Food Science Commons^™

Amphiphilic Polyanhydride Nanoparticles Stabilize Bacillus Anthracis Protective Antigen, L. K. Petersen, Y. Phanse, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, M. J. Wannemueler, B. Narasimhan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Advancements towards an improved vaccine against Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, have focused on formulations composed of the protective antigen (PA) adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide. However, due to the labile nature of PA, antigen stability is a primary concern for vaccine development. Thus, there is a need for a delivery system capable of preserving the immunogenicity of PA through all the steps of vaccine fabrication, storage, and administration. In this work, we demonstrate that biodegradable amphiphilic polyanhydride nanoparticles, which have previously been shown to provide controlled antigen delivery, antigen stability, immune modulation, and protection in a single …

Table Of Contents April 2012 Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine

Table of Contents

4 A Bit of Gold and Nanotechnology Bring Viruses to Light

6 Digital Detectives Decipher Ingredients

8 SERS: High-Tech Tactic May Newly Expose Stealthy Salmonella

10 What’s in Your Blood? The Ongoing Hunt for Metabolites

12 Protein Biomarkers Identify Disease-Carrying Aphids

13 A New Approach to Molecular Plant Breeding

14 Cotton Gets Nanotech and Biotech Treatment in New Orleans

16 Barcoding Insects To Control Them

18 Metagenomics Offers Insight Into Poultry Diseases

20 Longstanding Erosion Calculator Enters 21st Century

23 Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue

Forum: Innovations Through Biotechnology, Jack Okamuro, Kay Simmons

Agricultural Research Magazine

"We need to put a premium on creating innovative solutions to address our current and future problems."- U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill.

This month in Agricultural Research, we highlight Agricultural Research Service projects grown from seeds planted on what were once the distant horizons of biotechnology- metagenomics, genomic selection, metabolomics, and more.

Each project represents a fusion of leading-edge science and technological innovation that is helping to shape ARS's response to the growing food, fiber, and fuel needs of a U.S. and world population forecasted to exceed 430 million and 9 …

Back Matter Agricultural Research Magazine 60(4): April 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Magazine

5601 Sunnyside Ave.

Beltsville, MD 20705-5129

Barcoding Insects To Control Them, Dennis O’Brien

Agricultural Research Magazine

Mention barcodes and it often brings to mind the sales tags and scanners found in supermarkets and other stores. But Agricultural Research Service scientists are using “DNA barcodes” in their search for ways to control and monitor insects that pose the greatest threats to crops as diverse as wheat, barley, and potatoes.

In DNA barcoding, scientists sequence a designated part of an organism’s genome and produce a barcode from it for a systematic comparison with the sequenced DNA of other closely related species. DNA barcodes are being developed on a wide range of plants and animals as part of a …

Cotton Gets Nanotech And Biotech, Jan Suszkiw, Brian Condon

Agricultural Research Magazine

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit (CCUR) in New Orleans, Louisiana, have a long history of research successes leading to advances in the use, manufacturing, and quality of cotton fiber.

For example, groundbreaking studies led by chemist Ruth Benerito at the Cotton Chemical Reactions Laboratory (CCUR’s predecessor), starting in the 1950s, gave rise to easy-care, permanent-press clothing and other consumer-friendly improvements that helped cotton better compete with synthetic fibers, like polyester and nylon.

New challenges and consumer demands have since emerged, but the ARS lab’s tradition of excellence and innovation in research continues.

High-Tech Tactic May Newly Expose Stealthy Salmonella, Marcia Wood, Bosoon Park

Agricultural Research Magazine

At laboratories of the future, even the smallest quantity of Salmonella bacteria may be easily detected with a technology known as “SERS,” short for “surface-enhanced Raman scattering.”

Agricultural engineer Bosoon Park, in the Agricultural Research Service’s Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, Georgia, is leading exploratory studies of this analytical technique’s potential for quick, easy, and reliable detection of Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Salmonella causes more than 1 million cases of illness in this country every year.

Long-Standing Erosion Calculator, Don Comis, Robert Sowers

Agricultural Research Magazine

Seth Dabney is busy tweaking a soon-to-be-unveiled update of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, Version 2 (RUSLE2), which moves the original equation ever further from its origins in the age of slide rules to the era of computing. Dabney is research leader of the Watershed Physical Processes Research Unit, at the Agricultural Research Service’s National Sedimentation Laboratory in Oxford, Mississippi.

RUSLE2 has retained the integrity of the original Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)—in greatly expanded form—and integrated an updated database with a computer model that reflects both the latest in computer technology and scientific discoveries about erosion processes. It …

Digital Detectives Deciper Ingredients, Rosalie Marion Bliss, James M. Harnly, Pei Chen

Agricultural Research Magazine

Television shows featuring crime scene investigators have been keeping viewers intrigued for years. But the Agricultural Research Service’s intriguing “food composition investigators” are just as innovative at deciphering truth from fiction relating to ingredients of plant-based foods and dietary supplements. The researchers are at the ARS Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory, which is headed by research leader James Harnly. The laboratory is part of the Beltsville [Maryland] Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC).

They’re using new equipment and a metabolomics approach to discover compounds and to accurately identify ingredients in foods and supplements. They are also looking at chemical composition …

Protein Biomarkers: Identify Disease-Carrying Aphids, Dennis O’Brien

Agricultural Research Magazine

Aphids can transmit viruses that cause crop diseases and reduce the quality and quantity of fresh foods. Spraying insecticides can control aphids and reduce the spread of viruses, but spraying is expensive and can harm the environment. Additionally, not all aphids transmit viruses. So a key question for growers is knowing when and what to spray to control viral diseases.

Agricultural Research Service scientists Michelle Cilia and Stewart Gray, in the Biological Integrated Pest Management Unit at the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health in Ithaca, New York, have found a way to distinguish aphids that spread viruses …

Metagenomics Offers Insight Into Poultry Diseases, Sandra Avant

Agricultural Research Magazine

Less than 10 years ago, the world marveled at the completion of the human genome project, which involved traditional technology to identify all the genes in a single organism—the human. Today, a more powerful technology is being used to detect thousands of organisms in an entire community.

Unlike traditional gene sequencing, the new molecular technique—metagenomics— eliminates the need to cultivate and isolate individual microbial species. Scientists can apply genomic analysis to mixed communities of microbes instead of to just one organism.

For example, researchers examining viral enteric (intestinal) diseases in poultry can take intestinal samples from different poultry flocks. The …

A New Approach Tomolecular Plant Breeding, Dennis O’Brien, Jean-Luc Jannink

Agricultural Research Magazine

An ARS scientist in Ithaca, New York, is using a new statistical approach to help speed the development of improved varieties of crops.

Plant breeders constantly strive to breed new varieties that yield more, resist emerging pests and pathogens, tolerate heat and drought, and grow in marginal soils and environments. Increasingly, molecular tools are used to speed those efforts. By identifying genes associated with desirable traits, scientists don’t have to wait for timeconsuming field observations.

“To grow wheat and evaluate it for traits in the field takes 5 to 9 years. Using genomic data, we can do it in about …

A Bit Of Gold And Nanotechnology, Sandra Avant, William C. Wilson

Agricultural Research Magazine

All that glitters is not gold, but it is in the case of nanotechnology that’s being used to develop detection tools for viruses that affect animals and people. Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s Center for Grain and Animal Health Research (CGAHR) in Manhattan, Kansas, and the University of Wyoming are using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with gold nanoparticles to design tests that rapidly identify the virus that causes West Nile fever.

The West Nile virus is spread by infected mosquitoesand can cause headaches, fever, and body aches. In some cases, it causes a more serious and sometimes fatal neuroinvasive …

What's In Your Blood? The Ongoing Hunt For Metabolites, Marcia Wood, John W. Newman

Agricultural Research Magazine

At any given time, blood circulating through your body carries thousands of small molecules known as “metabolites.” Medical and nutrition researchers are eager to discover more about these compounds—amino acids, sugars, fats, and more—that are formed in and by our bodies.

Metabolites are of interest because the presence and concentrations of some of them can provide meaningful profiles, sometimes referred to as “metabolic signatures” or “fingerprints.”

In the future, for instance, yourmetabolic fingerprint—detected in a small sample of blood taken for your annual physical examination—might prove to be a reliable indicator of your health and a predictor of certain diseases. …

Locations Featured In This Magazine Issue April 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue

Davis, California

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Center for Grain and Animal Health Research

Southern Regional Research Center

Oxford, Mississippi

West Lafayette, Indiana

Athens, Georgia

U.S. Vegetable Laboratory

Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health

Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

Sorghum Flour Production Manual For Compatible Technology International (Cti) Burr Grinders, Kris Emillee Duville

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

The importance of sorghum in human nutrition and food security

The grinders of Compatible Technology International (CTI) were brought to El Salvador in 2009, for a project of CENTA-INTSORMIL/USAID to promote the grinding of sorghum for human nutrition. In 2011, ten of these grinders had been installed in small bakers associations, individual bakers, or persons producing ethnic drinks based on roasted and ground cereals. These people had been trained in sorghum use for human nutrition at the food technology laboratory of CENTA. The grinders are being used in areas were the access to other foods is limited and were sorghum …

Utilizacion De Molinos Cti Para La Produccion Artesanal De Harina De Sorgo, Vilma Ruth Calderón De Zacatares, Lily Marisol López, Kris Emillee Duville, Carla Elizabeth Bermúdez

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

El aprovechamiento del sorgo para la alimentación humana permite agregar valor al cultivo y aumentar su rentabilidad, especialmente para pequeños y medianos productores, contribuyendo a la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional en El Salvador. El CENTA esta promoviendo el cultivo del sorgo como una alternativa para la produccion de alimentos en las areas rurales y urbanas. Desde 2010 cuando el trigo bajo de precio nuevamente, dejo de ser una alternativa para la sustitucion por sorgo en ciertos tipos de alimentos, pero se esta utilizando en mercados mas estables, como personas alergicas al gluten, personas diabéticas y para corregir deficiencias nutricionales como …

Agricultural Research Magazine April 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Tuning In to Technology

Benefits of Biotech,
Computational Tech,
and Nanotech

Pathogenicity Of Treponema Denticola Wild-Type And Mutant Strain Tested By An Active Mode Of Periodontal Infection Using Microinjection, Jacques Izard, Hajime Sasaki, Ralph Kent

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The available passive mode of periodontal infections in mice requires high efficiency of bacterial attachment and invasiveness and is not always suitable to test the pathogenicity of genetically engineered mutant strains. We developed an active mode of oral infection, using microinjection in the marginal gingiva of mice, to test the pathogenicity of a genetically engineered Treponema denticola mutant strain deficient in intermediate-like filaments, compared to the wild-type strain. This targeted mode of infection inoculates the bacterial strain to be tested directly at a lesion site (needle entry point) located at the future periodontal lesion site. The efficiency of T. …

The First Step—Monitoring What We Eat, Rosalie Marion Bliss, James M. Harnly

Agricultural Research Magazine

Nestled in the Maryland suburbs outside northeast Washington, D.C., is arguably the world’s largest and most diversified agricultural research complex—the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). Among its 7,000 acres of fields, farmland, and science buildings is the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC)—the oldest and most comprehensive of six human nutrition research centers within the Agricultural Research Service. Two new buildings— totaling more than 100,000 square feet of research space—were added to BHNRC in 2003.

“The first human nutrition research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture dates back to the late 1890s,” says Allison Yates, the …

Table Of Contents March 2012 Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine

Table of Contents

4 Monitoring Best Practices For Food Analysis The First Step- Monitoring What We Eat

8 Monitoring Food-Supply Nutrients The Second Step- Conservators Of The National Nutrient Database

16 Monitoring The US Population's Diet The Third Step- The National "What We Eat In America" Survey

22 The Stealth Sodium Revolution

23 ARS National Program For Human Nutrition Monitoring

Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012 whole issue

Monitoring America's Nutritional Health

Forum: Monitoring America's Nutritional Bottom Line, Rosalie Marion Bliss

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. healthcare costs in 2009 reached an estimated $2.5 trillion, yet America still ranks below several countries in life expectancy and many key indicators of healthy living. “These statistics underscore the vast potential of a healthful diet and lifestyle to prevent chronic diseases before they begin and to reduce healthcare costs,” says Molly Kretsch, Agricultural Research Service Deputy Administrator for Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality.

Monitoring the amount and type of food consumed by the U.S. population is important to researchers who track related health biomarkers and to policymakers who evaluate nutrition policies. One key reason for monitoring what we …

Back Matter Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Magazine

5601 Sunnyside Ave.

Beltsville, MD 20705-5129

Ars National Program For Human Nutrition Monitoring

Agricultural Research Magazine

The ARS human nutrition monitoring program helps watch over the healthfulness of the country’s food supply and diet. This includes determining the food consumption and dietary patterns of Americans as a whole and for a variety of subgroups based on characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and income.

Unique national resources that contribute to the success of the ARS human nutrition monitoring program include the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and the national “What We Eat in America” survey, which is the dietary intake survey component of the broader National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, commonly referred to as …

The Third Step—The National “What We Eat In America” Survey, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Alanna J. Moshfegh

Agricultural Research Magazine

In 2010, landmark health legislation— the Affordable Care Act—was passed, leading to a national strategy crossing both private and public sectors and led by the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council of the Surgeon General. The plan is called the “National Prevention Strategy.”

Science-based dietary-intake data from the Agricultural Research Service provides a key foundation for multiple public health policy publications, including the council’s strategy report, published in June 2011. The report cites the ARS national dietary-intake survey data to underscore the ability of everyday people to improve their health through healthy eating and other preventive measures.

Collecting …

The Second Step—Conservators Of The National Nutrient Database, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Joanne Holden

Agricultural Research Magazine

For more than 115 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided data on the nutrient composition of foods in the American diet. Over time, a series of USDA institutions responsible for providing this data evolved, and today the data comes from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC), part of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

“Our mission is to ensure that science based nutrient profiles exist for the U.S. food supply,” says nutritionist and research leader Joanne Holden, who heads the Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) at the nutrition center, which is located in Beltsville, Maryland. “We work with other BHNRC, …

The Stealth Sodium Revolution, Rosalie Marion Bliss

Agricultural Research Magazine

Salt has become one of a handful of sensitive nutrients in the public spotlight, according to major food company executives who attended the 2011 National Nutrient Databank Conference in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference is supported annually by the Agricultural Research Service’s Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) and Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG) and other organizations. Both ARS groups are part of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

Salting is an ancient food-preservation practice still in use today to help preserve some foods. While salt-cured country hams and corned beef are still crowd pleasers, 80 percent of our dietary …

Hybrid And Environment Effects On Popcorn Kernel Physiochemical Properties And Their Relationship To Microwave Popping Performance, Jess C. Sweley, Devin J. Rose, David S. Jackson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to characterize the effect of hybrid and environment on physical and chemical characteristics of popcorn kernels that have shown importance in predicting end-use quality. Three popcorn hybrids grown in three different environments were tested for physiochemical attributes and popping performance. Hybrid had a significant effect on kernel sphericity, time-to-grind, dietary fiber, sugars, and starch. Environment effect alone affected total mineral content. Hybrid and environment main effects influenced test weight, tangential abrasive dehulling device index, thousand-kernel weight, total carbohydrates, and kernel protein content. Oil adherence to the bag averaged 15.8% and was proportional to oil …

Table Of Contents Agricultural Research Magazine February 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

A New Way To Map Drought and Water Use Worldwide.........4

Multi-Pronged Fight Against Zebra Chip Disease in Potatoes .........8

Step-by-Step Strategies for Restoring Western Rangelands .........10

Battling Problem Pests in Paradise......... 12

A Dose of Selenium That Goes a Long Way .........14

Can a Prairie Teach Us About Agricultural Water Quality?......... 17

Nixing Nitrate Flow From the Farm......... 18

Infrared Heating: Hot Idea for Keeping Almonds Safe To Eat......... 20

Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue......... 23