Physical Fruit Traits in Moroccan Almond Seedlings: Quality Aspects and Post-Harvest Uses

The physical traits of local almond populations from Morocco were studied to characterize their genetic resources and to evaluate the possibility of their commercial valorization. Nut weight ranged between 1.15 and 7.39 g, and kernel weight between 0.54 and 1.85 g, but most accessions were characterized by small kernels, pronounced wrinkles, and double kernels. Although the physical quality of the kernels of these populations was low, they show the possibility of some specialized uses, which could improve their marketable value. The genotypes with favorable values could be incorporated into an almond breeding program as parents to increase the kernel quality.Publishe

The trafficking pathway of a wheat storage protein in transgenic rice endosperm

Background and Aims The trafficking of proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of plant cells is a topic of considerable interest since this organelle serves as an entry point for proteins destined for other organelles, as well as for the ER itself. In the current work, transgenic rice was used to study the pattern and pathway of deposition of the wheat high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin sub-unit (GS) 1Dx5 within the rice endosperm using specific antibodies to determine whether it is deposited in the same or different protein bodies from the rice storage proteins, and whether it is located in the same or separate phases within these. Methods The protein distribution and the expression pattern of HMW sub-unit 1Dx5 in transgenic rice endosperm at different stages of development were determined using light and electron microscopy after labelling with antibodies. Key results The use of HMW-GS-specific antibodies showed that sub-unit 1Dx5 was expressed mainly in the sub-aleurone cells of the endosperm and that it was deposited in both types of protein body present in the rice endosperm: derived from the ER and containing prolamins, and derived from the vacuole and containing glutelins. In addition, new types of protein bodies were also formed within the endosperm cells. Conclusions The results suggest that the HMW 1Dx5 protein could be trafficked by either the ER or vacuolar pathway, possibly depending on the stage of development, and that its accumulation in the rice endosperm could compromise the structural integrity of protein bodies and their segregation into two distinct populations in the mature endosperm

Modal Analysis Of Large-Mode-Area Photonic Crystal Fiber For High Power 2Μm Fiber Lasers

Modal properties of a new-generation polarizing large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber are studied based on the S2 imaging technique. Single mode operation in the 2μm spectral range is demonstrated for coiling diameters smaller than 40cm. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Surface topography, bacterial carrying capacity, and the prospect of microbiome transplants in the sea anemone coral model Aiptasia

Aiptasia is an emerging organism to study cnidarian symbioses due to its taxonomic relatedness to other anthozoans such as stony corals and similarities of its microalgal and bacterial partners, complementing the existing Hydra (Hydrozoa) and Nematostella (Anthozoa) model systems. Despite the availability of studies characterizing the microbiomes of several natural Aiptasia populations and laboratory strains, knowledge on basic information, such as surface topography, bacterial carrying capacity, or the prospect of microbiome transplants is lacking. Here we address these knowledge gaps. Our results show that the surface topographies of the model hydrozoan Hydra and anthozoans differ substantially, whereas the ultrastructural surface architecture of Aiptasia and stony corals is highly similar. Further, we determined a bacterial carrying capacity of ~104 and ~105 bacteria (i.e., colony forming units, CFUs) per polyp for aposymbiotic and symbiotic Aiptasia anemones, respectively, suggesting that the symbiotic status changes microbial association/density. Microbiome transplants from Acropora humilis and Porites sp. to gnotobiotic Aiptasia showed that only a few foreign bacterial taxa were effective colonizers. Our results shed light on the putative difficulties of transplanting microbiomes between cnidarians in a manner that consistently changes microbial host association at large. At the same time, our study provides an avenue to identify bacterial taxa that exhibit broad ability to colonize different hosts as a starting point for cross-species microbiome manipulation. Our work is relevant in the context of microbial therapy (probiotics) and microbiome manipulation in corals and answers to the need of having cnidarian model systems to test the function of bacteria and their effect on holobiont biology. Taken together, we provide important foundation data to extend Aiptasia as a coral model for bacterial functional studies.publishe

Studying And Modelling The Combined Effect Of Temperature And Water Activity On The Growth Rate Of P. Expansum

The effect of solutes, water activity (aw, 0.890–0.980) and temperature (5–25 8C) on the mycelial growth rate of Penicillium expansum was evaluated. The growth rate dropped as the temperature and aw of the medium decreased. NaCl was the solute causing the greatest growth rate reduction, followed by glucose, glycerol and sorbitol. Statistical analysis of the results showed a significant effect of solute, aw, temperature and combinations of two or three of these factors ( P b0.0001). Whatever the solutes and aw values, the initiation of colony growth required an additional day at 15 8C and 5 8C as compared to initiation at 25 8C. Growth models based on the results obtained with sorbitol and glycerol differed only slightly, with R2 values of 97.00% and 97.95%, respectively. The response surfaces of both quadratic polynomial models showed that P. expansum should be able to grow at low aw (0.890) and that growth at 25 8C should be fastest at aw values ranging from 0.960 to 0.980. Both models presented a good fit between predicted and observed values

Biodegradable biopolymer network structures to create delayed burst digestive release of encapsulated lipids

This study sought to investigate whether encapsulation of lipids in core-shell hydrogel structures of tailored shell porosity could create a delayed burst release of encapsulated lipids, and examined the underpinning mechanisms. We demonstrated that gastrointestinal digestion of core-shell structures resulted in a delay in the onset of lipid digestion, without affecting lipid digestion kinetics. Systematic increase in hydrogel protein content above 65 g/L lead to an exponential increase in digestive delay (250 min). Whilst an increase in xanthan content between 5 and 9 g/L lead to a modest decrease in digestive delay (40 min). Rheological investigations revealed a linear relationship between hydrogel storage modulus G′ and digestive breakdown delay (T1/2). Given that G’ is directly related to hydrogel mesh size, this result suggests that the main factor controlling the timing of digestive release is the average mesh size of the outer protein hydrogel. A kinetic model was created to describe the delayed burst release behaviour of encapsulated lipids and successfully predicted the influence of shell thickness, shell protein density on the timing of gastro-intestinal release (in vitro). By combining microstructural/rheological experiments with in vitro digestive studies we have understood the main factors controlling the digestive breakdown of hierarchical biopolymer hydrogels. We could successfully miniaturise these core-shell structures so they would easily empty from the stomach whilst maintaining programmable delayed burst release. We have created a novel family of core-shell hydrogel oral dosage forms for the delivery of poorly soluble drugs and the programmed delivery of lipids within the gut