Grammatical gender and linguistic relativity: A systematic review

Many languages assign nouns to a grammatical gender class, such that ‘bed’ might be assigned masculine gender in one language (e.g. Italian) but feminine gender in another (e.g. Spanish). In the context of research assessing the potential for language to influence thought (the linguistic relativity hypothesis), a number of scholars have investigated whether grammatical gender assignment ‘rubs off’ on concepts themselves, such that Italian speakers might conceptualise beds as more masculine than Spanish speakers. We systematically reviewed 43 pieces of empirical research examining grammatical gender and thought, which together tested 5,895 participants. We classified the findings in terms of their support for this hypothesis, and assessed the results against parameters previously identified as potentially influencing outcomes. Overall, we found that support was strongly task- and context-dependent, and rested heavily on outcomes that have clear and equally-viable alternative explanations. We also argue that it remains unclear whether grammatical gender is in fact a useful tool for investigating relativity

New plant glycoprotein against methicillin resistant staphylococci and enterococci

International audienc

Gluco-oligosaccharides synthesized by glucosyltransferases from constitutive mutants of Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain Lm 28

International audienceAims: To find different types of glucosyltransferases (GTFs) produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain Lm 28 and its mutant forms, and to check the effectiveness of gluco-oligosaccharide synthesis using maltose as the acceptor. Methods and Results: Constitutive mutants were obtained after chemical mutagenesis by ethyl methane sulfonate. Lm M281 produced more active GTFs than that obtained by the parental strain cultivated on sucrose. GTF from Lm M286 produced a resistant glucan, based on endo-dextranase and amyloglucosidase hydrolysis. The extracellular enzymes from Lm M286 catalyse acceptor reactions and transfer the glucose unit from sucrose to maltose to produce gluco-oligosaccharides (GOS). By increasing the sucrose/maltose ratio, it was possible to catalyse the synthesis of oligosaccharides of increasing degree of polymerization (DP). Conclusions: Different types of GTFs (dextransucrase, alternansucrase and levansucrase) were produced from new constitutive mutants of Leuc. mesenteroides. GTFs from Lm M286 can catalyse the acceptor reaction in the presence of maltose, leading to the synthesis of branched oligosaccharides. Significance and Impact of the Study: Conditions were optimized to synthesize GOS by using GTFs from Lm M286, with the aim of producing maximum quantities of branched-chain oligosaccharides with DP 3-5. This would allow the use of the latter as prebiotics

Effect of enterococcin A 2000 on biological and synthetic phospholipid membranes

International audienc

A newly discovered bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecalis 3915

International audienceDifferent Enterococci, isolated from starters for the production of the traditional Bulgarian yellow cheese 'Kashkaval'were screened for bacteriocin production, and one of them, Enterococcus faecalis 3915 demonstrated bacteriocin activity. In this study, we investigated the growth parameters of the producer strain as well as the production kinetics and preliminary characterisation of the produced bacteriocin named enterocin 3915. For the growth modelling, the logistic model was used, while bacteriocin production was monitored. Experiments on inducibility were conducted, and strain was checked for the presence of plasmids. The peptide was crudely purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by preparative PAGE. The approximate molecular mass was determined electrophoretically,and the activity was visualised by electrophoresis and agar overlay technique. It was found that E. faecalis 3915produces a bacteriocin with constitutive synthesis and chromosomal localisation of its genetic determinants. The peptide revealed to be relatively heat-stable with a molecular mass of about 6.5 kDa. As E. faecalis 3915 originates from cheese starter it can be classified as generally recognised as safe (GRAS). The inhibitory activity of enterocin 3915 comprises commensals or pathogens, so properties generally accepted as probiotic could be attributed to the producer, and potential application in the dairy industry is not to be exclude

A recombinant C121S mutant of bovine Beta-lactoglobulin is more susceptible to peptic digestion and to denaturation by reducing agents and heating

International audienc

Proteolytic activity of Enterococcus faecalis VB63F for reduction of allergenicity of bovine milk proteins

International audienceWith the aim of screening proteolytic strains of lactic acid bacteria to evaluate their potential for the reduction of allergenicity of the major bovine milk proteins, we isolated a new proteolytic strain of Enterococcus faccalis (Ent. faccalis VB63F) from raw bovine milk. The proteases produced by this strain had strong activity against caseins (alpha(S1)-, alpha(S2)-, and beta-casein), in both skim milk and sodium caseinate. However, only partial hydrolysis of whey proteins was observed. Proteolysis of Na-caseinate and whey proteins, observed after sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE, was confirmed by analysis of peptide profiles by reversed-phase HPLC. Inhibition of proteolysis with EDTA indicated that the proteases produced by Eat. faccalis VB63F belonged to the group of metalloproteases. The optimal conditions for their activity were 42 degrees C and pH 6.5. The majority of assessed virulence genes were absent in Ent. faecalis VB63F. The obtained results suggest that Ent. faecolis VB63F could be efficient in reducing the immunoreactivity of bovine milk proteins