Carbohydrate metabolism in lactic acid bacteria

The term “lactic acid bacteria” is discussed. An overview of the following topics is given: main pathways of homo- and heterofermentation of hexoses, i.e. glycolysis, bifidus pathway, 6-phosphogluconate pathway; uptake and dissimilation of lactose (tagatose pathway); fermentation of pentoses and pentitols; alternative fates of pyruvate, i.e. splitting to formate and acetate, CO₂ and acetate or formation of acetoin and diacetyl; lactate oxidation; biochemical basis for the formation of different stereoisomers of lactate.     

Scale sensitivity of synthetic long‐term vegetation time series derived through overlay of short‐term field records

Questions: Is change in cover of dominant species driving the velocity of succession or is it species turnover (1)? Is the length of the time‐step chosen in sampling affecting our recognition of the long‐term rate of change (2)1 Location: 74 permanent plots located in the Swiss National Park, SE Switzerland, ca. 1900 m a.s.l. Methods: We superimpose several time‐series from permanent plots to one single series solely based on compositional dissimilarity. As shown earlier (Wildi & Schütz 2000) this results in a synthetic series covering about 400 to 650 yr length. Continuous power transformation of cover‐percentage scores is used to test if the dominance or the presence‐absence of species is governing secondary succession from pasture to forest. The effect of time step length is tested by sub‐samples of the time series. Results: Altering the weight of presence‐absence versus dominance of species affects the emerging time frame, while altering time step length is uncritical. Where species turnover is fast, different performance scales yield similar results. When cover change in dominant species prevails, the solutions vary considerably. Ordinations reveal that the synthetic time series seek for shortest paths of the temporal pattern whereas in the real system longer lasting alternatives exist. Conclusions: Superimposing time series differs from the classical space‐for‐time substitution approach. It is a computation‐based method to investigate temporal patterns of hundreds of years fitting between direct monitoring (usually limited to decades) and the analysis of proxy‐data (for time spans of thousands of years and more).     

Bacteriophage-resistance mechanisms examined by transfection of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis 4513-5 mediated by high voltage electroporation

Summary Phage adsorption tests and transfection by electroporation were carried out to decide whether phage-resistance in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strain 4513-5 is based on intracellular or extracellular mechanisms. Using high voltage (12.5 kV/cm) electroporation, untreated phage DNA was introduced into phage-sensitive and phage-resistant cells. Since phages showed low adsorption frequencies on resistant bacteria, resistance is localized in the cell wall preventing phage DNA from entering the cell. This is the only mechanism responsible for the resistance of L. lactis subsp. lactis 4513-5 against its homologous phage P4513-K12 and non-homologous phages P05M-13 and P05M-47, but not against phage P530-7 and phage P530-12. In the case of the latter two phage strains, intracellular resistance mechanisms are involved and discussed.     

Polyacetylenes as systematic markers in dicotyledons

In the sequence of superorders Rutiflorae-Santaliflorae-Araliiflorae-Asteriflorae an increase in the mean oxidation state for each series of C_n-polyacetylenes and an extension in the range of the carbon atoms of these polyacetylenes in the direction of smaller numbers are observed. These trends of polyacetylene evolution also seem to be operative at lower hierarchic levels in the family Asteraceae.     

Das Brutleben der Waldschnepfe

Ohne ZusammenfassungNachdruck in Jagd-Zeitschriften nur mit besonderer Genehmigung des Verfassers.