Morphogenetic and chemical stability of long-term maintained <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated transgenic <i>Catharanthus roseus</i> plants

<div><p>Transgenic <i>Catharanthus roseus</i> plants (transgenic Dhawal [DT] and transgenic Nirmal [NT]) obtained from the <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i> and <i>Agrobacterium</i><i>rhizognenes</i>-mediated transformations, respectively, have been maintained <i>in vitro</i> for 5 years. Plants were studied at regular intervals for various parameters such as plant height, leaf size, multiplication rate, alkaloid profile and presence of marker genes. DT plant gradually lost the <i>GUS</i> gene expression and it was not detected in the fifth year while NT plant demonstrated the presence of genes <i>rol</i><i>A</i>, <i>rol</i><i>B</i> and <i>rol</i><i>C</i> even in the fifth year, indicating the more stable nature of <i>Ri</i> transgene. Vindoline content in the DT was two times more than in non-transformed control plants. Alkaloid and tryptophan profiles were almost constant during the 5 years. The cluster analysis revealed that the DT plant is more close to the control Nirmal plant followed by NT plant.</p></div

In vitro free radicals scavenging activities of polysaccharide from Polygonum Multiflorum Thunb

The crude polysaccharide (PMTP) was isolated from Polygonum Multiflorum Thunb through hot water extraction followed by ethanol precipitation. Through antioxidant assay in vitro, the results exhibited PMTP has powerful scavenging abilities, especially on ABTS, DPPH and Hydroxyl radicals. Therefore, the crude polysaccharide from P. Multiflorum Thunb should be explored as a novel potential antioxidant

Changes in the Intestinal Microbiota of Gibel Carp (Carassius gibelio) Associated with Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) Infection

Gut microbiota are integral to the host, and have received increased attention in recent years. However, information regarding the intestinal microbiota of many aquaculture animals is insufficient; elucidating the dynamics of the intestinal microbiota can be beneficial for nutrition, immunity, and disease control. In this study, we used 16S rRNA sequencing to observe changes in the intestinal microbiota of gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) associated with cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) infection. Our results indicate that the diversity of the intestinal microbiota was strongly reduced, and the composition was dramatically altered following CyHV-2 infection. The most dominant species in healthy fish were Cetobacterium, Rhodobacter, and Crenothrix; meanwhile, Cetobacterium, Plesiomonas, Bacteroides, and Flavobacterium were the most abundant species in sick fish. Plesiomonas was highly abundant in infected samples, and could be used as a microbial biomarker for CyHV-2 infection. Chemical properties of the aquaculture water were significantly correlated with the microbial community structure; however, it is difficult to determine whether these changes are a cause or consequence of infection. However, it may be possible to use probiotics or prebiotics to restore the richness of the host intestinal microbiota in infected animals to maintain host health

Haplotype variation of Green Revolution gene Rht-D1 during wheat domestication and improvement

Green Revolution made a substantial contribution to wheat yields worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s. It is of great importance to analyze the haplotype variation of Rht-D1, the Green Revolution gene, during wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) domestication and breeding to understand its evolution and function in wheat breeding history. In this study, the Rht-D1 and its flanking regions were sequenced and single nucleotide polymorphisms were detected based on a panel of 45 accessions of Aegilops tauschii, 51 accessions of landraces and 80 accessions of commercial varieties. Genetic diversity in the wild accessions was much higher than that in the varieties and higher than that reported previously. Seven haplotypes (Hapl I to Hapl VII) of Rht-D1 were identified and their evolutionary relationships were proposed. In addition to the well-known Green Revolution allele Rht-D1b, Hapl VII (an allele Rht-D1k) was identified in early breeding varieties, which reduced plant height by 16%. The results suggested that Rht-D1k had been used in breeding before the Green Revolution and made a great contribution to wheat production worldwide. Based on the breeding history and molecular evidence, we proposed that the wheat Green Revolution in China and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) occurred independently

De novo assembly of Zea nicaraguensis root transcriptome identified 5261 full-length transcripts

Zea nicaraguensis, a wild relative of cultivated maize (Zea mays subsp. mays), is considered to be a valuable germplasm to improve the waterlogging tolerance of cultivated maize. Use of reverse genetic-based gene cloning and function verification to discover waterlogging tolerance genes in Z. nicaraguensis is currently impractical, because little gene sequence information for Z. nicaraguensis is available in public databases. In this study, Z. nicaraguensis seedlings were subjected to simulated waterlogging stress and total RNAs were isolated from roots stressed and non-stressed controls. In total, 80 mol L-1 Illumina 100-bp paired-end reads were generated. De novo assembly of the reads generated 81002 final non-redundant contigs, from which 5 261 full-length transcripts were identified. Among these full-length transcripts, 3 169 had at least one Gene Ontology (GO) annotation, 2354 received cluster of orthologous groups (COG) terms, and 1 992 were assigned a Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) Orthology number. These sequence data represent a valuable resource for identification of Z. nicaraguensis genes involved in waterlogging response

Copper-induced tight junction mRNA expression changes, apoptosis and antioxidant responses via NF-kappa B, TOR and Nrf2 signaling molecules in the gills of fish: Preventive role of arginine

This study explored the possible preventive effects of dietary arginine on copper (Cu)-induced tight junction mRNA expression changes, apoptosis and antioxidant responses in the gills of young grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). The results indicated that exposure to 0.7 mg/L (11.01 mu mol/L) Cu for 96h induced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby increasing protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation and DNA damage in the gills of fish. However, these oxidative effects were prevented by arginine supplementation. Arginine also prevented the toxic effects of Cu on the activities of copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR) and the glutathione (GSH) content (P0.05). These results indicated that Cu exposure induced apoptosis and antioxidant system and tight junction mRNA changes in the fish gills, which could be completely blocked by dietary arginine pre-supplementation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Allelic variations of alpha-gliadin genes from species of Aegilops section Sitopsis and insights into evolution of alpha-gliadin multigene family among Triticum and Aegilops

The alpha-gliadins account for 15-30 % of the total storage protein in wheat endosperm and play important roles in the dough extensibility and nutritional quality. On the other side, they act as a main source of toxic peptides triggering celiac disease. In this study, 37 alpha-gliadins were isolated from three species of Aegilops section Sitopsis. Sequence similarity and phylogenetic analyses revealed novel allelic variation at Gli-2 loci of species of Sitopsis and regular organization of motifs in their repetitive domain. Based on the comprehensive analyses of a large number of known sequences of bread wheat and its diploid genome progenitors, the distributions of four T cell epitopes and length variations of two polyglutamine domains are analyzed. Additionally, according to the organization of repeat motifs, we classified the alpha-gliadins of Triticum and Aegilops into eight types. Their most recent common ancestor and putative divergence patterns were further considered. This study provides new insights into the allelic variations of alpha-gliadins in Aegilops section Sitopsis, as well as evolution of alpha-gliadin multigene family among Triticum and Aegilops species

Dietary leucine regulates the intestinal immune status, immune-related signalling molecules and tight junction transcript abundance in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)

The role of leucine (Leu) in the regulation of the intestinal immune status, immune-related signalling molecules and tight junction (TJ) protein transcript abundance in the intestine of grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella) was investigated. Six iso-nitrogenous diets that contained graded levels of Leu (7.1-17.1 g Leu kg(-1) diets) were fed to the fish for 8 weeks. Compared with the control group, appropriate Leu supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the following: (1) the lysozyme activity, acid phosphatase activity and complement component 3 (C3) content in all intestinal segments; (2) the mRNA levels of interleukin 10, inhibitor factor kappa B alpha (I kappa Ba) and target of rapamycin ( TOR) in the mid and distal intestine as well as transforming growth factor beta 1 in all intestinal segments; and ( 3) the transcript levels for claudin b, claudin 3, claudin 15, occludin and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in the intestine of young grass carp. At the same time, appropriate Leu supplementation down-regulated the mRNA levels of tumour necrosis factor a, interleukin 8 and nuclear factor kappa B p65 ( NF-kappa B p65) in the mid and distal intestine of young grass carp (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the transcript levels for claudin c and claudin 12 showed no significant differences among the groups in the intestine of young grass carp. In conclusion, the positive effect of Leu on intestinal health is associated with the improvement of the intestinal immune status and the regulation of immune-related signalling molecules and tight junction transcripts of fish. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A novel method for synthesis of alpha-spinasterol and its antibacterial activities in combination with ceftiofur

In this study, we designed a novel method of the synthesis of alpha-spinasterol from commercially available stigmasterol and explored the combinational effect of the alpha-spinasterol with ceftiofur in vitro against S. pullorum cvcc533, S. pneumoniae CAU0070, E. coli and S. aureus. alpha-Spinasterol was obtained by a key reaction of Bamford-Stevens reaction with a desirable yield for five steps. The combination of alpha-spinasterol and ceftiofur showed stronger synergetic effect against the four pathogenic strains compared with that of stigmasterol and ceftiofur alone. In time-kill analyses, at concentrations above the MICs, ceftiofur in combination with alpha-spinasterol exhibited time-dependency and concentration-dependency comparing to time dependency with ceftiofur alone. We conclude that the combination usage of alpha-spinasterol and ceftiofur is an effective and promising strategy against the four pathogenic bacterial strains in vitro. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V