Disclosed herein are compositions including cells of defined sets of microbial species (for example, 3, 16, 18, 19, 21, or 22 microbial species). Also disclosed are methods of using the microbial compositions that include contacting soil, plants, plant parts, or seeds with the composition. The microbial compositions are also used in methods of degrading biological materials, such as chitin-containing biological materials.

Use of a sugar selected from lactose, fructose and raffinose, for increasing serpin expression in Bifidobacterium longum strain CNCM I-2618.

Microbes can be genetically modified to express biomolecules that are beneficial to mammals and/or to reduce, or eliminate, expression of harmful virulence factors. The growth and viability of such genetically modified microbes can optionally be controlled by inducible promoters that regulate the expression of proteins that are essential to their growth and survival. Compositions comprising such genetically modified microbes as well as methods of making and using the same are disclosed herein.

Novel Bifidobacterium bacteria having an opioid peptide decomposition action and a noncollagenous glycoprotein decomposition action are provided. The present invention relates to one or more kinds of Bifidobacterium bacteria selected from the group consisting of Bifidobacterium bifidum MCC1092 (NITE BP-02429), Bifidobacterium bifidum MCC1319 (NITE BP-02431), Bifidobacterium bifidum MCC1868 (NITE BP-02432), Bifidobacterium bifidum MCC1870 (NITE BP-02433), and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum MCC1110 (NITE BP-02430), as well as a composition for decomposing an opioid peptide and composition for decomposing a noncollagenous glycoprotein containing the Bifidobacterium bacteria as an active ingredient.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple method of producing ergothioneine. The present invention provides a method of producing ergothioneine comprising a step of culturing a microbe belonging to the genus Moniliella in a medium containing a carbon source to allow the microbe to produce ergothioneine.

The present invention provides a Bifidobacterium lactis GKK2, a composition comprising thereof and its use for improving asthma, especially for lowering airway resistance, reducing levels of non-specific and specific IgE in serum, alleviating bronchoconstriction and increasing levels of GSH reductase in liver tissue interstitial fluid to improve allergic asthma.

The invention provides three novel disarmed strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria useful for the transformation of plants. The invention provides three engineered A. tumefaciens Chry5 strains or bacterial cells thereof which comprise the Chry5 strain chromosomal background and a disarmed pTiChry5 vector, and methods of using said bacterial strains or cells for transformation of fungal or plant cells, in particular dicot or monocot plant cells, including soybean, maize, wheat, and sugarcane cells. The invention further relates to the transgenic plants created by these methods.

Provided are a strain ofBeijerinckia fluminensis and an application thereof in arsenic oxidation. The strain is AS-56, and has been deposited in the China Center for Type Culture Collection on 5 Dec. 2019, the deposit number being CCTCC NO: M 20191014. The strain AS-56 of Beijerinckia fluminensis can oxidise As(III) to the less toxic As(V) and can completely oxidize 0.15 g/L of As(III) solution to As(V), greatly reducing arsenic toxicity, and thus having wide prospects for application in environmental remediation.

A high-fidelity AsCpf1 mutant is obtained by performing a mutation on arginine at position 951 and/or 955 of a AsCpf1 protein amino acid sequence and replacing the same with an amino acid free of forming a hydrogen bond with DNA of a target site; and the amino acid sequence thereof is shown in SEQ ID NOS: 1-3. The encoding gene of the AsCpf1 mutant has a nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and can be used in the construction of a CRISPR/AsCpf1 gene editing system. A CRISPR/AsCpf1 gene editing system includes a gene encoding a AsCpf1 protein, and the AsCpf1 protein is the AsCpf1 mutant mentioned above. The CRISPR/AsCpf1 gene editing system can be used in lowering an off-target effect of gene editing. The novel AsCpf1 mutant not only retains the gene editing efficiency of wild-type AsCpf1, but also has a higher specificity than the wild-type AsCpf1.

The present invention relates to a novel spirulina strain having a linear shape, which spirulina strain can be used to achieve a harvest of spirulina strain with high yield.