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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Improved chemical pulping and saccharification of a natural mulberry mutant deficient in cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase

Lignin content and its molecular structure influence various wood characteristics. In this study, the anatomical and physicochemical properties of wood derived from a naturally occurring mulberry mutant deficient in cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), a key enzyme in lignin biosynthesis, were analyzed using conventional staining assays on stem sections, length and width measurements of xylem fiber cells, wood pulping and saccharification assays, and sugar compositional analysis of extractive-free wood powder. Here, the present data indicate that the mutation in the CAD gene leads to improved wood delignification efficiency, increased pulp yield under alkaline pulping conditions, and enhanced saccharification efficiency following alkaline pretreatment. This study opens up new avenues for the multipurpose use of the mulberry CAD-deficient mutant as a raw material for biorefinery processes, in addition to its traditional use as a favored feed for silkworms.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Gene regulatory networks controlling carbohydrate selective deconstruction pathways in fungi

The work performed at Clark University (PI, David Hibbett) was a subcomponent of the research lead by Jonathan Schilling at University of Minnesota (award number DE-SC0019427). The overall goal of this project was to address how fungi metabolize lignocellulose. Specifically, we targeted a carbohydrate-selective group of fungi known as 'brown rot' fungi that are well-aligned to be harness for bioconversion to biofuels and other products. These organisms orchestrate a two-step mechanism that initiates decomposition using oxidative radical-based chemistry and follows with enzymatic attack. We have helped characterize that this mechanism occurs in this sequence, but currently lack the fundamental regulatory information needed to harness these fungi for application. Thus, the major goal of this project was to use systems biology to create an integrated model of brown rot wood decay that couples fungal gene regulation with the metabolite feedbacks used to coordinate a two-step oxidative-hydrolytic mechanism. The research at Clark University focused on phylogenomic analyses of data produced by other project partners. Hence, the Clark component of the research was staged to initiate somewhat after that in other partner laboratories. The major Clark-based accomplishment was to advise on selection of fungal species for analyses of brown rot decay chemistry, and to interpret results in a phylogenetic context. The Clark University group also performed complementary analyses of gene families encoding plant cell wall-degrading enzymes in the the basidiomycete genus Lentinula, as well as analyses of substrate-specific gene expression and RNA editing in brown rot fungi.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Functional characterization of glycosyltransferases in duckweed to enable predictive biology

Glycosyltransferases (GTs) catalyze the formation of glycosidic linkages to produce almost all complex carbohydrates. This project used a multi-disciplinary, high-throughput (HTP) biochemical and computational biology approach focused on duckweed as a model energy crop, to study carbohydrate metabolic processes. To achieve this, developed and carried out out high-throughput (HTP) functional characterization of plant glycosyltransferases (GTs) role of enzymatic microenvironments be assessed through a combined proteomic and computational biology approach, and the combined data was used to populate deep-learning frameworks to predict plant GT function. Functional validation achieved through this research is being used to assign gene function and study plant processes at the systems level to efficiently link the genome sequence with gene function. Together, the combined approaches used within this study provide a foundation for how computational prediction, in combination with high-throughput functional validation, can be used to study plant processes at the systems level and translate knowledge gained to efficiently link genome sequence with gene function in a species agnostic manner.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

MassIVE MSV000094089

GNPS - Determination of metabolic changes occurring in engineered low-lignin poplar

Aromatics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparative feedstock analysis in Setaria viridis L. as a model for C 4 bioenergy grasses and panicoid crop species

Second generation feedstocks for bioethanol will likely include a sizable proportion of perennial C4 grasses, principally in the Panicoideae clade. The Panicoideae contain agronomically important annual grasses including Zea mays L. (maize), Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (sorghum), and Saccharum officinarum L. (sugar cane) as well as promising second generation perennial feedstocks including Miscanthus × giganteus and Panicum virgatum L. (switchgrass). The underlying complexity of these polyploid grass genomes is a major limitation for their direct manipulation and thus driving a need for rapidly cycling comparative model. Setaria viridis (green millet) is a rapid cycling C4 panicoid grass with a relatively small and sequenced diploid genome and abundant seed production. Stable, transient, and protoplast transformation technologies have also been developed for Setaria viridis making it a potentially excellent model for other C4 bioenergy grasses. Here, the lignocellulosic feedstock composition, cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor response and saccharification dynamics of Setaria viridis are compared with the annual sorghum and maize and the perennial switchgrass bioenergy crops as a baseline study into the applicability for translational research. A genome-wide systematic investigation of the cellulose synthase-A genes was performed identifying eight candidate sequences. Two developmental stages; (a) metabolically active young tissue and (b) metabolically plateaued (mature) material are examined to compare biomass performance metrics.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effective Mechanisms for Improving Seed Oil Production in Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) Highlighted by Integration of Comparative Metabolomics and Transcriptomics

Pennycress is a potentially lucrative biofuel crop due to its high content of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids, and because it uses non-conventional pathways to achieve efficient oil production. However, metabolic engineering is required to improve pennycress oilseed content and make it an economically viable source of aviation fuel. Research is warranted to determine if further upregulation of these non-conventional pathways could improve oil production within the species even more, which would indicate these processes serve as promising metabolic engineering targets and could provide the improvement necessary for economic feasibility of this crop. To test this hypothesis, we performed a comparative biomass, metabolomic, and transcriptomic analyses between a high oil accession (HO) and low oil accession (LO) of pennycress to assess potential factors required to optimize oil content. An evident reduction in glycolysis intermediates, improved oxidative pentose phosphate pathway activity, malate accumulation in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and an anaplerotic pathway upregulation were noted in the HO genotype. Additionally, higher levels of threonine aldolase transcripts imply a pyruvate bypass mechanism for acetyl-CoA production. Nucleotide sugar and ascorbate accumulation also were evident in HO, suggesting differential fate of associated carbon between the two genotypes. An altered transcriptome related to lipid droplet (LD) biosynthesis and stability suggests a contribution to a more tightly-packed LD arrangement in HO cotyledons. In addition to the importance of central carbon metabolism augmentation, alternative routes of carbon entry into fatty acid synthesis and modification, as well as transcriptionally modified changes in LD regulation, are key aspects of metabolism and storage associated with economically favorable phenotypes of the species.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Transcriptomics of Temporal- versus Substrate-Specific Wood Decay in the Brown-Rot Fungus Fibroporia radiculosa

Brown-rot fungi lack many enzymes associated with complete wood degradation, such as lignin-attacking peroxidases, and have developed alternative mechanisms for rapid wood breakdown. To identify the effects of culture conditions and wood substrates on gene expression, we grew Fibroporia radiculosa in submerged cultures containing Wiley milled wood (5 days) and solid wood wafers (30 days), using aspen, pine, and spruce as a substrate. The comparative analysis revealed that wood species had a limited effect on the transcriptome: <3% of genes were differentially expressed between different wood species substrates. The comparison between gene expression during growth on milled wood and wood wafer conditions, however, indicated that the genes encoding plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, such as glycoside hydrolases and peptidases, were activated during growth on wood wafers, confirming previous reports. On the other hand, it was shown for the first time that the genes encoding Fenton chemistry enzymes, such as hydroquinone biosynthesis enzymes and oxidoreductases, were activated during submerged growth on ground wood. This illustrates the diversity of wood-decay reactions encoded in fungi and activated at different stages of this process.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Exometabolome of Xylella fastidiosa in Contact with Paraburkholderia phytofirmans Supernatant Reveals Changes in Nicotinamide, Amino Acids, Biotin, and Plant Hormones

Microbial competition within plant tissues affects invading pathogens’ fitness. Metabolomics is a great tool for studying their biochemical interactions by identifying accumulated metabolites. Xylella fastidiosa, a Gram-negative bacterium causing Pierce’s disease (PD) in grapevines, secretes various virulence factors including cell wall-degrading enzymes, adhesion proteins, and quorum-sensing molecules. These factors, along with outer membrane vesicles, contribute to its pathogenicity. Previous studies demonstrated that co-inoculating X. fastidiosa with the Paraburkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN suppressed PD symptoms. Here, we further investigated the interaction between the phytopathogen and the endophyte by analyzing the exometabolome of wild-type X. fastidiosa and a diffusible signaling factor (DSF) mutant lacking quorum sensing, cultivated with 20% P. phytofirmans spent media. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and the Method for Metabolite Annotation and Gene Integration (MAGI) were used to detect and map metabolites to genomes, revealing a total of 121 metabolites, of which 25 were further investigated. These metabolites potentially relate to host adaptation, virulence, and pathogenicity. Notably, this study presents the first comprehensive profile of X. fastidiosa in the presence of a P. phytofirmans spent media. The results highlight that P. phytofirmans and the absence of functional quorum sensing affect the ratios of glutamine to glutamate (Gln:Glu) in X. fastidiosa. Additionally, two compounds with plant metabolism and growth properties, 2-aminoisobutyric acid and gibberellic acid, were downregulated when X. fastidiosa interacted with P. phytofirmans. These findings suggest that P. phytofirmans-mediated disease suppression involves modulation of the exometabolome of X. fastidiosa, impacting plant immunity.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Staphylococcus aureus FtsZ and PBP4 bind to the conformationally dynamic N-terminal domain of GpsB

In the Firmicutes phylum, GpsB is a membrane associated protein that coordinates peptidoglycan synthesis with cell growth and division. Although GpsB has been studied in several bacteria, the structure, function, and interactome of Staphylococcus aureus GpsB is largely uncharacterized. To address this knowledge gap, we solved the crystal structure of the N-terminal domain of S. aureus GpsB, which adopts an atypical, asymmetric dimer, and demonstrates major conformational flexibility that can be mapped to a hinge region formed by a three-residue insertion exclusive to Staphylococci. When this three-residue insertion is excised, its thermal stability increases, and the mutant no longer produces a previously reported lethal phenotype when overexpressed in Bacillus subtilis. In S. aureus, we show that these hinge mutants are less functional and speculate that the conformational flexibility imparted by the hinge region may serve as a dynamic switch to fine-tune the function of the GpsB complex and/or to promote interaction with its various partners. Furthermore, we provide the first biochemical, biophysical, and crystallographic evidence that the N-terminal domain of GpsB binds not only PBP4, but also FtsZ, through a conserved recognition motif located on their C-termini, thus coupling peptidoglycan synthesis to cell division. Taken together, the unique structure of S. aureus GpsB and its direct interaction with FtsZ/PBP4 provide deeper insight into the central role of GpsB in S. aureus cell division.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Lignin engineering in poplar via heterologous expression of dehydroshikimate dehydratase induces distinct transcriptional and metabolic changes in the shikimate and phenylpropanoid pathways

Understanding how crops respond to such genetic modifications at the transcriptional and metabolic levels is needed to facilitate further improvement and field deployment. In this work, we gathered some fundamental knowledge on lignin-modified QsuB poplar grown in a greenhouse using RNA-seq and metabolomics.

Aromatics↗
NASA NTRS1983

Vibration-rotation line strengths of the gas-phase OH radical

Absorption line strengths have been measured at 295 K for the first time for four vibration-rotation transitions of the OH radical, using a tunable, infrared diode-laser in conjunction with a molecular modulation spectrometer. A periodically varying OH concentration was created by photolysis, using a sinusoidally modulated 2537-A Hg lamp, of a flowing mixture of O3 and H2O contained within a quartz-walled White cell. The modulated absorption owing to the OH radical was subsequently observed by phase-sensitive detection. The absolute modulation amplitude of the OH number density was obtained by numerical simulation of the complete time-dependent photochemical system. The strongest transition measured was at 3407.607 kaysers, with a strength of 3.3 + or - 1.5 x 10 to the -20th per(cm molecule) sq cm.

Podolske, J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Gravitropism in plants: Hydraulics and wall growth properties of responding cells

Gravitropism is the asymmetrical alteration of plant growth in response to a change in the gravity vector, with the typical result that stems grow up and roots grow down. The gravity response is important for plants because it enables them to grow their aerial parts in a mechanically stable (upright) position and to develop their roots and leaves to make efficient use of soil nutrients and sunlight. The elucidation of gravitropic responses will tell much about how gravity exerts its morphogenetic effects on plants and how plants regulate their growth at the cellular and molecular levels.

Cosgrove, Daniel J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Computer-aided structural design of a lunar radio telescope

This paper describes a computer-aided structural design of the main reflector of a fully steerable radio telescope to be located (in the 21st century) on the moon, and presents the results of the structural analysis of the reflector. The reflector is a paraboloid with a surface area of 12,660 sq m and a focal ratio of 0.42. The reflector's surface will be covered by a 5.08 cm-thick sandwich panel made of thin-walled aluminum cells filled with low-density foam. The low weight of the design will be achieved by using graphite-epoxy as the structural material.

Akgul, Ferhat↗
NASA NTRS1991

Extension-bend-twist coupling behavior of thin-walled advanced composite beams with initial twist

An analytical model is developed for assessing the extension-bend-twist coupling behavior of nonhomogeneous anisotropic beams with initial twist. The model is formulated as a coupled two-dimensional boundary value problem, where the displacement solutions are defined with pretwist-dependent functions that represent the extension, bending, and torsion, and unknown functions that represent local in-plane deformations and out-of-plane cross-section warping. The unknown deformation functions are determined by applying the principle of minimum potential energy to a discretized representation of the cross section. Numerical results are presented that fully verify this approach and illustrate the strong extension-twist coupling behavior present in pretwisted beams with thin-wall laminated composite cross sections as a function of ply angle, initial twist level, and initial twist axis location. Cross-sections analyzed include; thin laminated rectangles with either asymmetric or symmetric ply stacking sequences and a thin-wall single cell D-section composed of a graphite/epoxy woven cloth.

Kosmatka, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Development and chromosome mechanics in nematodes: Results from IML-1

A subset of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes flown aboard Biorack on IML-1 was analyzed for the fidelity of development and the mechanics of chromosomes at meiosis. To assess meiosis, mutant worms marked at two linked or unlinked loci were inoculated as heterozygous hermaphrodites and allowed to self fertilize. Mendelian segregation ratios and recombination frequency were measured for offspring produced at 1XG or in microgravity. To assess development, worms and embryos were fixed and stained with the DNA dye, Diamidinophenolindole (DAPI), or antibodies specific for antigens expressed in germ cells, pharyngeal and body wall muscles, and gut cells. The distribution of cytoplasmic determinants, cell nuclei counts and positions were scored to assess symmetry relations and anatomical features.

Nelson, G. A.↗