The development of mammalian pre-implantation embryos is inhibited by heat stress, and the inhibitory effect is associated with excess reactive oxygen species (ROS). Folate is a nutrient with various physiological functions including antioxidative effects. We first investigated the transcript expression for 10 enzymes in the cycle of folate metabolism (folate-methionine ...

Synthesis, storage, and turnover of triacylglycerols (TAGs) in adipocytes are critical cellular processes to maintain lipid and energy homeostasis in mammals. TAGs are stored in metabolically highly dynamic lipid droplets (LDs), which are believed to undergo fragmentation and fusion under lipolytic and lipogenic conditions, respectively. Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy showed that ...

Parenteral nutrition (PN) is a complex prescription consisting of many components such as dextrose, amino acids, electrolytes, vitamins, trace elements, and/or intravenous fat emulsions. The ordering process is inconsistent and has led to PN errors. PN prescriptions require knowledge, education for prescribers, and standardized processes. (JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. ...

Fatty acid biosynthesis is essential for bacterial survival. In recent years, components of this biosynthetic pathway have aroused wide concern. β-Ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (FabH) is a particularly attractive target which catalyzes the initial step of fatty acid biosynthesis. In this review, fatty acid biosynthesis, recent advances in the ...

How bacteria grow and divide while retaining a defined shape is a fundamental question in microbiology, but technological advances are now driving a new understanding of how the shape-maintaining bacterial peptidoglycan sacculus grows. In this Review, we highlight the relationship between peptidoglycan synthesis complexes and cytoskeletal elements, as well as ...

An acidic polysaccharide was isolated from Providencia rustigianii O11 by the phenol-water extraction. The polysaccharide was cleaved by solvolysis with triflic acid to yield disaccharides with uronic acid derivatives at the non-reducing end. The polysaccharide and the disaccharides were studied by chemical analyses, high-resolution ESI MS, and 2D (1)H and ...

Herein, we report a phenylboronic acid functionalized gold nanoparticle (GNP)-based colorimetric assay for rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) with high sensitivity. In this approach, GNPs can bind to S. aureus by the reaction of phenylboronic acid with the cis-diol configuration in glycans on the bacterial surface, providing a ...

In this research work we investigated changes in volatile aroma composition associated with four commercial Oenococcus oeni malolactic fermentation (MLF) starter cultures in South African Shiraz and Pinotage red wines. A control wine in which MLF was suppressed was included. The MLF progress was monitored by use of infrared spectroscopy. ...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by intestinal inflammation and is believed to involve complex interactions between genetic, immunological, and environmental factors. We measured changes in the proteome associated with bacterially-induced intestinal inflammation in the interleukin 10 gene-deficient (<i>Il10^-/-</i>) mouse model of IBD, established effects of the dietary polyunsaturated fatty ...

Legionella pneumophila proliferates in environmental amoeba and human cells within the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). The exported AnkB F-box effector of L. pneumophila is anchored into the LCV membrane by host-mediated farnesylation. Here, we report that host proteasomal degradation of Lys(48)-linked polyubiquitinated proteins, assembled on the LCV by AnkB, generates amino ...

Enteric bacterial pathogens are known to effectively pass through the extremely acidic mammalian stomachs and cause infections in the small and/or large intestine of human hosts. However, their acid-survival strategy and pathogenesis mechanisms remain elusive, largely due to the lack of tools to directly monitor and manipulate essential components (e.g. ...

Orthogonal amino acid reporters allow the selective labeling of different cell types in heterogeneous populations through the expression of engineered aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. Here, we demonstrate that para-ethynylphenylalanine (PEP) can be used as an orthogonal amino acid reporter for efficient selective labeling of an intracellular bacterial pathogen during infection.

In this study, three bacterial communities were obtained from 12 Leonardite samples with the aim of identifying a clean, effective, and economic technique for the dissolution of Leonardite, a type of low-grade coal, in the production of humic acid (HA). The biodegradation ability and characteristics of the degraded products of ...

In the present study, the antimicrobial activity of glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) against Staphylococcus aureus, and its influence on the production of S. aureus alpha-haemolysin (Hla) were investigated, along with the in vivo activity of GA against S. aureus-induced pneumonia. GA could not inhibit the growth of S. aureus, but the ...

Sialic acid, a common terminal substitution of glycoconjugates, has been so far consistently identified in all vertebrates as well as in a growing number of bacterial species. It is assumed to be widely distributed among animal species of the deuterostome phylum, based on its identification in few echinoderm and all ...

Although precise mechanisms responsible for all demonstrations of probiotic health benefits are not known, many lines of evidence suggest that probiotics function through direct or indirect impact on colonizing microbiota of the gut. Probiotics can directly influence colonizing microbes through multiple mechanisms, including the production of inhibitory compounds (bacteriocins, short ...

A bacterial isolate (strain JS-2) characterized as Bacillus sp. was challenged with high concentrations of toxic selenite ions. The microbe was found to transform the toxic, soluble, colorless selenite (SeO3 (2-)) oxyions to nontoxic, insoluble, red elemental selenium (Se0). This process of biotransformation was accompanied by cytoplasmic and surface accumulation ...

Under control of the Gac regulatory system, Pseudomonas putida RW10S1 produces promysalin to promote its own swarming and biofilm formation, and to selectively inhibit many other pseudomonads, including the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This amphipathic antibiotic is composed of salicylic acid and 2,8-dihydroxymyristamide bridged by a unique 2-pyrroline-5-carboxyl moiety. In ...

4-Aminothiazolyl analogues of the antibiotic natural product GE2270 A (1) were designed, synthesized, and optimized for their activity against Gram positive bacterial infections. Optimization efforts focused on improving the physicochemical properties (e.g., aqueous solubility and chemical stability) of the 4-aminothiazolyl natural product template while improving the in vitro and in ...

Biofiltration has proven an efficient tool for the elimination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia from livestock facilities, thereby reducing nuisance odors and ammonia emissions to the local environment. The active microbial communities comprising these filter biofilms have not been well characterized. In this study, a trickle biofilter treating ...

This work describes the mechanisms of uranium biomineralization at acidic conditions by Bacillus sphaericus JG-7B and Sphingomonas sp. S15-S1 both recovered from extreme environments. The U-bacterial interaction experiments were performed at low pH values (2.0-4.5) where the uranium aqueous speciation is dominated by highly mobile uranyl ions. X-ray absorption spectroscopy ...

The production of low cost biofuels in engineered microorganisms is of great interest due to the continual increase in the world's energy demands. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can potentially be produced in microbes cost effectively. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are a common component of biodiesel and can ...

Natural killer T (NKT) cells recognize glycolipids produced by Sphingomonas bacteria, and these glycolipids contain C6-oxidized sugars, either glucuronic acid or galacturonic acid, linked to ceramides. Glycolipids with gluco stereochemistry are the most prevalent. Multiple studies have demonstrated that galactosylceramides are more potent stimulators of NKT cells than their glucose ...

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) was originally described as a sexually transmitted infection caused by a single microbe. The prevailing concept describes BV as a polymicrobial coitus-associated disease of uncertain origin. In this overview the natural history of BV as a monobacterial and polymicrobial entity is examined with respect to the physiological ...

Bacterial autolysate, a down stream product of bacterial biomass grown on natural gas by mainly the methanotrophic bacteria Methylococcus capsulatus, was fed at 8% as is to broiler chickens from 1 to 35 days of age for studies of fatty acid composition, lipid oxidation and sensory quality of thigh meat stored ...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Alterations in the gastrointestinal microbiota have been associated with metabolic diseases. However, little is known about host factors that induce changes in gastrointestinal bacterial populations. We investigated the role of bile acids in this process, because of their strong antimicrobial activities-specifically the effects of the bile acid ...

Intracellular TLRs sense viral and bacterial nucleic acids from a wide variety of pathogens. Previous studies have shown that TLR9 requires processing for signalling. Following proteolysis, a fragment corresponding to the C-terminal part of TLR9 was shown to bind MyD88 and to induce signalling when cells were stimulated with TLR9 ...

Production of non-canonical D-amino acids (NCDAAs) in stationary phase promotes remodelling of peptidoglycan (PG), the polymer that comprises the bacterial cell wall. Impairment of NCDAAs production leads to excessive accumulation of PG and hypersensitivity to osmotic shock; however, the mechanistic bases for these phenotypes were not previously determined. Here, we ...

Host nitric oxide (NO⋅) production is important for controlling intracellular bacterial pathogens, including Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. S. Typhmurium 14028s is prototrophic for all amino acids but cannot synthesize methionine (M) or lysine (K) during nitrosative stress. Here, we show that NO⋅-induced MK ...

Bacterial fatty acid synthesis (FAS) is a potentially important, albeit controversial, target for antimicrobial therapy. Recent studies have suggested that the addition of exogenous fatty acids (FAs) to growth media can circumvent the effects of FAS-targeting compounds on bacterial growth. Consequently, such agents may have limited in vivo applicability for ...

Cytotoxic nitic oxide (NO) damages various bacterial macromolecules, resulting in abnormal metabolism by mechanisms largely unknown. We show that NO can cause amino acid auxotrophy in Salmonella Typhimurium lacking major NO-metabolizing enzyme, Flavohemoglobin Hmp. In NO-producing cultures, supplementation with amino acid pool restores growth of Hmp-deficient Salmonella to normal growth ...

OBJECTIVES: The present study is to assess Streptococcus mutans survivability in different starvation conditions and to determine the resistance of starved S. mutans to lethal acid and two common anti-caries agents, sodium fluoride (NaF) and chlorhexidine acetate (CHX). METHODS: S. mutans survival rates in sterile water, PBS, sterile saliva, 1/5 ...

The beta-lactams are the most important class of antibiotics in clinical use. Their lethal targets are the transpeptidase domains of penicillin binding proteins (PBPs), which catalyze the crosslinking of bacterial peptidoglycan (PG) during cell wall synthesis. The transpeptidation reaction occurs in two steps, the first being for-mation of a covalent ...

Cell walls of each of five bacterial strains belonging to the genus Kribbella (family Nocardioidaceae, order Actinomycetales) contain a neutral polysaccharide (mannan) and teichulosonic acid of novel structure in different proportions. The novel teichulosonic acid found in strains VKM Ac-2500, VKM Ас-2568, VKM Ас-2572, and VKM Ас-2575 is a heteropolymer ...

Fusidic acid binds to elongation factor G (EF-G), preventing its release from the ribosome, thus stalling bacterial protein synthesis. In staphylococci, high-level fusidic acid resistance is usually caused by mutations in the gene encoding EF-G, fusA, and low-level resistance is generally caused by the horizontally transferable mechanisms fusB and fusC ...

Representative cider microorganisms (47 yeast strains and 16 bacterial strains) were studied for their ability to produce volatile phenols in a synthetic medium simulating cider conditions and supplemented with the necessary precursors. The various strains were tested for cinnamoyl esterase activity and only Lactobacillus collinoides were able to hydrolyse chlorogenic ...

The frequencies of amino acid residues are known to be biased at both terminal regions of amino acid sequences deduced from bacterial genomic DNA. To investigate whether or not the features of biases of amino acid residues at the terminal regions are related to the bacterial phylogeny, we calculated the ...

INTRODUCTION: Acid orange 52 (AO52), extensively used in textile industries, was decolorized by Pseudomonas putida mt-2. AO52 azoreduction products such as N,N'-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD) and 4-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (4-ABS), were identified in the static degradation mixture. These amines were identified only in media of static incubation, which is consistent with their biotransformation ...

The genus Leontopodium, mainly distributed in Central and Eastern Asia, consists of ca. 34-58 different species. The European Leontopodium alpinum, commonly known as Edelweiss, has a long tradition in folk medicine. Recent research has resulted in the identification of prior unknown secondary metabolites, some of them with interesting biological activities. ...

Hibernation as manifested in ground squirrels is arguably the most plastic and extreme of physiological phenotypes in mammals. Homeostasis is challenged by prolonged fasting accompanied by heterothermy, yet must be facilitated for survival. We performed LC and GC-MS metabolomic profiling of plasma samples taken reproducibly during seven natural stages of ...

This study investigated the effect of silicic acid to the adhesion of Bacillus subtilis to metal oxide-coated surfaces. The first sets of column experiments were conducted under various concentrations of silicic acid. The second and third experiments were performed under various concentrations of sulfate and nitrate to compare the results ...

Plant glandular trichomes exude secondary metabolites with defensive functions, but these epidermal protuberances are surprisingly the first meal of Lepidopteran herbivores on Nicotiana attenuata. O-acyl sugars, the most abundant metabolite of glandular trichomes, impart a distinct volatile profile to the body and frass of larvae that feed on them. The ...

Guadeloupean Parkinsonism has been linked epidemiologically to the consumption of Annonaceae fruits. These were proposed to be etiological agents for sporadic atypical Parkinsonism worldwide, because of their content of neurotoxins such as isoquinolinic alkaloids and Annonaceous acetogenins. The pulp of Annona cherimolia Mill. from Spain was screened for these toxic ...

Aim:Cytarabine is an efficient anticancer agent for acute myelogenous leukemia, but with short plasma half-life and rapid deamination to its inactive metabolite. The aim of this study was to design and synthesize novel cholic acid-cytarabine conjugates to improve its pharmacokinetic parameters.Methods:The in vitro stability of novel cholic acid-cytarabine conjugates was ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy in the world with high morbidity and mortality rate. Identification of novel biomarkers in HCC remains impeded primarily because of the heterogeneity of the disease in clinical presentations as well as the pathophysiological variations derived from underlying conditions such as cirrhosis and steatohepatitis. ...

We report an unambiguous proof of the stability of a carbinol intermediate in the case P450 metabolism of an N-methylated natural cyclo-peptide, namely tentoxin. Under mild acidic or neutral conditions lifetime of carbinol-amide is long enough to be fully characterized. This metabolite has been characterized using specifically labeled (14) C-methyl ...

Untargeted metabolomics on the plasma and urine from wild-type and organic anion transporter-1 (Oat1/Slc22a6) knockout mice identified a number of physiologically important metabolites, including several not previously linked to Oat1-mediated transport. Several, such as indoxyl sulfate, derive from Phase II metabolism of enteric gut precursors and accumulate in chronic kidney ...

The effects of humic acid (HA) on azo dye decolorization by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 were studied. It was found that HA species isolated from different sources could all accelerate the decolorization of Acid Red 27 (AR27). Anoxic and anaerobic conditions were required for the enhancement of azo dye decolorization by ...

The flow of benzene carbon along a food chain consisting of bacteria and eukaryotes, including larvae (Diptera: Chironomidae) was evaluated by total lipid fatty acids (TLFAs)-, amino acid- and protein-stable isotope probing (SIP). A coconut-fiber textile, colonized by a benzene-degrading biofilm, was sampled in a system established for the remediation ...

An extensive study of the secondary metabolites produced by a new Sticta sp. of lichen has led to the isolation of three new compounds containing the 4-amino-3-hydroxy-5-phenylpentanoic acid residue (Ahppa). The structures of stictamides A-C (1-3) were assigned by 2D NMR spectroscopic and chemical methods. Due to extensive epimerization of ...