Acibenzolar-S-methyl induces lettuce resistance against Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians

Acibenzolar-S-methyl (Benzo [1,2,3] thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid-S-methyl ester, ASM; Bion 50 WG) was found to be more protective for lettuce against bacterial speck disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians. The experiments were conducted under controlled climatic conditions in the greenhouse, and induction of defense mechanism using ASM treatment against challenged inoculation with X. campestris pv. vitians was studied. It was effective in reducing the severity of disease and bacterial growth when compared with control and copper hydroxide. Pathogen growth was also followed with specific PCR before the typical symptom development on leaf tissues. Equal plant tissues collected from infected pnjm, lants were used in order to compare different treatments and pathogen invasion. The induction interval (48) before inoculation period was convenient for the control of pathogen by ASM treatment. The findings show that ASM treatment in inoculated plants has long lasting effect to induce defense-related enzymes, contributing to the enhancement of plant resistance. The effect was comparable with copper treatment. As a marker of resistance, PR protein activity chitinase showed remarkable increase, depending on decreasing bacterial growth in planta.Key words: Acibenzolar-S-methyl, induced resistance, Xanthomonas campestris pv.vitians

A molecular-based fast method to determine the extent of DNA damages in higher plants and fungi

Comet assay also called ‘single cell gel electrophoresis is a technique for the detection of DNA damage and repair at the level of single cells, which is one of the most advanced techniques introduced to theagricultural sciences in recent years. The assay is one of the most popular tests of DNA damage detection (e.g. single and double-strand breaks, oxidative-induced base damage and DNA-DNA/DNAproteincross linking) by electrophoresis. The assay is very sensitive, rapid, easy to handle, noninvasive, visual and inexpensive compared to most conventional techniques to detect DNA damage, there is also little amount of cell samples required and it is applicable for most eukaryotic cells, thus, it has rapidly gained importance in the fields of genetic toxicology, medicine, environmental studies and agriculture. Isolated DNA from cells are embedded in a thin agarose gel on a microscope slide and unwound in a suitable buffer and exposed to a weak electric field to attract broken, negatively-charged DNA towards the anode. After electrophoresis, migrated DNA fragments stained with a fluorescent dye would resemble a shape of a comet observed by a fluorescence microscopy. The extent of comet-like shapes would indicate the level of DNA damage in cells. The intensity of comet tail relative to the head would also reflect the extent of DNA damage in numerical

Effect of micronized zeolite addition to lamb concentrate feeds on growth performance and some blood chemistry and metabolites

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the addition of micronized zeolite (MZ) on the fattening performance, blood parameters, faecal ash and nitrogen levels of lambs fed concentrate feeds intensively. For two months 25 four-month-old Merino x Ile de France crossbred male lambs (21.1 ± 1.32 kg live weight) were fed 100 g alfalfa hay and a mixed concentrate diet containing 0%, 1%, 2% or 3% additional MZ. At the end of the study, bodyweight gain and feed consumption were not affected by the treatments. Similarly, the addition of up to 2% MZ to the diet did not affect slaughter weight, hot carcass or cold carcass weights, but they decreased at 3% MZ inclusion. No differences were observed between the groups in terms of blood urea nitrogen, plasma glucose, serum creatinine, triglyceride, sodium, potassium and chlorine concentration. However, serum total protein, calcium and phosphorus concentrations were affected by MZ supplementation. The addition of MZ to the ration did not affect the faecal dry matter content and total nitrogen level, yet it increased the ash content of the faeces. Consequently, it was demonstrated that the addition of up to 2% MZ to lamb grower feed does not have a negative impact on performance and carcass yield of the animals, but affects serum total protein, calcium and phosphorus concentrations

An Investigation on the antimicrobial activity of some endemic plant species from Turkey

In this study performed on six endemic plant species, antimicrobial activity was observed in Campanula lyrata subsp.lyrata and Abies nordmanniana subsp. bornmuelleriana plants. The minimum inhibitoryconcentration of C. lyrata subsp. lyrata (leaf and flower) extract was found to be 29 mg/ml for Baccillus subtilis and 14.5 mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Abies nordmanniana subsp. bornmuelleriana (leaf) extract was found to be > 314 mg/ml for B. subtilis and when minimum bacteriocidal concentration (MBC) results were evaluated, it was observed that the plant extracts had bacteriocidal effects. No antimicrobial activity was observed inthe other plant extracts, namely, Onosma bornmuelleri (leaf- flower), Dianthus balansae (leaf- flower), Alyssum pateri subsp. pateri (seed) and Scabiosa columbaria subsp. paphlagonica (leaf) extracts thatwere tested

An assessment of population fluctuations of citrus pest woolly whitefly Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell, 1896) (Homoptera, Aleyrodidae) and its parasitoid Cales noacki Howard, 1907 (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae): A case study from Northwestern Algeria

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the parasitoid Cales noacki Howard, 1907 (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae) in the biological control of the citrus pest woolly whitefly, Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell,1896) in Northwestern Algeria. In particular the pest and parasitoid population fluctuations under different environmental conditions were investigated. The study was conducted by examination and sampling of whitefly adult populations on young shoots and catches as well as its parasitoid during a 12-month period by counting the parasite and infested-live larvae. Results showed remarkable variations in abundance indices and infestation rates of larvae and adults that depended on the growth flush in foliage and meteorological conditions of the region. The woolly whitefly manifested three flight periods coinciding with three growth flushes of orange sap; in autumn towards the end of September followed by mid-November with the highest average abundance of 10 individuals per branch and a third flight period in mid-May. Phases of growth flush seemed to have an effect on the temporal distribution of adults over the sampling period from July to June. Pest emergence appeared favorable at 12-20 °C as the minimum interval temperature whereas the maximum varied between 25-33 °C with humidity levels of 50 % and 75 %. As for the incidence of natural enemies on whiteflies, despite their abundance, their impact was not optimum due to the large fluctuations in number of whiteflies. Although the pest-parasitoid complex appears to be important in the orchard, the biological regulation exerted by C. noacki while effective is insufficient for the complete neutralization of citrus woolly whitefly A. floccosus. An integrated approach is needed using additional natural enemies associated with the woolly whitefly

Monitoring the 5'UTR landscape reveals isoform switches to drive translational efficiencies in cancer

Transcriptional and translational control are key determinants of gene expression, however, to what extent these two processes can be collectively coordinated is still poorly understood. Here, we use Nanopore long-read sequencing and cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE-seq) to document the landscape of 5' and 3' untranslated region (UTR) isoforms and transcription start sites of epidermal stem cells, wild-type keratinocytes and squamous cell carcinomas. Focusing on squamous cell carcinomas, we show that a small cohort of genes with alternative 5'UTR isoforms exhibit overall increased translational efficiencies and are enriched in ribosomal proteins and splicing factors. By combining polysome fractionations and CAGE-seq, we further characterize two of these UTR isoform genes with identical coding sequences and demonstrate that the underlying transcription start site heterogeneity frequently results in 5' terminal oligopyrimidine (TOP) and pyrimidine-rich translational element (PRTE) motif switches to drive mTORC1-dependent translation of the mRNA. Genome-wide, we show that highly translated squamous cell carcinoma transcripts switch towards increased use of 5'TOP and PRTE motifs, have generally shorter 5'UTRs and expose decreased RNA secondary structures. Notably, we found that the two 5'TOP motif-containing, but not the TOP-less, RPL21 transcript isoforms strongly correlated with overall survival in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. Our findings warrant isoform-specific analyses in human cancer datasets and suggest that switching between 5'UTR isoforms is an elegant and simple way to alter protein synthesis rates, set their sensitivity to the mTORC1-dependent nutrient-sensing pathway and direct the translational potential of an mRNA by the precise 5'UTR sequence

Survival of Ovarian Cancer Patients Is Independent of the Presence of DC and T Cell Subsets in Ascites

Ascites is a prominent feature of ovarian cancer and could serve as liquid biopsy to assess the immune status of patients. Tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes are correlated with improved survival in ovarian cancer. To investigate whether immune cells in ascites are associated with patient outcome, we analyzed the amount of dendritic cell (DC) and T cell subsets in ascites from ovarian cancer patients diagnosed with high-grade serous cancer (HGSC). Ascites was collected from 62 HGSC patients prior to chemotherapy. Clinicopathological, histological and follow-up data from patients were collected. Ascites-derived immune cells were isolated using density-gradient centrifugation. The presence of myeloid DCs (BDCA-1+, BDCA-3+, CD16+), pDCs (CD123+BDCA-2+), and T cells (CD4+, CD8+) was analyzed using flow cytometry. Complete cytoreduction, response to primary treatment and chemosensitivity were associated with improved patient outcome. In contrast, immune cells in ascites did not significantly correlate with patient survival. However, we observed a trend toward improved outcome for patients having low percentages of CD4+ T cells. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules on T cells and non-immune cells in 10 ascites samples. PD-1 was expressed by 30% of ascites-derived T cells and PD-L1 by 50% of non-immune cells. However, the percentage of DC and T cell subsets in ascites was not directly correlated to the survival of HGSC patients