Identification and pathogenicity of Fusarium spp. associated with tea wilt in Zhejiang Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, with significant economic and cultural value. However, tea production faces many challenges due to various biotic and abiotic stresses, among which fungal diseases are particularly devastating. RESULTS: To understand the identity and pathogenicity of isolates recovered from tea plants with symptoms of wilt, phylogenetic analyses and pathogenicity assays were conducted. Isolates were characterized to the species level by sequencing the ITS, tef-1α, tub2 and rpb2 sequences and morphology. Four Fusarium species were identified: Fusarium fujikuroi, Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Fusarium concentricum. The pathogenicity of the Fusarium isolates was evaluated on 1-year-old tea plants, whereby F. fujikuroi OS3 and OS4 strains were found to be the most virulent on tea. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of tea rot caused by F. fujikuroi in the world. This provides the foundation for the identification and control of wilt disease in tea plants.

UPLC-TOF/MS-based metabolomics reveals the chemical changes and in vitro biological effects in fermentation of white ginseng by four probiotics.

Microbial fermentation is a useful method for improving the biological activity of Chinese herbal medicine. Herein, we revealed the effects of solid-state fermentation by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Bacillus licheniformis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Eurotium cristatum and multiple strains on total flavonoid content, total phenol content, as well as antioxidants, α-amylase inhibitory activities and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities in white ginseng (WG). Metabolite differences between non-fermented and fermented WG by different probiotics were comprehensively investigated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-TOF-MS). Results showed that the total flavonoid content, ferric reducing antioxidant power, scavenging activities of DPPH radical and ABTS radical, α-amylase inhibitory activities and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of WG were considerably enhanced after processing by solid-state fermentation in all strains. The total phenol content was increased by E. cristatum and B. licheniformis fermentation, but decreased by L. plantarum, S. cerevisiae and multi-strain fermentation. Additionally, E. cristatum exhibited stronger biotransformation activity on WG compared to other strains. Significant differential metabolites were mainly annotated as prenol lipids, carboxylic acids and derivatives, flavonoids, polyphenols, coumarins and derivatives. Correlation analysis further showed that changes of these metabolites were closely related to antioxidant and hypoglycemic effects. Our results confirmed that fermentation of WG by different probiotics has distinct effects on biological activities and metabolite composition, and indicating fermentation as an important novel strategy to promote components and bioactivities of WG.

Remodeling of cholinergic input to the hippocampus after noise exposure and tinnitus induction in Guinea pigs.

Here, we investigate remodeling of hippocampal cholinergic inputs after noise exposure and determine the relevance of these changes to tinnitus. To assess the effects of noise exposure on the hippocampus, guinea pigs were exposed to unilateral noise for 2 hr and 2 weeks later, immunohistochemistry was performed on hippocampal sections to examine vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) expression. To evaluate whether the changes in VAChT were relevant to tinnitus, another group of animals was exposed to the same noise band twice to induce tinnitus, which was assessed using gap-prepulse Inhibition of the acoustic startle (GPIAS) 12 weeks after the first noise exposure, followed by immunohistochemistry. Acoustic Brainstem Response (ABR) thresholds were elevated immediately after noise exposure for all experimental animals but returned to baseline levels several days after noise exposure. ABR wave I amplitude-intensity functions did not show any changes after 2 or 12 weeks of recovery compared to baseline levels. In animals assessed 2-weeks following noise-exposure, hippocampal VAChT puncta density decreased on both sides of the brain by 20-60% in exposed animals. By 12 weeks following the initial noise exposure, changes in VAChT puncta density largely recovered to baseline levels in exposed animals that did not develop tinnitus, but remained diminished in animals that developed tinnitus. These tinnitus-specific changes were particularly prominent in hippocampal synapse-rich layers of the dentate gyrus and areas CA3 and CA1, and VAChT density in these regions negatively correlated with tinnitus severity. The robust changes in VAChT labeling in the hippocampus 2 weeks after noise exposure suggest involvement of this circuitry in auditory processing. After chronic tinnitus induction, tinnitus-specific changes occurred in synapse-rich layers of the hippocampus, suggesting that synaptic processing in the hippocampus may play an important role in the pathophysiology of tinnitus.

Clinical efficacy of nutrition support therapy combined with antibiotics in the patients of community-acquired pneumonia and its influence on serum pct and crp.

To analyze the clinical efficacy of nutrition support therapy combined with antibiotics in the treatment of patients with ICU severe community-acquired pneumonia and its effect on serum procalcitonin (PCT) and C reactive protein (CRP). A total of 90 patients with ICU severe community-acquired pneumonia treated in hospital from September 2016 to June 2017.The patients were randomly divided into A group and B group 45 cases in each group. Both groups were given antibiotic treatment of azithromycin plus cefuroxime sodium in which the A group received enteral nutrition support therapy while the B group parenteral nutritional support therapy. Levels of serum prealbumin (PA), albumin (ALB), transferrin (TF), procalcitonin (PCT) and C reactive protein (CRP) before and after treatment were compared. Before treatment there was found no significant difference in serum PA, ALB and TF levels (p>0.05) while after treatment, the serum levels of PA, ALB and TF in the A group were significantly higher than those in the B group (p<0.05). The effective rate of the A group was 88.9%, higher than that of the B group (p<0.05). In patients with ICU severe community-acquired pneumonia, the treatment of enteral nutrition support therapy combined with antibacterial drugs of azithromycin and cefuroxime sodium can effectively improve the indexes of PA, ALB and TF. The reduce levels of serum PCT and CRP with the good prognosis is important in popularization and application in clinical practices.

Classification of Maojian teas from different geographical origins by micellar electrokinetic chromatography and pattern recognition techniques.

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was applied for the identification of geographical origins of Chinese green teas. Under the optimized conditions, chromatographic profiling of collected Maojian tea samples was obtained. Based on MEKC-UV profiling, twenty-four tea samples were successfully differentiated according to the relative peak areas of selected peaks in the chromatograms. Tea samples from Hubei and Henan provinces were classified correctly by hierarchical cluster analysis model (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The application of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) gave correct assignation percentages of 100% for the training set and the prediction set. The overall results demonstrated that MEKC with pattern recognition could be successfully applied to discriminate Maojian teas according to their geographical origins.

Mogrosides extract from Siraitia grosvenori scavenges free radicals in vitro and lowers oxidative stress, serum glucose, and lipid levels in alloxan-induced diabetic mice.

This study evaluated the supplementation of a mogrosides extract (MG) from fruits of Siraitia grosvenori on reducing oxidative stress, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The oxygen free radical scavenging activity of MG was also assessed in vitro. After induction of diabetes, a significant increase in the levels of serum glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), and hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as a reduction in the level of hepatic high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) associated with diminution of the corresponding antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase, were observed in all diabetic mice. Treatment of diabetic mice with MG (100, 300, and 500 mg/kg ) for 4 weeks significantly decreased serum glucose, TC, TG, and hepatic MDA levels (P < .05), whereas it increased serum HDL-C level and reactivated the hepatic antioxidant enzymes (P < .05) in alloxan-induced diabetic mice (P < .05). The hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and antioxidative activities of MG (100 mg/kg treatment) were all higher compared with all other diabetic groups and were similar to that observed for XiaoKeWan-pill (894 mg/kg; Guangzhou Zhongyi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, China), a Chinese traditional antidiabetic drug. Antioxidant capacity evaluated in vitro showed that MG and mogroside V, which was the main component of MG, possessed strong oxygen free radical scavenging activities. These results demonstrate that the extract may have capacity to inhibiting hyperglycemia induced by diabetes, and the data suggest that administration of the extract may be helpful in the prevention of diabetic complications associated with oxidative stress and hyperlipidemia. We conclude that the extract should be evaluated as a candidate for future studies on diabetes mellitus.

[Heavy metals accumulation in different parts of Paeonia ostii and soils at copper tailings yard].

The study on the heavy metals contamination of Paeonia ostii and soil at the copper tailings yard in Tongling City indicated that the soil of copper tailings yard was extremely barren, only with 1.1-3.4 g x kg(-1) organic mater (1/15 of normal soil), but the contents of its Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn were much higher. Cu and Cd contents were 587.43-1176.44 mg x kg(-1) and 3.08-5.16 mg x kg(-1), respectively, 5-10 times higher than the grade two of national environmental quality standard for soils. Cu, Cd and Pb contents in Paeonia ostii exceeded the standard of medicine-use plants. Especially in its root peel, Cu and Cd contents stood at 31.50-64.00 mg x kg(-1) and 0.98-1.45 mg x kg(-1), respectively, 1.6-3.6 times surpassing the standard, which meant that both Paeonia ostii and the soil had been severely polluted. There existed evident difference in the contents of heavy metals in different parts of Paeonia ostii. Stem, leaf and root peel had higher contents of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu. The accumulation factors of Zn and Cd were higher than those of Cu and Pb, but they were all smaller in root peel.