Molecular structure and granule morphology of native and heat‐moisture‐treated pinhão starch

Pinhão seed is an unconventional source of starch and the pines grow up in native forests of southern Latin America. In this study, pinhão starch was adjusted at 15, 20 and 25% moisture content and heated to 100, 110 and 120 °C for 1 h. A decrease in λ max (starch/iodine complex) was observed as a result of increase in temperature and moisture content of HMT. The ratio of crystalline to amorphous phase in pinhão starch was determined via Fourier transform infra red by taking 1045/1022 band ratio. A decrease in crystallinity occurred as a result of HMT. Polarised light microscopy indicated a loss of birefringence of starch granules under 120 °C at 25% moisture content. Granule size distribution was further confirmed via scanning electron microscopy which showed the HMT effects. These results increased the understanding on molecular and structural properties of HMT pinhão starch and broadened its food and nonfood industrial applications.     

Effect of gums on viability and β‐galactosidase activity of Lactobacillus spp. in milk drink during refrigerated storage

The viability and β‐galactosidase activity of four Lactobacillus strains in milk drink containing gums during 28 days of refrigerated storage at 4 °C were assessed. The population of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB101 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB103 were maintained, whereas the population of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM20016 and Lactobacillus reuteri SD2112 significantly decreased. The recommended level of 6 log CFU g^?1 was exceeded for all tested trains throughout storage. The highest viable number of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGB103 (8.76 ± 0.03 log CFU mL^?1) was obtained in the product containing carrageenan–maltodextrin. The addition of guar–locust bean–carrageenan led to 20‐fold increase in the level of β‐galactosidase activity for L. rhamnosus GGB101 (1208 ± 2.12 Miller units mL^?1) compared to the control (61 ± 2.83 Miller units mL^?1). Our results suggested that gums could be added to milk to improve viability and enhance β‐galactosidase activity of Lactobacillus.     

Effects of different carbon sources and C/N values on nonvolatile taste components of Pleurotus eryngii

Pleurotus eryngii, the second largest industrial cultivation mushroom in China, is usually cultivated on substrates mainly consisting of sawdust and corncob. In this study, experiments were performed to determine the effects of different carbon sources and C/N values on nonvolatile taste components of P. eryngii. The effects of different carbon sources on nonvolatile taste components levels revealed that sawdust was beneficial to high levels of crude protein, amino acids, 5′‐nucleotides and equivalent umami concentration, while corncob was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and trehalose. At the similar C/N values, relatively higher sawdust content was beneficial to umami amino acid production, while relatively higher corncob content was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and mannitol. Higher C/N value was beneficial to high levels of crude protein, amino acids, 5′‐nucleotides and equivalent umami concentration, while lower C/N value was beneficial to high contents of carbohydrate, polysaccharides and trehalose. These results provided information for P. eryngii fruit body industrial cultivation to obtain specific nonvolatile taste components with high levels.     

Modelling of chromatic contrast for retrieval of wallpaper images

Colour remains one of the key factors in presenting an object and, consequently, has been widely applied in retrieval of images based on their visual contents. However, a colour appearance changes with the change of viewing surroundings, the phenomenon that has not been paid attention yet while performing colour‐based image retrieval. To comprehend this effect, in this article, a chromatic contrast model, CAMcc, is developed for the application of retrieval of colour intensive images, cementing the gap that most of existing colour models lack to fill by taking simultaneous colour contrast into account. Subsequently, the model is applied to the retrieval task on a collection of museum wallpapers of colour‐rich images. In comparison with current popular colour models including CIECAM02, HSI and RGB, with respect to both foreground and background colours, CAMcc appears to outperform the others with retrieved results being closer to query images. In addition, CAMcc focuses more on foreground colours, especially by maintaining the balance between both foreground and background colours, while the rest of existing models take on dominant colours that are perceived the most, usually background tones. Significantly, the contribution of the investigation lies in not only the improvement of the accuracy of colour‐based image retrieval but also the development of colour contrast model that warrants an important place in colour and computer vision theory, leading to deciphering the insight of this age‐old topic of chromatic contrast in colour science. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 361–373, 2015     

Characterization of a Tryptophan 6-Halogenase from Streptomyces albus and Its Regioselectivity Determinants

Tryptophan halogenases are found in diverse organisms and catalyze regiospecific halogenation. They play an important role in the biosynthesis of halogenated indole alkaloids, which are biologically active and of therapeutic importance. Here, a tryptophan 6-halogenase (SatH) from Streptomyces albus was characterized by using a whole-cell reaction system in Escherichia coli. SatH showed substrate specificity for chloride and bromide ions, leading to regiospecific halogenation at the C6-position of l -tryptophan. In addition, SatH exhibited higher performance in bromination than that of previously reported tryptophan halogenases in the whole-cell reaction system. Through structure-based protein mutagenesis, it has been revealed that two consecutive residues, A78/V79 in SatH and G77/I78 in PyrH, are key determinants in the regioselectivity difference between tryptophan 6- and 5-halogenases. Substituting the AV with GI residues switched the regioselectivity of SatH by moving the orientation of tryptophan. These data contribute to an understanding of the key residues that determine the regioselectivity of tryptophan halogenases.     

Towards a Better Prediction of Cell Settling on Nanostructure Arrays—Simple Means to Complicated Ends

Vertical arrays of nanostructures (NSs) are emerging as promising platforms for probing and manipulating live mammalian cells. The broad range of applications requires different types of interfaces, but cell settling on NS arrays is not yet fully controlled and understood. Cells are both seen to deform completely into NS arrays and to stay suspended like tiny fakirs, which have hitherto been explained with differences in NS spacing or density. Here, a better understanding of this phenomenon is provided by using a model that takes into account the extreme membrane deformation needed for a cell to settle into a NS array. It is shown that, in addition to the NS density, cell settling depends strongly on the dimensions of the single NS, and that the settling can be predicted for a given NS array geometry. The predictive power of the model is confirmed by experiments and good agreement with cases from the literature. Furthermore, the influence of cell‐related parameters is evaluated theoretically and a generic method of tuning cell settling through surface coating is demonstrated experimentally. These findings allow a more rational design of NS arrays for the numerous exciting biological applications where the mode of cell settling is crucial.