Cloning and characterisation of multiple ferritin isoforms in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An economic analysis of anthropogenic climate change on local rice output in Malaysia

Rice is an important staple food in Malaysia and represents a substantial household expenditure. Although the average rice consumption in Malaysian households has dropped due to preference change, total demand has increased. This can be attributed to the high population growth. Malaysian rice farmers have not been able to meet the country’s demand. Hence, Malaysia imports large quantities of rice from neighbouring countries to supplement its rice stockpile. Malaysia, which imports about 40 percent of its rice, is the 10th largest importer of rice in the world. This makes Malaysia susceptible to global rice crisis, similar to the one in 2008. To solve this problem, the government implemented policies to safeguard the country’s food security and self-sufficiency levels. These efforts may be difficult in the future, as climate projections have shown that climate change will affect countries in the tropics most negatively with increased temperature and flooding due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. This study analysed the effect of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions on rice production in Malaysia during the period 1970-2013. The analysis incorporated the following variables: total local rice production, carbon dioxide emissions, precipitation, land used for paddy farming, total rice imports, and global average crude oil prices. The assessment of the impact of these determinants on rice production was achieved using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results indicated that in the long-run, climate changes will affect rice cultivation in the country, with carbon dioxide negatively affecting output, and increased rainfall positively affecting output. In the short-run, only precipitation and land showed effects on rice production. The significance of the error correction term also inferred that a long-run relationship exists. This study showed that climate variations in the future should be taken into consideration when formulating policies to ensure Malaysia’s rice stockpile

Isolation and antioxidative properties of phenolics-saponins rich fraction from defatted rice bran

The study presents a protocol for the preparation of phenolics-saponins rich fraction (PSRF), a new active nutraceutical from defatted rice bran followed by the determination of its antioxidant properties. PSRF was prepared by employing a simple alcoholic fractionation procedure on the crude alcoholic extract (CAE) of defatted rice bran. PSRF was found to be significantly higher in the contents of total phenolic, saponin, and steroidal saponin than CAE and its counterpart, aqueous fraction (AqF) (p < 0.05). Except for iron chelating activity, PSRF exhibited notably higher activity than CAE and AqF in all antioxidant activity assays performed (p < 0.05). HPLC-DAD analysis revealed that PSRF contained substantially higher amounts of gallic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, and ferulic acid than CAE and AqF (p < 0.05). In conclusion, alcoholic fractionation of CAE simultaneously concentrated the phenolic compounds and saponins into PSRF, thus contributed to its higher antioxidant activity. Due to its elevated antioxidant properties, PSRF may be recommended for investigation as an active ingredient in the nutraceutical, functional food, and natural food preservative formulations. This is also the first report suggesting defatted rice bran as a potential and sustainable source of saponins

Nutritional quality of tropical black long-spined urchin, Diadema setosum gonads: a comparative analysis between male and female gonads

Sea urchin gonads or roes are luxurious culinary and medicinal ingredient of which quality is greatly influenced by their biochemical compositions. This study aimed to assess and compare nutritional compositions between roe of male and female black long-spined urchin (Diadema setosum) inhabiting a tropical coastal area of Malaysia. The proximate nutritional composition of both male and female roe exhibited an order of protein > carbohydrate > lipid, which is contradictory to that of temperate D. setosum. Major amino acids in D. setosum roe were glycine, glutamate, aspartate, leucine and lysine whereas dominant fatty acids were C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:1 n-9; C20:4 n-6 and C20:5 n-3. The ratio of essential amino acids to non-essential amino acids; unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) to saturated fatty acids (SFA); as well as PUFA to saturated fatty acids of roe from either gender were found to be similar i.e. 0.6, 1.2 and 0.5 respectively. Prominent protein as well as AHA and EPA content suggest D. setosum roe as an interesting subject recommended for investigation as active ingredient in nutraceutical, functional food and pro-health formulations. This study is also the first to illustrate some variations between tropical and temperate species of D. setosum

Defatted kenaf seed meal (DKSM) : prospective edible flour from agricultural waste with high antioxidant activity

The present study reports nutritional composition, phenolic content and antioxidant activity of defatted kenaf seed meal (DKSM) in comparison to wheat, rice and sweet potato flours. Proximate analysis revealed that DKSM was high in protein (26.19 g/100 g DKSM) and carbohydrate (57.09 g/100 g DKSM). Magnesium, potassium and phosphorus were the major minerals (>1 g/100 g DKSM) found in DKSM through Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometric analysis. DKSM also exhibited appreciably higher total phenolic (3399.37 μg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g defatted material) and flavonoid contents (251.00 μg rutin equivalent (RE)/g defatted material) as well as antioxidant activity as compared to all selected edible flours (p < 0.05). Gallic acid, (+)-catechin, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid and syringic acid were determined as the predominant phenolics in DKSM through HPLC–DAD analysis. On the basis of this study, DKSM may be declared and commercialized as a highly antioxidative and nutritive edible flour, which can be prospectively used in the development of natural food preservative, nutraceuticals and functional foods

Antioxidant activity of phenolics-saponins rich fraction prepared from defatted kenaf seed meal

The current study is aimed to determine the antioxidant properties of crude ethanolic extract (CEE) of defatted kenaf seed meal (DKSM) and its derived n-butanol (BF) and aqueous (AqF) fractions. Spectrophotometric assays showed that BF contained the highest amount of phenolic compounds and saponins, followed by CEE and AqF (p < 0.05). Similarly, HPLC-DAD analysis revealed that level of all the detected predominant phenolic compounds was significantly higher in BF (p < 0.05). Through multiple antioxidant assays, BF exhibited higher antioxidant activity than CEE and AqF, except for iron chelating activity (p < 0.05). Antioxidant activity of CEE and fractions were strongly correlated to their phenolic and saponin contents. This study showed that phenolic compounds and saponins could be extracted and partially purified simultaneously from DKSM by employing a simple alcoholic extraction–fractionation procedure. High antioxidative phenolics–saponins rich fraction from DKSM is a potential active ingredient that could be applied in nutraceuticals, functional foods as well as natural food preservatives

Improved pre-treatment protocol for scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis of selected tropical microalgae

Suitable protocol for identification and classification of microalgae using scanning electron microscopy, coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), is important to obtain accurate information of their ultrastructure description. The objective of this study was to modify microalgae pre-treatments for reliable SEM-EDX analysis. Sixteen cultured tropical microalgae were subjected to two-step chemical fixation of glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide, sample washing in sodium cacodylate, ethanol and acetone dehydration, critical point-drying, mounting and gold sputter-coating prior to SEM visualisation and elemental characterisation. In this study, short period of chemical fixation and optimum separation forces, at 3213 x g for 3 min during every chemical solution change, were successfully established with high quality SEM images. Ultrastructure, particularly clear and useful images of cell wall ornamentation in Scenedesmus spp. and Desmodesmus sp.; areola patterns in Biddulphia sinensis and Thalassiosira sp. and morphological appearances such as interconnecting structures in Coelastrum sp. and Crucigenia sp., were obtained. Twelve elements of Y, Nb, Fe, Ca, Cl, K, Cu, F, Ir, P, Mg and Si were detected within the 16 investigated microalgae species. This study illustrated that microalgae identification and classification, as well as their elemental characterisation, could be simultaneously and effectively analysed by SEM-EDX using a modified pre-treatment protocol

Characterization of the physical properties of the ancient nanostructured biomaterials (nacre layer) retrieved using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)

Nacre can be found in many seashells species made up of about 95% of volume of multilayer structure of crystalline aragonite and consists of both inorganic and organic biomaterial. Nacre is one of the natural structural materials which constructed at ambient temperature having hard and soft phases arranged in multifaceted hierarchical architectures, thus spanning the characteristic dimensions from the nanoscale to the macroscale. The physical characteristics of the retrieved nacre powder from the nacre layer by using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) method were analyzed by means of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, and thermal analyzer Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)/Thermagravimetric (TGA). XRF analysis revealed the high content of calcium carbonate in comparison to the untreated nacre. The XRD confirmed the aragonite properties of the retrieved nacre while FTIR spectroscopy identified the calcium carbonate phases due to the differences in carbonate ions, CO2-/3. Simultaneous thermal analyzer (DSC/TGA) was used for analysis of the thermal decomposition of the retrieved nacre powder. Here, we successfully evaluated the properties of the ancient nanostructured biomaterial; nacre retrieved using EDTA for future application in bone tissue engineering

Hydrogen Peroxide Stimulates Activity and Alters Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Circadian rhythms in animals are regulated at the level of individual cells and by systemic signaling to coordinate the activities of multiple tissues. The circadian pacemakers have several physiological outputs, including daily locomotor rhythms. Several redox-active compounds have been found to function in regulation of circadian rhythms in cells, however, how particular compounds might be involved in regulating specific animal behaviors remains largely unknown. Here the effects of hydrogen peroxide on Drosophila movement were analyzed using a recently developed three-dimensional real-time multiple fly tracking assay. Both hydrogen peroxide feeding and direct injection of hydrogen peroxide caused increased adult fly locomotor activity. Continuous treatment with hydrogen peroxide also suppressed daily locomotor rhythms. Conditional over-expression of the hydrogen peroxide-producing enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) also increased fly activity and altered the patterns of locomotor activity across days and weeks. The real-time fly tracking system allowed for detailed analysis of the effects of these manipulations on behavior. For example, both hydrogen peroxide feeding and SOD over-expression increased all fly motion parameters, however, hydrogen peroxide feeding caused relatively more erratic movement, whereas SOD over-expression produced relatively faster-moving flies. Taken together, the data demonstrate that hydrogen peroxide has dramatic effects on fly movement and daily locomotor rhythms, and implicate hydrogen peroxide in the normal control of these processes

CYP3A4 ubiquitination by gp78 (the tumor autocrine motility factor receptor, AMFR) and CHIP E3 ligases

Human liver CYP3A4 is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-anchored hemoprotein responsible for the metabolism of >50% of clinically prescribed drugs. After heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae,it is degraded via the ubiquitin (Ub)-dependent 26S proteasomal pathway that utilizes Ubc7p/Cue1p, but none of the canonical Ub-ligases (E3s) Hrd1p/Hrd3p, Doa10p, and Rsp5p involved in ER-associated degradation (ERAD). To identify an Ub-ligase capable of ubiquitinating CYP3A4, we examined various in vitro reconstituted mammalian E3 systems, using purified and functionally characterized recombinant components. Of these, the cytosolic domain of the ER-protein gp78, also known as the tumor autocrine motility factor receptor (AMFR), an UBC7-dependent polytopic RING-finger E3, effectively ubiquitinated CYP3A4 in vitro, as did the UbcH5a-dependent cytosolic E3 CHIP. CYP3A4 immunoprecipitation coupled with anti-Ub immunoblotting analyses confirmed its ubiquitination in these reconstituted systems. Thus, both UBC7/gp78 and UbcH5a/CHIP may be involved in CYP3A4 ERAD, although their relative physiological contribution remains to be established