In order to feed the world, global agriculture will have to double food production by 2050. As a result, the use of soils with fertilizers and pesticides in agronomic ecosystems will increase, taking into account the sustainability of these systems and also the provision of food security. Thus, soil ecosystems, their health, and their quality are directly involved in sustainable agronomical practices, and it is important to recognize the important role of soil microbial communities such as mycorrhizal fungi, their biodiversity, interactions, and functioning. Soil ecosystems are under the threat of biodiversity loss due to an increase of cultivated areas and agronomic exploitation intensity. Also, changes in land use alter the structure and function of ecosystems where biodiversity is vital in the ecosystem. Soils are a major aid in food production in all terrestrial ecosystems; however, this means they are also involved in gas emission and global warming. Thus, in agronomic ecosystems, several mitigation practices have been proposed to promote the increase of carbon soil stock, and the reduction of warming gas emission from soils. In South America, most of the rural population depends economically on agriculture and usually works in family units. New, organic, safe, and sustainable agro-forestry practices must be applied to support local communities and countries to achieve hunger eradication, rural poverty reduction, and sustainable development. This book compiles new information for mycorrhizal occurrence in natural and anthropic environments in South America. It includes new reports of mycorrhizal fungi diversity along different mycorrhizal types and their effect on plant communities, plant invasions, the use of mycorrhizal fungi for ecological and sustainable studies, management programs of natural and agroecosystems, and forestry and food-secure production. This book fills the gaps in biodiversity knowledge, management and safe food production of mycorrhizas. It should be a valuable help to researchers, professors and students, to aid in use of mycorrhizal fungi while also focusing on their biodiversity, sustainable safe food production, and conservation perspectives.

Biotic stresses cause yield loss of 31-42% in crops in addition to 6-20% during post-harvest stage. Understanding interaction of crop plants to the biotic stresses caused by insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and oomycetes, etc. is important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in technical crops is imperative for addressing FHEE (food, health, energy and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing have facilitated precise information about the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for 'designing' crop genomes with resistance to biotic stresses. The 15 chapters dedicated to 13 technical crops and 2 technical crop groups in this volume will deliberate on different types of biotic stress agents and their effects on and interaction with crop plants; will enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to biotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; will brief on the classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; will enunciate the success stories of genetic engineering for developing biotic stress resistant varieties; will discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying biotic stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; will enunciate on different emerging genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery and gene pyramiding for developing resistant crop varieties with higher quantity and quality; and will also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating disease and insect resistant crops.

This book discusses recent trends and concepts in the field of biorefinery. It discusses optimal and economic strategies for converting biomass to value-added products to maximize profits with minimal environmental impact with a sustainability approach. The chapters of the book are focused on the current technologies, techno-economical aspects, life cycle assessment, and case studies. The book is divided into three sections; the first section presents strategies for the production of biofuels like bioethanol, biomethane, biohydrogen, bio-oil, gasification, etc., from the biomass in a sustainable way. The second sections review the extraction of bioactive chemicals, phenolic antioxidants, enzymes, and carboxylic acid from the biomass residue. The last section examines the utilization of biomass for the production of bioactive materials, including biofertilizers, bioadsorbents, activated carbon, nano-materials, and pigments. This book explores the relation between biofuels and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 7.

The book reviews the history, present, and likely future of intellectual property for plant-related inventions. It describes "what works" and "what does not work" in the current situation and analyzes whether the current intellectual property framework will be able to cope with the rise of genome editing/new breeding technologies (especially CRISPR Cas). Based on trend data, the analysis shows that the current system, including stakeholder initiatives, will most likely not be able to adapt to the technology change. It then evaluates different options for legislators to respond and proposes in detail a new holistic IP system which merges elements of the patent and the plant variety protection system into one new system.

Despite advances in the long-range electrostatic double-layer force, which depends strongly on ionic strength in water by using theoretical models such as DLVO (Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek), the structure of confined water in air still remains widely unknown and has led to a variety of unexplained phenomena. This book bridges that gap by introducing a newly developed scanning probe miscroscopy (SPM) approach, which enables one to probe confined water at the molecular and atomic scale. Written by the developer of SPM, this book covers this new approach, as well as original approaches to addressing general interfacial water issues. It also introduces the cantilever-based optical interfacial force microscope (COIFM), which was invented by the author along with the methodology. The improved understanding will contribute to liquid-based nano- and bio-technologies such as lab-on-a-chip technologies, nanofluidic devices, dip-pen nanolithography, nano-oxidation, water-based granular interactions, liquid-based nanolubricants, hydration layers in biopolymers, manipulation of biomolecules, protein folding, stability of colloid suspensions, enzyme activity, swelling in clays, development of bioactive surfaces, water columns and ion channeling in membranes and scanning probe microscopy (SPM). It will also contribute to the improved performance of moving components in silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices, where water plays a key role in interfacial interactions.

The main driving force behind the development of new applications for chitin and its derivative chitosan lies with the fact that these polysaccharides represent a renewable source of natural biodegradable polymers. Since chitin is the second most abundant natural polymer, academic as well as industrial scientists are faced with a great challenge to find new and practical applications for this material. This book provides an examination of the state of the art, and discusses new applications as well as potential products. Applications of Chitin and Chitosan deals almost exclusively with applications. Previous books in the field have devoted less than 30% of their material to commercial or medical uses.
In the past thirty years, substantial progress has been made on fundamental and applied research in chitosan technology. One of the driving forces behind this rapid development has been the decrease in the supply of natural resources. At the same time there has been an increased realization that there are abundant alternative bioresources. Two factors-economics and versatility-have also stimulated interest in chitosan's utilization in various fields. Chitin and chitosan derivatives have applications in fields that range from fertilizers to pharmaceuticals. Chitosan is no longer just a waste by-product from the seafood processing industry. This material is now being utilized by industry to solve problems and to improve existing products, as well as to create new ones.
Applications of Chitin and Chitosan is illustrated with over 100 photos, charts, graphs and figures and more than 40 tables.
Applications of Chitin and Chitosan will be of interest to industrial personnel involved in bioprocessing as well as bioengineering students, specialists in the biomedical and biopharmaceutical industry, biochemists, food engineers, environmentalists, and microbiologists and biologists who specialize in chitosan technology. Publication: Fall 1996.

This book collates various aspects of stress tolerance in crop plants. It primarily focuses on the heat and temperature related stress, starting from the severity of the problem on quantity and quality of yield under the threat of global climate change. The content also explores other mechanistic dimensions such as physiochemical and molecular mechanism underlying thermotolerance, signaling mechanism under heat stress, role of heat shock proteins in modulating thermotolerance, omics approach for development of climate smart-crop. Chapters discuss different approaches used in the past to develop heat stress tolerant crop plants, list of developed thermotolerant agriculturally important crop plants, redox homeostasis under heat stress, nutrient uptake and use efficiency in plants under heat stress and much more. The book is a useful compilation for researchers working in the area of abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants, as well as for students of plant physiology and agricultural sciences.

Like the previous nine volumes published between 1988 and 1996, "Medicinal" "and" "Aromatic" "Plants X" is unique in its approach. It comprises 22 chapters dealing with the distribution, importance, conventional propagation, micropropagation, tissue culture studies, and the in vitro production of important medicinal and pharmaceutical compounds in various species of "Actinidia," "Alkanna," "Arnebia," "Campanula," "Catharanthus," "Centella," "Chenopodium," "Cornus," "Cynara," "Ephedra," "Euglena," "Haplophyllum," "Morus," "Oenothera," "Otacanthus," "Oxalis," "Polypodium," "Rosmarinus," "Sesamum," "Solanum," "Taxus," and "Tephrosia." This book is tailored to the needs of advanced students, teachers, and research scientists in the field of pharmacy, plant tissue culture, phytochemistry, biochemical engineering and plant biotechnology.

This second edition volume expands on the previous edition with new and updated chapters on the latest developments in the study of yeast within the biotechnology field. The chapters in this book cover topics such as transformation protocols for genetic engineering of Saccaromyces cerevisiae and Komagataella spp.; an overview of selection markers, promoters, and strains used for metabolic engineering of S. cerevisiae, P. pastoris, and Z. bailii; the use of yeast in CRISPR/Cas9 technology; tools to study metabolic pathway in Yarrowia lypolitica; and a discussion on the "universal expression system" that is applied in a broad spectrum of fungal species. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and authoritative, Yeast Metabolic Engineering: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition is a valuable resource for researchers and scientists interested in learning more about this important and developing field.

This thesis presents original research on how to seamlessly integrate electronics with living biological systems. Jia Liu has used silicon nanowires as active sensors to investigate biological signals at the cellular level. He has also designed nanoelectronic networks into flexible, three-dimensional (3D) and macroporous architectures, which mimic the structure of tissue scaffolds for in vitro 3D integrations with synthetic tissues and in vivo implantation by means of syringe injection. Importantly, the results demonstrate 3D interpenetrations of nanoelectronic networks with neural networks, 3D mapping of tissue activity and long-term implantation with minimal immunoresponses. Further, the book discusses potential applications for pharmacological studies, brain activity mapping and nanoelectronics enabled therapies. The findings presented here have gained wide recognition, including a top research ranking by Chemical & Engineering News and being listed among Scientific American's 10 world changing ideas in 2015.

With the erratic changes in climate, crop plants are facing many forms of biotic stresses. When plants are under stress, among several gene families, regulatory genes play a vital role in signal transduction in modulating the expression of genes underpinning several defense pathways and targeting regulatory proteins (viz, transcription factors (TFs)) can be the alternative. Transcription factors directly regulate the downstream R genes and are excellent candidates for disease resistance breeding. Till date, numerous transcription factors have been identified and characterized structurally and functionally. Of them, TF families such as WRKY, NAC, Whirly, Apetala2 (AP2), ethylene responsive elements (ERF) etc. are found to be associated with transcriptional reprogramming of plant defense response. These TFs are responsive to the pathogen's PAMPs/DAMPs - host's PRR protein interactions and specifically binds to the cis-elements of defense genes and regulate their expression. With this background, realizing the importance of TFs in resistance breeding, this book discusses the recent research and developments in this field for various crops.

Nanorobotics and Nanodiagnostics in Integrative Biology and Biomedicine "Nanorobotics and nanodiagnostics" can be defined as a new generation of biohybrid and nanorobotics that translate fundamental biological principles into engineering design rules, or integrative living components into synthetic structures to create biorobots and nanodiagnotics that perform like natural systems. Nanorobots or nanobots are structured of a nanoscale made of individual assemblies. They can be termed as intelligent systems manufactured with self-assembly strategies by chemical, physical and biological approaches. The nanorobot can determine the structure and enhance the adaptability to the environment in interdisciplinary tasks. "Nanorobotics and nanodiagnostics" is a new generation of biohybrid that translates fundamental biological principles into engineering design rules to create biorobots that perform like natural systems. These biorobotics and diagnostics can now perform various missions to be accomplished certain tasks in the research areas such as integrative biology and biomedicine. "Nanorobotics and Nanodiagnostics in Integrative Biology and Biomedicine" sheds light on a comprehensive overview of the multidisciplinary areas that explore nanotherapeutics and nanorobotic manipulation in biology and medicine. It provides up-to-date knowledge of the promising fields of integrative biology and biomedicine for nano-assisted biorobotics and diagnostics to detect and treat diseases that will enable new scientific discoveries.

Achievements today in plant biotechnology have already surpassed all previous expectations. Plant biotechnology, integrated with classical breeding, is now on the verge of creating the evergreen revolution' to solve the world's envisaged tripled demand for food, agricultural commodities and natural products. New biotechnologies are being continuously adapted to agricultural practices, opening new vistas for plant utilization. Plant biotechnology is changing the plant scene in three major areas: (1) growth and development control (vegetative, generative and propagation), (2) protecting plants against the ever-increasing threats of abiotic and biotic stress, (3) expanding the horizons by producing specialty foods, biochemicals and pharmaceuticals. The potential for improving plant and animal productivity and their proper use in agriculture relies largely on newly-developed DNA biotechnology and molecular markers. These techniques enable the selection of successful genotypes, better isolation and cloning of favorable traits, and the creating of transgenic organisms of importance to agriculture. These areas were extensively discussed at the 9th international congress of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology, Plant Biotechnology and In Vitro Biology in the 21st Century', which was held in Jerusalem in June 1998. The present book of proceedings contains the variety of scientific achievements and techniques that were presented: Basic and Applied Aspects of Growth, Development and Differentiation; Genetic Manipulations: Transformation and Gene Expression, Hybridization, Haploidization and Mutagenesis; Genetic Stability and Instability, Selection and Variability; Regulation of Primary and Secondary Metabolism; Model Systems: Cell Cycle, Transport and Signal Transduction; Biotechnology for Plant Protection: Abiotic and Biotic Stress; Biotechnology for Crop Improvement: Yield, Quality and Production of Valuable Substances; Novel Micropropagation Methods; New Markets and Commercial Applications; Intellectual Property Rights.

East Asian medicine, biomedical research, and health care policy are framed by their own set of moral and cultural commitments. Chief among these is the influence of Confucian ideas. A rich portrayal is offered of the implications of Confucian moral and ontological understandings for medical decision-making, human embryonic stem cell research, and health care financing. What is offered is a multifaceted insight into what distinguishes East Asian bioethical reflections. This volume opens with an exploration of the Confucian recognition of the family as an entity existing in its own right and which is not reducible to its members or their interests. As the essays in this volume show, this recognition of the family supports a notion of family autonomy that contrasts with Western individualistic accounts of proper medical decision-making.

Anaerobic digestion is a major field for the treatment of waste and wastewater. Lately the focus has been on the quality of the effluent setting new demands for pathogen removal and for successful removal of unwanted chemicals during the anaerobic process. The two volumes on Biomethanation are devoted to presenting the state of art within the science and application of anaerobic digestion. They describe the basic microbiolgical knowledge of importance for understanding the processes of anaerobic bioreactors along with the newest molecular techniques for examining these systems. In addition, the applications for treatment of waste and wastewaters are presented along with the latest knowledge on process control and regulation of anaerobic bioprocesses. Together these two volumes give an overview of a growing area, which previously has never been presented in such a comprehensive way.

Bridging the gap between laboratory observations and industrial practices, this work presents detailed information on recombinant micro-organisms and their applications in industry and agriculture. All recombinant microbes, bacteria, yeasts and fungi are covered.

This book covers all the aspects of food-grade enzymes, including their classification, kinetics, microbial production, biosynthetic pathways, commodity-wise industrial applications, and downstream processing strategies. The broad focus of this book is on the application of various classes of enzymes in dairy, fruits and vegetables, cereals and oilseeds, meat and poultry, and brewing and food packaging industries. Certain recent areas such as nanotechnological perspective in enzyme immobilization, infusion strategies as well as its efficient usage in food packaging and preservation are some of the salient highlights of this book. This book also discusses the aspects related to application of enzymes in functional food development and shelf life extension of various commodities food products. This book is beneficial for researchers, students, entrepreneurs, and industry experts in broad disciplines such as food processing, food biotechnology, food microbiology, biochemistry, agriculture, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, and bioprocess technology.

This Volume covers protocols for in-silico approaches to hydrocarbon microbiology, including the selection and use of appropriate statistical tools for experimental design replication, data analysis, and computer-assisted approaches to data storage, management and utilisation. The application of algorithms to analyse the composition and function of microbial communities is presented, as are prediction tools for biodegradation and protein interactions. The basics of a major open-source programming language, Python, are explained. Protocols for calculating reaction kinetics and thermodynamics are presented, and modelling the environmental fate of hydrocarbons during bioremediation is explained. With the exception of molecular biology studies of molecular interactions, the use of statistics is absolutely essential for both experimental design and data analysis in microbiological research, and indeed in the biomedical sciences in general. Moreover, studies of highly varying systems call for the modelling and/or application of theoretical frameworks. Thus, while two protocols in this Volume are specific to hydrocarbon microbiology, the others are generic, and as such will be of use to researchers investigating a broad range of topics in microbiology and the biomedical sciences in general. Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology ProtocolsThere are tens of thousands of structurally different hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon derivatives and lipids, and a wide array of these molecules are required for cells to function. The global hydrocarbon cycle, which is largely driven by microorganisms, has a major impact on our environment and climate. Microbes are responsible for cleaning up the environmental pollution caused by the exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs and will also be pivotal in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels by providing biofuels, plastics and industrial chemicals. Gaining an understanding of the relevant functions of the wide range of microbes that produce, consume and modify hydrocarbons and related compounds will be key to responding to these challenges. This comprehensive collection of current and emerging protocols will facilitate acquisition of this understanding and exploitation of useful activities of such microbes.

This volume addresses the particular problems associated with several classes of biotechnology products, and at the same time demonstrates that the principles are the same as in the development of small new chemical entities. The first chapter addresses FDA regulatory expectations for biotech products. The next several chapters discuss general issues common to each class of biotech drug such as proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids. The balance of the chapters deal with specific biotech drugs that have successfully made it into clinical trials. The reviews are written by renowned experts in their fields.

Conversion of biomass into chemicals and biofuels is an active research and development area as trends move to replace traditional fossil fuels with renewable resources. By integrating processing methods with microwave and ultrasound irradiation into biorefineries, the time-scale of many operations can be greatly reduced while the efficiency of the reactions can be remarkably increased so that process intensification can be achieved. "Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave" and "Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Ultrasound" are two independent volumes in the Biofuels and Biorefineries series that take different, but complementary approaches for the pretreatment and chemical transformation of biomass into chemicals and biofuels. The volume "Microwave" provides current research advances and prospects in theoretical and practical aspects of microwave irradiation including properties, effects and temperature monitoring, design of chemical reactors, synergistic effects on combining microwave, ultrasound, hydrodynamic cavitation and high-shear mixing into processes, chemical and catalytic conversion of lignin into chemicals, pyrolysis and gasification, syngas production from wastes, platform chemicals, algal biodiesel, cellulose-based nanocomposites, lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment, green chemistry metrics and energy consumption and techno-economic analysis for a catalytic pyrolysis facility that processes pellets into aromatics. Each of the 12 chapters has been peer-reviewed and edited to improve both the quality of the text and the scope and coverage of the topics. Both volumes "Microwave" and "Ultrasound" are references designed for students, researchers, academicians and industrialists in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering and include introductory chapters to highlight present concepts of the fundamental technologies and their application. Dr. Zhen Fang is Professor in Bioenergy, Leader and founder of biomass group, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and is also adjunct Professor of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China. Dr. Richard L Smith, Jr. is Professor of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Research Center of Supercritical Fluid Technology, Tohoku University, Japan. Dr. Xinhua Qi is Professor of Environmental Science, Nankai University, China.

With Biomechanics: Motion, Flow, Stress, and Growth, the premier bioengineering scientist Y.C. Fung concludes a discussion first introduced in his seminal work, Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues, and further articulated in Biomechanics: Circulation. This third volume not only stands alone as a comprehensive survey of the broad field of biomechanics, but also complements the explorations of the first two volumes, maintaining its emphasis on methods of classical engineering as applied to biological and physiological phenomena. While consistently recognizing the importance of historical precedence and perspective, Fung presents the most contemporary literature and the latest thinking in biomechanics in thei increasingly complex interdisciplinary subject. Considered here are 1.) the mechanics of body movement; 2.) the flow external to an animal in motion, and the internal flow of blood, gas, water, and other body fluids; 3.) the stress and strain, and the strength, trauma, and tolerance limits of tissues and organs; and 4.) the growth and change in living organisms in response to biomechanical principles. A generous number of problems to be solved and a carefully selected list of references are especially useful and should help to stimulate thought and discussion among advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and others with an interest in bioengineering and medicine.