Assessment of Algerian Maize Populations for Saccharification and Nutritive Value

© 2020 by the authors.Maize (Zea mays L.) from the Algerian Sahara was adapted to arid conditions and has been used for food and feed. The objective of this work was to assess the potential value of Saharan maize for saccharification and nutritive value under drought conditions. Eighteen maize populations from the Algerian Sahara were evaluated under drought and control conditions and representative samples of those populations were taken for nutrients and saccharification analyses. The evaluation of saccharification was made in one Spanish trial under drought and control conditions. Differences among Algerian populations for nutritive value were significant for starch and ash, but not for lipids and proteins. Drought-reduced saccharification yield and differences among populations were significant for saccharification potential under drought conditions, and for saccharification yield under both drought and control conditions. The Algerian populations PI527465 and PI542689 had high grain starch and low ash, PI527469 and PI527474 had a balanced nutritional value, and PI527475 and PI542683 had low grain starch and moderately high ash. Besides high nutritional value, the drought-tolerant population PI542683 had high saccharification under drought conditions. Most agronomic traits had no significant effects on saccharification, and some grain nutrients affected saccharification and agronomic performance. Therefore, improving the nutritive value of grain and saccharification of stover, while maintaining agronomic performance, could be feasible, attending to the weak interactions between them.This work was financed by the Spanish Ministerio de Innovación y Universidades (MCIU), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER), UE (project code AGL2016-77628-R and RTI2018–096776-B-C22), and the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (Algeria).Peer reviewe

Transcriptomics predicts compound synergy in drug and natural product treated glioblastoma cells.

Pathway analysis is an informative method for comparing and contrasting drug-induced gene expression in cellular systems. Here, we define the effects of the marine natural product fucoxanthin, separately and in combination with the prototypic phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY-294002, on gene expression in a well-established human glioblastoma cell system, U87MG. Under conditions which inhibit cell proliferation, LY-294002 and fucoxanthin modulate many pathways in common, including the retinoblastoma, DNA damage, DNA replication and cell cycle pathways. In sharp contrast, we see profound differences in the expression of genes characteristic of pathways such as apoptosis and lipid metabolism, contributing to the development of a differentiated and distinctive drug-induced gene expression signature for each compound. Furthermore, in combination, fucoxanthin synergizes with LY-294002 in inhibiting the growth of U87MG cells, suggesting complementarity in their molecular modes of action and pointing to further treatment combinations. The synergy we observe between the dietary nutraceutical fucoxanthin and the synthetic chemical LY-294002 in producing growth arrest in glioblastoma, illustrates the potential of nutri-pharmaceutical combinations in targeting this challenging disease

Fast pyrolysis of rice husk under vacuum conditions to produce levoglucosan

Levoglucosan (LG)-enriched pyrolytic oils were obtained from rice husk by lab-scale fast pyrolysis under vacuum conditions. We studied the effect of the pyrolysis temperature (300−700 °C) and the pretreatment of the biomass, on the pyrolysis product yields and the selectivity for LG formation. The maximum oil yield (47 wt.%) was obtained from hydrochloric acid-leached rice husk at 400 °C, producing 1.4 times more than the amount of oil produced from untreated rice husk at the same temperature. Anhydrosugars were the predominant compounds found in bio-oils under all conditions assessed, LG being the main product. Depending on the pyrolysis conditions, LG concentration was between 9−30 wt.% considering the bio-oil mass, and between 4−60 wt.% considering the initial cellulose mass. 1H NMR experiments were carried out as an alternative and simple technique to directly determine the amount of LG in bio-oils.Fil: Téllez Bernal, Jhoan Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Silva, Mariana Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales; Argentina. University of York; Reino UnidoFil: Simister, Rachael. University of York; Reino Unido. Centre For Novel Agricultural Products (cnap); Reino UnidoFil: Gomez, Leonardo Dario. University of York; Reino UnidoFil: Fuertes, Valeria Cintia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: de Paoli, Juan Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Moyano, Elizabeth Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; Argentin