Benchmark study on algae harvesting with backwashable submerged flat panel membranes.

The feasibility of algae harvesting with submerged flat panel membranes was investigated as pre-concentration step prior to centrifugation. Polishing of the supernatant coming from the centrifuge was evaluated as well. The effect of membrane polymer (polyvinyl chloride [PVC], polyethersulfone polyvinyl-pyrollidone [PES-PVP], poly vinylidene fluoride [PVDF]), pore size (microfiltration [MF], ultrafiltration [UF]), algae cell concentrations and species were investigated at lab-scale.

A bioanalytical method for the proteome wide display and analysis of protein complexes from whole plant cell lysates.

While protein interaction studies and protein network modeling come to the forefront, the isolation and identification of protein complexes in a cellular context remains a major challenge for plant science. To this end, a nondenaturing extraction procedure was optimized for plant whole cell matrices and the combined use of gel filtration and BN-PAGE for the separation of protein complexes was studied. Hyphenation to denaturing electrophoresis and mass spectrometric analysis allows for the simultaneous identification of multiple (previously unidentified) protein interactions in single samples.

Plant cyclic nucleotide signalling: facts and fiction.

The presence of the cyclic nucleotides 3',5'-cyclic adenyl monophosphate (cAMP) and 3',5'-cyclic guanyl monophosphate (cGMP) in plants is now generally accepted. In addition, cAMP and cGMP have been implicated in the regulation of important plant processes such as stomatal functioning, monovalent and divalent cation fluxes, chloroplast development, gibberellic acid signalling, pathogen response and gene transcription. However, very little is known regarding the components of cyclic nucleotide signalling in plants.

Identification of four adenosine kinase isoforms in tobacco By-2 cells and their putative role in the cell cycle-regulated cytokinin metabolism.

Adenosine kinase (ADK), a key enzyme in the regulation of the intracellular level of adenosine is also speculated to be responsible for the conversion of cytokinin ribosides to their respective nucleotides. To elucidate the role of ADK in the cytokinin metabolism of tobacco BY-2 cells (Nicotiana tabacum cv. "Bright Yellow-2"; TBY-2), we have identified and characterized the full-length cDNAs encoding four ADK isoforms of N.

Tansley Review No. 106: Cyclic nucleotides in higher plants: the enduring paradox.

For three decades, hypotheses relating to the occurrence and function of cyclic nucleotides in higher plants have been highly controversial. Although cyclic nucleotides had been shown to have key regulatory roles in animals and bacteria, investigations with higher plants in the 1970s and early 1980s were criticized on the basis of (i) a lack of specificity of effects apparently elicited by cyclic nucleotides, (ii) the equivocal identification of putative endogenous cyclic nucleotides and (iii) ambiguity in the identification of enzymes connected with cyclic nucleotide. More recent evidence based on more rigorous identification procedures has demonstrated conclusively the presence of cyclic nucleotides, nucleotidyl cyclases and cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases in higher plants, and has identified plant processes subject to regulation by cyclic nucleotides.