Assessment of genetic diversity of Busa cattle from Bosnia and Herzegovina using microsatellite DNA markers

The variability of 21 microsatellite loci was analyzed in order to estimate the genetic diversity of the Buša cattle breed. A total of 50 animals involved in the study were divided into two groups: Buša from eastern Herzegovina and Buša from western Herzegovina. The mean number of alleles per locus was 6.6. The average expected heterozygosities were 0.6885 and 0.6212 in the eastern and western populations, respectively. The observed heterozygosity values were 0.6579 and 0.6336, in eastern and western population, respectively. The degree of population differentiation (FST) ranged from 0.008 (for ILSTS006 locus) to 0.242 (for BM1818 locus), with a mean of 0.112. Cluster analysis showed that the two populations were clearly clustered into two distinct clades. This report represents the first genetic characterization of pure Buša cattle from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The obtained results are important for the future development of conservation and management strategies for this cattle breed

v9a14-jansson pgmkr

Purpose: Glaucoma is a disease of the retinal ganglion cells leading to reduction of peripheral vision. It is often associated with an increase in intraocular pressure, leading to mechanical stress of tissues. The oculomedin gene is activated by such stretching and is therefore a candidate for causing glaucoma. Methods: The coding sequence and part of the promoter was screened for sequence variants in Swedish cohorts of primary open angle glaucoma, exfoliative glaucoma, and matched controls. Results: Only rare variants were detected in the patient material

Overview of consumer research in Western Balkan countries

A set of 205 publications from Western Balkan countries was gathered and systematically ordered as an action of the EU project ‘Focus Balkans – Food Consumer Sciences in the Balkans’. Six country reports provided the base data. Methodologically, publications were split up by the use of primary or secondary data or both, as well as being a qualitative or quantitative study. Qua research concept focus on the individual (human being), on the environment or on the product itself was analysed. As research tools interviews, focus groups and experiments as well as surveys, questionnaires and on-line panel data were considered. There is in general a lack of primary data, and a disproportion between qualitative and quantitative studies in favour of quantitative in the WBC. The majority of publications gathered were ‘environment’ oriented. There is somewhat less focus on fruit than on other product groups, being organic, traditional and health claimed. Use of interviews and written questionnaires is by far the most popular. On-line panels are not yet utilized. A study of keywords listed gave quite a useful and objective impression concerning the emphasis on different topics in the various WBC publications under consideration. The keywords indicate a focus on ‘market’ and ‘marketing’ research in most countries. Consumer ‘behaviour’ and ‘attitude’ are less listed as a main keyword, while, remarkably, ‘obesity’ as concept is hardly mentioned. It was noted that the ‘house’ of scientific expertise in this field has, perhaps, a poor foundation, while ‘the pillars behind consumer science’ are not interrelated and fastened together. Indeed, a multidisciplinary approach is rare. There is also a lack of interaction with the international community. By far the most publications are published in the local languages and nearly all are written by local authors. Some of the countries conclude that there is a huge knowledge gap on food consumers’ science and that should be used as a stimulus for developing further research and knowledge transfer in this field

Fine mapping of the gene Rvi18 (V25) for broad-spectrum resistance to apple scab, and development of a linked SSR marker suitable for marker-assisted breeding

Apple scab, caused by the fungal pathogen Venturia inaequalis, is one of the most devastating diseases for the apple growing industry in temperate zones with humid springs and summers. Breeding programs around the world have identified several sources of resistance, of which the Rvi6 (Vf) gene from Malus floribunda 821 has been the most widely used. The appearance of Rvi6-virulent strains of V. inaequalis in several European countries have underlined the necessity of pyramiding different effective resistance genes for durably resistant cultivars. Here we report the mapping of the new apple scab resistance gene Rvi18 (V25) from the selection 1980-015-025 of the apple breeding program at Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands. This gene was fine mapped on the proximal part of LG11 to a region of 34 Kb in the apple genome sequence of ‘Golden Delicious’, using 894 progeny plants, and SSR, DArT, AFLP, and SNP markers. One gene on the ‘Golden Delicious’ reference genome was identified as the potential susceptibility allele of the resistance gene. Moreover, an SSR marker has been developed of which one of its amplicons sizes is highly specific for Rvi18, thus facilitating the directed pyramiding of resistance genes through marker assisted breeding

European validation of a real-time PCR-based method for detection of Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheese

The classical microbiological method for detection of Listeria monocytogenes requires around 7days for final confirmation, and due to perishable nature of RTE food products, there is a clear need for an alternative methodology for detection of this pathogen. This study presents an international (at European level) ISO 16140-based validation trial of a non-proprietary real-time PCR-based methodology that can generate final results in the following day of the analysis. This methodology is based on an ISO compatible enrichment coupled to a bacterial DNA extraction and a consolidated real-time PCR assay. Twelve laboratories from six European countries participated in this trial, and soft cheese was selected as food model since it can represent a difficult matrix for the bacterial DNA extraction and real-time PCR amplification. The limit of detection observed was down to 10CFU per 25 of sample, showing excellent concordance and accordance values between samples and laboratories (>75%). In addition, excellent values were obtained for relative accuracy, specificity and sensitivity (82.75%, 96.70% and 97.62%, respectively) when the results obtained for the real-time PCR-based methods were compared to those of the ISO 11290-1 standard method. An interesting observation was that the L. monocytogenes detection by the real-time PCR method was less affected in the presence of Listeria innocua in the contaminated samples, proving therefore to be more reliable than the reference method. The results of this international trial demonstrate that the evaluated real-time PCR-based method represents an excellent alterative to the ISO standard since it shows a higher performance as well as reduce the extent of the analytical process, and can be easily implemented routinely by the competent authorities and food industry laboratories

Structural diversity and possible functional roles of free fatty acids of the novel soil isolate Streptomyces sp. NP10

Herein, a novel soil bacterium Streptomyces sp. NP10 able to grow outside usual streptomycetes optimum conditions (e.g., at 4 A degrees C, pH 9 and high NaCl concentration), exhibiting atypical hemolytic, DNAse, and cellulolytic activities, is described. This strain produces and excretes into the growth medium large amounts of free long-chain fatty acids (FAs). A concurrent lipidomics study revealed a large structural diversity of FAs with over 50 different n- and branched-chain, (un)saturated, and cyclopropane FAs (C-7-C-30) produced by this strain. Two of these, i-17:0cy9-10 and a-18:0cy9-10, represent new natural products and the first ever identified branched cyclopropane FAs. Both free and bound lipid profiles of Streptomyces sp. NP10 were dominated by saturated branched chain FAs (i-14:0, a-15:0, and i-16:0). Although these free FAs showed only a moderate antimicrobial activity, our results suggest that they could have an ecophysiological role in interspecies signaling with another soil microorganism Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This work represents the first comprehensive report on the structural diversity and complexity of the free FA pool in Streptomyces. A naturally occurring streptomycete, such as Streptomyces sp. NP10, which secretes significant amounts of free long-chain FAs (non-cytotoxic) into the medium, could be useful in microbial biodiesel production.Supplementary material: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3430