Borno state is the second largest state in Nigeria with over 70,000 square kilometers of diverse ecosystems including parts of the fertile Lake Chad basin. However, more than 2/3 of this landmass is threatened with drought, advancing desertification and degraded soils. Most restoration efforts involve revegetation, which in the past has met with limited success. Microbial communities of soils play a pivotal role in soil fertility and plant cover. We conducted the first metagenomic amplicon sequencing study, comparing two soil depths to determine whether soil bacteria abundance and diversity in the harsh bare soils were sufficient to sustain greening efforts. The goal was to glean insights to guide microbial inoculant formulation needed in the region. Samples from top (0-15 cm) and sub (16-65 cm) soils were collected from five strategic locations in the state. Using next generation Illumina sequencing protocols, total DNA extracted directly from the soils was sequenced and analyzed by QIIME. Metadata collected from site showed scorching temperatures of over 46˚C, near zero moisture level and a pH of about 6 for top soil. At 65 cm depth, the temperature averaged 32˚C with a pH of 5 and significantly higher soil moisture of 0.1%. The bacterial community structure was unexpectedly very diverse at both soil depths samples, recording a ChaO1 index ranging from 909 to 4296 and a Shannon diversity range of 3.54 to 6.33. The most abundant phyla in both soil depths were the Firmicutes and Proteobacteria; however the relative abundance of composite lower taxa was strikingly different. Operational taxonomic units and diversity indices were highest How to cite this paper:
The Ikogosi Warm Spring is a unique ecological niche in Western Nigeria with an average temperature and pH of 38˚C and 5.8 respectively. It mixes with an adjacent cold spring (28˚C & pH 7.6), about 100 meters from source, yielding a confluence body of water of 32˚C and pH 7.7. To explore the bacterial community structure of this uncommon environment and to scan for potentially useful bacteria, metagenomes extracted directly from five samples (source and mid-point of warm spring; source and midpoint of cold spring, and the confluence) were analyzed. Using the MiSeq Illumina next generation sequencing protocols, the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene pool was sequenced and analyzed by QIIME (Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology) and R software. At least 11% (47,446) of all the sequences were unknown to any of the databases employed. Bacterial diversity and abundance at the source of both springs were extremely low, accounting for less than 0.07% of the total sequence reads at the confluence, 100 m downstream. In contrast to the highly diversified mesophilic confluence community where 21 different phyla were identified, only 4 and 5 phyla were recovered from the source-point of the warm spring and cold spring respectively. The most prevalent phyla in all samples were members of the versatile Proteobacteria (35%-50% relative abundance), and the hardy Firmicutes (33%-40%). Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) obtained from all the samples averaged at 1414. Temperature and pH were equally significant predictors of genomic diversity and richness, with the warm and cold spring sources having less than 5 bacteria phyla. Exiguobacterium sp. (a potential plastic degrader) and other deep rooted bacteria were found in the warm spring while the cold spring outflow contained among others such asRubrobacter sp. and Chloroflexi sp. (which is close to the phylogenetic root of the domain Bacteria
Nowadays there has been an increase in the need to incorporate foods in our diets that have optimal and palatable organoleptic characteristics as well as complex interaction in human biological processes that provide beneficial properties to human health. Animal foods and their by-products are an important source of macro-and micronutrients and also a great protein source; nevertheless the consumption of these products has been decreasing since they have been associated with the generation of chronic degenerative diseases; therefore the food industry has sought to innovate toward the generation of healthier foods. This chapter presents an overview of the glycation of proteins of animal origin via the Maillard reaction emphasizing on their posttranslational modifications and their possible uses in food, based on their bioactivity.
BACKGROUND Protein glycation by Maillard reaction is commonly used to improve the functional and bioactive properties of food proteins. It is also known that this glycation method can be accelerated by heat without the need for chemical reagents that could be harmful to health. In this study, glycoconjugates were obtained from a mixture of connective tissue proteins (CTP) from jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) and two different sugars, dextran (DEX; 10 kDa) and glucose (GLU), using protein‐to‐carbohydrate ratios of 1:2 and 1:3, in solution at 50 °C for 6 h. The glycation products were characterized by means of their physicochemical properties and cytotoxic effect. RESULTS The intensity of the browning measured at A420nm and A294nm in glycoconjugates showed no significant difference (P < 0.05). CTP‐DEX (1:2) and CTP‐DEX (1:3) were those products with the greatest fluorescence related to the intermediate stage in the Maillard reaction, and also with the highest degree of glycation, which was confirmed using o‐phthaldialdehyde assay and Fourier transform infrared analysis. The values of cellular viability for CTP‐GLU (1:3), CTP‐DEX (1:2, 1:3) as well as CTP (0, 6 h) were around 92–103%. CONCLUSIONS The operational parameters used in the glycation process achieved the formation of glycoconjugates from proteins of D. gigas, showing no cytotoxic effect on the HaCaT cell line. This research proposes an alternative for the modification of proteins and opens the way to future investigations regarding the bioactivity of these macromolecules to have applications for the use of byproducts in food science and technology. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
This paper proposes a modification to the classic Smith Predictor, known since several decades as an effective control method for the pure delay noxious effect in the control loop systems. The modification consists in the use of a high order model for the system, using an idea of Strejc, instead of the first order model with delay as was proposed by Smith. This allows better approximation to high order systems. It is presented an algorithm to calculate the Strejc model of the system to be controlled, based on its response to a unit step disturb.
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