Innovative Application of Microbiology in Agriculture and Medicine

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 14350

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Guest Editor
Division of Animal Industry, Animal Technology Research Center, Agricultural Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu City 300-110, Taiwan
Interests: fish and shellfish immunology; oncology and cancer medicine; veterinary medicine and immunology; fish diseases and therapy; flow cytometry; experimental animal; animal welfare; epilepsy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, interest in the application of microbiology in agriculture has focused on pesticidal, herbicidal, insecticidal, and nematicidal activity. However, these have not been widely applied in agriculture to date because of certain requirements that must first be met. The association of microbes with specific diseases is also very important, and studying this association has led to great advances and discoveries in the healthcare pharmaceutical and medical industry, from biologics to devices. Hence, studies on the innovative application of next-generation microbiology in agriculture and medicine are both expected and encouraged.

It is our pleasure to invite you to contribute your latest research work to our journal’s upcoming Special Issue.

Dr. Shao-Wen Hung
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • agriculture
  • application
  • medicine
  • microbiology

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 498 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Soil Water Thresholds for Trees in the Semi-Arid Region on the Loess Plateau
by Chunming Chi, Jingjing Wang and Jinhu Zhi
Processes 2022, 10(11), 2354; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10112354 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1156
Abstract
It is important to obtain the soil water content threshold (θTHR) for agricultural water management. However, the measurement of θTHR is time consuming and needs specialized and expensive equipment. The accuracy of the empirical estimates is often low. Therefore, [...] Read more.
It is important to obtain the soil water content threshold (θTHR) for agricultural water management. However, the measurement of θTHR is time consuming and needs specialized and expensive equipment. The accuracy of the empirical estimates is often low. Therefore, the development of a simple, rapid, and accurate prediction method for θTHR is the focus of the present study. The value of θTHR is regarded as the soil water content at the capillary break capacity (θCB). A formula based on field capacity (θFC) and soil bulk density (Db) is proposed to calculate θCB, expressed as θCB=θFC0.21*1Db/2.65. Six soils from six published studies on the response of tree physiological processes to water deficit were used to calculate θCB using this formula. The calculated θCB values were compared with the measured θTHR. The results showed that the calculated θCB values were nearly equal to the measured θTHR. A highly significant (adj R2 = 0.9826, p < 0.001) linear relationship with a slope of 0.9506 and a y intercept of 0.0072 was found between the calculated θCB and measured θTHR. The formula proposed in this study provides a novel approach for estimating the θTHR of trees in the semi-arid regions on the Loess Plateau. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Application of Microbiology in Agriculture and Medicine)
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8 pages, 1420 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Extraction of Chitin from Spent Pupal Shell of Black Soldier Fly
by Yin-Shen Lin, Shih-Hsiang Liang, Wen-Lin Lai, Ja-Xin Lee, Ya-Peng Wang, Yi-Tsz Liu, Szu-Han Wang and Meng-Hwan Lee
Processes 2021, 9(6), 976; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9060976 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6578
Abstract
Chitin and its deacetylated derivative chitosan are used for application in areas as an agriculture, biomedicine, cosmetic, food, textile and chelating agent for wastewater treatment. The current extraction of chitin is based on a chemical process using hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. The [...] Read more.
Chitin and its deacetylated derivative chitosan are used for application in areas as an agriculture, biomedicine, cosmetic, food, textile and chelating agent for wastewater treatment. The current extraction of chitin is based on a chemical process using hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. The main disadvantage of the process is the generation of large volumes of acid and alkaline effluents, which require further treatment before release. Chitin was extracted from spent pupal shell of black soldier fly (BSF) by the microbial fermentation method using Bacillus lichenformis A6. The recovery rate of chitin content by the microbial fermentation method was found to be about 12.4%. The structures of BSF chitin and chitosan were further characterized by FTIR, XRD, and SEM. Our results showed that the chitin obtained from BSF was observed in α form. The crystalline index values of chitin and chitosan are 52.8% and 55.4%, respectively. The surface morphology was examined by SEM, revealing nanofiber structures. The spent pupal shell of BSF may be used as alternative chitin sources for various technological purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Application of Microbiology in Agriculture and Medicine)
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13 pages, 2326 KiB  
Article
Propylene Glycol Improves Stability of the Anti-Inflammatory Compounds in Scutellaria baicalensis Extract
by Tseng-Ting Kao, Ming-Chao Wang, Yi-Hsuan Chen, Yu-Tung Chung and Pai-An Hwang
Processes 2021, 9(5), 894; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9050894 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3533
Abstract
Scutellaria baicalensis root extracts have been useful for external skin care and have been commercialized for years. Here, a comprehensive study was conducted to investigate the difference between 20% propylene glycol (PG) and water used as the storage solvent for a time course [...] Read more.
Scutellaria baicalensis root extracts have been useful for external skin care and have been commercialized for years. Here, a comprehensive study was conducted to investigate the difference between 20% propylene glycol (PG) and water used as the storage solvent for a time course analysis of their remaining biological activities and ingredient compositions versus their freshly prepared conditions. Of the four major components in the 20% PG solvent, more than 80% of the components were retained after storage for two months, but in water only baicalin and wogonin were retained. The relative antibacterial activities, antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory activities of the 20% PG solvent group were better than those of the water solvent group. Taken together, we demonstrated that these activities improved when PG, a common solvent used in many product formulas, was used as the storage solvent for the S. baicalensis extract. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Application of Microbiology in Agriculture and Medicine)
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16 pages, 4373 KiB  
Article
Co-Treatment with Cefotaxime and High-Fructose Diet Inducing Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Gut Microbial Dysbiosis in Mice
by Yen-Peng Lee, Chien-Chao Chiu, Yi-Hsun Chen, Wen-Ching Huang, Yu-Chih Wang, Ching-Feng Chiu, Tien-Jen Lin, Shao-Wen Hung, Ju-Yun Liu and Hsiao-Li Chuang
Processes 2021, 9(3), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030434 - 28 Feb 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2347
Abstract
High fructose diet causes metabolic syndrome and induces host gut microbial dysbiosis and related obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Several antibiotic treatments could prevent fatty liver. However, there are studies that have demonstrated that a high-fructose diet could influence the gut [...] Read more.
High fructose diet causes metabolic syndrome and induces host gut microbial dysbiosis and related obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Several antibiotic treatments could prevent fatty liver. However, there are studies that have demonstrated that a high-fructose diet could influence the gut microbial dysbiosis and induce fatty liver. The purpose of this study was performed to partially modify the gut bacterial composition with a single cefotaxime treatment, which might affect the fructose-induced NAFLD severity. The C57BL/6JNarl male mice were divided into four groups including vehicle/chow diet (VE-CD), vehicle/high-fructose diet (VE-FD), antibiotic (cefotaxime (CF))/CD, and CF/FD. The results showed that body weight gain, moderate hepatic steatosis severity, epididymal white adipose tissue hypertrophy, and insulin resistance occurrence with NAFLD-related symptoms were observed only in the CF-FD group. The raised protein expression of hepatic lipogenesis was observed in the CF-FD group, but lipolysis protein expression was no difference. The diversity and composition of microbiota were significantly reduced in the CF-FD group. The Erysipelatoclostridium, Enterobacteriaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Escherichia Shigella were in increased abundance in the feces of CF-FD group compared with VE-FD group. The novel model reveals that particular antibiotics such as cefotaxime co-treatment with high-fructose diet may affect the gut microbiota accelerating the NAFLD and obesity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Application of Microbiology in Agriculture and Medicine)
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