The lion's share of bacteria in various environments cannot be cloned in the laboratory and thus cannot be sequenced using existing technologies. A major goal of single-cell genomics is to complement gene-centric metagenomic data with whole-genome assemblies of uncultivated organisms. Assembly of single-cell data is challenging because of highly non-uniform read coverage as well as elevated levels of sequencing errors and chimeric reads. We describe SPAdes, a new assembler for both single-cell and standard (multicell) assembly, and demonstrate that it improves on the recently released E+V-SC assembler (specialized for single-cell data) and on popular assemblers Velvet and SoapDeNovo (for multicell data). SPAdes generates single-cell assemblies, providing information about genomes of uncultivatable bacteria that vastly exceeds what may be obtained via traditional metagenomics studies. SPAdes is available online ( http://bioinf.spbau.ru/spades ). It is distributed as open source software.

SPAdes, a new genome assembly algorithm and its applications to single-cell sequencing ( 7th Annual SFAF Meeting, 2012)

Lignocellulosic materials are among the most promising alternative energy resources that can be utilized to produce cellulosic ethanol. However, the physical and chemical structure of lignocellulosic materials forms strong native recalcitrance and results in relatively low yield of ethanol from raw lignocellulosic materials. An appropriate pretreatment method is required to overcome this recalcitrance. For decades various pretreatment processes have been developed to improve the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass. Each pretreatment process has a different specificity on altering the physical and chemical structure of lignocellulosic materials. In this paper, the chemical structure of lignocellulosic biomass and factors likely affect the digestibility of lignocellulosic materials are discussed, and then an overview about the most important pretreatment processes available are provided. In particular, the combined pretreatment strategies are reviewed for improving the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose and realizing the comprehensive utilization of lignocellulosic materials.

The role of pretreatment in improving the enzymatic hydrolysis

Characterization of pectin from grapefruit peel: A comparison of ultrasound-assisted and conventional heating extractions

Core-shell biopolymer nanoparticle delivery systems: synthesis and characterization of curcumin fortified zein-pectin nanoparticles.

Converting citrus wastes into value-added products: Economic and environmently friendly approaches

Pectin extracted from apple pomace and citrus peel by subcritical water

Optimization, partial characterization and antioxidant activity of an exopolysaccharide from Lactobacillus plantarum KX041.

Exopolysaccharides produced by lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria: Structures, physiochemical functions and applications in the food industry

Purification of novel bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus coryniformis MXJ 32 for inhibiting bacterial foodborne pathogens including antibiotic-resistant microorganisms

Purification, characterization and bactericidal mechanism of a broad spectrum bacteriocin with antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistant strains produced by Lactobacillus coryniformis XN8

Xin Lü

Papers

Pectin extracted from apple pomace and citrus peel by subcritical water

Optimization, partial characterization and antioxidant activity of an exopolysaccharide from Lactobacillus plantarum KX041.

Exopolysaccharides produced by lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria: Structures, physiochemical functions and applications in the food industry

Purification of novel bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus coryniformis MXJ 32 for inhibiting bacterial foodborne pathogens including antibiotic-resistant microorganisms

Purification, characterization and bactericidal mechanism of a broad spectrum bacteriocin with antimicrobial activity against multidrug-resistant strains produced by Lactobacillus coryniformis XN8