Biogeography and ecological setting of Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents

Within the endemic invertebrate faunas of hydrothermal vents, five biogeographic provinces are recognized. Invertebrates at two Indian Ocean vent fields (Kairei and Edmond) belong to a sixth province, despite ecological settings and invertebrate-bacterial symbioses similar to those of both western Pacific and Atlantic vents. Most organisms found at these Indian Ocean vent fields have evolutionary affinities with western Pacific vent faunas, but a shrimp that ecologically dominates Indian Ocean vents closely resembles its Mid-Atlantic counterpart. These findings contribute to a global assessment of the biogeography of chemosynthetic faunas and indicate that the Indian Ocean vent community follows asymmetric assembly rules biased toward Pacific evolutionary alliances.     

Yeast RNA polymerase II genes: isolation with antibody probes

Genes encoding yeast RNA polymerase II subunits were cloned. Efficient isolation of these genes was accomplished by probing a phage lambda gt11 recombinant DNA expression library with polyvalent antibodies directed against purified yeast RNA polymerase II. The identity of genes that specify the largest RNA polymerase II subunits, the 220,000- and 150,000-dalton polypeptides, was confirmed by competitive radioimmune assay. Both of these genes exist in single copy in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Modeling connectivity of black bears in a desert sky island archipelago

Landscape features such as rivers, mountains, desert basins, roads, and impermeable man-made structures may influence dispersal and gene flow among populations, thereby creating spatial structure across the landscape. In the US–Mexico borderland, urbanization and construction of the border fence have the potential to increase genetic subdivision and vulnerability to isolation in large mammal populations by bisecting movement corridors that have enabled dispersal between adjacent Sky Island mountain ranges. We examined genetic variation in black bears (Ursus americanus) from three regions in central and southern Arizona, US, to assess genetic and landscape connectivity in the US–Mexico border Sky Islands. We found that the three regions grouped into two subpopulations: the east-central subpopulation comprised of individuals sampled in the central highland and high desert regions, and the border subpopulation comprised of individuals sampled in the southern Sky Islands. Occupancy for the border subpopulation of black bears was influenced by cover type and distance to water, and occupancy-based corridor models identified 14 potential corridors connecting border Sky Island habitat cores with the east-central subpopulation. Biological quality of corridors, defined as length:width ratio and proportions of suitable habitat within corridors, declined with Sky Island dispersion. Our results show that black bears in the border subpopulation are moderately isolated from the east-central subpopulation, the main population segment of black bears in Arizona, and that connectivity for border bears may be vulnerable to anthropogenic activities, such as those associated with urbanization and trans-border security.     

Identification of hen egg yolk-derived phosvitin phosphopeptides and their effects on gene expression profiling against oxidative stress-induced Caco-2 cells

Oxidative stress is involved in the initiation and propagation of chronic intestinal pathologies. Bioactive peptides such as egg yolk-derived phosvitin phosphopeptides (PPP3) have been previously shown to reduce in vitro oxidative stress by up-regulating glutathione synthesis and antioxidant enzyme activities. Peptide and gene expression profile analysis of the PPP3 peptides can provide insight into structures involved in signal transduction mechanisms in the antioxidative stress response. The objectives of this research were to identify the PPP3 amino acid sequences before and after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and to assess the genes influenced by PPP3. Peptide sequences were analyzed using ESI Q-TOF-MS/MS, and the expression profile of 84 human oxidative stress and antioxidant defense genes were analyzed. Undigested PPP3 was composed of three main peptides: GTEPDAKTSSSSSSASSTATSSSSSSASSPNRKKPMDE (phosvitin-PV residues 4-41), NSKSSSSSSKSSSSSSRSRSSSKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSKSSSSR (PV residues 155-197), and EDDSSSSSSSSVLSKIWGRHEIYQ (PV residues 244-257) and their fragments. There was limited degradation of PPP3 after gastrointestinal digestion as deduced from the fragment sizes of digested PPP3, which ranged from 5 to 32 amino acids. These fragments were rich in contiguous serines and, in some cases, monoesterified with phosphate. Both undigested and digested PPP3 significantly reduced IL-8 secretion in H(2)O(2)-induced Caco-2 cells, indicating that antioxidative stress bioactivity is retained upon digestion. After PPP3 pretreatment, antioxidant genes associated with oxygen and reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism and cellular responses to chemical stimulus, oxidative stress, and ROS are up-regulated in the presence and absence of oxidative stress, thereby contributing to the prevention of intestinal oxidative stress and the promotion of gut health.     

Dietary hydroxypropyl methylcellulose increases excretion of saturated and trans fats by hamsters fed fast food diets

In animal studies, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) intake results in increased fecal fat excretion; however, the effects on dietary saturated fatty acids (SATs) and trans-fatty acids (TRANS) remain unknown. This study investigated the effect of HPMC on digestion and absorption of lipids in male Golden Syrian hamsters fed either freeze-dried ground pizza (PZ), pound cake (PC), or hamburger and fries (BF) supplemented with dietary fiber from either HPMC or microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) for 3 weeks. We observed greater excretion of SATs and TRANS by both diets supplemented with HPMC or MCC as compared to the feed. SAT, TRANS, and unsaturated fatty acids (UNSAT) contents of feces of the PZ diet supplemented with HPMC were 5-8 times higher than diets supplemented with MCC and tended to be higher in the PC- and BF-HPMC supplemented diets as well. We also observed significant increases in fecal excretion of bile acids (2.6-3-fold; P < 0.05), sterols (1.1-1.5-fold; P < 0.05), and unsaturated fatty acids (UNSAT, 1.7-4.5-fold; P < 0.05). The animal body weight gain was inversely correlated with the excretion of fecal lipid concentrations of bile acids (r = -0.56; P < 0.005), sterols (r = -0.48; P < 0.005), SAT (r = -0.69; P < 0.005), UNSAT (r = -0.67; P < 0.005), and TRANS (r = -0.62; P < 0.005). Therefore, HPMC may be facilitating fat excretion in a biased manner with preferential fecal excretion of both TRANS and SAT in hamsters fed fast food diets.     

Retention and bioaccessibility of β-carotene in blended foods containing orange-fleshed sweet potato flour

The retention and bioaccessibility of β-carotene (BC) in blended foods made with part orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) flour (30%) were examined. Chapatis and porridges were prepared by local processors under field conditions (FC) in Uganda (n=10). While the retention of all-trans-BC in porridges (69 to 93%) and chapatis (70 to 97%) varied between the processors, there was no overall difference between the two products and this was probably because of the variability in FC. BC retention in mandazis was similar to that of chapatis and porridges. Processing in FC significantly increased the amount of cis-isomers, in particular 13-cis-BC. The bioaccessibility of the BC as measured by their transfer into micelles was evaluated using an in vitro digestion procedure in various OFSP-derived products. After in vitro digestion, the percentage of micellarized all-trans-BC was greater in products cooked with oil, chapati (73%) and mandazi (49%), as compared with the boiled ones, porridge (16%) and pure?ed from boiled root (10%). In all the products, the incorporation into micelles for 13-cis-BC was significantly higher to that of all-trans-BC. When taking into account the bioaccessibility of all-trans-BC and 13-cis-BC isomer, an edible portion of porridge (one mug), boiled root (half a root), mandazis (two), or chapati (one) could provide a significant part of the daily vitamin A requirements of a child under 6 years (respectively 20, 46, 75, or 100%). These data support the promotion/consumption of locally cooked OFSP food products to tackle vitamin A deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Composition of liquid rice hull smoke and anti-inflammatory effects in mice

A new liquid rice hull smoke extract with a smoky aroma and sugar-like odor prepared by pyrolysis of rice hulls followed by liquefaction of the resulting smoke contained 161 compounds characterized by GC/MS. Antioxidative, antiallergic, and anti-inflammatory activities of the extract were assessed in vitro and in vivo. At pH 5, the extract inhibited 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals and suppressed nitric oxide (NO) and β-hexosaminidase releases from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 mouse macrophage leukemia cells and ionophore A23187-stimulated RBL-2H3 rat basophilic cells without significant cytotoxicity. 12-O-Tetradecanolylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was applied to the ears of CD-1 mice to induce inflammation (edema), which was accompanied by increases in a series of biomarkers. Topical application of 1% of the extract as well as feeding mice a standard diet with 1% extract for two weeks significantly reduced the expression of biomarkers associated with the TPA-induced inflammation. These include tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-1β, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), leukotriene B(4) (LTB(4)), prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), myeloperoxidase (MPO). These in vitro and in vivo findings demonstrate the potential value of rice hull smoke extract derived from a major agricultural byproduct to serve as a new biomaterial for the improvement of food quality and safety and the environment.     

The development of a co-dominant marker for the β-conglycinin α′ subunit in soybeans

The development of soybean varieties that lack the β-conglycinin α′ subunit is an attractive goal because the β-conglycinin α′ subunit exerts a negative influence on nutrition and tofu gelation, and is also a major allergen. We sought to develop a co-dominant DNA marker for the β-conglycinin α′ subunit (Cgy-1) gene for use in marker-assisted selection (MAS). We identified a deleted sequence responsible for the null allele of Cgy-1 in a soybean variety lacking the β-conglycinin α′ subunit known as ‘Keburi’. The deletion spanned 12,998 bp and included Cgy-1 and its incomplete tandem duplicate on chromosome 10. Based on the Cgy-1 sequence from both the Williams 82 soybean reference sequence and the Keburi variety, a set of three allele-specific primers was designed for multiplex PCR assay. These primers enabled allelic discrimination by the sizes of PCR products. This amplified two distinct DNA fragments of 913 and 649 bp in Williams 82 and Keburi, respectively. The practicality of the developed co-dominant marker for Cgy-1 was also confirmed by amplification in five other soybean varieties including three wild types and two mutants. The heterozygosity of the F₁ plants at the Cgy-1 locus was ascertained using our novel co-dominant marker. This PCR-based co-dominant marker is capable of detecting the presence or absence of β-conglycinin α′ subunit for soybean marker assisted breeding system.     

LED effect on free radical-scavenging activity of barley leaf

Barley leaf grown under light-emitting diode (LED) light was prepared and investigated for its free radical scavenging activity. LED light such as red, far-red, blue, blue-red, green, yellow, UVA, and white and also fluorescent light and dark conditions were also used in this study. Length and weight of barley leaves were measured and the Hunter color value, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and ABT radical-scavenging activity of barley leaf extracts were estimated. Extraction of barley leaf was performed by using a 70% ethanol solution. Length of barley leaf grown with red and green LED was 9.9 and 12.6 cm, respectively. Hunter L* and a* values of extracts of barley leaf grown under dark conditions were higher than those of other LED light-treated samples. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of extracts of barley leaf grown with blue, UVA, and under dark conditions were 41.40, 36.23, and 43.57%, respectively. ABT radical scavenging-activity of extracts of barley leaf grown under LED of red, far-red, blue, blue-red, green, yellow, and white were 5.46, 6.10, 6.00, 5.93, 5.74, 6.32, and 5.94 μmol TE g⁻¹, respectively.