Dominguezlauesen5167

An extraction method was designed and scaled up to produce multicomponent polyphenolic extracts from blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) of three different varieties. The process was specifically drawn up to comply with green chemistry principles. Extracts were obtained for the direct assessment of their antimicrobial and antiadhesive activities, and their direct use in the control of infections caused by concerning multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogens. Selleck FM19G11 Analytical characterization was performed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Similar qualitative profiles were obtained in the three studied varieties with some significant quantitative differences. Up to 22 different polyphenols were identified with a clear predominance of anthocyani(di)ns followed by flavanols, non-flavonoids, and far behind by flavan-3-ols and procyanidins. The individual content of the main polyphenols was also discussed. A pilot scale extract has been also produced as a proof-of-concept, showing that scaling-up triples the content of bioactive phytochemicals. The effect of the polyphenolic extracts was analyzed against seven multidrug-resistance bacterial species by performing biofilm formation and growth and killing curves assays. All the studied varieties showed antibacterial and antiadhesive activities, being the extract containing the highest concentration of bioactive polyphenols, the most active with a high bactericidal effect.Miscanthus x giganteus is a spontaneous sterile hybrid therefore the creation of useful genetic diversity by conventional breeding methods is restricted. Plant regeneration through indirect organogenesis may be a useful approach to create genetic variability of this important agricultural crop. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the explant type and growth regulators on indirect organogenesis of Miscanthus x giganteus and to determine the ploidy level of plant regenerants by flow cytometry. On average, the highest percentage of morphogenic callus tested explants formed in the medium supplemented with 2.5 mg L-1 IBA + 0.1 mg L-1 BAP + 4.0 mg L-1l-proline. The most intensive secondary differentiation of callus cells was observed in the medium supplemented with 4.0 mg L-1 ZEA + 1.0 mg L-1 NAA. The highest root formation frequency with the highest number of roots was determined in the MS nutrient medium supplemented with 0.4 mg L-1 IBA, where more than 95% of plant regenerants survived and were growing normally.Cotoneaster integerrimus represents a multiploid and facultative apomictic system of widely distributed mountain populations. We used flow cytometry to determine genome size, ploidy level, and reproduction mode variation of the Balkan populations, supplemented by analysis of nuclear microsatellites in order to address (i) geographic distribution and variation of cytotypes among the populations; (ii) variation of reproduction mode and the frequency of sexuality; (iii) pathways of endosperm formation among the sampled polyploids and their endosperm balance requirements; (iv) genotypic diversity and geographic distribution of clonal lineages of polyploids. The prevalence of apomictic tetraploid cytotype followed by sexual diploids and extremely rare triploids was demonstrated. This prevalence of tetraploids affected the populations' structure composed from clonal genotypes with varying proportions. The co-occurrence of diploids and tetraploids generated higher cytotype, reproductive mode, and genotypic diversity, but mixed-ploidy sites were extremely rare. The endosperm imbalance facilitates the development and the occurrence of intermediate triploids in mixed-ploidy populations, but also different tetraploid lineages elsewhere with unbalanced endosperm. All these results showed that the South European populations of C. integerrimus have higher levels of cytotype and reproductive diversity compared to the Central European ones. Therefore, the South European populations can be considered as a potential reservoir of regional and global diversity for this species.L-Tyrosine (Tyr) is one of the twenty proteinogenic amino acids and also acts as a precursor for secondary metabolites. Tyr is prone to modifications, especially under conditions of cellular redox imbalance. The oxidation of Tyr precursor phenylalanine leads to the formation of Tyr non-proteinogenic isomers, including meta-Tyr (m-Tyr), a marker of oxidative stress. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge on m-Tyr toxicity. The direct m-Tyr mode of action is linked to its incorporation into proteins, resulting in their improper conformation. Furthermore, m-Tyr produced by some plants as an allelochemical impacts the growth and development of neighboring organisms. In plants, the direct harmful effect of m-Tyr is due to its modification of the proteins structure, whereas its indirect action is linked to the disruption of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species metabolism. In humans, the elevated concentration of m-Tyr is characteristic of various diseases and ageing. Indeed, m-Tyr is believed to play an important role in cancer physiology. Thus, since, in animal cells, m-Tyr is formed directly in response to oxidative stress, whereas, in plants, m-Tyr is also synthesized enzymatically and serves as a chemical weapon in plant-plant competition, the general concept of m-Tyr role in living organisms should be specified.We used the Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI), the amount of PM5 and PM10, and the elemental analysis of leaves to explore the sensitivity of tree species to air pollution. We assessed the tolerance of Robinia pseudoacacia, Acer saccharinum, Tilia × europaea, Acer platanoides, Fraxinus excelsior, Betula pendula, Celtis occidentalis, and Platanus × acerifolia to the amount of dust, APTI, and the elemental concentration of leaves. Leaves were collected in Debrecen (Hungary), which has a high intensity of vehicular traffic. The highest amount of PM (both PM10 and PM5) was found on the leaves of A. saccharinum and B. pendula. Our results demonstrated that A. saccharinum was moderately tolerant, while P. acerifolia was intermediate, based on the APTI value. There was a significant difference in the parameters of APTI and the elemental concentration of leaves among species. We found that tree leaves are reliable bioindicators of air pollution in urban areas. Based on the value of APTI, A. saccharinum and P. acerifolia, and based on PM, A. saccharinum and B. pendula are recommended as pollutant-accumulator species, while other studied species with lower APTI values are useful bioindicators of air pollution. The results support landscape engineers and urban developers in finding the best tree species that are tolerant to pollution and in using those as proxies of urban environmental health.Carthamus tinctorius L., known as safflower, has been used in traditional treatment for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and diabetic vascular complications. We proposed to investigate how the ethanol extract of Carthamus tinctorius L. (ECT) can be used ethnopharmacologically and alleviate vascular inflammatory processes under cytokine stimulation in human vascular endothelial cells. Using the optimized HPLC method, six markers were simultaneously analyzed for quality control of ECT. Pretreatment with ECT (10-100 μg/mL) significantly reduced the increase of leukocyte adhesion to HUVEC by TNF-α in a dose-dependent manner. Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) such as intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and endothelial cell selectin (E-selectin) are decreased by ECT. In addition, ECT significantly suppressed TNF-α-induced oxidative stress referring to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. p65 NF-κB nuclear translocation and its activation were inhibited by ECT. Furthermore, pretreatment of ECT increased the HO-1 expression, and nuclear translocation of Nrf-2. These data suggest the potential role of ECT as a beneficial therapeutic herb in vascular inflammation via ROS/NF-kB pathway and the regulation of Nrf-2/HO-1 signaling axis is involved in its vascular protection. Thus, further study will be needed to clarify which compound is dominant for protection of vascular diseases.Developing new varieties in fruit and tea breeding programs is very costly and labor-intensive. Thus, establishing a variety discrimination system is important for protecting breeders' rights and producers' profits. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) databases that can be utilized for both next-generation sequencing (SSR-GBS) and polymerase chain reaction-capillary electrophoresis (PCR-CE) would be very useful in variety discrimination. In the present study, SSRs with tri-, tetra- and pentanucleotide repeats were examined in apple, pear and tea. Out of 37 SSRs that showed clear results in PCR-CE, 27 were suitable for SSR-GBS. Among the remaining markers, there was allele dropout for some markers that caused differences between the results of PCR-CE and SSR-GBS. For the selected 27 markers, the alleles detected by SSR-GBS were comparable to those detected by PCR-CE. Furthermore, we developed a computational pipeline for automated genotyping using SSR-GBS by setting a value "α" for each marker, a criterion whether a genotype is homozygous or heterozygous based on allele frequency. The set of 27 markers contains 10, 8 and 9 SSRs for apple, pear and tea, respectively, that are useful for both PCR-CE and SSR-GBS and suitable for automation. The databases help researchers discriminate varieties in various ways depending on sample size, markers and methods.Tandem repeats of telomeric-like motifs at intra-chromosomal regions, known as interstitial telomeric repeats (ITR), have drawn attention as potential markers of structural changes, which might convey information about evolutionary relationships if preserved through time. Building on our previous work that reported outstanding ITR polymorphisms in the genus Anacyclus, we undertook a survey across 132 Asteraceae species, focusing on the six most speciose subfamilies and considering all the ITR data published to date. The goal was to assess whether the presence, site number, and chromosomal location of ITRs convey any phylogenetic signal. We conducted fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) using an Arabidopsis-type telomeric sequence as a probe on karyotypes obtained from mitotic chromosomes. FISH signals of ITR sites were detected in species of subfamilies Asteroideae, Carduoideae, Cichorioideae, Gymnarhenoideae, and Mutisioideae, but not in Barnadesioideae. Although six small subfamilies have not yet been sampled, altogether, our results suggest that the dynamics of ITR formation in Asteraceae cannot accurately trace the complex karyological evolution that occurred since the early diversification of this family. Thus, ITRs do not convey a reliable signal at deep or shallow phylogenetic levels and cannot help to delimitate taxonomic categories, a conclusion that might also hold for other important families such as Fabaceae.The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of grafting, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), and their interaction on the nutritional composition of bell pepper plants. The treatments evaluated included grafted and non-grafted pepper plants with four concentrations of ZnO NPs (0, 10, 20, 30 mg L-1) applied to the foliage. The following parameters were evaluated content of N, P, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, Fe2+, Cu2+, total antioxidants, ascorbic acid, total phenols, glutathione, total proteins, fruit firmness, and total soluble solids. Grafting increased the content of N 12.2%, P 15.9%, K+ 26.7%, Mg2+ 20.3%, Mn2+ 34.7%, Zn2+ 19.5%, Fe2+ 18.2%, Cu2+ 11.5%, antioxidant capacity 2.44%, ascorbic acid 4.63%, total phenols 1.33%, glutathione 7.18%, total proteins 1.08%, fruit firmness 8.8%. The application of 30 mg L-1 ZnO NPs increased the content of N 12.3%, P 25.9%, Mg2+ 36.8%, Mn2+ 42.2%, Zn2+ 27%, Fe2+ 45%, antioxidant activity 13.95%, ascorbic acid 26.77%, total phenols 10.93%, glutathione 11.