ABSTRACT
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 167
Historic Perspective........................................................................................... 168
Theory on NMR Water Mobility ..................................................................... 169
Why Water Mobility? ................................................................................ 169
Liquid Systems (S. aureus Growth) ................................................................. 170
Semi-Solid Heterogeneous Systems (Mold Spore Germination) ............... 177
O NMR Signal Intensity (Liquid Water) in Aspergillus
niger Study............................................................................................... 177
H and
O NMR in Aspergillus nidulans Germination Study.............. 181
Solid System (Survivability)............................................................................. 184
Concluding Remarks......................................................................................... 187
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................. 188
References ........................................................................................................... 188
The existence of living organisms on Earth relies heavily on water. Living
cells require water as a solvent that brings important nutrients and other
solutes to and from the surrounding environment in order to maintain
survival and sustain growth. In addition, the properties of water partially
contribute to shape the ability of some cells to survive several harsh
environments such as high temperature, high salt, and freezing. For
instance, the ability to form spores and relative resistance to thermal
damage is an evolutionary adaptation over millions of years in which cells
developed cellular rearrangement that, we think, manipulates the properties
of water and cellular contents to cope with environmentally severe
conditions. There is no doubt that, in general, water is life. But that is not
always the case. For example, in an extremely dry condition, exposure of a
dehydrated cell to water from such a dry state can also lead to cell death. In
this chapter we will explore some situations where the presence of water can
also lead to death. To understand the involvement of water in microbial
survival and death, we turn to an investigation on water mobility using
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The objective of this work is to further
understand the multifaceted roles of water and neighboring solutes that
impact cell growth as well as death.
