. Selective mortality, mediated by grazing or viral-lysis, on non-fixing phytoplankton is identified as a critical process that can broaden the ability of diazotrophs to compete for resources in top-down controlled systems and explain an expanded ecological niche for diazotrophs. Our simplified analysis predicts a larger importance of top-down control on competition patterns as resource levels increase. As grazing controls the faster growing phytoplankton, coexistence of the slower growing diazotrophs can be established. However, these predictions require corroboration by experimental and field data, together with the identification of specific traits of organisms and associated trade-offs related to selective top-down control. Elucidation of these factors could greatly improve our predictive capability for patterns and rates of marine N2 fixation. The susceptibility of this key biogeochemical process to future changes may not only be determined by changes in environmental conditions but also via changes in the ecological interactions.

Calculation of Mass Transfer and Cell-Specific Consumption Rates to Improve Cell Viability in Bioink Tissue Constructs

Biofabrication methods such as extrusion-based bioprinting allow the manufacture of cell-laden structures for cell therapy, but it is important to provide a sufficient number of embedded cells for the replacement of lost functional tissues. To address this issue, we investigated mass transfer rates across a bioink hydrogel for the essential nutrients glucose and glutamine, their metabolites lactate and ammonia, the electron acceptor oxygen, and the model protein bovine serum albumin. Diffusion coefficients were calculated for these substances at two temperatures. We could confirm that diffusion depends on the molecular volume of the substances if the bioink has a high content of polymers. The analysis of pancreatic 1.1B4 β-cells revealed that the nitrogen source glutamine is a limiting nutrient for homeostasis during cultivation. Taking the consumption rates of 1.1B4 β-cells into account during cultivation, we were able to calculate the cell numbers that can be adequately supplied by the cell culture medium and nutrients in the blood using a model tissue construct. For blood-like conditions, a maximum of ~106 cells·mL−1 was suitable for the cell-laden construct, as a function of the diffused substrate and cell consumption rate for a given geometry. We found that oxygen and glutamine were the limiting nutrients in our model.

Weathering controls on the Phanerozoic phosphate cycle

Although phosphate is an essential macronutrient for marine biota, critical to our understanding of marine productivity, biogeochemistry, and evolution, its long-timescale geologic history is poorly constrained. We constrain weathering-derived fluxes and seawater concentrations of phosphate throughout the Phanerozoic (541 Ma to present), by developing a model for the coupled, long-term biogeochemical cycles of phosphate, carbon, oxygen, and calcium. We find that the relative contribution of continental and seafloor weathering to the total weathering rate exerts a first-order control on ocean productivity, through a previously uninvestigated mechanism. Specifically, continental weathering is a source of the limiting nutrient phosphate, but seafloor weathering is not. As a result, times in Earth history in which seafloor weathering constitutes a large fraction of the total weathering rate (e.g., the early Paleozoic and Mesozoic), are also times in which phosphate delivery to the ocean is relatively low. A lower concentration of phosphate in seawater likely affected primary productivity, oceanic and atmospheric oxygen concentrations, with possible implications for the evolution of marine fauna over Earth history.