The mechanism of vault opening from the high resolution structure of the N-terminal repeats of MVP

Vaults are ubiquitous ribonucleoprotein complexes involved in a diversity of cellular processes, including multidrug resistance, transport mechanisms and signal transmission. The vault particle shows a barrel-shaped structure organized in two identical moieties, each consisting of 39 copies of the major vault protein MVP. Earlier data indicated that vault halves can dissociate at acidic pH. The crystal structure of the vault particle solved at 8 Å resolution, together with the 2.1-Å structure of the seven N-terminal domains (R1–R7) of MVP, reveal the interactions governing vault association and provide an explanation for a reversible dissociation induced by low pH. The structural comparison with the recently published 3.5 Å model shows major discrepancies, both in the main chain tracing and in the side chain assignment of the two terminal domains R1 and R2

Using trendsetting chefs to design new culinary preparations with the "Penjar" tomato

New food products are normally marketed after research regarding consumers' preferences. As an alternative, we used trendsetting chefs to develop and evaluate products with the traditional, long shelf life,Postprint (published version

Long-term postharvest aroma evolution of tomatoes with the alcobaça (alc) mutation

The postharvest evolution of Penjar tomatoes has been studied in four accessions representative of the variability of the varietal type. The long-term shelf life of these materials, which carry the alc allele, was confirmed with 31.2-59.1% of commercial fruits after 6 months of effective conservation at room temperature and a limited loss of weight (21.1-27.9%). Aroma in Penjar tomatoes is differentiated from other tomato varieties by a characteristic 'sharp-floral' aroma descriptor. The evolution of the 'sharp-floral' aroma during postharvest showed a peak of intensity at 2 months of postharvest, though in one accession a delay of 2 months in this response was detected. Out of 25 volatiles analysed, including main and background notes, a reverse iPLS variable selection revealed that the main candidates behind this aromatic behaviour are ¿-terpineol, trans-2-hexenal, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, trans-2-octenal, ¿-pinene, ß-ionone, 2 + 3-methylbutanol and phenylacetaldehyde. Between harvest and 2 months postharvest, most compounds reduced considerably their concentration, while the intensity of the 'sharp-floral' descriptor increased, which means that probably there is a rearrangement of the relative concentrations among volatiles that may lead to masking/unmasking processes. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.This work was supported by grants from the Conselleria de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacio de la Comunidad Valenciana, the Fundacion de la Comunidad Valenciana para la Investigacion Agroalimentaria (AGROALIMED) and from the Departament d'Agricultura, Alimentacio i Accio Rural (DAR) de la Generalitat de Catalunya.Casals Missio, J.; Cebolla Cornejo, J.; Rosello Ripolles, S.; Beltran Arandes, J.; Casanas, F.; Nuez Viñals, F. (2011). Long-term postharvest aroma evolution of tomatoes with the alcobaça (alc) mutation. 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HortScience 22:632–634Baldwin EA, Scott JW, Shewmaker CK, Schuch W (2000) Flavor trivia and tomato aroma: biochemistry and possible mechanisms for control of important aroma components. HortScience 35:1013–1022Kovács K, Rupert CF, Tikunov Y, Graham N, Bradley G, Seymour GB, Bovy AG, Grierson D (2009) Effect of pleiotropic ripening mutations on flavour volatile biosynthesis. Phytochemistry 70:1003–1008Gao HY, Zhu BZ, Zhu HL, Zhang YL, Xie YH, Li YC, Luo YB (2007) Effect of suppression of ethylene biosynthesis on flavour products in tomato fruits. Russ J Plant Physiol 54:80–88Lewinsohn E, Sitrit Y, Bar E, Azulay Y, Meir A, Zamir D, Tadmor Y (2005) Carotenoid pigmentation affects the volatile composition of tomato and watermelon fruits, as revealed by comparative genetic analyses. J Agric Food Chem 53:3142–3148Kopeliovitch E, Mizrahi Y, Rabinowitch D, Kedar N (1980) Physiology of the mutant alcobaca. Physiol Plant 48:307–311Casals J, Pacual L, Cañizares J, Cebolla-Cornejo J, Casañas F, Nuez F (2011) Genetic basis of long shelf life and variability into Penjar tomato. Genet Resour Crop Evol. doi: 10.1007/s10722-011-9677-6Kuzyomenskii AV (2007) Effect of cumulative polymery of tomato keeping life genes. Cytol Genet 41:268–275Paran I, van der Knaap E (2007) Genetic and molecular regulation of fruit and plant domestication traits in tomato and pepper. J Exp Bot 58:3841–3852Moretti CL, Baldwin EA, Sargent SA, Huber DJ (2002) Internal bruising alters aroma volatile profiles in tomato fruit tisúes. HortScience 37:378–382Buttery RG, Teranishi R, Ling LC (1987) Fresh tomato aroma volatiles: a qualitative study. J Agric Food Chem 35:540–544Romero del Castillo R, Valero J, Casañas F, Costell E (2008) Training validation and maintenance of a panel to evaluate the texture of dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). J Sens Stud 23:303–319Beltran J, Serrano E, López FJ, Peruga A, Valcárcel M, Roselló S (2006) Comparison of two quantitative GC-MS methods for analysis of tomato aroma based on purge-and-trap and on solid-phase microextraction. Anal Bioanal Chem 385:1255–1264Martens H, Naes T (1989) Multivariate Calibration. Wiley, New YorkWise BM, Gallagher NB, Bro R, Shaver JM, Windig W, Koch RS (2006) Chemometrics tutorial for PLS_Toolbox and Solo. Eigenvector Research, WenatcheeHongsoongnern P, Chambers E (2008) A lexicon for texture and flavor characteristics of fresh and processed tomatoes. J Sens Stud 23:583–599Norgaard L, Saudland A, Wagner J, Nielsen JP, Munck L, Engelsen SB (2000) Interval partial least-squares regression (iPLS): A comparative chemometric study with an example from near-infrared spectroscopy. Appl Spectrosc 54:413–419Javanmardi J, Kubota C (2006) Variation of lycopene, antioxidant activity, total soluble solids and weight loss of tomato during postharvest storage. Postharvest Biol Technol 41:151–155Kader AA (1986) Effects of postharvest handling procedures on tomato quality. Acta Hort 190:209–222Maul F, Sargent SA, Sims CA, Baldwin EA, Balaban MO, Huber DJ (2000) Tomato flavor and aroma quality as affected by storage temperature. J Food Sci 65:1228–1237Krumbein A, Auerswald H (1998) Characterization of aroma volatiles in tomatoes by sensory analyses. Nahrung 6:S395–S399Tandon KS, Baldwin EA, Shewfelt RL (2000) Aroma perception of individual volatile compounds in fresh tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) as affected by the medium of evaluation. Postharvest Biol Technol 20:261–268Cebolla-Cornejo J, Roselló S, Valcárcel M, Serrano E, Beltran J, Nuez F (2011) Evaluation of genotype and environment effects on taste and aroma flavour components of Spanish fresh tomato varieties. 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Sugar-and-acid profile of Penjar tomatoes and its evolution during storage

The alcobaca mutation in the Penjar tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) variety alters the ripening process and confers a long shelf life (more than four months). Storage of Penjar tomatoes leads to a distinctive sensory profile valued by local consumers, who prefer aged tomatoes to fresh ones. To study chemical changes occurring during storage, we characterized the complete sugar-and-acid profile of 25 accessions at harvest and at 2 and 4 months after harvest. We found considerable variability in the sugar-and-acid profile within the Penjar variety, especially for fructose and glucose. Some accessions presented exceptionally high values for sugars, making them especially interesting for breeding programs. During postharvest, the concentration of glucose, fructose, and citric acid decreased, whereas the concentration of malic and glutamic acids increased. Data from this study offer novel insights into postharvest changes in tomato quality parameters and help elucidate the reasons for the appreciation of this variety by consumers.Postprint (published version

Bovine Host Genetic Variation Influences Rumen Microbial Methane Production with Best Selection Criterion for Low Methane Emitting and Efficiently Feed Converting Hosts based on Metagenomic Gene Abundance

Methane produced by methanogenic archaea in ruminants contributes significantly to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The host genetic link controlling microbial methane production is unknown and appropriate genetic selection strategies are not developed. We used sire progeny group differences to estimate the host genetic influence on rumen microbial methane production in a factorial experiment consisting of crossbred breed types and diets. Rumen metagenomic profiling was undertaken to investigate links between microbial genes and methane emissions or feed conversion efficiency. Sire progeny groups differed significantly in their methane emissions measured in respiration chambers. Ranking of the sire progeny groups based on methane emissions or relative archaeal abundance was consistent overall and within diet, suggesting that archaeal abundance in ruminal digesta is under host genetic control and can be used to genetically select animals without measuring methane directly. In the metagenomic analysis of rumen contents, we identified 3970 microbial genes of which 20 and 49 genes were significantly associated with methane emissions and feed conversion efficiency respectively. These explained 81% and 86% of the respective variation and were clustered in distinct functional gene networks. Methanogenesis genes (e.g. mcrA and fmdB) were associated with methane emissions, whilst host-microbiome cross talk genes (e.g. TSTA3 and FucI) were associated with feed conversion efficiency. These results strengthen the idea that the host animal controls its own microbiota to a significant extent and open up the implementation of effective breeding strategies using rumen microbial gene abundance as a predictor for difficult-to-measure traits on a large number of hosts. Generally, the results provide a proof of principle to use the relative abundance of microbial genes in the gastrointestinal tract of different species to predict their influence on traits e.g. human metabolism, health and behaviour, as well as to understand the genetic link between host and microbiome