Project description:Biosynthesis of carboxylic acids and fatty acids from renewable biomass is a key issue in biorefinery. However, their productivities are often limited due to various toxic effects of the products on the host organisms. Here, we have investigated the factors that influence tolerance of Escherichia coli to long chain carboxylic acid (e.g., n-heptanoic acid)-induced stress by using transcriptome analysis. The metabolic and genomic responses of E. coli BL21 and MG1655 strains with n-heptanoic acid indicated that acid stress is one of the major stresses, which might be generated by n-heptanoic acid in addition to the presumed solvent-like stress.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is an important food poisoning bacterium. In food preservation, acidification is a well-known method. Permeant weak organic acids, like lactic and acetic acids, are known to be more effective against bacteria than inorganic strong acids (e.g., HCl). Growth experiments and metabolic and transcriptional analyses were used to determine the responses of a food pathogenic S. aureus strain exposed to lactic acid, acetic acid, and HCl at pH 4.5. Lactic and acetic acid stress induced a slower transcriptional response and large variations in growth patterns compared with the responses induced by HCl. In cultures acidified with lactic acid, the pH of the medium gradually increased to 7.5 during growth, while no such increase was observed for bacteria exposed to acetic acid or HCl. Staphylococcus aureus increased the pH in the medium mainly through accumulation of ammonium and the removal of acid groups, resulting in increased production of diacetyl (2,3-butanedione) and pyrazines. The results showed flexible and versatile responses of S. aureus to different types of acid stress. As measured by growth inhibition, permeant organic acid stress introduced severe stress compared with the stress caused by HCl. Cells exposed to lactic acid showed specific mechanisms of action in addition to sharing many of the mechanisms induced by HCl stress. Data is also available from http://bugs.sgul.ac.uk/E-BUGS-87
Project description:A prospective, randomized and controlled study is proposed to establish whether an enteral nutrition support regimen based on pressurized whey protein and glucose improves the postoperative utilization of amino acid substrates compared to a drink based on glucose alone. The kinetics of protein metabolism (protein breakdown, protein synthesis and amino acid oxidation) will be investigated using stable isotope methodology before and after surgery in patients undergoing colon resection. Stable isotope infusions will be conducted one week before surgery and on the second postoperative day for two hours in the fasted state and for four hours while sipping the enteral nutrition support regimen. Patients will consume one of two enteral nutrition support regimens consisting of a drink containing either pressurized whey protein and glucose or glucose alone. It is hypothesized that an enteral nutrition support regimen based on pressurized whey protein and glucose promotes positive protein balance through increased protein synthesis or reduced protein breakdown compared to glucose alone.
Project description:Exploring the metabolic effects of fish protein is important, as by-products from fish contain large amounts of proteins that could be used for human consumption. The aim of this study was to investigate the postprandial effects of intake of protein from salmon by-products, compared to whey. As part of this effort, the effects on gene expression in liver cells were studied in vitro. This was done by incubating HepG2 cells with human serum taken before (fasting) or 30 and 60 min after intake of salmon protein or whey and comparing that with HepG2 cells incubated in serum-free medium. Transcriptomic profiling of the cells was done with RNA sequencing.
Project description:Differential gene expression analysis of five different strains of Crabtree-negative Saccharomyces cerevisiae that lack pyruvate decarboxylase activity. The three different acids studied were lactic, malic, and 3-hydroxypropionic acid.