A novel function for Hog1 stress-activated protein kinase in controlling white-opaque switching and mating in Candida albicans.

Candida albicans is a commensal in heathy people but has the potential to become an opportunistic pathogen and is responsible for half of all clinical infections in immunocompromised patients. Central to understanding C. albicans behavior is the white-opaque phenotypic switch, in which cells can undergo an epigenetic transition between the white state and the opaque state. The phenotypic switch regulates multiple properties, including biofilm formation, virulence, mating, and fungus-host interactions. Switching between the white and opaque states is associated with many external stimuli, such as oxidative stress, pH, and N-acetylglucosamine, and is directly regulated by the Wor1 transcriptional circuit. The Hog1 stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) pathway is recognized as the main pathway for adapting to environmental stress in C. albicans. In this work, we first show that loss of the HOG1 gene in A: / A: and α/α cells, but not A: /α cells, results in 100% white-to-opaque switching when cells are grown on synthetic medium, indicating that switching is repressed by the A1: /α2 heterodimer that represses WOR1 gene expression. Indeed, switching in the hog1Δ strain was dependent on the presence of WOR1, as a hog1Δ wor1Δ strain did not show switching to the opaque state. Deletion of PBS2 and SSK2 also resulted in C. albicans cells switching from white to opaque with 100% efficiency, indicating that the entire Hog1 SAPK pathway is involved in regulating this unique phenotypic transition. Interestingly, all Hog1 pathway mutants also caused defects in shmoo formation and mating efficiencies. Overall, this work reveals a novel role for the Hog1 SAPK pathway in regulating white-opaque switching and sexual behavior in C. albicans.

Quality preservation of reduced sodium pork patties: effects of antioxidants on colour and lipid stability.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of lipid oxidation and colour change of precooked pork patties with reduced sodium and added antioxidants. This study can fill the gap of antioxidant application between meat products with regular and low salt content. RESULTS: For precooked pork patties, addition of sodium tripolyphosphate and carnosine increased pH values and cooking yields. Patties with ascorbic acid had significantly higher a* values compared to the other samples. There was no significant difference of b* values among treatments. Precooked pork patties with sodium tripolyphosphate or carnosine had significantly higher L* values compared to other patties. The addition of antioxidants reduced lipid oxidation in precooked pork patties during refrigerated storage, except for the addition of 0.5% carnosine. CONCLUSION: Tripolyphosphate and ascorbic acid were successfully proven to be effective in retarding lipid oxidation and preserve the colour stability in reduced salt pork patties. This study provides a preliminary foundation of keeping meat products from lipid oxidation and maintaining in better stability.

Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Lipid Oxidation and Warmed-over Flavor of Precooked Roast Beef.

Many manufacturing processes damage the structure of meat products and this often contributes to lipid oxidation which could influence warmed-over flavor (WOF) in precooked beef that is reheated beef. Electrical stimulation causes contraction of muscles and improves tissue tenderization. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rate of lipid oxidation or warmed-over flavor that could be affected by electrical stimulation of precooked roast beef after refrigerated storage and reheating. The results show that there was no significant difference between chemical compositions and cooking yields when comparing non-electrically stimulated and electrically stimulated roast beef. Moreover, electrical stimulation had no significant effect on oxidative stability and off-flavor problems of precooked roast beef as evaluated by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and sensory test (warmed-over aroma and warmed-over flavor). However, there was an increased undesirable WOF and a decrease in tenderness for both ES and Non-ES treatments over refrigerated storage time. Electrical stimulation did cause reactions of amino acids or other compounds to decrease the desirable beef flavor in re-cooked meat.

Effect of phosphate, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol injected at one-location with tumbling on quality of roast beef.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate if continuous non-vacuum or vacuum tumbling improves the quality of roast beef utilizing the one location injection. Basically, fresh roast beef treated by one location injection with tumbling had significantly different quality compared to non-tumbled ones. However, the cooked roast beef did not significantly exhibit better quality due to tumbling. There was insignificant difference of TBARS value for whole meat among treatments at day 0. The control had significantly higher TBARS value compared to roast beef with non-vacuum and vacuum tumbled samples at day 2. At 4, 7 and 14 days of refrigerated storage, the control maintained the significantly highest values when compared to the other treatments that had similar TBARS values. The addition of three antioxidants was the major contributor to lipid stability of the cooked roast beef.

Lipid oxidation and color change of salted pork patties.

The purposes of this study were to explore the interaction of lipid oxidation and pigment oxidation in salted pork patties and to study the mutual relationship between lipid and pigment oxidation caused by replacing sodium chloride with potassium chloride at low salt levels. For fresh pork patties, a(∗) and b(∗) values decreased with the replacement of sodium chloride by potassium chloride. However, there were no significant differences of L(∗) values, pH values, total pigments and heme irons by replacement of NaCl with KCl; however, the replacement reduced 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). The addition of sodium tripolyphosphate, ascorbic acid and carnosine did not change a(∗) and b(∗) values of raw pork patties. However, raw pork patties with 0.25% sodium tripolyphosphate had significantly higher L(∗) value compared to other samples. The pH of raw pork patties with 0.5% carnosine was higher than those of other treatments. The pH of raw pork patties with 0.25% sodium tripolyphosphate was significantly higher than that of the control treatment with no antioxidant. Samples with 550ppm ascorbic acid had significantly higher total pigment and heme iron than patties with 0.25% sodium tripolyphosphate. Although control treatment with no antioxidant had slightly higher TBARS values, these differences were not large enough to be significant.

Effect of phosphate with tumbling on lipid oxidation of precooked roast beef.

This study was a 4×2×4 factorial experiment, sodium tripolyphosphate (0, 0.25, 0.4 and 0.5%), tumbling (nontumbled and tumbled), and storage time (day 0, 2, 4 and 7). Cooking yield was dependent on the level of phosphate and tumbling. For thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values, only sodium tripolyphosphate level and storage time had a significant two-way interaction. The TBARS value of tumbled roast beef with phosphates was the same as that of nontumbled roast beef. For the interaction of phosphate level and storage time, roast beef without phosphate had the significantly highest TBARS values compared with other phosphate levels at day 4 of storage. At day 7, the addition of 0.5% phosphate maintained the oxidative stability of precooked roast beef. The use of 0.5% sodium tripolyphosphate, an iron chelator, should be an effective strategy to reduce the formation of TBARS in precooked roast beef.