Expression of UDP Glucuronosyltransferases 2B15 and 2B17 is associated with methylation status in prostate cancer cells

Studies have suggested that abrogated expression of detoxification enzymes, UGT2B15 and UGT2B17, are associated with prostate tumour risk and progression. We investigated the role of EGF on the expression of these enzymes since it interacts with signalling pathways to also affect prostate tumour progression and is additionally associated with decreased DNA methylation. The expression of UGT2B15, UGT2B17, de novo methyltransferases, DNMT3A and DNMT3B was assessed in prostate cancer cells (LNCaP) treated with EGF, an EGFR inhibitor PD16893, and the methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-azacytidine, respectively. The results showed that EGF treatment decreased levels of expression of all four genes and that their expression was reversed by PD16893. Treatment with 5-azacytidine, markedly decreased expression of UGT2B15 and UGT2B17 over 85% as well as significantly decreased expression of DNMT3B, but not the expression of DNMT3A. DNMT3B siRNA treated LNCaP cells had decreased expression of UGT2B15 and UGT2B17, while DNMT3A siRNA treated cells had only moderately decreased UGT2B15 expression. Treatment with DNMT methyltransferase inhibitor, RG108, significantly decreased UGT2B17 expression. Additionally, methylation differences between prostate cancer samples and benign prostate samples from an Illumina 450K Methylation Array study were assessed. The results taken together suggest that hypomethylation of the UGT2B15 and UGT2B17 genes contributes to increased risk of prostate cancer and may provide a putative biomarker or epigenetic target for chemotherapeutics. Mechanistic studies are warranted to determine the role of the methylation marks in prostate cancer

Climate-Smart groundnuts for achieving high productivity and improved quality: Current status, challenges, and opportunities

About 90% of total groundnut is cultivated in the semi-arid tropic (SAT) regions of the world as a major oilseed and food crop and provides essential nutrients required by human diet. Climate change is the main threat to yield and quality of the produce in the SAT regions, and effects are already being seen in some temperate areas also. Rising CO2 levels, erratic rainfall, humidity, short episodes of high temperature and salinity hamper the physiology, disease resistance, fertility and yield as well as seed nutrient levels of groundnut. To meet growing demands of the increasing population against the threats of climate change, it is necessary to develop climate-smart varieties with enhanced and stable genetic improvements. Identifying key traits affected by climate change in groundnut will be important for developing an appropriate strategy for developing new varieties. Fast-changing scenarios of product ecologies as a consequence of climate change need faster development and replacement of improved varieties in the farmers’ fields to sustain yield and quality. Use of modern genomics technology is likely to help in improved understanding and efficient breeding for climate-smart traits such as tolerance to drought and heat, and biotic stresses such as foliar diseases, stem rot, peanut bud necrosis disease, and preharvest aflatoxin contamination. The novel promising technologies such as genomic selection and genome editing need to be tested for their potential utility in developing climate-smart groundnut varieties. System modeling may further improve the understanding and characterization of the problems of target ecologies for devising strategies to overcome the problem. The combination of conventional breeding techniques with genomics and system modeling approaches will lead to a new era of system biology assisted breeding for sustainable agricultural production to feed the ever-growing population