TY - JOUR A1 - Leinhos, Marcel A1 - Schusser, Sebastian A1 - Bäcker, Matthias A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Micromachined multi-parameter sensor chip for the control of polymer-degradation medium JF - Physica Status Solidi (A) : special issue on engineering and functional interfaces N2 - It is well known that the degradation environment can strongly influence the biodegradability and kinetics of biodegradation processes of polymers. Therefore, besides the monitoring of the degradation process, it is also necessary to control the medium in which the degradation takes place. In this work, a micromachined multi-parameter sensor chip for the control of the polymer-degradation medium has been developed. The chip combines a capacitive field-effect pH sensor, a four-electrode electrolyte-conductivity sensor and a thin-film Pt-temperature sensor. The results of characterization of individual sensors are presented. In addition, the multi-parameter sensor chip together with an impedimetric polymer-degradation sensor was simultaneously characterized in degradation solutions with different pH and electrolyte conductivity. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of the multi-parameter sensor chip for the control of the polymer-degradation medium. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201330364 SN - 1521-396X (E-Journal); 1862-6319 (E-Journal); 0031-8965 (Print); 1862-6300 (Print) VL - 211 IS - 6 SP - 1346 EP - 1351 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sawada, Kazuaki A1 - Nakazawa, Hirokazu A1 - Takenaga, Shoko A1 - Hizawa, Takeshi A1 - Futagawa, Masato A1 - Dasai, Fumihiro A1 - Sakurai, Takashi A1 - Okumura, Koichi A1 - Hattori, Toshiaki A1 - Ishida, Makoto T1 - Multimodal bioimage sensor JF - IEICE transactions on fundamentals of electronics, communidations and computer sciences N2 - To visualize the biochemical distribution two-dimensionally, we invented a solid-state-type ion image sensor that indicates the chemical activity of solutions and cells. The device, which consists of a CCD array covered with a functionalized membrane to detect charge accumulation, is highly sensitive to changes in the concentration and two-dimensional distribution of ions and biomaterials. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1587/transfun.E97.A.726 SN - 0916-8508 (Print) ; 1745-1337 (Online) VL - E97-A (2014) IS - 3 SP - 726 EP - 733 PB - IEICE CY - Tokyo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arinkin, Vladimir A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Porst, Dariusz A1 - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül A1 - Artmann, Gerhard T1 - Phenotyping date palm varieties via leaflet cross-sectional imaging and artificial neural network application JF - BMC bioinformatics N2 - Background True date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are impressive trees and have served as an indispensable source of food for mankind in tropical and subtropical countries for centuries. The aim of this study is to differentiate date palm tree varieties by analysing leaflet cross sections with technical/optical methods and artificial neural networks (ANN). Results Fluorescence microscopy images of leaflet cross sections have been taken from a set of five date palm tree cultivars (Hewlat al Jouf, Khlas, Nabot Soltan, Shishi, Um Raheem). After features extraction from images, the obtained data have been fed in a multilayer perceptron ANN with backpropagation learning algorithm. Conclusions Overall, an accurate result in prediction and differentiation of date palm tree cultivars was achieved with average prediction in tenfold cross-validation is 89.1% and reached 100% in one of the best ANN. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-15-55 SN - 1471-2105 VL - 15 IS - 55 SP - 1 EP - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schroeter, Rebecca A1 - Hoffmann, Tamara A1 - Voigt, Birgit A1 - Meyer, Hanna A1 - Bleisteiner, Monika A1 - Muntel, Jan A1 - Jürgen, Britta A1 - Albrecht, Dirk A1 - Becher, Dörte A1 - Lalk, Michael A1 - Evers, Stefan A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Maurer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Putzer, Harald A1 - Hecker, Michael A1 - Schweder, Thomas A1 - Bremer, Erhard T1 - Stress responses of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis to osmotic challenges JF - PLoS ONE N2 - The Gram-positive endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus licheniformis can be found widely in nature and it is exploited in industrial processes for the manufacturing of antibiotics, specialty chemicals, and enzymes. Both in its varied natural habitats and in industrial settings, B. licheniformis cells will be exposed to increases in the external osmolarity, conditions that trigger water efflux, impair turgor, cause the cessation of growth, and negatively affect the productivity of cell factories in biotechnological processes. We have taken here both systems-wide and targeted physiological approaches to unravel the core of the osmostress responses of B. licheniformis. Cells were suddenly subjected to an osmotic upshift of considerable magnitude (with 1 M NaCl), and their transcriptional profile was then recorded in a time-resolved fashion on a genome-wide scale. A bioinformatics cluster analysis was used to group the osmotically up-regulated genes into categories that are functionally associated with the synthesis and import of osmostress-relieving compounds (compatible solutes), the SigB-controlled general stress response, and genes whose functional annotation suggests that salt stress triggers secondary oxidative stress responses in B. licheniformis. The data set focusing on the transcriptional profile of B. licheniformis was enriched by proteomics aimed at identifying those proteins that were accumulated by the cells through increased biosynthesis in response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, these global approaches were augmented by a set of experiments that addressed the synthesis of the compatible solutes proline and glycine betaine and assessed the growth-enhancing effects of various osmoprotectants. Combined, our data provide a blueprint of the cellular adjustment processes of B. licheniformis to both sudden and sustained osmotic stress. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080956 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 8 IS - 11 PB - PLOS CY - San Francisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Ren-Qi A1 - Druckenmüller, Katharina A1 - Elbers, Gereon A1 - Guenther, Klaus A1 - Croué, Jean-Philippe T1 - Analysis of aquatic-phase natural organic matter by optimized LDI-MS method JF - Journal of mass spectrometry N2 - The composition and physiochemical properties of aquatic-phase natural organic matter (NOM) are most important problems for both environmental studies and water industry. Laser desorption/ionization (LDI) mass spectrometry facilitated successful examinations of NOM, as humic and fulvic acids in NOM are readily ionized by the nitrogen laser. In this study, hydrophobic NOMs (HPO NOMs) from river, reservoir and waste water were characterized by this technique. The effect of analytical variables like concentration, solvent composition and laser energy was investigated. The exact masses of small molecular NOM moieties in the range of 200–1200 m/z were determined in reflectron mode. In addition, spectra of post-source-decay experiments in this range showed that some compounds from different natural NOMs had the same fragmental ions. In the large mass range of 1200–15 000 Da, macromolecules and their aggregates were found in HPO NOMs from natural waters. Highly humic HPO exhibited mass peaks larger than 8000 Da. On the other hand, the waste water and reservoir water mainly had relatively smaller molecules of about 2000 Da. The LDI-MS measurements indicated that highly humic river waters were able to form large aggregates and membrane foulants, while the HPO NOMs from waste water and reservoir water were unlikely to form large aggregates. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jms.3321 SN - 1096-9888 VL - 49 IS - 2 SP - 154 EP - 160 PB - Wiley CY - Bognor Regis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Goedhuys, Micheline A1 - Janz, Norbert A1 - Mohnen, Pierre T1 - Knowledge-based productivity in “low-tech” industries: evidence from firms in developing countries JF - Industrial and corporate change N2 - Using firm-level data from five developing countries—Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Tanzania, and Bangladesh—and three industries—food processing, textiles, and the garments and leather products—this article examines the importance of various sources of knowledge for explaining productivity and formally tests whether sector- or country-specific characteristics dominate these relationships. Knowledge sources driving productivity appear mainly sector specific. Also differences in the level of development affect the effectiveness of knowledge sources. In the food processing sector, firms with higher educated managers are more productive, and in least-developed countries, additionally those with technology licenses and imported machinery and equipment. In the capital-intensive textiles sector, productivity is higher in firms that conduct R&D. In the garments and leather products sector, higher education of the managers, licensing, and R&D raise productivity. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtt006 SN - 1464-3650 (E-Journal); 0960-6491 (Print) VL - 23 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - Oxford University Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beck, Daniel A1 - Buchleitner, Martin A1 - Ferrein, Alexander A1 - Niemüller, Tim A1 - Steinbauer, Gerald T1 - Mostly Harmless & AllemaniACs - mixed innovations Y1 - 2014 SP - 1 EP - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Moseley, Fiona A1 - Halamek, Jan A1 - Kramer, Friederike A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef A1 - Katz, Evgeny T1 - An enzyme-based reversible CNOT logic gate realized in a flow system JF - Analyst N2 - An enzyme system organized in a flow device was used to mimic a reversible Controlled NOT (CNOT) gate with two input and two output signals. Reversible conversion of NAD⁺ and NADH cofactors was used to perform a XOR logic operation, while biocatalytic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate resulted in an Identity operation working in parallel. The first biomolecular realization of a CNOT gate is promising for integration into complex biomolecular networks and future biosensor/biomedical applications. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C4AN00133H SN - 1364-5528 (E-Journal) ; 0003-2654 (Print) VL - 139 IS - 8 SP - 1839 EP - 1842 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laack, Walter van T1 - Nature is much smarter than expected: the Genetic Code is not degenerate JF - American journal of humanities and social sciences N2 - In any books about genetics it can still today be read that our genetic code is called “degenerate” because it is still believed that 43 = 64 triplets encode the 20 essential amino acids. Indeed we have to assume the inverse law, what means that 34 = 81 exact code positions are really effective for our genetic code and encode the amino acids, compiled to proteins. This very important discovery leads to two completely new results that are limits-overlooking: 1) 34 (=81) genetic code positions mean exactly the same number as there are stable and naturally existing chemical elements in our universe. This famous argument should now lead to some alternative, as well as new fundamental conclusions about our existence. 2) A genetic code positioning system shows that nature is much smarter than expected: mutations are made less dangerous than believed, because they won't be that easily able any more to cause severe damages in the protein-synthesis. This should also lead to some alternative views upon evolution of life. Y1 - 2014 SN - 2329-0781 (Print) ; 2329-079X (Online) VL - Vol. 2 IS - No. 1 SP - 10 EP - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Handtke, Stefan A1 - Schroeter, Rebecca A1 - Jürgen, Britta A1 - Methling, Karen A1 - Schlüter, Rabea A1 - Albrecht, Dirk A1 - Hijum, Sacha A. F. T. van A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Maurer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Lalk, Michael A1 - Schweder, Thomas A1 - Hecker, Michael A1 - Voigt, Birgit T1 - Bacillus pumilus reveals a remarkably high resistance to hydrogen peroxide provoked oxidative stress JF - PLOS one N2 - Bacillus pumilus is characterized by a higher oxidative stress resistance than other comparable industrially relevant Bacilli such as B. subtilis or B. licheniformis. In this study the response of B. pumilus to oxidative stress was investigated during a treatment with high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide at the proteome, transcriptome and metabolome level. Genes/proteins belonging to regulons, which are known to have important functions in the oxidative stress response of other organisms, were found to be upregulated, such as the Fur, Spx, SOS or CtsR regulon. Strikingly, parts of the fundamental PerR regulon responding to peroxide stress in B. subtilis are not encoded in the B. pumilus genome. Thus, B. pumilus misses the catalase KatA, the DNA-protection protein MrgA or the alkyl hydroperoxide reductase AhpCF. Data of this study suggests that the catalase KatX2 takes over the function of the missing KatA in the oxidative stress response of B. pumilus. The genome-wide expression analysis revealed an induction of bacillithiol (Cys-GlcN-malate, BSH) relevant genes. An analysis of the intracellular metabolites detected high intracellular levels of this protective metabolite, which indicates the importance of bacillithiol in the peroxide stress resistance of B. pumilus. Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085625 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 9 IS - 1 PB - PLOS CY - San Francisco ER -