Improving pulse crops as a source of protein, starch and micronutrients

Pulse crops have been known for a long time to have beneficial nutritional profiles for human diets but have been neglected in terms of cultivation, consumption and scientific research in many parts of the world. Broad dietary shifts will be required if anthropogenic climate change is to be mitigated in the future, and pulse crops should be an important component of this change by providing an environmentally sustainable source of protein, resistant starch and micronutrients. Further enhancement of the nutritional composition of pulse crops could benefit human health, helping to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies and reduce risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. This paper reviews current knowledge regarding the nutritional content of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.), two major UK pulse crops, and discusses the potential for their genetic improvement

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

The glutamate synthase (GOGAT) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays an important role in the central nitrogen metabolism

Central nitrogen metabolism contains two pathways for glutamate biosynthesis, glutaminases and glutamate synthase (GOGAT), using glutamine as the sole nitrogen source. GOGAT's importance for cellular metabolism is still unclear. For a further physiological characterisation of the GOGAT function in central nitrogen metabolism, a GOGAT-negative (¿glt1) mutant strain (VWk274 LEU+) was studied in glutamine-limited continuous cultures. As reference, we did the same experiments with a wild-type strain (VWk43). Intracellular and extracellular metabolites were analysed during different steady states in both strains. The redox state of the cell was taken into account and the NAD(H) and NADP(H) concentrations were determined as well as the reduced and oxidised forms of glutathione (GSH and GSSG, respectively). The results of this study confirm an earlier suggestion, based on a metabolic network model, that GOGAT may be a link between the carbon catabolic reactions (energy production) and nitrogen anabolic reactions (biomass production) by working as a shuttle between cytosol and mitochondria

Impact of nitrogen sources on the fermentative kinetic and aroma compounds production by non-Saccharomyces yeasts

Impact of nitrogen sources on the fermentative kinetic and aroma compounds production by non-Saccharomyces yeasts. Macrowine 201

The Short Physical Performance Battery is a discriminative tool for identifying patients with COPD at risk of disability

Roberto Bernabeu-Mora,1,2 Françesc Medina-Mirapeix,2 Eduardo Llamazares-Herrán,3 Gloria García-Guillamón,2 Luz María Giménez-Giménez,2 Juan Miguel Sánchez-Nieto1,4 1Division of Pneumology, Hospital Morales Meseguer, 2Department of Physical Therapy, University of Murcia, Murcia, 3Department of Physical Therapy, Alcala University, Alcala de Henares, 4Department of Intern Medical, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain Background: Limited mobility is a risk factor for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related disabilities. Little is known about the validity of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) for identifying mobility limitations in patients with COPD. Objective: To determine the clinical validity of the SPPB summary score and its three components (standing balance, 4-meter gait speed, and five-repetition sit-to-stand) for identifying mobility limitations in patients with COPD.Methods: This cross-sectional study included 137 patients with COPD, recruited from a hospital in Spain. Muscle strength tests and SPPB were measured; then, patients were surveyed for self-reported mobility limitations. The validity of SPPB scores was analyzed by developing receiver operating characteristic curves to analyze the sensitivity and specificity for identifying patients with mobility limitations; by examining group differences in SPPB scores across categories of mobility activities; and by correlating SPPB scores to strength tests.Results: Only the SPPB summary score and the five-repetition sit-to-stand components showed good discriminative capabilities; both showed areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves greater than 0.7. Patients with limitations had significantly lower SPPB scores than patients without limitations in nine different mobility activities. SPPB scores were moderately correlated with the quadriceps test (r>0.40), and less correlated with the handgrip test (r<0.30), which reinforced convergent and divergent validities. A SPPB summary score cutoff of 10 provided the best accuracy for identifying mobility limitations.Conclusion: This study provided evidence for the validity of the SPPB summary score and the five-repetition sit-to-stand test for assessing mobility in patients with COPD. These tests also showed potential as a screening test for identifying patients with COPD that have mobility limitations. Keywords: disability, COPD, mobility, SPPB, five-repetition sit-to-stand, 4-meter gait spee

Effect of pure and mixed cultures of the main wine yeast species on grape must fermentations

10 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables.-- Printed version published June 2010.-- The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comMixed inoculation of non-Saccharomyces yeasts and S. cerevisiae is of interest for the wine industry for technological and sensory reasons. We have analysed how mixed inocula of the main non-Saccharomyces yeasts and S. cerevisiae affect fermentation performance, nitrogen consumption and volatile compound production in a natural Macabeo grape must. Sterile must was fermented in triplicates and under the following six conditions: three pure cultures of S. cerevisiae, Hanseniaspora uvarum and Candida zemplinina and the mixtures of H. uvarum:S. cerevisiae (90:10), C. zemplinina:S. cerevisiae (90:10) and H. uvarum:C. zemplinina:S. cerevisiae (45:45:10). The presence of non-Saccharomyces yeasts slowed down the fermentations and produced higher levels of glycerol and acetic acid. Only the pure H. uvarum fermentations were unable to finish. Mixed fermentations consumed more of the available amino acids and were more complex and thus better able to synthesise volatile compounds. However, the amount of acetic acid was well above the admissible levels and compromises the immediate application of mixed cultures.The present work has been financed by the projects AGL2007-66417-C02-02/ALI and AGL2007-65498-C02-02/ALI of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewe

Evolutionary engineering of a wine yeast strain revealed a key role of inositol and mannoprotein metabolism during low-temperature fermentation

[Background] Wine produced at low temperature is often considered to improve sensory qualities. However, there are certain drawbacks to low temperature fermentations: e.g. low growth rate, long lag phase, and sluggish or stuck fermentations. Selection and development of new Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains well adapted at low temperature is interesting for future biotechnological applications. This study aimed to select and develop wine yeast strains that well adapt to ferment at low temperature through evolutionary engineering, and to decipher the process underlying the obtained phenotypes.[Results] We used a pool of 27 commercial yeast strains and set up batch serial dilution experiments to mimic wine fermentation conditions at 12 °C. Evolutionary engineering was accomplished by using the natural yeast mutation rate and mutagenesis procedures. One strain (P5) outcompeted the others under both experimental conditions and was able to impose after 200 generations. The evolved strains showed improved growth and low-temperature fermentation performance compared to the ancestral strain. This improvement was acquired only under inositol limitation. The transcriptomic comparison between the evolved and parental strains showed the greatest up-regulation in four mannoprotein coding genes, which belong to the DAN/TIR family (DAN1, TIR1, TIR4 and TIR3). Genome sequencing of the evolved strain revealed the presence of a SNP in the GAA1 gene and the construction of a site-directed mutant (GAA1Thr108) in a derivative haploid of the ancestral strain resulted in improved fermentation performance. GAA1 encodes a GPI transamidase complex subunit that adds GPI, which is required for inositol synthesis, to newly synthesized proteins, including mannoproteins.[Conclusions] In this study we demonstrate the importance of inositol and mannoproteins in yeast adaptation at low temperature and the central role of the GAA1 gene by linking both metabolisms.This work has been financially supported by grants AGL2013-47300-C3-3-R and PROMETEOII/2014/042 from the Spanish government and the Generalitat Valenciana, respectively, awarded to JMG. MLM and EGR also want to thank the Spanish government for her FPI grants. Analysis of yeast genomic sequences was made possible through the NIH P41 GM103533 grant funding the Yeast Resource Center. MJD is a Rita Allen Scholar and Fellow in the Genetic Networks program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. MS was supported by NSF fellowship DGE-1256082