We have investigated the effect of pH shock and oxidative stress (H2O2 effect) both separately and together on the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae exposed to UV and gamma radiations for one hour. Exposure to these environmental stresses resulted in S. cerevisiae cells acquiring resistance to UV radiation. Presence of cycloheximide (a known protein synthesis inhibitor) during stress inhibit...

Atmospheric pollutants represent an important source of oxidative and nitrosative stress to both terrestrial plants and to animals. The exposed biosurfaces of plants and animals are directly exposed to these pollutant stresses. Not surprisingly, living organisms have developed complex integrated extracellular and intracellular defense systems against stresses related to reactive oxygen and nitr...

Recent times have seen the emergence of a number of new or emerging pathogens. Research is needed to establish the mechanisms underlying their emergence in foods, and their interactions with traditional food production processes. The paper reviews the general relationships between environmental stresses and pathogen emergence. Non genetic mechanisms of pathogen adaptation to stress are consider...

Seed germination and innate immunity both have significant effects on plant life spans because they control the plant's entry into the ecosystem and provide defenses against various external stresses, respectively. Much ecological evidence has shown that seeds with high vigor are generally more tolerant of various environmental stimuli in the field than those with low vigor. However, there is l...

Despite its global abundance, Bacillus pumilus is poorly studied. The Fairview strain was obtained from a methanogenic anaerobic coal digester. The draft genome sequence was 3.8 Mbp long and contained 3,890 protein-coding genes. Like the SAFR-032 strain, it includes B. pumilus-specific proteins that likely confer enhanced resistance to environmental stresses.

BACKGROUND The International Space Station (ISS) represents a unique biotope for the human crew but also for introduced microorganisms. Microbes experience selective pressures such as microgravity, desiccation, poor nutrient-availability due to cleaning, and an increased radiation level. We hypothesized that the microbial community inside the ISS is modified by adapting to these stresses. For t...