Project description:Kurozu is a traditional Japanese rice vinegar. During fermentation and aging of the Kurozu liquid in an earthenware jar over 1 year, solid residue called Kurozu Moromi is produced. In the present study, we evaluated whether concentrated Kurozu or Kurozu Moromi could ameliorate cognitive dysfunction in the senescence accelerated P8 mouse. Senescence accelerated P8 mice were fed 0.25% (w/w) concentrated Kurozu or 0.5% (w/w) Kurozu Moromi for 4 or 25 weeks. Kurozu suppressed cognitive dysfunction and amyloid accumulation in the brain, while Kurozu Moromi showed a tendency to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction, but the effect was not significant. We hypothesize that concentrated Kurozu has an antioxidant effect, however, the level of lipid peroxidation in the brain did not differ in senescence accelerated P8 mice. DNA microarray analysis indicated that concentrated Kurozu increased HSPA1A mRNA expression, a protein that prevents protein misfolding and aggregation. The increase in HSPA1A expression by Kurozu was confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR and immunoblotting methods. Therefore, the suppression of amyloid accumulation by concentrated Kurozu may be associated with HSPA1A induction. However, concentrated Kurozu could not increase HSPA1A expression in mouse primary neurons, suggesting it may not directly affect neurons.
Project description:Obtaining large amounts of protein of plant origin is an indispensable prospect from the perspective of environmental changes taking place on earth. However, it is extremely important to be able to diversify the sources of plant proteins, which is affected, among other things, by their local availability, sensitivity to specific climatic conditions of the region, and the qualitative differentiation of amino acids. A lot of data show that higher amounts of protein with improved properties can be obtained from species native to a specific climate zone. In Europe, such species include yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus L.), narrow-leaved lupine (Lupinus angustifolius) and white lupine (Lupinus albus L.). In the case of yellow lupine, the amount may be up to 40% of the dry weight of the seeds. Additionally, these proteins have a favorable amino acid composition. Detailed understanding of the mechanisms and the process of accumulating storage proteins is invaluable for the study of the use of this species to increase the production of plant proteins. In the presented work, yellow lupine seeds cultivar Taper, which were cultivated in the field, were used for the research. Therefore, the aim of the research was to identify genes encoding storage proteins (conglutins) and genes regulating the process of accumulation of storage proteins in the seeds of yellow lupine cultivar Taper in the following days of their development.
Project description:Kurozu is a traditional Japanese rice vinegar. During fermentation and aging of the Kurozu liquid in an earthenware jar over 1 year, solid residue called Kurozu Moromi is produced. In the present study, we evaluated whether concentrated Kurozu or Kurozu Moromi could ameliorate cognitive dysfunction in the senescence accelerated P8 mouse. Senescence accelerated P8 mice were fed 0.25% (w/w) concentrated Kurozu or 0.5% (w/w) Kurozu Moromi for 4 or 25 weeks. Kurozu suppressed cognitive dysfunction and amyloid accumulation in the brain, while Kurozu Moromi showed a tendency to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction, but the effect was not significant. We hypothesize that concentrated Kurozu has an antioxidant effect, however, the level of lipid peroxidation in the brain did not differ in senescence accelerated P8 mice. DNA microarray analysis indicated that concentrated Kurozu increased HSPA1A mRNA expression, a protein that prevents protein misfolding and aggregation. The increase in HSPA1A expression by Kurozu was confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR and immunoblotting methods. Therefore, the suppression of amyloid accumulation by concentrated Kurozu may be associated with HSPA1A induction. However, concentrated Kurozu could not increase HSPA1A expression in mouse primary neurons, suggesting it may not directly affect neurons. Ten-times concentrated Kurozu (CK) was made from Kurozu liquid (Sakamoto Kurozu, Fukuyama, Kagoshima, Japan) by repeated vacuum distillation. The CK diet included 0.25% (w/w) CK in CE-2 basic rodent diet (Nihon CLEA, Tokyo, Japan). Senescence resistance (R1) and senescence accelerated P8 (P8) mice were purchased from Japan SLC (Shizuoka, Japan). Mice were housed at 25±2°C with 55±10% humidity on a 12-h light/dark cycle (lighting time 08:00-20:00). All mice were housed in independent cages and had free access to food and water. All procedures were compliant with the guidelines of the Kagoshima University Animal Ethics Committee (A10030). Ten-week old R1 mice (n=16) were fed a control CE2 diet and P8 mice were divided into three groups as follows: control CE2 diet group (n=9), KM diet group (n=9) or CK diet group (n=9). Feeding of the experimental diet started from 12 weeks of age until sacrificed. All mice were sacrificed under anesthesia at 17 weeks old (4 months old). The left side of the hippocampus region was excised from brains of 4 mice selected at random in each group, and then subjected to microarray analysis.
Project description:Pulses are an important food and are consumed as a sustainable source of plant-based proteins. The demand for pulse proteins is continuously increasing due to their nutritional, economic, and ecological values. Although pulse proteins provide many health benefits, they have limitations in terms of sensory attributes and anti-nutritional factors. To overcome these challenges, fermentation technology has been explored as a natural food processing method, as it has the potential to enhance the techno-functional qualities, sensory attributes, and nutritional value of the products. Spontaneous fermentation is a natural process in which the native microbial population grows in the substrate without the addition of specific microbes or spores. There is a knowledge gap regarding proteomic changes that occur during the spontaneous fermentation of legumes. The current study utilized mass spectrometry-based proteomics to investigate the effects of spontaneous fermentation on three different pulse protein isolates (chickpea, faba bean, and lentils).
Project description:Little is known about the bacteria that reside in human gallbladder and the mechanisms that allow them to survive within this harsh environmental niche. Furthermore, certain bacterial species are considered to exhibit antagonistic activities whilst others may form mutualistic interactions through, for example, cross-feeding. We isolated two new strains from healthy human bile samples, one belonging to Ruminococcus gauvreauii, of Lachnospiraceae family, and other constituting a new specie in Ruminococcaceae family, named Ruminocoides biliarensis. The two strains differed markedly in their carbohydrate metabolism as R. gauvreauii mainly metabolised sugar alcohols, including inositol, to form acetate as unique fermentation product, and Rc. biliarensis mainly metabolised resistant starches to mainly form formate and acetate as fermentation end products. Both strains exhibited resistance to different bile salts, and the ability to sporulate. Amino acid and vitamin biosynthesis profiles also markedly differed between the two bile isolates. Finally,RNAseq was used to analyse the co-cultures of both isolates, to analyze the activities involved in the possible cross-feeding relationship.
Project description:Transcriptome analysis in natural Saccharomyces cerevisiae as function of fermentation stage. Strains used were the reference strain S288C, two (06L3FF02 and 06L6FF20) isolates from the Bairrada wine region, Portugal, three (Lalvin EC-1118, Lalvin ICV D254 and AEB Fermol Rouge) wine yeast obtained commercially and one (J940047) isolate from a human patient. Fermentation was carried out in synthetic must MS300, in semi-anaerobic conditions. Cells were harvested at six time-points during fermentation: early exponential growth (T1), mid-exponential growth (T2), diauxic shift (T3), early stationary growth (T4) Mid-stationary growth (T5) and end of fermentation (T6). Hybridizations were carried out using a common reference design, using RNA obtained from S288C at T2, in dye-swap replicates, and four self-self hybridizations were performed using the common reference sample for control of the experiment background, in a total of 88 hybridizations.
Project description:Campylobacter jejuni has become the predominant cause of sheep abortions in the U.S. However, little is know about the genetic diversity among the isolates collected from different time periods. In this study, the genetic diversity of sheep aborion isolates of C. jejuni was investigated by Array-based CGH