Search results for "GRAS"
showing 10 items of 727 documents
Regulation of the activity of the Cholesteryl Ester Tranfer Protein (CETP) : electrostatics interactions with carboxylic derivatives (Non Esterified …
1997
In human plasma, the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) plays a key role in lipoprotein metabolism by promoting the net mass transfer of cholesteryl esters from HDL towards apoB-containing lipoproteins, and the transfer of triglycerides from VLDL towards HDL and LDL. Thus CETP arises as a potentially important factor in plasma lipoproteins metabolism, a statement which raised a considerable interest in identifying the factors which may regulate CETP activity.In our in vitro studies, we demonstrated that amphipathic molecules (non esterified fatty acids and retinoic acids) constituted of one carboxylic head group and one hydrophobic carbon chain are able to increase the cholesteryl es…
Advanced Strategies for Food-Grade Protein Production: A New
2019
Food-grade production of recombinant proteins in Gram-positive bacteria, especially in LAB (i.e., Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus), is of great interest in the areas of recombinant enzyme production, industrial food fermentation, gene and metabolic engineering, as well as antigen delivery for oral vaccination. Food-grade expression relies on hosts generally considered as safe organisms and on clone selection not dependent on antibiotic markers, which limit the overall DNA manipulation workflow, as it can be carried out only in the expression host and not in E. coli. Moreover, many commercial expression vectors lack useful elements for protein purification. We constructed a “sh…
The mechanisms of the action of omega-3s in the retina
2013
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of visual loss in Western countries after the age of 50y. Based on large-scale epidemiologic studies, it appears now as evident that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) provide benefits in preventing both, early and late stages of AMD. The aim of this paper is to summarize the knowledge about the biological mechanisms by which omega-3 PUFAs may be protective for the retina. The content of this presentation will range from biochemical data about the occurrence of omega-3 PUFAs in retinal cell membranes to results from cellular and animal studies showing that omega-3 PUFAs can influence processes involved in signal transducti…
Soil and Plant Nitrogen Pools as Related to Plant Diversity in an Experimental Grassland
2007
Increasing plant species richness decreases soil NO 3 - concentrations in experimental plant mixtures, but the role of particular plant functional groups has remained unclear. Most analyses have focused on particular times of the year or were restricted to NO 3 - . We tested whether plant species richness or particular plant functional groups affect the size of plant-available N pools in soil (KCl-extractable NO 3 - , dissolved inorganic N and organic N [DON] and total dissolved N [TDN] in soil solution) and N concentrations and pools in aboveground biomass. Furthermore, we assessed seasonal variations in the effects of plant species richness and plant functional groups. The experimental gr…
Variation characteristics of soil respiration fluxes in four types of grassland communities under different precipitation intensity
2005
A two consecutive years’ field experiment was carried out on four types of semiarid grassland along precipitation gradient in Xilin River Basin of Inner Mongolia during 2001–2003 using a static enclosed black chamber technique. The variation characteristics of soil respiration fluxes from four different types of grassland along precipitation gradient were compared. The possible effect of water-heat factors on characteristics of grassland soil respiration was statistically analyzed and the numerical relational model between soil respiration and water-heat factors was established. Meanwhile the soil CO2 annual emissions of different types of grassland were estimated based on the consecutive a…
Semi-natural Grassland Vegetation Database of Latvia
2012
The Semi-natural Grassland Vegetation Database of Latvia (GIVD ID EU-LV-001) was first developed in 1999 as part of the PhD Thesis on syntaxonomy and diversity of dry and mesic grasslands of Latvia. The database includes the original releves established by the author as early as 1997. The majority of releves belongs to the Filipendulo-Helictotrichion (Festuco-Brometea) and Arrhenatheretalia communities, but Molinietalia, Nardetalia, Caricion nigrae, Koelerion glaucae and Plantagini-Festucion are covered, as well. The total number of releves stored is 2,500 and there are approximately 700 releves to be digitised. Plot size varies from 1 to 125 m, the majority of releves are 4-9 m large. Rele…
Seed dispersal by ants: are seed preferences influenced by foraging strategies or historical constraints?
2003
Summary The objective of this study was to quantify preferences of ants for seeds of different plant species and to test if these preferences were caused by foraging strategies or by historical constraints. We compared seed removal rates of ten different ant-dispersed plant species found in temperate forests, along forest edges and in grassland. We found significant differences in seed removal rates among the ten species. To test if these differences were caused by foraging strategies we examined the relationship between seed and elaiosome size and seed removal rate. We found that seeds with larger elaiosomes had significantly higher removal rates. To test the historical constraint hypothes…
Pampa Biome Environmental Particularities Regarding to Energy Balance
2020
Ecosystem evapotranspiration (ET) has been quantified around the world by different methodologies to understand the energy balance, especially to control the evolution of climate change. It is known that the vegetation of the pampa biome is natural grasslands, it has a large variety of species (flora and fauna), however is it different in the environmental aspects related to the energy balance when compared to the grassland cultivated? In this study the objective was to analyze the environmental differences of the Pampa Biome related to the energy balance in comparison with the pastures cultivated in Barrax, Spain. In the first one the minimum daily ET is 0.99 mm/day, while in the second is…
Grasslands and Shrublands of Kazakhstan and Middle Asia
2020
Abstract Kazakhstan and Middle Asia comprise 4 million km2 of plains, uplands and tall mountain ranges in the core of the Eurasian continent. The region's semi-arid climate, grazing pressure by wild and domestic ungulates, and long pastoral tradition, have given rise to a variety of open habitat types and a distinct flora and fauna. Grasslands and shrublands are a natural and dominant vegetation type in the forest-steppe and steppe zone of northern and central Kazakhstan, as part of the Eurasian grassland biome. In Middle Asia, grasslands and shrublands are widespread habitat types in the Tian Shan, Pamir-Alai and Pamir—mountain systems that have been recently acknowledged as a global biodi…
Impact of climate, soil properties and grassland cover on soil water repellency
2021
Abstract Numerous soil water repellency (SWR) studies have investigated the possible causes of this temporal phenomenon, yet there remains a lack of knowledge on the order of importance of the main driving forces of SWR in the context of changing environmental conditions under grassland ecosystems. To study the separate and combined effects of soil texture, climate, and grassland cover type on inducing or altering SWR, four sites from different climatic and soil regions were selected: Ciavolo (CI, IT), Csolyospalos (CSP, HU), Pwllpeiran (PW, UK), Sekule (SE, SK). The investigated parameters were the extent (determined by repellency indices RI, RIc and RIm) and persistence (determined by wat…