Antioxidant properties of Mediterranean spices compared with common food additives.

In this study, the antioxidant properties of Mediterranean food spices (annatto, cumin, oregano, sweet and hot paprika, rosemary, and saffron) at 5% concentration and of common food additives (butylated hydroxyanisole [BHA], butylated hydroxytoluene [BHT], and propyl gallate) at 100 microg/g are compared. The ability of these compounds to inhibit lipid peroxidation was, in decreasing order, rosemary > oregano > propyl gallate > annatto > BHA > sweet paprika > cumin > hot paprika > saffron > BHT. Deoxyribose damage is partially inhibited in the presence of cumin extract that exhibits the strongest protective action.

Mutations affecting the expression of the MOX gene encoding peroxisomal methanol oxidase in Hansenula polymorpha.

In this study, aimed at identifying genetic factors acting positively upon the MOX gene, we report the isolation and characterisation of several methanol utilisation-defective (Mut-) mutants of Hansenula polymorpha. These fall into 12 complementation groups, eight of which show significant reductions in alcohol (methanol) oxidase activity in methanol. Three of these groups, identifying the MUT3, MUT5 and MUT10 loci, exhibit extremely low levels of MOX promoter activity, not only in methanol medium, but also during growth in glycerol or methylamine.

The vanadate-tolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha undergoes cellular reorganization during growth in, and recovery from, the presence of vanadate.

When present at intracellular concentrations above micromolar, vanadate becomes toxic to most organisms. However, the yeast Hansenula polymorpha is able to grow on vanadate concentrations in the millimolar range, showing at the same time modifications in cellular ultrastructure and polyphosphate metabolism. Here, the development of the ultrastructural changes, and of vacuolar and secretory activities, during exponential growth on vanadate and upon a return to vanadate-free conditions was investigated.

A regulatory mutant of Hansenula polymorpha exhibiting methanol utilization metabolism and peroxisome proliferation in glucose.

Mutant LGM-128 of Hansenula polymorpha harbors the recessive mutation glr2-1 which confers a complex pleiotropic phenotype, the major feature of which is the metabolically unnecessary induction of methanol utilization metabolism (C1 metabolism) during growth on glucose, whether or not methanol is in the medium. Therefore, in this mutant, peroxisomes are formed and proliferate upon cultivation in glucose-containing media. In these media, LGM-128 shows induction levels of C1 metabolism that are similar to those observed in methanol-containing media.

Vanadium affects vacuolation and phosphate metabolism in Hansenula polymorpha.

The yeast Hansenula polymorpha is able to grow on vanadate concentrations that are toxic to other organisms. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that H. polymorpha cells growing on a vanadate-containing medium undergo a significant increase in cell vacuolation and a thickening of the cell wall; the presence of small cytoplasmic vesicles and an increase in cristae at the level of the plasma membrane were also observed.