Pathogenic Microbiology Commons^™

Farnesol Secretion As A Possible Driving Force For Maintaining Candida Albicans As A Diploid, Kenneth Nickerson, Cory Boone, Kory Parker

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Candida albicans is a pathogenic dimorphic fungus which is invariably found as a diploid in patients. C. albicans secretes the sesquiterpene farnesol both as a quorum sensing molecule which blocks the yeast to hypha conversion and as a virulence factor for pathogenicity. 20-25 μM farnesol kills other competing yeasts and fungi, often by triggering apoptosis, and yet wild type diploid C. albicans tolerates 300-500 μM farnesol. The recent availability of 10 haploid strains of C. albicans (5 mating type aand 5 mating type α) allowed us to compare their production of and sensitivity to farnesol. On average, the heterozygous diploid …

Sterol Biosynthesis In Four Green Algae: A Bioinformatic Analysis Of The Ergosterol Versus Phytosterol Decision Point, Adam Voshall, Nakeirah T.M. Christie, Suzanne L. Rose, Maya Khasin, James L. Van Etten, Jennifer E. Markham, Wayne Riekhof, Kenneth Nickerson

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Animals and fungi produce cholesterol and ergosterol, respectively, while plants produce the phytosterols stigmasterol, campesterol, and β-sitosterol in various combinations. The recent sequencing of many algal genomes allows the detailed reconstruction of the sterol metabolic pathways. Here, we characterized sterol synthesis in two sequenced Chlorella spp., the free-living C. sorokiniana, and symbiotic C. variabilis NC64A. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was included as an internal control and Coccomyxa subellipsoidea as a plant-like outlier. We found that ergosterol was the major sterol produced by Chlorella spp. and C. reinhardtii, while C. subellipsoidea produced the three phytosterols found in plants. In silico analysis of the …

Process Interventions For Improving The Microbiological Safety Of Low Moisture Food Ingredients, Tushar Verma

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The recurrence of Salmonella in low moisture foods and the implementation of the FSMA rule requires a need to validate legacy and novel processing technologies. In this dissertation, a legacy thermal (extrusion), a novel thermal (radiofrequency (RF) heating), and a non-thermal (chlorine dioxide) technology, were evaluated as intervention technologies for Salmonella in low moisture foods. The twin-screw extruder was performed at different levels of screw speeds, temperatures, moisture contents, and fat contents to understand the impact of processing conditions on Salmonella inactivation in oat flour. At temperature >65°C, the Salmonella population was below the detection limit. At 55°C, Salmonella reduction …

Comparisons Of Oral, Intestinal, And Pancreatic Bacterial Microbiomes In Patients With Pancreatic Cancer And Other Gastrointestinal Diseases, Mei Chung, Naisi Zhao, Richard Meier, Devin C. Koestler, Guojun Wu, Erika De Castillo, Bruce J. Paster, Kevin Charpentier, Jacques Izard, Karl T. Kelsey, Dominique S. Michaud

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background: Oral microbiota is believed to play important roles in systemic diseases, including cancer. Methods: We collected oral samples (tongue, buccal, supragingival, and saliva) and pancreatic tissue or intestinal samples from 52 subjects, and characterized 16S rRNA genes using high-throughput DNA sequencing.

Results: Bray–Curtis plot showed clear separations between bacterial communities in the oral cavity and those in intestinal and pancreatic tissue samples. PERMANOVA tests indicated that bacterial communities from buccal samples were similar to supragingival and saliva samples, and pancreatic duct samples were similar to pancreatic tumor samples, but all other samples were significantly different from each …