Changes in orange juice characteristics due to homogenization and centrifugation

Two common operations in citrus plants are homogenization and centrifugation. By homogenization, the size of suspended particles decreases and, therefore, cloudiness and color intensity increase. By centrifugation, the total pulp content is controlled. The objective of this paper is to quantify the effect of these operations (and of their combination) on color, cloudiness, suspended pulp, particle size of cloud components, and pectin methylesterase (PME) activity, either in the whole juice or in the two fractions obtained by centrifugation. Results showed that homogenization at 20 MPa give low-pulp well-colored orange juices, although additional treatments are necessary to reduce residual PME activity. Juices with similar physical characteristics were obtained either when the whole juice was homogenized, or when homogenization was applied only to the pulpy fraction obtained by centrifugation and then blending this fraction back with the low pulp fraction.     

Technological characterization of Geotrichum candidum strains isolated from a traditional Spanish goats' milk cheese

Forty-one strains of Geotrichum candidum isolated from Armada cheese, Sobado variety, were screened for their enzymatic activities, including proteolytic and lipolytic activities and aminopeptidase activity. The highest extracellular proteolytic activity was detected for 8 strains with values ranging between 2.086 and 4.685 mM Gly L⁻¹ of milk. Extracellular lipolytic activity was high for all but one of the G. candidum strains, with values ranging between 67 and 131 μmol oleic mL⁻¹. Cell-bound lipase activity showed values which were considerably lower than those for extracellular activity, ranging between 32.50 and 42.50 μmol oleic mL⁻¹ and falling below 20 μmol oleic mL⁻¹ in 28 strains. Aminopeptidase activity was not very high in the cell-free extract (CFE) of any of the strains, showing the highest values toward the substrate Lys-p-nitroanilide, with levels of activity ranging between 6.12 and 10.05 UE mg⁻¹ protein in 8 strains. In accordance with the results obtained, four G. candidum strains were selected as co-cultures in order to study their role in the ripening of a semi-hard goat’s milk cheese.     

Src family tyrosine kinase regulates acrosome reaction but not motility in porcine spermatozoa

During the capacitation process, spermatozoa acquire the ability to fertilize an oocyte, and upregulation of cAMP-dependent protein tyrosine phosphorylation occurs. Recently, Src family tyrosine kinase (SFK) has been involved in spermatozoa capacitation as a key PKA-dependent tyrosine kinase in several species. This work investigates the expression and role of SFK in porcine spermatozoa. SFK members Lyn and Yes are identified in porcine spermatozoa by western blotting as well as two proteins named SFK1 and SFK2 were also detected by their tyrosine 416 phosphorylation, a key residue for SFK activation. Spermatozoa with SFK1 and SFK2 increase their Y416 phosphorylation time-dependently under capacitating conditions compared with noncapacitating conditions. The specific SFK inhibitor SU6656 unaffected porcine spermatozoa motility or viability. Moreover, SFK inhibition in spermatozoa under capacitating conditions leads to a twofold increase in both nonstimulated and calcium-induced acrosome reaction. Our data show that capacitating conditions lead to a time-dependent increase in actin polymerization in boar spermatozoa and that long-term incubation with SFK inhibitor causes a reduction in the F-actin content. In summary, this work shows that the SFK members Lyn and Yes are expressed in porcine spermatozoa and that SFK1 and SFK2 are phosphorylated (activated) during capacitation. Our results point out the important role exerted by SFK in the acrosome reaction, likely mediated in part by its involvement in the actin polymerization process that accompanies capacitation, and rule out its involvement in porcine spermatozoa motility.     

Fast real-time polymerase chain reaction for quantitative detection of Lactobacillus delbrueckii bacteriophages in milk

One of the main microbiological problems of the dairy industry is the susceptibility of starter bacteria to virus infections. Lactobacillus delbrueckii, a component of thermophilic starter cultures used in the manufacture of several fermented dairy products, including yogurt, is also sensitive to bacteriophage attacks. To avoid the problems associated with these viruses, quick and sensitive detection methods are necessary. In the present study, a fast real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay for the direct detection and quantification of L. delbrueckii phages in milk was developed. A set of primers and a TaqMan MGB probe was designed, based on the lysin gene sequence of different L. delbrueckii phages. The results show the proposed method to be a rapid (total processing time 30 min), specific and highly sensitive technique for detecting L. delbrueckii phages in milk.     

Red blood cell trans-18:1 isomeric profile correlates with subcutaneous fat and muscle profiles in beef cattle

Due to significant variation in polyunsaturated fatty acid biohydrogenation products in beef it would be useful to determine if levels of trans-18:1 isomers in samples collected ante-mortem are correlated with those collected post-mortem. Beef blood (RBC), subcutaneous fat (SC) and muscle (intramuscular fat; IM) samples were collected from an experiment with dietary vitamin E with/without flaxseed (n=80) and fatty acids analyzed. Across treatments, correlation analysis of total and individual trans-18:1 isomers were performed between tissues. Correlations between SC and IM were highly significant for all individual and total trans-18:1. RBC trans-18:1 were also well correlated with other tissues except for vaccenic acid. Levels of 10t-, 12t- and 13t/14t- were amongst the best correlated between RBC and SC and IM profiles. Levels of 6t/7t/8t-, 9t-, and 15t-18:1 showed significant but lower correlation factors particularly between RBC and SC. These results confirm the possibility of utilizing blood as a non-destructive sample to predict the total and isomeric profile of trans-18:1 in beef.     

Improving downstream processes to recover tartaric acid,tartrate and nutrients from vinasses and formulation of inexpensive fermentative broths for xylitol production

BACKGROUND: Vinasses, the main liquid wastes from the distillation process of grape marc and wine lees, are acidic effluents with high organic content, including acids, carbohydrates, phenols, and unsaturated compounds with high chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand and solid concentrations. These wastes can be revalued to provide additional benefits when they are employed as feedstock of some compounds including tartaric acid, calcium tartrate and economic nutrients for the elaboration of fermentable broths. RESULT: This study attempts to recover tartaric acid and calcium tartrate from vinasses. All the tartaric acid initially solubilised was recovered in both processes. The residual streams can be successfully employed as economic nutrients for the xylose to xylitol bioconversion, achieving higher global volumetric productivities (Q_{P, xylitol} = 0.232 g L^?1 h^?1) and products yields (Y_xylitol/S = 0.57 g g^?1) than fermentations carried out using commercial nutrients (Q_{P, xylitol} = 0.193 g L^?1 h^?1 and Y_xylitol/S = 0.55 g g^?1 respectively). CONCLUSION: Tartaric acid can be recovered from vinasses in the form of tartaric acid crystals and calcium tartrate. The residual streams generated in the process can be used as economic nutrients for the production of xylitol by D. hansenii. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatographic separation of fatty acids methyl esters with online reduction

The accurate analysis of complex fats and oils often requires combining data from multiple GC separations, fractionation by LC prior to GC analysis, and identifying fatty acids or confirming their identities by mass spectrometry and synthetic reference materials. Comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography markedly increases the number of resolved fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) in a single separation experiment by combining the separations of two capillary columns. The addition of a capillary reducer in front of the second capillary column provides unique separation patterns and structural information for fatty acids based on simple elution rules.     

Gum arabic microcapsules as protectors of the photoinduced degradation of riboflavin in whole milk

Microcapsules (MC) made with gum arabic (GA) as shell material without and with β-carotene (βc) as core material were prepared by the spray-drying technique. The effect of these MC on the photodegradation of riboflavin (Rf) in whole milk by fluorescent daylight lamp irradiation was evaluated at a storage temperature of 4°C. The additions of 1.37 mg/mL of MC without βc (MC-GA) and with 0.54 μg/mL of βc (MC-βc-GA) decreased the apparent first-order rate constant of Rf photodegradation by approximately 26 and 30%, respectively. A systematic kinetic and mechanistic analysis of the results indicates that the global protective effect of the MC is mainly due to the combination of quenching of the electronically excited triplet state of Rf and scavenging of the photogenerated reactive oxygen species, such as singlet molecular oxygen, superoxide radical anion and hydroxyl radical. A minor contribution to the photoprotective effect can be also associated with the inner-filter effect exerted by the MC, which partially blocks the direct excitation of Rf. These results allow us to conclude that photodegradation of Rf in milk can be considerably reduced by the addition of small amounts of MC, avoiding large losses in the nutritional value of milk.