Alexander Ulanov

• PhD
• Assistant Director, Metabolomics Center at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Microbial protease co-ingestion with pea protein increased postprandial plasma total amino acid concentrations across 5 hours compared to placebo in health adults, as well as increasing branched chain, essential, and total amino acid availability in the early postprandial period (0‒2 hours). Future studies are warranted to investigate the metabolic...

Background: Digestive enzymes are commonly consumed with food to improve macronutrient digestion and support gastrointestinal comfort. Dietary supplementation with microbial proteases, in particular, is an underutilized approach to enhance dietary protein digestion and postprandial blood amino acid (AA) concentrations. No studies to date have inves...

Background: Protein is most commonly consumed as whole foods as opposed to single nutrients. However, the food matrix regulation of the postprandial muscle protein synthetic response has received little attention. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of eating salmon (SAL) and of ingesting the same nutrients as an isol...

Creatine (Cr) supplementation is a well-established strategy to enhance gains in strength, lean body mass, and power from a period of resistance training. However, the effectiveness of creatyl-L-leucine (CLL), a purported Cr amide, is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the effects of CLL on muscle Cr content. Twenty-nine he...

Spontaneous hypercortisolism (HC) is a common endocrine disease of senior dogs, often overlapping in selected clinical signs and hematologic and blood biochemical abnormalities with nonadrenal diseases (NADs). HC and NAD could differentially affect cortisol metabolism, which is a complex 10-enzymatic pathway process. HC might also affect blood and...

Bigheaded Carp have spread throughout the Mississippi River basin since the 1970s. Little has stopped the spread as carp have the ability to pass through locks and dams, and they are currently approaching the Great Lakes. However, the location of the leading edge in the Illinois River has stalled for over a decade, even though there is no barrier p...

This study aimed to evaluate pharmacokinetic profiles of morphine in goats following a single dose administered intravenously, intramuscularly, or subcutaneously at 0.1 mg/kg, 0.25 mg/kg, and 0.4 mg/kg. Study population included eight healthy adult goats in a randomized cross-over study. Serial plasma samples were collected and morphine was quantif...

Leucine is regarded as an anabolic trigger for the mTORC1 pathway and the stimulation muscle protein synthesis rates. More recently, there has been an interest in underpinning the relevance of BCAA-containing dipeptides and their intact absorption into circulation to regulate muscle anabolic responses. We investigated the effects of dileucine and l...

Weaning wields environmental, social, and nutritional stresses that are detectable in the blood metabolite levels of the offspring. Prenatal stress in the form of maternal immune activation (MIA) in response to infection, which is associated with health and behavior disorders, also elicits prolonged changes in blood and brain cytokine and metabolit...

Key points The ingestion of protein potentiates the stimulation of myofibrillar protein synthesis rates after an acute bout of resistance exercise. Protein supplementation (eating above the protein Recommended Dietary Allowance) during resistance training has been shown to maximize lean mass and strength gains in healthy young and older adults. Her...

Objectives Dietary protein intake augments muscle protein synthesis rates during acute recovery from resistance exercise training (RET) and can help offset age-related loss in muscle mass. Skeletal muscle tissue contains a variety of different protein pools such as myofibrillar (contractile), mitochondrial (substrate oxidation), and collagen (struc...

Objectives The ingestion of free amino acids, or isolated sources of protein, results in faster postprandial release of dietary amino acids into circulation, which stimulates muscle protein synthesis rates. However, indirect evidence suggests that this rapid release of dietary amino acids after the ingestion of free amino acids is coupled with high...

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal disorder of reproductive-aged women, yet its etiology remains enigmatic. One clinical symptom of BV, malodor, is linked to the microbial production of biogenic amines (BA). Using targeted liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry, we analyzed 149 longitudinally collected vaginal samples to determine...

Objectives Healthy eating patterns consist of eating whole foods as opposed to single nutrients. The maintenance of skeletal muscle mass is of particular interest to overall health. As such, there is a need to underpin the role of eating nutrients within their natural whole-food matrix versus isolated nutrients on the regulation of postprandial mus...

Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) are two highly prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with a significant rate of co-infection in some populations. Vaginal metabolites are influenced by resident vaginal microbiota, affect susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and may impact local infl...

During a traditional set configuration of resistance exercise (TRD), characterized by a continuous completion of repetitions, a decrease in power output tends to occur throughout a set of repetitions. Inclusion of intra-set rest, otherwise known as a cluster set configuration (CLU), counteracts this power decline. However, the effect of a CLU confi...

Carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion is an established strategy to improve endurance performance. Race fuels should not only sustain performance, but also be readily digested and absorbed. Potatoes are a whole-food based option that fulfills these criteria yet their impact on performance remains unexamined. We investigated the effects of potato purée inges...

Background: We have recently shown that a novel signalling kinase, inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 (IP6K1), is implicated in whole-body insulin resistance via its inhibitory action on Akt. Insulin and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) share many intracellular processes with both known to play a key role in glucose and protein metabolism in s...

Although Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of food poisoning, little is known about its response to growth on food. Utilizing a transcriptional profiling and metabolomics approach, we compared S. aureus grown on autoclaved chicken breast (ACB) to Luria broth agar. ACB cultures demonstrated increased expression of genes associated with protein...

The gut microbiome of primates, including humans, is reported to closely follow host evolutionary history, with gut microbiome composition being specific to the genetic background of its primate host. However, the comparative models used to date have mainly included a limited set of closely related primates. To further understand the forces that sh...

Objectives High protein diets (>1.6 g/kg/d) are thought to maximize daily myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) rates to resistance exercise training. Current research has focused on isolated protein sources to stimulate MPS disregarding other nutritional factors within a healthy diet. Therefore, we examined the impact of dietary counseling underlin...

Representative blots of total protein content of caspase-3 and ubiquitin before and after mixed-meal ingestion in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients (n = 8) and control subjects (n = 8).

Self-reported dietary intake during 2 days before the infusion trial.

Representative blots of total protein content of large neutral amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1), phosphorylation and total protein content of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) at Ser2448 before and after mixed meal ingestion in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients (n = 8) and control subjects (n = 8).

Key points: Lifestyle modifications that include the regular performance of exercise are likely important to counteract the negative consequences of obesity on postprandial myofibrillar protein synthetic responses to protein dense food ingestion. We show that the interactive effect of resistance exercise and feeding on the stimulation of myofibril...

Introduction Skeletal muscle loss is common in patients with renal failure who receive maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) therapy. Regular ingestion of protein-rich meals are recommended to help offset muscle protein loss in MHD patients, but little is known about the anabolic potential of this strategy. Methods Eight MHD patients (age: 56 ± 5 years;...

Background: Protein in the diet is commonly ingested from whole foods that contain various macro- and micronutrients. However, the effect of consuming protein within its natural whole-food matrix on postprandial protein metabolism remains understudied in humans.Objective: We aimed to compare the whole-body and muscle protein metabolic responses aft...

Red rice (Oryza sativa L.) that has a red (reddish brown) bran layer in de-hulled rice is known to contain rich biofunctional components. Germination is an effective technique to improve the nutritional quality, digestibility, and flavor of de-hulled rice. Ultrasonication, a form of physical stimulation, has been documented as a novel approach to i...

Purpose: Endurance exercise increases indices of small intestinal damage and leucine oxidation, which may attenuate dietary amino acid appearance and postprandial leucine balance during postexercise recovery. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an acute bout of endurance exercise on postprandial leucine kinetics and n...

Context Excess fat mass may diminish the anabolic potency of protein-rich food ingestion to stimulate muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses. However, the impact of adiposity on mitochondrial protein synthesis rates (MPS) after protein-rich food ingestion has not been thoroughly examined in vivo in humans. Objective We compared basal an...

The consumption of isolated proteins and/or crystalline amino acids enhances the anabolic effect of resistance exercise during recovery. However, the effect of consuming dietary amino acids within their natural nutrient‐dense food matrix to support whole body recovery from resistance exercise has received little attention. Therefore, we determined...

In addition to macronutrients, foods consist of a complex set of chemical compounds that can influence dietary selectivity and consumer physiology. Metabolomics allow us to describe this complexity by quantifying all small molecules, or metabolites, in a food item. In this study we use GC-MS based metabolomics to describe the metabolite profiles of...

Although soybean seeds appear homogeneous, their composition (protein, oil and mineral concentrations) can vary significantly with the canopy position where they were produced. In studies with 10 cultivars grown over a 3-yr period, we found that seeds produced at the top of the canopy have higher concentrations of protein but less oil and lower con...

Interactive Correlation plots of all plot normalized data

Interactive Correlation plots of plot mean data

Interactive Correlation plots of all data, not normalized

Weather summary (June 1?August 31) during the 2010 to 2012 growing seasons

Raw Gradient plots for each line/year combination Values are PPM (Elements), mg (SampleWeight), and Percentage (Protein/Oil).

Analysis of metabolome of developing soybean seeds (A) PLS-DA scores plot (R2 = 98.7%, Q2 = 81.1%, P < 0.001 by permutation test) of soybean seeds at different canopy position and time of day. (B) Variable Importance in the Projection (VIP) for the first component showing the fifteen most important compounds.

Indeterminate lines used in the present study and selected characteristics

All Compositional Traits Normalized Gradients

Composiition of food products for all elements

Metabolomics analysis scheme

Genotype differences in Seed fill period (SFP) and the difference in SFP at two node positions (bottom minus top; delSFP)

Background: Excess body fat diminishes muscle protein synthesis rates in response to hyperinsulinemic-hyperaminoacidemic clamps. However, muscle protein synthetic responses after the ingestion of a protein-dense food source across a range of body mass indexes (BMIs) have not been compared. Objective: We compared the myofibrillar protein syntheti...

Background: Stable isotope amino acids are regularly used as tracers to examine whole-body and muscle protein metabolism in humans. To accurately assess in vivo dietary protein digestion and absorption kinetics, the amino acid tracer is required to be incorporated within the dietary protein food source (i.e., intrinsically labeled protein). Objec...

Background With the increasing interest in metabolic engineering of plants using genetic manipulation and gene editing technologies to enhance growth, nutritional value and environmental adaptation, a major concern is the potential of undesirable broad and distant effects of manipulating the target gene or metabolic step in the resulting plant. A c...

The model ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea represents one of the environmentally and biotechnologically significant microorganisms. Genome-based studies over the last decade have led to many intriguing discoveries about its cellular biochemistry and physiology. However, knowledge regarding the regulation of overall metabolic routes...

We examined 185 metabolites in 30 adult Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) nesting at the Punta San Juan Marine Protected Area, Peru, in order to examine gender differences in metabolome profiles, particularly those involved in metabolism and energetics. The majority of the compounds identified were fatty (26% of total identified compounds),...

Acute lung injury (ALI) and the more severe acute respiratory distress syndrome are common responses to a variety of infectious and non-infectious insults. We used a mouse model of ALI induced by intratracheal administration of sterile bacterial wall lipopolysacharide (LPS) to investigate the changes in innate lung microbiota and study microbial co...

Environmental factors such as temperature, nutrient availability, and larval density determine the outcome of postembryonic development in mosquitoes. Suboptimal temperatures, crowding, and starvation during the larval phase reduce adult mosquito size, nutrient stores and affect vectorial capacity. In this study we compared adult female Aedes aegyp...

The metabolic activities of gut microbes significantly influence host physiology; thus, characterizing the forces that modulate this micro-ecosystem is key to understanding mammalian biology and fitness. To investigate the gut microbiome of wild primates and determine how this microbial communities respond to the host's external environment, we cha...

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has evolved to become an effective discovery tool in science and clinical diagnostics. Here, chemical imaging approaches are applied to well-defined regions of the mammalian peripheral sensory-motor system, including the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and adjacent nerves...

Complete genome comparisons, transcriptomic and metabolomic studies were performed on two laboratory-selected, well-characterized vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) derived from the same parent MRSA that have changes in cell wall composition and decreased autolysis. A variety of mutations were found in the VISA, with more in strai...

Mannitol (Mtl) fermentation, with the subsequent production of acid, is a species signature of Staphylococcus aureus, and discriminates it from most other members of the genus. Inactivation of the gene mtlD, encoding Mtl-1-P dehydrogenase was found to markedly reduce survival in the presence of the antimicrobial fatty acid, linoleic acid. We demons...

Metabolites present in S. aureus strains. Metabolites were identified using GC-MS analysis of cytoplasmic fractions from exponential growth phase cells. 131 unique metabolites were compared and chromatograms and mass spectra were evaluated as described previously [8], [32] using the MSD ChemStation (Agilent, Palo Alto, CA, USA) and AMDIS (NIST, Gai...

Determination of Positive Correlation Thresholds. Plot shows the proportion of potential connections realized as the correlation threshold increases for our dataset and compared to a set of 1000 random variables, each with 36 random values between 0 and 100. Using this approach we determined that positive significance thresholds of ≥0.6 for either...

Metabolites and their relative concentrations. (XLSX)

Table S3 Network Connections. (TXT)

Relationships between Nugent score, Nugent-determined BV and BV Symptomology. Sub-network showing the two paths from Nugent score and Nuget-determined BV (Nugent score≥7) and symptomatic BV as determined by Amsel criteria. Positive connections are shown as green edges, negative connections are shown as red edges. (TIF)

Determination of Negative Correlation Thresholds. Plot shows the proportion of potential connections realized as the correlation threshold increases for our dataset and compared to a set of 1000 random variables, each with 36 random values between 0 and 100. Using this approach we determined that negative correlations of ≤−0.4 for either Pearson's...

Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal disorder of reproductive-age women. Yet the cause of BV has not been established. To uncover key determinants of BV, we employed a multi-omic, systems-biology approach, including both deep 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing and metabolomics of lavage samples from 36 women. These women varie...

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal disorder of reproductive-age women. Yet the cause of BV has not been established. To uncover key determinants of BV, we employed a multi-omic, systems-biology approach, including both deep 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing and metabolomics of lavage samples from 36 women. These women vari...

The identification of prehistoric pipe residue by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy provides a link between tobacco and pipes in the American Bottom.The analysis of three pipes from the Divers site (11MO28) indicates the presence of nicotine and the use of tobacco as a smoking material.

Although diet composition has been implicated as a major factor in the etiology of various gastrointestinal diseases, conclusive evidence remains elusive. This is particularly true in diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis where breast milk as opposed to commercial formula appears to confer a "protective effect" to the "immature gut." Yet the m...

Although diet composition has been implicated as a major factor in the etiology of various gastrointestinal diseases, conclusive evidence remains elusive. This is particularly true in diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis where breast milk as opposed to commercial formula appears to confer a "protective effect" to the "immature gut." Yet the m...

When Zea mays callus cultures of two different genotypes were treated with the osmoticum mannitol (0.53M) for 24h their ability to reduce the tetrazolium derivative 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) to form the insoluble red compound formazan is stimulated. The formazan can be extracted with 95% ethanol for quantitation and this reaction ha...

The yeast N-acetyltransferase MPR1 gene has previously been shown to confer resistance to the toxic proline analogue azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (A2C) in yeast and transgenic tobacco. Here experiments were carried out to determine if MPR1 and A2C can work as a selectable marker system for plant transformation. The MPR1 gene was inserted into a bina...

Cryphonectria parasitica, the chestnut blight fungus, can be infected by virulence-attenuating mycoviruses of the family Hypoviridae. Previous studies have led to the hypothesis that the hypovirus-infected phenotype is partly due to metabolic changes induced by the viral infection. To investigate this, we measured the metabolic rate and respiration...

Since the presence of glyphosate in maize tissue cultures of proprietary line L2 was very detrimental to plant regeneration, we determined metabolic changes associated with the glyphosate effects on plant regeneration in maize cultures.The polar fraction composition and soluble and cell-wall-bound phenolics were analyzed in the regenerable (R) and...

Responses to prolonged drought and recovery from drought of two South American potato (Solanum tuberosum L. ssp. andigena (Juz & Buk) Hawkes) landraces, Sullu and Ccompis were compared under field conditions. Physiological and biomass measurements, yield analysis, the results of hybridisation to a potato microarray platform (44 000 probes) and meta...

A Free-Air CO(2) Enrichment (FACE) experiment compared the physiological parameters, transcript and metabolite profiles of Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia-0 (Col-0) and Cape Verde Island (Cvi-0) at ambient (approximately 0.375 mg g(-1)) and elevated (approximately 0.550 mg g(-1)) CO(2) ([CO(2)]). Photoassimilate pool sizes were enhanced in high [CO(2...