The renaissance of yeasts as microbial factories in the modern age of biomanufacturing

Yeasts are essential for many processes, including the production of some of our most beloved foods and beverages. Less is known to the public about the far-reaching impacts of yeasts on other products such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and industrial products. By leveraging and combining newly discovered yeast genetic diversity with now affordable and efficient genetic engineering and synthetic biology tools, academic and industrial yeast labs have designed yeast cell factories for a wide range of novel applications such as the production of medicines, components of human breast milk, heme for meat substitutes, bioplastics, and other biomaterials. This review covers the newest technologies developed for yeast research including synthetic biology and their use in the engineering of yeast cell factories for emerging applications.     

Using conscious reflection,group processes,and AI to facilitate development of expertise

Three experiments investigated procedures derived from research on knowledge acquisition, group processes, and artificial intelligence for facilitating the development of expertise. In each experimental session, subjects learned to control a simulated sugar production factory. Then they formulated written policies for controlling sugar production either alone as individuals or in small groups. An adaptive AI system provided feedback on policy quality. The research also investigated the use of forced reflective practice in which learners attempted to predict what their policy would do while performing the task. The AI system provided feedback about what their policy would have done in each situation and the outcome based on their policy's response or their suggested alternative response. Results indicated that group interaction and feedback from the AI system improved policy quality. However, only when all three procedures were employed, group interaction, AI feedback, and forced reflective practice, was the development of individual expertise on the task enhanced.     

Air-dictated bottom spray process: impact of fluid dynamics on granule growth and morphology

Background: Growing interest in the use of the less-explored bottom spray technique for fluidized bed granulation provided impetus for this study. Aim: The impact of fluid dynamics (air accelerator insert diameter; partition gap) and wetting (binder spray rate) on granule properties were investigated. Method: In this 3³ full factorial study, the results were fitted to a quadratic model using response surface methodology. The air velocity at the spray granulation zone for the investigated conditions was measured using a pitot tube. Results: Air accelerator insert diameter correlated to measured air velocity at the spray granulation zone and was found to not only dictate growth but also influence granule morphology. The partition gap was found to play important roles in regulating particle movement into the spray granulation zone and optimizing process yields, whereas binder spray rate significantly affected granule morphology but not granule size. Conclusions: Unlike conventional fluidized bed granulation, ease of modulation of fluid dynamics and insensitivity of the bottom spray process to wetting allow flexible control of granule size, shape, and flow. Its good drying ability also indicated potential use in granulating moisture-sensitive materials.     

Natural gene expression variation studies in yeast

The rise of sequence information across different yeast species and strains is driving an increasing number of studies in the emerging field of genomics to associate polymorphic variants, mRNA abundance and phenotypic differences between individuals. Here, we gathered evidence from recent studies covering several layers that define the genotype–phenotype gap, such as mRNA abundance, allele‐specific expression and translation efficiency to demonstrate how genetic variants co‐evolve and define an individual's genome. Moreover, we exposed several antecedents where inter‐ and intra‐specific studies led to opposite conclusions, probably owing to genetic divergence. Future studies in this area will benefit from the access to a massive array of well‐annotated genomes and new sequencing technologies, which will allow the fine breakdown of the complex layers that delineate the genotype–phenotype map. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trajectories of perceived support in mother–adolescent relationships: The poor (quality) get poorer.

The authors examined decreases across the early adolescent years in child reports of perceived support from mothers to determine whether the rate of decline differed as a function of the initial amount of perceived negativity in the mother–child relationship. Participants included a diverse sample of 197 girls and 116 boys who were in the 1st year of middle school (6th grade, ages 11 to 13 years) at the beginning of the study. Separate growth curve models revealed associations between the rate of change in child-reported perceived support and the initial level of both child-reported perceived negativity and mother-reported perceived negativity. Over-time declines in child-reported perceived support were larger for adolescents whose initial levels of perceived negativity were greater. The findings are consistent with the claim that mothers and children with the worst relationships at the outset of adolescence experience the greatest deterioration in relations across the early adolescent years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevalence of Arcobacter spp. in raw ground pork from several geographical regions according to various isolation methods

Studies show that the pathogen Arcobacter is present in beef, poultry, and pork. Several methods have been reported for the isolation of this organism, but none has been adopted as the standard. This has limited the significance of field comparison studies. In the present study, we compared the efficiencies of four Arcobacter isolation methods using raw ground pork collected from slaughter facilities across the United States. We also evaluated the effect of meat fat level and age of animals on the prevalence of Arcobacter in ground pork. The methods chosen for comparison of isolation efficiency were those of Collins, a modified version of the Collins method (Direct Collins), deBoer, and Johnson Murano (JM). These were chosen based on published reports in which they were used to detect Arcobacter in pork products. The JM method was found to be the most successful in consistently detecting Arcobacter, isolating it in 64 of 200 pork samples compared with the Direct Collins method, which isolated Arcobacter in 52 of 200 of those same samples. The Collins method and the deBoer method found Arcobacter present in only a fraction of the samples. The level of contamination was found to vary among the plants, ranging from 0% to 68% prevalence, with 32% overall for all four plants tested. Additionally, ground pork low in fat had a higher contamination frequency (20%) when compared with high-fat pork (4%). Results also showed that meat from younger animals was more frequently contaminated than that from older animals.     

Sequential vs. Simultaneous Lineups: A Review of Methods, Data, and Theory.

A considerable amount of empirical research has been conducted on ways to improve the eyewitness identification process, with emphasis on the use of lineups. Public policy changes are currently underway with respect to lineup procedures: Sequential lineups are being recommended to police as the best practice. This may be premature because the conditions under which sequential lineups are superior to simultaneous lineups are not well understood given the current literature: Many studies are reported with insufficient detail needed to judge the adequacy of the research design, new data show that the sequential superiority effect may vary as a function of study methodology, theoretical assumptions have not been adequately tested, and important comparisons that may rule out the ostensible superiority of the sequential lineup have not been studied. This review summarizes the literature, presents new data, and identifies the need for further empirical work before appropriately grounded recommendations as to the superiority of sequential lineups can be made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)