In vitro fermentation of prebiotic carbohydrates by intestinal microbiota in the presence of Lactobacillus amylovorus DSM 16998

The aim of this study was to evaluate the assimilation of the prebiotics fructooligosaccharides (FOS), galactooligosaccharides (GOS), and Konjac glucomannan oligosaccharides (KGMO) by three human (H1, H2 and H3) and pig (P1, P2 and P3) faecal microbiotas in the presence of the potentially probiotic strain Lactobacillus amylovorus DSM 16698, using an in vitro batch fermentation model. Total bacteria and L. amylovorus populations were quantified using qPCR and biochemical features (pH, production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA), lactate, ammonia, and carbohydrate assimilation) were determined. L. amylovorus did not have a competitive advantage under in vitro conditions, reflected by its reduced relative abundance during fermentation despite the carbohydrate sources added. Pig microbiota sustained more stable probiotic counts. Intermittently produced lactate was possibly assimilated by the microbiota and converted to other SCFA as the carbohydrates were assimilated, with H3 probably having a methanogenic metabolism with high lactate and acetate consumption except in the presence of FOS, which assimilation resulted in the highest total SCFA for this volunteer. Addition of FOS also resulted in lower pH and ammonia, which might have been used as nitrogen source by pig microbiota. KGMO needed longer fermentation periods to be completely assimilated by both human and porcine faecal microbiotas. Overall, our results reinforce the notion that care must be taken when generalising the effects claimed for a given probiotic or potentially probiotic strain, including the combination with different prebiotic substrates, since they may vary considerably among individuals, which is important when studying potentially pro- and prebiotic combinations for application as functional foods and feed ingredients.

[Structural characterization of tissue-specific galactan from flax fibers by 1H NMR and MALDI TOF mass spectrometry]

A high-molecular-mass polysaccharide galactan (M 2000 kDa) was isolated from flax at the stage of cell wall thickening of the bast fiber development. The polymer structure was studied by 1H NMR spectroscopy and MALDI TOF mass spectrometry. It is built up of Gal (59%), Rha (15%), GalA (23%), and Ara (3%) residues. The galactan backbone consists of successively alternating monomer disaccharide units (--> 4GalA1 --> 2Rha1 -->)n and is similar in its structure to the backbone of rhamnogalacturonan-1 (RG-I). Rhamnose residues bear in position 4 beta-(1 --> 4)-galactose side chains of various lengths with a polymerization degree of up to 28 or higher. A part of the side chains have branchings.

Transmission of bovine herpesvirus 1 within and between herds on an island with a BHV1 control programme

Transmission of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) within and between herds was studied on the island of Ameland, The Netherlands. There were 50 herds with 3300 head of cattle on the island. Herds were divided into three groups: (1) only containing seronegative cattle, (2) containing seronegative cattle and vaccinated seropositive cattle, and (3) containing only vaccinated cattle. All 23 herds in groups 1 and 2 were monitored. Three major outbreaks of BHV1 infections were observed due to the introduction of infectious cattle. Another major outbreak was most likely induced by reactivation of latent BHV1 in seropositive cattle. The basic reproduction ratio within these herds was estimated at least 4. Only one of these outbreaks led to three secondary outbreaks in susceptible herds in which all cattle were seronegative. These outbreaks were most likely due to respectively, direct animal contact, human transmission, and aerogenic transmission. The basic reproduction ratio between herds in this study was estimated to be 0.6.

Analysis of retted and non retted flax fibres by chemical and enzymatic means

Flax fibres (Linum usitatissimum L.) were subjected to chemical and enzymatic analysis in order to determine the compositional changes brought about by the retting process and also to determine the accessibility of the fibre polymers to enzymatic treatment. Chemical analysis involved subjecting both retted and non retted fibres to a series of sequential chemical extractions with 1% ammonium oxalate, 0.05 M KOH, 1 M KOH and 4 M KOH. Retting was shown to cause minimal weight loss from the fibres but caused significant changes to the pectic polymers present. Retted fibres were shown to have significantly lower amounts of rhamnogalacturonan as well as arabinan and xylan. In addition the average molecular mass of the pectic extracts was considerably lowered. Enzyme treatment of the 1 M KOH extracts with two different enzymes demonstrated that the non retted extract contained a relatively high molecular weight xylan not found in the retted extract. Treatment of the 1 M KOH extracts and the fibres with Endoglucanase V from Trichoderma viride demonstrated that while this enzyme solubilised cellulose as well as xylan and xyloglucan oligomers from the extract, it had limited access to these polymers on the fibre. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the material solubilised from the extract suggested that the xylan was randomly substituted with 4-O-methyl glucuronic acid moieties. The xyloglucan was shown to be of the XXXG type and was substituted with galactose and fucose units. The enzyme treatments of the fibres demonstrated that the xylan and xyloglucan polymers in the fibres were not accessible to the enzyme but that material which was entrapped by the cellulose could be released by the hydrolysis of this cellulose.

N-acetylglucosamine and glucosamine-containing arabinogalactan proteins control somatic embryogenesis

In plants, complete embryos can develop not only from the zygote, but also from somatic cells in tissue culture. How somatic cells undergo the change in fate to become embryogenic is largely unknown. Proteins, secreted into the culture medium such as endochitinases and arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are required for somatic embryogenesis. Here we show that carrot (Daucus carota) AGPs can contain glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl and are sensitive to endochitinase cleavage. To determine the relevance of this observation for embryogenesis, an assay was developed based on the enzymatic removal of the cell wall from cultured cells. The resulting protoplasts had a reduced capacity for somatic embryogenesis, which could be partially restored by adding endochitinases to the protoplasts. AGPs from culture medium or from immature seeds could fully restore or even increase embryogenesis. AGPs pretreated with chitinases were more active than untreated molecules and required an intact carbohydrate constituent for activity. AGPs were only capable of promoting embryogenesis from protoplasts in a short period preceding cell wall reformation. Apart from the increase in embryogenesis, AGPs can reinitiate cell division in a subpopulation of otherwise non-dividing protoplasts. These results show that chitinase-modified AGPs are extracellular matrix molecules able to control or maintain plant cell fate.

Rapid molecular mass and structural determination of plant cell wall-derived oligosaccharides using off-line high-performance anion-exchange chromatography/mass spectrometry

A method has been developed for the rapid molecular mass determination and structural elucidation of mixtures of oligosaccharides derived from plant cell walls. The oligosaccharides were fractionated using gel permeation chromatography and 'analytical' high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC), neutralized, dried and the mixtures of eluent salt and oligosaccharides were per-O-acetylated directly. The derivatized oligosaccharides were isolated by dissolution in dichloromethane and the salts were removed by aqueous partitioning. The per-O-acetylated oligosaccharides were analysed using electrospray (ES) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MS). Exploiting the fact that acid-catalysed per-O-acetylation of oligosaccharides can be achieved even under the extremely salty conditions that are found in post-column neutralized HPAEC fractions, and combining this derivatization step with off-line ESMS, allow rapid screening for molecular mass and thus yield information on the composition of the various oligosaccharides in these complex mixtures. Subsequent per-O-methylation of the per-O-acetylated, salt-free fractions and collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometric analysis was used for additional sequence and branching determination of the oligosaccharides.

The precision of motor control in human jaw and limb muscles during isometric contraction in the presence of visual feedback

Experiments showed that the human capacity to maintain a particular isometric force in the presence of visual feedback during a force-level, pursuit-tracking experiment is less developed for the jaw-closing muscles than for the limb muscles. This finding may indicate that the projection on the trigeminal motoneurone pool from visual inputs is poor, or that the trigeminal effector system itself is less finely tuned.