Biotechnological applications of microbial bioconversions

Modern research has focused on the microbial transformation of a huge variety of organic compounds to obtain compounds of therapeutic and/or industrial interest. Microbial transformation is a useful tool for producing new compounds, as a consequence of the variety of reactions for natural products. This article describes the production of many important compounds by biotransformation. Emphasis is placed on reporting the metabolites that may be of special interest to the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, as well as the practical aspects of this work in the field of microbial transformations.     

Production of acetic acid by Clostridium thermoaceticum in electrodialysis culture using a fermenter equipped with an electrodialyser

Electrodialysis culture of Clostridium thermoaceticum increased the yield of acetate by its continuous removal. In normal batch cultures without pH control the yield was 4.2 g acetic acid/800 ml, while in pH-controlled culture it was 16.8 g/800 ml. Although electrodialysis cultures gave almost the same yield (15.4 g/800 ml) as that in pH-controlled cultures, sparging CO₂ into the broth in electrodialysis culture increased the amount of acetic acid to 22.3 g/800 ml. CO₂ sparging into normal cultures with or without pH control did not significantly increase the amount of acetate produced but yields, in terms of amounts of glucose consumed, were higher than without sparging. The theoretical yield was almost obtained in pH-controlled, electrodialysis cultures with CO₂ sparging.The authors are with the Department of Applied Microbial Technology, Kumamoto Institute of Technology, Ikeda 4-22-1, Kumamoto 860, Japan     

A Novel Electrochemically Active and Fe(III)-reducing Bacterium Phylogenetically Related to Clostridium butyricum Isolated from a Microbial Fuel Cell

An obligatory anaerobic bacterium was isolated from a mediator-less microbial fuel cell using starch processing wastewater as the fuel and designated as EG3. The isolate was Gram-positive, motile and rod (2.8–3.0 μm long, 0.5–0.6 μm wide). The partial 16S rRNA gene sequence and analysis of the cellular fatty acids profile suggested that EG3 clusters with Clostridium sub-phylum and exhibited the highest similarity (98%) with Clostridium butyricum. The temperature and pH optimum for growth were 37°C and 7.0, respectively. The major products of glucose and glucose/Fe(O)OH metabolism were lactate, formate, butyrate, acetate, CO₂and H₂. Growth was faster at the initial phase and the cell yield was higher when the medium was supplemented with Fe(O)OH than without Fe(O)OH. These results suggest that Fe(III) ion is utilised as an electron sink. Cyclic voltammetry showed that Clostridium butyricum EG3 cells were electrochemically active. It is a novel characteristic of strict anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria.     

内蒙古大青山华北落叶松人工林乔木层碳密度年增量与气象因子的关系

以内蒙古大青山华北落叶松人工林为研究对象，通过树木年轮法和异速生长方程法，计算华北落叶松人工林生物量、碳密度及其年增量的年际变化，并分析碳密度年增量与气温、降水、湿度等气象因子的关系。研究发现：华北落叶松人工林碳密度随着林龄增加的变化曲线可用逻辑斯谛生长方程拟合，在1979—2016年，碳密度由1.05 t/hm~2增加到76.83 t/hm~2。华北落叶松人工林碳密度年增量存在显著的年际差异，总体上呈波动性的“慢-快-慢”趋势，碳密度年增量最高达到3.72 t hm^-2 a^-1,多年平均为2.05 t hm^-2 a^-1。华北落叶松人工林碳密度年增量与上年6月和当年6—8月的降水量显著正相关，与上年11月降水显著负相关；与上年11—12月、当年2月和12月的温度和大气相对湿度分别呈正、负相关；与上年7月、9月及当年8—9月的温度保持显著或极显著正相关。研究表明，温度、湿度和降水主要通过生长季的长短和土壤可利用水分及冬季的雪害冻害影响华北落叶松人工林的碳汇潜力，在未来该地区升温增湿的气候变化趋势下华北...     

长江经济带林地和其他生物质碳储量及碳汇量研究

以全国林业应对气候变化碳汇计量监测体系建设结果数据为基础，应用森林碳库专项调查建立的碳计量模型和参数，结合历次森林资源清查成果等数据，估算了2020年长江经济带林地和其他生物质碳储量和碳汇量。研究表明：（1）2020年长江经济带林地碳储量24543.58 Tg C （其中森林植被碳储量为4372.85Tg C），散生木和四旁树等其他生物质碳储量329.59 Tg C。2020年长江经济带林地碳汇量81.81 Tg C/a （300.26Tg CO₂/a）、散生木和四旁树等其他生物质碳汇量6.60 Tg C/a （24.21 Tg CO₂/a）。无论是林地和其他生物质碳储量、碳汇量、还是森林植被碳储量，乔木林地所占比例最大（69%-85%）；长江经济带11个省市中，云南省最大，上海市最小；林地碳储量中土壤有机质碳库贡献最大（81.46%），林地碳汇量中生物量碳库贡献最大（90.99%）；林地碳汇量中"一直为林地的土地"产生碳汇量贡献最大（71.74%），其中一直为乔木林的土地产生的碳汇量占69.89%；（2）阐述了长江防护林工程、天然林资源保护工程、珠江防护林工程和沿海防护林工程4大重点生态工程对长江经济带碳储量和碳汇量的贡献，长江防护林工程贡献率最大（81%-83%），其次是天然林资源保护工程（32%-38%），珠江防护林工程和沿海防护林工程影响较小。分析了人工造林、中幼林抚育、次生林和低效林改造、退化林修复等生态保护修复措施对长江经济带碳储量和碳汇量的贡献，并提出了碳中和愿景下森林固碳增汇的有效途径。     

祁连山南麓高寒湿地生态系统呼吸季节、年际动态及影响因素

由于青藏高原高海拔、低温的特殊环境，使得生态系统呼吸(RE)对气候变化的响应极其敏感，然而对高寒湿地生态系统长时间尺度上的RE动态特征及驱动机制的研究相对薄弱。以青藏高原东北部高寒湿地为研究对象，分析了基于涡度相关系统观测的高寒湿地2004—2016年的CO₂通量排放动态及影响机制，对预测高寒湿地碳平衡对未来气候变化的响应具有重要意义。结果表明：高寒湿地在2004—2016年的月平均RE表现为单峰变化趋势，在8月达到峰值；年RE表现为逐年升高的趋势(P<0.05),年RE均值为(608.9±65.6) g C m^-2 a^-1;生长季RE约是非生长季RE的2.7倍，线性回归分析表明生长季RE(r~2=0.66,P=0.001)、非生长季RE(r~2=0.47,P=0.01)与全年RE呈极显著正相关。在月尺度上，分类回归树分析和线性回归分析表明土壤温度是月RE的最主要控制因素，暗示高寒湿地的土壤呼吸对整个生态系统的碳排放至关重要。在年际尺度上，生长季积温与生长季RE呈显著正相关(P<0.05),而生长季降水(PP...