Research Publications (Food Safety)

Abstract

β-ketoacyl-(acyl carrier protein) reductase (FabG) catalyzes the key reductive reaction in the elongation cycle of fatty acid synthesis (FAS), which is a vital metabolic pathway in bacteria and a promising target for new antibiotic development. The activation of the enzyme is usually linked to the formation of a catalytic triad and cofactor binding, and crystal structures of FabG from different organisms have been captured in either active or inactive conformations.

Xiao-Xin Dai, Xing Duan, Xiang-Shun Cui, Nam-Hyung Kim, Bo Xiong, Shao-Chen Sun

Halina B. Röllin, Tahira Kootbodien, Kalavati Channa, Jon Ø. Odland

Background

The impact of prenatal exposure to cadmium (Cd) on birth outcomes is an area of concern. This study aimed to assess an impact of prenatal Cd exposure on birth outcomes in distinct coastal populations of South Africa.

Methods

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Abstract

Sphingobium sp. strain SYK-6 is able to degrade various lignin-derived biaryls, including a phenylcoumaran-type compound, dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DCA). In SYK-6 cells, the alcohol group of the B-ring side chain of DCA is initially oxidized to the carboxyl group to generate 3-(2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-3-(hydroxymethyl)-7-methoxy-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-5-yl) acrylic acid (DCA-C).

Publication date: Available online 23 October 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology

Author(s): Shruti Agrawal, Pradeep Bhatnagar, S.J.S. Flora

Two previously uncharacterized potential broad-spectrum mercury (Hg) resistance operons (mer) are present on the chromosome of the soil Alphaproteobacteria Xanthobacter autotrophicus Py2.

Although fructooligosaccharides (FOS) can selectively stimulate the growth and activity of probiotics and beneficially modulate the balance of intestinal microbiota, knowledge of the molecular mechanism for FOS metabolism by probiotics is still limited. Here a combined transcriptomic and physiological approach was used to survey the global alterations that occurred during the logarithmic growth of Lactobacillus plantarum ST-III using FOS or glucose as the sole carbon source.

Manure from swine treated with antimicrobials as feed additives is a major source for the expansion of the antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) reservoir in the environment. Vermicomposting via housefly larvae (Musca domestica) can be efficiently used to treat manure and regenerate biofertilizer, but few studies have investigated its effect on ARG attenuation.

Jill F. Kerrigan, Daniel R. Engstrom, Donald Yee, Charles Sueper, Paul R. Erickson, Matthew Grandbois, Kristopher McNeill, William A. Arnold Hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-BDEs) are a new class of contaminants of emerging concern, but the relative roles of natural and anthropogenic sources remain uncertain. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as brominated flame retardants, and they are a potential source of OH-BDEs via oxidative transformations.

Summary

Publication date: Available online 9 October 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology

Author(s): José L. Domingo, Martí Nadal

Publication date: Available online 9 October 2015


Author(s): V. Manimanna Sankarlal, E.D. Testroet, D.C. Beitz, S. Clark

Publication date: March 2016
, Volume 61

Author(s): Søren Sørensen, Kirsten H. Lund, Tommy L. Cederberg, Nicolai Z. Ballin

Abstract

Abstract

Background

Recent studies of natural environments have revealed vast genetic reservoirs of antibiotic resistance (AR) genes. Soil bacteria and human pathogens share AR genes, and AR genes have been discovered in a variety of habitats. However, there is little knowledge about the presence and diversity of AR genes in marine environments and which organisms host AR genes.

DNA-based stable-isotope probing (DNA-SIP) was used in this study to investigate the uncultivated bacteria with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) metabolism capacities in two Chinese forest soils (Mt. Maoer in Heilongjiang Province and Mt. Baicaowa in Hubei Province). We characterized three different phylotypes with responsibility for BaP degradation, none of which were previously reported as BaP-degrading microorganisms by SIP. In Mt.

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin that is biomagnified approximately 1–10 million-fold in aquatic carnivores such as the Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris), whose excreta and molted pelage, in turn, constitute a source of environmental MeHg contamination at the base of marine food chains. The potential for this top-down contamination...