Alvarez-Gerding, X., Cortes-Bullemore, R., Medina, C., Romero-Romero, J. L., Inostroza-Blancheteau, C., Aquea, F., et al. (2015). Improved Salinity Tolerance in Carrizo Citrange Rootstock through Overexpression of Glyoxalase System Genes. Biomed Res. Int., 827951, 7 pp.
Abstract: Citrus plants are widely cultivated around the world and, however, are one of the most salt stress sensitive crops. To improve salinity tolerance, transgenic Carrizo citrange rootstocks that overexpress glyoxalase I and glyoxalase II genes were obtained and their salt stress tolerance was evaluated. Molecular analysis showed high expression for both glyoxalase genes (BjGlyI and PgGlyII) in 5H03 and 5H04 lines. Under control conditions, transgenic and wild type plants presented normal morphology. In salinity treatments, the transgenic plants showed less yellowing, marginal burn in lower leaves and showed less than 40% of leaf damage compared with wild type plants. The transgenic plants showed a significant increase in the dry weight of shoot but there are no differences in the root and complete plant dry weight. In addition, a higher accumulation of chlorine is observed in the roots in transgenic line 5H03 but in shoot it was lower. Also, the wild type plant accumulated around 20% more chlorine in the shoot compared to roots. These results suggest that heterologous expression of glyoxalase system genes could enhance salt stress tolerance in Carrizo citrange rootstock and could be a good biotechnological approach to improve the abiotic stress tolerance in woody plant species.
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Belmonte, M., Hsieh, C. F., Campos, J. L., Guerrero, L., Mendez, R., Mosquera-Corral, A., et al. (2017). Effect of Free Ammonia, Free Nitrous Acid, and Alkalinity on the Partial Nitrification of Pretreated Pig Slurry, Using an Alternating Oxic/Anoxic SBR. Biomed Res. Int., , 7 pp.
Abstract: The effect of free ammonia (NH3 or FA), free nitrous acid (HNO2 or FNA), and total alkalinity (TA) on the performance of a partial nitrification (PN) sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating anaerobically pretreated pig slurry was studied. The SBR was operated under alternating oxic/anoxic (O/A) conditions and was fed during anoxic phases. This strategy allowed using organic matter to partially remove nitrite (NO2-) andnitrate (NO3-) generated during oxic phases. The desired NH4+ to NO2- ratioof 1.3gN/gNwas obtained when an Ammonium Loading Rate (ALR) of 0.09 gNH(4)(+)N/L d was applied. The system was operated at a solid retention time (SRT) of 15-20 d and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels higher than 3 mg O-2/L during the whole operational period. PN mainly occurred caused by the inhibitory effect of FNA on nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Once HNO2 concentration was negligible, NH4+ was fully oxidized to NO(3)(-)in spite of the presence of FA. The use of biomass acclimated to ammonium as inoculum avoided a possible effect of FA on NOB activity.
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Campos, J. L., Dumais, J., Pavissich, J. P., Franchi, O., Crutchik, D., Belmonte, M., et al. (2019). Predicting Accumulation of Intermediate Compounds in Nitrification and Autotrophic Denitrification Processes: A Chemical Approach. Biomed Res. Int., 2019, 9 pp.
Abstract: Nitrification and sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification processes can be used to remove ammonia from wastewater in an economical way. However, under certain operational conditions, these processes accumulate intermediate compounds, such as elemental sulphur, nitrite, and nitrous oxide, that are noxious for the environment. In order to predict the generation of these compounds, an analysis based on the Gibbs free energy of the possible reactions and on the oxidative capacity of the bulk liquid was done on case study systems. Results indicate that the Gibbs free energy is not a useful parameter to predict the generation of intermediate products in nitrification and autotrophic denitrification processes. Nevertheless, we show that the specific productions of nitrous oxide during nitrification, and of elemental sulphur and nitrite during autotrophic denitrification, are well related to the oxidative capacity of the bulk liquid.
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