OMICS in Fodder Crops: Applications, Challenges, and Prospects

Biomass yield and quality are the primary targets in forage crop improvement programs worldwide. Low-quality fodder reduces the quality of dairy products and affects cattle’s health. In multipurpose crops, such as maize, sorghum, cowpea, alfalfa, and oat, a plethora of morphological and biochemical/nutritional quality studies have been conducted. However, the overall growth in fodder quality improvement is not on par with cereals or major food crops. The use of advanced technologies, such as multi-omics, has increased crop improvement programs manyfold. Traits such as stay-green, the number of tillers per plant, total biomass, and tolerance to biotic and/or abiotic stresses can be targeted in fodder crop improvement programs. Omic technologies, namely genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics, provide an efficient way to develop better cultivars. There is an abundance of scope for fodder quality improvement by improving the forage nutrition quality, edible quality, and digestibility. The present review includes a brief description of the established omics technologies for five major fodder crops, i.e., sorghum, cowpea, maize, oats, and alfalfa. Additionally, current improvements and future perspectives have been highlighted

Pharmacological similarities between native brain and heterologously expressed α4β2 nicotinic receptors

1. We studied the pharmacological properties of native rat brain and heterologously expressed rat α4β2 nicotinic receptors immunoprecipitated onto a fixed substrate with the anti-α4 antibody mAb 299. 2. Immunodepletion with the anti-β2 antibody mAb 270 showed that 89% of the mAb-299-precipitated rat brain receptors contained β2. 3. The association and dissociation rate constants for 30 pM ±[(3)H]-epibatidine binding to α4β2 receptors expressed in oocytes were 0.02±0.01 and 0.03±0.01 min(−1) (±standard error, degrees of freedom=7–8) at 20–23°C. 4. The Hill coefficients for ±[(3)H]epibatidine binding to the native brain, α4β2 receptors expressed in oocytes, and α4β2 receptors expressed in CV-1 cells (using recombinant adenovirus) were 0.69–0.70 suggesting a heterogeneous receptor population. Fits of the ±[(3)H]-epibatidine concentration-binding data to a two-site model gave K(D) s of 8–30 and 560–1,200 pM. The high-affinity sites comprised 73–74% of the native brain and oocyte α4β2 receptor population, 85% of the CV-1 α4β2 receptor population. 5. The expression of rat α4β2 receptors in CV-1 cells using vaccinia viral infection-transfection resulted in a more homogeneous receptor population (Hill coefficient of 1.0±0.2). Fits of the ±[(3)H]-epibatidine binding data to a single-site model gave a K(D) of 40±3 pM. 6. DHβE (IC(50)=260–470 nM) and the novel nicotine analogue NDNI (IC(50)=7–10 μM) inhibited 30 pM±[(3)H]-epibatidine binding to the native brain and heterologously expressed α4β2 receptors equally well. 7. The results show that α4β2-containing nicotinic receptors in the rat brain and heterologously expressed rat α4β2 receptors have similar affinities for ±[(3)H]-epibatidine, DHβE, and NDNI