By 'working with the willing', the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) has successfully facilitated industrial symbiosis throughout the UK and, in the process, delivered significant economic and environmental benefits for both Programme members and the country as a whole. One of the keys to NISP's success is that, unlike failed attempts to plan and construct eco-industrial systems fr...

The nitrogen fixation (nif) genes of nodule-forming Bradyrhizobium strains are generally located on symbiosis islands or symbiosis plasmids, suggesting that these genes have been transferred laterally. The nif genes of rhizobial and non-rhizobial Bradyrhizobium strains were compared in order to infer the evolutionary histories of nif genes. Based on all codon positions, the phylogenetic tree of...

To survive the juvenile stage, giant clam juveniles need to establish a symbiotic relationship with the microalgae Symbiodinium occurring in the environment. The percentage of giant clam juveniles succeeding in symbiosis establishment ("symbiosis rate") is often low, which is problematic for seed producers. We investigated how and why symbiosis rates vary, depending on whether giant clam seeds ...

Coral reef ecosystems thrive in tropical oligotrophic oceans because of the relationship between corals and endosymbiotic dinoflagellate algae called Symbiodinium. Symbiodinium convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into organic carbon and oxygen to fuel coral growth and calcification, creating habitat for these diverse and productive ecosystems. Light is thus a key regulating factor shaping the p...

The soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti establishes nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with its leguminous host plant, alfalfa, following a series of continuous signal exchanges. The complexity of the changes of alfalfa root structures during symbiosis and the amount of S. meliloti genes with unknown functions raised the possibility that more S. meliloti genes may be required for early stages of the s...

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis has been shown to improve maize tolerance to different drought stress scenarios by regulating a wide range of host plants aquaporins. The objective of this study was to highlight the differences in aquaporin regulation by comparing the effects of the AM symbiosis on root aquaporin gene expression and plant physiology in two maize cultivars with contrast...

Industrial symbiosis networks are generally assumed to provide economic and environmental benefits for all firms involved, though few quantifications have been produced in the literature, and the methods for these quantifications have varied. This paper provides an approach to quantify environmental performance of industrial symbiosis using guidance from the literature of life cycle assessment....

Many ants live in complex mutualistic or parasitic relationships with other insects or plants, some of which are classical examples of the mutual benefit of symbiosis. However, only in the past few years have new insights into the symbiosis of ants and microorganisms been reported. Examples are the symbiosis of ants of the genus Camponotus with intracellular bacteria present in their midgut, an...

A recent study has hypothesised a glucose-lactate metabolic symbiosis between adjacent hypoxic and oxygenated regions of a developing tumour, and proposed a treatment strategy to target this symbiosis. However, in vivo experimental support remains inconclusive. Here we develop a minimal spatial mathematical model of glucose-lactate metabolism to examine, in principle, whether metabolic symbiosi...