Developmenrt of EST-SSR and genomic-SSR markers to assess genetic diversity in Jatropha Curcas L.

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Jatropha curcas L. </it>has attracted a great deal of attention worldwide, regarding its potential as a new biodiesel crop. However, the understanding of this crop remains very limited and little genomic research has been done. We used simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers that could be transferred from <it>Manihot esculenta </it>(cassava) to analyze the genetic relationships among 45 accessions of <it>J. curcas </it>from our germplasm collection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 187 out of 419 expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSR and 54 out of 182 genomic (G)-SSR markers from cassava were polymorphic among the <it>J. curcas </it>accessions. The EST-SSR markers comprised 26.20% dinucleotide repeats, 57.75% trinucleotide repeats, 7.49% tetranucleotide repeats, and 8.56% pentanucleotide repeats, whereas the majority of the G-SSR markers were dinucleotide repeats (62.96%). The 187 EST-SSRs resided in genes that are involved mainly in biological and metabolic processes. Thirty-six EST-SSRs and 20 G-SSRs were chosen to analyze the genetic diversity among 45 <it>J. curcas </it>accessions. A total of 183 polymorphic alleles were detected. On the basis of the distribution of these polymorphic alleles, the 45 accessions were classified into six groups, in which the genotype showed a correlation with geographic origin. The estimated mean genetic diversity index was 0.5572, which suggests that our <it>J. curcas </it>germplasm collection has a high level of genetic diversity. This should facilitate subsequent studies on genetic mapping and molecular breeding.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified 241 novel EST-SSR and G-SSR markers in <it>J. curcas</it>, which should be useful for genetic mapping and quantitative trait loci analysis of important agronomic traits. By using these markers, we found that the intergroup gene diversity of <it>J. curcas </it>was greater than the intragroup diversity, and that the domestication of the species probably occurred partly in America and partly in Hainan, China.</p

Advanced glycoxidation and lipoxidation end products (AGEs and ALEs): an overview of their mechanisms of formation

Advanced lipoxidation end products (ALEs) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have a pathogenetic role in the development and progression of different oxidative-based diseases including diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurological disorders. AGEs and ALEs represent a quite complex class of compounds that are formed by different mechanisms, by heterogeneous precursors and that can be formed either exogenously or endogenously. There is a wide interest in AGEs and ALEs involving different aspects of research which are essentially focused on set-up and application of analytical strategies (1) to identify, characterize, and quantify AGEs and ALEs in different pathophysiological conditions ; (2) to elucidate the molecular basis of their biological effects ; and (3) to discover compounds able to inhibit AGEs/ALEs damaging effects not only as biological tools aimed at validating AGEs/ALEs as drug target, but also as promising drugs. All the above-mentioned research stages require a clear picture of the chemical formation of AGEs/ALEs but this is not simple, due to the complex and heterogeneous pathways, involving different precursors and mechanisms. In view of this intricate scenario, the aim of the present review is to group the main AGEs and ALEs and to describe, for each of them, the precursors and mechanisms of formation