Identification of a UDP-glucosyltransferase conferring deoxynivalenol resistance in Aegilops tauschii and wheat

Aegilops tauschii is the diploid progenitor of the wheat D subgenome and a valuable resource for wheat breeding, yet, genetic analysis of resistance against Fusarium head blight (FHB) and the major Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is lacking. We treated a panel of 147 Ae. tauschii accessions with either Fusarium graminearum spores or DON solution and recorded the associated disease spread or toxin-induced bleaching. A k-mer-based association mapping pipeline dissected the genetic basis of resistance and identified candidate genes. After DON infiltration nine accessions revealed severe bleaching symptoms concomitant with lower conversion rates of DON into the non-toxic DON-3-O-glucoside. We identified the gene AET5Gv20385300 on chromosome 5D encoding a uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucosyltransferase (UGT) as the causal variant and the mutant allele resulting in a truncated protein was only found in the nine susceptible accessions. This UGT is also polymorphic in hexaploid wheat and when expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae only the full-length gene conferred resistance against DON. Analysing the D subgenome helped to elucidate the genetic control of FHB resistance and identified a UGT involved in DON detoxification in Ae. tauschii and hexaploid wheat. This resistance mechanism is highly conserved since the UGT is orthologous to the barley UGT HvUGT13248 indicating descent from a common ancestor of wheat and barley.     

Reduced Serum Selenium Concentration in Miscarriage Incidence of Indonesian Subjects

Selenium is an essential nutrient for human health, and maternal selenium concentration has been reported to be associated with pregnancy outcome. To further investigate the possible role of selenium (Se) in miscarriage, we conducted a case–control study to evaluate the correlations among selenium status, glutathione peroxidase activity, and spontaneous abortion. A total of 46 subjects with normal pregnancies and 25 subjects with spontaneous abortion were recruited, and their serum selenium concentrations and serum glutathione peroxidase activities were analyzed. The total serum selenium concentrations in subjects with normal pregnancies were significantly higher than those of subjects with spontaneous abortion; however, the glutathione peroxidase activities were similar in both groups. We further separated the subjects into smoking and nonsmoking groups, and the logistic regression analysis suggested that total serum selenium concentration, but not serum glutathione peroxidase activity or smoking, was significantly correlated with the incidence of miscarriage. The present study thus reaffirms that low serum selenium levels are associated with miscarriage and that selenium plays an important role in pregnancy maintenance.     

Chemical forms of selenium for cancer prevention.

Cancer is becoming an increasingly significant disease worldwide. Currently, more than 7 million people die each year from cancer. With the existing knowledge, at least one-third of worldwide cancer cases could be prevented. Searching for naturally occurring agents in routinely consumed foods that may inhibit cancer development, although challenging, constitutes a valuable and plausible approach to the control and prevention of cancer. To date, the use of the micronutrient selenium (Se) in human clinical trials is limited, but the outcome indicates that Se is among the most promising agents. Although it is convenient to describe the effects of Se in terms of the element, it must always be kept in mind that the chemical form of Se and the dose are determinants of its biological activities. Hyphenated techniques based on coupling chromatographic separation with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) detection are now established as the most realistic and potent analytical tools available for real-life speciation analysis. These speciation investigations provide evidence that the Se compounds, which can generate monomethylated Se (e.g., Se-methylselenocysteine and methylseleninic acid), are more efficacious than other Se compounds because of their chemoprevention activity.     

Genetic Admixture in the Culturally Unique Peranakan Chinese Population in Southeast Asia

The Peranakan Chinese are culturally unique descendants of immigrants from China who settled in the Malay Archipelago ∼300–500 years ago. Today, among large communities in Southeast Asia, the Peranakans have preserved Chinese traditions with strong influence from the local indigenous Malays. Yet, whether or to what extent genetic admixture co-occurred with the cultural mixture has been a topic of ongoing debate. We performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on 177 Singapore (SG) Peranakans and analyzed the data jointly with WGS data of Asian and European populations. We estimated that Peranakan Chinese inherited ∼5.62% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.76–6.49%) Malay ancestry, much higher than that in SG Chinese (1.08%, 0.65–1.51%), southern Chinese (0.86%, 0.50–1.23%), and northern Chinese (0.25%, 0.18–0.32%). A sex-biased admixture history, in which the Malay ancestry was contributed primarily by females, was supported by X chromosomal variants, and mitochondrial (MT) and Y haplogroups. Finally, we identified an ancient admixture event shared by Peranakan Chinese and SG Chinese ∼1,612 (95% CI: 1,345–1,923) years ago, coinciding with the settlement history of Han Chinese in southern China, apart from the recent admixture event with Malays unique to Peranakan Chinese ∼190 (159–213) years ago. These findings greatly advance our understanding of the dispersal history of Chinese and their interaction with indigenous populations in Southeast Asia.     

In silico investigation of potential inhibitors to main protease and spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in propolis

Docking analysis of propolis's natural compound was successfully performed against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) and spike protein subunit 2 (S2). Initially, the propolis's protein was screened using chromatography analysis and successfully identified 22 compounds in the propolis. Four compounds were further investigated, i.e., neoblavaisoflavone, methylophiopogonone A, 3′-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin. The binding affinity of 3′-Methoxydaidzin was ?7.7 kcal/mol, which is similar to nelfinavir (control), while the others were ?7.6 kcal/mol. However, we found the key residue of Glu A:166 in the methylophiopogonone A and genistin, even though the predicted binding energy slightly higher than nelfinavir. In contrast, the predicted binding affinity of neoblavaisoflavone, methylophiopogonone A, 3′-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin against S2 were ?8.1, ?8.2, ?8.3, and ?8.3 kcal/mol, respectively, which is far below of the control (pravastatin, ?7.3 kcal/mol). Instead of conventional hydrogen bonding, the π bonding influenced the binding affinity against S2. The results reveal that this is the first report about methylophiopogonone A, 3′-Methoxydaidzin, and genistin as candidates for anti-viral agents. Those compounds can then be further explored and used as a parent backbone molecule to develop a new supplementation for preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections during COVID-19 outbreaks.     

Selenium supplementation and blood rheological improvement in Japanese adults

In order to study the prevention effect of selenium in the development of cardiovascular disease, we investigated the effects of selenium supplementation on the blood rheological properties. Eleven healthy adults were administered with 200 microg of selenium in the form of selenium yeast per day for 1 wk. Before and after the supplementation, serum selenium concentration, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, biochemical indices, and the blood fluidity of the subjects were measured. The blood fluidity was measured using a (microchannel array flow analyzer) by the passage time of 100 microL of heparinized whole blood through the microchannel array. The selenium supplementation significantly (p = 0.001) shortened the mean blood passage time from 44.0 +/- 5.7 to 37.5 +/- 2.8 s. Serum selenium concentration significantly (p = 0.008) increased from 109.8 +/- 10.2 to 124.5 +/- 16.7 microg/L. Meanwhile, the GPx activity did not increased significantly (p = 0.058). The mean GPx activity of the subjects before supplementation was 171.0 +/- 16.1 Deltammol NADPH/min/L and 180.9 +/- 17.8 Deltammol NADPH/min/L after supplementation. Factor analysis of the passage time and biochemical indices of the subjects showed that blood fluidity improvement was related to the metabolic modification of lipoproteins during the selenium supplementation. These results showed that selenium supplementation improved the blood fluidity, without increasing the GPx activity of the subjects.     

Rainforest conversion to plantations fundamentally alters energy fluxes and functions in canopy arthropod food webs

Tropical rainforests around the world are rapidly being converted into cash crop agricultural systems. The associated massive losses of plant and animal species lead to changes in arthropod food webs and the energy fluxes therein. These changes are poorly understood, in particular in the extremely biodiverse canopies of tropical ecosystems. Using canopy fogging followed by stable isotope and energy flux analyses, we show that land-use conversion from rainforest to rubber and oil palm plantations not only causes a drastic reduction in energy fluxes of up to 75%, but also shifts fluxes among trophic groups. While rainforest featured high levels of both herbivory and algae-microbivory, and a balanced ratio of herbivory to predation, relative fluxes were shifted towards predation in rubber and towards herbivory in oil palm plantations, indicating profound shifts in ecosystem functioning. Our results highlight that the ongoing loss of animal biodiversity and biomass in tropical canopies degrades animal-driven functions and restructures canopy food webs.     

A Critical Role of Fatty Acid Binding Protein 4 and 5 (FABP4/5) in the Systemic Response to Fasting

During prolonged fasting, fatty acid (FA) released from adipose tissue is a major energy source for peripheral tissues, including the heart, skeletal muscle and liver. We recently showed that FA binding protein 4 (FABP4) and FABP5, which are abundantly expressed in adipocytes and macrophages, are prominently expressed in capillary endothelial cells in the heart and skeletal muscle. In addition, mice deficient for both FABP4 and FABP5 (FABP4/5 DKO mice) exhibited defective uptake of FA with compensatory up-regulation of glucose consumption in these tissues during fasting. Here we showed that deletion of FABP4/5 resulted in a marked perturbation of metabolism in response to prolonged fasting, including hyperketotic hypoglycemia and hepatic steatosis. Blood glucose levels were reduced, whereas the levels of non-esterified FA (NEFA) and ketone bodies were markedly increased during fasting. In addition, the uptake of the ¹²⁵I-BMIPP FA analogue in the DKO livers was markedly increased after fasting. Consistent with an increased influx of NEFA into the liver, DKO mice showed marked hepatic steatosis after a 48-hr fast. Although gluconeogenesis was observed shortly after fasting, the substrates for gluconeogenesis were reduced during prolonged fasting, resulting in insufficient gluconeogenesis and enhanced hypoglycemia. These metabolic responses to prolonged fasting in DKO mice were readily reversed by re-feeding. Taken together, these data strongly suggested that a maladaptive response to fasting in DKO mice occurred as a result of an increased influx of NEFA into the liver and pronounced hypoglycemia. Together with our previous study, the metabolic consequence found in the present study is likely to be attributed to an impairment of FA uptake in the heart and skeletal muscle. Thus, our data provided evidence that peripheral uptake of FA via capillary endothelial FABP4/5 is crucial for systemic metabolism and may establish FABP4/5 as potentially novel targets for the modulation of energy homeostasis.     

Cost-effectiveness and budget impact analyses of dengue vaccination in Indonesia

Despite the fact that the incidence and mortality rates due to dengue virus (DENV) infection in Indonesia are relatively high, dengue vaccination has not yet been introduced. This study aimed to analyse the cost-effectiveness and the budget impact of dengue vaccination in Indonesia by taking the potential of pre-vaccination screening into account. An age-structured decision tree model was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness value by applying a single cohort of 4,710,100 children that was followed-up in a 10-year time horizon within a 1-year analytical cycle. The budget impact was analysed in a 5-year period (2020–2024) by considering provinces’ readiness to introduce dengue vaccine and their incidence rate of DENV infection in the last 10 years. Vaccination that was coupled with pre-vaccination screening would reduce dengue fever (DF), dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) by 188,142, 148,089 and 426 cases, respectively. It would save treatment cost at $23,433,695 and $14,091,642 from the healthcare and payer perspective, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) would be $5,733 and $5,791 per quality-adjusted-life-year (QALY) gained from both perspectives. The most influential parameters affecting the ICERs were probability of DENV infection, vaccine efficacy, under-reporting factor, vaccine price, case fatality rate and screening cost. It can be concluded that dengue vaccination and pre-vaccination screening would be cost-effective to be implemented in Indonesia. Nevertheless, it seems unaffordable to be implemented since the total required cost for the nationwide vaccination would be 94.44% of routine immunization budget.     

Correction to: Reduced Serum Selenium Concentration in Miscarriage Incidence of Indonesian Subjects

Biological Trace Element Research - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The name of “Herlambang herlambang” is now corrected in the author group of...