Spaceflight represents a complex environmental condition. Space mutagenesis breeding has achieved marked results over the years. The objective of this study is to determine the chemical changes in medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum cultivated after spaceflight in 1999. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) correlation spectroscopy were used in analysis. The sample Sx and its control Cx showed the least dissimilarities in one-dimensional FTIR spectra, but absorbance of Sx is twice as high as Cx. Sx presented a clear peak at 1648 cm in 2nd derivative spectra, which could not be detected in the Cx. The 2DIR spectra showed the intensity of Sx in the range 1800-1400 cm-1 for protein is higher than the control. The sample Sx produced some carbohydrate peaks in the area of 889 cm-1 compared with the Cx. The spaceflight set up an extreme condition and caused changes of chemical properties in G. lucidum strain.
Ectoine production using inexpensive and renewable biomass resources has attracted great interest among the researchers due to the low yields of ectoine in current fermentation approaches that complicate the large-scale production of ectoine. In this study, ectoine was produced from corn steep liquor (CSL) and soybean hydrolysate (SH) in replacement to yeast extract as the nitrogen sources for the fermentation process. To enhance the bacterial growth and ectoine production, biotin was added to the Halomonas salina fermentation media. In addition, the effects addition of surfactants such as Tween 80 and saponin on the ectoine production were also investigated. Results showed that both the CSL and SH can be used as the nitrogen source substitutes in the fermentation media. Higher amount of ectoine (1781.9 mg L-1) was produced in shake flask culture with SH-containing media as compared to CSL-containing media. A total of 2537.0 mg L-1 of ectoine was produced at pH 7 when SH-containing media was applied in the 2 L batch fermentation. Moreover, highest amount of ectoine (1802.0 mg L-1) was recorded in the SH-containing shake flask culture with addition of 0.2 μm mL-1 biotin. This study demonstrated the efficacy of industrial waste as the nutrient supplement for the fermentation of ectoine production.
Spaceflight represents a complex environmental condition. Space mutagenesis breeding has achieved and marked certain results over the years. This method was employed in our previous studies in order to obtain improved germplasm of Isatis indigotica. This study is to determine the chemical changes in I. indigotica seeds carried after Chinese first spaceship (Shenzhou I). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), second derivative and two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) correlation spectroscopy were used in analysis. Not much differences between the two spectra were found except the peaks in the range of 1500-1200 cm(-)(1) which was about 7 cm(-)(1) different and indicated the absorption could be initialed from different bonds. SP4 showed different derivative compared with C4 in the second derivative spectra of 1200-800 cm(-)(1). The stronger signal of 2DIR in SP4 indicated the protein content of the seed was changed after spaceflight. It is concluded that spaceflight provided an extreme condition that caused changes of chemical properties in I. indigotica.
Globally, the interaction and vulnerability of tourism and climate change have recently been in focus. This study examines how carbon dioxide emissions respond to changes in the tourism development. Panel data from 2000 to 2017 for 70 countries are analyzed using spatial econometric method to investigate the spatial spillover effect of tourism development on environmental pollution. The direct, indirect, and overall impact of tourism on environmental pollution are estimated after the selection of the most appropriate GNS method. The findings reveal that tourism has a positive direct effect and a negative indirect effect; both are significant at the 1 % level. The negative indirect effect of tourism is greater than its direct positive effect, implying an overall significantly negative impact. Further, the outcome of financial development and carbon emissions have an inverted U-shaped and U-shaped relationship in direct and indirect impacts. Population density, trade openness and economic growth significantly influence on environmental pollution through spatial spill over. In addition, education expenditure and infrastructure play a significant moderating role in the relationship among tourism development and environmental pollution. The results have important policy implications as they establish an inverted-U-shaped relationship among tourism and environmental pollution and indicate that while a country's emissions initially rise with the tourism industry's growth, they begin declining after a limit.
This study investigated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and the direct cytotoxic effect of Lignosus rhinocerotis fractions, especially the polysaccharide fraction, on nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. L. rhinocerotis crude extract was obtained through hot water extraction. The precipitate saturated with 30% ammonium sulfate was purified with ion-exchanged chromatography. Gel permeation chromatography multiangle laser light scattering analysis equipped with light scattering and UV signals revealed two district groups of polymers. A total of four peaks were observed in the total carbohydrate test. Fraction C, which was the second region of the second peak eluted with 0.3 M NaOH, showed the highest integrated molecular weight, whereas fraction E had the lowest integrated molecular weight of 19,790 Da. Fraction A contained the highest β-D-glucan content. Enzymatic analysis showed that most of the polysaccharide fractions contained β-1-3 and β-1-6 skeletal backbones. The peak eluted with 0.6 M NaOH was separated in fraction D (flask 89-92) and fraction E (93-96). The results showed that fraction E expressed higher antioxidant activities than fraction D whereas fraction D expressed higher chelating activity than fraction E. The extract saturated with 30% ammonium sulfate exhibited higher reducing power than the extract saturated with 100% ammonium sulfate. Fractions D and E significantly inhibited the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-α in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages in a dose-dependent manner. There was no apparent difference in the viability of cells exposed or unexposed to L. rhinocerotis fractions.
Many macrofungus sclerotia are well-known medicinal herbs, health food and nutritional supplements. However, the prevalent adulterant commercial products are major hindrances to their incorporation into mainstream medical use in many countries. The mushroom sclerotia of Lignosus rhinocerotis, Poria cocos, Polyporus umbellatus, Pleurotus tuber-regium and Omphalia lapidescens are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, IR macro-fingerprint method was used in the identification of these sclerotia. The results showed that the spectrum of L. rhinocerotis (LR) was comparable with P. cocos with 94.4% correlation, except that the peak at 1543cm(-1) of LR appeared in lower intensity. The spectrum of P. umbellatus and P. tuber-regium was also correlated (91.5%), as both spectra could be clearly discriminated in that P. umbellatus spectrum has small base peaks located at the range of 1680-1500cm(-1). O. lapidescens was not comparable with all the other sclerotia as its spectrum was totally different. Its base peak was broad and derivated equally along the range. The first IR has revealed the dissimilarity among five mushrooms sclerotia. The second derivative and 2DIR further enhanced the identification in detail.
The increasing amounts of food wastage and accumulation generated per annum due to the growing human population worldwide often associated with environmental pollution issues and scarcity of natural resources. In view of this, science community has worked towards in finding sustainable approaches to replace the common practices for food waste management. The agricultural and food processing wastes rich in nutrients are often the attractive substrates for the bioconversion for valuable bioproducts such as industrial enzymes, biofuel and bioactive compounds. The sustainable approaches on the re-utilization of food wastes as the industrial substrates for production of valuable bioproducts has meet the goals of circular bioeconomy, results in the diversify applications and increasing market demands for the bioproducts. This review discusses the current practice and recent advances on reutilization of food waste for bioconversion of valuable bioproducts from agricultural and food processing wastes.
The popularmedicinal mushroomGanodermalucidum was often cultivated by the natural-log. Generally the short log after cultivation were discarded and became pollutant. Rapid and less destructive method of analysis technical by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Two-dimension Infrared (2DIR) correlation spectroscopy were selected to determine the composition changes of the logs after G.lucidum cultivation after first year to fifth year. The FTIR accumulated spectra formed without processed baseline showed the samples relied upon a sequenced increase of higher level than spectrum control Q (Q = Quercus acuttisima) from L + Q-5 (L = Lingzhi), L + Q-3, L + Q-1 to L + Q-2. The spectrum L + Q-4 has the optimum highest peak at box B, C and E from this lumped spectral view. The split spectra pinpointed on the fingerprint region of a sample begins from peak 1737 cm-1. ascribed C = O stretching vibration on acetyl and carboxyl hemicellulose group bonding gradually faded from L + Q-1 to L + Q-4 but appeared again on L + Q-5, possibly due to the degradation of hemicellulose. The absorption of peak around 1626 cm-1,1318 cm-1 and 781 cm-1 could be the characteristic absorption peak of calcium oxalate monohydrate. The correlation table indicated, most of the original structure of the building block of the wooden part was deteriorated and marked the lowest correlation value of the 4th year sample with control Q. The sudden changing pattern of 2nd derivative spectrum L + Q-3 to more flatten pattern spectrum L + Q-4 ascribed the changing contents of cellulose and hemicellulose included the lignin within one year during the G. lucidum cultivation. The 2DIR spectrum of the raw material sample precisely showed that the active site with red color was clustered with the area around 1800-1700 cm-1, 1450-800 cm-1 and 750-400 cm-1. In between, the range 1450-800 cm-1 was the most active cluster. Each of the sample showed the different sequence of autopeak comparison. This study has examined the impact of G. lucidum on the degradation of Q. acuttisima in term of their ecosystem life chain. The components of healthy Q. acuttisima wood including lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose and calcium oxalate monohydrate underwent changes after different years of G. lucidum cultivation.
Nipah virus (NiV), a bat-borne paramyxovirus, results in neurological and respiratory diseases with high mortality in humans and animals. Developing vaccines is crucial for fighting these diseases. Previously, only a few studies focused on the fusion (F) protein alone as the immunogen. Numerous NiV strains have been identified, including 2 representative strains from Malaysia (NiV-M) and Bangladesh (NiV-B), which differ significantly from each other. In this study, an F protein sequence with the potential to prevent different NiV strain infections was designed by bioinformatics analysis after an in-depth study of NiV sequences in GenBank. Then, a chimpanzee adenoviral vector vaccine and a DNA vaccine were developed. High levels of immune responses were detected after AdC68-F, pVAX1-F, and a prime-boost strategy (pVAX1-F/AdC68-F) in mice. After high titers of humoral responses were induced, the hamsters were challenged by the lethal NiV-M and NiV-B strains separately. The vaccinated hamsters did not show any clinical signs and survived 21 days after infection with either strain of NiV, and no virus was detected in different tissues. These results indicate that the vaccines provided complete protection against representative strains of NiV infection and have the potential to be developed as a broad-spectrum vaccine for human use.