48 research outputs found
Mining and validating grape (Vitis L.) ESTs to develop EST-SSR markers for genotyping and mapping
Grape expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are a new resource for developing simple sequence repeat (SSR) functional markers for genotyping and genetic mapping. An integrated pipeline including several computational tools for SSR identification and functional annotation was developed to identify 6,447 EST-SSR sequences from a total collection of 215,609 grape ESTs retrieved from NCBI. The 6,447 EST-SSRs were further reduced to 1,701 non-redundant sequences via clustering analysis, and 1,037 of them were successfully designed with primer pairs flanking the SSR motifs. From them, 150 pairs of primers were randomly selected for PCR amplification, polymorphism and heterozygosity analysis in V. vinifera cvs. Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon, and V. rotundifolia (muscadine grape) cvs. Summit and Noble, and 145 pairs of these primers yielded PCR products. Pairwise comparisons of loci between the parents Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon showed that 72 were homozygous in both cultivars, while 70 loci were heterozygous in at least one cultivar of the two. Muscadine parents Noble and Summit had 90 homozygous SSR loci in both parents and contained 50 heterozygous loci in at least one of the two. These EST-SSR functional markers are a useful addition for grape genotyping and genome mapping
Mining and validating grape (Vitis L.) ESTs to develop EST-SSR markers for genotyping and mapping
Chickpea
The narrow genetic base of cultivated chickpea warrants systematic collection,
documentation and evaluation of chickpea germplasm and particularly wild
Cicer species for effective and efficient use in chickpea breeding programmes.
Limiting factors to crop production, possible solutions and ways to overcome
them, importance of wild relatives and barriers to alien gene introgression and
strategies to overcome them and traits for base broadening have been discussed.
It has been clearly demonstrated that resistance to major biotic and abiotic
stresses can be successfully introgressed from the primary gene pool
comprising progenitor species. However, many desirable traits including high
degree of resistance to multiple stresses that are present in the species
belonging to secondary and tertiary gene pools can also be introgressed by
using special techniques to overcome pre- and post-fertilization barriers.
Besides resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses, the yield QTLs have
also been introgressed from wild Cicer species to cultivated varieties. Status
and importance of molecular markers, genome mapping and genomic tools
for chickpea improvement are elaborated. Because of major genes for various
biotic and abiotic stresses, the transfer of agronomically important traits into
elite cultivars has been made easy and practical through marker-assisted
selection and marker-assisted backcross. The usefulness of molecular markers
such as SSR and SNP for the construction of high-density genetic maps of
chickpea and for the identification of genes/QTLs for stress resistance, quality
and yield contributing traits has also been discussed
Increased oxidative stress in patients with familial Mediterranean fever during attack period
Objectives: We aimed to investigate the status of oxidant and
antioxidants during attack period (AP) and attack free periods (AFP) in
Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients. Methods: Measured the
levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC), glutathione
(GSH) and antioxidant vitamins (A,C and E) as well as the activities of
catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in serum and whole
blood of FMF patients in FMF-AP and FMF-AFP. Results: Levels of MDA
and PC were found significantly higher (p <0.05) both in serum and
whole blood of FMF-AP group compared with other groups. The CAT and
GSH-Px activities in FMF-AP group were found markedly lower (p
<0.05) comparing to HC group. However, there were no statistically
significant differences between the groups in terms of antioxidant
vitamin levels. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated increased
oxidative stress in patients with FMF during AP. Investigations are
needed to establish the effect of antioxidant supplementation on FMF
attack frequency and severity. We also suggest that these increased MDA
and PC levels and decreased antioxidants may be used as supportive
markers to differentiate AP from AFP. These conclusions need to be
validated in further multicenter studies with high number of FMF
patients
Presence of enthesopathy in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome: ultrasonographic study of a local cohort
PMID = 2864631
Residual symptoms and disease burden among patients with psoriatic arthritis: is a new disease activity index required?
PMID = 3042623
Nailfold videocapillaroscopy results in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
PMID = 2857849
Seasonal disease activity and serum vitamin D levels in rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis
Background: Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that plays essential roles in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, bone formation and mineralization homeostasis, also has a role in the maintenance of immune-homeostasis.Objective: We aimed to investigate seasonal serum vitamin D levels and seasonal disease activity in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Osteoarthritis.Methods: Seventy-one Rheumatoid Arthritis patients, 72 Ankylosing Spondylitis patients, 74 knee Osteoarthritis patients and 70 healthy controls were recruited for the study. Bi-seasonal measurements of serum 25(OH)D vitamin were checked in either in July or August or September for summertime and either in December or January or February for wintertime. Disease activity were evaluated by Disease Activity Score-28, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index in groups of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Osteoarthritis respectively.Results: We did not find any correlation between serum 25(OH)D levels and Disease Activity Score-28, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores in winter and summer. The difference of Disease Activity Score-28 and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores between winter and summer seasons were not significant in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis patients (p>0.05). The mean Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index score was significantly higher in winter than in summer (p<0.05). Consequently we did not find any correlation between variations of seasonal serum 25(OH)D and the disease activity in the patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Osteoarthritis. Conclusion: These results suggest that vitamin D does not have an important role in the seasonal disease activity of these diseases and that seasonal changes in disease activity may play an important role in evaluating Ankylosing Spondylitis patients rather than Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis patients and should be taken into account when examining these patients. These conclusions need to be validated in multicenter studies with high number of patients.Key words: ankylosing spondylitis, disease activity, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, season, vitamin