holds promise as a chassis for producing and secreting heterologous proteins. Used for thousands of years to ferment milk, this species has generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status in the USA and qualified presumption of safety (QPS) status in Europe. In addition, it can be easily genetically modified thanks to its natural competence, and it secretes very few endogenous proteins, which means less downstream processing is needed to purify target proteins, reducing costs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMilk is a unique and complete nutritive source for the mammal neonate, also providing immune protection and developmental signals. Lactation is a complex process, proper to the mother and child dyad, and including numerous variables ranging from psychological aspects to the secretory functioning of the mammary epithelial cells, all contributing to a successful breastfeeding. This review gives an integrated overview of the physiology of lactation with a particular focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in milk product secretion and their regulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActive gluconeogenesis is essential to maintain blood glucose concentrations in neonatal piglets because of the high glucose requirements after birth. In several adult mammals, the liver, kidney, and possibly the gut may exhibit gluconeogenesis during fasting and insulinopenic conditions. During the postnatal period, the intestine expresses all of the gluconeogenic enzymes, suggesting the potential for gluconeogenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring lactation, mammary epithelial cells secrete huge amounts of milk from their apical side. The current view is that caseins are secreted by exocytosis, whereas milk fat globules are released by budding, enwrapped by the plasma membrane. Owing to the number and large size of milk fat globules, the membrane surface needed for their release might exceed that of the apical plasma membrane.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndirect immunofluorescence is used to detect and locate proteins of interest in a tissue. The protocol presented here describes a complete and simple method for the immune detection of proteins, the mouse lactating mammary gland being taken as an example. A protocol for the preparation of the tissue samples, especially concerning the dissection of mouse mammary gland, tissue fixation and frozen tissue sectioning, are detailed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCaseins, the main milk proteins, interact with colloidal calcium phosphate to form the casein micelle. The mesostructure of this supramolecular assembly markedly influences its nutritional and technological functionalities. However, its detailed molecular organization and the cellular mechanisms involved in its biogenesis have been only partially established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteraction between the gut microbiota and the host starts immediately after birth with the progressive colonization of the sterile intestine. Our aim was to investigate the interactions taking place in the colonic epithelium after the first exposure to gut microbiota. Germ-free (GF) rats were inoculated with two different microbiotas: the first, obtained from suckling rats, was rich in primocolonizing bacteria and the second, obtained from adult rats, was representative of a mature microbiota.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol
August 2010
Previous studies have suggested that intestinal microbiota modulates colonic epithelium renewal. The objective of our work was to study the effects of microbiota on colonic epithelium structure and cell cycle-related proteins by using gnotobiotic rats. Colonic crypts and amount of cell cycle-related proteins were compared between germ-free (GF), conventional (CV), and conventionalized rats by histochemistry and Western blot.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe expression of the colonic mitochondrial 3-hydroxy 3-methyl glutaryl CoA (mHMGCoA) synthase, a key control site of ketogenesis from butyrate, is lower in germ-free (GF) than in conventional (CV) rats. In contrast, the activity of glutaminase is higher. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the intestinal flora can affect gene expression through short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and butyrate production.
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