The Impact of the Mode of Pheasant Hanging on the Biogenic Amine Concentration in Muscles

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of hanging position of hunted pheasant carcasses (secured by the head as compared to hanging position secured by the legs) on the biogenic amine concentration in the thigh and breast muscles. The carcasses of feathered game (Phasianus colchicus), left entirely untreated after hunting and placed in a storage space at a pre-set temperature of 7 °C for 21 days were used in the study. Samples of breast and thigh muscles were taken at regular weekly intervals. Measurement of biogenic amines (putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine, tryptamine, histamine, phenylethylamine) was based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. Higher biogenic amine concentrations were detected in the muscles (both breast and thigh) of pheasants hanging by their legs compared to pheasants hanging by their heads (no statistically significant difference in biogenic amine concentration between monitored groups was, however, established). Higher concentrations of biogenic amines were found in the thigh muscles compared to breast muscles in both monitored groups. The obtained results show, that hanging the carcasses of pheasants during storage by the head is more suitable method in term of biogenic amine concentration than storing carcasses hanging by the legs

A Genome-Wide Approach to Discovery of Small RNAs Involved in Regulation of Virulence in Vibrio cholerae

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are becoming increasingly recognized as important regulators in bacteria. To investigate the contribution of sRNA mediated regulation to virulence in Vibrio cholerae, we performed high throughput sequencing of cDNA generated from sRNA transcripts isolated from a strain ectopically expressing ToxT, the major transcriptional regulator within the virulence gene regulon. We compared this data set with ToxT binding sites determined by pulldown and deep sequencing to identify sRNA promoters directly controlled by ToxT. Analysis of the resulting transcripts with ToxT binding sites in cis revealed two sRNAs within the Vibrio Pathogenicity Island. When deletions of these sRNAs were made and the resulting strains were competed against the parental strain in the infant mouse model of V. cholerae colonization, one, TarB, displayed a variable colonization phenotype dependent on its physiological state at the time of inoculation. We identified a target of TarB as the mRNA for the secreted colonization factor, TcpF. We verified negative regulation of TcpF expression by TarB and, using point mutations that disrupted interaction between TarB and tpcF mRNA, showed that loss of this negative regulation was primarily responsible for the colonization phenotype observed in the TarB deletion mutant

Structural flexibility of RNA as molecular basis for Hfq chaperone function

In enteric bacteria, many small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) associate with the RNA chaperone host factor Q (Hfq) and often require the protein for regulation of target mRNAs. Previous studies suggested that the hexameric Escherichia coli Hfq (Hfq(Ec)) binds sRNAs on the proximal site, whereas the distal site has been implicated in Hfq-mRNA interactions. Employing a combination of small angle X-ray scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance and biochemical approaches, we report the structural analysis of a 1:1 complex of Hfq(Ec) with a 34-nt-long subsequence of a natural substrate sRNA, DsrA (DsrA(34)). This sRNA is involved in post-transcriptional regulation of the E. coli rpoS mRNA encoding the stationary phase sigma factor RpoS. The molecular envelopes of Hfq(Ec) in complex with DsrA(34) revealed an overall asymmetric shape of the complex in solution with the protein maintaining its doughnut-like structure, whereas the extended DsrA(34) is flexible and displays an ensemble of different spatial arrangements. These results are discussed in terms of a model, wherein the structural flexibility of RNA ligands bound to Hfq stochastically facilitates base pairing and provides the foundation for the RNA chaperone function inherent to Hfq