Metabolite Diversity and Metabolic Genome-Wide Marker Association Studies (Mgwas) for Health Benefiting Nutritional Traits in Pearl Millet Grains

As efforts are made to increase food security, millets are gaining increasing importance due to their excellent nutritional credentials. Among the millets, pearl millet is the predominant species possessing several health benefiting nutritional traits in its grain that are helpful in mitigating chronic illnesses such as type−2 diabetes and obesity. In this paper, we conducted metabolomic fingerprinting of 197 pearl millet inbred lines drawn randomly from within the world collection of pearl millet germplasm and report the extent of genetic variation for health benefitting metabolites in these genotypes. Metabolites were extracted from seeds and assessed using flow infusion high-resolution mass spectrometry (FIE-HRMS). Metabolite features (m/z), whose levels significantly differed among the germplasm inbred lines, were identified by ANOVA corrected for FDR and subjected to functional pathway analysis. A number of health-benefiting metabolites linked to dietary starch, antioxidants, vitamins, and lipid metabolism-related compounds were identified. Metabolic genome-wide association analysis (mGWAS) performed using the 396 m/z as phenotypic traits and the 76 K SNP as genotypic variants identified a total of 897 SNPs associated with health benefiting nutritional metabolite at the -log p-value ≤ 4.0. From these associations, 738 probable candidate genes were predicted to have an important role in starch, antioxidants, vitamins, and lipid metabolism. The mGWAS analysis focused on genes involved in starch branching (α-amylase, β-amylase), vitamin-K reductase, UDP-glucuronosyl, and UDP-glucosyl transferase (UGTs), L-ascorbate oxidase, and isoflavone 2′-monooxygenase genes, which are known to be linked to increases in human health benefiting metabolites. We demonstrate how metabolomic, genomic, and statistical approaches can be utilized to pinpoint genetic variations and their functions linked to key nutritional properties in pearl millet, which in turn can be bred into millets and other cereals crops using plant breeding methods

Identifying Anti-Oxidant Biosynthesis Genes in Pearl Millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] Using Genome—Wide Association Analysis

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R Br.] is an important staple food crop in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. It is a cereal grain that has the prospect to be used as a substitute for wheat flour for celiac patients. It is an important antioxidant food resource present with a wide range of phenolic compounds that are good sources of natural antioxidants. The present study aimed to identify the total antioxidant content of pearl millet flour and apply it to evaluate the antioxidant activity of its 222 genotypes drawn randomly from the pearl millet inbred germplasm association panel (PMiGAP), a world diversity panel of this crop. The total phenolic content (TPC) significantly correlated with DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity (% inhibition), which ranged from 2.32 to 112.45% and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) activity ranging from 21.68 to 179.66 (mg ascorbic acid eq./100 g). Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using 222 diverse accessions and 67 K SNPs distributed across all the seven pearl millet chromosomes. Approximately, 218 SNPs were found to be strongly associated with DPPH and FRAP activity at high confidence [–log (p) > 3.0–7.4]. Furthermore, flanking regions of significantly associated SNPs were explored for candidate gene harvesting. This identified 18 candidate genes related to antioxidant pathway genes (flavanone 7-O-beta-glycosyltransferase, GDSL esterase/lipase, glutathione S-transferase) residing within or near the association signal that can be selected for further functional characterization. Patterns of genetic variability and the associated genes reported in this study are useful findings, which would need further validation before their utilization in molecular breeding for high antioxidant-containing pearl millet cultivars

Ultrasonographic evaluation of pelvic pain in first trimester of pregnancy: a prospective study

Background: Early and accurate diagnosis of the cause of pelvic pain in first trimester of pregnancy is essential for appropriate clinical decision making thereby enabling correct and timely management. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of ultrasonography in evaluation various causes of pelvic pain in the first trimester of pregnancy and correlate the imaging findings with clinical/per-operative findings. Methods: This was a prospective observational study approved by the Institutional Review Board and conducted from November 2016 to March 2018. 67 patients with pelvic pain in their first trimester, attending the antenatal clinic or OBG emergency underwent pelvic ultrasonography and the findings were correlated with clinical/per-operative findings. Results: Ectopic pregnancies formed the largest individual group comprising of 45 (67.2%) cases of the total study population followed by spontaneous abortion 5(7.5%). Other causes included subchorionic haemorrhage, ovarian torsion, uterine fibroid, simple/haemorrhagic/dermoid cyst of ovary and acute appendicitis. 4 (6%) patients had normal intrauterine pregnancy. Conclusions: Ultrasonography has high diagnostic accuracy of 94% and 100% sensitivity for detecting the cause of first trimester pelvic pain

Small Peptide Binding Stiffens the Ubiquitin-like Protein SUMO1

AbstractPosttranslational modification by small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMOs), known as SUMOylation, is a key regulatory event in many eukaryotic cellular processes in which SUMOs interact with a large number of target proteins. SUMO binding motifs (SBMs) are small peptides derived from these target proteins that interact noncovalently with SUMOs and induce conformational changes. To determine the effect of SBMs on the mechanical properties of SUMO1 (the first member of the human SUMO family), we performed single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments on SUMO1/SBM complexes. The unfolding force of SUMO1 (at a pulling speed of 400 nm/s) increased from ∼130 pN to ∼170 pN upon binding to SBMs, indicating mechanical stabilization upon complexation. Pulling-speed-dependent experiments and Monte Carlo simulations measured a large decrease in distance to the unfolding transition state for SUMO1 upon SBM binding, which is by far the largest change measured for any ligand binding protein. The stiffness of SUMO1 (measured as a spring constant for the deformation response along the line joining the N- and C-termini) increased upon SBM binding from ∼1 N/m to ∼3.5 N/m. The relatively higher flexibility of ligand-free SUMO1 might play a role in accessing various conformations before binding to a target

Harnessing finger millet to combat calcium deficiency in humans: challenges and prospects

Puranik S, Kam J, Sahu PP, Yadav R, Srivastava RK, Ojulong H and Yadav R (2017) Harnessing Finger Millet to Combat Calcium Deficiency in Humans: Challenges and Prospects. Front. Plant Sci. 8:1311. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01311Humans require more than twenty mineral elements for healthy body function. Calcium (Ca), one of the essential macromineral, is required in relatively large quantities in the diet for maintaining a sound overall health. Young children, pregnant and nursing women in marginalized and poorest regions of the world, are at highest risk of Ca malnutrition. Elderly population is another group of people most commonly affected by Ca deficiency mainly in the form of osteoporosis and osteopenia. Improved dietary intake of Ca may be the most cost-effective way to meet such deficiencies. Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.], a crop with inherently higher Ca content in its grain, is an excellent candidate for understanding genetic mechanisms associated with Ca accumulation in grain crops. Such knowledge will also contribute towards increasing Ca contents in other staple crops consumed on daily basis using plant-breeding (also known as biofortification) methods. However, developing Ca-biofortified finger millet to reach nutritional acceptability faces various challenges. These include identifying and translating the high grain Ca content to an adequately bioavailable form so as to have a positive impact on Ca malnutrition. In this review, we assess some recent advancements and challenges for enrichment of its Ca value and present possible inter-disciplinary prospects for advancing the actual impact of Ca-biofortified finger millet.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Dietary interventions for type 2 diabetes: How millet comes to help

Diabetes has become a highly problematic and increasingly prevalent disease world-wide. It has contributed towards 1.5 million deaths in 2012. Management techniques for diabetes prevention in high-risk as well as in affected individuals, beside medication, are mainly through changes in lifestyle and dietary regulation. Particularly, diet can have a great influence on life quality for those that suffer from, as well as those at risk of, diabetes. As such, considerations on nutritional aspects are required to be made to include in dietary intervention. This review aims to give an overview on the general consensus of current dietary and nutritional recommendation for diabetics. In light of such recommendation, the use of plant breeding, conventional as well as more recently developed molecular marker-based breeding and biofortification, are discussed in designing crops with desired characteristics. While there are various recommendations available, dietary choices are restricted by availability due to geo-, political- or economical- considerations. This particularly holds true for countries such as India, where 65 million people (up from 50 million in 2010) are currently diabetic and their numbers are rising at an alarming rate. Millets are one of the most abundant crops grown in India as well as in Africa, providing a staple food source for many poorest of the poor communities in these countries. The potentials of millets as a dietary component to combat the increasing prevalence of global diabetes are highlighted in this review

Comparison of diagnostic performance of simple international ovarian tumor analysis rules versus subjective pattern recognition for triage of adnexal masses

Background: Accurate and early diagnosis of adnexal masses is essential for optimal clinical decision-making. The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic performance of simple international ovarian tumor analysis (IOTA) rules vs subjective pattern recognition, to discriminate between benign and malignant adnexal mass, and to establish the diagnostic utility of IOTA rules as a standardized examination tool in early diagnosis of ovarian malignancy. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital between November 2017 and March 2019 on 100 women with adnexal masses. All adnexal masses detected on ultrasound were classified according to IOTA rules by the trainee, followed by subjective pattern recognition by experts. These observations were further correlated with histopathology/intraoperative findings/ follow-up examination. Diagnostic efficacy was assessed by comparing sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy. Results: Among the 100 patients, 81 had benign, and 19 had malignant masses on final diagnosis. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy for the detection of malignancy using IOTA rules by trainee were 100%, 95.59%, 81.82%, 100%, and 95.65%, and by subjective evaluation by experts were 100%, 97.5%%, 90.5%, 100%, and 98% respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the diagnostic accuracy of the two methods. Conclusions: Simple IOTA rules are as accurate as subjective evaluation by experts in the characterization of adnexal masses. Their inherent simplicity and reproducibility make them ideal for use by less experienced sonographers

TIME MANAGEMENT AND CONSTRAIN DRAWING FOR CELL PHONE MARINE RADIO NETWORKS

In this paper, we advise some pot solution for localization and synchronization, referred to as JSL, for UWSNs. JSL might be a four phases plan. For each round of message exchanges, time synchronization and localization are transported out at different phases. In this paper, we presented JSL, some pot solution for time synchronization and localization in UWSN. It compensates the stratification effect inside the underwater atmosphere rather of presuming straight line transmission. TSHL combines one-way and 2-way MAC layer message delivery. TSHL may be helpful for static underwater sensor systems, nevertheless it cannot handle mobile scenarios since it assumes constant propagation delays among sensor nodes. In UWSNs, of people uncertainties, the propagation time is dominant due to the low propagation speed of acoustic signals. When the synchronization process completes, the standard sensor node becomes synchronized, plus a new draft clock skew u and offset b are thought to be. Since for random walk, the speed finally time point could be to steer clear of the rate within our point, any tracking plan will miss their effectiveness, and that's why the end result based on random walk are worse for localization and synchronization. The very first TDOA ought to be to launch the JSL procedure by supplying initial positions. The propagation delay could be the bridge helping you to connect time synchronization and localization. Accordingly, only one way or half of individuals exchanged messages can be utilized as sample data