Onion Vinegar Quality Evaluation and its Alleviate Oxidative Stress Mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans Via SKN-1.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in biorefining of agricultural onion into functional products. In this study, onion vinegar (OV) are prepared by a two-stage semi-continuous fermentation method, and its content of total flavonoids (3.01 mg/mL) and polyphenols (976.76 µg/mL) is superior to other commercial vinegars. OV possesses a high radical scavenging activity and enhances the antioxidant enzyme activities in vivo, alleviating intracellular oxidative stress in Caenorhabditis elegans. Treated by OV, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH·), diammonium 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzo thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS+·) and 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5- tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-Oxide (PTIO·) free radicals clearance rates are 88.76, 98.76 and 90.54%, respectively in vitro. Whereas the glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzyme activities in C. elegans reach 271.57, 129.26, and 314.68%, respectively. Using RNAi and RT-PCR, it has been further confirmed that OV modulates transcription factor SKN-1, the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) homologous, in C. elegans, enhancing the resistance of C. elegans against sodium arsenite stress. Lifespan analysis reveals that 1 mL OV extends the maximum lifespan of the nematode to 26 days. Evidence is presented which shows that OV increases the lifespan of C. elegans by activating the SKN-1 signaling pathway. Overall, the OV is a well functional condiment, enhancing the value-added of onion.

The full-length transcriptome sequencing of three sturgeons reveals the occurrence of whole genome duplication event.

Sturgeon is one of the ancient fish species with the fossil records over 200 million years ago. However, the sturgeon genomes are rather complicated, owing to several rounds of genome polyploidizations, which makes it difficult to assemble a high quality genome so that only a few studies analyze their whole genome evolutions (WGDs). This study applied the PacBio sequencing technology to sequence the full-length transcriptomes of blood samples of octoploid Huso dauricus, octoploid Acipenser schrenckii and tetraploid Acipenser stellatus. A total of non-redundant 33,407 transcript assemblies of the three sturgeons were finally generated and fully annotated with different gene function databases, as well as the predictions of simple sequence repeats, transcription factors and long non-coding RNAs. Data valuation exhibited that annotations of the three transcriptomes had the higher quality than those of the previously sequenced sturgeon genomes. A phylogeny of eight typical sturgeons was constructed using the low copy genes, which illustrated that Acipenser and Huso might share a single origin. The sturgeon WGDs were parallelly timed by calculating the divergence times of 2-member gene clusters and heterozygous-SNP-carried genes, which both suggested the occurrence of the WGDs later than 150 mya. The full-length transcriptome sequences were supposed to be the reliable reference data for the study of sturgeon.

Transcriptome analysis of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) and Holland's spinibarbel (Spinibarbus hollandi) infected with Ichthyophthirius multifiliis.

Ichthyophthirius multifiliis is a protozoan ciliate that causes white spot disease (also known as ichthyophthiriasis) in freshwater fish. Holland's spinibarbel (Spinibarbus hollandi) was less susceptible to white spot disease than grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella). In this study, grass carp and Holland's spinibarbel are infected by I. multifiliis and the amount of infection is 10,000 theronts per fish. All grass carp died within 12 days after infection, and the survival rate of Holland's spinibarbel was more than 80%. In order to study the difference in sensitivity of these two fish species to I. multifiliis, transcriptome analysis was conducted using gill, skin, liver, spleen and head kidney of Holland's spinibarbel and grass carp at 48 h post-infection with I. multifiliis. A total of 489,296,696 clean reads were obtained by sequencing. A total of 105 significantly up-regulated immune-related genes were obtained by Gene Ontology (GO) classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis in grass carp. Cluster of differentiation 40 (CD40), cluster of differentiation 80 (CD 80), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1ß) and other inflammatory-related genes in grass carp were enriched in the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathway and toll-like receptor pathway. In Holland's spinibarbel, a total of 46 significantly up-regulated immune-related genes were obtained by GO classification and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Immune-related genes, such as Immunoglobin heavy chain (IgH), cathepsin S (CTSS), complement C1q A chain (C1qA), complement component 3 (C3) and complement component (C9) were enriched in phagosome pathway, lysosome pathway and complement and coagulation concatenation pathway. C3 was significantly up-regulated in gill and head kidney. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed that the C3 gene was highly expressed in gill tissue of Holland's spinibarbel infected with I. multifiliis. A small amount of C3 gene was expressed in the gill arch of grass carp after infected with I. multifiliis. In conclusion, the severe inflammatory response in vivo after infecting grass carp with I. multifiliis might be the main cause of the death of grass carp. The extrahepatic expression of the gene of Holland's spinibarbel might play an important role in the immune defense against I. multifiliis.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Babina adenopleura (Anura: Ranidae).

The mitochondrial (mt) genome of Babina adenopleura (Anura: Ranidae) is a circular molecule of 18,982 bp in length, containing 38 genes as well as other anurans. The complete mtDNA of B. adenopleura is 18,982 bp in length, and the A+T content of the overall base composition of H-strand is 58.9% (T, 29.8%; C, 26.6%; A, 29.1%; G, 14.4%). The control regions are 3159 bp in length, and the A+T content of this region is 70.2% (A, 36.6%; C, 16.8%; G, 12.9%; T, 33.6%). The control region possesses distinct repeat regions at both 5' and 3' sides. A long space region between ND5 and ND6 genes is 461 bp.

[FTIR study on normal and cancerous lung tissues].

Tissues of cancerous and normal lungs were analysed directly and fast by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with OMNI-sampler. The result indicated that some remarkable spectral differences were among normal and cancerous lung tissues in frequency, intensity and shape of the absorption peaks. These facts indicated significant differences of content, structure and conformation of proteins, nucleic acids and lipids in different types of lung tissues. The present results suggested that Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) could show the properties of normal and cancerous lung tissues at the molecular level. It was able to provide rich and reliable information for investigation of normal and cancerous lung tissues and could be used as a convenient and reliable diagnostic tool for some tumors.

Differential sensitivity of two green algae, Scenedesmus obliqnus and Chlorella pyrenoidosa, to 12 pesticides.

Growth-inhibiting tests were carried out for 12 pesticides (including 11 fungicides: fosetyl-aluminum, benomyl, metalaxyl, iprodione, dimetachlone, carbendazim, thiophanate-methyl, bismerthiazol, procymidone, zineb, chlorothalonil, and the acaricide abamectin) in the green algae Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus obliqnus and the differential sensitivities of the two green algae to those pesticides were compared. The results indicate that the acute toxicity of benomyl to C. pyrenoidosa and S. obliqnus is the highest among all of the pesticides tested and is close to that of the photosynthesis-inhibiting herbicides atrazine, simazine, and chlorotoluron. Meanwhile, algal species vary widely in their response to the pesticides. The results demonstrated that there was a differential response to various pesticides by the two species of algae and that the sensitivity of various species of algae exposed to chlorothalonil varied by nearly two orders of magnitude; sensitivity to thiophanate-methyl varied by more than one order. Investigations using different algal species as test organisms have demonstrated that algae vary greatly in their response to chemicals. Differential sensitivity of green species to the compounds could induce species shifts within communities.