586 research outputs found
Heterologous expression of Oenococcus oeni malolactic enzyme in Lactobacillus plantarum for improved malolactic fermentation
Lactobacillus plantarum is involved in a multitude of food related industrial fermentation processes including the malolactic fermentation (MLF) of wine. This work is the first report on a recombinant L. plantarum strain successfully conducting MLF. The malolactic enzyme (MLE) from Oenococcus oeni was cloned into the lactobacillal expression vector pSIP409 which is based on the sakacin P operon of Lactobacillus sakei and expressed in the host strain L. plantarum WCFS1. Both recombinant and wild-type L. plantarum strains were tested for MLF using a buffered malic acid solution in absence of glucose. Under the conditions with L-malic acid as the only energy source and in presence of Mn2+ and NAD+, the recombinant L. plantarum and the wild-type strain converted 85% (2.5 g/l) and 51% (1.5 g/l), respectively, of L-malic acid in 3.5 days. Furthermore, the recombinant L. plantarum cells converted in a modified wine 15% (0.4 g/l) of initial L-malic acid concentration in 2 days. In conclusion, recombinant L. plantarum cells expressing MLE accelerate the malolactic fermentation
First measurement of the 14N(p,gamma)15O cross section down to 70 keV
In stars with temperatures above 20*10^6 K, hydrogen burning is dominated by
the CNO cycle. Its rate is determined by the slowest process, the
14N(p,gamma)15O reaction. Deep underground in Italy's Gran Sasso laboratory, at
the LUNA 400 kV accelerator, the cross section of this reaction has been
measured at energies much lower than ever achieved before. Using a windowless
gas target and a 4pi BGO summing detector, direct cross section data has been
obtained down to 70 keV, reaching a value of 0.24 picobarn. The Gamow peak has
been covered by experimental data for several scenarios of stable and explosive
hydrogen burning. In addition, the strength of the 259 keV resonance has been
remeasured. The thermonuclear reaction rate has been calculated for
temperatures 90 - 300 *10^6 K, for the first time with negligible impact from
extrapolations
Feasibility of low energy radiative capture experiments at the LUNA underground accelerator facility
The LUNA (Laboratory Underground for Nuclear Astrophysics) facility has been
designed to study nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. It is located
deep underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy. Two
electrostatic accelerators, with 50 and 400 kV maximum voltage, in combination
with solid and gas target setups allowed to measure the total cross sections of
the radiative capture reactions H(p,)3He and
N(p,)O within their relevant Gamow peaks. We report on
the gamma background in the Gran Sasso laboratory measured by germanium and
bismuth germanate detectors, with and without an incident proton beam. A method
to localize the sources of beam induced background using the Doppler shift of
emitted gamma rays is presented. The feasibility of radiative capture studies
at energies of astrophysical interest is discussed for several experimental
scenarios.Comment: Submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Search for B^0-> p p-bar, Lambda Lambda-bar and B^+ -> p Lambda-bar at Belle
We report on a new search for two-body baryonic decays of the B meson.
Improved sensitivity compared to previous Belle results is obtained from 414
fb^-1 of data that corresponds to 449 million B B-bar pairs, which were taken
on the Upsilon(4S) resonance and collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB
e^+e^- collider. No significant signals are observed and we set the 90%
confidence level upper limits: Br(B^0-> p pbar) Lambda
Lambda-bar) p Lambda-bar) < 3.2X10^-7.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Search for the X(1812) in
We report on a search for the X(1812) state in the decay with a data sample of pairs collected
with the Belle detector at the KEKB collider. No significant signal is
observed. An upper limit (90% C.L.) is determined. We also constrain the
three-body decay branching fraction to be 1.9 (90% C.L.).Comment: 5pages,2 figures(3 figure files). submitted to PRD(RC
Evidence for B- -> tau- nu_bar with a Semileptonic Tagging Method
We present a measurement of the decay B- -> tau- nu_bar using a data sample
containing 657 million BB_bar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with
the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. A sample of
BB_bar pairs are tagged by reconstructing one B meson decaying
semileptonically. We detect the B- -> tau- nu_bar candidate in the recoil. We
obtain a signal with a significance of 3.6 standard deviations including
systematic uncertainties, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B- ->
tau- nu_bar) = [1.54+0.38-0.37(stat)+0.29-0.31(syst)]*10^-4. This result
confirms the evidence for B- -> tau- nu_bar obtained in a previous Belle
measurement that used a hadronic B tagging method.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, corrected references, to appear in PRD-R
Measurements of exclusive B_s^0 decays at the Y(5S) resonance
Several exclusive decays are studied using a 1.86 fb-1 data sample
collected at the Y(5S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric
energy e^+ e^- collider. In the decay mode we find 10
candidates and measure the corresponding branching fraction. Combining
the B_s^0 -> D_s^{(*)-} \pi^+, B_s^0 -> D_s^{(*)-} \rho^+, B_s^0 -> J/\psi \phi
and B_s^0 -> J/\psi \eta decay modes, a significant signal is observed.
The ratio \sigma (e^+ e^- -> B_s^* \bar{B}_s^*) / \sigma (e^+ e^- -> B_s^{(*)}
\bar{B}_s^{(*)}) = (93^{+7}_{-9} \pm 1)% is obtained at the Y(5S) energy,
indicating that meson production proceeds predominantly through the
creation of pairs. The and meson masses are
measured to be M(B_s^0)=(5370 \pm 1 \pm 3)MeV/c^2 and M(B_s^*)=(5418 \pm 1 \pm
3)MeV/c^2. Upper limits on the B_s^0 -> \gamma \gamma, B_s^0 -> \phi \gamma,
B_s^0 -> K^+ K^- and B_s^0 -> D_s^{(*)+} D_s^{(*)-} branching fractions are
also reported.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, published in Phys. Rev. D76, 012002 (2007
Search for B+ -> D*+ pi0 decay
We report on a search for the doubly Cabibbo suppressed decay B+ -> D*+ pi0,
based on a data sample of 657 million BBbar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S)
resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+ e- collider.
We find no significant signal and set an upper limit of Br(B+ -> D*+ pi0) < 3.6
x 10^-6 at the 90% confidence level. This limit can be used to constrain the
ratio between suppressed and favored B -> D* pi decay amplitudes, r < 0.051, at
the 90% confidence level.Comment: 5pages, 2figures, submitted to PRL (v1); PRL published version (v2:
minor corrections in the text
Measurement of Azimuthal Asymmetries in Inclusive Production of Hadron Pairs in e+e- Annihilation at Belle
The Collins effect connects transverse quark spin with a measurable azimuthal
dependence in the yield of hadronic fragments around the quark's momentum
vector. Using two different reconstruction methods we observe statistically
significant azimuthal asymmetries for charged pion pairs in e+e- annihilation
at a center-of-mass energy of 10.52 GeV, which can be attributed to a
transverse polarization of the primordial quarks. The measurement was performed
using a sample of 79 million hadronic events collected with the Belle detector.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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