Geenide ERD15 (early responsive to dehydration 15) ja ERD15-sarnane (early responsive to dehydration 15-like) roll sulgrakkude funktsioneerimises

In English: Availability of water is important for plants as it is frequently a limiting stress factor for plants. Drought is one of the most common environmental stresses that soil plants are exposed to and it distresses the growth and development of plants through interchanges in absorption and gene expression. Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates many aspects of plant adaptation to stress conditions, including closure of stomatal pores, located on leaf surfaces and regulating water loss and CO2 uptake for photosynthesis. It is known from previous studies that overexpression of ERD15 (EARLY RESPONSIVE TO DEHYDRATION 15) in Arabidopsis plants results in an impaired response to ABA and enhanced sensitivity to drought. Our previous studies also showed that one of the ERD15 overexpressor lines had a secondary mutation in TREHALOSE-6-PHOSPHATE PHOSPHATASE (TPP) B, resulting in reduced stomatal response to ABA and darkness. To verify this notion, we characterized stomatal behavior of the novel double mutants carrying ERD15 overexpression and knockout of TPPB and TPPG. We also used BiFC (Bimolecular fluorescence complementation) to study protein-protein interactions of potential partners for ERD15 and ERD15-like, showing high similarity to ERD15. Our results show that phenotype in the double mutants had unaffected stomatal responses to ABA and darkness, while PAB4 (Poly(A)-binding protein 4) strongly interact with both ERD15 and ED15-like. Eesti keeles: Vee kättesaadavus taimedele on oluline, kuna see on sageli limiteerivaks stressifaktoriks taimede kasvule ja arengule. Põud on üks sagedasemaid keskonnast tingitud stressistiimuleid taimedele, häirides nende kasvu ja arengut absorptsiooni ja geeniekspressiooni vaheliste muutuste kaudu. Abstsiishape (ABA) reguleerib taimede adapteerumist stressitingimustes, muuhulgas õhulõhede sulgumist, mis asuvad lehepindadel ning reguleerivad vee kadu ning CO2 neeldumist fotosünteesiprotsessis. Eelnevatest uuringutest on teada, et ERD15 üleekspressioon Arabidopsis’es põhjustab häirunud ABA vastust ning suurenenud tundulikkust põuale. Meie varasemad uuringud on näidanud, et üks ERD15 üleekspresseerivatest liinidest omas sekundaarset mutatsiooni trehaloos-6-fosfaat fosfataas (TPP) B geenis, põhjustades vähenenud õhulõhede vastust ABA-le ning pimedusele. Selle kinnitamiseks iseloomustasime uute topeltmutantide, mis ekspresseeruvad üle ERD15 geeni ning kannavad TPPB ja TPPG KO (knockout), õhulõhede käitumist. Oma töös kasutasin bimolekulaarse fluorestsentsi komplementatsiooni (BiFC - biomolecular fluorescence complementation) uurimaks ERD15 ja ERD15-sarnase (omab kõrget sarnasust ERD15-ga) geenide potentsiaalseid interaktsioonipartnereid. Meie tulemused näitasid, et topeltmutantide fenotüüpidel puudusid muutused õhulõhede vastustes ABA-le ja pimedusele, samal ajal kui PAB4 (poly(A)-seonduv valk 4) omas tugevat interaktsiooni ERD15 ja ERD15-sarnase valkudega

The Potential Impacts of Soy Protein on Fish Gut Health

Soy protein is the major source of protein as fishmeal replacement in fish feed because of its worldwide availability and low price. However, the presence of high carbohydrate content along with saponins, lectins, and phytates can have a negative impact on fish gut health. Based on the literature and our lab studies, dietary soybean meal can cause a dose-dependent type of distal intestine inflammation called enteritis in commercial fish species including salmonids. This leads to reduced absorptive capacity, increased mucus secretion, hyperpermeability, and leucocyte infiltration in the lamina propria and submucosa, also inducing the pro-inflammatory cytokine genes expression, including Il-1β, Il-8, and Tnf-α. In addition, dietary soy may alter the composition and population of the gut microbiota via providing nutrients and energy that preferentially support the growth of some gut bacteria. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge of the effects of soy protein on the enteritis and gut microbiota

Comparative Study of Integrated Pest Management and Farmers Practices on Sustainable Environment in the Rice Ecosystem

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an environmentally friendly technology. IPM is a multifaceted approach to pest management that seeks to minimize negative impacts on the environment. This technique is an important step towards providing healthy, viable food for a growing global population. The focus of this study was to examine the impact of integrated pest management in a rice agroecosystem. Currently, more than 80% of farmers rely on pesticides. IPM methods employed in our study had an impact on the number of healthy tillers and hills and grain weight. The lowest percentage of dead heart (1.03) and white head (2.00) was found in the IPM treated plots. These plots had an average yield of 7.4 tonne/ha. We found that there were significant differences between the treatment and the observed percentage of dead heart, grain weight, and yield. We conclude that IPM practices are an effective strategy for obtaining high rice yields while protecting the environment and creating a more sustainable agroecosystem. Furthermore, the need for ongoing research and training on IPM methods will be essential for creating a sustainable rice agroecosystem

Ferroelectric Nematic Droplets in their Isotropic Melt

The isotropic to ferroelectric nematic liquid transition had been theoretically studied over one hundred years ago, but its experimental studies are rare. Here we present polarizing optical microscopy studies and theoretical considerations of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal droplets coexisting with the isotropic melt. We find that the droplets have flat pancake-like shapes that are thinner than the sample thickness as long as there is a room to increase the lateral droplet size. In the center of the droplets a wing shaped defect with low birefringence is present that moves perpendicular to a weak in-plane electric field, and then extends and splits in two at higher fields. Parallel to the defect motion and extension, the entire droplet drifts along the electric field with speed that is independent of the size of the droplet and is proportional to the amplitude of the electric field. After the field is increased above 1V/mm the entire droplet gets deformed and oscillates with the field. These observations led us to determine the polarization field and revealed the presence of a pair of positive and negative bound electric charge due to divergences of polarization around the defect volume

Quality Assessment of Hydroxychloroquine Tablet A Comparative Evaluation of Drug Produced by Different Pharmaceutical Companies in Bangladesh

Hydroxychloroquine is the most commonly prescribed antimalarial extensively used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It is extensively utilized as a repurposing drug, as well, in many countries worldwide to treat COVID-19. The pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh is much enriched, and different pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh produce this drug. Since the drug quality might vary significantly among different brands, assuring the quality of medicine is absolutely necessary considering the health issues, particularly therapeutic efficacy and safety. Therefore, this study examined the quality of hydroxychloroquine produced by Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies, concentrating on quality control parameters: the assay, dissolution, disintegration, hardness, friability, and weight fluctuation. All the brands of hydroxychloroquine tablets contained the stated amount of API between the range of 96.41±0.62 and 100.61±0.71 that met USP specification (100±5%). All brands met the pharmacopeial limit for the percentage of weight fluctuation, hardness test, friability, and disintegration time. Weight variation was between 0.31±0.01% and 0.46±0.02%, hardness was between 4.31 ± 0.88 and 7.36 ± 0.74 kgf, friability was less than 1%, and disintegration time was 5.42± 0.11 and 5.42± 0.11 min. In the dissolution test, all the samples attained more than 70% dissolution after 30 minutes. The mean percentage of hydroxychloroquine released in phosphate buffer was between 95.44±0.55 (Brand B) and 98.19±0.39 (Brand C) after 60 min. No significant difference was among the tested drugs from different companies, and all quality assessment parameters were within USP specifications. Therefore, hydroxychloroquine from the Bangladesh market is safe and effective

Evaluation of Loopamp™ Leishmania Detection Kit and Leishmania Antigen ELISA for Post-Elimination Detection and Management of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Bangladesh

With reduced prevalence of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the Indian subcontinent (ISC), direct and field deployable diagnostic tests are needed to implement an effective diagnostic and surveillance algorithm for post-elimination VL control. In this regard, here we investigated the diagnostic efficacies of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay (Loopamp™ Leishmania Detection Kit, Eiken Chemical CO., Ltd, Japan), a real-time quantitative PCR assay (qPCR) and the Leishmania antigen ELISA (CLIN-TECH, UK) with different sampling techniques and evaluated their prospect to incorporate into post-elimination VL control strategies. Eighty clinically and rK39 rapid diagnostic test confirmed VL cases and 80 endemic healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Peripheral blood and dried blood spots (DBS) were collected from all the participants at the time of diagnosis. DNA was extracted from whole blood (WB) and DBS via silica columns (QIAGEN) and boil & spin (B&S) methods and tested with qPCR and Loopamp. Urine was collected from all participants at the time of diagnosis and was directly subjected to the Leishmania antigen ELISA. 41 patients were followed up and urine samples were collected at day 30 and day 180 after treatment and ELISA was performed. The sensitivities of the Loopamp-WB(B&S) and Loopamp-WB(QIA) were 96.2% (95% CI 89·43-99·22) and 95% (95% CI 87·69-98·62) respectively. The sensitivity of Loopamp- DBS(QIA) was 85% (95% CI 75·26- 92·00). The sensitivities of the qPCR-WB(QIA) and qPCR-DBS(QIA) were 93.8% (95% CI 86·01-97·94) and 72.5% (95% CI 61·38-81·90) respectively. The specificity of all molecular assays was 100%. The sensitivity and specificity of the Leishmania antigen ELISA were 97.5% (95% CI 91·47-99·70) and 91.95% (95% CI 84·12-96·70) respectively. The Leishmania antigen ELISA depicted clinical cure at day 180 in all the followed-up cases. Efficacy and sustainability identify the Loopamp-WB(B&S) and the Leishmania antigen ELISA as promising and minimally invasive VL diagnostic tools to support VL diagnostic and surveillance activities respectively in the post-elimination era

Effects of dietary nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) seed meals on growth, non-specific immune indices, antioxidant status, gene expression analysis, and cold stress tolerance in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

IntroductionA medicinal plant, Myristica fragrans seed meal (nutmeg), was utilized to evaluate its impact on the growth, immunity, and antioxidant defense of zebrafish (Danio rerio).MethodsIn this regard, zebrafish (0.47 ± 0.04 g) (mean ± S.D.) were fed with 0% (control), 1% (T1-nutmeg), 2% (T2-nutmeg), and 3% (T3-nutmeg) of powdered nutmeg for 70 days. At the end of the feeding trial, growth performance, survival rate of fish, and temperature-challenge effects were recorded. Immune and antioxidant parameters were also assessed through the collection of serum and skin mucus samples.ResultsThe results indicated that nutmeg supplementation did not significantly influence the growth of zebrafish (P > 0.05); however, the survival rate of fish fed with 2 and 3% of nutmeg supplementation significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The skin mucus and serum total protein, total immunoglobulin (Ig), and lysozyme activity were significantly increased in T3-nutmeg treatment in comparison to the control (P < 0.05). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were also enhanced in the T3-nutmeg group (P < 0.05). Nutmeg supplementation significantly upregulated the mRNA expression of growth hormone (gh) and insulin growth factor-1 (igf-1). Moreover, the nutmeg inclusion upregulated the expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), lysozyme, sod, and cat. The dietary supplementation of nutmeg significantly increased the resistance of zebrafish against cold-water shock and survivability afterward (P < 0.05).DiscussionIn conclusion, the supplementation of 3% powdered nutmeg in zebrafish diets could be suggested as an effective immune stimulator that improves antioxidant defense and stress tolerance

Total replacement of fish meal by enriched-fatty acid Hermetia illucens meal did not substantially affect growth parameters or innate immune status and improved whole body biochemical quality of Nile tilapia juveniles

The study was designed to evaluate the effects of total remplacement of fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) by vegetable oil and black soldier fly (BSF) larval meal enriched with fatty acids (FAs) in Nile tilapia juveniles. Fish were fed a FMFO control diet compared to a non-FA-enriched BSF diet (BSF/T0) and diets enriched in linolenic acid-ALA (BSF/T1) or in eicosapentanoic acid-EPA (BSF/T2). After 59 days, the BSF diets did not affect growth except for a decrease by the BSF/T1 diet. However, protein utilization and digestibility were reduced by all the BSF diets. FA-enriched diets did not improve the digestive enzyme activities or immune parameters, while lysozyme and ACH50 values were increased by the BSF/T0 diet. Levels of polyunsaturated FAs in the whole body of fish fed ALA or EPA-enriched BSF diets were comparable to those of FMFO controls. The results demonstrate that BSF meal can totally replace FM without substantially effect on growth or innate immune status. The decrease in fish carcass FA quality induced by the BSF meal can be prevented by a well defined protocol for PUFA enrichment. Nonetheless, investigation of the long-term effects of the BSF meal use during the ongrowing phase is still needed