Synergistic Action of Mild Heat and Essential Oil Treatments on Culturability and Viability of ATCC 25922 Tested In Vitro and in Fruit Juice.

The strengthening effect of a mild temperature treatment on the antimicrobial efficacy of essential oils has been widely reported, often leading to an underestimation or a misinterpretation of the product’s microbial status. In the present study, both a traditional culture-based method and Flow Cytometry (FCM) were applied to monitor the individual or combined effect of Origanum vulgare essential oil (OEO) and mild heat treatment on the culturability and viability of Escherichia coli in a conventional culture medium and in a fruit juice challenge test. The results obtained in the culture medium showed bacterial inactivation with an increasing treatment temperature (55 °C, 60 °C, 65 °C), highlighting an overestimation of the dead population using the culture-based method; in fact, when the FCM method was applied, the prevalence of injured bacterial cells in a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state was observed.

Chromosome analysis and sorting.

Flow cytometric analysis and sorting of plant mitotic chromosomes has been mastered by only a few laboratories worldwide. Yet, it has been contributing significantly to progress in plant genetics, including the production of genome assemblies and the cloning of important genes. The dissection of complex genomes by flow sorting into the individual chromosomes that represent small parts of the genome reduces DNA sample complexity and streamlines projects relying on molecular and genomic techniques.

A Cross between Bread Wheat and a 2D(2R) Disomic Substitution Triticale Line Leads to the Formation of a Novel Disomic Addition Line and Provides Information of the Role of Rye Secalins on Breadmaking Characteristics.

A bread wheat line (N11) and a disomic 2D(2R) substitution triticale line were crossed and backrossed four times. At each step electrophoretic selection for the seeds that possessed, simultaneously, the complete set of high molecular weight glutenin subunits of N11 and the two high molecular weight secalins of rye, present in the 2D(2R) line, was carried out. Molecular cytogenetic analyses of the BCF generation revealed that the selection carried out produced a disomic addition line (2n = 44).

First detailed karyo-morphological analysis and molecular cytological study of leafy cardoon and globe artichoke, two multi-use Asteraceae crops.

Traditionally globe artichoke and leafy cardoon have been cultivated for use as vegetables but these crops are now finding multiple new roles in applications ranging from paper production to cheese preparation and biofuel use, with interest in their functional food potential. So far, their chromosome complements have been poorly investigated and a well-defined karyotype was not available. In this paper, a detailed karyo-morphological analysis and molecular cytogenetic studies were conducted on globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus Linnaeus, 1753 var.