Fractal structures and silica films formed by the Treignac water on inert and biological surfaces.

The Treignac water is a natural mineral water containing mainly orthosilicic acid. On inert substrates, it forms a silica film with fractal structures which cannot be reproduced in laboratory-reconstituted water. These structures form by condensation of orthosilicic acid monomers, following the Witten-Sander model of diffusion-limited aggregation.

Tolerance of Douglas Fir Somatic Plantlets to Aluminum Stress: Biological, Cytological, and Mineral Studies.

Aluminum (Al) is well known as a potent inhibitor of plant growth and development. It is notably present in soils in the soluble and bioavailable form Al when the soil pH drops below 5. This situation is frequent, especially in softwood forests when litter decomposition is slow.

Use of a Pleurotus ostreatus Complex Cell Wall Extract as Elicitor of Plant Defenses: From Greenhouse to Field Trial.

Fungi constitute an abundant source of natural polysaccharides, some of them harboring original structures which can induce responses in mammalian or plant cells. An alkaline extract from the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus has been obtained and called Pleuran complex cell wall extract (CCWE). It consists of a glucan-peptide complex whose components fall in a quite broad range of molecular weights, from 30 to 80 kDa.

Agar Extraction By-Products from as a Source of Glycerol-Galactosides.

Alkaline treatment is a common step largely used in the industrial extraction of agar, a phycocolloid obtained from red algae such as . The subsequent residue constitutes a poorly valorized by-product. The present study aimed to identify low-molecular-weight compounds in this alkaline waste.