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As a result of their pleasant odor qualities and low odor thresholds, iso- and anteiso-fatty aldehydes represent promising candidates for applications in flavoring preparations. A novel cyanobacter...

Lipid extracts of the fungus Flammulina velutipes were found to contain various scarce fatty acids including dodec-11-enoic acid and di- and tri-unsaturated C16 isomers. A biotechnological approach using a heterologously expressed carboxylic acid reductase was developed to transform the fatty acids into the respective aldehydes, yielding inter alia dodec-11-enal. Supplementation studies gave insights into the fungal biosynthesis of this rarely occurring acid and suggested a terminal desaturation of lauric acid being responsible for its formation. A systematic structure-odor relationship assessment of terminally unsaturated aldehydes (C7-C13) revealed odor thresholds in the range of 0.24-22 μg/L in aqueous solution and 0.039-29 ng/L in air. In both cases, non-8-enal was identified as the most potent compound. All aldehydes exhibited green odor qualities. Short-chained substances were additionally associated with grassy, melon-, and cucumber-like notes, while longer-chained homologs smelled soapy and coriander leaf-like with partly herbaceous nuances. Dodec-11-enal turned out to be of highly pleasant scent without off-notes.

As a result of their pleasant odor qualities and low odor thresholds, iso- and anteiso-fatty aldehydes represent promising candidates for applications in flavoring preparations. A novel cyanobacterial α-dioxygenase from

Originating from the seedpods of orchids, Vanilla belongs to the most widely appreciated flavours worldwide. Besides the seedpods (beans) also Vanilla extracts and isolated vanillin as the major characteristic aroma compound are commercially used. Different consumer demands and national regulations require appropriate quality control of products arising from the Vanilla plants. Depending on the kind of product and its position in the supply or value chain, different methods for quality control and authentication have to be applied. When examining plant material for instance DNA barcoding can be used, whereas for Vanilla extracts and vanillin analytical quality control is frequently employed. As one of the first chemically synthesized flavouring substances with its first production in the late 19th century vanillin is nowadays manufactured via multiple different chemical and natural routes. To discriminate commercial vanillin qualities by their precursors with respect to the chemical and natural origin stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (sIRMS) and 1H nuclear resonance spectroscopy (NMR) are the most recognized techniques. This article describes new features to discriminate vanillin from different origins using the δ13C and δ2H ratios of the methoxy group after derivatization with hydriodic acid and subsequent measurement of the released gaseous methyl iodide (CH3I) with sIRMS. The combination of available analytical data by means of multiparametric statistical tools allows for the clear segregation of critical provenience clusters for vanillin, such as (natural) eugenol-derived qualities from (synthetic) lignin- or curcumin-based products. The approach supports quality and authenticity control for Vanilla-based products, aiding in meeting customer expectations in this demanding market segment.

The market penetration surveys have provided important insights into the state-of play concerning vehicle-safety systems in Germany. The surveys have confirmed that some building blocks are widely penetrated or almost ubiquitous in the vehicle fleet (e.g. airbags, ESC), whereas advanced systems (e.g. emergency braking) are at the beginning of penetrating the fleet. The combination of system equipment and socio-demographic/geographic indicators has revealed that the presence of systems on the road (fleet km) is higher than the equipment suggests, because there is already a rational incentive that large equipment is most beneficial for vehicles with high annual mileage. Taken together in a temporal perspective, the surveys point at the growing intelligence of and in the vehicles. One can also recognise the penetration pattern following the innovation cascade where new systems are introduced as options in upper class segments, usually bundled in packages. Over time, innovation seeps through to the volume segments [18]. Vehicle-safety systems are experience goods. Acknowledging that some of the vehicle -safety systems can be interpreted as automation Level 1 s or 2 systems, users can collect valuable experience on how to drive assisted by such systems.

Flavonoide stellen eine grose Gruppe pflanzlicher Sekundarmetabolite dar und haben eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher biologischer Eigenschaften. Aufgrund dessen stehen sie im Interesse vieler Wissenschaftler, da sie zu vielen industriell interessanten Verbindungen fuhren konnen. Das anaerobe Darmbakterium Eubacterium ramulus kann uber einen bislang unbekannten Abbauweg diese Flavonoide verstoffwechseln. Uber eine Vollgenom-Sequenzierung wurden in dieser Arbeit die entscheidenden Enzyme, eine Chalconisomerase (CHI) und eine Enoatreduktase (ERED), identifiziert, kloniert und funktionell sogar unter aeroben Bedingungen exprimiert. Mittels Biotransformation des Flavanons zum Dihydrochalcon konnte der Flavonoid-Abbauweg bewiesen werden. Der beide Enzyme exprimierende E.-coli-Stamm kann fur die Umsetzung verschiedener Flavanone eingesetzt werden. Dies unterstreicht die Anwendbarkeit des in dieser Arbeit entwickelten biokatalytischen Systems.

Automated driving will provide many kinds of benefits - some direct and some indirect. The benefits originate at the individual level, from changes in the behaviour of drivers and travellers with regard to driving and mobility, ending up with benefits at the social level via changes in the whole transport system and society, where many of the current planning and operations paradigms are likely to be transformed by automated driving. There may also be disbenefits, particularly at a social level, for example in intensity of travel which could result in additional congestion and increased use of natural resources. There may also be unintended consequences. For example, we do not know the impacts on public transport: driverless vehicles could provide a means to a lower cost service provision, but the availability of automated cars could lead to more car travel at the expense of collective transport.

The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and global temperature are rising, which poses a potential threat to life, specifically crops, and therefore food and bioenergy supply. Reduced water availability has the most severe impact on potential grain yield. Negative effects of transient drought stress (dry spells) can be countered by drought tolerance-inducing chemicals. In search for useful compounds, biochemical assays are fast but limited in scope, whereas whole-plant assays are slow, require large amounts of compounds, and are usually not concentration-related. Here we report the development of a fast, concentration-dependent whole-plant assay using the fast growing duckweed Lemna minor L. 4-Amino-1,8-naphthalimide (1) and the imidacloprid metabolite 6-chloronicotinic acid (2) were affirmed as drought stress tolerance enhancers. Both also reduce oxidative stress-induced cell death in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. cell suspension culture but show differences in their mode of action.

Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and therefore prevention of acetylcholine degradation is one of the most accepted therapy opportunities for Alzheimer´s disease (AD), today. Due to lack of selectivity of AChE inhibitor drugs on the market, AD-patients suffer from side effects like nausea or vomiting. In the present study the isolation of two alkaloids, infractopicrin (1) and 10-hydroxy-infractopicrin (2), from Cortinarius infractus Berk. (Cortinariaceae) is presented. Both compounds show AChE-inhibiting activity and possess a higher selectivity than galanthamine. Docking studies show that lacking π–π-interactions in butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) are responsible for selectivity. Studies on other AD pathology related targets show an inhibitory effect of both compounds on self-aggregation of Aβ-peptides but not on AChE induced Aβ-peptide aggregation. Low cytotoxicity as well as calculated pharmacokinetic data suggest that the natural products could be useful candidates for further drug development.

Three novel alkaloids (1-3), named pyriferines A-C, were isolated from fruiting bodies of Pseudobaeospora pyrifera. They possess an unusual eight-membered N/O-acetal ring, derived from L-glutamic acid, that is connected to an enolized 1,3-diketo moiety. The structures were determined by spectroscopic methods, and the absolute configuration of the glutamic acid moiety was established using GC-MS after Mosher-type derivatization.

Flavonoids are a large group of plant secondary metabolites with a variety of biological properties and are therefore of interest to many scientists, as they can lead to industrially interesting intermediates. The anaerobic gut bacterium Eubacterium ramulus can catabolize flavonoids, but until now, the pathway has not been experimentally confirmed. In the present work, a chalcone isomerase (CHI) and an enoate reductase (ERED) could be identified through whole genome sequencing and gene motif search. These two enzymes were successfully cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in their active form, even under aerobic conditions. The catabolic pathway of E. ramulus was confirmed by biotransformations of flavanones into dihydrochalcones. The engineered E. coli strain that expresses both enzymes was used for the conversion of several flavanones, underlining the applicability of this biocatalytic cascade reaction.

This paper reports the methodology and the results of the socio-economic impact assessment of the SAFESPOT cooperative systems. Two application bundles, based on communication between vehicles or between vehicles and the infrastructure, which address the same problem areas of road safety (intersections, hazardous road and weather conditions, speed and inappropriate distance), are compared concerning their socio-economic benefits and system costs for the target year 2020. The results show that the infrastructure based bundle is slightly more effective in avoiding casualties, thus leading to higher safety benefits. The system costs are dominated by the infrastructure costs so that the lower invehicle costs of the infrastructure based system are outweighed by far. In terms of benefit-cost ratio the system based on vehicle-vehicle communication proves its efficiency whereas the vehicle-infrastructure based system is too expensive under the assumptions introduced for the assessment. In general it can be concluded that cooperative systems, especially when infrastructure comes into play, should aim towards leaner and smarter equipment at lower unit costs. Concerning deployment, it is argued that the system based on vehicle-vehicle communication looks more promising from the socio-economic perspective. The equipment of infrastructure on a limited scale, concentrating on black spots, would help to overcome the critical mass threshold of the vehicle-vehicle applications in early deployment phase.

In this paper, the authors present a benefit cost analysis model for assessing advanced vehicle control systems (AVCS). The model is applied to an analysis of the CHAUFFEUR system which involves two trucks that are coupled electronically.

Chalcone isomerase (CHI) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in plants. The first bacterial CHI (CHIera) was identified from Eubacterium ramulus, but its distribution, evolutionary source, substrate scope, and stereoselectivity are still unclear. Here, we describe the identification of 66 novel bacterial CHIs from Genbank using a novel Sequence‐Structure‐Function‐Evolution (SSFE) strategy. These novel bacterial CHIs show diversity in substrate specificity towards various hydroxylated and methoxylated chalcones. The mutagenesis of CHIera according to the substrate binding models of these novel bacterial CHIs resulted in several variants with greatly improved activity towards these chalcones. Furthermore, the preparative scale conversion catalyzed by bacterial CHIs has been performed for five chalcones and revealed (S)‐selectivity with up to 96 % ee, which provides an alternative biocatalytic route for the synthesis of (S)‐flavanones in high yields., Novel bacterial chalcone isomerases and their variants identified by a Sequence‐Structure‐Function‐Evolution (SSFE) strategy are able to convert chalcones to flavanones with diverse substrate scopes and strict (S)‐stereopreference enabling a biocatalytic route to (S)‐flavanones.