Publications by authors named "Barry Axcell"

Increased tolerance of crops to low oxygen (hypoxia) during flooding is a key target for food security. In Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.

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Article Synopsis
  • In oilseed plants, peroxisomal β-oxidation is crucial for lipid breakdown and jasmonate production, with ABC transporters like COMATOSE (CTS) facilitating the import of substrates into peroxisomes.
  • Research on barley, which primarily stores starch, identified two CTS homologues (HvABCD1 and HvABCD2) that are actively expressed during germination and impact processes like jasmonate biosynthesis and grain size.
  • While both HvABCD1 and HvABCD2 display key functions, their effectiveness varies: HvABCD2 enhances various cts-1 mutant phenotypes, whereas HvABCD1 shows limited functionality but influences seed size and hypocotyl sensitivity.
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Membrane active anti-yeast compounds, such as antimicrobial peptides and proteins, cause yeast membrane damage which is likely to affect yeast vitality and fermentation performance, parameters which are notoriously difficult to analyse. In this work the sensitivity of lager brewery yeast strains towards barley malt extracts with anti-yeast activity was assessed with an optimised assay. It was found that yeast, obtained directly from a brewery, was much more sensitive towards the malt extracts than the same yeast strain propagated in the laboratory.

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Historically, mankind and yeast developed a relationship that led to the discovery of fermented beverages. Numerous inventions have led to improved technologies and capabilities to optimize fermentation technology on an industrial scale. The role of brewing yeast in the beer-making process is reviewed and its importance as the main character is highlighted.

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The brewing of beer involves two major biological systems, namely malted barley (malt) and yeast. Both malt and yeast show natural variation and assessing the impact of differing malts on yeast performance is important in the optimisation of the brewing process. Currently, the brewing industry uses well-established tests to assess malt quality, but these frequently fail to predict malt-associated problem fermentations, such as incomplete fermentations, premature yeast flocculation (PYF) and gushing of the final beer product.

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Beer consumers demand satisfactory and consistent foam stability; thus, it is a high priority for brewers. Beer foam is stabilized by the interaction between certain beer proteins, including lipid transfer protein 1 (LTP1), and isomerized hop alpha-acids, but destabilized by lipids. In this study it was shown that the wort boiling temperature during the brewing process was critical in determining the final beer LTP1 content and conformation.

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