Coastal biodiversity and bioresources: variation and sustainability

The 1^(st) International Coastal Biology Congress(1^(st) ICBC) was held in Yantai, China, in Sep. 26–30, 2014. Eighteen manuscripts of the meeting presentations were selected in this special issue. According to the four themes set in the ICBC meeting, this special issue include four sections, i.e., Coastal Biodiversity under Global Change, Adaptation and Evolution to Special Environment of Coastal Zone, Sustainable Utilization of Coastal Bioresources, and Coastal Biotechnology. Recent advances in these filed are presented.

剩余污泥有机质资源回收利用原位驱动晚期垃圾渗滤液深度脱氮——一种具有显著能源优势的创新生物技术

The sustainable recovery and utilization of sludge bioenergy within a circular economy context has drawn increasing attention,but there is currently a shortage of reliable technology.This study presents an innovative biotechnology based on free nitrous acid(FNA)to realize sustainable organics recovery from waste activated sludge(WAS)in-situ,driving efficient nitrogen removal from ammonia rich mature landfill leachate by integrating partial nitrification,fermentation,and denitrification process(PN/DN-F/DN).First,ammonia((1708.5±142.9)mg·L^(-1))in mature landfill leachate is oxidized to nitrite in the aerobic stage of a partial nitrification coupling denitrification(PN/DN)sequencing batch reactor(SBR),with nitrite accumulation ratio of 95.4%±2.5%.Then,intermediate effluent(NO_(2)^(-)-N=(1196.9±184.2)mg·L^(-1))of the PN/DN-SBR,along with concentrated WAS(volatile solids(VSs)=(15119.8±2484.2)mg·L^(-1)),is fed into an anoxic reactor for fermentation coupling denitrification process(F/DN).FNA,the protonated form of nitrite,degrades organics in the WAS to the soluble fraction by the biocidal effect,and the released organics are utilized by denitrifiers to drive NOx-reduction.An ultra-fast sludge reduction rate of 4.89 kg·m^(-3)·d^(-1) and nitrogen removal rate of 0.46 kg·m^(-3)·d^(-1) were realized in the process.Finally,F/DN-SBR effluent containing organics is refluxed to PN/DN-SBR for secondary denitrification in the post anoxic stage.After 175 d operation,an average of 19350.6 mg chemical oxygen demand organics were recovered per operational cycle,with 95.2%nitrogen removal and 53.4%sludge reduction.PN/DN-F/DN is of great significance for promoting a paradigm transformation from energy consumption to energy neutral,specifically,the total benefit in equivalent terms of energy was 291.8 kW·h·t^(-1) total solid.

Significance of biological resource collection and tumor tissue bank creation

Progress in the molecular oncology of gastrointestinal carcinomas depends on high quality cancer tissues for research. Recent acceleration on new technological platforms as well as the "omics" revolution increases the demands on tissues and peripheral blood for research at the DNA, mRNA and protein levels. Tissue bank creation emerges as a priority. Tumor tissue banks are facilities that are organized to collect, store and distribute samples of tumor and normal tissue for further use in basic and translational cancer research. The samples are generally obtained immediately after excision, prior to fixation, to ensure optimal preservation of proteins and nucleic acids. It is possible for surgeons or pathologists to collect fresh tissue prospectively during their routine dissection procedures. Most tissue banks are "project-driven" tumor banks, which are specialized collections of tumor samples on which their research is based. Systematic collection of all available tumor tissue is much rarer. High quality tissue banks need the collaboration of clinicians and basic scientists, but also the informed consent of patients and ethical approval. Through the standard operation procedure, snap frozen fresh tissue collection, storage and quality control for cryopreserved tissues are the pivotal factors on tissue bank construction and maintaining. The purpose of the tissue bank creation is enhancing the quality and speed on both the basic and translational research on gastrointestinal cancer. The quality assurance and quality control are handled based on reviewing HE staining slides or touch imprint cytology by pathologists.

Assessment of Effluents from Associated Match Industries with Emphasis on Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Crab

Heavy metals disposed through anthropogenic activities find their way into aquatic environment through factory effluents. These heavy metals resuspend back into the water column along with the sediments and are known to affect aquatic bioresources. Effluent water samples and crabs were collected along top camp stream to evaluate heavy metal concentrations and were assessed to determine the uptake of heavy metals in crabs. Results show fluctuation in acidity/alkalinity of water samples. BOD, COD, DO, conductivity and organic phosphorous were below permissible limit, and metal concentrations (As, Cu, Cr and Zn) in water samples do not constitute a risk factor for human health. However, concentrations of Cupper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Asenate (As) and Manganese (Mn) in crabs were significantly higher than the level found in the effluent water. Heavy metal poisoning has been identified among people that depend on crabs for their protein. Such effects are viewed by international health organization as attenuation of human health. The toxic elements (As, Cu, Fe and Mn) in the effluent and dissolved solid concentrations including potassium and calcium carbonate may be reduced through resource recovery.

Underutilized Edible Plants of Nagaland: A Survey and Documentation from Kohima, Phek and Tuensang District of Nagaland, India

With the rapid rise in the population, there is higher demand of the food supply to fed millions of people. As such dependence on the few major staple crops to meet the needs of the people has led to increases in starvation and poverty. Underutilized edible plants offer a cheaper and affordable option in providing more crop diversification to tackle these problems and provide food security to the poor to the world in general and to the developing countries in particular. In the present investigation, a total of 142 underutilized edible plants were collected, identified and documented from three districts (Kohima, Phek and Tuensang) of Nagaland, India. The collected plant consists of 126 species of plants and 16 wild edible mushrooms or macro fungus species. The collected plants were categorized according to types of plant and their parts used collected during the period 2012-2016 with their scientific name, family, common name, vernacular name and accession number. The study discusses the need to promote these plants for providing food security and income generation through sustainable collection, cultivation and marketing and to workout proper conservation strategies to prevent depletion and lost of the natural habitat caused by anthropogenic activities. The study also encourages more survey and researches in the rest of the districts of the state and to study the phytochemical constituents to harness the nutraceutical properties of these plants.

Physical, Water Diffusion and Micro-Structural Analysis of “Canarium Schweinfurthii Engl”

The purpose of this study is to determine the morphological, microstructural characteristics and water diffusion parameters of the Canarium schweinfurthii (CS) shellnut. This work is part of a vast project to valorize the above-mentioned cores for possible industrial use as charges in composites or abrasives materials. The study was based on the characterization of intrinsic physical characteristics of the coreshells scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations desorption, adsorption and absorption kinetics. The water diffusion phenomenon was modeled and it appears that the Page model well predicted the kinetic of drying, absorption and adsorption. The effective diffusion coefficient and the energy of activation were calculated at three isothermal temperatures (50°C, 70°C and 90°C). There was a tendency for hysteresis in the sorption-desorption cycles. These results strongly predicted the possibility of using these products as a filler in composites, clay building materials and cement because of their high water diffusion stability on a macroscopic scale.

The Concept of Information Support for Bi-oresource and Ecosystem Research in the North-West Pacific: Theory and Practical Implementation

The first part of the article provides an overview of the theoretical evidence, the main provisions, and the implementation strategy of information support for bioresource and ecosystem research in the north-west Pacific, which has been conducted over the past 20 years in the Russian Far East Research Institute TINRO-Center. In short, the concept consists of a combination of the following four assertions: 1) For the steady and sustainable development of the Russian Far East, the entire Russian Federation and the Asia-Pacific Region in general, environmental, food, economic, and other security is required, which cannot be achieved without the rational use of bioresources based on the ecosystem approach to the management of aquatic bioresources. 2) For the inventory, appraisal, monitoring, forecasting of the state of and management the natural water resources when applying this approach, statistically relevant quantitative information is required on the greatest possible number of constituents of marine biocenosis of the north-western Pacific for the longest possible period of time, which is only available at the TINRO-Center. 3) This valuable data should be organized into databases, based on which geo-information and other electronic information systems are prepared, and based on these map atlases and reference books on natural water resources, using automated workplaces created especially for this. 4) The resulting unique information support will be of great value not only for practical purposes, but also for science, both applied and fundamental. Next comes a summary of the many years of work on the practical implementation of this concept and the key achievements in this field obtained by the TINRO-Center by the end of 2015 are reviewed. At the end, some plans for the near future are outlined.

Recovery of cyanophycin granule polypeptide from activated sludge: carbon source dependence and aggregation-induced luminescence characteristics

In the sewage treatment process,facilitating the conversion of pollutants into value-added resources holds great potential for reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and promoting economic circulation.Cyanophycin granule polypeptide(CGP),a recently discovered high value-added biopolymer present in activated sludge,has provided new avenues for the recovery of resources.However,the mechanisms that regulate CGP synthesis and the characteristics of this biopolymer in activated sludge remain unclear thus far.This study investigated the synthesis of CGP,polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA),and alginate-like exopolysaccharides(ALE)in various microbial aggregates under different carbon sources feeding conditions.Our results showed that the CGP yields was superior that of PHA and ALE when subjected to identical carbon source feeding conditions.Furthermore,biofilm was more conducive to CGP accumulation than floc sludge.Compared with glucose and methanol,sodium acetate significantly enriched the CGP synthetase-encoding gene(cphAabundance=~17419),resulting in the highest CGP yield(average 107.1 mg/g MLSS)in both biofilm and floc sludge.This study is the first to reported the characteristic fluorescence of CGP(Ex/Em=~360/450 nm)caused by the aggregated luminescence of arginine on the side chains.Overall,this study highlights the potential application of CGP as a fluorescent material and offers insights into CGP recovery from activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants.

Green process of biomass waste derived fluorescent carbon quantum dots for biological imaging in vitro and in vivo

In the context of the circular economy,the huge amounts of biomass waste should be converted into value-added materials and energy to diminish pollution,atmospheric CO_(2)levels and costly waste disposal.Biological imaging usually uses expensive and toxic chemicals e.g.,organic dyes,semiconductor quantum dots,calling for safer,greener,cheaper fluorescent probes for biological imaging in vitro and in vivo.In these regards,carbon quantum dots(CQDs)-based fluorescent probes using biomass waste as a precursor may have much higher potential.Here we transformed the biomass waste of peach leaves into value-added fluorescent CQDs through a low-cost and green one-step hydrothermal process.The obtained CQDs show excitation-dependent photoluminescence properties with a fluorescence lifetime of 5.96 ns and a quantum yield of 7.71%without any passivation.In addition,the CQDs have a fine size of 1.9 nm with good hydrophilicity and high fluorescent stability over pH 4.0-11.0 range.Fluorescence imaging of in vitro cell cultures and in vivo with zebrafish show that CQDs possess ultra-low toxicity and remarkable performance for biological imaging.Even when CQDs present at a concentration as high as500μg/m L,the organism can still maintain more than 90%activity both in vitro and in vivo,and present bright fluorescence.The cheaper,greener,ultra-low toxicity CQDs developed in this work is a potential candidate for biological imaging in vitro and in vivo.

Lignin-Containing Cellulose Nanomaterials:A Promising New Nanomaterial for Numerous Applications

The demand for sustainable functional materials with an eco-friendly preparation process is on the rise.Lignocellulosics has been attributed as the most sustainable bioresource on earth which can meet the stringentrequirements of functionalization. However, cellulose nanomaterials obtained from lignocellulosics which has reachedadvanced stages as a sustainable functional material is challenged by its preparation procedures. These procedures can notbest be described as sustainable and eco-friendly owning to lots of energy and chemicals spent in the pre-treatment andpurification processes. These processes are intended to aid fractionation into the major components in order to removelignin and hemicellulose for the production of cellulose nanomaterials. This work is thus centred on reviewing theprogress achieved in introducing a new cellulose nanomaterial containing lignin. The preparation processes, propertiesand applications of this new lignin-containing cellulose nanomaterial will be discussed in order to chart a sustainablepreparation route for cellulose nanomaterials.

Profile of Dr. Yao-Guang Liu

Dr. Yao-Guang Liu was born in March 1954, in Guangdong China. He received his Bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from South China Agricultural University (SCAU)in 1982. He received his Master’s degree in agricultural science in 1988 from Kagawa University and Ph.D. in 1991from Kyoto University in Japan. He worked in the Mitsui Plant Biotechnology Research Institute, Japan, from 1991 to1996, and has been a professor at SCAU since 1997. He serves as vice director of the State Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agricultural Bioresources.

Efficient and ecological leather processing: replacement of lime and sulphide with dispase assisted by 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride

Leather is a collagen-based biomass prepared from raw skins or hides by a series of unit operations, in which the unhairing and fiber opening are extremely important operations. However, the conventional Na2S/Ca(OH)2 system used in unhairing and fiber opening has given rise to the pollution to the environment. It is necessary to develop substitute technology for the Na2S/Ca(OH)2. In the present study, 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIm]Cl) was used to cooperate with dispase for cycle unhairing and one-pot beamhouse to recycle waste bovine hides and com-pared with conventional processing. During those processes, the mechanism of [AMIm]Cl-dispase synergistic unhair-ing and collagen fibers opening were studied. Besides, plant hazard, organic matter and [AMIm]Cl of wastewater from [AMIm]Cl-dispase process were respectively investigated and separated to evaluate the environmental and economic benefits of the [AMIm]Cl-dispase process. As a result, enzyme activity after unhairing by [AMIm]Cl-diapase system for using 5 times is higher than that by KCl-dispase system, and needs lower unhairing time, which is because of rapid penetration of [AMIm]Cl-dispase solution in bovine hides. For this reason, the tensile strength and elastic modulus of tanned leather from [AMIm]Cl-dispase process are higher than those from the KCl-diapase and conventional pro-cesses, and its hydrothermal shrinkage temperature is comparable to that of the conventional one. Because of the 58.13% lower wastewater discharge (WD), 66.60% lower total solids (TS), 97.23% lower ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), non-toxic wastewater and organic matter recovery in wastewater are reached from [AMIm]Cl-dispase process, which is expected to be an alternative to the conventional process to reduce environmental pollution and realize the sustainable development of technology for leather manufacturing.