Ferrugem‑asiática da soja no Brasil: passado, presente e futuro

Asian soybean rust, caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is the most severe disease of the crop and can cause yield losses of up to 90%. The disease was first reported in Brazil in 2001. Epidemics of the disease are common in the country, where the fungus can survive year‑round. Regulatory measures to reduce the inoculum between seasons and avoid late-season soybean have been adopted to manage the disease. Disease control has relied mainly on chemical control, but a lower sensibility of the fungus to fungicides has been reported in Brazil. Major‑resistance genes have been mapped and incorporated into the cultivars. With the reduced efficacy of the fungicides, the adoption of integrated measures to control the disease will be important for the sustainability of the crop. This review presents the main changes in the soybean crop system caused by the introduction of the fungus in Brazil, the current management strategies adopted to avoid losses, and the new trends that, together with biotechnological strategies, can improve management in the future.A ferrugem‑asiática da soja, causada pelo fungo Phakopsora pachyrhizi, é a doença mais severa da cultura e pode causar perdas de produtividade de até 90%. A doença foi relatada pela primeira vez no Brasil em 2001. Epidemias da doença são comuns no País, onde o fungo pode sobreviver durante todo o ano. Medidas regulatórias para reduzir o inóculo entre safras e evitar a semeadura tardia de soja têm sido adotadas para manejar a doença. O controle da doença tem se baseado principalmente no controle químico, mas uma menor sensibilidade do fungo aos fungicidas tem sido relatada no Brasil. Genes de resistência têm sido mapeados e incorporados às cultivares. Por causa da redução da eficiência dos fungicidas, a adoção de medidas integradas para o controle da doença será importante para a sustentabilidade da cultura. Este artigo de revisão apresenta as principais mudanças no sistema de produção da soja causadas pela introdução do fungo no Brasil, as medidas de controle atualmente usadas para evitar perdas, e as novas tendências que, juntas com estratégias biotecnológicas, podem melhorar o manejo da doença no futuro

Identifying Novel Targetable Genes and Pathways in Cancer by Integrating Diverse Omics Data.

Omics technologies for high-throughput profiling of human genome, transcriptome and proteome are revolutionizing cancer research and driving a paradigm shift in clinical care, from “one size” fits all treatments to molecularly informed therapies. The success of this new precision medicine paradigm will depend on our ability to combine diverse omics-based measurements to distill clinically relevant information that can be acted upon. This thesis developed bioinformatics approaches to integrate multi-omics datasets and applied these approaches in three distinct studies that identified novel actionable genes and pathways in cancer. In the first study, we aim at finding alternative targetable proteins in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) with activating mutations in KRAS, a well-know but undruggable oncogene, by profiling their transcriptome, proteome and phosphoproteome. By reconstructing targetable networks associated with KRAS dependency, we nominate lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (LCK) as a critical gene for cell proliferation in these samples, suggesting LCK as a novel druggable protein in KRAS-dependent NSCLC. In the second study, we aim at identifying oncogenic gene fusions in NSCLC patients of unknown driver gene. By characterizing the highly heterogeneous fusion’s landscape in NSCLC, we show that gene fusions incidence is an independent prognostic factor for poor outcome and discover novel Neurorregulin 1 (NRG1) fusions present exclusively in patients of unknown driver; resembling previously reported kinase fusions. This warrants further studies of the therapeutic opportunities for patients with NRG1 rearrangements. Finally in the third study, we aim at characterizing cancer-related genes that overlap and could be regulated by natural antisense transcripts. By determining the extent of antisense gene expression across human cancers and comparing with well-documented sense-antisense pairs, our results raise the possibility that antisense transcripts could modulate the expression of well-known tumor suppressors and oncogenes. This study provides a resource, oncoNATdb, a catalogue of cancer related genes with significant antisense transcription, which will enable researchers to investigate the mechanisms of sense-antisense regulation and their role in cancer. We anticipate that the computational methods developed and the results found in this thesis would assist others with similar tasks and inspire further studies of the therapeutic opportunities provided by these novel targets.PHDBioinformaticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107215/1/oabalbin_1.pd

The doctoral research abstracts. Vol:11 2017 / Institute of Graduate Studies, UiTM

Foreword: Congratulation to IGS on the continuous effort to publish the 11th issue of the Doctoral Research Abstracts which highlights the research in various disciplines from science and technology, business and administration to social science and humanities. This research abstract issue features the abstracts from 91 PhD doctorates who will receive their scrolls in this 86th UiTM momentous convocation ceremony. This is a special year for the Institute of Graduate Studies where we are celebrating our 20th anniversary. The 20th anniversary is celebrated with pride with an increase in the number of PhD graduates. In this 86th convocation, the number of PhD graduates has increased by 30% compared to the previous convocation. Each research produces an innovation and this year, 91 research innovations have been successfully recognized to have made contributions to the body of knowledge. This is in line with this year UiTM theme that is “Inovasi Melonjak Persaingan Global (Innovation Soars Global Competition)”. Embarking on PhD research may not have been an easy decision for many of you. It often comes at a point in life when the decision to further one’s studies is challenged by the comfort of status quo. I would like it to be known that you have most certainly done UiTM proud by journeying through the scholarly world with its endless challenges and obstacles, and by persevering right till the very end. Again, congratulations to all PhD graduates. As you leave the university as alumni we hope a new relationship will be fostered between you and UiTM to ensure UiTM soars to greater heights. I wish you all the best in your future endeavor. Keep UiTM close to your heart and be our ambassadors wherever you go. / Prof Emeritus Dato’ Dr Hassan Said Vice Chancellor Universiti Teknologi MAR

Antioxidant and DPPH-Scavenging Activities of Compounds and Ethanolic Extract of the Leaf and Twigs of Caesalpinia bonduc L. Roxb.

Antioxidant effects of ethanolic extract of Caesalpinia bonduc and its isolated bioactive compounds were evaluated in vitro. The compounds included two new cassanediterpenes, 1α,7α-diacetoxy-5α,6β-dihydroxyl-cass-14(15)-epoxy-16,12-olide (1)and 12α-ethoxyl-1α,14β-diacetoxy-2α,5α-dihydroxyl cass-13(15)-en-16,12-olide(2); and others, bonducellin (3), 7,4’-dihydroxy-3,11-dehydrohomoisoflavanone (4), daucosterol (5), luteolin (6), quercetin-3-methyl ether (7) and kaempferol-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1Ç2)-β-D-xylopyranoside (8). The antioxidant properties of the extract and compounds were assessed by the measurement of the total phenolic content, ascorbic acid content, total antioxidant capacity and 1-1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide radicals scavenging activities.Compounds 3, 6, 7 and ethanolic extract had DPPH scavenging activities with IC50 values of 186, 75, 17 and 102 μg/ml respectively when compared to vitamin C with 15 μg/ml. On the other hand, no significant results were obtained for hydrogen peroxide radical. In addition, compound 7 has the highest phenolic content of 0.81±0.01 mg/ml of gallic acid equivalent while compound 8 showed the highest total antioxidant capacity with 254.31±3.54 and 199.82±2.78 μg/ml gallic and ascorbic acid equivalent respectively. Compound 4 and ethanolic extract showed a high ascorbic acid content of 2.26±0.01 and 6.78±0.03 mg/ml respectively.The results obtained showed the antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extract of C. bonduc and deduced that this activity was mediated by its isolated bioactive compounds