Use of SRAP markers to assess genetic diversity and population structure of wild, cultivated, and ornamental pomegranates (Punica granatum L.) in different regions of Iran

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) was used to assess the genetic diversity of 63 cultivated, wild, and ornamental pomegranate genotypes from five different geographical regions of Iran. A total of 250 fragments were amplified using 13 primer combinations; among these, 133 bands (53?%) were polymorphic. The average PIC value was 0.28 over all PCs. The genetic distance among genotypes ranged from 0.10 to 0.37 with an average of 0.24. Cluster analysis using the neighbor-joining (NJ) method suggested there are close relationships between ornamental and some wild genotypes. Although AMOVA results revealed significant differences in the genetic diversity among the regions (P?=?0.0048), the genetic variation was mainly caused by variation of intra regions. The results indicated low genetic differentiation (Fst?=?0.025) and high gene flow (Nm?=?2.28) among regions. These results confirmed that SRAP markers could be powerful tools and an effective marker system for determining the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of the pomegranate.     

Galactosylated Fucose Epitopes in Nematodes: INCREASED EXPRESSION IN A CAENORHABDITIS MUTANT ASSOCIATED WITH ALTERED LECTIN SENSITIVITY AND OCCURRENCE IN PARASITIC SPECIES

The modification of α1,6-linked fucose residues attached to the proximal (reducing-terminal) core N-acetylglucosamine residue of N-glycans by β1,4-linked galactose ("GalFuc" epitope) is a feature of a number of invertebrate species including the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. A pre-requisite for both core α1,6-fucosylation and β1,4-galactosylation is the presence of a nonreducing terminal N-acetylglucosamine; however, this residue is normally absent from the final glycan structure in invertebrates due to the action of specific hexosaminidases. Previously, we have identified two hexosaminidases (HEX-2 and HEX-3) in C. elegans, which process N-glycans. In the present study, we have prepared a hex-2;hex-3 double mutant, which possesses a radically altered N-glycomic profile. Whereas in the double mutant core α1,3-fucosylation of the proximal N-acetylglucosamine was abolished, the degree of galactosylation of core α1,6-fucose increased, and a novel Galα1,2Fucα1,3 moiety attached to the distal core N-acetylglucosamine residue was detected. Both galactosylated fucose moieties were also found in two parasitic nematodes, Ascaris suum and Oesophagostomum dentatum. As core modifications of N-glycans are known targets for fungal nematotoxic lectins, the sensitivity of the C. elegans double hexosaminidase mutant was assessed. Although this mutant displayed hypersensitivity to the GalFuc-binding lectin CGL2 and the N-acetylglucosamine-binding lectin XCL, the mutant was resistant to CCL2, which binds core α1,3-fucose. Thus, the use of C. elegans mutants aids the identification of novel N-glycan modifications and the definition of in vivo specificities of nematotoxic lectins with potential as anthelmintic agents.     

Exploring the Unique N-Glycome of the Opportunistic Human Pathogen Acanthamoeba

Glycans play key roles in host-pathogen interactions; thus, knowing the N-glycomic repertoire of a pathogen can be helpful in deciphering its methods of establishing and sustaining a disease. Therefore, we sought to elucidate the glycomic potential of the facultative amoebal parasite Acanthamoeba. This is the first study of its asparagine-linked glycans, for which we applied biochemical tools and various approaches of mass spectrometry. An initial glycomic screen of eight strains from five genotypes of this human pathogen suggested, in addition to the common eukaryotic oligomannose structures, the presence of pentose and deoxyhexose residues on their N-glycans. A more detailed analysis was performed on the N-glycans of a genotype T11 strain (4RE); fractionation by HPLC and tandem mass spectrometric analyses indicated the presence of a novel mannosylfucosyl modification of the reducing terminal core as well as phosphorylation of mannose residues, methylation of hexose and various forms of pentosylation. The largest N-glycan in the 4RE strain contained two N-acetylhexosamine, thirteen hexose, one fucose, one methyl, and two pentose residues; however, in this and most other strains analyzed, glycans with compositions of Hex_8–9HexNAc₂Pnt_0–1 tended to dominate in terms of abundance. Although no correlation between pathogenicity and N-glycan structure can be proposed, highly unusual structures in this facultative parasite can be found which are potential virulence factors or therapeutic targets.     

Biocontrol activity of salt tolerant Streptomyces isolates against phytopathogens causing root rot of sugar beet

Biological control of fungi causing root rot on sugar beet by native Streptomyces isolates (C and S2) was evaluated in this study. The dry weight and colony forming unit (CFU) of S2 and C increased when 300 mM NaCl was added to medium. The in vitro antagonism assays showed that both isolates had inhibitory effect against Rhizoctonia solani AG-2, Fusarium solani and Phytophthora drechsleri. In dual culture, Streptomyces isolate C inhibited mycelial growth of R. solani, F. solani and P. drechsleri 45%, 53% and 26%, respectively. NaCl treatment of medium increased biocontrol activity of soluble and volatile compounds of isolate C and S2. After salt treatment, growth inhibition of R. solani, F. solani and P. drechsleri by isolate C increased up to 59%, 70% and 79%, respectively. To elucidate the mode of antagonism, protease, chitinase, beta glucanase, cellulase, lipase and α-amylase activity and siderophore and salicylic acid (SA) production were evaluated. Both isolates showed protease, chitinase and α-amylase activity. Also, biosynthesis of siderophore was detectable for both isolates. Production of siderophore and activity of protease and α-amylase increased after adding salt for both isolates. In contrast, chitinase activity decreased significantly. Production of SA, beta glucanase and lipase by isolate S2 and biosynthesis of cellulase by isolate C were observed in presence and absence of NaCl. Soil treatment with Streptomyces isolate C inhibited root rot of sugar beet caused by P. drechsleri, R. solani and F. solani. Results of this study showed that these two Streptomyces isolates had potential to be utilized as biocontrol agent against fungal diseases especially in saline soils.     

The N-glycans of Trichomonas vaginalis contain variable core and antennal modifications

Trichomonad species are widespread unicellular flagellated parasites of vertebrates which interact with their hosts through carbohydrate-lectin interactions. In the past, some data have been accumulated regarding their lipo(phospho)glycans, a major glycoconjugate on their cell surfaces; on the other hand, other than biosynthetic aspects, few details about their N-linked oligosaccharides are known. In this study, we present both mass spectrometric and high-performance liquid chromatography data about the N-glycans of different strains of Trichomonas vaginalis, a parasite of the human reproductive tract. The major structure in all strains examined is a truncated oligomannose form (Man(5)GlcNAc(2)) with α1,2-mannose residues, compatible with a previous bioinformatic examination of the glycogenomic potential of T. vaginalis. In addition, dependent on the strain, N-glycans modified by pentose residues, phosphate or phosphoethanolamine and terminal N-acetyllactosamine (Galβ1,4GlcNAc) units were found. The modification of N-glycans by N-acetyllactosamine in at least some strains is shared with the lipo(phospho)glycan and may represent a further interaction partner for host galectins, thereby playing a role in binding of the parasite to host epithelia. On the other hand, the variation in glycosylation between strains may be the result of genetic diversity within this species.     

Autophagy protein Rubicon mediates phagocytic NADPH oxidase activation in response to microbial infection or TLR stimulation

Phagocytosis and autophagy are two important and related arms of the host's first-line defense against microbial invasion. Rubicon is a RUN domain containing cysteine-rich protein that functions as part of a Beclin-1-Vps34-containing autophagy complex. We report that Rubicon is also an essential, positive regulator of the NADPH oxidase complex. Upon microbial infection or Toll-like-receptor 2 (TLR2) activation, Rubicon interacts with the p22phox subunit of the NADPH oxidase complex, facilitating its phagosomal trafficking to induce a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory cytokines. Consequently, ectopic expression or depletion of Rubicon profoundly affected ROS, inflammatory cytokine production, and subsequent antimicrobial activity. Rubicon's actions in autophagy and in the NADPH oxidase complex are functionally and genetically separable, indicating that Rubicon functions in two ancient innate immune machineries, autophagy and phagocytosis, depending on the environmental stimulus. Rubicon may thus be pivotal to generating an optimal intracellular immune response against microbial infection.     

A stable biologically motivated learning mechanism for visual feature extraction to handle facial categorization

The brain mechanism of extracting visual features for recognizing various objects has consistently been a controversial issue in computational models of object recognition. To extract visual features, we introduce a new, biologically motivated model for facial categorization, which is an extension of the Hubel and Wiesel simple-to-complex cell hierarchy. To address the synaptic stability versus plasticity dilemma, we apply the Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) for extracting informative intermediate level visual features during the learning process, which also makes this model stable against the destruction of previously learned information while learning new information. Such a mechanism has been suggested to be embedded within known laminar microcircuits of the cerebral cortex. To reveal the strength of the proposed visual feature learning mechanism, we show that when we use this mechanism in the training process of a well-known biologically motivated object recognition model (the HMAX model), it performs better than the HMAX model in face/non-face classification tasks. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our proposed mechanism is capable of following similar trends in performance as humans in a psychophysical experiment using a face versus non-face rapid categorization task.     

Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression in Patients Receiving Disability Benefits: A Systematic Review and Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis

Objectives

To systematically summarize the randomized trial evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in patients with depression in receipt of disability benefits in comparison to those not receiving disability benefits.

Data Sources

All relevant RCTs from a database of randomized controlled and comparative studies examining the effects of psychotherapy for adult depression (http://www.evidencebasedpsychotherapies.org), electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCINFO, AMED, CINAHL and CENTRAL) to June 2011, and bibliographies of all relevant articles.

Study Eligibility Criteria, Participants and Intervention

Adult patients with major depression, randomly assigned to CBT versus minimal/no treatment or care-as-usual.

Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods

Three teams of reviewers, independently and in duplicate, completed title and abstract screening, full text review and data extraction. We performed an individual patient data meta-analysis to summarize data.

Results

Of 92 eligible trials, 70 provided author contact information; of these 56 (80%) were successfully contacted to establish if they captured receipt of benefits as a baseline characteristic; 8 recorded benefit status, and 3 enrolled some patients in receipt of benefits, of which 2 provided individual patient data. Including both patients receiving and not receiving disability benefits, 2 trials (227 patients) suggested a possible reduction in depression with CBT, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, mean difference [MD] (95% confidence interval [CI]) = −2.61 (−5.28, 0.07), p = 0.06; minimally important difference of 5. The effect appeared larger, though not significantly, in those in receipt of benefits (34 patients) versus not receiving benefits (193 patients); MD (95% CI) = −4.46 (−12.21, 3.30), p = 0.26.

Conclusions

Our data does not support the hypothesis that CBT has smaller effects in depressed patients receiving disability benefits versus other patients. Given that the confidence interval is wide, a decreased effect is still possible, though if the difference exists, it is likely to be small.     

Dietary salt reduction and cardiovascular disease rates in India: a mathematical model

Background

Reducing salt intake has been proposed to prevent cardiovascular disease in India. We sought to determine whether salt reductions would be beneficial or feasible, given the worry that unrealistically large reductions would be required, worsening iodine deficiency and benefiting only urban subpopulations.

Methods and Results

Future myocardial infarctions (MI) and strokes in India were predicted with a Markov model simulating men and women aged 40 to 69 in both urban and rural locations, incorporating the risk reduction from lower salt intake. If salt intake does not change, we expect ∼8.3 million MIs (95% CI: 6.9–9.6 million), 830,000 strokes (690,000–960,000) and 2.0 million associated deaths (1.5–2.4 million) per year among Indian adults aged 40 to 69 over the next three decades. Reducing intake by 3 g/day over 30 years (−0.1 g/year, 25% reduction) would reduce annual MIs by 350,000 (a 4.6% reduction; 95% CI: 320,000–380,000), strokes by 48,000 (−6.5%; 13,000–83,000) and deaths by 81,000 (−4.9%; 59,000–100,000) among this group. The largest decline in MIs would be among younger urban men, but the greatest number of averted strokes would be among rural men, and nearly one-third of averted strokes and one-fifth of averted MIs would be among rural women. Only under a highly pessimistic scenario would iodine deficiency increase (by <0.0001%, ∼1600 persons), since inadequate iodized salt access—not low intake of iodized salt—is the major cause of deficiency and would be unaffected by dietary salt reduction.

Conclusions

Modest reductions in salt intake could substantially reduce cardiovascular disease throughout India.