TY - JOUR
A1 - Gentzmann, Marie
A1 - Paul, Andrea
A1 - Serrano, Juan
A1 - Adam, Christian
T1 - Understanding scandium leaching from bauxite residues of different geological backgrounds using statistical design of experiments
N2 - The leaching behavior of scandium (Sc) from bauxite residues can differ significantly when residues of different geological backgrounds are compared. The mineralogy of the source rock and the physicochemical environment during bauxitization affect the association of Sc in the bauxite i.e., how Sc is distributed amongst different mineral phases and whether it is incorporated in and/or adsorbed onto those phases. The Sc association in the bauxite is in turn crucial for the resulting Sc association in the bauxite residue. In this study systematic leaching experiments were performed on three different bauxite residues using a statistical design of experiments approach. The three bauxite residues compared originated from processing of lateritic and karstic bauxites from
Germany, Hungary, and Russia. The recovery of Sc and Fe was determined by ICP-OES measurements. Mineralogical changes were analyzed by X-ray-diffraction and subsequent Rietveld refinement. The effects of various parameters including temperature, acid type, acid concentration, liquid-to-solid ratio and residence time were studied. A response surface model was calculated for the selected case of citric acid leaching of Hungarian bauxite residue. The investigations showed that the type of bauxite residue has a strong influence. The easily leachable fraction of Sc can vary considerably between the types, reaching ~20–25% in German Bauxite residue and ~50% in Russian bauxite residue. Mineralogical investigations revealed that a major part of this fraction was released from secondary phases such as cancrinite and katoite formed during Bayer processing of the bauxite.
The effect of temperature on Sc and Fe recovery is strong especially when citric acid is used. Based on the exponential relationship between temperature and Fe-recovery it was found to be particularly important for the selectivity of Sc over Fe. Optimization of the model for a maximum Sc recovery combined with a minimum Fe
recovery yielded results of ~28% Sc recovery at <2% Fe recovery at a temperature of 60 ◦C, a citric acid normality of 1.8, and a liquid-to-solid ratio of 16 ml/g. Our study has shown that detailed knowledge about the Sc association and distribution in bauxite and bauxite residue is key to an efficient and selective leaching of Sc
from bauxite residues.
KW - Bauxite residue
KW - Scandium
KW - Leaching
KW - Design of experiments
KW - Red mud
PY - 2022
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2022.107041
SN - 0375-6742
VL - 2022
IS - 240
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Elsevier Science
CY - Amsterdam
AN - OPUS4-55531
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Brischke, C.
A1 - Bollmus, S.
A1 - Melcher, E.
A1 - Stephan, Ina
T1 - Biological durability and moisture ynamics of Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana)
N2 - Numerous non-native tree species are given attention with respect to the reforestation of calamity areas in Europe. Among them, several species may form durable wood which can be used for outdoor applications, but differences in wood durability are expected between original and European growth sites. This study aimed at examining the biological durability against wooddestroying fungi and water permeability of German-grown Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana). The heartwood of both wood species was assigned to durability class 4 (DC 4, less durable) in soil contact and DC 1–4 (very to less durable) against wood-destroying basidiomycetes. However, according to the Meyer-Veltrup model, their material resistance dose was notably higher compared to the reference species Norway spruce (Picea abies), and the resulting service life of above ground structures should be a multiple of the reference.
KW - Natural durability
KW - Fungal decay
KW - Moisture performance
KW - Permeability
KW - Resistance model
KW - Water uptake
PY - 2022
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/17480272.2022.2101941
SN - 1748-0272
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - Taylor & Francis
CY - London
AN - OPUS4-55490
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Gerrits, Ruben
A1 - Stepec, Biwen An
A1 - Bäßler, Ralph
A1 - Becker, Roland
A1 - Dimper, Matthias
A1 - Feldmann, Ines
A1 - Goff, Kira L.
A1 - Günster, Jens
A1 - Hofmann, Andrea
A1 - Hesse, René
A1 - Kirstein, Sarah
A1 - Klein, Ulrich
A1 - Mauch, Tatjana
A1 - Neumann-Schaal, Meina
A1 - Özcan Sandikcioglu, Özlem
A1 - Taylor, Nicole M.
A1 - Schumacher, Julia
A1 - Shen, Yin
A1 - Strehlau, Heike
A1 - Weise, Matthias
A1 - Wolf, Jacqueline
A1 - Yurkov, Andrey
A1 - Gieg, Lisa M.
A1 - Gorbushina, Anna
T1 - A 30-year-old diesel tank: Fungal-dominated biofilms cause local corrosion of galvanised steel
N2 - The increased use of biodiesel is expected to lead to more microbial corrosion, fouling and fuel degradation issues. In this context, we have analysed the metal, fuel and microbiology of a fouled diesel tank which had been in service for over 30 years. The fuel itself, a B7 biodiesel blend, was not degraded, and—although no free water phase was visible—contained a water content of ~60 ppm. The microbial community was dominated by the fungus Amorphotheca resinae, which formed thick, patchy biofilms on the tank bottom and walls. The tank sheets, composed of galvanised carbon steel, were locally corroded underneath the biofilms, up to a depth of a third of the sheet thickness. On the biofilm-free surfaces, Zn coatings could still be observed. Taken together, A. resinae was shown to thrive in these water-poor conditions, likely enhancing corrosion through the removal of the protective Zn coatings.
KW - Fungal biofilms
KW - Biodiesel degradation mechanisms
PY - 2026
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655014
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00731-2
SN - 2397-2106
VL - 10
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AN - OPUS4-65501
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vogel, Christian
A1 - Helfenstein, J.
A1 - Massey, M.
A1 - Kretzschmar, R.
A1 - Schade, U.
A1 - Verel, R.
A1 - Chadwick, O.
A1 - Frossard, E.
T1 - Spectroscopic analysis shows crandallite can be a major component of soil phosphorus
N2 - Phosphorus (P) bioavailability is crucial for the productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems, and soil P speciation plays a major role therein. Better understanding of P forms present in soil is thus essential to predict bioavailability. However, P speciation studies are only as powerful as the reference spectra used to interpret them, and most studies rely on a limited set of reference spectra. Most studies on soil P forms differentiate between Ca-bound P (e.g. apatite), organic P, Fe-bound P, and Al-bound P. In our analysis of a Ca, Al, and P rich soil from the Kohala region of Hawaii, we identified the mineral crandallite, CaAl3(PO4)2(OH)5·H2O, a mineral previously not considered to play a significant role in soils. Crandallite was first identified with powder X-ray diffraction. Subsequently reference spectra were collected, and the presence of crandallite was confirmed using micro-focused P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, micro-infrared spectroscopy, and solid-state 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Crandallite XANES spectra were distinct from other common XANES spectra due to the presence of features in the post-edge region of the spectrum. Linear combination fitting of bulk P K-edge XANES spectra allowed the determination of the proportion of crandallite to the total P content, indicating that crandallite comprises up to half, possibly even more of the soil P in the samples. Crandallite is therefore an important and potentially overlooked component of soil P, which pedogenically forms in soils with high P, Al, and Ca contents, where it could play an important role in P bioavailability.
KW - Phosphorus
KW - XANES spectrosocpy
KW - Infrared spectroscopy
KW - NMR spectrocopy
PY - 2026
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654968
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2026.117712
SN - 0016-7061
VL - 467
SP - 1
EP - 10
PB - Elsevier B.V.
AN - OPUS4-65496
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vogel, Christian
A1 - Helfenstein, J.
A1 - Massey, M.
A1 - Sekine, R.
A1 - Kretzschmar, R.
A1 - Beiping, L.
A1 - Peter, T.
A1 - Chadwick, O.
A1 - Tamburini, F.
A1 - Rivard, C.
A1 - Herzel, Hannes
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Pradas del Real, A.
A1 - Castillo-Michel, H.
A1 - Zuin, L.
A1 - Wang, D.
A1 - Félix, R.
A1 - Lassalle-Kaiser, B.
A1 - Frossard, E.
T1 - Microspectroscopy reveals dust-derived apatite grains in acidic, highly-weathered Hawaiian soils
N2 - Dust deposition is an important source of phosphorus (P) to many ecosystems. However, there is little evidence of dust-derived P-containing minerals in soils. Here we studied P forms along a well-described climatic Gradient on Hawaii, which is also a dust deposition gradient. Soil mineralogy and soil P forms from six sites along the climatic gradient were analyzed with bulk (X-ray diffraction and P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure) and microscale (X-ray fluorescence, P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure, and Raman) analysis methods. In the wettest soils, apatite grains ranging from 5 to 30 μm in size were co-located at the micro-scale with quartz, a known continental dust indicator suggesting recent atmospheric deposition. In addition to co-location with quartz, further evidence of dust-derived P included backward trajectory modeling indicating that dust particles could be brought to Hawaii from the major global dust-loading areas in central Asia and northern Africa. Although it is not certain whether the individual observed apatite grains were derived from long-distance transport of dust, or from local dust sources such as volcanic ash or windblown fertilizer, these observations offer direct evidence that P-containing minerals have reached surface layers of highly-weathered grassland soils through atmospheric deposition.
KW - Phosphorus
KW - soil
KW - microspectroscopy
KW - Raman spectroscopy
KW - XANES spectroscopy
KW - x-ray diffraction
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-511522
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114681
SN - 0166-0918
SN - 1872-6259
VL - 381
SP - 114681-1
EP - 114681-11
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
AN - OPUS4-51152
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Smol, M.
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Kugler, Stefan
T1 - Thermochemical Treatment of Sewage Sludge Ash (SSA)—Potential and Perspective in Poland
N2 - Phosphorus (P) recovery from sewage sludge ash (SSA) is one of the most promising approaches of phosphate rock substitution in mineral fertilizers and might be a sustainable way to secure supply of this raw material in the future. In the current investigation, the process of thermochemical treatment of SSA was applied to SSA coming from selected mono-incineration plants of municipal sewage sludge in Poland (Cracow, Gdansk, Gdynia, Lodz, Kielce and Szczecin).
The Polish SSA was thermochemically converted in the presence of sodium (Na) additives and a reducing agent (dried sewage sludge) to obtain secondary raw materials for the production of marketable P fertilizers. The process had a positive impact on the bioavailability of phosphorus and reduced the content of heavy metals in the obtained products. The P solubility in neutral Ammonium citrate, an indicator of its bioavailability, was significantly raised from 19.7–45.7% in the raw ashes and 76.5–100% in the thermochemically treated SSA. The content of nutrients in the recyclates was in the range of 15.7–19.2% P2O5, 10.8–14.2% CaO, 3.5–5.4% Na2O, 2.6–3.6% MgO and 0.9–1.3% K2O. The produced fertilizer raw materials meet the Polish norms for trace elements covered by the legislation: the content of lead was in the range 10.2–73.1 mg/kg, arsenic 4.8–22.7 mg/kg, Cadmium 0.9–2.8 mg/kg and mercury <0.05 mg/kg. Thus, these products could be potentially directly used for fertilizer production. This work also includes an analysis of the possibilities of using ashes for fertilizer purposes in Poland, based on the assumptions indicated in the adopted strategic and planning documents regarding waste management and fertilizer production.
KW - Sewage Sludge Ashes
KW - Critical raw materials
KW - Phosphorus
KW - Fertilizer
KW - Sewage Sludge
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-514468
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/en13205461
VL - 13
IS - 20
SP - 5461
AN - OPUS4-51446
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Herzel, Hannes
A1 - Stemann, J.
A1 - Simon, Sebastian
A1 - Adam, Christian
T1 - Comparison of thermochemical treatment of sewage sludge ash with sodium sulphate in laboratory-scale and pilot-scale experiments
N2 - There is an ongoing debate on European scale concerning the criticality of phosphorus. In Switzerland and Germany, phosphorus recovery from phosphorus-rich waste streams will become obligatory. Sewage sludge ash is rich in phosphorus and may become an important secondary feedstock. Thermochemical treatment of sewage sludge ash with sodium sulphate under reducing conditions was shown to remove heavy metals from the solid product and produce the fully plant available crystalline phase CaNaPO4. Pilot-scale experiments in a rotary kiln were carried out at temperatures between 750 and 1000 °C and were compared to laboratory-scale experiments with crucibles. Process upscaling was successfully demonstrated but a series of differences were noticed: In comparison to laboratory-scale, solubility of phosphorus in samples from pilot-scale experiments was lower at all chosen treatment temperatures because of shorter retention time and incomplete decomposition of sodium sulphate. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed remaining phase fractions of whitlockite (Ca3-x(Mg,Fe)x(PO4)2) and sodium sulphate from the starting materials in products and thus indicated incomplete reaction. In contrast to the results of laboratory-scale experiments, the crystalline phase CaNaPO4 was clearly absent in the products from the rotary kiln but instead a Mg-bearing phase (Ca,Mg)NaPO4 was formed. Laboratory-scale experiments confirmed (Ca,Mg)NaPO4 is an intermediate phase between whitlockite and CaNaPO4. However, both crystalline phases are characterized by high plant availability. It was shown that heavy metal removal increased at higher temperatures whereas solubility and thus plant availability of phosphorus already reached its maxima at temperatures of 950 °C in pilot-scale and 875 °C in laboratory-scale experiments.
KW - Crystalline phase identification
KW - Heavy metal removal
KW - Phosphorus availability
KW - Process upscaling
KW - Recovery
KW - Rhenanite
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-524084
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03252-y
VL - 19
IS - 3
SP - 1997
EP - 2006
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-52408
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Weimann, Karin
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Buchert, M.
A1 - Sutter, J.
T1 - Environmental Evaluation of Gypsum Plasterboard Recycling
N2 - Gypsum is widely used in the construction sector and its worldwide consumption has been increasing for several decades. Depending on the life-time of the used gypsum products, an increase of gypsum in construction and demolition waste follows. Especially against the background of a circular economy, the recycling of waste gypsum is of growing importance. However, the use of recycled gypsum makes only sense if it is environmentally friendly. Therefore, an evaluation of the environmental impacts of an industrial-scale processing for the recycling of post-consumer gypsum waste was conducted. The evaluation was performed with an established life cycle assessment software. Original data provided by industry and complementary data from a database for life cycle assessments were used for the calculations. Two scenarios for recycled gypsum with different transportation distances were calculated. These results are compared with results of the environmental evaluation of gypsum derived from coal-fired power plants (FGD gypsum) and natural gypsum. The results show that utilization of recycled gypsum can be environmentally advantageous compared to the use of natural gypsum or FGD gypsum, especially in the impact categories land transformation and resource consumption (abiotic depletion potential). For most environmental impact categories the specific transportation distances have a strong influence.
KW - Gypsum plasterboards
KW - Gypsum waste
KW - Recycled gypsum
KW - Environmental evaluation
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-522321
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/min11020101
SN - 2075-163X
VL - 11
IS - 2
SP - 101
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel, Schweiz
AN - OPUS4-52232
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vogel, Christian
A1 - Hoffmann, Marie
A1 - Krüger, O.
A1 - Murzin, V.
A1 - Caliebe, W.
A1 - Adam, Christian
T1 - Chromium (VI) in phosphorus fertilizers determined with the diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) technique
N2 - Phosphorus (P) fertilizers from secondary resources became increasingly important in the last years. However, these novel P-fertilizers can also contain toxic pollutants such as chromium in its hexavalent state (Cr(VI)). This hazardous form of chromium is therefore regulated with low limit values for agricultural products even though the correct determination of Cr(VI) in these fertilizers may be hampered by redox processes, leading to false results. Thus, we applied the novel diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) technique for Cr(VI) in fertilizers and compared the results with the standard wet chemical extraction method (German norm DIN EN 15192) and Cr K-edge X-ray Absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. We determined an overall good correlation between the wet chemical extraction and the DGT method. DGT was very sensitive and for most tested materials selective for the analysis of Cr(VI) in P-fertilizers. However, hardly soluble Cr(VI) compounds cannot be detected with the DGT method since only mobile Cr(VI) is analyzed. Furthermore, Cr K-edge XANES spectroscopy showed that the DGT binding layer also adsorbs small amounts of mobile Cr(III) so that Cr(VI) values are overestimated. Since certain types of the P fertilizers contain mobile Cr(III) or partly immobile Cr(VI), it is necessary to optimize the DGT binding layers to avoid aforementioned over- or underestimation. Furthermore, our investigations showed that the Cr K-edge XANES spectroscopy technique is unsuitable to determine small amounts of Cr(VI) in fertilizers (below approx. 1% of Cr(VI) in relation to total Cr).
KW - Phosphorus fertilizer
KW - Sewage sludge ash
KW - Diffusive Gradients in thin films (DGT)
KW - Chemical extraction
KW - XANES spectroscopy
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-509578
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08761-w
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 27
SP - 24320
EP - 24328
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-50957
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Cunliffe, A. J.
A1 - Askew, P. D.
A1 - Stephan, Ina
A1 - Iredale, G.
A1 - Cosemans, P.
A1 - Simmons, L. M.
A1 - Verran, J.
A1 - Redfern, J.
T1 - How do we determine the efficacy of an antibacterial surface? A review of standardised antibacterial material testing methods
N2 - Materials that confer antimicrobial activity, be that by innate property, leaching of biocides or design features (e.g., non-adhesive materials) continue to gain popularity to combat the increasing and varied threats from microorganisms, e.g., replacing inert surfaces in hospitals with copper. To understand how efficacious these materials are at controlling microorganisms, data is usually collected via a standardised test method. However, standardised test methods vary, and often the characteristics and methodological choices can make it difficult to infer that any perceived antimicrobial activity demonstrated in the laboratory can be confidently assumed to an end-use setting. This review provides a critical analysis of standardised methodology used in academia and industry, and demonstrates how many key methodological choices (e.g., temperature, humidity/moisture, airflow, surface topography) may impact efficacy assessment, highlighting the need to carefully consider intended antimicrobial end-use of any product.
KW - Antimicrobial materials
KW - Antimicrobial testing
KW - ISO 22196
KW - Antimicrobial surfaces
KW - Antibacterial coatings
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-532138
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10091069
SN - 2079-6382
VL - 10
IS - 9
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
AN - OPUS4-53213
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Herzel, Hannes
A1 - Aydin, Zeynep
A1 - Adam, Christian
T1 - Crystalline phase analysis and phosphorus availability after thermochemical treatment of sewage sludge ash with sodium and potassium sulfates for fertilizer production
N2 - Phosphorus rich sewage sludge ash is a promising source to produce phosphorus recycling fertilizer. However, the low plant availability of phosphorus in these ashes makes a treatment necessary. A thermochemical treatment (800–1000 °C) with alkali additives transforms poorly plant available phosphorus phases to highly plant available calcium alkali Phosphates (Ca,Mg)(Na,K)PO4. In this study, we investigate the use of K2SO4 as additive to produce a phosphorus potassium fertilizer in laboratory-scale experiments (crucible). Pure K2SO4 is not suitable as high reaction temperatures are required due to the high melting point of K2SO4.
To overcome this barrier, we carried out series of experiments with mixtures of K2SO4 and Na2SO4 resulting in a lower economically feasible reaction temperature (900–1000 °C). In this way, the produced phosphorus potassium fertilizers (8.4 wt.% K, 7.6 wt.% P) was highly plant available for phosphorus indicated by complete extractable phosphorus in neutral ammonium citrate solution. The added potassium is, in contrast to sodium, preferably incorporated into silicates instead of phosphorus phases. Thus, the highly extractable phase (Ca,Mg)(Na,K)PO4 in the thermochemical products contain less potassium than expected. This preferred incorporation is confirmed by a pilot-scale trial (rotary kiln) and thermodynamic calculation.
KW - Phosphorus recovery
KW - Recycling fertilizer
KW - Calcium alkali phosphate
KW - Silicate
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-536276
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-021-01288-3
SN - 1611-8227
IS - 23
SP - 2242
EP - 2254
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-53627
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Raniro, H.R.
A1 - Soares, T.de M.
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Pavinato, P.S.
T1 - Waste-derived fertilizers can increase phosphorus uptake by sugarcane and availability in a tropical soil
N2 - The use of highly water-soluble phosphorus (P) fertilizers can lead to P fixation in the soil, reducing fertilization efficiency. Waste-derived, low water-solubility sources can potentially increase sugarcane’s P uptake compared to triple superphosphate by reducing adsorption to the soil.
Aims:We aimed to test struvite, hazenite, and AshDec® for their agronomic potential as recycled fertilizers for sugarcane production in a typical tropical soil.We hypothesize that these sources can reduce P fixation in the soil, increasing its availability and sugarcane’s absorption.
Methods: In a greenhouse pot experiment, two consecutive sugarcane cycles, 90 days each, were conducted in a Ferralsol. The recovered sources struvite, hazenite, AshDec®, and the conventional triple superphosphate were mixed in the soil in three P doses (30, 60, and 90 mg kg–1), aside a control (nil-P). At both harvests, sugarcane number of sprouts, plant height, stem diameter, dry mass yield, shoot phosphorus, and soil P fractionation were investigated.
Results: At 90 days, struvite and hazenite performed better for dry mass yield (70.7 and 68.3 g pot–1, respectively) than AshDec® and triple superphosphate (59.8 and 57.4 g pot–1, respectively) and for shoot P, with 98.1, 91.6, 75.6, and 66.3 mg pot–1, respectively. At 180 days, struvite outperformed all treatments for dry mass yield (95.3 g pot–1) and AshDec® (75.5 mg pot–1) for shoot P. Struvite was 38% and hazenite 21% more efficient than triple superphosphate in P uptake, while AshDec® was 6% less efficient. Soil had higher labile P under struvite, hazenite, and AshDec® than triple superphosphate by the end of the first cycle, while only the later increased nonlabile P by the end of the experiment (180 days).
Conclusions:Waste-derived P sources were more efficient in supplying P for sugarcane and delivering labile P in 180 days than triple superphosphate.
KW - AshDec
KW - Hazenite
KW - P-efficiency
KW - Recycled sources
KW - Struvite
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-544216
DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.202100410
SN - 1436-8730
SP - 1
EP - 12
PB - Wiley-VCH GmbH
AN - OPUS4-54421
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schraut, Katharina
A1 - Kargl, F.
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Ivashko, O.
T1 - In situ synchrotron XRD measurements during solidification of a melt in the CaO–SiO2 system using an aerodynamic levitation system
N2 - Phase formation and evolution was investigated in the CaO–SiO2 system in the range of 70–80 mol% CaO. The samples were container-less processed in an aerodynamic levitation system and crystallization was followed in situ by synchrotron x-ray diffraction at the beamline P21.1 at the German electron synchrotron (DESY). Modification changes of di- and tricalcium silicate were observed and occurred at lower temperatures than under equilibrium conditions. Despite deep sample undercooling, no metastable phase formation was observed within the measurement timescale of 1 s. For the given cooling rates ranging from 300 K s−1 to about 1 K s−1, no decomposition of tricalcium silicate was observed. No differences in phase evolution were observed between reducing and oxidizing conditions imposed by the levitation gas (Ar and Ar + O2). We demonstrate that this setup has great potential to follow crystallization in refractory oxide liquids in situ. For sub-second primary phase formation faster detection and for polymorph detection adjustments in resolution have to be implemented.
KW - Aerodynamic levitation
KW - Calcium silicate
KW - Phase formation
KW - Oxide melts
KW - In situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-526952
DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/abf7e1
VL - 33
IS - 26
SP - 264003 (12pp)
PB - IOP Publishing
AN - OPUS4-52695
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Usmani, S.
A1 - Voss, L.
A1 - Stephan, Ina
A1 - Hübert, Thomas
A1 - Kemnitz, E.
T1 - Improved Durability of Wood Treated with Nano Metal Fluorides against Brown-Rot and White-Rot Fungi
N2 - Low-water soluble metal fluorides such as magnesium fluoride (MgF2) and calcium Fluoride (CaF2) were evaluated for decay protection of wood. Initially, the biocidal efficacy of nano metal fluorides (NMFs) against wood destroying fungi was assessed with an in-vitro agar test. The results from the test showed that agar medium containing MgF2 and CaF2 was more efficient in preventing fungal decay than stand-alone MgF2 or CaF2. These metal fluorides, in their nanoscopic form synthesized using fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis, were introduced into the sapwood of Scots pine and beech wood and then subjected to accelerated ageing by leaching (EN 84). MAS 19F NMR and X-ray micro CT images showed that metal fluorides were present in treated wood, unleached and leached. Decay resistance of Scots pine and beech wood treated with NMFs was tested against Wood destroying fungi Rhodonia placenta and Trametes versicolor in accordance with EN 113. Results revealed that mass losses were reduced to below 3% in wood treated with the combination of MgF2 and CaF2.
It is concluded that NMFs provide full protection to wood even after it has been leached and can be used as wood preservatives in outdoor environments.
KW - Nanoparticles
KW - Fluoride
KW - Wood protection
KW - Fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis
KW - Brown-rot fungi
KW - White-rot fungi
KW - Basidiomycetes
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-543877
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031727
VL - 12
IS - 3
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - MDPI
AN - OPUS4-54387
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Sichler, Theresa Constanze
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Barjenbruch, M.
A1 - Montag, D.
A1 - Mauch, Tatjana
A1 - Sommerfeld, Thomas
A1 - Ehm, J.H.
T1 - Variation of the element composition of municipal sewage sludges in the context of new regulations on phosphorus recovery in Germany
N2 - Phosphorus (P) recovery is obligatory for all sewage sludges with more than 20 g P/kg dry matter (DM) from 2029 in Germany. Nine wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were chosen to investigate variations of phosphorus contents and other parameters in sewage sludge over the year. Monthly sewage sludge samples from each WWTP were analyzed for phosphorus and other matrix elements (C, N, H, Ca, Fe, Al, etc.), for several trace elements (As, Cr, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn) and loss of ignition. Among the nine WWTPs, there are four which have phosphorus contents both above and below the recovery limit of 20 g/kg DM along the year. Considering the average phosphorus content over the year, only one of them is below the limit. Compared to other matrix elements and parameters, phosphorus fuctuations are low with an average of 7% over all nine WWTPs. In total, only hydrogen and carbon are more constant in the sludge.
In several WWTPs with chemical phosphorus elimination, phosphorus fuctuations showed similar courses like iron and/or aluminum. WWTPs with chamber flter presses rather showed dilution efects of calcium dosage. As result of this study, monthly phosphorus measurement is highly recommended to determine whether a WWTP is below the
20 g/kg DM limit.
KW - Sewage sludge
KW - Phosphorus recovery
KW - Wastewater
KW - Phosphorus elimination
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-557499
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-022-00658-4
SN - 2190-4707
VL - 34
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 12
PB - Springer Nature
CY - Berlin
AN - OPUS4-55749
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Sichler, Theresa Constanze
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Becker, Roland
A1 - Sauer, Andreas
A1 - Ostermann, Markus
A1 - Barjenbruch, M.
T1 - Phosphorus determination in sewage sludge: comparison of different aqua regia digestion methods and ICP-OES, ICP-MS and photometric determination
N2 - Phosphorus recycling from sewage sludge will be obligatory in Germany from 2029. Phosphorus content determination in sewage sludge is crucial to assess the prescribed recycling rates. Currently, German law regards sample preparation using aqua regia digestion in a microwave or under reflux conditions as well as instrumental phosphorus determination by ICP-OES, ICP-MS, or photometric determination with ammonium molybdate as equivalent. However, it is questionable whether these methods are indeed equivalent regarding phosphorus quantification in sludges near the limit of 20 g/kg for mandatory recycling. To answer this question, 15 sewage sludges of 11 different wastewater treatment plants were investigated with all permitted method (digestion and measurement) combinations. Moreover, one sewage sludge was also examined in an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) with 28 participants. This study shows that the above-mentioned methods differ in some cases significantly but across all method combinations and sludges, phosphorus recovery was between 80 and 121% after normalization to the grand mean (average of 15 sludges between 85 and 111%). The ILC and the examination of 15 sludges produced largely similar results. There is a tendency to higher phosphorus recovery after microwave digestion compared to reflux digestion and ICP-OES measurements determine higher phosphorus contents than ICP-MS and photometric phosphorus determination. As a result, the authors recommend ICP-OES determination of phosphorus in sewage sludge after microwave digestion.
KW - Sewage sludge
KW - ICP-OES
KW - Phosphous recovery
KW - ICP-MS
KW - Photometric P determination
KW - Interlaboratory comparison
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-558869
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-022-00677-1
VL - 34
IS - 99
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-55886
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Dombinov, V.
A1 - Herzel, Hannes
A1 - Meiller, M.
A1 - Müller, F.
A1 - Willbold, S.
A1 - Zang, J. W.
A1 - da Fonseca-Zang, W. A.
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Klose, H.
A1 - Poorter, H.
A1 - Jablonowski, N. D.
A1 - Schrey, S. D.
T1 - Sugarcane bagasse ash as fertilizer for soybeans: Effects of added residues on ash composition, mineralogy, phosphorus extractability and plant availability
N2 - Sugarcane bagasse is commonly combusted to generate energy. Unfortunately, recycling strategies rarely consider the resulting ash as a potential fertilizer. To evaluate this recycling strategy for a sustainable circular economy, we characterized bagasse ash as a fertilizer and measured the effects of co-gasification and co-combustion of bagasse with either chicken manure or sewage sludge: on the phosphorus (P) mass fraction, P-extractability, and mineral P phases. Furthermore, we investigated the ashes as fertilizer for soybeans under greenhouse conditions. All methods in combination are reliable indicators helping to assess and predict P availability from ashes to soybeans. The fertilizer efficiency of pure bagasse ash increased with the ash amount supplied to the substrate. Nevertheless, it was not as effective as fertilization with triple-superphosphate and K2SO4, which we attributed to lower P availability. Co-gasification and co-combustion increased the P mass fraction in all bagasse-based ashes, but its extractability and availability to soybeans increased only when co-processed with chicken manure, because it enabled the formation of readily available Ca-alkali phosphates. Therefore, we recommend co-combusting biomass with alkali-rich residues to increase the availability of P from the ash to plants.
KW - Combustion and gasification
KW - Phosphate extractability and availability
KW - X-ray diffraction (XRD)
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-567632
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1041924
SN - 1664-462X
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
AN - OPUS4-56763
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Machado Ferreira de Araujo, F.
A1 - Duarte-Ruiz, D.
A1 - Saßnick, H.-D.
A1 - Gentzmann, Marie C.
A1 - Huthwelker, T.
A1 - Cocchi, C.
T1 - Electronic Structure and Core Spectroscopy of Scandium Fluoride Polymorphs
N2 - Microscopic knowledge of the structural, energetic, and electronic properties of scandium fluoride is still incomplete despite the relevance of this material as an intermediate for the manufacturing of Al−Sc alloys. In a work based on first-principles calculations and X-ray spectroscopy, we assess the stability and electronic structure of six computationally predicted ScF3 polymorphs, two of which correspond to experimentally resolved single-crystal phases. In the theoretical analysis based on density functional theory (DFT), we identify similarities among the polymorphs based on their formation energies, chargedensity distribution, and electronic properties (band gaps and density of states). We find striking analogies between the results obtained for the ow- and high-temperature phases of the material, indirectly confirming that the transition occurring between them mainly consists of a rigid rotation of the lattice. With this knowledge, we examine the X-ray absorption spectra from the Sc and F K-edge contrasting firstprinciples results obtained from the solution of the Bethe−Salpeter equation on top of all-electron DFT with high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection measurements. Analysis of the computational results sheds light on the electronic origin of the absorption maxima and provides information on the prominent excitonic effects that characterize all spectra. A comparison with measurements confirms that the sample is mainly composed of the high- and low-temperature polymorphs of ScF3. However, some fine details in the experimental results suggest that the probed powder sample may contain defects and/or residual traces of metastable polymorphs.
KW - Scandium
KW - X-ray spectroscopy
PY - 2023
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570727
DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04357
SN - 0020-1669
VL - 62
IS - 10
SP - 4238
EP - 4247
PB - ACS Publications
CY - Washington DC
AN - OPUS4-57072
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Erdmann, Eileen A.
A1 - Brandhorst, Antonia K. M.
A1 - Gorbushina, Anna
A1 - Schumacher, Julia
T1 - The Tet‑on system for controllable gene expression in the rock‑inhabiting black fungus Knufia petricola
N2 - Knufia petricola is a black fungus that colonizes sun-exposed surfaces as extreme and oligotrophic environments. As ecologically important heterotrophs and biofilm-formers on human-made surfaces, black fungi form one of the most resistant groups of biodeteriorating organisms. Due to its moderate growth rate in axenic culture and available protocols for its transformation and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing, K. petricola is used for studying the morpho-physiological adaptations shared by extremophilic and extremotolerant black fungi. In this study, the bacteria-derived tetracycline (TET)-dependent promoter (Tet-on) system was implemented to enable controllable gene expression in K. petricola. The functionality i.e., the dose-dependent inducibility of TET-regulated constructs was investigated by using GFP fluorescence, pigment synthesis(melanin and carotenoids) and restored uracil prototrophy as reporters. The newly generated cloning vectors containing the Tet-on construct, and the validated sites in the K. petricola genome for color-selectable or neutral insertion of expression constructs complete the reverse genetics toolbox. One or multiple genes can be expressed on demand from different genomic loci or from a single construct by using 2A self-cleaving peptides, e.g., for localizing proteins and protein complexes in the K. petricola cell or for using K. petricola as host for the expression of heterologous genes.
KW - Microcolonial fungi
KW - Inducible promoter
KW - Bimolecular fluorescence complementation
KW - 2A peptide
KW - CRISPR/ Cas9-mediated genome editing
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-607672
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-024-01354-2
VL - 28
IS - 38
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Springer Nature
AN - OPUS4-60767
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schumacher, Julia
A1 - Gorbushina, Anna
T1 - Light sensing in plant- and rock-associated black fungi
N2 - Fungi that share light-flooded habitats with phototrophs may profit from their excess photosynthetic products. But to cope with sunlight-associated stresses [e.g. high temperatures, UV radiation with associated DNA damage, accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), desiccation and osmotic stresses] it is important for fungi to accurately sense and respond to changes in light. To test the hypothesis that light is an environmental cue that Ascomycota use to coordinate growth, stress responses as well as to establish pathogenic or symbiotic relationships, the photoreceptor (PR) distribution in species from different ecological niches was analysed. The genomes of black [dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin-containing] fungi from phyllosphere and exposed solid surfaces contain multiple photoreceptors (PRs). The plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea (Leotiomycetes) has a highly sophisticated photosensory and signalling system that helps to avoid light and to locate susceptible hosts. Rock-inhabiting Dothideomycetes and Eurotiomycetes including Knufia petricola possess equal numbers ofPRs along with the same set of protective pigments. This similarity between black fungi from plant and rock surfaces suggests that photoperception and -regulation are important for fungi that receive nutrients through cooperation with phototrophs. Genetic tools for manipulating K. petricola exist and will be used to test this idea.
KW - Botrytis cinerea
KW - DHN melanin
KW - Knufia petricola
KW - Phyllosphere
KW - Rock biofilm
PY - 2020
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2020.01.004
VL - 124
IS - 5
SP - 407
EP - 417
AN - OPUS4-50786
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Aumont, Cédric
A1 - Beránková, T.
A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter
A1 - Radek, R.
A1 - Akama, P. D.
A1 - Sillam-Dussès, D.
A1 - Sobotnik, J.
ED - Scholtz, G.
T1 - The ultrastructure of the rostral gland in soldiers of Verrucositermes tuberosus (Blattodea: Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae)
N2 - The soil-feeding habit is an evolutionary novelty found in some advanced groups of termites. The study of such groups is important to revealing interesting adaptations to this way-of-life. The genus Verrucositermes is one such example, characterized by peculiar outgrowths on the head capsule, antennae and maxillary palps, which are not found in any other termite. These structures have been hypothesized to be linked to the presence of a new exocrine organ, the rostral gland, whose structure has remained unexplored.
We have thus studied the ultrastructure of the epidermal layer of the head capsule of Verrucositermes tuberosus soldiers.We describe the ultrastructure of the rostral gland, which consists of class 3 secretory cells only. The dominant secretory organelles comprise rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, which provide secretions delivered to the surface of the head, likely made of peptide-derived components of unclear function. We discuss a possible role of the rostral gland of soldiers as an adaptation to the frequent encounter with soil pathogens during search for new food resources.
KW - Soil-feeding habit
KW - Advanced groups of termites
KW - New exocrine organ
KW - Rostral gland
KW - Epidemal layer
KW - Peptide-derived components
PY - 2023
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2023.101238
SN - 1467-8039
VL - 73
SP - 1
EP - 5
PB - Elsevier Ltd.
CY - London, UK
AN - OPUS4-57046
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Bresch, Harald
A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan
A1 - Schmidt, Alexandra
A1 - Rasmussen, K.
A1 - Rauscher, H.
T1 - Counting Small Particles in Electron Microscopy Images — Proposal for Rules and Their Application in Practice
N2 - Electron microscopy (EM) is the gold standard for the characterisation of the morphology (size and shape) of nanoparticles. Visual observation of objects under examination is always a necessary first step in the characterisation process. Several questions arise when undertaking to identify and count particles to measure their size and shape distribution. In addition to challenges with the dispersion and identification of the particles, more than one protocol for counting particles is in use. This paper focuses on precise rules for the counting of particles in EM micrographs, as this influences the measurement accuracy of the number of particles, thus implicitly affecting the size values of the counted particles. We review and compare four different, commonly used methods for counting, which we then apply in case studies. The impact of the selected counting rule on the obtained final particle size distribution is highlighted. One main aim of this analysis is to support the application of a specific, well-defined counting approach in accordance with regulatory
requirements to contribute to achieving more reliable and reproducible results. It is also useful for the new harmonised measurement procedures for determining the particle size and particle size distribution of nanomaterials.
KW - Nano
KW - Particle size distribution
KW - Nanoparticle
KW - Nanomaterial
KW - OECD
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-551891
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12132238
SN - 2079-4991
VL - 12
IS - 13
SP - 2238
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
AN - OPUS4-55189
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul
A1 - Rühle, Bastian
A1 - Kuchenbecker, Petra
A1 - Löhmann, Oliver
A1 - Lindemann, Franziska
A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan
T1 - Embedding and cross-sectioning as a sample preparation procedure for accurate and representative size and shape measurement of nanopowders
N2 - Reliable measurement of the size of polydisperse, complex-shaped commercial nanopowders is a difficult but necessary task, e.g., for regulatory requirements and toxicity risk assessment. Suitable methods exist for the accurate characterization of the size of non-aggregated, stabilized, spherical and monodisperse nanoparticles. In contrast, industrial nanoscale powders usually require dedicated sample preparation procedures developed for the analysis method of choice. These nano-powders tend to agglomerate and/or aggregate, a behavior which in combination with an innate broad particle size distribution and irregular shape often significantly alters the achievable accuracy of the measured size parameters. The present study systematically tests two commercially available nanoscale powders using different sample preparation methods for correlative analysis by scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller method and differential mobility analysis. One focus was set on the sample preparation by embedding nanoparticles in carbon-based hot-mounting resin. Literature on this topic is scarce and the accuracy of the data extracted from cross sections of these particles is unclearly stated. In this paper systematic simulations on the deviation of the size parameters of well-defined series of nanoparticles with different shapes from the nominal value were carried out and the contributing factors are discussed.
KW - Nanopowder
KW - Electron microscopy
KW - Sample preparation
KW - Cross-sectioning
KW - Cerium oxide
KW - Zinc oxide
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-593289
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-51094-0
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 14
SP - 1
EP - 10
PB - Springer Nature
CY - London
AN - OPUS4-59328
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Liu, Cong
A1 - Hellemans, Simon
A1 - Kinjo, Yukihiro
A1 - Mikhailova, Alina A
A1 - Aumont, Cédric
A1 - Weng, Yi-Ming
A1 - Buček, Aleš
A1 - Husnik, Filip
A1 - Šobotník, Jan
A1 - Harrison, Mark C
A1 - McMahon, Dino P
A1 - Bourguignon, Thomas
T1 - Recurrent horizontal gene transfers across diverse termite genomes
N2 - Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the transmission of genetic material across species, is an important innovation source in prokaryotes. In contrast, its significance is unclear in many eukaryotes, including insects. Here, we used high-quality genomes of 45 termites and two cockroaches to investigate HGTs from non-metazoan organisms across blattodean genomes. We identified 289 genes and 2,494 pseudogenes classified into 168 orthologous groups originating from an estimated 281 HGT events. Wolbachia represented the primary HGT source, while termite gut bacteria and the cockroach endosymbiont Blattabacterium did not contribute meaningfully to HGTs. Most horizontally acquired genes descended from recent and species-specific HGTs, experienced frequent duplications and pseudogenizations, and accumulated substitutions faster than synonymous sites of native protein-coding genes. Genes frequently transferred horizontally to termite genomes included mobile genetic elements and genetic information processing genes. Our results indicate that termites continuously acquired genes through HGT, and that most horizontally acquired genes are specific to restricted lineages. Overall, genes acquired by HGT by termites and cockroaches seemed generally non-functional and bound to be lost.
KW - Phylogenomics
KW - Isoptera
KW - Comparative genomics
PY - 2026
DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag003
SN - 0014-3820
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - Oxford University Press (OUP)
AN - OPUS4-65418
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kanaris, Orestis
A1 - Sobisch, Lydia-Yasmin
A1 - Gödt, Annett
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
T1 - Consequences of benzalkonium chloride tolerance for selection dynamics and de novo resistance evolution driven by antibiotics
N2 - Biocides are used in large amounts in industrial, medical, and domestic settings. Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a commonly used biocide, for which previous research revealed that Escherichia coli can rapidly adapt to tolerate BAC-disinfection, with consequences for antibiotic susceptibility. However, the consequences of BAC tolerance for selection dynamics and resistance evolution to antibiotics remain unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of BAC tolerance in E. coli on its response upon challenge with different antibiotics. Competition assays showed that subinhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin—but not ampicillin, colistin and gentamicin—select for the BAC-tolerant strain over the BAC-sensitive ancestor at a minimal selective concentration of 0.0013–0.0022 µg/mL. In contrast, the BAC-sensitive ancestor was more likely to evolve resistance to ciprofloxacin, colistin and gentamicin than the BAC-tolerant strain when adapted to higher concentrations of antibiotics in a serial transfer laboratory evolution experiment. The observed difference in the evolvability of resistance to ciprofloxacin was partly explained by an epistatic interaction between the mutations conferring BAC tolerance and a knockout mutation in ompF encoding for the outer membrane porin F. Taken together, these findings suggest that BAC tolerance can be stabilized in environments containing low concentrations of ciprofloxacin, while it also constrains evolutionary pathways towards antibiotic resistance.
KW - AMR
KW - Resistance evolution
KW - Resistance selection
PY - 2026
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653842
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44259-025-00170-8
SN - 2731-8745
VL - 4
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AN - OPUS4-65384
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Shafiey, H.
A1 - Gogol-Döring, A.
A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter
A1 - Doublet, V.
A1 - Disayathanoowat, T.
A1 - Paxton, R. J.
T1 - A new variant of slow bee paralysis virus revealed by transcriptome analysis
N2 - Using NGS data from an RNA-seq library, we reveal a novel variant of slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV) in a pooled sample of adult honey bees (Apis mellifera) collected in southwest Germany. We provide its sequence (NCBI Accession No. PP100271) and demonstrate that it is infective for adult honey bees by feeding.
KW - SBPV
KW - Apis mellifera
KW - +ss RNA virus
KW - Iflaviridae
KW - Transmission
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-645577
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2024.2425912
VL - 64
IS - 1
SP - 56
EP - 59
PB - Taylor & Francis
AN - OPUS4-64557
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Varadarajan, A.
A1 - Allan, R.
A1 - Valentin, J.
A1 - Castañeda Ocampo, O.
A1 - Somerville, V.
A1 - Buhmann, M.
A1 - West, J.
A1 - Skipp, Paul
A1 - van der Mei, H.
A1 - Ren, Q.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Webb, J.
A1 - Pietsch, Franziska
A1 - Ahrens, C.
T1 - An integrated model system to gain mechanistic insights into biofilm-associated antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa MPAO1
N2 - Pseudomonas aeruginosa MPAO1 is the parental strain of the widely utilized transposon mutant collection for this important clinical pathogen. Here, we validate a model system to identify genes involved in biofilm growth and biofilm-associated antibiotic resistance. Our model employs a genomics-driven workflow to assemble the complete MPAO1 genome, identify unique and conserved genes by comparative genomics with the PAO1 reference strain and genes missed within existing assemblies by proteogenomics. Among over 200 unique MPAO1 genes, we identified six general essential genes that were overlooked when mapping public Tn-seq data sets against PAO1, including an antitoxin. Genomic data were integrated with phenotypic data from an experimental workflow using a user-friendly, soft lithography-based microfluidic flow chamber for biofilm growth and a screen with the Tn-mutant library in microtiter plates. The screen identified hitherto unknown genes involved in biofilm growth and antibiotic resistance. Experiments conducted with the flow chamber across three laboratories delivered reproducible data on P. aeruginosa biofilms and validated the function of both known genes and genes identified in the Tn-mutant screens. Differential Protein abundance data from planktonic cells versus biofilm confirmed the upregulation of candidates known to affect biofilm formation, of structural and secreted proteins of type VI secretion systems, and provided proteogenomic evidence for some missed MPAO1 genes. This integrated, broadly applicable model promises to improve the mechanistic understanding of biofilm formation, antimicrobial tolerance, and resistance evolution in biofilms.
KW - Biofilms
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-515108
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-020-00154-8
VL - 6
IS - 1
SP - Article number: 46
PB - Springer Nature
CY - Singapore
AN - OPUS4-51510
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kupke, Johannes
A1 - Brombach, Julian
A1 - Fang, Yuwen
A1 - Wolf, Silver A.
A1 - Thrukonda, Lakshmipriya
A1 - Ghazisaeedi, Fereshteh
A1 - Kuropka, Benno
A1 - Hanke, Dennis
A1 - Semmler, Torsten
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Tedin, Karsten
A1 - Lübke-Becker, Antina
A1 - Steiner, Ulrich K.
A1 - Fulde, Marcus
T1 - Heteroresistance in Enterobacter cloacae complex caused by variation in transient gene amplification events
N2 - Heteroresistance (HR) in bacteria describes a subpopulational phenomenon of antibiotic resistant cells of a generally susceptible population. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanisms and phenotypic characteristics underlying HR to ceftazidime (CAZ) in a clinical Enterobacter cloacae complex strain (ECC). We identified a plasmid-borne gene duplication-amplification (GDA) event of a region harbouring an ampC gene encoding a β-lactamase bla DHA-1 as the key determinant of HR. Individual colonies exhibited variations in the copy number of the genes resulting in resistance level variation which correlated with growth onset (lag times) and growth rates in the presence of CAZ. GDA copy number heterogeneity occurred within single resistant colonies, demonstrating heterogeneity of GDA on the single-cell level. The interdependence between GDA, lag time and antibiotic treatment and the strong plasticity underlying HR underlines the high risk for misdetection of antimicrobial HR and subsequent treatment failure.
KW - Antimicrobial surfaces
KW - Biocides
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Standardization
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-627057
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44259-025-00082-7
VL - 3
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-62705
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Srivastava, Priyanka
A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella
A1 - Scholtz, Lena
A1 - Genger, C.
A1 - Welker, P.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Meyer, Klas
A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute
T1 - Dual color pH probes made from silica and polystyrene nanoparticles and their performance in cell studies
N2 - Ratiometric green–red fluorescent nanosensors for fluorometrically monitoring pH in the acidic range were designed from 80 nm-sized polystyrene (PS) and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs), red emissive reference dyes, and a green emissive naphthalimide pH probe, analytically and spectroscopically characterized, and compared regarding their sensing performance in aqueous dispersion and in cellular uptake studies. Preparation of these optical probes, which are excitable by 405 nm laser or LED light sources, involved the encapsulation of the pH-inert red-fuorescent dye Nile Red (NR) in the core of self-made carboxylated PSNPs by a simple swelling procedure and the fabrication of rhodamine B (RhB)-stained SiO2-NPs from a silane derivative of pH-insensitive RhB. Subsequently, the custom-made naphthalimide pH probe, that utilizes a protonation-controlled photoinduced electron transfer process, was covalently attached to the carboxylic acid groups at the surface of both types of NPs. Fluorescence microscopy studies with the molecular and nanoscale optical probes and A549 lung cancer cells confirmed the cellular uptake of all probes and their penetration into acidic cell compartments, i.e., the lysosomes, indicated by the switching ON of the green naphthalimide fluorescence. This underlines their suitability for intracellular pH sensing, with the SiO2-based nanosensor revealing the best performance regarding uptake speed and stability.
KW - Sensors
KW - Silica and polystyrene nanoparticles
KW - pH probe
KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy
KW - Cell studies
KW - Dye
KW - Particle synthesis
PY - 2023
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-569198
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28203-0
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 13
IS - 1
SP - 1321
EP - 1336
PB - Nature
CY - London
AN - OPUS4-56919
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Keshmiri, Hamid
A1 - Armin, F.
A1 - Elsayad, K.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Moreno, M.
T1 - Leaky and waveguide modes in biperiodic holograms
N2 - This study details a theoretical analysis of leaky and waveguide modes in biperiodic all-dielectric holograms. By tuning diffraction orders and subsequently confining local density of optical states at two distinct resonance wavelengths, we present a new class of highly sensitive refractive index biosensing platforms that are capable of resolving 35.5 to 41.3 nm/RIU of spectral shift for two separate biological analytes.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Photonics
KW - Diffractive gratings
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-527632
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89971-1
SN - 2045-2322 (online)
VL - 11
IS - 1
SP - 10991
PB - Springer Nature
AN - OPUS4-52763
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Sobisch, Lydia-Yasmin
A1 - Gödt, Annett
A1 - Lewerenz, Dominique
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Heterogeneous survival upon disinfection underlies evolution of increased tolerance
N2 - Disinfection is important to limit the spread of infections, but failure of disinfection may foster the evolution of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Persisters are phenotypically tolerant subpopulations that survive toxic stress longer than susceptible cells, leading to failure in treatments with antimicrobials and facilitating resistance evolution. To date, little is known about persistence in the context of disinfectants. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of persisters on disinfection and to determine the consequences of disinfectant persistence for the evolution of increased tolerance to disinfectants. Disinfection kinetics with high temporal resolution were recorded for Escherichia coli exposed to the following six disinfectants: hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), glutaraldehyde (GTA), chlorhexidine (CHX), benzalkonium chloride (BAC), didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC), and isopropanol (ISO). A mathematical model was used to infer the presence of persisters from the time–kill data. Time–kill kinetics for BAC, DDAC, and ISO were indicative of persisters, whereas no or weak evidence was found for H2O2, GTA, and CHX. When subjected to comparative experimental evolution under recurring disinfection, E. coli evolved increased tolerance to substances for which persisters were predicted (BAC and ISO), whereas adaptation failed for substances in which no persisters were predicted (GTA and CHX), causing extinction of exposed populations. Our findings have implications for the risk of disinfection failure, highlighting a potential link between persistence to disinfectants and the ability to evolve disinfectant survival mechanisms.
IMPORTANCE: Disinfection is key to control the spread of infections. But the application of disinfectants bears the risk to promote the evolution of reduced susceptibility to antimicrobials if bacteria survive the treatment. The ability of individual bacteria to survive disinfection can display considerable heterogeneity within isogenic populations and may be facilitated by tolerant persister subpopulations. Using time–kill kinetics and interpreting the data within a mathematical framework, we quantify heterogeneity and persistence in Escherichia coli when exposed to six different disinfectants. We find that the level of persistence, and with this the risk for disinfection failure, depends on the disinfectant. Importantly, evolution experiments under recurrent disinfection provide evidence that links the presence of persisters to the ability to evolve reduced susceptibility to disinfectants. This study emphasizes the impact of heterogeneity within bacterial populations on disinfection outcomes and the potential consequences for the evolution of antimicrobial resistances.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Standardization
KW - Biocides
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-615566
DO - https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.03276-22
SN - 2165-0497
VL - 12
IS - 12
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - American Society for Microbiology
CY - Birmingham, Ala.
AN - OPUS4-61556
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Pietsch, Franziska
A1 - O'Neill, A. J.
A1 - Ivask, A.
A1 - Jenssen, H.
A1 - Inkinen, J.
A1 - Kahru, A.
A1 - Ahonen, M.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Selection of resistance by antimicrobial coatings in the healthcare setting
N2 - Antimicrobial touch surfaces have been introduced in healthcare settings with the aim of supporting existing hygiene procedures, and to help combat the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance. However, concerns have been raised over the potential selection pressure exerted by such surfaces, which may drive the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This review highlights studies that indicate risks associated with resistance on antimicrobial surfaces by different processes, including evolution by de-novo mutation and horizontal gene transfer, and species sorting of inherently resistant bacteria dispersed on to antimicrobial surfaces. The review focuses on antimicrobial surfaces made of copper, silver and antimicrobial peptides because of the practical application of copper and silver, and the promising characteristics of antimicrobial peptides. The available data point to a potential for resistance selection and a subsequent increase in resistant strains via cross-resistance and co-resistance conferred by metal and antibiotic resistance traits. However, translational studies describing the development of resistance to antimicrobial touch surfaces in healthcare-related environments are rare, and will be needed to assess whether and how antimicrobial surfaces lead to resistance selection in These settings. Such studies will need to consider numerous variables, including the antimicrobial concentrations present in coatings, the occurrence of biofilms on surfaces, and the humidity relevant to dry-surface environments. On-site tests on the efficacy of antimicrobial Coatings should routinely evaluate the risk of selection associated with their use.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Antimicrobial coating
KW - Touch surfaces
KW - Healthcare
KW - Infections
KW - COST action CA15114 AMICI
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-510926
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.06.006
SN - 0195-6701
VL - 106
IS - 1
SP - 115
EP - 125
PB - Elsevier Ltd
AN - OPUS4-51092
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Kanaris, Orestis
A1 - Schmidt, Selina
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Persistence against benzalkonium chloride promotes rapid evolution of tolerance during periodic disinfection
N2 - Biocides used as disinfectants are important to prevent the transmission of pathogens, especially during the current antibiotic resistance crisis. This crisis is exacerbated by phenotypically tolerant persister subpopulations that can survive transient antibiotic Treatment and facilitate resistance evolution. Here, we show that E. coli displays persistence against a widely used disinfectant, benzalkonium chloride (BAC). Periodic, persister-mediated failure of disinfection rapidly selects for BAC tolerance, which is associated with reduced cell Surface charge and mutations in the lpxM locus, encoding an enzyme for lipid A biosynthesis.
Moreover, the fitness cost incurred by BAC tolerance turns into a fitness benefit in the presence of antibiotics, suggesting a selective advantage of BAC-tolerant mutants in antibiotic environments. Our findings highlight the links between persistence to disinfectants and resistance evolution to antimicrobials.
KW - Persistence
KW - Biocides
KW - Evolution
KW - Cross-resistance
KW - Biocide tolerance
KW - Disinfection
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-538532
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27019-8
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
IS - 1
SP - 6792
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-53853
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vareschi, Silvia
A1 - Jaut, Valerie
A1 - Vijay, Srinivasan
A1 - Allen, Rosalind J.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Antimicrobial efflux and biofilms: an interplay leading to emergent resistance evolution
N2 - The biofilm mode of growth and drug efflux are both important factors that impede the treatment of bacterial infections with antimicrobials. Decades of work have uncovered the mechanisms involved in both efflux and biofilm-mediated antimicrobial tolerance, but links between these phenomena have only recently been discovered. Novel findings show how efflux impacts global cellular physiology and antibiotic tolerance, underpinned by phenotypic heterogeneity. In addition efflux can mediate cell-to-cell interactions, relevant in biofilms, via mechanisms including efflux of signaling molecules and metabolites, signaling using pump components and the establishment of local antibiotic gradients via pumping. These recent findings suggest that biofilm antibiotic tolerance and efflux are closely coupled, with synergistic effects leading to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance in the biofilm environment.
KW - Evolution
KW - Efflux
KW - Antibiotics
KW - Biofilms
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Phenotypic heterogeneity
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-632799
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2025.04.012
SN - 0966-842X
SP - 1
EP - 15
PB - Elsevier Ltd.
AN - OPUS4-63279
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Lee, Mihyun
A1 - Wiesli, Luzia
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Ivask, Angela Ivask
A1 - Ren, Qun
T1 - Quantitative Assessment of Microbial Transmission onto Environmental Surfaces Using Thermoresponsive Gelatin Hydrogels as a Finger Mimetic under In Situ-Mimicking Conditions
N2 - Surface-mediated transmission of pathogens plays a key role in healthcare-associated infections. However, proper techniques for its quantitative analysis are lacking, making it challenging to develop novel antimicrobial and anti-fouling surfaces to reduce pathogen spread via environmental surfaces. This study demonstrates a gelatin hydrogel-based touch transfer test, the HydroTouch test, to evaluate pathogen transmission on high-touch surfaces under semi-dry conditions. The HydroTouch test employs gelatin as a finger mimetic, facilitating testing with pathogenic bacteria under controlled conditions. The thermoresponsive sol–gel transition of gelatin allows easy recovery and quantification of bacteria before and after testing. The HydroTouch test demonstrates that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has a high transmission efficiency of ≈16% onto stainless steel, compared to <3% for Escherichia coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Polyurethane surfaces exhibit strong resistance to bacterial contamination with a transmission efficiency of ≈0.6%, while polytetrafluoroethylene shows a transmission efficiency approximately four times higher than polyurethane. Additionally, quaternary ammonium-based antimicrobial coatings reduce the transmission efficiency of live bacteria on stainless steel to ≈4% of the original level. The HydroTouch test provides a reliable method for assessing pathogen transmission on various surfaces under semi-dry settings, supporting the development of effective antimicrobial, anti-transmission coatings to reduce healthcare-associated infections.
KW - Antimicrobial surfaces
KW - Biocides
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Standardization
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-624566
DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202403790
SN - 2192-2659
SP - 1
EP - 10
PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag
AN - OPUS4-62456
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kanaris, Orestis
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Refuse in order to resist: metabolic bottlenecks reduce antibiotic susceptibility
N2 - The growth of pathogenic bacteria in the host is a prerequisite for infectious diseases. Antibiotic drugs are used to impair bacterial growth and thereby treat infections. In turn, growth of bacteria is underpinned by their primary metabolism. Thus,it has long been recognized that the activity of antibiotics is determined by the metabolic state of cells. However, only recently researchers have begun to systematically interrogate the links between metabolism and resistance. In their recent study, Lubrano and colleagues (Lubranoet al, 2025) apply an elegant CRISPR-based approach to the model bacterium Escherichia coli to systematically screen the effect of 15,120 mutations in genes that encode for 346 proteins which are required for growth of E. coli (also referred to as ‘essential proteins’). The authors identified a multitude of mutations that reduce the susceptibility against two antibiotics related to two very distinct chemical classes; the β-lactam antibiotic carbenicillin and the aminoglycoside gentamicin. Strikingly, the majority of the identified mutations are directly linked to primary metabolism. The work highlights the importance of metabolism in order to understand antibiotic resistance mechanisms and the ecology and evolution of antibiotic resistance. In addition, the work provides leads to design metabolism-based intervention strategies to mitigate antibiotic resistance.
KW - Metabolism
KW - Antibiotic resistance
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-626608
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s44320-025-00089-2
SN - 1744-4292
VL - 21
IS - 3
SP - 211
EP - 213
AN - OPUS4-62660
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Braetz, S.
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Nerlich, A.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Tedin, K.
A1 - Fulde, M.
T1 - TisB enables antibiotic tolerance in Salmonella by preventing prophage induction through ATP depletion
N2 - Antibiotic persistence comprises drug-tolerant bacteria that can survive treatment with antibacterial agents, despite lacking classical genetic resistance mechanisms. Therefore, persisters are clinically relevant because they can lead to treatment failures and chronic infections. Additionally, antibiotic persistence facilitates the evolution of resistance through genetic mutations. Persisters are triggered by a lack of nutrients, bacterial toxins, low ATP levels, or other stress responses that shut down bacterial metabolism. However, the involvement of prophages, viruses that integrate into bacterial chromosomes, is less well understood. In this study, we tested a tisAB deletion in Salmonella Typhimurium and examined persister cell formation following treatment with the DNA-damaging drug ciprofloxacin. TisB is a bacterial toxin that increases the influx of protons across the inner bacterial membrane into the cytosol, causing ATP depletion. We demonstrate that the deletion of tisAB increases prophage induction and bacterial killing, leading to a reduced persister cell fraction. The tisAB mutant is unable to down regulate its ATP concentration after exposure to ciprofloxacin, which in turn allows for stronger binding of RecA to single-stranded DNA, the activator of both the SOS response and prophage induction.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacterial survival mechanisms
KW - Escherichia coli
KW - Salmonella typhimurium
PY - 2025
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1013498
IS - 9
SP - 1
EP - 23
AN - OPUS4-64642
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - O'Hara, Kate
A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute
A1 - Blaskovich, M.
A1 - Rühle, Bastian
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - A fluorescently labelled quaternary ammonium compound (NBD-DDA) to study resistance mechanisms in bacteria
N2 - Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are widely used as active agents in disinfectants, antiseptics, and preservatives. Despite being in use since the 1940s, there remain multiple open questions regarding their detailed mode-of-action and the mechanisms, including phenotypic heterogeneity, that can make bacteria less susceptible to QACs. To facilitate studies on resistance mechanisms towards QACs, we synthesized a fluorescent quaternary ammonium compound, namely N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethyl-[2-[(4-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-7-yl)amino]ethyl]azanium-iodide (NBD-DDA). NBD-DDA is readily detected by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy with standard GFP/FITC-settings, making it suitable for molecular and single-cell studies. As a proof-of-concept, NBD-DDA was then used to investigate resistance mechanisms which can be heterogeneous among individual bacterial cells. Our results reveal that the antimicrobial activity of NBD-DDA against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is comparable to that of benzalkonium chloride (BAC), a widely used QAC, and benzyl-dimethyl-dodecylammonium chloride (BAC12), a mono-constituent BAC with alkyl-chain length of 12 and high structural similarity to NBD-DDA. Characteristic time-kill kinetics and increased tolerance of a BAC tolerant E. coli strain against NBD-DDA suggest that the mode of action of NBD-DDA is similar to that of BAC. As revealed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), NBD-DDA is preferentially localized to the cell envelope of E. coli, which is a primary target of BAC and other QACs. Leveraging these findings and NBD-DDA‘s fluorescent properties, we show that reduced cellular accumulation is responsible for the evolved BAC tolerance in the BAC tolerant E. coli strain and that NBD-DDA is subject to efflux mediated by TolC. Overall, NBD-DDA’s antimicrobial activity, its fluorescent properties, and its ease of detection render it a powerful tool to study resistance mechanisms of QACs in bacteria and highlight its potential to gain detailed insights into its mode-of-action.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Disinfection
KW - Biocides
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563811
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1023326
SN - 1664-302X
IS - 13
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
AN - OPUS4-56381
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Valentin, J.
A1 - Straub, H.
A1 - Pietsch, Franziska
A1 - Lemare, M.
A1 - Ahrens, C.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Webb, J.
A1 - van der Mei, H.
A1 - Ren, Q.
T1 - Role of the flagellar hook in the structural development and antibiotic tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms
N2 - Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms exhibit an intrinsic resistance to antibiotics and constitute a considerable clinical threat. In cystic fibrosis, a common feature of biofilms formed by P. aeruginosa in the airway is the occurrence of mutants deficient in flagellar motility. This study investigates the impact of flagellum deletion on the structure and antibiotic tolerance of P. aeruginosa biofilms, and highlights a role for the flagellum in adaptation and cell survival during biofilm development. Mutations in the flagellar hook protein FlgE influence greatly P. aeruginosa biofilm structuring and antibiotic tolerance. Phenotypic analysis of the flgE knockout mutant compared to the wild type (WT) reveal increased fitness under planktonic conditions, reduced initial adhesion but enhanced formation of microcolony aggregates in a microfluidic environment, and decreased expression of genes involved in exopolysaccharide formation. Biofilm cells of the flgE knock-out mutant display enhanced tolerance towards multiple antibiotics, whereas its planktonic cells show similar resistance to the WT. Confocal microscopy of biofilms demonstrates that gentamicin does not affect the viability of cells located in the inner part of the flgE knock-out mutant biofilms due to reduced penetration. These findings suggest that deficiency in flagellar proteins like FlgE in biofilms and in cystic fibrosis infections represent phenotypic and evolutionary adaptations that alter the structure of P. aeruginosa biofilms conferring increased antibiotic tolerance.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Biofilms
KW - Biocides
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-541113
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-01157-9
SN - 1751-7370
VL - 16
IS - 4
SP - 1176
EP - 1186
PB - Springer Nature
AN - OPUS4-54111
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Franziska, Pietsch
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Heidrich, Gabriele
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Prevalent Synergy and Antagonism Among Antibiotics and Biocides in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
N2 - Antimicrobials can exert specific physiological effects when used in combination that are different from those when applied alone. While combination effects have been extensively mapped for antibiotic-antibiotic combinations, the combination effects of antibiotics with antimicrobials used as biocides or antiseptics have not been systematically investigated. Here, we investigated the effects of combinations of antibiotics (meropenem, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin) and substances used as biocides or antiseptics [octenidine, benzalkonium chloride, cetrimonium bromide, chlorhexidine, Povidone-iodine, silver nitrate (AgNO3), and Ag-nanoparticles] on the planktonic growth rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Combination effects were investigated in growth experiments in microtiter plates at different concentrations and the Bliss interaction scores were calculated. Among the 21 screened combinations, we find prevalent combination effects with synergy occurring six times and antagonism occurring 10 times. The effects are specific to the antibiotic-biocide combination with meropenem showing a tendency for antagonism with biocides (6 of 7), while gentamicin has a tendency for synergy (5 of 7). In conclusion, antibiotics and biocides or antiseptics exert physiological combination effects on the pathogen P. aeruginosa. These effects have consequences for the efficacy of both types of substances and potentially for the selection of antimicrobial resistant strains in clinical applications with combined exposure (e.g., wound care and coated biomaterials).
KW - Synergy
KW - Antagonism
KW - Suppression
KW - Biocides
KW - Antibiotics
KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa
PY - 2021
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-520845
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.615618
VL - 11
SP - Article 615618
PB - Frontiers
CY - Lausanne
AN - OPUS4-52084
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Valentin, Jules D. P.
A1 - Altenried, Stefanie
A1 - Varadarajan, Adithi R.
A1 - Ahrens, Christian H.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Webb, Jeremy S.
A1 - van der Mei, Henny C.
A1 - Ren, Qun
T1 - Identification of Potential Antimicrobial Targets of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms through a Novel Screening Approach
N2 - Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen of considerable medical importance, owing to its pronounced antibiotic tolerance and association with cystic fibrosis and other life-threatening diseases. The aim of this study was to highlight the genes responsible for P. aeruginosa biofilm tolerance to antibiotics and thereby identify potential new targets for the development of drugs against biofilm-related infections. By developing a novel screening approach and utilizing a public P. aeruginosa transposon insertion library, several biofilm-relevant genes were identified. The Pf phage gene (PA0720) and flagellin gene (fliC) conferred biofilm-specific tolerance to gentamicin. Compared with the reference biofilms, the biofilms formed by PA0720 and fliC mutants were completely eliminated with a 4-fold-lower gentamicin concentration. Furthermore, the mreC, pprB, coxC, and PA3785 genes were demonstrated to play major roles in enhancing biofilm tolerance to gentamicin. The analysis of biofilm-relevant genes performed in this study provides important novel insights into the understanding of P. aeruginosa antibiotic tolerance, which will facilitate the detection of antibiotic resistance and the development of antibiofilm strategies against P. aeruginosa.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Biofilms
KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa
PY - 2023
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570205
DO - https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.03099-22
SP - 1
EP - 5
PB - ASM Journals
AN - OPUS4-57020
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Chacón, Luz
A1 - Kuropka, B.
A1 - González-Tortuero, E.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Rojas-Jiménez, K.
A1 - Rodríguez-Rojas, A.
T1 - Mechanisms of low susceptibility to the disinfectant benzalkonium chloride in a multidrug-resistant environmental isolate of Aeromonas hydrophila
N2 - Excessive discharge of quaternary ammoniumdisinfectants such as benzalkonium chloride (BAC) into aquatic systems can trigger several physiological responses in environmental microorganisms. In this study, we isolated a less-susceptible strain of Aeromonas hydrophila to BAC, designated as INISA09, froma wastewater treatment plant in Costa Rica. We characterized its phenotypic response upon exposure to three dierent concentrations of BAC and characterizedmechanisms related to its resistance using genomic and proteomic approaches. The genome of the strain, mapped against 52 dierent sequenced A. hydrophila strains, consists of approximately 4.6Mb with 4,273 genes. We found a massive genome rearrangement and thousands of missense mutations compared to the reference strain A. hydrophila ATCC 7966.
We identified 15,762 missense mutations mainly associated with transport, antimicrobial resistance, and outer membrane proteins.
In addition, a quantitative proteomic analysis revealed a significant upregulation of several efflux pumps and the downregulation of porins when the strain was exposed to three BAC concentrations.Other genes related tomembrane fatty acid metabolism and redox metabolic reactions also showed an altered expression.
Our findings indicate that the response of A. hydrophila INISA09 to BAC primarily occurs at the envelop level, which is the primary target of BAC. Our study elucidates the mechanisms of antimicrobial susceptibility in aquatic environments against a widely used disinfectant and will help better understand howbacteria can adapt to biocide pollution. To our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the resistance to BAC in an environmental A. hydrophila isolate. We propose that this bacterial species could also serve as a new model to study antimicrobial pollution in aquatic environments.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Disinfection
KW - Biocides
PY - 2023
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-578555
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1180128
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 14
SP - 1
EP - 18
PB - Frontiers SA
CY - Lausanne
AN - OPUS4-57855
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schmidt, Selina B. I.
A1 - Täschner, Tom
A1 - Nordholt, Niclas
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Differential Selection for Survival and for Growth in Adaptive Laboratory Evolution Experiments With Benzalkonium Chloride
N2 - Biocides are used to control microorganisms across different applications, but emerging resistance may pose risks for those applications. Resistance to biocides has commonly been studied using adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) experiments with growth at subinhibitory concentrations linked to serial subculturing. It has been shown recently that Escherichia coli adapts to repeated lethal stress imposed by the biocide benzalkonium chloride (BAC) by increased survival (i.e., tolerance) and not by evolving the ability to grow at increased concentrations (i.e., resistance). Here, we investigate the contributions of evolution for tolerance as opposed to resistance for the outcome of ALE experiments with E. coli exposed to BAC. We find that BAC concentrations close to the half maximal effective concentration (EC50, 4.36 μg mL−1) show initial killing (~40%) before the population resumes growth. This indicates that cells face a two‐fold selection pressure: for increased survival and for increased growth. To disentangle the effects of both selection pressures, we conducted two ALE experiments: (i) one with initial killing and continued stress close to the EC50 during growth and (ii) another with initial killing and no stress during growth. Phenotypic characterization of adapted populations showed that growth at higher BAC concentrations was only selected for when BAC was present during growth. Whole genome sequencing revealed distinct differences in mutated genes across treatments. Treatments selecting for survival‐only led to mutations in genes for metabolic regulation (cyaA) and cellular structure (flagella fliJ), while treatments selecting for growth and survival led to mutations in genes related to stress response (hslO and tufA). Our results demonstrate that serial subculture ALE experiments with an antimicrobial at subinhibitory concentrations can select for increased growth and survival. This finding has implications for the design of ALE experiments to assess resistance risks of antimicrobials in different scenarios such as disinfection, preservation, and environmental pollution.
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Bacteria
KW - Standardization
KW - Biocides
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-615496
DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70017
VL - 17
IS - 10
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - Wiley
AN - OPUS4-61549
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - He, Zhiming
A1 - Dechesne, Arnaud
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Zhu, Yong-Guan
A1 - Larsson, Joakim
A1 - Smets, Barth
T1 - Understanding Stimulation of Conjugal Gene Transfer by Nonantibiotic Compounds: How Far Are We?
N2 - A myriad of nonantibiotic compounds is released into the environment, some of which may contribute to the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance by stimulating conjugation. Here, we analyzed a collection of studies to (i) identify patterns of transfer stimulation across groups and concentrations of chemicals, (ii) evaluate the strength of evidence for the proposed mechanisms behind conjugal stimulation, and (iii) examine the plausibility of alternative mechanisms. We show that stimulatory nonantibiotic compounds act at concentrations from 1/1000 to 1/10 of the minimal inhibitory concentration for the donor strain but that stimulation is always modest (less than 8-fold). The main proposed mechanisms for stimulation via the reactive oxygen species/SOS cascade and/or an increase in cell membrane permeability are not unequivocally supported by the literature. However, we identify the reactive oxygen species/SOS cascade as the most likely mechanism. This remains to be confirmed by firm molecular evidence. Such evidence and more standardized and high-throughput conjugation assays are needed to create technologies and solutions to limit the stimulation of conjugal gene transfer and contribute to mitigating global antibiotic resistance.
KW - Antibiotic resistance
KW - Horizontal gene transfer
KW - Conjugation
KW - Chemicals
PY - 2024
DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c06060
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - ACS Publications
AN - OPUS4-60105
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),
A1 - European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC),
A1 - European Chemicals Agency (ECHA),
A1 - European Environment Agency (EEA),
A1 - European Medicines Agency (EMA),
A1 - European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC),
T1 - Scientific report - Impact of the use of azole fungicides, other than as human medicines, on the development of azole‐resistant Aspergillus spp.
N2 - The use of azoles in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) other than as human medicines has raised concerns about emergence and spread of azole‐resistant Aspergillus species. EU agencies, with the support of JRC, reviewed the evidence and provided conclusions and recommendations on this topic. Although incomplete, data from 2010 to 2021 showed that around 120,000 tonnes of azoles were sold in EU/EEA for uses other than as human medicines. The majority are used as plant protection products (119,000 tonnes), with a stable temporal trend. Evidence supported a link between environmental azole exposure and cross‐resistance selection to medical azoles in Aspergillus species (primarily shown for A. fumigatus). Prevalence of azole‐resistant A. fumigatus in human A. fumigatus infections ranges from 0.7% to 63.6% among different disease presentations and geographic regions; mortality rates range from 36% to 100% for invasive aspergillosis (IA). It was concluded that azole usage outside the human domain is likely or very likely to contribute to selection of azole‐resistant A. fumigatus isolates that could cause severe disease like IA. Environmental hotspots for resistance selection were identified, including stockpiling of agricultural waste and their possible use as soil amendment/fertiliser for certain agricultural crops (for plant protection products) and freshly cut wood (for biocides). Recommendations were formulated on measures to prevent and control selection of azole resistance in A. fumigatus, including implementation of good agricultural/horticultural practices, proper agricultural and wood waste storage and management, and on approval of new azole fungicides or renewal of existing fungicides. Recommendations on topics to be covered by studies provided when submitting applications for the approval of azole fungicides were listed. For the evaluation of such studies within the approval procedure, a preliminary framework for risk assessment was developed and should be further refined. Data gaps and uncertainties were identified, alongside with respective recommendations to address them.
KW - Antimicrobial surfaces
KW - Biocides
KW - Antimicrobial resistance
KW - Azoles
KW - Fungi
KW - Wood preservatives
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652175
DO - https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9200
SN - 1831-4732
VL - 23
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 35
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken, NJ
AN - OPUS4-65217
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schmidt, Selina
A1 - Rodríguez-Rojas, A.
A1 - Rolff, J.
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
T1 - Biocides used as material preservatives modify rates of de novo mutation and horizontal gene transfer in bacteria
N2 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem with the environment being an important compartment for the evolution and transmission of AMR. Previous studies showed that de-novo mutagenesis and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) by conjugation or transformation – important processes underlying resistance evolution and spread - are affected by antibiotics, metals and pesticides. However, natural microbial communities are also frequently exposed to biocides used as material preservatives, but it is unknown if these substances induce mutagenesis and HGT. Here, we show that active substances used in material preservatives can increase rates of mutation and conjugation in a species- and substance-dependent manner, while rates of transformation are not increased. The bisbiguanide chlorhexidine digluconate, the quaternary ammonium compound didecyldimethylammonium chloride, the metal copper, the pyrethroid-insecticide permethrin, and the azole-fungicide propiconazole increase mutation rates in Escherichia coli, whereas no increases were identified for Bacillus subtilis and Acinetobacter baylyi.
Benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine and permethrin increased conjugation in E. coli. Moreover, our results show a connection between the RpoS-mediated general stress and the RecA-linked SOS response with increased rates of mutation and conjugation, but not for all biocides. Taken together, our data show the importance of assessing the contribution of material preservatives on AMR evolution and spread.
KW - Mutation rate
KW - Horizontal gene transfer
KW - Biocides
PY - 2022
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129280
SN - 0304-3894
VL - 437
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
AN - OPUS4-55261
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Grzelec, Małgorzata
A1 - Haas, Sylvio
A1 - Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka
T1 - Application of scanning small-angle X-ray scattering in the identification of sheet formation techniques in historical papers
N2 - Among writing substrates produced historically in different regions of the world, paper is one of the most complex materials. Its complexity results not only from a variety of highly processed ingredients, which can be used in its production, but also from a variety of methods in which these materials are combined to form the fibrillar network referred to as paper. While material identification methods are well established in the analysis of historical papers, the identification of manufacturing technologies is still an under-researched topic, that requires the development of appropriate methods and measurement protocols. This paper reports on the results of a research project aimed at the application of synchrotron scanning small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) method in the characterization of paper structure, with emphasis on the assessment of fibrillar orientation as a marker characteristic for different, historical papermaking technologies. The main objective of this study consists of the development of a measurement protocol involving the SAXS technique complemented by other analytical methods in the characterization of the fibrous paper structure.
KW - SAXS
KW - Paper analysis
KW - Papermaking technology
KW - Fiber orientation
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-651594
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-024-08157-4
SN - 0947-8396
VL - 131
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 16
PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AN - OPUS4-65159
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - An, Biwen Annie
A1 - Deland, Eric
A1 - Sobol, Oded
A1 - Yao, Jizheng
A1 - Skovhus, T. L.
A1 - Koerdt, Andrea
T1 - The differences in the corrosion product compositions of Methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) between static and dynamic growth conditions
N2 - Currently, corrosion rates (CR) and/or corrosion products (CP) obtained for methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) on carbon steel are mainly analyzed from static-incubations. By using a multiport-flow-column, much higher CRs (0.72 mm/yr) were observed, indicating static-incubations are not suitable for determining the corrosive potential of Mi-MIC. With the combination of various analytical methods (ToF-SIMS/SEM-EDS/SEM-FIB) and contrary to previously published data, we observed that CPs contained phosphorus, oxygen, magnesium, calcium and iron but lacked carbon-related species (e.g. siderite). Overall, siderite nucleation is disrupted by methanogens, as they convert aqueous bicarbonate into carbon dioxide for methanogenesis resulting in increased localized corrosion.
KW - Carbon steel
KW - Modelling studies
KW - SIMS
KW - SEM
KW - Reactor conditions
KW - Microbiologically influenced corrosion
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-517632
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2020.109179
SN - 0010-938X
VL - 180
SP - 9179
PB - Elsevier
AN - OPUS4-51763
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Liu, Cong
A1 - Aumont, Cédric
A1 - Mikhailova, Alina A.
A1 - Audisio, Tracy
A1 - Hellemans, Simon
A1 - Weng, Yi-Ming
A1 - He, Shulin
A1 - Clitheroe, Crystal
A1 - Wang, Zongqing
A1 - Haifig, Ives
A1 - Sillam-Dussès, David
A1 - Buček, Aleš
A1 - Tokuda, Gaku
A1 - Šobotník, Jan
A1 - Harrison, Mark C.
A1 - McMahon, Dino P.
A1 - Bourguignon, Thomas
T1 - Unravelling the evolution of wood-feeding in termites with 47 high-resolution genome assemblies
N2 - Termites are a lineage of social cockroaches abundant in tropical ecosystems where they are key decomposers of organic matter. Despite their ecological significance, only a handful of reference-quality termite genomes have been sequenced, which is insufficient to unravel the genetic mechanisms that have contributed to their ecological success. Here, we perform sequencing and hybrid assembly of 45 taxonomically and ecologically diverse termites and two cockroaches, resulting in haplotype-merged genome assemblies of 47 species, 22 of which were near-chromosome level. Next, we examine the link between termite dietary evolution and major genomic events. We find that Termitidae, which include ~80% of described termite species, have larger genomes with more genes and a higher proportion of transposons than other termites. Our analyses identify a gene number expansion early in the evolution of Termitidae, including an expansion of the repertoire of CAZymes, the genes involved in lignocellulose degradation. Notably, this expansion of genomes and gene repertoires coincided with the origin of soil-feeding in Termitidae and remained unchanged in lineages that secondarily reverted to a wood-based diet. Overall, our sequencing effort multiplies the number of available termite genomes by six and provides insights into the genome evolution of an ancient lineage of social insects.
KW - Comparative genomics
KW - Entomology
KW - Genome evolution
KW - Phylogenetics
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-651719
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65969-5
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 16
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AN - OPUS4-65171
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Martin, Nathan
A1 - Nota, Kevin
A1 - Aumont, Cédric
A1 - Marchand, Grégor
A1 - Marguerie, Dominique
T1 - Anthropic and climatic impacts on biodiversity during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in North-Western France
N2 - The Neolithic transition, which began around 10,000 BCE in Western Asia, has significantly impacted the biodiversity dynamics and the hunter-gatherer communities due to the beginning of anthropization and climate fluctuations during this period. Neolithic farmers gradually spread to the Atlantic margins of North-Western Europe during the 6th millennium BCE, arriving later than in other parts of the continent.
This systematic review aims to shed a light on the landscape transformations and shifts in the ecological niches that occurred during neolithization in the Armorican Massif, driven by human and climatic influences, through an interdisciplinary examination of palynology, archaeology and palaeogenomics. This Massif is situated in North-Western France which hosted well established Mesolithic and Neolithic societies that have been extensively studied. However, recent research has called into question the coexistence of these two cultural groups in this area, necessitating a reevaluation of the literature in light of these new findings.
This systematic review coupled with an analysis of pollen sequences reveals spatial and temporal heterogeneity in vegetation composition, openness, and the gradual introduction of domesticated taxa into the region. This analysis should be seen in the context of the delayed adoption of the agro-pastoral lifestyle in North-Western Europe, attributed to the different climatic conditions encountered, which required time for these societies and their domesticated taxa to adapt.
Further investigation is needed to clearly differentiate between anthropogenic and climatic impacts and paleoclimatic reconstruction based on pollen sequences looks promising for addressing this issue.
KW - Armorican massif
KW - Neolithic transition
KW - Anthropization
KW - Climate
KW - Palynology
KW - Biodiversity dynamics
PY - 2024
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2024.11.004
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 714
SP - 1
EP - 19
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
AN - OPUS4-65313
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Liu, Cong
A1 - Hellemans, Simon
A1 - Weng, Yi-Ming
A1 - Mikhailova, Alina A.
A1 - Aumont, Cédric
A1 - Buček, Aleš
A1 - Šobotník, Jan
A1 - Harrison, Mark C.
A1 - McMahon, Dino P.
A1 - Bourguignon, Thomas
T1 - Robust termite phylogenies built using transposable element composition and insertion events
N2 - Phylogenetic trees are typically reconstructed using conserved sequence alignments. Other genomic elements, such as transposable elements (TEs), make up a large fraction of eukaryotic genomes but are ignored for phylogenetic reconstruction, despite potentially containing phylogenetic information, which could be used to resolve nodes that remain contentious. Here, we reconstructed accurate phylogenetic trees of 45 termites and two cockroaches using two types of characters derived from the TE landscape: (1) genome-wide presence and absence of 37,966 TE families and (2) presence/absence data of 37,966 TE families in the flanking regions of orthologous ultraconserved elements (UCEs), which was a proxy for TE insertions. The topologies of our TE-based phylogenetic trees were largely congruent with phylogenetic trees inferred from alignments of UCEs and single-copy orthologous genes, only differing for a few nodes variably reconstructed in other phylogenetic analyses. Notably, trees based on genome-wide TE family composition were more accurate than trees inferred from mitochondrial genome alignments, and trees based on TE family composition in regions flanking UCEs achieved comparable accuracy with trees inferred from single-copy orthologous gene alignments. Our results demonstrate that the TE landscape is phylogenetically informative, representing an additional set of markers for robust phylogenetic reconstructions, with potential use to resolve ambiguous nodes in the tree of life.
KW - Comparative genomics
KW - Genome evolution
KW - Insects
KW - Isoptera
KW - Mitogenomes
KW - Molecular markers
KW - Phylogenomics
KW - Transposons
PY - 2025
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.10.019
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 35
IS - 22
SP - 1
EP - 10
PB - Elsevier Inc.
AN - OPUS4-64737
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Li, M.
A1 - Schlaich, C.
A1 - Zhang, J.
A1 - Donskyi, Ievgen
A1 - Schwibbert, Karin
A1 - Schreiber, Frank
A1 - Xia, Y.
A1 - Radnik, Jörg
A1 - Schwerdtle, T.
A1 - Haag, R.
T1 - Mussel-inspired multifunctional coating for bacterial infection prevention and osteogenic induction
N2 - Bacterial infection and osteogenic integration are the two main problems that cause severe complications after surgeries. In this study, the antibacterial and osteogenic properties were simultaneously introduced in biomaterials, where copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) were generated by in situ reductions of Cu ions into a mussel-inspired hyperbranched polyglycerol (MI-hPG) coating via a simple dip-coating method. This hyperbranched polyglycerol with 10 % catechol groups’ modification presents excellent antifouling property, which could effectively reduce bacteria adhesion on the surface. In this work, polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fiber membrane was selected as the substrate, which is commonly used in biomedical implants in bone regeneration and cardiovascular stents because of its good biocompatibility and easy post-modification. The as-fabricated CuNPs-incorporated PCL membrane [PCL-(MI-hPG)-CuNPs] was confirmed with effective antibacterial performance via in vitro antibacterial tests against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and multi-resistant E. coli. In addition, the in vitro results demonstrated that osteogenic property of PCL-(MI-hPG)-CuNPs was realized by upregulating the osteoblast-related gene expressions and protein activity. This study shows that antibacterial and osteogenic properties can be balanced in a surface coating by introducing CuNPs.
KW - Mussel-inspired coating
KW - CuNPs
KW - Multi-resistant bacteria
KW - Antibacterial
KW - Antifouling
KW - Osteogenesis
PY - 2021
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2020.08.011
SN - 1005-0302
VL - 68
SP - 160
EP - 171
PB - Elsevier Ltd.
AN - OPUS4-51519
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Gugin, Nikita
A1 - Villajos Collado, José Antonio
A1 - Feldmann, Ines
A1 - Emmerling, Franziska
T1 - Mix and wait – a relaxed way for synthesizing ZIF-8
N2 - Herein we report the synthesis of a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) by an easy “mix and wait” procedure. In a closed vial, without any interference, the mixture of 2-methylimidazole and basic zinc carbonate assembles into the crystalline product with approx. 90% conversion after 70 h. The reaction exhibits sigmoidal kinetics due to the self-generated water which accelerates the reaction.
KW - In-situ analysis
KW - Mechanochemistry
KW - MOF
KW - Synthesis
KW - ZIF-8
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-546841
DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA00740A
VL - 12
SP - 8940
EP - 8944
PB - Royal Society of Chemistry
AN - OPUS4-54684
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Völzke, Jule L.
A1 - Hodjat Shamami, Parya
A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia
A1 - Feldmann, Ines
A1 - Zimathies, Annett
A1 - Meyer, Klas
A1 - Weller, Michael G.
T1 - High-purity corundum as support for affinity extractions from complex samples
N2 - Nonporous corundum powder, known as an abrasive material in the industry, was functionalized covalently with protein binders to isolate and enrich specific proteins from complex matrices. The materials based on corundum were characterized by TEM, ESEM, BET, DLS, EDS, and zeta potential measurements. The strong Al-O-P bonds between the corundum surface and amino phosphonic acids were used to introduce functional groups for further conjugations. The common crosslinker glutaraldehyde was compared with a hyperbranched polyglycerol (PG) of around 10 kDa. The latter was oxidized with periodate to generate aldehyde groups that can covalently react with the amines of the surface and the amino groups from the protein via a reductive amination process. The amount of bound protein was quantified via aromatic amino acid analysis (AAAA). This work shows that oxidized polyglycerol can be used as an alternative to glutaraldehyde. With polyglycerol, more of the model protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) could be attached to the surface under the same conditions, and lower non-specific binding (NSB) was observed. As a proof of concept, IgG was extracted with protein A from crude human plasma. The purity of the product was examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A binding capacity of 1.8 mg IgG per gram of corundum powder was achieved. The advantages of corundum include the very low price, extremely high physical and chemical stability, pressure resistance, favorable binding kinetics, convenient handling, and flexible application.
KW - Corundum
KW - Sapphire
KW - Affinity chromatography
KW - Antibodies
KW - Self-assembled monolayers (SAM)
KW - Polyglycerol
KW - Dendrimer
KW - Nonspecific binding (NSB)
KW - Purification
KW - Solid-phase extraction (SPE)
PY - 2022
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-559342
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9090252
VL - 9
IS - 9
SP - 1
EP - 13
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
AN - OPUS4-55934
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Stawski, Tomasz
A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos
A1 - Pimentel, Carlos
A1 - Montes-Hernández, German
A1 - Kochovski, Zdravko
A1 - Bienert, Ralf
A1 - Weimann, Karin
A1 - Emmerling, Franziska
A1 - Scoppola, Ernesto
A1 - Van Driessche, Alexander E.S.
T1 - Solution-driven processing of calcium sulfate: The mechanism of the reversible transformation of gypsum to bassanite in brines
N2 - Here, we show that calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum) can be directly, rapidly and reversibly converted to calcium sulfate hemihydrate (bassanite) in high salinity solutions (brines). The optimum conditions for the efficient production of bassanite in a short time (<5 min) involve the use of brines with c(NaCl) > 4 M and maintaining a temperature, T > 80 °C. When the solution containing bassanite crystals is cooled down to around room temperature, eventually gypsum is formed. When the temperature is raised again to T > 80 °C, bassanite is rapidly re-precipitated. This contrasts with the better-known behaviour of the bassanite phase in low-salt environments. In low-salinity aqueous solutions, bassanite is considered to be metastable with respect to gypsum and anhydrite, and therefore gypsum-to-bassanite conversion does not occur in pure water. Interestingly, the high-salinity transformation of gypsum-to-bassanite has been reported by many authors and used in practice for several decades, although its very occurrence actually contradicts numerical thermodynamic predictions regarding solubility of calcium sulfate phases. By following the evolution of crystalline phases with in situ and time-resolved X-ray diffraction/scattering and Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrated that the phase stability in brines at elevated temperatures was inaccurately represented in the thermodynamic databases. Most notably for c(NaCl) > 4 M, and T > 80 °C gypsum becomes readily more soluble than bassanite, which induces the direct precipitation of the latter from gypsum. The fact that these transformations are controlled by the solution provides extensive opportunities for precise manipulation of crystal formation. Our experiments confirmed that bassanite remained the sole crystalline phase for many hours before reverting into gypsum. This property is extremely advantageous for practical processing and efficient crystal extraction in industrial scenarios.
KW - Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
KW - Strategy and Management
KW - General Environmental Science
KW - Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
KW - Building and Construction
KW - Calcium sulfate
KW - Gypsum
KW - Bassanite
KW - Scattering
KW - Raman
KW - In situ
KW - Synchrotron
KW - BESSY
KW - MySpot
PY - 2024
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-594698
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652624004591#appsec1
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141012
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 440
SP - 1
EP - 12
PB - Elsevier B.V.
AN - OPUS4-59469
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos
A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana
A1 - Kochovski, Z.
A1 - Feldmann, Ines
A1 - Emmerling, Franziska
A1 - Stawski, Tomasz
T1 - Ni- and Co-Struvites: Revealing Crystallization Mechanisms and Crystal Engineering toward Applicational Use of Transition Metal Phosphates
N2 - Industrial and agricultural waste streams (waste water, sludges, tailings, etc.) which contain high concentrations of NH4+, PO43–, and transition metals are environmentally harmful and toxic pollutants. At the same time, phosphorous and transition metals constitute highly valuable resources. Typically, separate pathways have been considered to extract hazardous transition metals or phosphate independently from each other. Investigations on the simultaneous removal of multiple components have been carried out only to a limited extent. Here, we report the synthesis routes for Ni- and Co-struvites (NH4MPO4·6H2O, M = Ni2+ and Co2+), which allow for P, ammonia, and metal co-precipitation. By evaluating different reaction parameters, the phase and stability of transition metal struvites as well as their crystal morphologies and sizes could be optimized. Ni-struvite is stable in a wide reactant concentration range and at different metal/phosphorus (M/P) ratios, whereas Co-struvite only forms at low M/P ratios. Detailed investigations of the precipitation process using ex situ and in situ techniques provided insights into the crystallization mechanisms/crystal engineering of these materials. M-struvites crystallize via intermediate colloidal amorphous nanophases, which subsequently aggregate and condense to final crystals after extended reaction times. However, the exact reaction kinetics of the formation of a final crystalline product varies significantly depending on the involved metal cation in the precipitation process: several seconds (Mg) to minutes (Ni) to hours (Co). The achieved level of control over the morphology and size makes precipitation of transition metal struvites a promising method for direct metal recovery and binding them in the form of valuable phosphate raw materials. Under this paradigm, the crystals can be potentially up-cycled as precursor powders for electrochemical or (electro)catalytic applications, which require transition metal phosphates.
KW - Crystallization
KW - Struvite
KW - Nickel
KW - Cobalt
KW - Phosphorous recovery
KW - Up-cycling
KW - Aqueous synthesis
PY - 2022
DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c00284
VL - 22
IS - 7
SP - 4305
EP - 4315
PB - ACS Publications
CY - Washington D.C.
AN - OPUS4-55286
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kittner, Maria
A1 - Coesfeld, Bianca
A1 - Schlau, Sven
A1 - Werischak, Thomas
A1 - Altmann, Korinna
A1 - Kalbe, Ute
T1 - Simultaneous sampling for microplastics and environmental contaminants from artificial turf: development of a new integrated microplastics eluate lysimeter
N2 - To get a better understanding of potentially harmful contaminant emissions from soils or materials into the environment, politics demand practical and holistic sampling concepts for environmental samples such as leachates containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or heavy metals, and hazardous particulate matter like microplastics (MP). Of particular concern are MP emissions from artificial turf sports pitches. So far, there has been only very limited data on MP mass emissions from artificial turf potentially posing a risk to the groundwater and no sampling device that allowed simultaneous sampling for dissolved and particulate contaminants. In this study, a novel integrative microplastics eluate lysimeter was developed to determine contaminant emissions from three artificial turf systems at different ageing states (fabric-new, artificially aged, real-time aged). For the accelerated ageing, all environmental simulation parameters were based on Central German conditions and simulated outdoor stress during the turf service lifespan of 15 years. MP masses from eluates were analysed using thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, PAH concentrations using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and heavy metals using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Results showed that no PAH or heavy metal concentrations from the seepage water were above German legal limits for alternative granular construction materials considering soil and groundwater protection. Furthermore, it was found that only minimal MP emissions were released from new turf systems into the seepage water (< 1 mg/m2). Ageing of the artificial turf increased MP formation, especially from rubber infill and grass fibres, which are then carried into the seepage water. The highest total MP emissions over a simulated turf lifespan of 15 years were detected in two real-time aged turf systems ranging from 136.4–252.5 mg/m2. Considerably less total MP emissions were detected in accelerated aged artificial turf systems, one of which contained a synthetic rubber infill (5.4–8.0 mg/m2) and one without rubber infill (0.2–5.3 mg/m2). In summary, it was demonstrated that the newly developed MEL generated reliable and reproducible data and has thus proven itself as an integrated, straightforward and automated sampling device for simultaneous monitoring of particulate and dissolved pollutant emissions from simple soil matrices.
KW - Lysimeter
KW - Microplastics
KW - Artificial turf
KW - Thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
KW - TED-GC/MS
KW - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
KW - PAH
KW - Heavy metals
KW - Soil samples
PY - 2025
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-645301
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01235-1
SN - 2190-4715
VL - 37
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 15
PB - Springer Open
AN - OPUS4-64530
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Herzel, Hannes
A1 - Grevel, K.-D.
A1 - Emmerling, Franziska
A1 - Dachs, E.
A1 - Benisek, A.
A1 - Adam, Christian
A1 - Majzlan, J.
T1 - Thermodynamic properties of calcium alkali phosphates Ca(Na,K)PO4
N2 - Calcium alkali phosphates Ca(Na,K)PO4 are main constituents of bioceramics and thermochemically produced phosphorus fertilizers because of their bioavailability. Sparse thermodynamic data are available for the endmembers CaNaPO4 and CaKPO4. In this work, the missing data were determined for the low-temperature phase modifications of the endmembers CaNaPO4 and CaKPO4 and three intermediate Ca(Na,K)PO4 compositions. Standard enthalpy of formation ranges from - 2018.3 ± 2.2 kJ mol-1 to - 2030.5 ± 2.1 kJ mol-1 and standard entropy from 137.2 ± 1.0 J mol-1 K-1 to 148.6 ± 1.0 J mol-1 K-1 from sodium endmember b-CaNaPO4 to potassium endmember b0-CaKPO4.
Thermodynamic functions are calculated up to 1400 K for endmembers and the sodium-rich intermediate phase b-Ca(Na0.93K0.07)PO4. Functions above 640 K are extrapolated because of the phase transition from low- to high-temperature phase. Impurities in the synthesized intermediate phases c-Ca(Na0.4K0.6)PO4 and c-Ca Na0.35K0.65)PO4 and one additional phase transition around 500 K impeded the determination of high-temperature thermodynamic functions. In general, data for phase transition temperatures agree with the previously reported phase diagrams.
KW - Formation enthalpy
KW - Heat capacity
KW - Phase transformation
KW - Bioceramics
KW - Phosphorus fertilizer
KW - Entropy
PY - 2020
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-507640
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04615-5
VL - 55
SP - 8477
EP - 8490
PB - Springer
AN - OPUS4-50764
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schwibbert, Karin
A1 - de Eulate Pérez, Elisa García
A1 - Wen, Keqing
A1 - Voss, Heike
A1 - Thiele, Dorothea
A1 - Richter, Anja M.
A1 - Bonse, Jörn
T1 - Escherichia coli repellence via laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on titanium: Critical role of biofilm-associated gene expression
N2 - The inconsistency in the observed bacteria-repellent effects of laser-induced surface textures remains a subject of scientific debates. With E. coli TG1 as test strain, we performed biofilm formation assays on ultrashort pulse laser textured titanium. Samples covered with low spatial frequency LIPSS (LSFL) of periods around 750 nm or with high spatial frequency LIPSS (HSFL) featuring smaller periods around 100 nm were processed on polished samples. While LSFL significantly reduce the number of adhering bacteria compared to the polished reference, HSFL do not. Simultaneously, we concentrate our study on bacterial strategies employed for biofilm formation, that is the transcription of the biofilm-associated genes csgB, involved in primary adhesion to a surface, and wza, participating in biofilm maturation. Promoter regions of these genes were cloned into a promotor probe plasmid with the green fluorescent protein GFP+ as reporter and transferred into the test strain. As indicated by the fluorescence intensity of the reporter protein, among the bacteria colonizing LSFL-covered areas, a markedly higher proportion of cells transcribing csgB or wza were detected, compared to the bacterial populations colonizing the polished or HSFL-covered areas. To our knowledge, this is the first study indicating that the antifouling effect of LSFL topographies can be counteracted when bacteria activate biofilm-associated genes.
KW - Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS)
KW - Titanium
KW - Biofilm
KW - Antifouling
KW - Gene expression
KW - Fluorescence microscopy
PY - 2026
UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655572
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2026.166363
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 730
SP - 1
EP - 9
PB - Elsevier B.V.
AN - OPUS4-65557
LA - eng
AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER -