Catalog of Micro-Tom tomato responses to common fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens

Lycopersicon esculentum cultivar Micro-Tom is a miniature tomato with many advantages for studies of the molecular biology and physiology of plants. To evaluate the suitability of Micro-Tom as a host plant for the study of pathogenesis, Micro-Tom plants were inoculated with 16 well-known fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens of tomato. Athelia rolfsii, Botryotinia fuckeliana, Oidium sp., Phytophthora infestans, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum caused typical symptoms and sporulated abundantly on Micro-Tom. Micro-Tom was resistant to Alternaria alternata, Corynespora cassiicola, and Fusarium oxysporum. When Micro-Tom was inoculated with 17 isolates of Ralstonia solanacearum, many isolates induced wilt symptoms. Agrobacterium tumefaciens also was pathogenic, causing crown galls on stem tissue after needle prick inoculation. In Micro-Tom sprayed with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, P. s. pv. tabaci, or P. s. pv. glycinea, bacterial populations did not increase, and yellow lesions appeared only on leaves sprayed with P. s. pv. tomato. Tomato mosaic virus, Tomato aspermy virus, and Cucumber mosaic virus systemically infected Micro-Tom, which developed symptoms characteristic of other cultivars of tomato after infection with the respective virus. These results indicated that Micro-Tom was generally susceptible to most of the important tomato pathogens and developed typical symptoms, whereas certain pathogens were restricted by either hypersensitive resistance or nonhost resistance on Micro-Tom. Therefore, an assortment of Micro-Tom–pathogen systems should provide excellent models for studying the mechanism of susceptible and resistant interactions between plants and pathogens.     

Identification of oyster-derived hypotensive peptide acting as angiotensin-I-converting enzyme inhibitor

Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) plays a crucial role in the crisis of hypertension. Some peptides that originate from protease hydrolysates are known to suppress ACE activity in vitro and in vivo. Here, we investigated whether trypsin hydrolysate of oyster Crassostrea gigas showed hypotensive activity and ACE inhibition. The hydrolysate significantly suppressed systolic blood pressure and ACE activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats following a one-shot oral administration and a long-term feeding experiment lasting 9 weeks. Each hydrolysate from oyster tissue showed ACE inhibitory activity, indicating the hypotensive effect was due to synergism. One potent ACE inhibitory peptide, Asp-Leu-Thr-Asp-Tyr, was identified from the hydrolysate of the striate muscle, and the peptide exhibited hypotensive activity in vivo. Protease digestion analysis suggested that Asp-Tyr could be the real effector of this penta-peptide in vivo.     

Pathological and phylogenetic features of prevalent canine distemper viruses in wild masked palm civets in Japan

Ten wild masked palm civets infected with canine distemper virus (CDV), captured in Japan from 2005 to 2007, were histopathologically and phylogenetically analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis based on the amino acid sequences of the H protein of two CDV isolates from masked palm civets revealed that the two isolates were classified into the clade of recent isolates in Japan. Histopathologically marked lesions of virus encephalitis were present in the brain, whereas gastrointestinal lesions were absent or at a mild degree. The distribution of the lesions resembles that of recent CDV cases in dogs. Therefore, recent CDV infections in masked palm civets could be caused by recently prevalent CDV in dogs. The possibility of the masked palm civet as a spreader of CDV among wildlife is also discussed.     

The diving behaviour of little penguins in Western Australia predisposes them to risk of injury by watercraft

1. The most western little penguin colony globally, and the most northern in Western Australia (WA) is found on Penguin Island, WA. The penguins use coastal bays that are also used extensively by recreational watercraft. These penguins have been found to either dive predominantly to shallow depths of 1–5 m or to depths >8 m. It is thus hypothesized that (a) both the shallow and deeper diving penguins can potentially be disturbed or injured by these watercraft but that the risk will differ between the two diving strategies, and (b) that risk of injury for both is greater during the summer and autumn, when people are more likely to use watercraft.
2. This was tested by attaching data loggers to little penguins during chick rearing and by investigating necropsy records. Diving activity was studied for the very shallow and relatively deeper diving penguins separately, and we considered the penguins were vulnerable to interactions with watercraft when they were within the top 2 m of the water column or at the surface.
3. Shallow‐diving penguins executed >1,200 dives per day, 64% of dives occurred within the top 2 m, and they were vulnerable for approximately two‐thirds of their time at sea. The deeper diving penguins executed fewer dives. Almost half of dives were to ≥10 m, yet they were vulnerable for almost one‐third of their time at sea. Their post‐dive recovery was also longer. Thus, the risk of interaction from watercraft differs depending on the diving behaviour.
4. This study highlights the potential impact to little penguins throughout Australia and New Zealand.

     

Purification and properties of β-galactosidase from Tilapia intestine: Digestive enzyme of Tilapia-X

ABSTRACT:   β-galactosidase of the intestine of Tilapia nilotica was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, followed by PAPTG-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography, ethylenediamineetetraacetic acid ion-exchange chromatography, polyexchanger PBE 94 chromatofocusing, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. β-galactosidase was found to be a single band when examined by poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The purifications of β-galactosidase were 27-fold from the crude extract. β-galactosidase showed optimum activity at pH 5.0 at 40°C, and was specifically found to be able to hydrolyze p -nitrophenyl β-galactopyranoside. It degrades galactan and agarose, and produces galactose. β-galactosidase was strongly inhibited by Hg²⁺ and PCMB. β-galactosidase is considered to be secreted by the upper and middle parts of the intestine and most of the activity was detected in the intestinal juice.     

Tree-to-tree and clone-to-clone variations of monoterpenes emitted from needles of hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa)

Variations in the composition of low boiling point (LBP) monoterpenes emitted from needle samples of 150 hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtuse) trees (30 strains, each with five clones) native to Shimane Prefecture, Japan, were investigated using a headspace technique. The assays revealed considerable proportional variations especially in the amount of sabinene, which ranged from 24% to 78% of the total LBP monoterpenes. The proportions of α-pinene, myrcene, and limonene negatively correlated with that of sabinene overall. In particular, the proportion of limonene showed clear negative correlation with that of sabinene (r = −0.98). Differences in the proportion of sabinene among five clones in each strain were less than 15% in 22 out of 30 strains, indicating that monoterpene composition is constitutively steady in most strains. In a few strains, however, considerable variation in the composition was observed among clones.