TY - CONF A1 - Bell, Jérémy A1 - Climent, Estela A1 - Gotor, Raúl A1 - Tobias, Charlie A1 - Martin-Sanchez, Pedro M. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Dipstick coated with polystyrene-silica core-shell particles for the detection of microbiological fuel contamination N2 - Microbial contamination of fuels by fungi or bacteria poses risks such as corrosion and fuel system fouling, which can lead to critical problems in refineries and distribution systems and has a significant economic impact at every stage of the process. Many factors have been cited as being responsible for microbial growth, like the presence of water in the storage tanks. In fact, only 1 % water in a storage system is sufficient for the growth of microorganisms like bacteria or yeasts, as well as for the development of fungal biomass at the oil/water interface. This work presents a rapid test for the accurate determination of genomic DNA from aqueous fuel extracts. The detection is based on the use of polystyrene-mesoporous silica core-shell particles onto which modified fluorescent molecular beacons are covalently grafted. These beacons contain in the hairpin loop a target sequence highly conserved in all bacteria, corresponding to a fragment of the 16S ribosomal RNA subunit. The designed single-stranded molecular beacon contained fluorescein as an internal indicator and a quencher in its proximity when not hybridized. Upon hybridization in presence of the target sequence, the indicator and the quencher are spatially separated, resulting in fluorescence enhancement. To perform the assay the developed particles were deposited on different glass fibre strips to obtain a portable and sensitive rapid test. The assays showed that the presence of genomic DNA extracts from bacteria down to 50–70 μg L–1 induced a fluorescence response. The optical read-out was adapted for on-site monitoring by fitting a 3D-printed case to a conventional smartphone, taking advantages of the sensitivity of the CMOS detector. Such embedded assembly enabled the detection of genomic DNA in aqueous extracts down to the mg L–1 range and represents an interesting step toward on-site monitoring of fuel contamination. T2 - IMA 2023 CY - Chania, Greece DA - 18.09.2023 KW - Teststreifen KW - Test strip KW - Microbial KW - Mikrobiell KW - Smartphone KW - Particles KW - Partikeln PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58526 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Alder-Rangel, A. A1 - Idnurm, A. A1 - Brand, A. A1 - Brown, A. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna A1 - Kelliher, C. A1 - Campos, C. A1 - Levin, D. A1 - Bell-Pedersen, D. A1 - Dadachova, E. A1 - Bauer, F. A1 - Gadd, G. A1 - Braus, G. A1 - Braga, G. A1 - Brancini, G. A1 - Walker, G. A1 - Druzhinina, I. A1 - Pocsi, I. A1 - Dijksterhuis, J. A1 - Aguirre, J. A1 - Hallsworth, J. A1 - Schumacher, Julia A1 - Ho Wong, K. A1 - Selbmann, L. A1 - Corrochano, L. A1 - Kupiec, M. A1 - Momany, M. A1 - Molin, M. A1 - Requena, N. A1 - Yarden, O. A1 - Cordero, R. A1 - Fischer, R. A1 - Pascon, R. A1 - Mancinelli, R. A1 - Emri, T. A1 - Basso, T. A1 - Rangel, D. T1 - The Third International Symposium on Fungal Stress - ISFUS N2 - Stress is a normal part of life for fungi, which can survive in environments considered inhospitable or hostile for other organisms. Due to the ability of fungi to respond to, survive in, and transform the environment, even under severe stresses, many researchers are exploring the mechanisms that enable fungi to adapt to stress. The International Symposium on Fungal Stress (ISFUS) brings together leading scientists from around the world who research fungal stress. This article discusses presentations given at the third ISFUS, held in Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2019, thereby summarizing the state-of-the-art knowledge on fungal stress, a field that includes microbiology, agriculture, ecology, biotechnology, medicine, and astrobiology. T2 - International Symposium on Fungal Stress (ISFUS) CY - Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil DA - 20.05.2019 KW - Agricultural mycology KW - Fungal stress mechanisms and responses KW - Industrial mycology KW - Medical mycology PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2020.02.007 VL - 124 IS - 5 SP - 235 EP - 252 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-50953 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Albarrán Martínez, M. J. A1 - Ghigo, Tea T1 - The practice of writing inside an Egyptian monastic settlement N2 - Over the last few years, the Federal Institute for material research (BAM, Berlin) together with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC, University of Hamburg) have initiated a systematic material investigation of black inks produced from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages (ca. fourth century CE–fourteenth/fifteenth centuries CE), aimed primarily at extending and complementing findings from previous sporadic studies. Part of this systematic investigation has focused on Egyptian Coptic manuscripts, and the present preliminary study is one of its outputs. It centres on a corpus of 45 Coptic manuscripts—43 papyri and 2 ostraca—preserved at the Palau-Ribes and Roca-Puig collections in Barcelona. The manuscripts come from the Monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, one of the largest monastic settlements in Egypt between the Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period (sixth–eighth centuries CE). The composition of their black inks was investigated in situ using near-infrared reflectography (NIRR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The analyses determined that the manuscripts were written using different types of ink: pure carbon ink; carbon ink containing iron; mixed inks containing carbon, polyphenols and metallic elements; and iron-gall ink. The variety of inks used for the documentary texts seems to reflect the articulate administrative system of the monastery of Bawit. This study reveals that, in contrast to the documents, written mostly with carbon-based inks, literary biblical texts were written with iron-gall ink. The frequent reuse of papyrus paper for certain categories of documents may suggest that carbon-based inks were used for ephemeral manuscripts, since they were easy to erase by abrasion. KW - Papyrus KW - Ink analysis KW - Coptic manuscripts KW - Bawit KW - Mixed ink KW - Near-infrared refectography KW - X-ray fuorescence PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-528833 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00541-0 SN - 2050-7445 VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Open CY - Rome, Italy AN - OPUS4-52883 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abdallah, Khaled A1 - Stock, S. C. A1 - Heeger, Felix A1 - Koester, M. A1 - Nájera, F. A1 - Merino, C. A1 - Spielvogel, S. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna A1 - Kuzyakov, Y. A1 - Dippold, M. A. T1 - Nitrogen Gain and Loss Along an Ecosystem Sequence: From Semi-desert to Rainforest N2 - Plants and microorganisms, besides the climate, drive nitrogen (N) cycling in ecosystems. Our objective was to investigate N losses and N acquisition strategies along a unique ecosystem-sequence (ecosequence) ranging from arid shrubland through Mediterranean woodland to temperate rainforest. These ecosystems differ in mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperate, and vegetation cover, but developed on similar granitoid soil parent material, were addressed using a combination of molecular biology and soil biogeochemical tools. Soil N and carbon (C) contents, δ15N signatures, activities of N acquiring extracellular enzymes as well as the abundance of soil bacteria and fungi, and diazotrophs in bulk topsoil and rhizosphere were determined. Relative fungal abundance in the rhizosphere was higher under woodland and forest than under shrubland. This indicates toward plants' higher C investment into fungi in the Mediterranean and temperate rainforest sites than in the arid site. Fungi are likely to decompose lignified forest litter for efficient recycling of litter-derived N and further nutrients. Rhizosphere—a hotspot for the N fixation—was enriched in diazotrophs (factor 8 to 16 in comparison to bulk topsoil) emphasizing the general importance of root/microbe association in N cycle. These results show that the temperate rainforest is an N acquiring ecosystem, whereas N in the arid shrubland is strongly recycled. Simultaneously, the strongest 15N enrichment with decreasing N content with depth was detected in the Mediterranean woodland, indicating that N mineralization and loss is highest (and likely the fastest) in the woodland across the continental transect. Higher relative aminopeptidase activities in the woodland than in the forest enabled a fast N mineralization. Relative aminopeptidase activities were highest in the arid shrubland. The highest absolute chitinase activities were observed in the forest. This likely demonstrates that (a) plants and microorganisms in the arid shrubland invest largely into mobilization and reutilization of organically bound N by exoenzymes, and (b) that the ecosystem N nutrition shifts from a peptide-based N in the arid shrubland to a peptide- and chitin-based N nutrition in the temperate rainforest, where the high N demand is complemented by intensive N fixation in the rhizosphere. KW - Nitrogen KW - Rhizosphere KW - Microbial abundance KW - Natural abundance of 15N KW - Nitrogen fixation KW - Nitrogen uptake PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-543708 DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoil.2022.817641 SN - 2673-8619 VL - 2 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne AN - OPUS4-54370 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -