The Impact of Wage Bargaining Regime on Firm-Level Competitiveness and Wage Inequality: The Case of Ireland. ESRI WP266. December 2008

This paper uses a linked employer-employee dataset to analyse the impact of institutional wage bargaining regimes on levels of average labour costs and within firm wage dispersion in private sector companies in Ireland. The results show that while centralised bargaining reduced labour costs within both the indigenous and foreign-owned sectors, the relative advantage was greater among foreign-owned firms. The analysis suggests that there are potentially large competitiveness gains to multinational companies that choose to locate in countries implementing a centralised bargaining system. Furthermore, the results provide additional support to the view that collective bargaining reduces within firm wage inequality

Characterisation of the Transcriptomes of Genetically Diverse <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> Exposed to Hyperosmotic and Low Temperature Conditions Reveal Global Stress-Adaptation Mechanisms

<div><p>The ability of <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> to adapt to various food and food- processing environments has been attributed to its robustness, persistence and prevalence in the food supply chain. To improve the present understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in hyperosmotic and low-temperature stress adaptation of <i>L. monocytogenes</i>, we undertook transcriptomics analysis on three strains adapted to sub-lethal levels of these stress stimuli and assessed functional gene response. Adaptation to hyperosmotic and cold-temperature stress has revealed many parallels in terms of gene expression profiles in strains possessing different levels of stress tolerance. Gene sets associated with ribosomes and translation, transcription, cell division as well as fatty acid biosynthesis and peptide transport showed activation in cells adapted to either cold or hyperosmotic stress. Repression of genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism and transport as well as flagella was evident in stressed cells, likely linked to activation of CodY regulon and consequential cellular energy conservation.</p> </div

Histogram showing distribution of a mean generation time within bootstrap replicates based on the origin of isolate of <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> strains exposed to either a.) 12.5% NaCl or b.) cold 4°C temperature in BHIB.

<p>Histogram showing distribution of a mean generation time within bootstrap replicates based on the origin of isolate of <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> strains exposed to either a.) 12.5% NaCl or b.) cold 4°C temperature in BHIB.</p

Heat map showing statistical trends for down-regulated functionally defined sets of genes in strains of <i>L. monocytogenes</i> exposed to either sub-lethal level of NaCl or cold stresses.

<p>T-test based procedure was used to score the changes in expression of each functional gene set, statistically significant T-values (as determined by a two-tailed P-value) are expressed from -5 (shown in green) to 5 (shown in red). Gene sets were considered significantly up-regulated with T-value ≥ 1 and significantly down-regulated with T-value ≤ -1.</p

Heat map showing statistical trends for up-regulated functionally defined sets of genes in strains of <i>L. monocytogenes</i> exposed to either sub-lethal level of NaCl or cold stresses.

<p>T-test based procedure was used to score the changes in expression of each functional gene set, statistically significant T-values (as determined by a two-tailed P-value) are expressed from -5 (shown in green) to 5 (shown in red). Gene sets were considered significantly up-regulated with T-value ≥ 1 and significantly down-regulated with T-value ≤ -1.</p

Swarming abilities of three strains of <i>L. monocytogenes</i> expressed as average motility zone diameters (mm).

<p>Swarming motility was assessed on semisoft BHIA plates supplemented with NaCl ranging from 0% to 8% w/v either a) at 25°C or b) at 4°C.</p

Heat map showing statistical trends for regulons in strains of <i>L. monocytogenes</i> exposed to either sub-lethal level of NaCl or cold stresses.

<p>T-test based procedure was used to score the changes in expression of each regulon, statistically significant T-values (as determined by a two-tailed P-value) are expressed from -5 (shown in green) to 5 (shown in red). Gene sets were considered significantly up-regulated with T-value ≥ 1 and significantly down-regulated with T-value ≤ -1.</p

Proteomic Insight into Functional Changes of Proteorhodopsin-Containing Bacterial Species <i>Psychroflexus torquis</i> under Different Illumination and Salinity Levels

The extremely psychrophilic proteorhodopsin-containing bacterial species <i>Psychroflexus torquis</i> is considered to be a model sea-ice microorganism, which has adapted to an epiphytic lifestyle. So far, not much is known about proteorhodopsin-based phototrophy and associated life strategies of sea ice bacteria, although it has been previously shown that <i>P. torquis</i> can gain growth advantage from light using a proteorhodopsin proton pump, the activity of which is influenced by environmental salinity. The comprehensive quantitative proteomic study performed here indicated that <i>P. torquis</i> responds to changing salinity and illumination conditions. Proteins in the electron-transfer chain were down-regulated at a suboptimal salinity level, TonB-dependent transporters increased in abundance under supra-optimal salinity and decreased under suboptimal salinity. In addition, several anaplerotic CO₂ fixation proteins and three putative light sensing proteins that contain PAS and GAF domains became more abundant under illumination. Furthermore, central metabolic pathways (TCA and glycolysis) were also induced by both salinity stress and illumination. The data suggest that <i>P. torquis</i> responded to changes in both light energy and salinity to modulate membrane and central metabolic proteins that are involved in energy production as well as nutrient uptake and gliding motility processes that would be especially advantageous during the polar summer ice algal bloom

Proteomic Insight into Functional Changes of Proteorhodopsin-Containing Bacterial Species <i>Psychroflexus torquis</i> under Different Illumination and Salinity Levels

The extremely psychrophilic proteorhodopsin-containing bacterial species <i>Psychroflexus torquis</i> is considered to be a model sea-ice microorganism, which has adapted to an epiphytic lifestyle. So far, not much is known about proteorhodopsin-based phototrophy and associated life strategies of sea ice bacteria, although it has been previously shown that <i>P. torquis</i> can gain growth advantage from light using a proteorhodopsin proton pump, the activity of which is influenced by environmental salinity. The comprehensive quantitative proteomic study performed here indicated that <i>P. torquis</i> responds to changing salinity and illumination conditions. Proteins in the electron-transfer chain were down-regulated at a suboptimal salinity level, TonB-dependent transporters increased in abundance under supra-optimal salinity and decreased under suboptimal salinity. In addition, several anaplerotic CO₂ fixation proteins and three putative light sensing proteins that contain PAS and GAF domains became more abundant under illumination. Furthermore, central metabolic pathways (TCA and glycolysis) were also induced by both salinity stress and illumination. The data suggest that <i>P. torquis</i> responded to changes in both light energy and salinity to modulate membrane and central metabolic proteins that are involved in energy production as well as nutrient uptake and gliding motility processes that would be especially advantageous during the polar summer ice algal bloom

Proteins identified in the current study which are associated with energy metabolism.

<p>Fold change (growth at pH9.0 relative to pH7.3) lmo numbers and KEGG (<a href="http://www.genome.jp/kegg/" target="_blank">http://www.genome.jp/kegg/</a>) enzyme classification numbers are shown.</p