Determination of effective moisture diffusivity and assessment of quality attributes of banana slices during drying

The influence of drying temperatures on the moisture diffusivity and quality attributes of the dried banana slices in terms of volatile compound, shrinkage, color, texture and microstructure were studied. Bananas with peel color index of 5 corresponding to yellow color with green tip were sliced into 3 mm thickness, dipped into ascorbic acid solution and dried at four temperatures of 70, 80, 90 and 100 °C. Drying rate of banana slices can be divided into two sub-drying periods, first and second falling rate periods. The effective diffusivity estimated by the optimization technique was found to decrease sharply with moisture content in the first falling rate period and changed slightly in the second falling rate period. High-temperature drying seems to provide lower loss of volatile compounds in the dried sample. Moreover, the dried banana was very porous, resulting in remarkably lower hardness value than that obtained from the low-temperature drying whilst the crispiness was not significantly different amongst the samples obtained at various drying temperatures. Although the textural property could be improved at high temperature, the product color was brown as manifested by the low L- and hue values in particular at the drying temperature of 100 °C.     

Deletion of MCD 4 involved in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor synthesis leads to an increase in beta-1,6-glucan level and a decrease in GPI-anchored protein and mannan levels in the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Most proteins involved in the synthesis of the GPI core structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are essential for growth. To explore the relationship between the GPI anchor structure and beta-1,6-glucan synthesis, we screened deletion mutants in genes involved in GPI synthesis for osmotic remedial growth. Heterozygous diploid strains were dissected on medium with osmotic support and slow growth of the mcd 4 deletion mutant was observed. The mcd 4 mutant showed abnormal morphology and cell aggregation, and was hypersensitive to SDS, hygromycin B and K1 killer toxin. Incorporation of GPI cell wall proteins was examined using a GPI-Flo 1 fusion protein. The result suggested that the mcd 4 deletion causes a decrease in GPI cell wall proteins levels. The mutation also caused a decrease in mannan levels and an increase in alkali-insoluble beta-1,6-glucan and chitin levels in the cell wall.     

Effect of turmeric and lemongrass essential oils and their mixture on quality changes of refrigerated green mussel (Perna viridis)

Effect of turmeric and lemongrass essential oils (Eos) and their mixture on quality of green mussel stored at 4 °C was investigated. The mixture of 0.25% turmeric and 0.25% lemongrass Eos could lower microbiological and chemical deterioration of mussel as evidenced by the lower microbial counts, total volatile base, ammonia, trichloroacetic acid‐soluble peptide contents and thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances, compared with the control (P < 0.05). It indicated that a mixture of turmeric and lemongrass Eos in mussel showed synergistic effect on the retardation of bacterial growth and lipid oxidation. However, samples treated with 0.5% lemongrass oil exhibited the higher likeness score for odour and flavour, compared with the samples treated with other Eos throughout the storage of 15 days. Samples treated with turmeric essential oil caused the changes in odour and flavour. Therefore, lemongrass treatment was shown to be the promising means to prevent the deterioration and maintain the odour and flavour attributes of mussel during prolonged refrigerated storage.