No description available.

Bacterial endosymbionts of eukaryotes are generally studied in terms of their benefit or detriment to their hosts. The constraints that the host's life history imposes on its endosymbionts are rarely considered, although bacterial genome content and size are influenced by both the biotic and abiotic factors in the environment. The host organism is the primary habitat of the endosymbiont. Thus, desecribing the environment a host provides its endosymbiont is essential for understanding the evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria. I propose a system to classify the endosymbiotic environment by three characteristics: 1) host life cycle 2) host metabolism, and 3) endosymbiont location relative to host tissues. Insect-bacterial mutualisms have been classified in terms of endosymbiont environment. The majority of insect-bacterial mutualisms currently studied involve monophagous, hemimetabolous hosts that provide a relatively constant endosymbiotic enviroment. A relatively constant environment may explain the extremely reduced genomes of their endosymbionts. In contrast, polyphagous, holometabolous hosts provide the most variable endosymbiotic environment. In this work, I examined the interactions between the polyphagous, holometabolous insect, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), and the enteric gammaproteobacterium, Candidatus Erwinia dacicola, throughout host development. Candidatus Erwinia dacicola was found in the digestive system of all life stages of wild olive flies. PCR and microscopy demonstrated that Ca. Erwinia dacicola resided intracellularly in the gastric caeca of the larval midgut, but extracellularly in the lumen of the foregut and ovipositor diverticulum of adult flies. I document the widespread distribution and high frequency of Ca. Er. dacicola in ten populations of wild olive flies sampled in four countries (3 Old World and 1 New World). The relative abundance of the bacterium was highest in adults and less prevalent in the egg and pupal stages. Among adult flies, the bacterium was most common in ovipositing females. These results suggest that Ca. Er. dacicola is a persistent, autochthonous endosymbiont of the olive fly. Finally, mating initiation was examined to study the influence of Ca. Er. dacicola on mating between a laboratory and a wild population of olive flies from Israel. Behavioral differences between the two populations, not presence of the endosymbiont, explained mating initiation.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the sites of overwintering of Erwinia amylovora (Burrill) Winslow et al . outside of living tissue in Utah. Bacterial isolates were taken from the surfaces of blighted twigs and mummified fruits remaining on the tree; also from internal dead tissue of blighted twigs and mummies, and from soil beneath blighted trees. Each isolate was tested for agglutination with antiserum specific for Erwina amylovora, susceptibility to Erwinia amylovora bacteriophage, production of symptoms in pear seedlings and development of bacterial ooze on green pears. Both virulent and avirulent isolates were taken from all sites tested. There was also a slight increase in the number of Erwinia amylovora isolates taken as spring approached . There was no apparent difference in apple or pear trees as overwintering hosts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

Potato ranks fourth after wheat, rice and corn as a major food crop. It is an excellent source of nutrients and at the same time relatively inexpensive, therefore it is the mainstay in the diets of people in both developed and developing countries. Potato losses and quality degradation due to the effect of storage variables or processing conditions must be reduced to increase the world food supply. To accomplish these objectives, studies have been conducted to evaluate: (a) quality changes in potatoes during cooking and frying, (b) quality changes in raw potatoes as influenced by storage conditions, (c) changes in cooking quality of potatoes as influence by storage conditions, (d) changes in frying quality of potatoes as influenced by storage conditions, and finally (e) quality changes in potatoes as influenced by Erwinia carotovora ssp. carotovora infection (Ecc, casual agent of soft rot disease in potato). / Kinetics of quality changes during cooking and frying of potatoes were evaluated. Potatoes were cooked at 80--100°C or fried at 160--190°C for selected times and their texture and color were evaluated. Results showed that texture values of cooked potatoes decreased with the progress of cooking, and the rate of texture changes at each temperature was found to be consistent with two pseudo first-order kinetic mechanisms. Textural values of fried potatoes increased with frying time and followed a first order kinetic model. Cooked potatoes were less bright, more red and less yellow in color as compared to raw samples. A modified first order model was used to characterize the color changes kinetics of both cooked and fried potatoes based on the changes occurring between the initial and a maximum or minimum value. 10 min cooking at 100°C and 10 min frying at 180°C were considered to give the designed cooked and fried products, respectively. / The changes in quality characteristics of potatoes as a function of storage variables (temperature and time) were evaluated. Potatoes were stored at five temperatures (4, 8, 12, 16 and 20°C) for selected duration (at least 5 time intervals) and different physico-chemical quality parameters were evaluated. Potatoes remained healthier when they stored at lower temperatures due to absence of sprouts and visible spoilage. They became softer and darker by passage of time.

Lic.-avh. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.