CLIMATE AND HARVEST TIME IMPACT ON AROMATIC COMPOUNDS OF SAUVIGNON BLANC WINE

Research was carried out in vineyard of King Peter I Karadjordjevic-Royal Winery at Oplenac-Topola municipality. Climate parameters included: mean monthly, vegetation and annual temperature and precipitation. Different compounds of aromatic complexes were detected by GC-MS and GC-FID analysis. Wine was made from grapes harvested in full maturity and fifteen days after full maturity. The relationship between measured attributes of aromatic wine complex were visualized using principal component analysis and presented graphically through dispersion diagram. In wine were detected following aromatic compounds: higher alcohols, lactones, organic acids, esters and amides. During  the research it variation of the relative proportion of aromatic compounds was found in Sauvignon blanc wine influenced by different climate conditions, accordingly to temperature and precipitation distribution

Plasmid diversity and phylogenetic consistency in the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi

Background: Bacteria from the genus Borrelia are known to harbor numerous linear and circular plasmids. We report here a comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of 236 plasmids present in fourteen independent isolates of the Lyme disease agent B. burgdorferi. Results: We have sequenced the genomes of 14 B. burgdorferi sensu stricto isolates that carry a total of 236 plasmids. These individual isolates carry between seven and 23 plasmids. Their chromosomes, the cp26 and cp32 circular plasmids, as well as the lp54 linear plasmid, are quite evolutionarily stable; however, the remaining plasmids have undergone numerous non-homologous and often duplicative recombination events. We identify 32 different putative plasmid compatibility types among the 236 plasmids, of which 15 are (usually) circular and 17 are linear. Because of past rearrangements, any given gene, even though it might be universally present in these isolates, is often found on different linear plasmid compatibility types in different isolates. For example, the arp gene and the vls cassette region are present on plasmids of four and five different compatibility types, respectively, in different isolates. A majority of the plasmid types have more than one organizationally different subtype, and the number of such variants ranges from one to eight among the 18 linear plasmid types. In spite of this substantial organizational diversity, the plasmids are not so variable that every isolate has a novel version of every plasmid (i.e., there appears to be a limited number of extant plasmid subtypes). Conclusions: Although there have been many past recombination events, both homologous and nonhomologous, among the plasmids, particular organizational variants of these plasmids correlate with particular chromosomal genotypes, suggesting that there has not been rapid horizontal transfer of whole linear plasmids among B. burgdorferi lineages. We argue that plasmid rearrangements are essentially non-revertable and are present at a frequency of only about 0.65% that of single nucleotide changes, making rearrangement-derived novel junctions (mosaic boundaries) ideal phylogenetic markers in the study of B. burgdorferi population structure and plasmid evolution and exchange

Chromium content in the meat of male Saanen goat kids from Vojvodina (Northern Serbia)

Goats, the earliest ruminant to be domesticated, are traditional sources of meat, milk, fibre, leather, related products of animal origin and as draught and pack animals. Meat is the major product of the goat. Meat quality is the sum of all sensory, nutritive, technological and hygienic-toxicological factors of meat. The aims of this study were to investigate the chromium content of four different muscles (M. psoas major, M. longissimus dorsi, M. semimembranosus and M. triceps brachii) of Saanen goat male kids and to determine whether the chromium contents differed between the muscles. Chromium content was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after dry ashing mineralisation. The studied muscles did not significantly differ (P >0.05) with respect to chromium content. The chromium content ranged from 0.012 to 0.067 mg/100 g, with an average of 0.026 mg/100 g

Use of MODIS Satellite Data to Evaluate Juniperus spp. Pollen Phenology to Support a Pollen Dispersal Model, PREAM, to Support Public Health Allergy Alerts

Pollen can be transported great distances. Van de Water et. al., 2003 reported Juniperus spp. pollen was transported 200-600 km. Hence local observations of plant phenology may not be consistent with the timing and source of pollen collected by pollen sampling instruments. The DREAM (Dust REgional Atmospheric Model, Nickovic et al. 2001) is a verified model for atmospheric dust transport modeling using MODIS data products to identify source regions and concentrations of dust. We are modifying the DREAM model to incorporate pollen transport. Pollen emission is based on MODIS-derived phenology of Juniperus spp. communities. Ground-based observational records of pollen release timing and quantities will be used as model verification. This information will be used to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program and the State of New Mexico environmental public health decision support for asthma and allergies alerts

Genome Stability of Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Comparative Genomics of Borrelia burgdorferi Plasmids

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne human illness in North America. In order to understand the molecular pathogenesis, natural diversity, population structure and epizootic spread of the North American Lyme agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, a much better understanding of the natural diversity of its genome will be required. Towards this end we present a comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the numerous plasmids of B. burgdorferi isolates B31, N40, JD1 and 297. These strains were chosen because they include the three most commonly studied laboratory strains, and because they represent different major genetic lineages and so are informative regarding the genetic diversity and evolution of this organism. A unique feature of Borrelia genomes is that they carry a large number of linear and circular plasmids, and this work shows that strains N40, JD1, 297 and B31 carry related but non-identical sets of 16, 20, 19 and 21 plasmids, respectively, that comprise 33–40% of their genomes. We deduce that there are at least 28 plasmid compatibility types among the four strains. The B. burgdorferi ∼900 Kbp linear chromosomes are evolutionarily exceptionally stable, except for a short ≤20 Kbp plasmid-like section at the right end. A few of the plasmids, including the linear lp54 and circular cp26, are also very stable. We show here that the other plasmids, especially the linear ones, are considerably more variable. Nearly all of the linear plasmids have undergone one or more substantial inter-plasmid rearrangements since their last common ancestor. In spite of these rearrangements and differences in plasmid contents, the overall gene complement of the different isolates has remained relatively constant

Advances in the design of adenoviral vectored vaccines

Replication-incompetent AdV vaccine vectors have a demonstrated ability to induce potent antigen-specific immune responses and an acceptable safety profile in humans. Several immunization schedules have currently been tested in clinical trials; single or multiple doses of an AdV based vaccine followed by a single or multiple dose of an alternative vector (e.g. AdV or MVA), a mixture of monovalent AdV vectors, or an AdV prime combined with (adjuvanted) protein/virus-like particle (VLP) boost. While these schedules have resulted in potent immunity with a favorable safety profile, they may be complex for general implementation after licensure. Advances in the design of AdV vector vaccines offer several alternatives: AdV vectors engineered to display an antigen on the outer capsid surface, functioning much like a VLP vaccine to induce B-cell antigen-specific immune responses. Unlike a typical VLP platform, AdV antigen-display vectors induce potent immune responses without the need for an adjuvant. Importantly, AdV antigen-display vectors can be designed to genetically encode specific antigens. The AdV genome can further be engineered to genetically encode more than one antigen resulting in a ‘multivalent’ vector. This thesis focuses on advancing the design of AdV vectors as vaccines against infectious diseases

Climatic shifts in high quality wine production areas, Emilia Romagna, Italy, 1961-2015

In the presented work, daily observations of minimum and maximum temperatures and precipitation-spatially interpolated in a high-resolution grid (5 x 5 km)-were used to detect climate shifts in the viticultural appellation areas of the Emilia-Romagna (ER) region, in the periods 1961-1990 and 1986-2015. The growing season (April to October) minimum, mean, and maximum temperatures were significantly increased in the second period compared to the first over the majority of the ER. Precipitation did not differ significantly, with the exception of certain small northeastern areas of the ER. The detected changes affected the ER viticultural environment in several ways: (1) an increase in the number of days with maximum temperature exceeding 30 degrees C, which can induce plant stress; (2) changes in starting and ending dates of the climatologically defined growing season, dates of the first fall frost and the last spring frost, and length of the frost-free period; (3) shifts of most vineyard areas from 'Region 2/Region 3' to 'Region 3/Region 4' (according to the Winkler Index); (4) shifts of the majority of the grape-producing zones from 'temperate/warm temperate' to 'warm temperate/warm' (according to the Huglin Index); (5) de creased availability of soil water, which is necessary for grapevine development