Sustainable Use of Bioactive Compounds from Solanum Tuberosum and Brassicaceae Wastes and by-Products for Crop Protection-A Review.

Defatted seed meals of oleaginous Brassicaceae, such as Eruca sativa, and potato peel are excellent plant matrices to recover potentially useful biomolecules from industrial processes in a circular strategy perspective aiming at crop protection. These biomolecules, mainly glycoalkaloids and phenols for potato and glucosinolates for Brassicaceae, have been proven to be effective against microbes, fungi, nematodes, insects, and even parasitic plants. Their role in plant protection is overviewed, together with the molecular basis of their synthesis in plant, and the description of their mechanisms of action. Possible genetic and biotechnological strategies are presented to increase their content in plants. Genetic mapping and identification of closely linked molecular markers are useful to identify the loci/genes responsible for their accumulation and transfer them to elite cultivars in breeding programs. Biotechnological approaches can be used to modify their allelic sequence and enhance the accumulation of the bioactive compounds. How the global challenges, such as reducing agri-food waste and increasing sustainability and food safety, could be addressed through bioprotector applications are discussed here.

Early transcriptional changes in Beta vulgaris in response to low temperature.

MAIN CONCLUSION: Major metabolic pathways and genes affected by low-temperature treatment were identified and a thorough picture of the early transcriptional changes in sugar beet plantlets upon cold stress was given. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is an important source of sugar and bioethanol production in temperate areas worldwide. In these areas, plantlet survival and sucrose yield of mature plants can be seriously limited by low temperatures, especially when plantlets are exposed to freezing temperatures (below 0 °C) at the early developmental stages. This frequently occurs when the crop is sown in early spring or even in autumn (autumn sowing) to escape drought at maturity and pathogen outbreaks. The knowledge of molecular responses induced in plantlets early upon exposure to low temperature is necessary to understand mechanisms that allow the plant to survive and to identify reactions that can influence other late-appearing traits. In this work, a wide study of sugar beet transcriptome modulation after a short exposure to a cold stress, mimicking what is experienced in vivo by young plantlets when temperature drops in the early spring nights, was carried out by high-throughput sequencing of leaves and root RNAs (RNA-Seq). A significant picture of the earliest events of temperature sensing was achieved for the first time for sugar beet: the retrieval of a great amount of transcription factors and the intensity of modulation of a large number of genes involved in several metabolic pathways suggest a fast and deep rearrangement of sugar beet plantlets metabolism as early response to cold stress, with both similarities and specificities between the two organs.

Discriminant validity and reproducibility of spatiotemporal and kinetic parameters during treadmill walking in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Instrumented treadmills are potentially useful tools for the assessment of gait parameters in orthopaedic clinical settings, but their measurement properties remain uncertain. RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the discriminant validity and reproducibility of spatiotemporal and kinetic gait parameters measured by a pressure-instrumented treadmill at different speeds and inclinations in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA)? METHODS: A total of 54 patients with unilateral KOA and 23 healthy controls took part in the study. Step length, single-limb support duration and ground reaction force were recorded during level and uphill walking at 3 and 4 km/h using a commercially-available treadmill instrumented with an integrated pressure platform. We examined discriminant validity (difference between involved and uninvolved side as well as against healthy controls) and test-retest reproducibility (reliability and agreement). RESULTS: Significant side differences were observed for single-limb support duration and ground reaction force at touchdown in all conditions (P < 0.05). All the investigated gait parameters showed acceptable reliability and agreement, except step length at 4 km/h uphill. SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that the pressure-instrumented treadmill used in this study may have good clinical utility for quantitative gait analysis in patients with KOA under different experimental conditions.

NMR-based metabolomics for organic farming traceability of early potatoes.

(1)H HRMAS-NMR spectroscopy was successfully used to determine the metabolic profiles of 78 tubers obtained from three early genotypes grown under organic and conventional management. The variation in total hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen contents was also assessed. A PLS-DA multivariate statistical analysis provided good discrimination among the varieties and cropping systems (100% unknown samples placed in a cross-validation blind test), suggesting that this method is a powerful and rapid tool for tracing organic potatoes. As a result of the farming system, the nitrogen content decreased by 11-14% in organic tubers, whereas GABA and lysine accumulated in the organic tubers of all clones. Clear variations in primary metabolites are discussed to provide a better understanding of the metabolic pathway modifications resulting from agronomical practices.