Bioassay-guided fractionation of Emilia sonchifolia extract on the induction of ovarian maturation in Fenneropenaeus merguiensis

This study was carried out to identify the active compounds of Emilia sonchifolia on induction of ovarian maturation in Fenneropenaeus merguiensis. The crude extracts from dichloromethane and acetone were investigated in vitro. The crude extract from acetone induced up-regulation of shrimp ovarian peritrophin (SOP) and translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) genes, which were highly expressed during early phase of ovarian development higher than dichloromethane extract. Furthermore, fraction 14 (F14) from acetone extract up-regulated both of the SOP and the TCTP genes to the greatest extent. Leading to in vivo study, the effect of ribosomal protein L10a (RPL10a), which acts as shrimp ovarian stimulator plus with F14 on shrimp ovarian maturation was investigated by injection. The best result was observed in the group that received RPL10a plus with F14 at 0.8 μg/g body weight of shrimp. The RPL10a plus F14 enhanced the shrimp ovaries from undeveloped stage to 57% of early developing stage within 15 days. Meanwhile, the control group remained 100% of the undeveloped stage. Hence, F14 seems to play a positive role in the induction of shrimp ovarian maturation. The component of F14 was identified using mass spectroscopy and presented as 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid; 2,4-di-tert-butyl phenol; 2,4,5-trimethoybenzylidene;palmitic acid; 1-heneicosyl formate; 1-heptadecanol; ethyl-4-ethoxybenzoate and stearic acid

CDNA library from the Latex of Hevea brasiliensis

Latex from Hevea brasiliensis contains 30-50% (w/w) of natural rubber (cis-1,4-polyisoprene), the important rawmaterial for many rubber industries. We have constructed a cDNA library from the latex of H. brasiliensis to investigate theexpressed genes and molecular events in the latex. We analyzed 412 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). More than 90% of theEST clones showed homology to previously described sequences in public databases. Functional classification of the ESTsshowed that the largest category were proteins of unknown function (30.1%), 11.4% of ESTs encoded for rubber synthesisrelatedproteins (RS) and 8.5% for defense or stress related proteins (DS). Those with no significant homology to knownsequences (NSH) accounted for 8.7%, primary metabolism (PM) and gene expression and RNA metabolism were 7.8% and6.6%, respectively. Other categories included, protein synthesis-related proteins (6.6%), chromatin and DNA metabolism(CDM 3.9%), energy metabolism (EM 3.4%), cellular transport (CT 3.2%), cell structure (CS 3.2%), signal transduction (ST2.2%), secondary metabolism (SM 1.7%), protein fate (PF 2.2%), and reproductive proteins (RP 0.7%)

Computational identification of Penaeus monodon microRNA genes and their targets

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a distinct class of small non-coding RNAs, ~22 nt long, found in a wide variety of organisms.They play important regulatory roles by silencing gene activities at the post-transcriptional level. In this work, we developeda computational workflow to identify conserved miRNA genes in the 10,536 unique Penaeus monodon expressed sequencetags (ESTs). After removing all simple repeats and coding regions in the ESTs, the workflow uses both the conservationof miRNA sequences and several filters obtained from pre-miRNA secondary structure properties to identify conservedmiRNAs. Finally, we discovered six potential conserved miRNA genes such as mir-4152, mir-466k, miR-32*, lin-4, mir-1346 andmir-4310

Characterization and Small RNA Content of Extracellular Vesicles in Follicular Fluid of Developing Bovine Antral Follicles.

Exosomes and microvesicles (i.e., extracellular vesicles: EVs) have been identified within ovarian follicular fluid and recent evidence suggests that EVs are able to elicit profound effects on ovarian cell function. While existence of miRNA within EVs has been reported, whether EV size and concentration as well as their cargos (i.e., proteins and RNA) change during antral follicle growth remains unknown. Extracellular vesicles isolated from follicular fluid of small, medium and large bovine follicles were similar in size, while concentration of EVs decreased progressively as follicle size increased. Electron microscopy indicated a highly purified population of the lipid bilayer enclosed vesicles that were enriched in exosome biomarkers including CD81 and Alix. Small RNA sequencing identified a large number of known and novel miRNAs that changed in the EVs of different size follicles. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) indicated that miRNA abundant in small follicle EV preparations were associated with cell proliferation pathways, while those miRNA abundant in large follicle preparations were related to inflammatory response pathways. These studies are the first to demonstrate that EVs change in their levels and makeup during antral follicle development and point to the potential for a unique vesicle-mediated cell-to-cell communication network within the ovarian follicle

Lovastatin Production by Aspergillus sclerotiorum Using Agricultural Waste

Pozadina istraživanja. Lovastatin je poznati lijek za liječenje hiperkolesterolemije. Međutim, cijena njegove prozvodnje je još uvijek visoka. Stoga je potrebno pronaći jeftiniji izvor ugljika za proizvodnju lovastatina. Eksperimentalni pristup. Ispitana je mogućnost uporabe četiriju različitih uzoraka poljoprivrednog otpada, i to: stabljika kukuruza, rižinih ljusaka, divlje vrste šećerne trske i uljnog taloga zaostaolog nakon proizvodnje sojinog ulja, kao supstrata za proizvodnju lovastatina submerznim uzgojem i fermentacijom na čvrstoj podlozi s pomoću novog soja plijesni Aspergillus sclerotiorum PSU-RSPG 178. Rezultati i zaključci. Među ispitanim supstratima i metodama uzgoja, najveći je prinos lovastatina od 0,04 mg/g suhe tvari dobiven uzgojem na uljnom talogu nastalom pri proizvodnji sojinog ulja, pri temperaturi od 25 °C tijekom 14 dana fermentacije na čvrstoj podlozi. Stoga su tom talogu kao izvori ugljika zasebno dodani glukoza, pšenično brašno, elementi u tragovima, palmino ulje, urea i melasa. Dodatkom palminog ulja prinos lovastatina povećao se na 0,99 mg/g. Optimalni uvjeti pri kojima je dobiveno (20±2) mg/g lovastatina nakon 18 dana fermentacije na čvrstoj podlozi bili su: uljni talog s udjelom vlage u suhoj tvari od 80 %, omjer taloga (u g) i micelijskih diskova od 1:4, te omjer taloga (u g) i palminog ulja (u mL) od 1:2. Osim toga, zaključeno je da prinosi lovastatina dobiveni fermentacijom na čvrstoj podlozi od svježeg ili sušenog uljnog taloga nisu bili bitno različiti. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. Zaključili smo da se plijesan Aspergillus sclerotiorum PSU-RSPG 178 može upotrijebiti za proizvodnju lovastatina na podlozi od uljnog taloga nastalog pri proizvodnji sojinog ulja obogaćenoj palminim uljem kao izvorom ugljika.Research background. Lovastatin is a well-known drug used to reduce hypercholesterolaemia. However, the cost of lovastatin production is still high. Therefore, alternative low-cost carbon sources for the production of lovastatin are desirable. Experimental approach. Four different agricultural wastes, namely corn trunks, rice husks, wild sugarcane, and soya bean sludge, were tested separately as substrates to produce lovastatin using a new fungal strain, Aspergillus sclerotiorum PSU-RSPG 178, under both submerged and solid-state fermentation (SSF). Results and conclusions. Of these substrates and cultivation systems, soya bean sludge gave the highest lovastatin yield on dry mass basis of 0.04 mg/g after 14 days of SSF at 25 °C. Therefore, the soya bean sludge was separately supplemented with glucose, wheat flour, trace elements, palm oil, urea and molasses. The addition of the palm oil enhanced the lovastatin yield to 0.99 mg/g. In addition, the optimum conditions, which gave a lovastatin yield of (20±2) mg/g after 18 days of SSF, were soya bean sludge containing 80 % moisture (dry basis) at a ratio of soya bean sludge (g) to mycelial agar plugs of 1:4, and a ratio of soya bean sludge (g) to palm oil (mL) of 1:2. Besides, the lovastatin yields obtained from SSF using fresh or dry soya bean sludge were not significantly different. Novelty and scientific contribution. We conclude that A. sclerotiorum PSU-RSPG 178 has a good potential as an alternative strain for producing lovastatin using soya bean sludge supplemented with palm oil as a carbon source

Characterization of a Chikungunya virus strain isolated from banked patients’ sera

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a prevalent mosquito-borne pathogen that is emerging in many parts of the globe causing significant human morbidity. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of an infectious CHIKV from banked serum specimens of suspected patients from the 2009 epidemic in Thailand. Standard plaque assay was used for CHIKV isolation from the banked serum specimens. Isolated CHIKV was identified base on E1 structural gene sequence. Growth kinetic, infectivity, cell viability and cytokine gene expression throughout CHIKV infection in a permissive cell line, 293T cells, was performed using several approaches, including standard plaque assay, immunofluorescence assay, classical MTT assay, and quantitative real-time PCR. Two tailed Student’s t test was used for evaluation statistically significance between the mean values of the groups. Based on the E1 structural gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis, we identified the virus as the CHIK/SBY8/10 isolate from Indonesia. Assessment of the growth kinetics, cytopathic effects as well as its ability to induce cellular immune responses suggested that the currently isolated CHIK/SBY8/10 virus is relatively more virulent than a known CHIKV vaccine strain, which also induces more dramatic proinflammatory responses.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-016-0606-

Potential of Bacillus spp. isolated from food waste compost for controlling rice diseases

Bacterial leaf blight, bakanae and blast are severe, economically damaging rice diseases caused by Xanthomonas oryzae, Fusarium fujikuroi, and Magnaporthe oryzae, respectively. Bacillus spp. have been applied as bioactive, eco friendly agents to control these diseases. In this study, five antagonistic strains isolated from food waste compost, namely B. subtilis strain BS, B. amyloliquefacien strain C2-1, B. tequilensis strain 1-BA, B. licheniformis strain 2-BA, and Lysinibacillus. sp strain 3-BA were tested for their efficacy against rice diseases. The inhibition of X. oryzae was tested by paper disc diffusion, while the inhibitions of F. fujikuroi and M. oryzae were tested in dual cultures. It was found that B. amyloliquefacien strain C2-1 gave the widest clear zones. At 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 7 days, the strain had produced zones of inhibition against X. oryzae of 7.41±0.65, 7.9±0.20, 8.8±0.65 and 8.90±0.12 mm, respectively. B. amyloliquefacien strain C2-1 also reduced the growth of the fungal rice pathogens F. fujikuroi and M. oryzae, achieving 98.79% and 97.74% inhibitions, respectively. B. amyloliquefaciens strain C2-1 was also effective against X. oryzae, F. fujikuroi, and M. oryzae in the greenhouse. Fourteen days after spraying rice plants with the B. amyloliquefacien strain C2-1, infections with X. oryzae, F. fujikuroi, and M. oryzae were inhibited by 60%, 37%, and 25%, respectively. The results suggested that B. amyloliquefacien strain C2-1 can be used as a biocontrol agent against bacterial leaf blight, bakanae, and rice blast diseases

Effects of compost from food waste on growth of lettuce ( Lactuca sativa Var. Crispa L.)

Purpose Thailand generates approximately 18 million tons of urban food waste per year, which is disposed of with municipal waste and largely goes to landfills. However, this approach not only takes up a large area but also causes environmental problems. The easiest way to manage food waste is by separating it at the source and composting it. Bioaxel Co., Ltd. has developed an innovative approach for composting food waste, with the output commercially marketed as “BA compost”. However, the use of BA compost has not been independently studied.Methods BA compost was mixed with soil in various proportions (0% - 70% v/v) for planting lettuce to find the proper BA proportion. Growth characteristics and nutrient contents were investigated.Results The BA compost improved the soil nutrients. 10% BA compost in soil gave the highest growth parameters among the proportions tested, with the highest root length (21.83 ± 0.83 cm), plant length (30.00 ± 1.00 cm), number of leaves (23.33 ± 1.15 leaves), thickness (12.47 ± 0.57 mm), width of bush (26.33 ± 0.58 mm), fresh plant weight (113.03 ± 1.28 g), dry plant weight (4.58 ± 0.14 g), chlorophyll a and b (0.38 and 0.38 mg/mL), carotenoid (155.28 mg/mL), protein (443.38 μg/mL), carbohydrate (4,321.31 μg/mL) and reducing sugar (683.33 μg/mL).Conclusion BA compost from food waste demonstrated its potential in sustainable food waste management and could be used as a fertilizer. It supports an environmentally closed-loop approach to return the food waste back to the source as plant food