Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water, and energy, in addition to the overexploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of the food system on the environment. The effects of climate change are a further threat. But the world can produce more food and can ensure that it is used more efficiently and equitably. A multifaceted and linked global strategy is needed to ensure sustainable and equitable food security, different components of which are explored here.

/pdf/food-security-the-challenge-of-feeding-9-billion-people-7gwey15y62.pdf

Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials

United States Agency for International Development

▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Biodegradation aspects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): A review

Evidence for activity against the lignin fraction of straw was produced for a range of actinomycete strains. Decolorization of the polymeric dye Poly R and oxidation of veratryl alcohol, indicators of ligninolytic activity in white rot fungi, and utilization of fractionated Kraft lignin and low-molecular-weight methoxylated aromatic compounds were the criteria used. The relationships between these activities and the solubilization of native lignin are discussed.

https://aem.asm.org/content/aem/55/6/1642.full.pdf

Degradation of lignin-related compounds by actinomycetes.

Aim: To identify potential reservoirs and transmission routes of human pathogenic Campylobacter spp



Methods and Results:  An enrichment PCR method for the detection and identification of Campylobacter jejuni and/or Campylobacter coli in faecal, food and river water samples was applied to 1450 samples of 12 matrix types obtained from a defined geographical area PCR-positive samples were cultured to yield isolates for typing, and the data for 616 C jejuni isolates obtained



Serotyping and SmaI macrorestriction profiling using pulsed field gel electrophoresis revealed a high level of diversity within the isolates from each matrix Campylobacter jejuni and C coli subtypes indistinguishable from those obtained from human cases were detected in most of the matrices examined No Campylobacter isolates were isolated from possum faeces



Conclusions:  Ten of the 12 matrices examined may be involved in the transmission of human campylobacteriosis as they contained Campylobacter subtypes also isolated from clinical cases



Significance and Impact of the Study:  Results indicate that, for this rural population, a range of potential transmission routes that could lead to campylobacteriosis exist Their relative importance needs to be assessed from an exposure assessment standpoint

https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2005.02541.x

The occurrence of Campylobacter subtypes in environmental reservoirs and potential transmission routes

Microphytobenthic biofilms in estuaries, dominated by epipelic diatoms, are sites of high primary productivity. These diatoms exude large quantities of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) comprising polysaccharides and glycoproteins, providing a substantial pool of organic carbon available to heterotrophs within the sediment. In this study, sediment slurry microcosms were enriched with either colloidal carbohydrates or colloidal EPS (cEPS) or left unamended. Over 10 days, the fate of these carbohydrates and changes in β-glucosidase activity were monitored. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), DNA sequencing, and quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) analysis of 16S rRNA sequences were used to determine whether sediment bacterial communities exhibited compositional shifts in response to the different available carbon sources. Initial heterotrophic activity led to reductions in carbohydrate concentrations in all three microcosms from day 0 to day 2, with some increases in β-glucosidase activity. During this period, treatment-specific shifts in bacterial community composition were not observed. However, by days 4 and 10, the bacterial community in the cEPS-enriched sediment diverged from those in colloid-enriched and unamended sediments, with Q-PCR analysis showing elevated bacterial numbers in the cEPS-enriched sediment at day 4. Community shifts were attributed to changes in cEPS concentrations and increased β-glucosidase activity. T-RFLP and sequencing analyses suggested that this shift was not due to a total community response but rather to large increases in the relative abundance of members of the γ-proteobacteria, particularly Acinetobacter-related bacteria. These experiments suggest that taxon- and substrate-specific responses within the bacterial community are involved in the degradation of diatom-derived extracellular carbohydrates.

Diatom-Derived Carbohydrates as Factors Affecting Bacterial Community Composition in Estuarine Sediments

Algal growth control by a barley straw extract

Six biodegradative actinomycete strains were grown on a dimeric model lignin compound of the β-aryl ether type. Although only two strains, Thermomonospora mesophila and Streptomyces badius, utilized the compound as a carbon and energy source and produced substantial amounts of monomeric products, all of the strains could demethylate the substrate and oxidize Cα on the phenylpropane side-chain. Streptomyces sp. EC1 produced small amounts of aromatic acids and unidentified lignin-derived products when grown on straw. This organism also produced cell-bound demethylase requiring H2O2 and Mn2+, protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase and β-carboxymuconate decarboxylase activity in response to growth on low-molecular-mass aromatic compounds but not lignocellulose or its polysaccharide components. Extracellular peroxidase and catalase activity were detected in all of the strains. These data are used to propose a scheme by which actinomycete attack of the lignin component of plant biomass can be envisaged.

/pdf/towards-elucidation-of-the-lignin-degradation-pathway-in-24dsx85fls.pdf

Andrew S. Ball

Papers

Degradation of lignin-related compounds by actinomycetes.

The occurrence of Campylobacter subtypes in environmental reservoirs and potential transmission routes

Diatom-Derived Carbohydrates as Factors Affecting Bacterial Community Composition in Estuarine Sediments

Algal growth control by a barley straw extract

Towards elucidation of the lignin degradation pathway in actinomycetes