A colorimetric chemosensor for heptanal with selectivity over formaldehyde and acetaldehyde through synergistic interaction of hydrophobic interactions and oxime formation.

Aldehydes with long alkyl chains are important biomarkers, but chemosensors for the detection of the aldehydes have been rarely reported. Herein, a chemosensor based on hydroxylamine-functionalized polydiacetylene (PDA) was developed for the selective detection of heptanal, which contains a long alkyl chain. The hydroxylamine group of PDA reacts with the aldehyde group of heptanal, while hydrophobic interactions between the alkyl chains of PDA and heptanal occur simultaneously. As a result, synergistic interactions with the aldehyde group and alkyl chain on heptanal allowed for the selective detection of heptanal over formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, which do not contain long alkyl chains. The consequent perturbation of the backbone by the synergistic interactions induced a blue-to-purple color transition, allowing for colorimetric detection by the naked eye. The chemosensor had an estimated detection limit of 4.8 µM. In addition, the sensor system was applied to determine heptanal concentrations in serum samples.

High density linkage map construction and QTL mapping for runner production in allo-octoploid strawberry Fragaria × ananassa based on ddRAD-seq derived SNPs.

Recent advances in high-throughput genome sequencing technologies are now making the genetic dissection of the complex genome of cultivated strawberry easier. We sequenced Maehyang (short-day cultivar) × Albion (day-neutral cultivar) crossing populations using double digest restriction-associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing technique that yielded 978,968 reads, 80.2% of which were aligned to strawberry genome allowing the identification of 13,181 high quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Total 3051 SNPs showed Mendelian segregation in F1, of which 1268 were successfully mapped to 46 linkage groups (LG) spanning a total of 2581.57 cM with an average interval genetic distance of 2.22 cM. The LGs were assigned to the 28 chromosomes of Fragaria × ananassa as determined by positioning the sequence tags on F. vesca genome. In addition, seven QTLs namely, qRU-5D, qRU-3D1, qRU-1D2, qRU-4D, qRU-4C, qRU-5C and qRU-2D2 were identified for runner production with LOD value ranging from 3.5-7.24 that explained 22-38% of phenotypic variation. The key candidate genes having putative roles in meristem differentiation for runnering and flowering within these QTL regions were identified. These will enhance our understanding of the vegetative vs sexual reproductive behavior in strawberry and will aid in setting breeding targets for developing perpetual flowering and profuse runnering cultivar.