Temperature and presence of ethanol affect accumulation of intracellular trehalose in Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 upon pulsed electric field treatment.

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment can be used to increase intracellular small molecule concentrations in bacteria, which can lead to enhanced robustness of these cells during further processing. In this study we investigated the effects of the PEF treatment temperature and the presence of 8% (v/v) ethanol in the PEF medium on cell survival, membrane fluidity and intracellular trehalose concentrations of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. A moderate PEF treatment temperature of 21 °C resulted in a high cell survival combined with higher intracellular trehalose concentrations compared to a treatment at 10 and 35 °C.

Reversibility of membrane permeabilization upon pulsed electric field treatment in Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1.

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment, or electroporation, can be used to load molecules into cells. The permeabilizing effect of the PEF treatment on the cellular membrane can be either reversible or irreversible depending on the severity of the PEF treatment conditions. The influence of PEF on the reversibility of membrane permeabilization in Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 by two different fluorescent staining methods was investigated in this study.

Identifying inhibitory effects of lignocellulosic by-products on growth of lactic acid producing micro-organisms using a rapid small-scale screening method.

Sugars obtained from pretreated lignocellulose are interesting as substrate for the production of lactic acid in fermentation processes. However, by-products formed during pretreatment of lignocellulose can inhibit microbial growth. In this study, a small-scale rapid screening method was used to identify inhibitory effects of single and combined by-products on growth of lactic acid producing micro-organisms.

The motivation of children to play an active video game.

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of a weekly multiplayer class on the motivation of children aged 9-12 years to play an interactive dance simulation video game (IDSVG) at home over a period of 12 weeks. A sample of 27 children was randomly assigned to (1) a home group instructed to play the IDSVG at home; (2) a multiplayer group instructed to play the IDSVG at home and to participate in a weekly IDSVG multiplayer class. Participants were asked to play the IDSVG as often as they liked and report the playing time daily on a calendar for a 12-week period.

Fission yeast Rad50 stimulates sister chromatid recombination and links cohesion with repair.

To study the role of Rad50 in the DNA damage response, we cloned and deleted the Schizosaccharomyces pombe RAD50 homologue. The deletion is sensitive to a range of DNA-damaging agents and shows dynamic epistatic interactions with other recombination-repair genes. We show that Rad50 is necessary for recombinational repair of the DNA lesion at the mating-type locus and that rad50Delta shows slow DNA replication.