Biden’s State of the Union Address Exposed by US Intelligence Threat Assessment

by Roger D. Harris / March 18th, 2024

President Biden used the bully pulpit of the annual State of the Union Address to describe a world that significantly differed from the picture presented just a month earlier in the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community.

Information fed to the general public is deliberately spun to sell the imperial project. In contrast, intelligence assessments for elite policy makers are designed to sustain the endeavor. That the president’s pronouncements diverge from the conclusions reached by his own intelligence community highlights the chasm between what is foisted on the public compared to what is understood within the bowels of the state.

Unlike Biden’s bullish and bellicose pronouncements about “our leadership in the world,” the Assessment’s view was less triumphal. It states: “The United States faces an increasingly fragile global order.”

The fraying US-imposed “rules based order” and its discredited neoliberal economic system are more and more being challenged by “states engaging in competitive behavior,” according to the Assessment. The report adds, fallout from the Gaza crisis, in particular, serves to “undermine” the US.

Both pronouncements, however, have similar biases. Biden’s address to the nation was overtly political, accusing Trump of “bowing down” to Putin. But the supposedly neutral and objective “collective insights of the Intelligence Community” were likewise predisposed in favor of Democratic Party memes. Both blame Russian electoral interference for Trump’s ascension to the Oval Office in 2016. As proof, the so-called intelligence community again offered nothing more than its own assessment, lacking better evidence.

“Ambitious” China

Biden bragged in this address: “For years, all I’ve heard from my Republican friends…is China’s on the rise and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backward!” Contrary to his bravado about “we’re in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China,” the World Bank predicts 4.5% GDP growth in China compared to 1.6% for the US in 2024.

China has surpassed the US as the largest world economy by purchasing power parity. The Assessment forecasts slowed – but still greater than for the US – economic growth in what it labels as an “ambitious” China.

The Assessment reports that China “now rivals” the US in DNA-sequencing and is the “world leader” in voice and image recognition and video analytics. Biden’s claim that, “I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China,” is contradicted by the Assessment’s finding that China is “making progress” in producing advanced chips on its own.

The Assessment notes: “China views Washington’s competitive measures against Beijing as part of a broader US…effort to contain its rise.” In this context, the Chinese perceive an increased likelihood of a US first-strike nuclear attack, according to the Assessment. Nevertheless, China has shown growing “confidence” in its nuclear deterrent capabilities against US aggression, also according to the Assessment.

China is disadvantaged militarily, according to the Assessment, because it “lacks recent warfighting experience,” something the US has in excess. US intelligence estimates that China will only “fully modernize” its national defense by 2035 and will not become a “world-class military” until 2049.

The Assessment anticipates increased Chinese push-back over Taiwan. Although Biden claimed that the US is “standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the US has done the opposite by continuing to destabilize and militarize the region. To wit, Biden said in his address, “I’ve revitalized our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.”

“Confrontational” Russia

The Assessment labels Russia “confrontational,” projecting Washington’s own posture. In a fit of made-for-popular-consumption Russophobia, Biden warned in his address: “Putin of Russia is on the march…If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not!”

While the Assessment warns of many threats, Russian expansionism – as Biden fear mongered  – is not one of them. In fact, the Assessment notes that Russia stepped down from intervening in neighboring Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. The Assessment assures us: “Russia almost certainly does not want a direct military conflict with US and NATO forces.”

The Assessment notes that Russia “maintains the largest and most diverse nuclear weapons stockpile.” But it adds that Russia sees its stockpile as “necessary for maintaining deterrence” (presumably from a US first strike). The Assessment, while describing Russia as a “capable and resilient adversary,” takes the contrary view to Biden’s, seeing Russia’s posture as mainly “defensive.”

As the US proxy war against Russia drags on, Biden continues to campaign for expanding the US funding for Ukraine with no hint of a peace. For its part, the Assessment does not contest what it describes as Putin’s belief that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine.

Rather, the Assessment sees no victory in sight for the US: “This deadlock plays to Russia’s strategic military advantages and is increasingly shifting the momentum in Moscow’s favor.” Not surprisingly, this huge admission of the futility of the US war effort in Ukraine coming from its own intelligence institutions has not been prominently reported by the follow-the-flag corporate press.

The Assessment describes how Russia is strengthening and leveraging ties with China, Iran, and North Korea. Russia is mitigating the impacts of US-led sanctions, while “rebuild[ing] its credibility as a great power.” Russia’s deepening ties with China in particular have afforded it significant “protection from future sanctions.”

Despite US-led coercive economic measures, the Assessment projects “modest” Russian GDP growth. Moscow has “successfully diverted” its oil exports and largely evaded the US/G7 price caps, retaining “significant energy leverage” as the second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to Europe. In short, Russia is “offsetting its decline in relations with the West” with a pivot to the Global South.

Other global flashpoints

Biden’s policy of “containing the threat posed by Iran” is elaborated in the Assessment. US-led sanctions are credited with putting “brakes on” Iran’s economy. In response, the Assessment reports, Tehran has “expanded its diplomatic influence” by improving ties with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

The Assessment correctly notes that Iran uses its nuclear program “to build negotiating leverage and respond to perceived international pressure,” pointing out that Iran would “restore JCPOA limits if the United States fulfilled its JCPOA commitments [emphasis added].”

On the one hand, the Assessment preposterously accuses Iran of seeking to “block a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.” On the other, Iran is absolved of orchestrating or having any foreknowledge of the Hamas attack on Israel. This is a notable admission.

The Gaza conflict, according to the Assessment, poses the “risk of escalation” into regional interstate war. Uncle Sam’s “key Arab partners,” the Assessment laments, face hostile domestic sentiment because their citizens (correctly) see the US and Israel as responsible for “the death and destruction.” Although the US is recognized as the “power broker” that could “end the conflict,” the Assessment (also correctly) implies that the US has not played that role.

The Assessment foresees Israel needing to confront “armed resistance from Hamas for years to come.” While acknowledging that Hamas enjoys “broad support,” the Assessment questions Israeli President Netanyahu’s “viability” and “ability of rule.”

Similar to the case of Iran, the Assessment explains, North Korea’s nuclear program is pursued as a “guarantor of regime security” and to “deter outside intervention.” North Korea’s missile launches, the Assessment admits, are responses to counter hostile US-South Korea military exercises. North Korea’s development of nuclear capabilities, the Assessment further acknowledges, are defensive to “enhance second-strike capabilities” in the contingency of a first strike by the US and its allies.

In regard to immigration, Biden touts his “comprehensive plan to fix” our system. Given the current dysfunction on the US border, claiming credit there sounds more like a Republican talking point than one favoring the incumbent. Largely ignored in Biden’s address, the Assessment is concerned with global warming and its potentially destabilizing effect on the US-imposed global order by generating climate refugees.

“Poor socioeconomic conditions and insecurity” further drive cross-border migration, warns the Assessment. While admitting that “lack of economic opportunities” are among the factors that drive Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan emigration, the Assessment incredulously rejects blaming US sanctions for driving people away from their homelands.

Conclusion

Unlike the upbeat “greatest comeback story never told” of the State of the Union address, the Assessment cautions:

“Strains in US alliances and challenges to international norms have made it more difficult…to tackle global issues…. The world that emerges from this tumultuous period will be shaped by whoever… [is] most effective at advancing economic growth and providing benefits for more people, and by the powers…that are most able and willing to act on solutions to transnational issues and regional crises.”

Meanwhile, the Assessment reports that Putin’s “Russia has increased social spending…and increased corporate taxes.” Also reported, Xi’s China is prioritizing “a more equitable distribution of wealth – replacing the focus on maximizing GDP growth.” Back home, Biden promised in his address “to end cancer as we know it” and prophesized that he will “save the planet from the climate crisis.” (For starters, I would settle for just stopping the genocide in Palestine and a negotiated peace in Ukraine.)

Roger D. Harris is with the human rights organization Task Force on the Americas, founded in 1985 and is on the executive committee of the US Peace Council Read other articles by Roger D..

 

Can used coffee grounds help clean up environmental toxins?

WILEY

Global coffee consumption generates millions of tons of spent coffee grounds each year, which can be damaging to wildlife and the environment. However, new research published in the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology reveals that spent coffee grounds could be repurposed to act as a powerful adsorbent of bentazone, a herbicide commonly used in agriculture that is highly neurotoxic.

In the study, investigators found that when they used zinc chloride to activate the carbon from spent coffee grounds, the activated carbon showed a 70% efficiency in bentazone removal. The activated carbon was also efficient in a high sensitivity test for pollutants in water.

“Spent coffee grounds... represent an opportunity to contribute to a circular economy,” the authors wrote.

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jctb.7630

 

Additional Information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.

About the Journal
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology is an international, interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal concerned with the application of scientific discoveries and advancements in chemical and biological technology that aim towards economically and environmentally sustainable industrial processes.

About Wiley
Wiley is a knowledge company and a global leader in research, publishing, and knowledge solutions. Dedicated to the creation and application of knowledge, Wiley serves the world’s researchers, learners, innovators, and leaders, helping them achieve their goals and solve the world's most important challenges. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

---

JOURNAL

Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology

DOI

10.1002/jctb.7630 

ARTICLE TITLE

Removal of Bentazone using activated carbon from spent coffee grounds

 

Transforming wood waste for sustainable manufacturing

Marcus Foston takes a detailed look at lignin disassembly on path to replace petroleum with renewables

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

 

IMAGE: 

MARCUS FOSTON (LEFT) AND COLLABORATORS ARE EXPLORING HOW TO USE LIGNIN, A COMMON WASTE PRODUCT OF PAPER PULPING, AS A SOURCE OF RENEWABLE ALTERNATIVES TO PETROLEUM-DERIVED CHEMICALS.

view more 

CREDIT: (PHOTO: JERRY NAUNHEIM)

By Shawn Ballard

Lignin, a complex organic polymer, is one of the main components of wood, providing structural support and rigidity to make trees strong enough to withstand the elements. When transforming wood into paper, lignin is a key ingredient that must be removed and often becomes waste.

Marcus Foston, associate professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, is exploring how to add value to lignin by breaking it down into small molecules that are structurally similar to oxygenated hydrocarbons. These renewable chemicals are key components in many industrial processes and products, but they are traditionally sourced from non-renewable petroleum.

Foston’s study of lignin disassembly, done in collaboration with Sai Venkatesh Pingali, a neutron scattering scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ONRL), was published Jan. 17 in Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

“Lignin’s structure actually looks a lot like what we get from petroleum,” said Foston, who is also the director of WashU’s Synthetic Biology Manufacturing of Advanced Materials Research Center (SMARC). “In current manufacturing processes, we spend time making petroleum look like the elements of lignin. Instead, I’m using a catalyst to break lignin down more easily and in such a way that it produces specific chemicals. Once we can produce chemical from lignin in a form we want, then we can make more efficient use of lignin, which is an abundant byproduct of pulping wood into paper.”

With collaborators at ORNL, Foston used neutron scattering to study how lignin interacts with solvents and catalysts during its disassembly under reaction conditions, including high temperature and pressure. ORNL’s advanced facilities allowed researchers to observe the reaction process in real time to improve their catalyst and further streamline reaction systems for lignin depolymerization. This direct, molecular-level view is critical, Foston said, to figure out how the catalyst and lignin behave in solution and to ensure the lignin doesn’t recondense into a polymer with bonds scientists can’t easily break.

“In this study, we’re specifically thinking about how we can take the large amount of lignin that gets produced during biofuel or paper production and use it to make renewable chemicals that replace some of the chemicals we currently get from petroleum,” Foston said. “More broadly, the same depolymerization principles we’re exploring with lignin could be used in other applications. For example, the same lessons from this study apply to plastic waste scenarios, where one approach is to deconstruct plastic waste into small molecules that could be used to make plastic or other useful products.”

“Ultimately, we want to take a bunch of chemicals that are coming from petroleum and figure out how we can make those renewably,” Foston added. “Everything we’re learning about lignin will apply to other spaces as well.”

 

###

 

Zhang J, Yang Z, Ponukumati A, Senanayake M, Pingali SV, and Foston M. Structural evolution of lignin using in situ small-angle neutron scattering during catalytic disassembly. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Jan. 17, 2024. DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c06368?ref=PDF

 

This work was supported by the Herman Frasch Foundation for Chemical Research in Agricultural Chemistry (801-HF17), the U.S. National Science Foundation (CBET-1604095), and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under the Genomic Sciences Program (FWP ERKP752). Neutron scattering research conducted using the Bio-SANS instrument, a DOE Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research resource (FWP ERKP291), used resources at the High-Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science, Scientific User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

---

JOURNAL

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

DOI

10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c06368 

 

Self-heating concrete is one step closer to putting snow shovels and salt out of business

Drexel researchers show concrete with phase-change material can warm itself when temperatures fall

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

DREXEL UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS HAVE TESTED CONCRETE SLABS CONTAINING PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL THAT CAN WARM THEMSELVES UP WHEN TEMPERATURES FALL IN ORDER TO MELT OFF SNOW AND ICE. [LEFT TO RIGHT: REFERENCE SLAB, SLAB CONTAINING LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE TREATED WITH PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL; SLAB CONTAINING MICROENCAPSULATED PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL]

view more 

CREDIT: DREXEL UNIVERSITY

There’s a patch of concrete on Drexel University’s campus that could portend a frost-free future for sidewalks and highways in the Northeast. Tucked inconspicuously next to a parking lot for the university’s facilities vehicles, two 30-inch-by-30-inch slabs have been warding off snow, sleet and freezing rain on their own — without shoveling, salting or scraping — for a little over three years. Researchers in Drexel’s College of Engineering, recently reported on the science behind the special concrete, that can warm itself up when it snows, or as temperatures approach freezing.

Self-heating concrete, like Drexel’s, is the latest in an ongoing effort to create more environmentally responsive and resilient infrastructure, particularly in the northern regions of the United States, where the National Highway Administration estimates states spend $2.3 billion on snow and ice removal operations each year and millions to repair roadways damaged by winter weather.

“One way to extend the service life of a concrete surfaces, like roadways, is to help them maintain a surface temperature above freezing during the winter,” said Amir Farnam, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Engineering whose Advanced Infrastructure Materials Lab has been leading the research. “Preventing freezing and thawing and cutting back on the need for plowing and salting are good ways to keep the surface from deteriorating. So, our work is looking at how we can incorporate special materials in the concrete that help it to maintain a higher surface temperature when the ambient temperature around it drops.”

The Drexel team has been developing its cold-weather-resilient concrete mix over the last five years with the goal of reducing the freezing, thawing and salting that eats away at roads and other concrete surfaces. Until now, the success of their self-heating concrete — which they have previously reported can melt snow and prevent or slow ice formation for an extended period of time — has only been in a controlled lab setting. In a paper recently published in the American Society for Civil Engineering’s Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, the group took the important step of proving its viability in the natural environment.

“We have demonstrated that our self-heating concrete is capable of melting snow on its own, using only the environmental daytime thermal energy — and doing it without the help of salt, shoveling or heating systems,” Farnam said. “This self-heating concrete is suitable for mountainous and northern regions in the U.S., such as Northeast Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, where there are suitable heating and cooling cycles in winter.”

A Warm Welcome

The secret to the concrete’s warming is low-temperature liquid paraffin, which is a phase-change material, meaning it releases heat when it turns from its room-temperature state — as a liquid — to a solid, when temperatures drop. In a previous paper, the group reported that incorporating liquid paraffin into the concrete triggers heating when temperatures drop. Their latest research looks at two methods for incorporating the phase-change material in concrete slabs and how each fares outside in the cold.

One method involves treating porous lightweight aggregate — the pebbles and small stone fragments that are ingredients in concrete — with the paraffin. The aggregate absorb the liquid paraffin before being mixed into the concrete. The other strategy is mixing micro-capsules of paraffin directly into the concrete.

A Test in the Elements

The researchers poured one slab using each method and a third without any phase-change material, as a control. All three have been outside in the elements since December 2021. In the first two years, they faced a total of 32 freeze-thaw events — instances where temperature dropped below freezing, regardless of precipitation — and five snow falls of an inch or more.

Using cameras and thermal sensors, the researchers monitored the temperature and snow and ice-melting behavior of the slabs. They reported that the phase-change slabs maintained a surface temperature between 42- and 55-degrees Fahrenheit for up to 10 hours, when air temperatures dipped below freezing.

This heating is enough to melt a couple of inches of snow, at a rate of about a quarter of an inch of snow per hour. And while this may not be warm enough to melt a heavy snow event before plows are needed, it can help deice the road surface and increase transportation safety, even in heavy snow events.

Staying Warm Enough

Simply preventing the surface from dropping below freezing also goes a long way when it comes to preventing deterioration, according to the researchers.

“Freeze-thaw cycles, periods of extreme cooling – below freezing – and warming, can cause a surface to expand and contract in size, which puts a strain on its structural integrity and can cause damaging cracking and spalling over time,” said Robin Deb, a doctoral student in the College of Engineering, who helped to lead the research. “And while this alone may not degrade the structure to the point of failure, it creates a vulnerability that will lead to the problematic interior deterioration that we need to avoid. One of the promising findings is that the slabs with phase-change materials were able to stabilize their temperature above freezing when faced with dropping ambient temperatures.”

Slow and Steady

Overall, the treated lightweight aggregate slab performed better at sustaining its heating — keeping the temperature above freezing for up to 10 hours — while the slab with microencapsulated phase-change material was able to heat up more quickly, but only maintain the warming for half as long. The researchers suggest this is due to the relative disbursal of the phase-change material within the pores of the aggregate, by comparison to the concentration of phase-change material inside the microcapsules — a phenomenon that has been studied extensively.

They also noted that the porosity of the aggregate likely contributes to the paraffin remaining a liquid below its usual freezing temperature of 42 degrees Fahrenheit. This proved beneficial to the slab’s performance because the material did not immediately release its heat energy when the temperature began to drop — holding its release until the material reached 39 degrees Fahrenheit. By contrast, the microencapsulated paraffin began releasing its warming energy as soon as its temperature reached 42 degrees, which contributed to its relatively shorter activation period.

“Our findings suggest that the phase-change material treated lightweight aggregate concrete was more suited for deicing applications at sub-zero temperatures due to its gradual heat release within wider range of temperature,” Farnam said.

Room for Improvement

While both applications were able to raise the temperature of the concrete to between 53- and 55-degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than enough to melt snow. Their performance was affected by the ambient air temperature before a snowfall and the rate of snowfall.

“We found that PCM-incorporated pavements cannot completely melt heavy snow accumulation — larger than 2 inches,” Deb said. “It can, however, melt snowfalls less than two inches quite effectively. The PCM-incorporated slabs begin melting snow as soon as it starts to accumulate. And the gradual heat release can effectively deice a pavement’s surface, which would eliminate the need to pre-salt before the heavy snowfall.”

They also noted that if the phase-change material does not have some time to “recharge” by warming enough to return to its liquid state between freeze-thaw or snow events, then its performance may be diminished.

“Conducting this research was an important step for us to understand how concrete incorporating phase-change material behaves in nature,” Deb said. “With these findings, we will be able to continue to improve the system to one day optimize it for longer heating and greater melting. But it is encouraging to see evidence of significant reduction of freeze-thaw cycles, which demonstrates that PCM concrete is more freeze-thaw durable compared to traditional concrete.”

The team plans to continue to collect data on the slabs to understand the long-term effectiveness of the phase-change materials and study how this method may extend the lifespan of concrete.

Self-heating Concrete Melts Snow 

Drexel University researchers have developed a type of concrete that can warm itself when temperatures fall in order to melt off snow and ice.

CREDIT

Drexel University

---

DOI

10.1061/JMCEE7.MTENG-17048 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

Development of Self-Heating Concrete Using Low-Temperature Phase Change Materials: Multiscale and In Situ Real-Time Evaluation of Snow-Melting and Freeze–Thaw Performance

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Mar-2024

 

Cacao plants' defense against toxic cadmium unveiled

EUROPEAN SYNCHROTRON RADIATION FACILITY

 

IMAGE: 

HESTER BLOMMAERT, PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY GRENOBLE ALPES AND GERALDINE SARRET, RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY GRENOBLE ALPES DURING THE EXPERIMENT AT THE ESRF, THE EUROPEAN SYNCHROTRON

view more 

CREDIT: ESRF

Researchers from the University Grenoble Alpes (UGA), France, together with the ESRF, the European Synchrotron located in Grenoble, France, used ESRF’s bright X-rays to unveil how cacao trees protect themselves from toxic metal cadmium. This knowledge is relevant as new EU regulations restrict cadmium concentration in chocolate. Their results are published in Environmental and Experimental Botany.

Cadmium often accumulates in food, but it is a highly toxic metal, which can be harmful in humans if chronically exposed to it, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization. The EU has imposed limits to the cadmium maximal concentration in foodstuffs such as rice, wheat, potatoes and more recently chocolate.

Whilst there have been studies on how cadmium is transferred from soil to the edible part of stable crops, there is hardly any research on cadmium in cacao cultivars. “Understanding how cadmium builds up in cacao trees is paramount to subsequently find strategies to mitigate the accumulation of this metal in the final product”, explains Geraldine Sarret, researcher at the University Grenoble Alpes (UGA) and co-corresponding author of the publication.

The UGA scientists travelled to the International Cocoa Genebank in Trinidad and Tobago, which hosts a field cacao collection with approximately 2400 cacao genotypes, to collect their samples in collaboration with the Cocoa Research Centre.

Then they came to the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, located in Grenoble, France, to investigate a particular cacao cultivar/variety that absorbs more cadmium than others do. Using synchrotron techniques -nano X-ray fluorescence on ESRF beamline ID16B and X-ray absorption on ID21-, they delved into the micro and nanoscale composition of the different parts of the plant. “Thanks to the ESRF, we could map of the presence of cadmium and other elements in an unprecedented resolution, so we could see the big picture but also going to the smallest detail”, says Hester Blommaert, PhD student at UGA and co-corresponding author of the publication.  ”The concentration of cadmium in the different parts of the plant is very low, so much so that we couldn’t have done this research before EBS”, says Hiram Castillo-Michel, researcher at the ID21 beamline at the ESRF. “In the near future, we will see an increasing number of studies on similar food safety topics at ID21, where our recently installed new microscope will offer enhanced resolution and detection limits”, he adds.

The results yield a surprise: “We found that part of the cadmium is stored in calcium oxalate crystals in roots and branches of the cacao plant, which was unexpected”, explains Blommaert. In particular, the crystals were most abundant in the branches. Interestingly, whilst crystals were present in the leaves, they did not seem to help in detoxifying cadmium in this part of the plant. “We believe that the calcium oxalate crystals are a mechanism of detoxification of the plant against the metal”, she adds.

In addition, they also discovered that cadmium combines with sulphur in certain cells in the roots. This mechanism is well known in roots of cereals, where cadmium is retained in the vacuoles and bound to thiol-containing molecules. In the case of cacao, this mechanism is less pronounced, and more cadmium is transferred to aerial parts.

Overall, the strategy developed by cacao plants to manage cadmium is different from cereals, in terms of root to shoot transfer, storage compartments and storage forms.

“This new knowledge is a prerequisite for the selection or breeding of cacao cultivars accumulating less cadmium, and support a safe cacao production in South America”, says Sarret. “However, we need to continue our studies, using other types of cacao plants and in different environmental conditions, to be able to design more precise strategies”, she concludes.

Reference:

Blommaert, H., et al, Environmental and Experimental Botany, Available online 24 February 2024, 105713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2024.105713

  

The scientists - here Hester Blommaert, Phd at the University Grenoble Alpes- travelled to the International Cocoa Genebank in Trinidad and Tobago, which hosts a field cacao collection with approximately 2400 cacao genotypes, to collect their samples in collaboration with the Cocoa Research Centre. Then they came to the ESRF to investigate a particular cacao cultivar/variety that absorbs more cadmium than others do.

CREDIT

Hester Blommaert

JOURNAL

Environmental and Experimental Botany

DOI

10.1016/j.envexpbot.2024.105713 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Ca-oxalate crystals are involved in cadmium storage in a high Cd accumulating cultivar of cacao

 

Genes identified that allow bacteria to thrive despite toxic heavy metal in soil

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

A NATIVE HILL LOTUS PLANT (ACMISPONBRACHYCARPUS) GROWING HAPPILY IN TOXIC SERPENTINE SOIL DUE TO SUPPORT FROM ITS NITROGEN FIXING RHIZOBIA BACTERIA SYMBIONTS. PHOTO TAKEN AT THE DONALD AND SYLVIA MCLAUGHLIN NATURAL RESERV IN CALIFORNIA. 

view more 

CREDIT: ANGELIQUA MONTOYA, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Some soil bacteria can acquire sets of genes that enable them to pump the heavy metal nickel out of their systems, a study has found. This enables the bacteria to not only thrive in otherwise toxic soils but help plants grow there as well.

A Washington State University-led research team pinpointed a set of genes in wild soil bacteria that allows them to do this in serpentine soils which have naturally high concentrations of toxic nickel. The genetic discovery, detailed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, could help inform future bioremediation efforts that seek to return plants to polluted soils. 

“We can say with certainty that these are the genes that are letting the bacteria survive the heavy metal exposure because if we take them away, they die. If we add them to a new bacterium that was sensitive to the heavy metal, all of the sudden it’s resistant,” said Stephanie Porter, the study’s senior author and a WSU evolutionary ecologist.

Soil bacteria called rhizobia are critical to legume plants, including commercial crops like soybean and alfalfa, since they symbiotically bond with roots and help the plants fix nitrogen, essentially fertilizing the plant.

For this study, Porter and her colleagues took samples of wild rhizobia bacteria from 55 grasslands in Oregon and California, some with nickel-heavy serpentine soils and some without. They conducted a range of genetic analysis and found a set of genes, called the nickel resistance operon, were necessary to allow the bacteria to survive exposure to the heavy metal.

They also found that the adaptation was finely tuned to the level of nickel in the soil. Bacteria from areas with high nickel concentrations had versions of the genes that conferred more tolerance, while those from areas with lower amounts had genes that were not as effective for tolerating higher levels of nickel.

“It’s like there’s this very beautiful matching between these rhizobia and their habitats,” Porter said. “It’s an exquisite evolutionary story about how diversity arises and is maintained in nature—to very closely match the level of challenge that these organisms face.”

The team is investigating further the way the bacteria achieve this adaptation through what is known as “horizontal gene transfer.” Unlike animals, bacteria do not only transfer genetic information from parent to child. They can also share “mobile” sets of genes with peer bacteria just by coming in close contact with them.

Porter likens this process to downloading an app on a smartphone, where one bacterium cell joins up with another in the environment, and they exchange packets of information, essentially sets of genes. The bacterium then “downloads” the information and the new DNA becomes part of that organism’s genome.

Many kinds of bacteria do this to adapt to different environments, said co-author Angeliqua Montoya, a WSU Ph.D. candidate in Porter’s lab. This includes some bacteria which are problematic for humans, such as the harmful bacteria that can acquire resistance to antibiotics.

“There is a whole spectrum of traits that these mobile elements confer in bacteria,” Montoya said.

The researchers are betting that by better understanding these mobile genetic elements, some of these traits can be harnessed to use microbes to help overcome challenges, like polluted soils, that are having increasing impacts.

The work received support from the National Science Foundation, the Murdock Charitable Trust, and Washington State University. Other researchers on the study include first author Hanna Kehlet Delgado and co-authors Camille Wendlandt, Chrisopher Dexheimer, Miles Roberts and Maren Friesen from WSU; Kyson Jenson and Joel Griffitts from Bringham Young University; and Lorena Torres Martinez from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Rhizobia bacteria residing within a plant’s root nodule tissue. Image captured via scanning electron microscope at a Washington State University. 

CREDIT

Abigail Eaker, Washington State University

A native Bird’s-Foot Trefoil plant (Acmisponwrangelianus), showing root nodules filled with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria in a chunk of soil.
 

A natural serpentine soil outcrop--the area devoid of vegetation indicate where high levels of the heavy metal, nickel, are too toxic for many plants to grow. Image taken at the Hopland Research and Extension Center, CA
 

CREDIT

Angeliqua Montoya, Washington State University

---

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2311127121 

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

18-Mar-2024