Improving seed germination and seedling growth of Lepidium sativum with different priming methods under arsenic stress

This study was carried out to determine the effects of seven kinds of priming, gibberellic acid (GA), salicylic acid (SA), citric acid (CA), sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) on seed germination and seedling emergence of garden cress (Lepidium sativum) under arsenic stress. Results revealed that germination percentage (GP), seed vigor index (SVI), radicle length (RL), plumule length (PL) and tolerance index (TI) were significantly decreased when arsenic stress was augmented from 0 to 100 mg L^?1. Nevertheless, primed seeds (hormo, nutri and halo-priming) increased seed germination and seedling emergence and tolerance index of L. sativum. Phytotoxicity was also reduced by priming practices. Meanwhile, priming with gibberellic acid (GA) had the most positive effects on measured traits. Generally, the order of the effect of priming treatments tested decreases by the following order: GA > CA > KCl > Fe > Zn > SA > NaCl. The result of this study is coherent with the hypothesis that under heavy metal stress, priming can develop seed germination performance and seedling emergence.     

A pathogenesis‐related protein GmPR08‐Bet VI promotes a molecular interaction between the GmSHMT08 and GmSNAP18 in resistance to Heterodera glycines

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) is the most devastating pest affecting soybean production worldwide. SCN resistance requires both the GmSHMT08 and the GmSNAP18 in ‘Peking’‐type resistance. Here, we describe the molecular interaction between GmSHMT08 and GmSNAP18, which is potentiated by a pathogenesis‐related protein GmPR08‐Bet VI. Like GmSNAP18 and GmSHMT08, GmPR08‐Bet VI expression was induced in response to SCN and its overexpression decreased SCN cysts by 65% in infected transgenic soybean roots. Overexpression of GmPR08‐Bet VI did not have an effect on SCN resistance when the two cytokinin‐binding sites in GmPR08‐Bet VI were mutated, indicating a new role of GmPR08‐Bet VI in SCN resistance. GmPR08‐Bet VI was mapped to a QTL for resistance to SCN using different mapping populations. GmSHMT08, GmSNAP18 and GmPR08‐Bet VI localize to the cytosol and plasma membrane. GmSNAP18 expression and localization hyper‐accumulated at the plasma membrane and was specific to the root cells surrounding the nematode in SCN‐resistant soybeans. Genes encoding key components of the salicylic acid signalling pathway were induced under SCN infection. GmSNAP18 and GmPR08‐Bet VI were also induced under salicylic acid and cytokinin exogenous treatments, while GmSHMT08 was induced only when the resistant GmSNAP18 was present, pointing to the presence of a molecular crosstalk between SCN‐resistant genes and defence genes. Expression analysis of GmSHMT08 and GmSNAP18 identified the need of a minimum expression requirement to trigger the SCN resistance reaction. These results provide insight into a new response mechanism towards plant nematode resistance involving haplotype compatibility, gene dosage and hormone signalling.     

Association of the MTHFR A1298C variant with unexplained severe male infertility

The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene is one of the main regulatory enzymes involved in folate metabolism, DNA synthesis and remethylation reactions. The influence of MTHFR variants on male infertility is not completely understood. The objective of this study was to analyze the distribution of the MTHFR C677T and A1298C variants using PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) in a case group consisting of 344 men with unexplained reduced sperm counts compared to 617 ancestry-matched fertile or normozoospermic controls. The Chi square test was used to analyze the genotype distributions of MTHFR polymorphisms. Our data indicated a lack of association of the C677T variant with infertility. However, the homozygous (C/C) A1298C polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was present at a statistically high significance in severe oligozoospermia group compared with controls (OR = 3.372, 95% confidence interval CI = 1.27–8.238; p = 0.01431). The genotype distribution of the A1298C variants showed significant deviation from the expected Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, suggesting that purifying selection may be acting on the 1298CC genotype. Further studies are necessary to determine the influence of the environment, especially the consumption of diet folate on sperm counts of men with different MTHFR variants.     

Hydrolysis of natural and artificial phosphoesters using zinc model compound with a histidine-containing pseudopeptide

Zinc(II) complex with histidine-containing pseudopeptide derived from N,N'-bis(benzylhistidyl) diethylenetriamine L was examined as catalyst for the hydrolysis of bis(p-nitrophenyl) phosphate (BNPP), p-nitrophenyl phosphate (NPP), adenylyl-(3'-5')adenosine (ApA), thymidylyl-(3'-5') thymidine (TpT) and PBR 322 supercoiled DNA. The stepwise protonation constants of the ligand, stability constants for its zinc(II) complex LZn have been determined potentiometrically in aqueous solution. LZn efficiently hydrolyzed BNPP and NPP and their pseudo-first-order rate constants k(obs) are 1.1 x 10(-5) s(-1) and 2.1 x 10(-5) s(-1), respectively. Bell-shaped pH-k(obs) profile was seen in BNPP hydrolysis around pH 7. Kinetic parameters were obtained from temperature dependence of hydrolysis rate constants where entropy of activation showed considerably high negative value. ApA and TpT as RNA-type and DNA-type dinucleotides were slowly hydrolyzed by LZn. On the basis of the kinetic evidence of bell-shaped pH-k(obs) profile and species distribution curve, we propose a mechanism for LZn-promoted hydrolysis of BNPP as well as ApA where cooperative achieve of zinc-hydroxo and zinc-aqua complex species may be responsible for enzymatic activity. The agarose gel electrophoresis and AFM demonstrated that LZn performed good activity on the selective cleavage of pBR322 supercoiled DNA at pH 7.0 providing evidence for its probable applicability.     

Phosphorylation at 5' end of guanosine stretches inhibits dimerization of G-quadruplexes and formation of a G-quadruplex interferes with the enzymatic activities of DNA enzymes

During an analysis of DNA enzymes by gel electrophoresis, we found that some DNA enzymes can adopt more than one conformation. The DNA enzyme Dz31 that formed more than one conformer contained a stretch of G residues. Further investigations, involving kinetic analysis and measurements of circular dichroism, indicated that this DNA enzyme and its derivatives formed G-quadruplexes. Moreover, we found that some derivative oligomers were capable of forming dimeric G-quadruplexes. We also compared the catalytic activities of Dz31 and its mutant derivatives. The present findings suggest that DNA enzymes with five or more continuous G residues are less favorable than those without G₅ in the association step in the enzymatic reaction and, thus, the choice of targets that contain a continuous stretch of C residues downstream of the cleavage site should be avoided. In addition, we found that negative charge–charge repulsion disrupted the dimerization of G-quadruplexes when a phosphate group was added directly to the 5′-terminal G of oligomers with continuous guanosine residues. In the case of 5′-phosphorylated G₅CTA, direct attachment of a phosphate group to the continuous G₅ sequence inhibited dimerization of G-quadruplexes, at least during electrophoresis on a denaturing gel.     

Effects of mycorrhizal fungi inoculation and soil amendment with hydrogel on leaf anatomy,growth and physiology performance of olive plantlets under two contrasting water regimes

Abiotic stresses present a real environmental problem in agriculture field. In our paper, we examine the significance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and soil amendment with water retaining superpolymers (hydrogel) on growth and physiology performance of olive plantlets. Our experiment was carried out in nursery conditions, to test the impact of hydrogel (TH) and mycorrhizal fungi (TM), used individually or combined (THM), and compare them with non inoculated plants (TC), to understand and reduce the water stress damage in olive plantlets (cv. Chemlali). We also evaluate interactions between hydrogel, mycorrhizal treatments and water regimes. Results of mycorrhization (M%) show that roots colonized by Rhizophagus irregularis of well-watered plants were about 40.87%. In combined treatment (THM), M% was about 32.14%. Compared to TC treatment, TM treatment enhances significantly the dry weights of the whole plant under the two water regimes. The TM treatment had the highest relative water content (66.50%) and Chl (a?+?b) (0.83 mg g^??1) in stressed conditions. We found also that under water stress, the maximal quantum efficiency of the photosystem II measurements in leaves were significantly improved by 50.70% in TH treatment compared to control. For phenolic contents, TH treatment decreased significantly total phenols by 50.10% compared to TC. Our study gives evidence that the use of AMF and the hydrogel separately or in combination may enhance the capacity to avoid drought damages of olive plantlets and improve olive performances.     

In Silico Molecular Analysis and Docking of Potent Antimicrobial Peptides Against MurE Enzyme of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - During the last decade there has been an alarming increase in the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The drug-resistant...     

Negative/low HER2 expression alone or combined with E-cadherin positivity is predictive of better prognosis in patients with breast carcinoma

The loss of E-cadherin expression leads to absence of tissue integrity, an essential step in tumor progression. Methylation of CpG islands in the promoter region of the CDH1 gene coding E-cadherin might be an alternative for gene silencing. In the present study, we investigate the expression of E-cadherin and hormone receptors in invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDCs). Protein expression was analysed immunohistochemically in 87 cases, including 26 familial tumors. The most interesting results revealed a significantly reduced E-cadherin expression in cases with familial history compared to sporadic tumors (p=0.009), as well as with tumors ≤5 cm (p=0.022). Moreover, HER2 over-expression was associated with distant metastasis (p=0.011) and overall survival (p log rank=0.028). Tumors displaying negative/low HER2 expression combined with E-cadherin positivity confer better patient survival (p=0.052). Triple Negative tumors (TN) were more frequently found in patients with advanced grade (GIII) (p=0.001) and TNM (III+IV) (p=0.018) which supports the aggressive behavior of TN tumors. On the other hand, hypermethylation of CDH1 gene promoter was observed in 46% of hereditary cases and strongly associated with loss of E-cadherin expression (p=0.002). Furthermore, patients with unmethylated CDH1 pattern have a better 5-year disease free survival (p=0.021). In conclusion, in patients with hereditary breast cancer, the CpG methylation event contributes to the loss of E-cadherin expression. On the other hand, HER2 over-expression is predictive of worse prognosis, either alone or combined with loss of E-cadherin expression in Tunisian patients with breast cancer.