Vitis labrusca L. germination: influence of treatments to break dormancy, storage and ripening point of fruits

Grapevine seeds have morphophysiological dormancy, which complicates their germination, an important step in obtaining new plants after crossing during breeding. The objective of this work was to establish the ideal conditions for Vitis labrusca L. ‘Isabella’ seed storage conditions, the method for breaking seed dormancy, ripening of fruits at harvest, need for fungicide application before seed sowing and their germination. The seeds were submitted to three tests with (1 and 2) different treatments to break seed dormancy and storage in two conditions for two different times (Isabella), and (3) seeds from unripe and ripe fruits treated or untreated with fungicide. Germination was monitored two times per week. The percentage of germination (%G), germination mean time (GMT), and germination speed index (GSI) were calculated. Data were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were compared using the LSD-Fisher test (p < 0.05). The 12-month storage at a controlled temperature (25±2°C) provided the best germination results (up to 19.5% of G%). Stratification for 90 or 120 days on wet paper or sand at 5±2°C of seeds from mature fruits is the most suitable for the germination of Isabella seeds (65% to 72% of G%, and 1.73 and 1.95 of GSI for the treatments of stratification on wet sand for 120 days). It is also not necessary to apply fungicide on seeds before sowing, as long as disinfestation with 70% alcohol and sodium hypochlorite 1%, and triple washing with water is done (no statistical difference for seeds from ripe fruits treated or not with fungicide, 58% and 64.7% of %G, and 1.37 and 1.22 of GSI, respectively)

The Brazilian grapevine variety called ‘Peverella’ corresponds to the ‘Boschera’ variety

Through fingerprinting analysis using reference microsatellite markers and comparing with the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) database, it was possible to discover that in Brazil, the wine grape variety cultivated for over 70 years, called 'Peverella' (Variety number VIVC = 12963; National Register of Vine Varieties (Italy), code: 254) is actually the grape variety called 'Boschera' (Variety number VIVC = 1576;National Register of Vine Varieties (Italy), code: 326). This discovery makes wines produced in Brazil even rarer (with only approximately 10 hectares planted worldwide), presenting an additional means to promote and market this historic variety

Apoptosis induction by Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr.) Singer extracts on colorectal cancer cell lines

Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC) is an edible mushroom used in food supplements, presenting antitumor properties through induction of cell death pathways. The PSC potential against colorectal cancer was analyzed by exposing HCT116wt cells to different PSC extracts. The PSC n-hexane extract (PSC-hex) showed the highest cytotoxicity effect (IC50 value 0.05 mg/mL). The observed cytotoxicity was then associated to apoptosis-promoting and cell cycle-arrest pathways. PSC-hex was able to induce apoptosis related to breakdown of mitochondrial membrane potential and ROS generation. The absence of cytotoxicity in HTC116-p53 and HTC116-Bax cells, alongside with an increase in p53, Bax and Caspase-3 expression, and decrease in Bcl-2 expression, supports that the proapoptotic effect is probably induced through a p53 associated pathway. PSC-hex induced cell cycle arrest at G2/ M in HCT116wt without cytotoxicity in HTC116-p21 cells. These findings suggest that a p21/p53 cell cycle regulation pathway is probably disrupted by compounds present on PSC-hex. Identification of the major components was then performed with ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3β-ol representing 30.6% of total weight. In silico docking studies of ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3β against Bcl-2 were performed and results show a credible interaction with the Bcl-2 hydrophobic cleft. The results show that PSC-hex can be used as supplementary food for adjuvant therapy in colorectal carcinoma.The authors thank Dr. Larsen (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) for the gift of HCT116-Bax, HCT116-p21 and HCT116-p53 cells. The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013) and L. Barros contract. T.C. Finimundy thanks CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil (CAPES fellow, process number 88881.134581/ 2016–01). This work is supported by a grant from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Fundaçãoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Óleo essencial de Eucalyptus staigeriana no controle de podridões fúngicas no período pós-colheita e na análise sensorial de uvas

The objective of this work was evaluate the effect of Eucalyptus staigeriana essential oil on Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Greeneria uvicola mycelial growth and conidia germination on grapes, as well as its potential for the control of postharvest rot diseases and its effect on the organoleptic properties of grapes. The essential oil (EO) showed in vitro antifungal activity against both pathogens, with fungicidal effect on mycelial growth and on conidia germination at the concentrations of 1.0 and 0.5 μL mL-1, respectively. The EO volatile compounds had a fungistatic effect on the mycelial growth of C. gloeosporioides and a fungicidal effect on G. uvicola. At postharvest, the EO reduced the incidence of ripe rot up to 75% and 86% in the preventive and curative treatments, respectively, and the incidence of bitter rot up to 54% in the curative treatment. Since the EO does not affect significantly grape sensory properties, it does not affect the consumption intention of grapes treated with the EO. The EO of E. staigeriana is efficient in the in vitro control of both pathogens; moreover, it is also efficient in the control of the incidence of postharvest fungal rot diseases, mainly in the curative treatment.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do óleo essencial de Eucalyptus staigeriana sobre o crescimento micelial e a germinação de conídios de Colletotrichum gloeosporioides e Greeneria uvicola em uvas, assim como o seu potencial para o controle de podridões no período pós-colheita e o seu efeito nas propriedades organolépticas das uvas. O óleo essencial (OE) apresentou atividade antifúngica in vitro contra ambos os patógenos, com efeito fungicida sobre o crescimento micelial e sobre a germinação de conídios, nas concentrações de 1,0 e 0,5 μL mL-1, respectivamente. Os compostos voláteis do OE exibiram efeito fungistático sobre o crescimento micelial de C. gloeosporioides e efeito fungicida sobre G. uvicola. Na pós-colheita, o OE reduziu a incidência da podridão-madura em até 75 e 86%, nos tratamentos preventivos e curativos, respectivamente, e a incidência da podridão-amarga em até 54% no tratamento curativo. Como o OE não influencia significativamente as propriedades sensoriais das uvas, não afeta a intenção de consumo para uvas tratadas com o OE. O OE de E. staigeriana é eficiente para o controle in vitro de ambos os patógenos; além disso, também é eficiente no controle da incidência de podridões fúngicas no período pós-colheita, principalmente no tratamento curativo

Rules extraction from neural networks applied to the prediction and recognition of prokaryotic promoters

Promoters are DNA sequences located upstream of the gene region and play a central role in gene expression. Computational techniques show good accuracy in gene prediction but are less successful in predicting promoters, primarily because of the high number of false positives that reflect characteristics of the promoter sequences. Many machine learning methods have been used to address this issue. Neural Networks (NN) have been successfully used in this field because of their ability to recognize imprecise and incomplete patterns characteristic of promoter sequences. In this paper, NN was used to predict and recognize promoter sequences in two data sets: (i) one based on nucleotide sequence information and (ii) another based on stability sequence information. The accuracy was approximately 80% for simulation (i) and 68% for simulation (ii). In the rules extracted, biological consensus motifs were important parts of the NN learning process in both simulations