Hybridization of cultivated Vitis vinifera with wild V. californica and V. girdiana in California.

Hybridization of introduced domesticates and closely related natives is well documented in annual crops. The widespread introduction of the domesticated grapevine, Vitis vinifera, into California where it overlaps with two native congenerics, with which it is interfertile, provides opportunity to investigate hybridization between woody perennials. Although geographically widespread, the introduction over the past two centuries has been limited to a few elite clonal cultivars, providing a unique opportunity to study the effects of hybridization on the native species.

Gbu glycine betaine porter and carnitine uptake in osmotically stressed Listeria monocytogenes cells.

The food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes grows actively under high-salt conditions by accumulating compatible solutes such as glycine betaine and carnitine from the medium. We report here that the dominant transport system for glycine betaine uptake, the Gbu porter, may act as a secondary uptake system for carnitine, with a K(m) of 4 mM for carnitine uptake and measurable uptake at carnitine concentrations as low as 10 microM. This porter has a K(m) for glycine betaine uptake of about 6 micro M.

Characterization of glycine betaine porter I from Listeria monocytogenes and its roles in salt and chill tolerance.

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic bacterium that can grow at low temperatures and elevated osmolarity. The organism survives these stresses by the intracellular accumulation of osmolytes: low-molecular-weight organic compounds which exert a counterbalancing force. The primary osmolyte in L.