<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lupinus albus</Emphasis> Conglutin Gamma Modifies the Gene Expressions of Enzymes Involved in Glucose Hepatic Production <Emphasis Type="Italic">In Vivo</Emphasis>

Lupinus albus seeds contain conglutin gamma (Cγ) protein, which exerts a hypoglycemic effect and positively modifies proteins involved in glucose homeostasis. Cγ could potentially be used to manage patients with impaired glucose metabolism, but there remains a need to evaluate its effects on hepatic glucose production. The present study aimed to analyze G6pc, Fbp1, and Pck1 gene expressions in two experimental animal models of impaired glucose metabolism. We also evaluated hepatic and renal tissue integrity following Cγ treatment. To generate an insulin resistance model, male Wistar rats were provided 30% sucrose solution ad libitum for 20 weeks. To generate a type 2 diabetes model (STZ), five-day-old rats were intraperitoneally injected with streptozotocin (150 mg/kg). Each animal model was randomized into three subgroups that received the following oral treatments daily for one week: 0.9% w/v NaCl (vehicle; IR-Ctrl and STZ-Ctrl); metformin 300 mg/kg (IR-Met and STZ-Met); and Cγ 150 mg/kg (IR-Cγ and STZ-Cγ). Biochemical parameters were assessed pre- and post-treatment using colorimetric or enzymatic methods. We also performed histological analysis of hepatic and renal tissue. G6pc, Fbp1, and Pck1 gene expressions were quantified using real-time PCR. No histological changes were observed in any group. Post-treatment G6pc gene expression was decreased in the IR-Cγ and STZ-Cγ groups. Post-treatment Fbp1 and Pck1 gene expressions were reduced in the IR-Cγ group but increased in STZ-Cγ animals. Overall, these findings suggest that Cγ is involved in reducing hepatic glucose production, mainly through G6pc inhibition in impaired glucose metabolism disorders.     

Postharvest UV-C treatment combined with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), followed by storage in continuous low-level ethylene atmosphere,improves the quality of tomatoes

Mature green tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv Neang Pich) were exposed to 13.6 kJ m^?2 UV-C or 0.5 μL L^?1 1-MCP or combination of 13.6 kJ m^?2 UV-C and 0.5 μL L^?1 1-MCP, with appropriate untreated controls. After treatment, tomatoes were stored in air containing 0.1 μL L^?1 ethylene at 20°C and 100% RH. The untreated fruit ripened significantly faster than those of all other treatments. UV-C treatment alone was able to delay fruit ripening by up to 5 days longer compared to untreated fruits whilst the additional of 1-MCP further delayed fruit ripening. UV-C and 1-MCP treatments alone or in combination had significantly slower ethylene production rates throughout the storage period. The fruit treated with the combination of 1-MCP and UV-C was significantly firmer and had higher total phenolic content compared to that of the other treatments. However, there was no difference between treatments in soluble solids content/titratable acids ratio, chlorophyll content, lycopene content and total antioxidant activity. These results show that UV-C and 1-MCP treatment delay ripening and improve the quality of tomatoes in the presence of low-level ethylene during storage. This new treatment could be used to extend the shelf-life of mature green tomatoes through the supply chain without the use of refrigeration.     

Consequences of a large-scale fragmentation experiment for Neotropical bats: disentangling the relative importance of local and landscape-scale effects

Context

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are widespread drivers of biodiversity decline. Understanding how habitat quality interacts with landscape context, and how they jointly affect species in human-modified landscapes, is of great importance for informing conservation and management.

Objectives

We used a whole-ecosystem manipulation experiment in the Brazilian Amazon to investigate the relative roles of local and landscape attributes in affecting bat assemblages at an interior-edge-matrix disturbance gradient.

Methods

We surveyed bats in 39 sites, comprising continuous forest (CF), fragments, forest edges and intervening secondary regrowth. For each site, we assessed vegetation structure (local-scale variable) and, for five focal scales, quantified habitat amount and four landscape configuration metrics.

Results

Smaller fragments, edges and regrowth sites had fewer species and higher levels of dominance than CF. Regardless of the landscape scale analysed, species richness and evenness were mostly related to the amount of forest cover. Vegetation structure and configurational metrics were important predictors of abundance, whereby the magnitude and direction of response to configurational metrics were scale-dependent. Responses were ensemble-specific with local-scale vegetation structure being more important for frugivorous than for gleaning animalivorous bats.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that scale-sensitive measures of landscape structure are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of fragmentation on tropical biota. Although forest fragments and regrowth habitats can be of conservation significance for tropical bats our results further emphasize that primary forest is of irreplaceable value, underlining that their conservation can only be achieved by the preservation of large expanses of pristine habitat.

     

Occupancy pattern of a long-horned beetle in a variegated forest landscape: linkages between tree quality and forest cover across spatial scales

Context

Interactions between landscape-scale processes and fine-grained habitat heterogeneity are usually invoked to explain species occupancy in fragmented landscapes. In variegated landscapes, however, organisms face continuous variation in micro-habitat features, which makes necessary to consider ecologically meaningful estimates of habitat quality at different spatial scales.

Objectives

We evaluated the spatial scales at which forest cover and tree quality make the greatest contribution to the occupancy of the long-horned beetle Microplophorus magellanicus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in a variegated forest landscape.

Methods

We used averaged data of tree quality (as derived from remote sensing estimates of the decay stage of single trees) and spatially independent pheromone-baited traps to model the occurrence probability as a function of multiple cross-scale combinations between forest cover and tree quality (with scales ranging between 50 and 400 m).

Results

Model support and performance increased monotonically with the increasing scale at which tree quality was measured. Forest cover was not significant, and did not exhibit scale-specific effects on the occurrence probability of M. magellanicus. The interactive effect between tree quality and forest cover was stronger than the independent (additive) effects of tree quality and particularly forest cover. Significant interactions included tree quality measured at spatial scales ≥200 m, but cross-scale interactions occurred only in four of the seven best-supported models.

Conclusions

M. magellanicus respond to the high-quality trees available in the landscape rather than to the amount of forest per se. Conservation of viable metapopulations of M. magellanicus should consider the quality of trees at spatial scales >200 m.

     

Obtaining medical textiles including microcapsules of the ozonated vegetable oils

In this paper, it was aimed to obtain disposable medical textiles having antibacterial and wound healing properties, as well as biological adaption. For this purpose, the St. John’s Wort oil and flax seed oil were ozonated, and the oils were capsulated with arabic gum. The produced ozonated oils were characterized through FTIR and TGA analyses, as well as the properties of antibacterial, wound healing, and biological adaption were investigated. The produced microcapsules were examined via optical microscope and FTIR. The characterized microcapsules of the ozonated oils were applied to the textiles with padding method. After the applications, the fabrics were researched with SEM and FTIR analyses; in addition the antibacterial and wound healing properties and biological adaption of the textiles were also investigated. The results showed that the St. John’s Wort oil and flax seed oil were successfully ozonated and microcapsulated. The microcapsules of the oils could be applied to the fabric samples with the determined application recipe. The ozonated oils and the fabric samples applied microcapsules of the ozonated oils gained high antibacterial and wound healing property. In addition, the fabric samples were produced as having biological adaptation.     

Association mapping reveals loci associated with multiple traits that affect grain yield and adaptation in soft winter wheat

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are useful to facilitate crop improvement via enhanced knowledge of marker-trait associations (MTA). A GWAS for grain yield (GY), yield components, and agronomic traits was conducted using a diverse panel of 239 soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) genotypes evaluated across two growing seasons and eight site-years. Analysis of variance showed significant environment, genotype, and genotype-by-environment effects for GY and yield components. Narrow sense heritability of GY (h ²  = 0.48) was moderate compared to other traits including plant height (h ²  = 0.81) and kernel weight (h ²  = 0.77). There were 112 significant MTA (p < 0.0005) detected for eight measured traits using compressed mixed linear models and 5715 single nucleotide polymorphism markers. MTA for GY and agronomic traits coincided with previously reported QTL for winter and spring wheat. Highly significant MTA for GY showed an overall negative allelic effect for the minor allele, indicating selection against these alleles by breeders. Markers associated with multiple traits observed on chromosomes 1A, 2D, 3B, and 4B with positive minor effects serve as potential targets for marker assisted breeding to select for improvement of GY and related traits. Following marker validation, these multi-trait loci have the potential to be utilized for MAS to improve GY and adaptation of soft red winter wheat.     

Characterization of resistance to the wheat stem sawfly in spring wheat landrace accessions from targeted geographic regions of the world

Plant landraces have long been recognized as potential gene pools for biotic and abiotic stress-related genes. This research used spring wheat landrace accessions to identify new sources of resistance to the wheat stem sawfly (WSS) (Cephus cinctus Norton), an important insect pest of wheat in the northern Great Plains of North America. Screening efforts targeted 1409 accessions from six geographical areas of the world where other species of grain sawflies are endemic or where a high frequency of accessions possesses the resistance characteristic of solid stems. Resistance was observed in approximately 14% of accessions. Half of the lines displayed both antixenosis and antibiosis types of resistance. Among the resistant accessions, 41% had solid or semi-solid stems. Molecular genetic screening for haplotypes at the solid stem QTL, Qss.msub.3BL, showed that 15% of lines shared the haplotype derived from ‘S-615’, the original donor of the solid stem trait to North American germplasm. Other haplotypes associated with solid stems were also observed. Haplotype diversity was greater in the center of origin of wheat. Evaluation of a representative set of resistant landrace accessions in replicated field trials at four locations over a three year period identified accessions with potential genes for reduced WSS infestation, increased WSS mortality, and increased indirect defense via parasitoids. Exploitation of distinct types of plant defense will expand the genetic diversity for WSS resistance currently present in elite breeding lines.     

Effect of combined stress (salinity + hypoxia) and auxin rooting hormone addition on morphology and growth traits in six Salix spp. clones

New Forests - Willows plantations development could be an alternative for hydro-halomorphic soils but it is limited by combined stress salinity?+?hypoxia (main stressor under...     

Regional differences in aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) seedling response to an established nursery protocol

New Forests - In seedling-based reforestation operations, seed source is known to be an influential variable affecting outplanting success. Adaptive variation among seed sources may also be an...