A method is provided for improving the technological and nutritional properties of gluten-free food matrices based on a fermentation protocol using selected lactic bacteria as starters. The bacteria used are Lactobacillus plantarum strain DSM 33412 and Lactobacillus brevis strain DSM 33413. The method is useful in the processing of gluten-free flowing food material.

Systems and methods for producing ammonia are described. In one embodiment, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are dissolved in a solution. A glutamine synthetase inhibitor and autotrophic diazotroph bacteria are also placed in the solution.

Induction mutagenesis in lactic acid bacteria for D(−) lactic acid production from starch was performed and the stable mutant strain of Lactobacillus plantarum improved by the molecular biological technique can be used in production of high optically pure D(−) lactic acid directly from various kinds of starch as a carbon source. Those starch substrates are included cassava starch, corn starch and rice starch, etc. The fermentation product is high optically pure D(−) lactic acid up to 90.0-99.0% which is able to apply in bioplastic and pharmaceutical industries.

Aquafeed, animal feed, and other food products, as well as nutritional and pharmaceutical compounds, chemicals and biomaterials are important commodities that can be produced at commercial scale by fermentation of microorganisms. The present invention provides a method for producing these valuable multi-carbon compounds from simple gas feedstocks, such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen, by cultivating a consortium of microbial cells specially selected for this purpose in an aqueous culture medium. In addition to exploiting inexpensive feedstocks, such as waste industrial gas for this cultivation, the platform described herein also provides the advantage of removing carbon dioxide and other waste gases from industrial emissions, which would otherwise contribute to global climate change. Furthermore, the cultivation of a microbial consortium can provide highly nutritious components to a feed blend that might not be available from a monoculture.

Aquafeed, animal feed, and other food products, as well as nutritional and pharmaceutical compounds, chemicals and biomaterials are important commodities that can be produced at commercial scale by fermentation of microorganisms. The present invention provides a method for producing these valuable multi-carbon compounds from simple gas feedstocks, such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen, by cultivating a consortium of microbial cells specially selected for this purpose in an aqueous culture medium. In addition to exploiting inexpensive feedstocks, such as waste industrial gas for this cultivation, the platform described herein also provides the advantage of removing carbon dioxide and other waste gases from industrial emissions, which would otherwise contribute to global climate change. Furthermore, the cultivation of a microbial consortium can provide highly nutritious components to a feed blend that might not be available from a monoculture.

This disclosure provides an E. coli strain, which lacks thioredoxin reductase activity encoded by trxB and thioredoxin 1 activity encoded by trxA, and glutathione reductase activity encoded by gor. Said E. coli strain expresses a mutated AhpC protein having glutathione reductase activity and a cytosolic prokaryotic disulfide isomerase. The E. coli strain has an oxidative cytosol and can be used to efficiently produce proteins having disulfide bonds.

The invention is directed to novel probiotic bacterial strains that colonize animal tissues, and in particular the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of aquatic animals grown in aquaculture environments and may further be engineered to express and deliver interfering RNA molecules configured to downregulate expression of one or more pathogen, or endogenous host genes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel composition which suppresses or improves depression. The present invention provides a composition for use in suppressing or improving depression, comprising Lactobacillus paracasei as an active ingredient. In the present invention, the depression can be a condition which occurs in daily life. The composition of the present invention can be provided as a food composition and a supplement, and can be provided to a human so that Lactobacillus paracasei is ingested in a daily amount of 1 mg or more in terms of dry cell mass or 10 to 10.sup.11 cells.

Systems and methods are provided for classifying microbial cells according to morphological features of microcolonies. A dark-field objective is employed to acquire a dark-field image of a microcolony during a microcolony growth phase that is characterized by phenotypic expression of microcolony morphological features which evolve with time and are differentiated among classes of microbial cell types. The dark-field image is processed to classify the microcolony according to two or more microbial cell types, such as Gram status and/or speciation. The dark-field objective may have a numerical aperture selected to facilitate the imaging of microcolony morphological features, residing, for example, between 0.15 and 0.35. A set of dark-field images of a microcolony may be collected during the microcolony growth phase and processed to classify the microcolony. Classification may be performed according to a temporal ordering of the dark-field images, for example, using a recurrent neural network.

Systems and methods are provided for classifying microbial cells according to morphological features of microcolonies. A dark-field objective is employed to acquire a dark-field image of a microcolony during a microcolony growth phase that is characterized by phenotypic expression of microcolony morphological features which evolve with time and are differentiated among classes of microbial cell types. The dark-field image is processed to classify the microcolony according to two or more microbial cell types, such as Gram status and/or speciation. The dark-field objective may have a numerical aperture selected to facilitate the imaging of microcolony morphological features, residing, for example, between 0.15 and 0.35. A set of dark-field images of a microcolony may be collected during the microcolony growth phase and processed to classify the microcolony. Classification may be performed according to a temporal ordering of the dark-field images, for example, using a recurrent neural network.