Publications by authors named "Serge Laplante"

Background: During an inventory of insect diversity on Anticosti Island in 1993, we caught unprecedented numbers of (Mannerheim), a longhorned beetle rarely observed in eastern North America. All specimens were caught using 12-funnel Lindgren traps baited with 95% ethanol and α-pinene. This longhorned beetle was captured again in 2007 on Anticosti with the same traps.

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The transesterification of soybean lecithin with ethyl esters of polyunsaturated fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) using immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei was tested in the presence or absence of organic solvent (hexane) and additives (urea with Ca(2+) or Mg(2+)). The reaction was carried out at a water concentration of 4 % and ethyl ester to phospholipid mass ratio of 3:1. After 24 h of reaction without solvent or additive, fatty acid incorporation reached 29.

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The transesterification of soybean lecithin with methyl esters of EPA and DHA in an organic solvent (hexane) using various commercially available lipases was studied. Lipases produced by Candida antarctica, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Burkholderia cepacia, Mucor miehei, Thermomyces lanuginosus and Rhizomucor miehei were compared, in the absence or presence of histidine, arginine, urea, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, or a combination of urea and divalent cations (additives at 5 % of the total lipid mass). Transesterification using the R.

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Sequential acidic precipitation followed by a single chromatographic step (gel filtration) allowed the recovery of a collagenolytic fraction containing several proteases from by-products of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio). The partial purification was particularly efficient to recover tryptic (purification fold = 1,352.5; yield = 110%) but also chymotryptic, elastolytic, and collagenolytic activities.

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Sterol composition was determined in snow crab hepatopancreas and mackerel and herring viscera for various locations and collection periods. A simple and valuable method, using direct saponification and extraction with water-cyclohexane has been optimized to recover total sterol. They were identified and quantified as trimethylsilyl ether derivatives by GC-MS analysis.

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