12th International Congress on Microbial Interaction and Applications of Beneficial Microbes July 17-18, 2017 Munich, Germany

Andreas Vilcinskas is a Professor of Applied Entomology and Director of the Institute for Insect Biotechnology Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. His fields of research are insect biotechnology; development of innovative approaches for the control of pest and vector insects; insect immunity, ecology and evolution; invasion biology; and genome biology and epigenetics of insects.

Industrial (white) biotechnology focuses on the biotransformation of raw materials into useful industrial products, predominantly using microbes and/or enzymes. Insects, the most diverse group of organisms on the earth, owe part of their evolutionary success in extreme habitats to their own version of white biotechnology-symbiosis with microorganisms. The presentation highlights how the industrial biotechnology toolbox can be expanded by developing insect-associated microbes as biological resources for the production of enzymes and as tools in their own right, e.g. for the conversion of biomass. Focusing on selected examples such as the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens, the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides or the clothes moth Tineola bisselliella it is demonstrated how advanced and complementary methods covering biochemistry (bioassays, proteomics), molecular biology (genomics, RNA-Seq and candidate gene-centered analysis of insect hosts and their microbiota) and cell biology (cell cultures, enzyme assays, biotechnology-based processing) are used to decipher the interactions between insect species occupying unique ecological niches and their microbiota, emphasizing the partitioning of adaptive processes between the host and symbionts to convert biomass more efficiently.

Associated Professor at University of Gdansk, Poland. He is a graduate of Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk in Gdansk (2006). ln 2006 he received a year-fellowship from EU Marie Curie Early Stage Research programme and from 2006 till2007 he worked as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck lnstitute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany. Scholar of doctoral studies at the Netherlands lnstitute of Ecology, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in Wageningen, the Netherlands (2007-2011). Postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University and Research Center - Plant Research lnternational in Wageningen, the Netherlands (2011- 2012), Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology in the lntercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdansk and Medical University of Gdansk (2012-2016). ln 2013 received a fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for outstanding young scientists (2013-2016) and in 2014 fellowship from The Foundation of Polish Science in the EU Skills Mentoring Programme. Between 2013 and 2015 was a Secretary of Polish Society of Experimental Plant Biology, Presently, a member of The Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and a member of editorial board of BioTechnoloqia and Journal of Plant Pathology.

It is forecasted that the world population will reach 10 billion people by 2050. Overpopulation, climate instability and plant pest and diseases are directly responsible for increasing global hunger. It is estimated that more than 60% of the human population is starving and plant diseases play a major role in food shortages worldwide. Global loss of staple crops due to plant pathogens is predictably estimated to be as high as even 40 percent. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important staple food crops worldwide and the fourth main food crop after rice, maize and wheat. The area of potato cultivation is rapidly increasing especially in developing regions. In Europe potato has always been recognized as an significant food crop. Intensive potato cultivation together with the international potato tuber market may result in the increased risk of transmission and spread of potato diseases that lead to decrease of crop quality and yield. Diseases caused by pectinolytic bacteria: blackleg during potato cultivation and soft rot of potato tubers in storage and transit are among the most important bacterial diseases leading to substantial losses in potato production in Europe and worldwide. Traditional pathogen control methods based on chemical and physical applications are insufficient to cure infected potato tubers from pectinolytic bacteria as well as they are unable to prevent spread of the pathogens in the field. Biological (environmentally friendly) control of plant pathogens could be an alternative to chemical and physical approaches. We are eager to develop new biological control strategies based on the use of beneficial bacteria and bacteriophages in order to prevent buildup of the pathogen populations in potato tubers. This presentation acknowledges past and present work on biological control of potatopathogens – pectinolytic bacteria, with the major focus on research leading to commercialization.

Vladimir Zajac has completed his PhD. in 1982 at the Cancer Research Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava (Slovakia), where he worked as the Head of Department of Cancer Genetics from 1996 to 2010. He joined the Medical Faculty of the Comenius University as Associate Professor of Genetics in 2007. He has published 72 papers mostly in reputed journals and he was editor of the book “Bacteria, viruses and parasites in AIDS process” (InTech, 2011)

We have identified HIV-like sequences homologous with HIV-1 isolates for about 90% and HIV-like proteins in bacteria/ yeasts in a cohort of 80 AIDS patients from Slovakia, USA, Kenya and Cambodia. Based on these results, we assume that HIV is an integral part of humans from the beginning of our existence and bacteria and yeasts are natural hosts of HIV, thereby affording affinity to T cells. The results obtained and the subsequent analysis have led us to believe that on the epidemic of "Black Dead" in the 14th century participated except Yersenia pestis and other agents, and thus in our view he is HIV. This version corresponds to the means of human-to-human transmission, speed and intensity of the epidemic. This epidemic took place in Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa,but not in America and sub-Saharan Africa. The victims of the Black Death epidemic were individuals with a damaged immune system due to violation of symbiosis between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic kingdom in their body. The epidemic was so devastating, because resulted also in the elimination of HIV carriers. Those who survived had delta 32 mutation in the CCR5 co-receptor, which is predominantly expressed in T cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, and eosinophils. A mutation to prevent participants from Yersenie pestis infection, but the smallpox virus and HIV infection, as well. The “Black Dead” epidemic results in an increase in the number of CCR5 delta 32 mutations in the Caucasus population to 10%, in some areas to 15-20%. This epidemic on the other side as "sanitary process" led to the restoration of balance between the two kingdoms in the human body and to the recovery of most of the human population. In Sub-Saharan Africa, this epidemic and subsequent "sanitation process" has not taken place and that’s why HIV-related genetic information has not been eliminated in the population. Therefore, there is no CCR5Δ32 mutation in this population and the level of HIV genetic information is much higher than in other parts of the world. Options to remedy this situation in Sub-Saharan Africa are under discussion. Confirmation of the presented hypothesis can bring new insight into AIDS, especially in Africa, and open up new possibilities in diagnostics and therapy of this syndrome.