Pterocarpan profiles for soybean leaves at different growth stages and investigation of their glycosidase inhibitions

Soybean leaves are eaten as seasonal edible greens in Korea. Analysis of the ethyl acetate extract of these leaves showed that it exhibited potent and selective neuraminidase inhibition, which began at the R3 stage and peaked at R7. Ten pterocarpans, including the new 6a-hydroxypterocarpan 10, were isolated from soybean leaves and their inhibition activities tested against a range of glycosidases. The relationship between structure and enzyme inhibition was investigated: 6a-hydroxypterocarpans exhibited much higher inhibition against neuraminidase (IC(50) = 2.4-89.4 μM) than α-glucosidase (IC(50) = 90.4-?>100 μM). Glyceollin VII (7) displayed 40-fold greater activity (IC(50) = 2.4 μM) against neuraminidase than α-glucosidase (IC(50) = 90.4 μM). On the other hand, coumestanes (1-3) were good α-glucosidase inhibitors (IC(50) = 6.0-42.6 μM). In kinetic analysis, the most potent neuraminidase inhibitors (5-10) were noncompetitive. HPLC analysis indicated that most pterocarpan synthesis began from the R3 stage, and a rapid change of pterocarpan concentrations was observed between the R4 and R7 stages.     

Assessment of growth and seed oil composition of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) germplasm

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics and fatty acid composition among 15 kenaf mutants derived from the kenaf germplasm C14 and 15 kenaf accessions originating from Russia, India, China, Iran, and Italy. The overall growth performance (plant height, stem diameter, flowering date, leaf, and flower size) of the stem color mutant lines derived from C14 are similar to those of the original variety. However, the flower color mutant lines derived from C14 showed flowering to occur 10 days later when compared with the original variety and showed smaller leaf sizes than the original variety. Late-ripened kenaf accessions (Jinju, Auxu, and Jnagdae) can yield more bio-mass compared with early or medium-maturing germplasm. The late maturity kenaf (Auxu, Jinju, and Jangdae) has a higher oil percentage than the early maturity germplasm. Linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids were the predominant fatty acids in all kenaf seeds. The stem color mutant lines significantly surpassed the parental means of all saturated fatty acids. In addition, the flower color mutant lines showed broad ranges of variation in oleic acid. The 15 accessions showed a wide range of fatty acid compositions, spanning from 29.75 to 38.30% saturated fatty acids and 61.70 to 70.24% total unsaturated fatty acids, and the late maturity kenaf has a higher linoleic acid percentage than the early maturity germplasm. The flowering period was highly positively (P ≤ 0.01) correlated with the plant height, stem diameter, oil percent, and linolenic acid (C_18:3), and it was significantly negatively (P ≤ 0.01) correlated with stearic acid (C_18:0). These results will provide valuable information to assist the parental selection of kenaf breeding.     

A Bayesian Generalized Linear Model for Crimean–Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Incidents

Global spread of the Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a fatal viral infection disease found in parts of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Middle East, with a fatality rate of up to 30%. A timely prediction of the prevalence of CCHF incidents is highly desirable, while CCHF incidents often exhibit nonlinearity in both temporal and spatial features. However, the modeling of discrete incidents is not trivial. Moreover, the CCHF incidents are monthly observed in a long period and take a nonlinear pattern over a region at each time point. Hence, the estimation and the data assimilation for incidents require extensive computations. In this paper, using the data augmentation with latent variables, we propose to utilize a dynamically weighted particle filter to take advantage of its population controlling feature in data assimilation. We apply our approach in an analysis of monthly CCHF incidents data collected in Turkey between 2004 and 2012. The results indicate that CCHF incidents are higher at Northern Central Turkey during summer and that some beforehand interventions to stop the propagation are recommendable. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear on-line.     

Mass production of rubusoside using a novel stevioside-specific β-glucosidase from Aspergillus aculeatus

Rubusoside (R) is a natural sweetener and a solubilizing agent with antiangiogenic and antiallergic properties. However, currently, its production is quite expensive, and therefore, we have investigated nine commercially available glycosidases to optimize an economically viable R-production method. A stevioside (ST)-specific β-glucosidase (SSGase) was selected and purified 7-fold from Aspergillus aculeatus Viscozyme L by a two-step column chromatography procedure. The 79 kDa protein was stable from pH 3.0 to pH 7.0 at 50-60 °C. Hydrolysis of ST by SSGase produced R and steviol monoglucosyl ester as determined by (1)H and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Importantly, SSGase showed higher activity toward ST than other β-linked glucobioses. The optimal conditions for R production were 280 mM ST and 16.6 μL of SSGase at pH 5.1 and 63 °C. This is the first discussion detailing the production of R by enzymatic hydrolysis of ST and is useful for the food additive and pharmaceutical industries.     

Tracking the structural and functional development of a perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium L.) infestation using a multi-year archive of webcam imagery and eddy covariance measurements

The continued spread of invasive weeds is threatening ecosystem health throughout North America. Understanding the relationships between invasive weeds’ key phenological phases and structural and/or functional canopy development is an essential step for making informed decisions regarding their management. We analyzed a three-year image archive obtained from an inexpensive webcam overlooking a perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium L.) infestation in California to explore the ability of red (R)-green (G)-blue (B) color space information to track the structural and functional development of the pepperweed. We characterized structural and functional canopy development through surface roughness length (z_0m; a proxy for canopy height and leaf area index) and canopy photosynthesis (F_A), respectively, both of which we derived from eddy covariance measurements. Here we demonstrate the use of cross-correlation functions to determine the temporal lags between chromatic coordinates and two color indices, all calculated from RGB brightness levels, with z_0m and F_A. We found that these color metrics fail to represent the structural and/or functional state of the canopy. In contrast, relative luminance (CIE Y) appears to be a better indicator for z_0m and especially for F_A. We calculated CIE Y from pepperweed RGB brightness levels in relation to hypothetical horizontal reference RGB brightness levels. We obtained the latter by applying the ratio between horizontally measured and hypothetical incoming solar radiation on a vertical surface to RGB brightness levels of a vertically oriented reference of invariant light-grey color. We conclude that webcam image archives may provide an inexpensive tool for making informed decisions regarding the timing but not for assessing the effectiveness of invasive plant control measures such as mowing.     

Effect of supplementation of multi-microbe probiotic product on growth performance, apparent digestibility, cecal microbiota and small intestinal morphology of broilers

The present study investigated the effect of inclusion of multi-microbe probiotic product on growth performance, apparent digestibility of nutrients, cecal microbiota and small intestinal morphology in broilers. Four hundred days-old Ross chicks were randomly allotted to five treatments on the basis of body weight (BW). Each treatment had four replicates of 20 chicks in each. Experimental diets were fed in two phases, starter (day 0-21) and finisher (day 22-35). Dietary treatments were; basal diet without any antimicrobial (NC), basal diet added with 20 mg Avilamycin/kg of diet (PC), 10(7) cfu multi-microbe probiotic/kg of diet (P1), 10(8) cfu multi-microbe probiotic/kg of diet (P2), and 10(9) cfu multi-microbe probiotic/kg of diet (P3). Overall BW gain and feed conversion ratio were better (p < 0.05) for treatments PC, P2 and P3 compared with NC and P1, with P1 being better (p < 0.05) than NC. Overall feed intake in treatments PC, P1, P2 and P3 were greater (p < 0.05) than NC. Apparent digestibility of dry matter and crude protein were greater (p < 0.05) in treatments PC, P2 and P3 compared with NC, with P1 being intermediate and not different form NC, PC, P2 and P3. At d 21 and 35, treatments PC, P1, P2 and P3 showed lower (p < 0.05) cecal Clostridium and Coliforms count in relation to NC. Moreover, cecal Clostridium (d 21) and Coliforms (d 21 and 35) count were lower (p < 0.05) in treatment PC in relation to P1; with P2 and P3 being intermediate and not different from PC. However, there was no effect of dietary treatments on cecal total anaerobic bacteria and Bifidobacterium spp. count. The villus height of duodenum in treatment PC was greater (p < 0.05) than NC, with P1, P2 and P3 being intermediate. Villus height of ileum in treatment PC was greater (p < 0.05) than in treatments P1 and NC, whereas it remained comparable among treatments PC, P2 and P3. Villus height to crypt depth ratio of ileum was greater (p < 0.05) for treatment PC, P2 and P3 compared with that in P1 and NC. It is concluded that multi-microbe probiotic inclusion at 10(8) and 10(9) cfu/kg diet had beneficial effects on broilers growth performance, apparent digestibility of nutrients and intestinal morphology and can be used as replacement to antibiotics growth promoter in broiler nutrition.