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Chen QK, Xiang XH, Yan P, Liu SY. Enhancing strategies of photosynthetic hydrogen production from microalgae: Differences in hydrogen production between prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2024; 406:131029. [PMID: 38925401 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 06/22/2024] [Accepted: 06/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Hydrogen production through the metabolic bypass of microalgae photosynthesis is an environmentally friendly method. This review examines the genetic differences in hydrogen production between prokaryotic and eukaryotic microalgae. Additionally, the pathways for enhancing microalgae-based photosynthetic hydrogen generation are summarized. The main strategies for enhancing microalgal hydrogen production involve inhibiting the oxygen-generating process of photosynthesis and promoting the oxygen tolerance of hydrogenase. Future research is needed to explore the regulation of physiological metabolism through quorum sensing in microalgae to enhance photosynthetic hydrogen production. Moreover, effective evaluation of carbon emissions and sequestration across the entire photosynthetic hydrogen production process is crucial for determining the sustainability of microalgae-based production approaches through comprehensive lifecycle assessment. This review elucidates the prospects and challenges associated with photosynthetic hydrogen production by microalgae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing-Kong Chen
- Engineering Laboratory of Environmental & Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
| | - Xiao-Han Xiang
- Engineering Laboratory of Environmental & Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
| | - Peng Yan
- College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China.
| | - Shao-Yang Liu
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, Troy University, Troy, AL 36082, USA
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2
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Schumann C, Fernández Méndez J, Berggren G, Lindblad P. Novel concepts and engineering strategies for heterologous expression of efficient hydrogenases in photosynthetic microorganisms. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1179607. [PMID: 37502399 PMCID: PMC10369191 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1179607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Hydrogen is considered one of the key enablers of the transition towards a sustainable and net-zero carbon economy. When produced from renewable sources, hydrogen can be used as a clean and carbon-free energy carrier, as well as improve the sustainability of a wide range of industrial processes. Photobiological hydrogen production is considered one of the most promising technologies, avoiding the need for renewable electricity and rare earth metal elements, the demands for which are greatly increasing due to the current simultaneous electrification and decarbonization goals. Photobiological hydrogen production employs photosynthetic microorganisms to harvest solar energy and split water into molecular oxygen and hydrogen gas, unlocking the long-pursued target of solar energy storage. However, photobiological hydrogen production has to-date been constrained by several limitations. This review aims to discuss the current state-of-the art regarding hydrogenase-driven photobiological hydrogen production. Emphasis is placed on engineering strategies for the expression of improved, non-native, hydrogenases or photosynthesis re-engineering, as well as their combination as one of the most promising pathways to develop viable large-scale hydrogen green cell factories. Herein we provide an overview of the current knowledge and technological gaps curbing the development of photobiological hydrogenase-driven hydrogen production, as well as summarizing the recent advances and future prospects regarding the expression of non-native hydrogenases in cyanobacteria and green algae with an emphasis on [FeFe] hydrogenases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Conrad Schumann
- Molecular Biomimetics, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jorge Fernández Méndez
- Microbial Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Gustav Berggren
- Molecular Biomimetics, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Peter Lindblad
- Microbial Chemistry, Department of Chemistry - Ångström, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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Suresh G, Kumari P, Venkata Mohan S. Light-dependent biohydrogen production: Progress and perspectives. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2023; 380:129007. [PMID: 37061171 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The fourth industrial revolution anticipates energy to be sustainable, renewable and green. Hydrogen (H2) is one of the green forms of energy and is deemed a possible solution to climate change. Light-dependent H2 production is a promising method derived from nature's most copious resources: solar energy, water and biomass. Reduced environmental impacts, absorption of carbon dioxide, relative efficiency, and cost economics made it an eye-catching approach. However, low light conversion efficiency, limited ability to utilize complex carbohydrates, and the O2 sensitivity of enzymes result in low yield. Isolation of efficient H2 producers, development of microbial consortia having a synergistic impact, genetically improved strains, regulating bidirectional hydrogenase activity, physiological parameters, immobilization, novel photobioreactors, and additive strategies are summarized for their possibilities to augment the processes of bio-photolysis and photo-fermentation. The challenges and future perspectives have been addressed to explore a sustainable way forward in a bio-refinery approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Suresh
- Bioengineering and Environmental Sciences Lab, Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad 500 007, India
| | - Poonam Kumari
- Bioengineering and Environmental Sciences Lab, Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad 500 007, India; Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - S Venkata Mohan
- Bioengineering and Environmental Sciences Lab, Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad 500 007, India; Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India.
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Xiong D, Happe T, Hankamer B, Ross IL. Inducible high level expression of a variant ΔD19A,D58A-ferredoxin-hydrogenase fusion increases photohydrogen production efficiency in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. ALGAL RES 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.algal.2021.102275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Ben-Zvi O, Grinberg I, Orr AA, Noy D, Tamamis P, Yacoby I, Adler-Abramovich L. Protection of Oxygen-Sensitive Enzymes by Peptide Hydrogel. ACS NANO 2021; 15:6530-6539. [PMID: 33844499 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c09512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Molecular oxygen (O2) is a highly reactive oxidizing agent and is harmful to many biological and industrial systems. Although O2 often interacts via metals or reducing agents, a binding mechanism involving an organic supramolecular structure has not been described to date. In this work, the prominent dipeptide hydrogelator fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine is shown to encage O2 and significantly limit its diffusion and penetration through the hydrogel. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested that the O2 binding mechanism is governed by pockets formed between the aromatic rings in the supramolecular structure of the gel, which bind O2 through hydrophobic interactions. This phenomenon is harnessed to maintain the activity of the O2-hypersensitive enzyme [FeFe]-hydrogenase, which holds promising potential for utilizing hydrogen gas for sustainable energy applications. Hydrogenase encapsulation within the gel allows hydrogen production following exposure to ambient O2. This phenomenon may lead to utilization of this low molecular weight gelator in a wide range of O2-sensitive applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oren Ben-Zvi
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | | | - Asuka A Orr
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3122, United States
| | - Dror Noy
- The Department of Molecular and Computational Biosciences and Biotechnology Migal - Galilee Research Institute, Kiryat Shmona 11016, Israel
- Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel
| | - Phanourios Tamamis
- Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3122, United States
| | - Iftach Yacoby
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
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Chen J, Li Q, Wang L, Fan C, Liu H. Advances in Whole‐Cell Photobiological Hydrogen Production. ADVANCED NANOBIOMED RESEARCH 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/anbr.202000051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jie Chen
- School of Chemical Science and Engineering Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education Tongji University Shanghai 200092 China
| | - Qian Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200240 China
| | - Lihua Wang
- Bioimaging Center Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility Zhangjiang Laboratory, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai 201210 China
| | - Chunhai Fan
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200240 China
| | - Huajie Liu
- School of Chemical Science and Engineering Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education Tongji University Shanghai 200092 China
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Khan S, Fu P. Biotechnological perspectives on algae: a viable option for next generation biofuels. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2020; 62:146-152. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2019.09.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2019] [Revised: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/25/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Weiner I, Feldman Y, Shahar N, Yacoby I, Tuller T. CSO – A sequence optimization software for engineering chloroplast expression in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. ALGAL RES 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.algal.2019.101788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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9
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Ben-Zvi O, Dafni E, Feldman Y, Yacoby I. Re-routing photosynthetic energy for continuous hydrogen production in vivo. BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS 2019; 12:266. [PMID: 31737095 PMCID: PMC6844042 DOI: 10.1186/s13068-019-1608-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hydrogen is considered a promising energy vector that can be produced from sustainable resources such as sunlight and water. In green algae, such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, photoproduction of hydrogen is catalyzed by the enzyme [FeFe]-hydrogenase (HydA). Although highly efficient, this process is transitory and thought to serve as a release valve for excess reducing power. Up to date, prolonged production of hydrogen was achieved by the deprivation of either nutrients or light, thus, hindering the full potential of photosynthetic hydrogen production. Previously we showed that the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) can enhance HydA activity in vitro, specifically when tied together to a fusion protein. RESULTS In this work, we explored the in vivo hydrogen production phenotype of HydA-SOD fusion. We found a sustained hydrogen production, which is dependent on linear electron flow, although other pathways feed it as well. In addition, other characteristics such as slower growth and oxygen production were also observed in Hyd-SOD-expressing algae. CONCLUSIONS The Hyd-SOD fusion manages to outcompete the Calvin-Benson cycle, allowing sustained hydrogen production for up to 14 days in non-limiting conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oren Ben-Zvi
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel
| | - Eyal Dafni
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel
| | - Yael Feldman
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel
| | - Iftach Yacoby
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel
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Weiner I, Shahar N, Marco P, Yacoby I, Tuller T. Solving the Riddle of the Evolution of Shine-Dalgarno Based Translation in Chloroplasts. Mol Biol Evol 2019; 36:2854-2860. [DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msz210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractChloroplasts originated from an ancient cyanobacterium and still harbor a bacterial-like genome. However, the centrality of Shine–Dalgarno ribosome binding, which predominantly regulates proteobacterial translation initiation, is significantly decreased in chloroplasts. As plastid ribosomal RNA anti-Shine–Dalgarno elements are similar to their bacterial counterparts, these sites alone cannot explain this decline. By computational simulation we show that upstream point mutations modulate the local structure of ribosomal RNA in chloroplasts, creating significantly tighter structures around the anti-Shine–Dalgarno locus, which in-turn reduce the probability of ribosome binding. To validate our model, we expressed two reporter genes (mCherry, hydrogenase) harboring a Shine–Dalgarno motif in the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast. Coexpressing them with a 16S ribosomal RNA, modified according to our model, significantly enhances mCherry and hydrogenase expression compared with coexpression with an endogenous 16S gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iddo Weiner
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Noam Shahar
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Pini Marco
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Iftach Yacoby
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Tamir Tuller
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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11
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Shahar N, Weiner I, Stotsky L, Tuller T, Yacoby I. Prediction and large-scale analysis of primary operons in plastids reveals unique genetic features in the evolution of chloroplasts. Nucleic Acids Res 2019; 47:3344-3352. [PMID: 30828719 PMCID: PMC6468310 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Revised: 01/30/2019] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
While bacterial operons have been thoroughly studied, few analyses of chloroplast operons exist, limiting the ability to study fundamental elements of these structures and utilize them for synthetic biology. Here, we describe the creation of a plastome-specific operon database (link provided below) achieved by combining experimental tools and predictive modeling. Using a Reverse-Transcription-PCR based method and published data, we determined the transcription-state of 213 gene pairs from four plastomes of evolutionary distinct organisms. By analyzing sequence-based features computed for our dataset, we were able to highlight fundamental characteristics differentiating between operon pairs and non-operon pairs. These include an interesting tendency toward maintaining similar messenger RNA-folding profiles in operon gene pairs, a feature that failed to yield any informative separation in cyanobacteria, suggesting that it catches unique traits of operon gene expression, which have evolved post-endosymbiosis. Subsequently, we used this feature set to train a random-forest classifier for operon prediction. As our results demonstrate the ability of our predictor to obtain accurate (84%) and robust predictions on unlabeled datasets, we proceeded to building operon maps for 2018 sequenced plastids. Our database may now present new opportunities for promoting metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in chloroplasts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noam Shahar
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Iddo Weiner
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Lior Stotsky
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Tamir Tuller
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- The Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Iftach Yacoby
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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Dafni E, Weiner I, Shahar N, Tuller T, Yacoby I. Image-Processing Software for High-Throughput Quantification of Colony Luminescence. mSphere 2019; 4:e00676-18. [PMID: 30602526 PMCID: PMC6315083 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00676-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2018] [Accepted: 12/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Many microbiological assays include colonies that produce a luminescent or fluorescent (here generalized as "luminescent") signal, often in the form of luminescent halos around the colonies. These signals are used as reporters for a trait of interest; therefore, exact measurements of the luminescence are often desired. However, there is currently a lack of high-throughput methods for analyzing these assays, as common automatic image analysis tools are unsuitable for identifying these halos in the presence of the inherent biological noise. In this work, we have developed CFQuant-automatic, high-throughput software for the analysis of images from colony luminescence assays. CFQuant overcomes the problems of automatic identification by relying on the luminescence halo's expected shape and provides measurements of several features of the colonies and halos. We examined the performance of CFQuant using one such colony luminescence assay, where we achieved a high correlation (R = 0.85) between the measurements of CFQuant and known protein expression levels. This demonstrates CFQuant's potential as a fast and reliable tool for analysis of colony luminescence assays.IMPORTANCE Luminescent markers are widely used as reporters for various biologically interesting traits. In colony luminescence assays, the levels of luminescence around each colony can be used to compare the levels of traits of interest for different strains, treatments, etc., using quantitative measurements of the luminescence. However, automatic methods of obtaining this data are underdeveloped, making this a laborious manual process, especially in analyzing large numbers of colonies. The significance of this work is in developing an automatic, high-throughput tool for quantitative analysis of colony luminescence assays, which will allow fast collection of qualitative data from these assays and thus increase their overall usability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Dafni
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Iddo Weiner
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Noam Shahar
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Tamir Tuller
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Iftach Yacoby
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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