Root-knot nematodes belonging to the genus Meloidogyne are the most economically important group of plant-parasitic nematodes. Thei r worldwide distribution, extensive host ranges, and interaction with other plant pathogens in diseas e complexes rank them among the top plant pathogens affecting the world's food supply (5). Even though only four Meloidogyne species M. incognita, M. javanica, M. ...

We discuss a method of approximate model reduction for networks of biochemical reactions. This method can be applied to networks with polynomial or rational reaction rates and whose parameters are given by their orders of magnitude. In order to obtain reduced models we solve the problem of tropical equilibration that is a system of equations in max-plus algebra. In the case of networks with non...

Rapid biochemical tests for nitrate, indole, gelatin, starch, esculin, and o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside were performed on 112 strains of anaerobic bacteria. All tests were incubated under aerobic conditions, and results were recorded within 4 h. The tests for nitrate, indole, and starch showed a 95% or greater correlation when compared to the standard biochemical tests. Tests for escu...

Caenorhabditis elegans gonad is a simple model to investigate molecular mechanisms that regulate fundamental cell and developmental processes. The strength of the model is that C. elegans is amenable to genetic manipulation. The complete genome sequence, advances in mass spectrometry, and RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) are now providing a technical infrastructure that complements biochemical ...

Comparing alternative models for a given biochemical system is in general a very difficult problem: the models may focus on different aspects of the same system and may consist of very different species and reactions. The numerical setups of the models also play a crucial role in the quantitative comparison. When the alternative designs are submodels of a reference model, e.g. knockdown mutants...

Stochastic simulation of complex biochemical networks is a topic of current interest, in spite of the importance of the Gillespie algorithm it requires substantial amount of computational effort to simulate a complex system, Many algorithms are available now to control the two most important parameters in simulation: speed and accuracy. It can be proved that the stochastic modelling approach pr...

To find biocatalyst allowing depolymerization of new polysaccharides, one needs to get a sensitive and well adapted method to a screening program. This led us to compare biochemical methods of detection of the depolymerization. Currently used methods such as reducing sugars assays, double bond monitoring or molecular weight determination were tested to follow the kinetic of depolymerization wit...

Available online 10 March 2009

A hypothesis is presented that electronic and vibrational resonant energy states are important in biochemical reactions due to their coupling to hydrogen transfer reactions. The hypothesis is based upon (1) the involvement of hydrogen in most biochemical reactions, (2) the unique abiity of hydrogen to act as an energy trap for resonant energy and (3) demonstrations of the coupling of resonant e...