Illinois Data Bank Dataset Search Results
Results
published:
2025-10-03
Singh, Vijay; Altpeter, Fredy; Shanklin, John; Liu, Hui; Kannan, Baskaran; Woodruff, William; Nenavath, Mounika Durga; Deshavath, Narenda Naik
(2025)
The selection of pretreatment methods is critical to achieving high product yields during bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Hydrothermal, soaking-in-aqueous ammonia, and ionic liquid pretreatment methods are viable candidates for minimizing sugar decomposition, permitting the effective hydrolysis of structural carbohydrates, and producing a fermentable substrate suitable for achieving industrial ethanol titers and yields. In this study, the effect of these three pretreatment methods on non-modified sugarcane cultivar CP88-1762 and two transgenic lipid-accumulating sugarcane lines, oilcane 1565 and oilcane 1566, were investigated and compared in terms of lipid recovery, sugar yield, and ethanol yields within the lignocellulosic biomass conversion pipeline. Fed-batch enzymatic hydrolysis at high solid loading yielded hydrolysates capable of supporting industrial bioethanol titers across all conditions. The highest sugar yields were obtained on ammonia-pretreated biomass hydrolysate (253.73 g L−1), followed by hydrothermally pretreated hydrolysate (213.10 g L−1) and ionic liquid-pretreated hydrolysate (154.20 g L−1). Commercially viable ethanol titers of 100.62 g L−1, 64.47 g L−1, and 52.95 g L−1 were achieved from ammonia, hydrothermal, and ionic liquid pretreated hydrolysate with the corresponding ethanol productivities of 2.08 g L−1 h−1, 0.53 g L−1 h−1, and 0.36 g L−1 h−1. The lower acetic acid concentration in ammonia-pretreated hydrolysate may have enhanced its fermentability relative to the hydrothermal pretreatment condition, as indicated by the differences in ethanol titer and productivity. Lower sugar yields and ethanol productivities under the ionic liquid conditions likely resulted from the inhibitory effect of cholinium lysinate. Oilcane 1565 and oilcane 1566 bagasse accumulated over 16- and 3 times higher lipids than the non-modified sugarcane CP88-1762. The total fatty acid content in the oilcane samples was reduced in ammonia and ionic liquid-pretreated bagasse relative to the hydrothermal pretreatment condition. While all pretreatment techniques tested are industrially viable, the observed differences in titer, productivity, and lipid content indicate that careful selection and validation of upstream processing methods can contribute to improved economic and environmental outcomes.
keywords:
biomass analytics; energycane; feedstock bioprocessing; inter-BRC; lipids; oilcane; sugarcane
published:
2025-10-10
Clemente, Tom; Long, Stephen; Leakey, Andrew; Guo, Ming; McCoy, Scott; Sato, Shirley; Nersesian, Natalya; Ge, Zhengxiang; Quach, Truyen; Jaikumar, Nikhil
(2025)
Plant architecture influences the microenvironment throughout the canopy layer. Plants with a more erect leaf architecture allow for an increase in planting densities and allow more light to reach lower canopy leaves. This is predicted to increase crop carbon assimilation. Frictional resistance to wind reduces air movement in the lower canopy, resulting in higher humidity. By increasing the proportion of canopy photosynthesis in the more humid lower canopy, gains in the efficiency of water use might be expected, although this may be slightly offset by the more open erectophile form canopy. An anatomical feature in members of the Poaceae family that impacts leaf angle is the articulated junction of the sheath and blade, which also bares the ligule and auricles. Mutants, which lack ligules and auricles, show no articulation at this junction, resulting in leaves that are near vertical. In maize, these phenotypes termed liguleless result from null mutations of genes: ZmLG1 (Zm00001eb67740) and ZmLG2 (Zm00001eb147220). In sorghum, SbiRTx430.06G264300 (SbLG1) and SbiRTx430.03G392300 (SbLG2) are annotated as the respective maize homologues. A hair-pin element designed to down-regulate both SbLG1 and SbLG2 was introduced into the grain sorghum genotype RTx430. Derived transgenic events harbouring the hair-pin failed to develop ligules and displayed reduced leaf angles to the vertical, but less vertical than in null mutations. Under field settings, plots sown with these sorghum events having an erect architecture phenotype displayed an increase in photosynthesis in lower canopy levels, which led to increases in above-ground biomass and seed yield, without an increase in water use.
keywords:
Genome Engineering; Photosynthesis; Sorghum; Water Use Efficiency
published:
2025-10-03
McClelland, Daniel J.; Wang, Bo-Xun; Cordell, William T.; Cortes-Peña, Yoel R.; Gilcher, Elise B.; Zhang, Lifeng; Guest, Jeremy; Pfleger, Brian; Huber, George; Dumesic, James
(2025)
Base catalysts were studied for the dehydration of fatty alcohols to linear alpha olefins (LAOs). For the gas phase dehydration of 1-octanol to 1-octene, 15% Cs/SiO2 catalyst was 56% selective at 10% conversion. Diluting a feed of C8, C10, and C14 fatty alcohols to 50% in undecane increased the selectivity to alpha olefins to 77–99%. 15% Cs/SiO2 was further investigated for the gas phase dehydration of a 4.2 g L−1 mixed C8–C14 fatty alcohol in tridecane feed and showed linear alpha olefin selectivities of 78–100% at initial conversions of 51–91% with the conversion lowering to 32–77% over 30 h. Catalytic activity was totally regenerated through calcination. A feed of biologically derived alcohols was produced with E. coli strain CM24 transformed with three plasmids (pBTRCk–pVHb–maACR, pACYC–pVHb–seFadBA, pTRC99A–pVHb–tdTER–fdh) which yielded a 5.5 g L−1 of C8–C14 fatty alcohol in tridecane. This biologically-derived feed was successfully dehydrated to linear alpha olefins over 15% Cs/SiO2 at selectivities of 60–100% with initial conversions of 35–75% which decreased to 22–55% over 30 h. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of the integrated process for fatty alcohol production and subsequent dehydration to alpha olefins was conducted across the potential fermentation TRY (titer, rate, yield) landscape. Baseline fermentation performance resulted in a minimum product selling price (MPSP) double the market price for LAOs due to low titers and high costs associated with managing water and tridecane solvent flows through the system. However, targeted improvements in fermentation performance (e.g., achieving 40 g L−1 titer, 0.5 g L−1 h−1 productivity, 80% theoretical yield) can enable financially viable production of biologically derived LAOs.
keywords:
Conversion;Sustainability;Catalysis;Modeling
published:
2025-09-08
Zinnen, Jack; Chase, Marissa; Charles, Brian; Harmon-Threatt, Alexandra; Matthews, Jeffrey
(2025)
This is the data set for the article entitled "Pollinator seed mixes are phenologically dissimilar to prairie remnants," a manuscript pending publication in Restoration Ecology. This represents the core phenology data of prairie remnant and pollinator seed mixes that were used for the main analyses. Note that additional data associated with the manuscript are intended to be published as a supplement in the journal.
* In this V2, a second tab was added to the Rest.Ecol.data.xlsx file. This new sheet listed original data source citations that match the RELIX data base, a sister project.
keywords:
native plants; ecological restoration; tallgrass prairie; native plant materials
published:
2025-10-31
Lopes, Daiane; Dien, Bruce; Hector, Ronald; Singh, Vijay; Thompson, Stephanie R.; Slininger, Patricia J.; Boundy-Mills, Kyria; Jagtap, Sujit; Rao, Christopher V.
(2025)
Rhodotorula toruloides is being developed for the use in industrial biotechnology processes because of its favorable physiology. This includes its ability to produce and store large amounts of lipids in the form of intracellular lipid bodies. Nineteen strains were characterized for mating type, ploidy, robustness for growth, and accumulation of lipids on inhibitory switchgrass hydrolysate (SGH). Mating type was determined using a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay, which was validated using the classical microscopic test. Three of the strains were heterozygous for mating type (A1/A2). Ploidy analysis revealed a complex pattern. Two strains were triploid, eight haploid, and eight either diploid or aneuploid. Two of the A1/A2 strains were compared to their parents for growth on 75%v/v concentrated SGH. The A1/A2 strains were much more robust than the parental strains, which either did not grow or had extended lag times. The entire set was evaluated in 60%v/v SGH batch cultures for growth kinetics and biomass and lipid production. Lipid titers were 2.33–9.40 g/L with a median of 6.12 g/L, excluding the two strains that did not grow. Lipid yields were 0.032–0.131 (g/g) and lipid contents were 13.5–53.7% (g/g). Four strains had significantly higher lipid yields and contents. One of these strains, which had among the highest lipid yield in this study (0.131 ± 0.007 g/g), has not been previously described in the literature.
keywords:
Conversion;Hydrolysate;Lipidomics
published:
2025-09-19
Xue, Pu; Si, Tong; Mishra, Shekhar; Zhang, Linzixuan; Choe, Kisurb; Sweedler, Jonathan; Zhao, Huimin
(2025)
Microbial cell factories have been extensively engineered to produce free fatty acids (FFAs) as key components of crucial nutrients, soaps, industrial chemicals, and fuels. However, our ability to control the composition of microbially synthesized FFAs is still limited, particularly, for producing medium‐chain fatty acids (MCFAs). This is mainly due to the lack of high‐throughput approaches for FFA analysis to engineer enzymes with desirable product specificity. Here we report a mass spectrometry (MS)‐based method for rapid profiling of MCFAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by using membrane lipids as a proxy. In particular, matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐ToF) MS was used to detect shorter acyl chain phosphatidylcholines from membrane lipids and a higher m/z peak ratio at 730 and 758 was used as an indication for improved MCFA production. This colony‐based method can be performed at a rate of ~2 s per sample, representing a substantial improvement over gas chromatography‐MS (typically >30 min per sample) as the gold standard method for FFA detection. To demonstrate the power of this method, we performed site‐saturation mutagenesis of the yeast fatty acid synthase and identified nine missense mutations that resulted in improved MCFA production relative to the wild‐type strain. Colony‐based MALDI‐ToF MS screening provides an effective approach for engineering microbial fatty acid compositions in a high‐throughput manner.
keywords:
Conversion;Lipidomics;Metabolomics
published:
2025-12-02
Zhou, Yu; Mirts, Evan N.; Yook, Sangdo; Waugh, Matthew; Martini, Rachel; Jin, Yong-Su; Lu, Yi
(2025)
Engineering enzymes with novel reactivity and applying them in metabolic pathways to produce valuable products are quite challenging due to the intrinsic complexity of metabolic networks and the need for high in vivo catalytic efficiency. Triacetic acid lactone (TAL), naturally generated by 2-pyrone synthase (2PS), is a platform molecule that can be produced via microbial fermentation and further converted into value-added products. However, these conversions require extra synthetic steps under harsh conditions. We herein report a biocatalytic system for direct generation of TAL derivatives under mild conditions with controlled chemoselectivity by rationally engineering the 2PS active site and then rewiring the biocatalytic pathway in the metabolic network of E. coli to produce high-value products, such as kavalactone precursors, with yields up to 17 mg/L culture. Computer modeling indicates sterics and hydrogen-bond interactions play key roles in tuning the selectivity, efficiency, and yield.
keywords:
Conversion;Metabolomics
published:
2025-08-08
Bhatnagar, Nikita; Chung, Sarah S.; Hodge, John; Kim, Sang Yeol; Sands, Mia; Leakey, Andrew D. B.; Ort, Donald R.; Burgess, Steven J.
(2025)
Rubisco activase is an ATP-dependent chaperone that facilitates dissociation of inhibitory sugar phosphates from the catalytic sites of Rubisco during photosynthesis. In Arabidopsis, Rubisco activase is negatively regulated by dark-dependent phosphorylation of Thr78. The prevalence of Thr78 in Rubisco activase was investigated across sequences from 91 plant species, finding that 29 (∼32%) species shared a threonine in the same position. Analysis of seven C3 species with an antibody raised against a Thr78 phospho-peptide demonstrated that this position is phosphorylated in multiple genera. However, light-dependent dephosphorylation of Thr78 was observed only in Arabidopsis. Further, phosphorylation of Thr78 could not be detected in any of the four C4 grass species examined. The results suggest that despite conservation of Thr78 in Rubisco activase from a wide range of species, a regulatory role for phosphorylation at this site is more limited. This provides a case study for how variation in post-translational regulation can amplify functional divergence across the phylogeny of plants beyond what is explained by sequence variation in a metabolically important protein.
keywords:
photosynthesis; sorghum
published:
2025-10-16
Trinklein, Timothy; Lam, Fan; Sweedler, Jonathan
(2025)
This dataset contains MALDI imaging and fluorescence imaging data of 5xFAD mice and control animals. Processed data are provided at either MATLAB arrays or Bruker .slx / .sbd files compatible with SCiLS Lab.
- Animal_1_5xFAD_s1 and s2 : A MATLAB file of 50 micron spatial resolution imaging of whole brain slice from a 5xFAD animal.
- Slide28_Animal1_stitch_channels__Thioflavin S : A PNG file of the corresponding Thioflavin S- stained fluorescence image obtained post-MSI from the same section.
- Slide28_Animal1_stitch_merged : A PNG file of the corresponding merged imaged including brightfield, Thioflavin S (GFP channel) and Hoechst staining (DAPI channel) used for image registration
- mz_bins_use_neg.mat : A MATLAB array of the m/z channels all MSI images (whole brain slice, 50 micron spatial resolution) were binned to in order to enable comparison
- Animal3_S18_HR.mat : A MATLAB array of high-spatial-resolution (5 micron) imaging of a 5xFAD mouse hippocampus and cortex. Due to the large dataset, 22 m/z channels are included.
- Animal5_S17_HR.mat : A MATLAB array of high-spatial-resolution (5 micron) imaging of a wildtype mouse hippocampus and cortex
- mz_features_22.mat : A MATLAB array of the 22 m/z channels included in the high spatial resolution imaging data
- MALDI_Animal03_5xFAD_10um_neg.zip : A folder containing .slx and .sbd MALDI imaging data of a 5xFAD mouse (whole-brain section) at a 10 micron pitch (used in Figure 5)
- MALDI_animal3_5xFAD_5um_neg.zip : A folder containing .slx and .sbd MALDI imaging data of a 5xFAD mouse (region of interest) at a 5
micron pitch (used in Figure 4)
- TIMS_animal1_20um_5xfad_neg.zip : A folder containing .slx and .sbd MALDI TIMS imaging data of a 5xFAD mouse (region of interest) at a 20 micron pitch (used in Figure 7)
- TIMS_animal5_s13_20um_wt_neg.zip : A folder containing .slx and .sbd MALDI TIMS imaging data of a wild typemouse (region of interest) at a 20 micron pitch (used in Figure 7)
- Region Masks BMC.zip : A folder containing masks from brain regions of spatial transcriptomics data from the BMC Genomics data set
- Region Masks Cell.zip : A folder containing masks from brain regions of spatial transcriptomics data from the Cell data set
keywords:
amyloid beta; 5xfad, lipids; maldi;
published:
2025-12-23
Crawford, Reed; Dodd, Luke; O'Keefe, Joy
(2025)
This dataset contains the raw skin temperature data recorded from female Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) recorded in Indiana and Kentucky from April through August of 2021. This dataset also contains the raw daily heterothermic response variable data that were used in this analysis. This dataset also includes the raw ambient temperature weather data recorded at our Indiana and Kentucky field sites. Lastly, this dataset contains the R script needed to analyze the above dataset.
keywords:
Artificial roost; bat box; conservation; physiology; thermoregulation; torpor
published:
2025-09-08
Lee, DoKyoung; Heaton, Emily; Umar, Muhammad; Jang, Chunhwa; Namoi, Nictor
(2025)
Purpose-grown perennial herbaceous species are nonfood crops specifically cultivated for bioenergy production and have the potential to secure bioenergy feedstock resources while enhancing ecosystem services. This study assessed soil greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and N2O), nitrate (NO3-N) leaching reduction potential, evapotranspiration (ET), and water-use efficiency (WUE) of bioenergy switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in comparison to corn (Zea mays L.). The study was conducted on field-scale plots in Urbana, IL, during the 2020–2022 growing seasons. Switchgrass was established in 2020 and urea-fertilized at 56 kg N ha−1 year−1. Corn management followed best management practices for the US Midwest, including no-till and 202 kg N ha−1 year−1 fertilization, applied as urea–ammonium nitrate (32%). Our results showed lower direct N2O emissions in switchgrass compared to corn. Although soil CO2 emissions did not differ significantly during the establishment year, emissions in subsequent years were over 50% higher in switchgrass than in corn, likely due to increased belowground biomass, which was over five times higher in switchgrass. Nitrate-N leaching decreased as the switchgrass stand matured, reaching 80% lower than in corn by the third year. Differences in ET and WUE between corn and switchgrass were not significant; however, results indicate a trend toward reduced WUE in switchgrass under drought, driven by lower aboveground biomass production. Our study demonstrates that switchgrass can be implemented at a commercial scale without negatively impacting the hydrological cycle, while potentially reducing N losses through nitrate-N leaching and soil N2O emissions, and enhancing belowground C storage.
keywords:
field data; perennial bioenergy grasses; soil; switchgrass
published:
2025-08-07
Keiser, Ashley D.; Heaton, Emily; VanLoocke, Andrew; Studt, Jacob; McDaniel, Marshall D.
(2025)
Bioenergy and bioproduct markets are expanding to meet demand for climate friendly goods and services. Perennial biomass crops are particularly well suited for this goal because of their high yields, low input requirements, and potential to increase soil carbon (C). However, it is unclear how much C is allocated into belowground pools by perennial bioenergy crops and whether the belowground benefits vary with nitrogen (N) fertilizer inputs. Using in situ 13C pulse-chase labeling, we tested whether the sterile perennial grass Miscanthus × giganteus (miscanthus) or annual maize transfers more photosynthetic C to belowground pools. The experiment took place at two sites in Central and Northwest (NW) Iowa with different management histories and two nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates (0 and 224 kg N ha-1 yr-1) to determine if the fate of plant-derived soil C depends on soil fertility and crop type (perennial or annual). Maize allocated a greater percentage of total new 13C to roots than miscanthus, but miscanthus had greater new 13C in total and belowground plant biomass. We found strong interactions between site and most soil measurements – including new 13C in mineral and particulate soil organic matter (SOM) pools –which appear to be driven by differences in historical fertilizer management. The NW Iowa site, with a history of manure inputs, had greater plant-available nutrients (phosphorus, potassium, and ammonium) in soils, and resulted in less 13C from miscanthus in SOM pools compared to maize (approximately 64% less in POM and 70% less in MAOM). In more nutrient-limited soils (Central site), miscanthus transferred 4.5 times more 13C than maize to the more stable mineral-associated SOM pool. Our results suggest that past management, including historical manure inputs that affect a site’s soil fertility, can influence the net C benefits of bioenergy crops.
Dataset includes tables/figures from article and supplementary info. Dryad contains raw data.
keywords:
land management; carbon; miscanthus; maize
published:
2025-10-07
Jagtap, Sujit Sadashiv; Bedekar, Ashwini Ashok; Singh, Vijay; Jin, Yong-Su; Rao, Christopher V.
(2025)
Yarrowia lipolytica was found natively to produce erythritol, mannitol, and arabitol during growth on glucose, fructose, mannose, and glycerol. Osmotic stress is known to increase sugar alcohol production, and was found to significantly increase erythritol production during growth on glycerol. To better understand erythritol production from glycerol, since it was the most promising sugar alcohol, we measured the expression of key genes and intracellular metabolites. Osmotic stress increased the expression of several key genes in the glycerol catabolic pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. Analysis of intracellular metabolites revealed that amino acids, sugar alcohols, and polyamines are produced at higher levels in response to osmotic stress. Heterologous overexpression of the sugar alcohol phosphatase increased erythritol production and glycerol utilization in Y. lipolytica. We further increased erythritol production by increasing the expression of native glycerol kinase (GK), and transketolase (TKL). These data show the growth and titers produced.
keywords:
Conversion;Genome Engineering
published:
2025-11-13
Fan, Xinxin; Khanna, Madhu; Hartman, Theodore; VanLoocke, Andy
(2025)
The dataset consists of:
(1) The replication codes and data for the BEPAM model are contained in the "BEPAM_Supplementary Environment Policy Analysis.zip"
(2) Simulation results from the BEPAM model are contained in "ModelOutputs.zip" under the "BEPAM_Supplementary Environment Policy Analysis.zip"
published:
2025-09-08
Singh, Vijay; Raj, Tirath
(2025)
Miscanthus x giganteus (Mxg) is a promising perennial crop for producing natural colorants, renewable fuels, and bioproducts. However, natural recalcitrance and high pretreatment cost are major barriers to their complete conversion. In this study, a green processing method has been investigated for efficient recovery of natural pigments (anthocyanins), fermentable sugars, and pure lignin from Mxg genotypes using choline chloride-based natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) systems. Interestingly, choline chloride: lactic acid (ChCl: LA) NADES-processed biomass resulted in 67.8 ± 2.1 μg g−1 of anthocyanins from dry biomass. A maximum of 87.4%–94.1% glucose yield was achieved after enzymatic saccharification. The effective extraction of lignin with high purity with higher β-aryl ether (βO4) bonds from advanced crops is crucial for lignin valorization. Notably, highly pure lignin (≈93.4% ± 1.4%) is achieved after low-temperature NADES pretreatment while retaining lignin’s native structure. 31P nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrated that total phenolics for ChCl: LA-lignin resulted in 1.20 mmol g−1 hydroxyls. The relative monolignol composition of syringyl (S), guaiacyl (G), and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) is 19.0, 65.7, and 14.3%, respectively, as evidenced by heteronuclear single quantum coherence analysis. This study provides a novel approach for obtaining high-purity lignin for catalytic depolymerization for oligomers and bifunctional monoaromatics production and leverages current cellulosic biorefinery technologies.
keywords:
biomass analytics; feedstock bioprocessing; inter-brc; miscanthus
published:
2023-08-03
Dalling, James William
(2023)
This file contains the delta 15N values for leaf material collected from Cyathea rojasiana tree ferns before and after fertilization using ammonium -15N chloride solution to determine whether 15N update is possible from senescent leaves.
Details of the experiment are provided in the online supplement to the published paper. Briefly, In February 2022 we selected three mature C. rojasiana individuals 1-1.5m in height that had leaves rooted in the soil and one new developing (but unexpanded) leaf. For each fern, two plastic pots (10 x 10 x 12 cm) were filled with a 50:50 mixture of washed river sand and soil from the Chorro watershed. For each pot, one senescent leaf that was rooted in the soil was carefully excavated and its roots transplanted into the pot. Pots were then fertilized by adding 30 ml of a 0.02 M 15N solution of ammonium-15N chloride (98% 15N; Sigma-Aldrich 299251; St Louis, MO) to yield a target concentration of 2 µg15N cm-3 of soil. After fertilization pots were carefully enclosed within thick plastic bags, and sealed around the senescent leaf rachis to prevent leaching any of 15N from the pot to the surrounding soil.
At the time of N fertilization, pinnae of the youngest fully expanded leaf were collected from each fern. One pinna was collected from the base of the leaf and one from the distal end of the leaf. In March 2022, after 28 days the roots were removed from pots and two additional leaf pinnae sampled from each fern: one from the base and one from the distal end of the youngest (now fully expanded) leaf. Leaf samples were dried for 72 hours at 60 C and then leaf lamina tissue finely ground with a bead beater. The delta 15N for each leaf sample determined at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign using a Thermo Delta V Advantage IRMS run in combination with a Costech 4010 Elemental Analyzer. Samples were run in continuous flow relative to laboratory standards that were calibrated with USGS 40, 41, and NBS 19 reference materials.
keywords:
15N; Cyathea rojasiana; N fertilization; montane forest
published:
2025-11-18
Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra
(2025)
The data set correspponds to gene expression measurements from an RNA-seq experiment profiling the amygdala of pigs representing 3 stimuli and 2 sexes. The experiment was approved by IACUC. Information on ~ 12,000 genes (rows) across 36 samples (36 columns) and a column for gene identification are included in the dataset. A readme, and metadata and a license files are being uploaded with the compressed data file.
keywords:
RNA-seq; stimuli; sex; amygdala
published:
2025-09-15
HamediRad, Mohammad; Weisberg, Scott; Chao, Ran; Lian, Jiazhang; Zhao, Huimin
(2025)
Golden Gate assembly is one of the most widely used DNA assembly methods due to its robustness and modularity. However, despite its popularity, the need for BsaI-free parts, the introduction of scars between junctions, as well as the lack of a comprehensive study on the linkers hinders its more widespread use. Here, we first developed a novel sequencing scheme to test the efficiency and specificity of 96 linkers of 4-bp length and experimentally verified these linkers and their effects on Golden Gate assembly efficiency and specificity. We then used this sequencing data to generate 200 distinct linker sets that can be used by the community to perform efficient Golden Gate assemblies of different sizes and complexity. We also present a single-pot scarless Golden Gate assembly and BsaI removal scheme and its accompanying assembly design software to perform point mutations and Golden Gate assembly. This assembly scheme enables scarless assembly without compromising efficiency by choosing optimized linkers near assembly junctions.
keywords:
Conversion;Genome Engineering;Genomics
published:
2025-09-15
Schultz, J. Carl; Cao, Mingfeng; Zhao, Huimin
(2025)
The oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides is considered a promising candidate for production of chemicals and biofuels thanks to its ability to grow on lignocellulosic biomass, and its high production of lipids and carotenoids. However, efforts to engineer this organism are hindered by a lack of suitable genetic tools. Here we report the development of a CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome editing in R. toruloides based on a fusion 5S rRNA–tRNA promoter for guide RNA (gRNA) expression, capable of greater than 95% gene knockout for various genetic targets. Additionally, multiplexed double‐gene knockout mutants were obtained using this method with an efficiency of 78%. This tool can be used to accelerate future metabolic engineering work in this yeast.
keywords:
Conversion;Genome Engineering;Genomics;Transcriptomics
published:
2023-08-04
Zinnen, Jack; Matthews, Jeffrey W.; Zaya, David N.
(2023)
Data are provided that are relevant to the rare plant Phlox pilosa ssp. sangamonensis, or Sangamon phlox, and other members of the genus that occur in its native range. Sangamon phlox is a state-endangered subspecies that is only known to occur in two Illinois counties. Data provided come from all known Sangamon phlox populations, which we estimate as 10 separate populations. Data include genetic data from DNA microsatellite loci (allele sizes and basic summaries), flowering population size estimates, rates of fruit set, and rates of seed set. Additionally, genetic data (from microsatellites) are provided for Phlox divaricata ssp. laphamii (three populations), Phlox pilosa ssp. pilosa (two populations), and Phlox pilosa ssp. fulgida (two populations).
keywords:
Phlox; conservation genetics; microsatellites; endemism; rare plants
published:
2025-09-11
Zhang, Shuyan; Jagtap, Sujit; Deewan, Anshu; Rao, Christopher V.
(2025)
Yarrowia lipolytica has been used to produce both citric acid and lipid-based bioproducts at high titers. In this study, we found that pH differentially affects citric acid and lipid production in Y. lipolytica W29, with citric acid production enhanced at more neutral pH’s and lipid production enhanced at more acid pH’s. To determine the mechanism governing this pH-dependent switch between citric acid and lipid production, we profiled gene expression at different pH’s and found that the relative expression of multiple transporters is increased at neutral pH. These results suggest that this pH-dependent switch is mediated at the level of citric acid transport rather than changes in the expression of the enzymes involved in citric acid and lipid metabolism. In further support of this mechanism, thermodynamic calculations suggest that citric acid secretion is more energetically favorable at neutral pH’s, assuming the fully protonated acid is the substrate for secretion. Collectively, these results provide new insights regarding citric acid and lipid production in Y. lipolytica and may offer new strategies for metabolic engineering and process design.
keywords:
Conversion;RNA Sequencing;Transcriptomics
published:
2025-11-24
Nguyen, Viviana; Xue, Pu; Li, Yifei; Zhao, Huimin; Lu, Ting
(2025)
Microbial growth emerges from coordinated synthesis of various cellular components from limited resources. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cyclic AMP (cAMP)-mediated signaling is shown to orchestrate cellular metabolism; however, it remains unclear quantitatively how the controlling circuit drives resource partition and subsequently shapes biomass growth. Here we combined experiment with mathematical modeling to dissect the signaling-mediated growth optimization of S. cerevisiae. We showed that, through cAMP-mediated control, the organism achieves maximal or nearly maximal steady-state growth during the utilization of multiple tested substrates as well as under perturbations impairing glucose uptake. However, the optimal cAMP concentration varies across cases, suggesting that different modes of resource allocation are adopted for varied conditions. Under settings with nutrient alterations, S. cerevisiae tunes its cAMP level to dynamically reprogram itself to realize rapid adaptation. Moreover, to achieve growth maximization, cells employ additional regulatory systems such as the GCN2-mediated amino acid control. This study establishes a systematic understanding of global resource allocation in S. cerevisiae, providing insights into quantitative yeast physiology as well as metabolic strain engineering for biotechnological applications.
keywords:
Conversion;Metabolomics;Modeling
published:
2018-07-29
Molloy, Erin K.; Warnow, Tandy
(2018)
This repository includes scripts, datasets, and supplementary materials for the study, "NJMerge: A generic technique for scaling phylogeny estimation methods and its application to species trees", presented at RECOMB-CG 2018. The supplementary figures and tables referenced in the main paper can be found in njmerge-supplementary-materials.pdf. The latest version of NJMerge can be downloaded from Github: https://github.com/ekmolloy/njmerge.
***When downloading datasets, please note that the following errors.***
In README.txt, lines 37 and 38 should read:
+ fasttree-exon.tre contains lines 1-25, 1-100, or 1-1000 of fasttree-total.tre
+ fasttree-intron.tre contains lines 26-50, 101-200, or 1001-2000 of fasttree-total.tre
Note that the file names (fasttree-exon.tre and fasttree-intron.tre) are swapped.
In tools.zip, the compare_trees.py and the compare_tree_lists.py scripts incorrectly refer to the "symmetric difference error rate" as the "Robinson-Foulds error rate". Because the normalized symmetric difference and the normalized Robinson-Foulds distance are equal for binary trees, this does not impact the species tree error rates reported in the study. This could impact the gene tree error rates reported in the study (see data-gene-trees.csv in data.zip), as FastTree-2 returns trees with polytomies whenever 3 or more sequences in the input alignment are identical. Note that the normalized symmetric difference is always greater than or equal to the normalized Robinson-Foulds distance, so the gene tree error rates reported in the study are more conservative.
In njmerge-supplementary-materials.pdf, the alpha parameter shown in Supplementary Table S2 is actually the divisor D, which is used to compute alpha for each gene as follows.
1. For each gene, a random value X between 0 and 1 is drawn from a uniform distribution.
2. Alpha is computed as -log(X) / D, where D is 4.2 for exons, 1.0 for UCEs, and 0.4 for introns (as stated in Table S2).
Note that because the mean of the uniform distribution (between 0 and 1) is 0.5, the mean alpha value is -log(0.5) / 4.2 = 0.16 for exons, -log(0.5) / 1.0 = 0.69 for UCEs, and -log(0.5) / 0.4 = 1.73 for introns.
keywords:
phylogenomics; species trees; incomplete lineage sorting; divide-and-conquer
published:
2025-11-19
Banerjee, Shivali; Beraja, Galit; Eilts, Kristen; Singh, Vijay
(2025)
:Bioenergy crops have been known for their ability to produce biofuels and bioproducts. In this study, the product portfolio of recently developed transgenic sugarcane (oilcane) bagasse has been redefined for recovering natural pigments (anthocyanins), sugars, and vegetative lipids. The total anthocyanin content in oilcane bagasse has been estimated as 92.9 ± 18.9 µg/g of dried bagasse with cyanidin-3-glucoside (13.5 ± 18.9 µg per g of dried bagasse) as the most prominent anthocyanin present. More than 85 % (w/w) of the total anthocyanins were recovered from oilcane bagasse at a pretreatment temperature of 150 °C for 15 min. These conditions for the hydrothermal pretreatment also led to a 2-fold increase in the glucose yield upon the enzymatic saccharification of the pretreated bagasse. Further, a 1.5-fold enrichment of the vegetative lipids was demonstrated in the pretreated residue. Re-defining green biorefineries with multiple high-value products in a zero-waste approach is the need of the hour for attaining sustainability.
keywords:
Conversion;Biomass Analytics;Bioproducts;Biorefinery;Oilcane
published:
2025-09-30
Kurambhatti, Chinmay V.; Kumar, Deepak; Singh, Vijay
(2025)
The coproduction of high-value anthocyanin extract in the cellulosic ethanol process would diversify the co-product market, increase revenue, and potentially improve the economics of the process. The high anthocyanin concentration in the cob and structural carbohydrates in residual stover make purple corn stover an attractive source for anthocyanin and ethanol coproduction. This study aimed to develop simulation models for processes integrating ethanol production and anthocyanin extraction using purple corn stover, to evaluate their techno-economic feasibility, and to compare their performance with the conventional ethanol production process using corn stover. The annual ethanol production for plants processing 2000 MT dry feedstock / day was 148.6 million L/year for the integrated processes compared with 222.6 million L/year for the conventional process. Anthocyanin production in the modified processes using dilute acid-based and water-based anthocyanin extraction processes was 1779 and 1099 MT/year, respectively. Capital investments for the integrated processes ($448.1 to $443.8 million) were higher than the conventional process ($371.9 million). Due to high revenue from anthocyanin extract, the ethanol production cost for the integrated process using acid-based anthocyanin extraction ($0.36/L) was 34.5% lower than conventional ethanol production ($0.55/L). The ethanol production cost for the integrated process using water-based anthocyanin extraction ($0.68/L) was higher than conventional ethanol production due to low ethanol and anthocyanin yields. The minimum ethanol selling price for the integrated process using acid-based anthocyanin extraction ($0.65/L) was also lower than the conventional process ($0.72/L), indicating an improvement in economic performance.
keywords:
Conversion;Economics;Feedstock Bioprocessing;Modeling