The Gods of the Random Numbers have spoken. Loud and clear!
Fifty eight entries, and the winner is NUMBER 4! (which happens to be my favorite number, but I swear I did not mess up with the Gods of the Numbers).
Michael, please send me an email at sallybr2008 at gmail.com so I can mail your gift!
Thank you for everyone who participated, I hope to reach another milestone soon!
“Don’t worry, Buck, she’ll get over it. Remember when I tried to run in the house with that big dead rat in my mouth? … The hysterical screaming, …the door banging in my face? We had to stay outside forever, until Dad came home and calmed her down. Unfortunately, he got my rat away from me, but at least Mom stopped acting silly.”
“Anyway, I told you that dropping the dead possum next to the grill when she was cooking the steak was not a good move. You should have listened to me, but now it’s too late. OK, she could have cooked it, but apparently she doesn’t like possum. “Now, we’ll be here for a while, I’m afraid.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter that the damn possum was playin’ possum and then walked away …”
Never a dull moment, folks. Never a dull moment. And I wonder why my hair gets a little more gray each day. 😉
Can you see me doing a happy dance? Can you at least imagine me doing a very happy dance? Today the Bewitching Kitchen hit a special milestone, reaching 500,000 page views, and I’m in heaven! It seems like only yesterday the site registered the first 100 views, and had the first comment coming from someone other than close friends and family. 😉 Half a million page views! Great feeling, folks!
To celebrate, I am giving away a very special book called Jerusalem: A Cookbook, written by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. The story behind these authors is fascinating! You can read a little bit about it here. Jerusalem is more than a cookbook, it describes the complexities of different cultures co-existing, and the way they influence each other in ways that reach way beyond cooking. The recipes have that exotic feel that make your mind travel to far away places, imagining each smell and taste. So, if you would like to get this book as a gift, leave a comment in this post, and I will draw the lucky winner’s name on December 14th, which happens to be Ottolenghi’s birthday!
Thank you so much for carrying me through the milestone of half a million page views!
Growing up, I knew nothing about Thanksgiving. I had no idea one day I would be living here and calling the US my new home. Of all American holidays, Thanksgiving is my favorite. It is a time to just be together with family and friends, being grateful for the good things we have. On that note, I wish Black Fridays did not exist. Or that they could be placed somewhere far apart in time from this special holiday. Still, what matters the most is that we all have things to be grateful for, and I hope your day will focus on that.
For our first Thanksgiving in the Little Apple, we will have a joint party, two labs together, celebrating with all the graduate students who stayed here working hard during the break from classes. It will be a fun evening, I am sure! Phil will be in charge of the turkey, and I’ll be his sous chef. All I have to do is mashed potatoes… I got the easy job this year.
And here is a shot taken a couple of days ago in our street. One would imagine that with Thanksgiving right at the corner, those guys would be a little more careful! 😉
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Cookies and coffee will be available at 3:45pm…
THE PUZZLES OF FERRIC ENTEROBACTIN TRANSPORT THROUGH FepA
When Gram-negative bacteria acquire iron, the metal crosses both the outer membrane (OM) and the inner membrane (IM). But, existing radioisotopic uptake assays only measure iron passage into the cell as the accumulation of the radionuclide in the cytoplasm. We devised a novel methodology that exclusively observes the OM transport reaction of ferric enterobactin (FeEnt) by Escherichia coli FepA. This technique, called postuptake binding, revealed previously unknown aspects of TonB-dependent ferric siderophore transport reactions. The experiments showed, for the first time, that despite the discrepancy in cell envelope concentrations of FepA and TonB (approximately 35:1), all FepA proteins were active and equivalent in FeEnt uptake, with a maximum turnover number of approximately 5/min. The accumulation of FeEnt in the periplasm required the binding protein and inner membrane permease components of its overall transport system; postuptake binding assays on strains devoid of FepB, FepD, or FepG did not show uptake of FeEnt through the OM. However, fluorescence labeling data implied that FepA was active in the fepB-minus strain, suggesting that FeEnt entered the periplasm but then leaked out. Further experiments confirmed this futile cycle; cells without FepB transported FeEnt across the OM, but it immediately escaped through TolC. These ferric siderophore acquisition systems are crucial to the pathogenesis of Gram-negative bacteria, and our results show that cathecolate siderophores, which are transported by OM receptors such as FepA, CirA, FecA and Fiu, play a defining role in colonization of the gut by E.coli.
Anyone who falls asleep will hurt my feelings! 😉
Bewitching Kitchen 