Alkaline polygalacturonate lyase (PGL, EC 4.2.2.2) is an enzyme used in many industries. We developed a fed-batch fermentation process that combines the enzymatic pretreatment of the carbon source with controlling the pH of the fermentative broth to enhance the PGL production from Bacillus subtilis 7-3-3 to decrease the production cost. Maintaining the fermentation broth at pH 6.5 prior to feed...

Large slender-bodied snakes that forage actively for a generalized array of small vertebrates are conspicuous elements of the terrestrial snake fauna of most continents; the venomous elapid species fill this role in much of Asia, Africa and Australia. Our dissections of eight species of cobras from southern Africa Aspidelaps, Hemachatus, Naja; Serpentes and Elapidae (total of 1290 specimens) pr...

Twenty-four start codon targeted (SCoT) markers were used to assess genetic diversity and population structure of indigenous, introduced and domesticated ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaudich.). A total of 155 genotypes from five populations were investigated for SCoT polymorphism, which produced 136 amplicons with 87.5% polymorphism. Polymorphism information content and resolving power of the SCoT...

The tolerance, accumulation and subcellular distribution characteristics of cadmium (Cd) in ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaud.) were investigated using a 2-year field experiment. The results indicated that ramie has a certain extent of tolerance to soil Cd (≤ 20 mg/kg) contamination with no significant decrease in shoot biomass and fibre yield relative to control conditions. Although ramie did not...

Downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) and anthracnose (Sphaceloma ampelinum) are two of the major diseases of most grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars grown in Thailand. Therefore, breeding grapevines for improved downy mildew and anthracnose resistance is crucial. Factorial crosses were made between three downy mildew and/or anthracnose resistant lines ('NY88.0517.01', 'NY65.0550.04', and 'NY...