Robabeh Golestani; Masoumeh Mehraban Sang Atash; Najme Gord Noshahri; Mohammad Zare Mehrjerdi; Yaser Yousefpoor
Abstract
The demand for bioethanol as a renewable energy source is rising. This study screened high-ethanol-producing microorganisms found in grapes to reduce production costs and compete with other fuels. The grapes and their waste samples were collected from Iranian vineyards. Microorganisms were initially ...
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The demand for bioethanol as a renewable energy source is rising. This study screened high-ethanol-producing microorganisms found in grapes to reduce production costs and compete with other fuels. The grapes and their waste samples were collected from Iranian vineyards. Microorganisms were initially screened by growing them in a glucose-enriched culture medium containing 10% ethanol to isolate ethanol-tolerant ones. The bioethanol-producing microorganisms were then qualitatively isolated during fermentation using high-throughput screening (HTS) based on CO2 production and changing bromothymol blue to green color. Promising strains were selected based on the amount of ethanol production by the CO2 flow meter. The selected strains were identified using 18S rRNA sequencing and PCR by the S. cerevisiae species-specific primers (ScHO). Finally, the growth of the most promising strain was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) in a shaking incubator.
A total of one hundred isolates were tested using HTS devices. Out of these, nine strains were quantitatively screened, and SCL-25 and SCL-62 were chosen to continue based on their high ethanol production rate. The ethanol production rate for SCL-25 was 12.86%, while SCL-62 was 14.35%. After molecular characterization, it was confirmed that SCL-25 was 100% similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whereas SCL-62 was 99% similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The PCR products amplified by ScHO showed a 400 bp band in agarose gel electrophoresis, confirming them as S. cerevisiae. Moreover, isolate SCL-62 showed ethanol production higher than the commercial strain. The RSM optimization results showed that the growth of the SCL-62 strain increased two times at 35 °C, pH 5.0, Brix degree 20, and agitation rate 200 rpm. Therefore, the SCL-62 strain has the potential to produce efficient and cost-effective bioethanol.
Fahime Mohammadi; Mojtaba Tahmoorespour; Ali Javadmanesh
Abstract
The formation of muscle myofibrils as well as the growth and hypertrophy of the muscle are controlled by various genes. Bioinformatics tools could also be used to integrate and analyze heterogeneous data sets. In this study, the DEGs, gene network, GO and biological pathways have been investigated by ...
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The formation of muscle myofibrils as well as the growth and hypertrophy of the muscle are controlled by various genes. Bioinformatics tools could also be used to integrate and analyze heterogeneous data sets. In this study, the DEGs, gene network, GO and biological pathways have been investigated by incorporating the data obtained by expression array and RNA-Seq, related to the muscle tissue transcriptome of Texel sheep respectively before and after birth. The microarray expression profile was extracted from the GEO database, and the RNA-Seq expression profile was extracted from the ArrayExpress database. DEGs were identified with limma and sva software packages in R environment and a gene network was drawn with STRING, an application in Cytoscape software. The clustering and gene ontology were done with CytoCluster and ClueGO applications. The results showed a significant difference between the juvenile and 70-day embryonic stages the expression of 103 genes, between the adult and juvenile stages the expression of 28 genes and between the adult and 70-day embryonic stages the expression of 62 genes. By constructing the gene network between these DEGs, a total of 37 selected genes were identified. The results revealed the function of these genes in cell proliferation, protein synthesis, formation and organization of myofibrils, muscle contraction, and lipid metabolism. By integrating the expression data, this study provided a general view of the differences in transcriptomes in the muscle tissue of sheep. Also, the selected genes such as BUB1, RFC2, KIAA0101, RAD51, CKS2, and UQCRB were identified for the first time being reported as effective genes for myogenesis.
Heydar Khadivi Ayask; Nasrin Sasani; Halimeh Hassanzadeh; Masoud Golestanipour; Ahmad Moloodi; Vahide Sadat Ebrahimi; Maryam M. Matin
Abstract
Bone graft substitutes are used in bone tissue engineering, orthopedics, and dentistry to help bone repair. The sterility and pyrogenicity of the bone grafts before clinical use are considered part of the regulatory requirements, however sterilization of biomaterials is challenging due to the physicochemical ...
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Bone graft substitutes are used in bone tissue engineering, orthopedics, and dentistry to help bone repair. The sterility and pyrogenicity of the bone grafts before clinical use are considered part of the regulatory requirements, however sterilization of biomaterials is challenging due to the physicochemical changes resulting from the localized increase in gamma dose during irradiation. The effects of gamma radiation dose on the biological behavior of synthetic bone grafts have not been extensively investigated. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of gamma radiation sterilization doses on OsvehOss synthetic bone grafts via chemical, mechanical, and in vitro biological examinations. XRD analysis and compression test were carried out to evaluate the chemical and mechanical changes of synthetic bone grafts induced by the highest gamma radiation dose applied in this study. Human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells were used to assay their osteogenic response while grown on a biphasic bone graft substitute. Cell attachment and proliferation were confirmed via scanning electron microscopy on days 3, 7, and 14 of culture. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was determined to assess osteogenesis. Alizarin red S (ARS) staining was also used to identify calcium deposition in osteocytes developed after differentiation of MG-63 cells. Our results illustrated that gamma irradiation did not cause dose-dependent changes in chemical and mechanical properties of OsvehOss BCP (Biphasic Calcium Phosphate) bone grafts when the doses increased up to 50 kGy. Furthermore, OsvehOss BCP samples demonstrated high osteoconductivity in all irradiation treatment groups. ALP and ARS analyses also indicated that the application of irradiation doses up to 50 kGy for sterilization of OsvehOss BCP grafts had no significant effects on osteogenesis and calcium deposition in osteoblast cells cultured on grafts. In conclusion, OsvehOss biomaterials can be sterilized safely for biomedical applications.
