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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Differing Air Traffic Controller Responses to Similar Trajectory Prediction Errors: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Controller Behavior

A Human-In-The-Loop simulation was conducted in January of 2013 in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at NASAs Ames Research Center. The simulation airspace included two en route sectors feeding the northwest corner of Atlantas Terminal Radar Approach Control. The focus of this paper is on how uncertainties in the studys trajectory predictions impacted the controllers ability to perform their duties. Of particular interest is how the controllers interacted with the delay information displayed in the meter list and data block while managing the arrival flows. Due to wind forecasts with 20-knot over-predictions and 20-knot under-predictions, delay value computations included errors of similar magnitude, albeit in opposite directions. However, when performing their duties in the presence of these errors, did the controllers issue clearances of similar magnitude, albeit in opposite directions?

human-automation interaction↗
NASA NTRS2020

Incorporation of Nitrogen into Organics Produced by Fischer-Tropsch Type Chemistry

Laboratory simulations have demonstrated that hydrothermal systems have the potential to produce a range of organic compounds through Fischer-Tropsch type (FTT) chemistry. The distribution of products depends on several factors, including the abundance and composition of feed-stock molecules, reaction temperature, and the physical and chemical characteristics of catalytic materials included in the reactions. The majority of studies per-formed to date have focused solely on inclusion of CO2 or CO and H2 as the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen sources, which limits the possible products to hydro-carbons, alcohols and carboxylic acids. A few studies have included nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which led to the production of amino acids and nitrogenous bases; and a separate suite of studies included sulfur as sulfide minerals or H2S, which yielded products such as thiols and amino acids. Although these demonstrations provide compelling evidence that FTT reactions can produce compounds of interest for the origins of life, such reactions have been conducted under a very limited range of conditions and the synthetic reaction mechanisms have generally not been well-characterized. As a consequence, it is difficult to extrapolate these results to geologic systems or to evaluate how variations in reactant compositions would affect the distribution of products over time. We have begun a series of laboratory experiments that will incorporate a range of precursor molecules in varying compositions to determine how these variables affect the relative amounts and speciation of life-essential elements in organic molecules produced under FTT conditions. In the present work, we focus on systems containing C, H, O and N.

Burton, A. S.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recovery of valuable metals from electronic waste using a novel ammonia-based hydrometallurgical process

The growing quantity of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), also known as electronic waste (E-waste), has been an area of growing public concern. The abundance of valuable metals contained in waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) has made it a promising secondary resource, especially for Cu and Au. Although the recovery of metals from WPCBs via hydrometallurgical routes has been studied extensively over the past 20 years, most of the research has been limited in the laboratory. In current hydrometallurgical processes, strong acids and expensive oxidizers are often used to ensure a high recovery of metals without considering the sustainability aspects of the environment and economics. To improve upon current hydrometallurgical offerings, the current study seeks to develop an energy-saving, environmentally friendly, economic and sustainable process to efficiently recover the valuable metals from real-world end-of-life WPCBs. The new contributions presented in this study are 1) design and evaluation of a comprehensive hydrometallurgical flowsheet; 2) employment of real end-of-life PCBs as feed materials in an investigation on Cu-NH3 leaching kinetics; 3) further application of kinetic model on a counter flow process simulation; and 4) evaluation of the influences by co-existing metals in Au-S2O3 leaching and recommendation for favorable leaching conditions.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluation of DED and LPBF Fe-based Alloys Process Application Envelopes based on Performance, Process Economics, Supply Chain Risks, and Reactor-specific Targeted Components

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies (AMMT) program aims to develop extreme-environment materials solutions for use in the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors and the sustainment of the current fleet. To achieve this objective, a combination of experiment, a computational tool, and machine learning (ML) for the design of materials is adopted for the maturation of materials for nuclear technology. Through advanced manufacturing techniques such as laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and laser powder direct energy deposition (LP-DED), components with complex geometries can be fabricated with reduced time and effort. Such advanced manufacturing methods can also provide the opportunity to improve materials performance through optimized microstructures and mechanical properties. However, existing engineering alloys are not always well suited for fabrication with additive manufacturing (AM), as their compositions have been tuned to optimize fabrication via conventional methods. Thus, similar alloys with modified compositions that are better suited for AM can be studied for improved performance. Over the past three years, the AMMT teams from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) studied various known Fe-based alloys by evaluating their initial printability using LPBF, and an AMMT-developed down-selection and decision matrix reduced the number of alloys to be studied from six to three in fiscal year (FY) 2024. Additionally, in FY 2024, for parallel evaluation, these three alloys were studied using LPDED. While LPBF is better for small- to medium-sized components with high detail and internal features, LP-DED combines a material feed system to place the powder onto the exact spot where the laser will melt the material. This AM method can be easily scaled to extremely large components and provides high build rate speeds compared to those of conventional LPBF systems. Additionally, DED is a better choice for complex geometries and compositional gradients.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Physical and Flow Properties of Glass-Forming Chemicals (V 2 O 5 , SnO, SnO 2 , Cr 2 O 3 , FeCr 2 O 4 , and ZrSiO 4 ) and Mixtures

For an efficient nuclear waste vitrification process at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) on the Hanford Site, proper selection and consistent supply of glass-forming chemicals (GFCs) are crucial. Thorough characterization of the GFCs is required to reduce risks in operation of the vitrification facility. Low-activity waste (LAW) will be blended with GFCs to form slurry feeds and then fed to melters and vitrified. To enhance properties of waste glasses, new chemicals are being introduced to the current GFC mixture. In this study, three new GFCs were evaluated for enhanced LAW glass formulations: chromium oxide (Cr 2 O 3 ), vanadium oxide (V 2 O 5 ), and stannic oxide (SnO 2 ). These three oxide components are included in enhanced waste glass formulations, and GFCs with the appropriate physical and flow properties are needed. As a starting point, single metal oxide GFCs, Cr 2 O 3 , V 2 O 5 , and SnO 2 , were sourced and tested. Then, alternative sources of Sn and Cr (SnO and FeCr 2 O 4 ) were tested along with an alternative zircon source (ZrSiO 4 ). This report documents the work performed to collect physical and flow property data on these new GFCs and melter feed slurries generated using these GFCs and simulated low-activity wastes.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1978

Geosynchronous Microwave Atmospheric Sounding Radiometer (MASR) antenna feasibility study. Volume 3: Antenna feasibility

Antenna systems capable of operating with a multichannel microwave radiometer intended for mapping severe storm activity over patches on the surface of the earth 750 km square were compared. These systems included a paraboloidal reflector with an offset focal point feed, and a symmetrical Cassegrain reflector system. Both systems are acceptable from the point of view of beam efficiency, however, from the point of view of maintaining the required positional accuracies and surface tolerances, as well as from the point of view of manufacturability, cost effectiveness, and technical risk, the symmetrical Casegrain was selected as the preferred configuration. Performance characteristics were calculated and a mechanical design study was conducted to provide estimates of the technical risk, costs, and development time required for the construction of such an antenna system.

Villeneuve, A. T.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Model predictive combustion control of a Gasoline Compression Ignition engine

Gasoline Compression Ignition is a novel combustion concept that derives its superiority from the high compression ratio of a compression ignition engine as well as the properties of gasoline fuel, such as longer ignition delay and higher volatility compared to diesel. Here, this combustion concept was experimentally tested on a 12.4L Class 8 truck engine. Based on these experimental data, prior efforts by the authors focused on the development of an engine model for a heavy-duty engine operating on a low-reactivity fuel. This engine model was leveraged within this study to investigate a combustion control strategy at different engine conditions and injection methods and was augmented to incorporate cycle-to-cycle combustion variations. State estimation is performed by means of a Kalman filter which feeds into a model predictive controller. The model predictive controller chooses control actions based on a predefined cost function under consideration of bounds reflecting physical constraints. The engine model was utilized to establish a state-space model that serves the Kalman filter and model predictive controller for estimation and prediction. A comparative study investigating control actions and engine behavior was performed with and without limiting in-cylinder peak pressure as well as combustion noise, which is of particular interest for early pilot injection strategies. In addition, the proposed control architecture was investigated at two different levels of cycle-to-cycle variations and compared to the performance of a control structure with input disturbance rejection. For increased cycle-to-cycle variations, disturbance estimation reduces state fluctuations and control effort. In general, this investigation highlights control aspects specific to a compression-ignited combustion regime with low-reactivity fuel. The control algorithm is able to maintain the desired references for brake mean effective pressure and combustion phasing while controlling peak in-cylinder pressure and combustion noise.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Nuclear Data Sheets for A=233

The present evaluation of the known A=233 nuclides ( 233 Fr, 233 Ra, 233 Ac, 233 Th, 233 Pa, 233 U, 233 Np, 233 Pu, 233 Am, 233 Cm) and 233 Bk represents an update and revision, after 15 years of the previous evaluation of A=233 published by B. Singh and J.K. Tuli (2005Si15). Laboratory identification of 233 Bk nuclide is still considered as tentative. Various decay and reaction data are evaluated and compared. Adopted data, levels, gammas, level half-lives, spins, parities, and configuration assignments are provided. For 233 Fr, 233 Ra, 233 Ac, 233 Pu, 233 Am and 233 Cm, information is available for the respective ground states only. The decay schemes from β - decays of 233 Fr and 233 Ra, and from ε decay of 233 Am and 233 Cm are unknown, while those from β - decay of 233 Ac, and from ε decay of 233 Np are considered incomplete. The α decay of 237 Np to 233 Pa has been studied in detail by many investigators, yet the decay scheme is considered incomplete as several very low-energy transitions are involved, without the knowledge of their intensities, resulting in mismatch of directly measured α feedings and those deduced from γ-transition intensity balances. The decay schemes from α decays of 237 Am, 237 Cm and 237 Cf to respective A=233 daughters are considered incomplete. Particle-transfer and high-spin data are available for 233 Th, 233 Pa and 233 U nuclei, which remain the most extensively studied in this mass chain. However, data for half-lives for the excited states are available only for one level in 233 Pa, and for five levels in 233 U, thus limiting the knowledge of reduced transition probabilities in this mass chain.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Large-Scale Simulation of Regional Demand Flexibility Implementation and Customer Economic Impact

The Distribution System Operator with Transactive (DSO+T) study conducted a large-scale simulation of over 60,000 customers in a region the size of Texas to demonstrate the effective coordination of distributed energy resources (DERs) in commercial and residential buildings. The integrated simulation included both the bulk (wholesale generation and transmission) and distribution systems. The DERs (including batteries, electric vehicles, air conditioning, and water heaters) participated in a transactive energy retail market that was integrated into an existing competitive wholesale market. The engineering and economic performance of the resulting demand flexibility was evaluated over annual simulations for both moderate and high renewable generation scenarios. A detailed parametric cost model was developed to enable detailed economic analysis of key stakeholders. In addition, fixed and dynamic customer tariffs were designed and applied to the customer population. This allowed the impact on annual customer bills to be analyzed for various building types (residential versus commercial; single- versus multi-family). This paper presents results showing the relative flexibility of batteries, electric vehicles, and building loads throughout the year and under different renewable scenarios. This feeds a detailed breakdown of the impact this flexibility has on the operating costs of the grid and the resulting net economic benefit. Finally, the study showed that practically all customer classes (including non-participating customers) save money under the proposed demand flexibility scheme. The study found overall net annual economic savings of $3.3-5.0B for a region the size of Texas equating to average customer bill savings of 10-16%.

Reeve, Hayden M.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Pushing the limits of size selectivity in nanoscale solute separations

Transport of a spherical solute through a cylindrical pore has been modelled for decades using well-established hindered transport theory, predicting solutes with a size smaller than the pore to be rejected nonetheless because of convective and diffusive hindrance; this rejection mechanism prevents extremely sharp solute separations by a membrane. Whereas the model has been historically verified, solute transport through near-perfect isoporous membranes may finally overcome this limitation. Here, in this study, encouraging solute rejections are achieved using nanofabricated, defect-free silicon nitride isoporous membranes. The membrane is challenged by a recirculated feed to increase the opportunity for interactions between solutes and the pore array. Results show the membrane completely reject solutes with greater size than the pore size while effectively allowing smaller solutes to permeate through. With effectively increasing the number of interactions, we propose that a steeper size-selective rejection curve may be achieved. With this traditional hurdle overcome, there is new promise for unprecedented membrane separations through judicious process design and extremely tight pore-size distributions.

Gao, Feng↗
DOE OSTI2020

2019 Results for Avian Monitoring at the Technical Area 36 Minie Site, Technical Area 39 Point 6, and Technical Area 16 Burn Ground at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory biologists in the Environmental Compliance and Protection Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) initiated a multi-year program in 2013 to monitor avifauna (birds) at two open detonation sites and one open burn site on LANL property. Monitoring results from these efforts were compared among years to monitor trends. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine whether LANL operations impact bird species richness, diversity, or abundance 2) evaluate trends in species abundance by feeding guild, and 3) examine occupancy and nest success of secondary-cavity nesting birds using nestboxes. LANL biologists completed the seventh year of this effort in 2019. Three bird point count surveys were completed at each of the treatment sites at the Technical Area (TA) 36 Minie site, the TA-39 point 6, and the TA-16 burn ground between May and July 2019. A total of 853 birds representing 53 species were recorded at the three treatment sites and compared to their associated controls. Occupancy and nest success data from nestboxes at treatment sites were compared with the overall avian nestbox monitoring network. In 2019 the species richness and diversity at the treatment sites were not statistically different from their associated controls. Rarefaction and extrapolation plots for all years through 2018 suggest that over time the species diversity was statistically different between treatments and controls, although the diversity was higher at the treatment sites than the control sites. Avian abundance showed more variability but treatment and controls were trending together year to year. The mean number of granivores, insectivores, and omnivores varies from year to year, but there is not a significant trend at any of the treatment sites. The dominant feeding guild at the treatment sites continues to be insectivores. The overall results from 2019 continue to indicate that operations at the three treatment sites are not negatively affecting bird populations. This long-term monitoring will continue to monitor for any changes over time.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1983

Investigation of the hydrochlorination of SiCl4

A basic, experimental study on the hydrochlorination of silicon tetrachloride and metallurgical grade silicon with hydrogen gas to form trichlorosilane was carried out to greatly expand the range of reaction conditions. The equilibrium constant, K sub p, for the hydrochlorination reaction was measured as a function of temperature, pressure and concentration. The variation of the equilibrium constant as a function of temperature provided the measurement on the heat of reaction, delta H, by the Second Law Method. The value of delta H was measured to give 10.6 Kcal/mole. The equilibrium constant was also studied as a function of concentration. In agreement with the theory, the equilibrium constant remained constant with respect to the varying H2/SiCl4 feed ratios. On the other hand, the effect of pressure on the equilibrium constant was found to be more complex.

Mui, J. Y. P.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Will Global Change Effect Primary Productivity in Coastal Ecosystems?

Algae are the base of coastal food webs because they provide the source of organic carbon for the remaining members of the community. Thus, the rate that they produce organic carbon to a large extent controls the productivity of the entire ecosystem. Factors that control algal productivity range from the physical (e.g., temperature, light), chemical (e.g., nutrient levels) to the biological (e.g., grazing). Currently, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide surficial fluxes of ultraviolet radiation are rising. Both of these environmental variables can have a profound effect on algal productivity. Atmospheric carbon dioxide may increase surficial levels of dissolved inorganic carbon. Our laboratory and field studies of algal mats and phytoplankton cultures under ambient and elevated levels of pCO2 show that elevated levels of inorganic carbon can cause an increase in photosynthetic rates. In some cases, this increase will cause an increase in phytoplankton numbers. There may be an increase in the excretion of fixed carbon, which in turn may enhance bacterial productivity. Alternatively, in analogy with studies on the effect of elevated pCO2 on plants, the phytoplankton could change their carbon to nitrogen ratios, which will effect the feeding of the planktonic grazers. The seasonal depletion of stratospheric ozone has resulted in elevated fluxes of UVB radiation superimposed on the normal seasonal variation. Present surface UV fluxes have a significant impact on phytoplankton physiology, including the inhibition of the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis, inhibition of nitrogenase activity, inhibition of heterocyst formation, reduction in motility, increased synthesis of the UV-screening pigment scytonemin, and mutation. After reviewing these issues, recent work in our lab on measuring the effect of UV radiation on phytoplankton in the San Francisco Bay Estuary will be presented.

Rothschild, Lynn J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Design and Performance of a Wideband Radio Telescope

The Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) is an outreach project, a partnership involving NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Lewis Center for Educational Research (LCER), and the Apple Valley Unified School District near the NASA Goldstone deep space communication complex. This educational program currently uses a 34-meter antenna, DSS12, at Goldstone for classroom radio astronomy observations via the Internet. The current program utilizes DSS12 in two narrow frequency bands around S-band (2.3 GHz) and X-band (8.45 GHz), and is used by a training program involving a large number of secondary school teachers and their classrooms. To expand the program, a joint JPL/LCER project was started in mid-2006 to retrofit an additional existing 34-meter beam-waveguide antenna, DSS28, with wideband feeds and receivers to cover the 0.5-to- 14-GHz frequency bands. The DSS28 antenna has a 34-meter diameter main reflector, a 2.54-meter subreflector, and a set of beam waveguide mirrors surrounded by a 2.43-meter tube. The antenna was designed for high power and a narrow frequency band around 7.2 GHz. The performance at the low end of the frequency band desired for the educational program would be extremely poor if the beam waveguide system was used as part of the feed system. Consequently, the 34-meter antenna was retrofitted with a tertiary offset mirror placed at the vertex of the main reflector. The tertiary mirror can be rotated to use two wideband feeds that cover the 0.5-to-14-GHz band. The earlier designs for both GAVRT and the DSN only used narrow band feeds and consequently, only covered a small part of the S- and X-band frequencies. By using both a wideband feed and wideband amplifiers, the entire band from 0.5 to 14 GHz is covered, expanding significantly the science activities that can be studied using this system.

Weinreb, Sander↗
NASA NTRS2016

Differing Air Traffic Controller Responses to Similar Trajectory Prediction Errors

A Human-In-The-Loop simulation was conducted in January of 2013 in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center. The simulation airspace included two en route sectors feeding the northwest corner of Atlanta's Terminal Radar Approach Control. The focus of this paper is on how uncertainties in the study's trajectory predictions impacted the controllers ability to perform their duties. Of particular interest is how the controllers interacted with the delay information displayed in the meter list and data block while managing the arrival flows. Due to wind forecasts with 30-knot over-predictions and 30-knot under-predictions, delay value computations included errors of similar magnitude, albeit in opposite directions. However, when performing their duties in the presence of these errors, did the controllers issue clearances of similar magnitude, albeit in opposite directions?

trajectory prediction uncertainty↗
NASA NTRS2002

Design and Study of a LOX/GH2 Throttleable Swirl Injector for Rocket Applications

A LOX/GH2 swirl injector was designed for a 10:1 propellant throttling range. To accomplish this, a dual LOX manifold was used feeding a single common vortex chamber of the swirl element. Hot-fire experiments were conducted for rocket chamber pressures from 80 to 800 psia at a mixture ratio of nominally 6.0 using steady flow, single-point-per-firing cases as well as dynamic throttling conditions. Low frequency (mean) and high frequency (fluctuating) pressure transducer data, flow meter measurements, and Raman spectroscopy images for mixing information were obtained. The injector design, experimental setup, low frequency pressure data, and injector performance analysis are presented. C* efficiency was very high (approx. 100%) at the middle of the throttleable range with somewhat lower performance at the high and low ends. From the analysis of discreet steady state operating conditions, injector pressure drop was slightly higher than predicted with an inviscid analysis, but otherwise agreed well across the design throttling range. Dynamic throttling of this injector was attempted with marginal success due to the immaturity of the throttling control system. Although the targeted mixture ratio of 6.0 was not maintained throughout the dynamic throttling profile, the injector behaved well over the wide range of conditions.

Greene, Christopher↗
DOE OSTI2024

An Explainable Classification Framework for Determining and Understanding the Suitability of Solvent Extraction for Bioproduct Recovery

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant feedstock for producing sustainable fuels and chemicals. However, a key challenge in most biomass utilization strategies is the recovery of products from a dilute, typically aqueous, phase. In this respect, liquid–liquid extraction, which relies on a solvent to transfer a product of interest from one liquid phase to another (solvent-rich) phase, is a technology that can reduce the energy requirements for product recovery. To reduce solvent consumption, liquid–liquid extraction needs to be combined with another separation method (e.g., distillation) to recycle the solvent. Despite the research on solvent extraction, there are limited system-wide methods that allow us to determine when extraction is well suited to carry out a specific separation. Accordingly, we present a classification framework to predict whether extraction, coupled with distillation, is feasible and more economical than distillation. Our framework is based on features such as feed composition, liquid–liquid equilibrium constants, relative volatilities, and solvent price, and leads to trained classifiers that show good prediction accuracy. We further study how specific features influence the suitability of extraction. Furthermore, to showcase the applicability of the framework, we use it to analyze the separation of acetic acid from water.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Separate, separated, and together: the transcriptional program of the Clostridium acetobutylicum-Clostridium ljungdahlii syntrophy leading to interspecies cell fusion

ABSTRACT Syntrophic cocultures (hitherto assumed to be commensalistic) of Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium ljungdahlii , whereby CO 2 and H 2 produced by the former feed the latter, result in interspecies cell fusion involving large-scale exchange of protein, RNA, and DNA between the two organisms. Although mammalian cell fusion is mechanistically dissected, the mechanism for such microbial-cell fusions is unknown. To start exploring this mechanism, we used RNA sequencing to identify genes differentially expressed in this coculture using two types of comparisons. One type compared coculture to the two monocultures, capturing the combined impact of interactions through soluble signals in the medium and through direct cell-to-cell interactions. The second type compared membrane-separated versus -unseparated cocultures, isolating the impact of interspecies physical contact. While we could not firmly identify specific genes that might drive cell fusion, consistent with our hypothesized model for this interspecies microbial cell fusion, we observed differential regulation of genes involved in C. ljungdahlii’s autotrophic Wood-Ljungdahl pathway metabolism and genes of the motility machinery. Unexpectedly, we also identified differential regulation of biosynthetic genes of several amino acids, and notably of arginine and histidine. We verified that they are produced by C. acetobutylicum and are metabolized by C. ljungdahlii to its growth advantage. These and other findings, and notably upregulation of C. acetobutylicum ribosomal-protein genes, paint a more complex syntrophic picture and suggest a mutualistic relationship, whereby beyond CO 2 and H 2 , C. acetobutylicum feeds C. ljungdahlii with growth-boosting amino acids, while benefiting from the H 2 utilization by C. ljungdahlii . IMPORTANCE The construction and study of synthetic microbial cocultures is a growing research area due to the untapped potential of defined multi-species industrial bioprocesses and the utility of defined cocultures for generating insight into complex, undefined, natural microbial consortia. Our previous work showed that coculturing C. acetobutylicum and C. ljungdahlii leads to a unique metabolic phenotype (production of isopropanol) and heterologous cell fusion events. Here, we used RNAseq to explore genes involved in and impacted by these fusions. First, we compared gene expression in coculture to each monoculture. Second, we utilized a transwell system to compare gene expression in mixed cocultures to cocultures with both species physically separated by a permeable membrane, isolating the impact of interspecies “touching” on the transcriptome. This study deepens our mechanistic understanding of the C. acetobutylicum-C. ljungdahlii coculture phenotype, laying the groundwork for reverse genetic studies of heterologous cell fusion in Clostridium cocultures.

Willis, Noah B. (ORCID:0009000689365955)↗