Quantitative trait loci analysis of potato tuber greening

Molecular Biology Reports - A conversion of amyloplasts into chloroplasts in the potato tuber after light exposure is known as tuber greening and is one of the major causes of tuber loss. We report...     

Therapeutic properties and pharmacological activities of asiaticoside and madecassoside: A review

Centella asiatica is an ethnomedicinal herbaceous species that grows abundantly in tropical and sub-tropical regions of China, India, South-Eastern Asia and Africa. It is a popular nutraceutical that is employed in various forms of clinical and cosmetic treatments. C. asiatica extracts are reported widely in Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional medicine to boost memory, prevent cognitive deficits and improve brain functions. The major bioactive constituents of C. asiatica are the pentacyclic triterpenoid glycosides, asiaticoside and madecassoside, and their corresponding aglycones, asiatic acid and madecassic acid. Asiaticoside and madecassoside have been identified as the marker compounds of C. asiatica in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and these triterpene compounds offer a wide range of pharmacological properties, including neuroprotective, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, wound healing, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-allergic, anti-depressant, anxiolytic, antifibrotic, antibacterial, anti-arthritic, anti-tumour and immunomodulatory activities. Asiaticoside and madecassoside are also used extensively in treating skin abnormalities, burn injuries, ischaemia, ulcers, asthma, lupus, psoriasis and scleroderma. Besides medicinal applications, these phytocompounds are considered cosmetically beneficial for their role in anti-ageing, skin hydration, collagen synthesis, UV protection and curing scars. Existing reports and experimental studies on these compounds between 2005 and 2022 have been selectively reviewed in this article to provide a comprehensive overview of the numerous therapeutic advantages of asiaticoside and madecassoside and their potential roles in the medical future.     

Hydrolysis by Indigenous Plasmin: Consequences for Enzymatic Cross-Linking and Acid-Induced Gel Formation of Non-Micellar Casein

Casein is a group of milk proteins with high nutritional value, and the exploitation of its techno-functional potentials has been investigated for decades. In this study, acid casein powder was dissolved in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffers with different pH, resulting in casein solutions with pH 5.9, 6.6 and 7.3. During preparation and storage (40 °C) of the samples, casein hydrolysis was observed in size exclusion chromatography and gel electrophoresis. The degree of hydrolysis increased with increasing pH, and treatment of casein with commercial plasmin resulted in similar polypeptides, suggesting that the hydrolysis was caused by residual indigenous plasmin present in the acid casein powder. Most polypeptides could be cross-linked by microbial transglutaminase, except for one particular fraction which appeared at constant intensity in the chromatograms. The stiffness of acid-induced gels as determined in small amplitude oscillatory shear rheology decreased with increasing degree of hydrolysis, and was also lower for cross-linked samples when the preceding casein hydrolysis was more pronounced. Enzymatic cross-linking increased the resistance of casein against plasmin-related hydrolysis, presumably because of the resulting lysine modification. However, one particular fraction of polypeptides was released by hydrolysis in spite of cross-linking, suggesting that they did not contain lysine residues that are susceptible for mTGase. The results indicate that plasmin-related hydrolysis should be taken into account for the application of acid casein or sodium caseinate as additive in food design.

     

Habitat reduction and patterns of species loss

This paper uses data of The Distribution Atlas of Polish Butterflies to simulate the effect of four different types of area loss (aggregated, fractal, random, and nested) on species diversity and species–area relationships (SARs). We found that power function and logarithmic SAR models overestimated species loss in the case of aggregated, fractal, and random patterns of area reduction. Instead, the modification of the power function by Plotkin et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97 (2000b) 10850) (S=S₀A^ze^−kA) with k being a shape-adjusting parameter worked better and gave sufficient predictions of species loss. The net effects of the aggregated, fractal, and random types of area loss on species diversity were very similar with an aggregated pattern of area loss leading to slightly higher rates of species loss than both other processes. We conclude that SARs might be useful tools for biodiversity forecasting if they are constructed in a case-specific manner. The use of standard models instead might be misleading.     

Effects of β-Cyclodextrin on the Structure of Sphingomyelin/Cholesterol Model Membranes

The interaction of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with mixed bilayers composed of sphingomylein and cholesterol (Chol) above and below the accepted stable complexation ratio (67:33) was investigated. Membranes with the same (symmetric) and different (asymmetric) compositions in their inner and outer leaflets were deposited at surface pressures of 20, 30, and 40 mN/m at the solid-liquid interface. Using neutron reflectometry, membranes of various global molar ratios (defined as the sum of the molar ratios of the inner and outer leaflets), were characterized before and after β-CD was added to the subphase. The structure of bilayers with global molar ratios at or above the stable complexation ratio was unchanged by β-CD, indicating that β-CD is unable to remove sphingomyelin or complexed Chol. However, β-CD removed all uncomplexed Chol from bilayers composed of global molar ratios below the stable complexation ratio. The removal of Chol by β-CD was independent of the initial structure of the membranes as deposited, suggesting that asymmetric membranes homogenize by the exchange of molecules between leaflets. The interaction of β-CD with the aforementioned membranes was independent of the deposition surface pressure except for a symmetric 50:50 membrane deposited at 40 mN/m. The scattering from 50:50 bilayers with higher packing densities (deposited at 40 mN/m) was unaffected by β-CD, suggesting that the removal of Chol can depend on both the composition and packing density of the membrane.