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Assessing the response of indigenous loquat cultivar Mardan to phytohormones for in vitro shoot proliferation and rooting
Nadeem Akhtar Abbasi, Tariq Pervaiz, Ishfaq Ahmed Hafiz, Mehwish Yaseen, Azhar Hussain
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 774-784.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200277
In vitro cultures of loquat cultivar Mardan were established using shoot apices after treating with NaOCl (5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 14% (v/v)) for 12 min and HgCl2 (0.01%, 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.20%, 0.25% (w/v)) for 2 min. A maximum survival rate of 70% was recorded after surface sterilization with 10% NaOCl. Caulogenic response was assessed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium fortified with assorted combinations of the cytokinins, benzylaminopurine (BAP), kinetin, and N6-(2-isopentyl)adenine (2iP). Treatment of BAP 1.5 mg/L combined with 2iP 9.0 mg/L and kinetin 1.5 mg/L was found to be optimum for shoot morphogenesis in terms of the number and subsequent growth of shoots, while the highest shoot length was yielded by the combination of BAP 0.5 mg/L, kinetin 0.5 mg/L, and 2iP 3 mg/L. Higher levels of cytokinins induced callogenesis, vitrification and stunted growth to some extent. For rhizogenesis, uniform sized micro-shoots were excised and transferred to half-strength MS medium containing auxins. The best rooting expression was observed with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) 1 mg/L combined with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) 2 mg/L and paclobutrazol (PBZ) 1 mg/L.
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Promoting role of an endophyte on the growth and contents of kinsenosides and flavonoids of Anoectochilus formosanus Hayata, a rare and threatened medicinal Orchidaceae plant
Fu-sheng Zhang, Ya-li Lv, Yue Zhao, Shun-xing Guo
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 785-792.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1300056
Anoectochilus formosanus, commonly known as “Jewel Orchid”, is a Chinese folk medicine used to treat hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. The existence of A. formosanus is currently threatened by habitat loss, human and animal consumption, etc. The highly potent medicinal activity of A. formosanus is due to its secondary metabolites, especially kinsenosides and flavonoids. This orchid also has a unique mycorrhizal relationship. Most adult orchids rely on endophytes for mineral nutrition and have complex interactions with them, which are related to plant growth, yield and changes in secondary metabolites. This study investigated the promoting role of F-23 fungus (genus Mycena) on the biomass and contents of kinsenosides and flavonoids of A. formosanus in pot culture. The following were observed after 10 weeks of symbiotic cultivation: increased shoot height, shoot dry weight, and leaf numbers by 16.6%, 31.3%, and 22.5%, respectively; increased contents of kinsenosides, isorhamnetin-3-O-β-D-rutinoside, and isorhamnetin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside by 85.5%, 226.1%, and 196.0%, respectively; some hyphae in epidermal cells dyed red and/or reddish brown by safranine; and, significantly reduced number of starch grains in cortical cells. Moreover, F-23 fungus significantly improved the kinsenoside and flavonoid contents of A. formosanus. These findings supported the reports that endophytes can alter the production of secondary metabolites in their plant hosts, although further physiological, genetic and ecological analyses are warranted.
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Fruit quality, anthocyanin and total phenolic contents, and antioxidant activities of 45 blueberry cultivars grown in Suwon, Korea
Jin Gook Kim, Hong Lim Kim, Su Jin Kim, Kyo-Sun Park
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 793-799.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1300012
Blueberry fruits from 45 commercial cultivars (39 northern highbush and 6 half highbush blueberry) grown in Suwon, Korea were analyzed for fruit size, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity. Fruit characteristics varied widely among the 45 blueberry cultivars. Fruit weight ranged from 0.9 to 3.6 g, soluble solids content from 8.3 to 14.3 °Brix, and titratable acidity from 0.8% to 3.6%. Antioxidant activity ranged from 0.7 to 2.1 mg of quercetin equivalents per gram of fresh berries in different blueberry cultivars. Among the 45 blueberry cultivars, high amounts of anthocyanins and polyphenols, and high antioxidant activity were observed in ‘Elliott’, ‘Rubel’, ‘Rancocas’, and ‘Friendship’.
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Anatomical studies of ovule development in the post-bloom pistils of the ‘Zuili’ plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.)
Hui-juan Jia, Xia Yang, Feng-jie He, Bin Li
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 800-806.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200333
In order to investigate the cause of poor fruit set in ‘Zuili’ plums, anatomical examinations of post-bloom pistils were conducted and the dates of young fruit drop were recorded during the growing seasons of 2008 and 2009. Pistils of cv. ‘Black Amber’ were also examined as an abundant setting control. Two major dropping periods were detected in ‘Zuili’: one during the first 5 d after full bloom (DAF) and another between 10 and 17 DAF. Anatomical analyses of the pistils at the full bloom stage revealed that half of the ovules had not developed embryos, which may have caused their early drop. In most dropped pistils collected at 17 DAF, the micropyle had not been penetrated by a pollen tube, indicating that they were not fertilized. ‘Zuili’ ovules initiated embryo division at 10–12 DAF, although thereafter embryo development was retarded when compared to the rates observed in ‘Black Amber’. Ovule fertilization failure and inactive embryo development after ovule fertilization may be the major causes of the later fruit drop observed in ‘Zuili’ plum trees.
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Partial AZFc duplications not deletions are associated with male infertility in the Yi population of Yunnan Province, China
Jun-jie Ye, Li Ma, Li-juan Yang, Jin-huan Wang, Yue-li Wang, Hai Guo, Ning Gong, Wen-hui Nie, Shu-hua Zhao
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 807-815.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200301
Objective: There are many reports on associations between spermatogenesis and partial azoospermia factor c (AZFc) deletions as well as duplications; however, results are conflicting, possibly due to differences in methodology and ethnic background. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association of AZFc polymorphisms and male infertility in the Yi ethnic population, residents within Yunnan Province, China. Methods: A total of 224 infertile patients and 153 fertile subjects were selected in the Yi ethnic population. The study was performed by sequence-tagged site plus/minus (STS+/−) analysis followed by gene dosage and gene copy definition analysis. Y haplotypes of 215 cases and 115 controls were defined by 12 binary markers using single nucleotide polymorphism on Y chromosome (Y-SNP) multiplex assays based on single base primer extension technology. Results: The distribution of Y haplotypes was not significantly different between the case and control groups. The frequencies of both gr/gr (7.6% vs. 8.5%) and b2/b3 (6.3% vs. 8.5%) deletions do not show significant differences. Similarly, single nucleotide variant (SNV) analysis shows no significant difference of gene copy definition between the cases and controls. However, the frequency of partial duplications in the infertile group (4.0%) is significantly higher than that in the control group (0.7%). Further, we found a case with sY1206 deletion which had two CDY1 copies but removed half of DAZ genes. Conclusions: Our results show that male infertility is associated with partial AZFc duplications, but neither gr/gr nor b2/b3 deletions, suggesting that partial AZFc duplications rather than deletions are risk factors for male infertility in Chinese-Yi population.
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Computational prediction of cleavage using proteasomal in vitro digestion and MHC I ligand data
Yu-feng Lu, Hao Sheng, Yi Zhang, Zhi-yang Li
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 816-828.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200299
Proteasomes are responsible for the production of the majority of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes. Hence, it is important to identify correctly which peptides will be generated by proteasomes from an unknown protein. However, the pool of proteasome cleavage data used in the prediction algorithms, whether from major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I ligand or in vitro digestion data, is not identical to in vivo proteasomal digestion products. Therefore, the accuracy and reliability of these models still need to be improved. In this paper, three types of proteasomal cleavage data, constitutive proteasome (cCP), immunoproteasome (iCP) in vitro cleavage, and MHC I ligand data, were used for training cleave-site predictive methods based on the kernel-function stabilized matrix method (KSMM). The predictive accuracies of the KSMM+pair coefficients were 75.0%, 72.3%, and 83.1% for cCP, iCP, and MHC I ligand data, respectively, which were comparable to the results from support vector machine (SVM). The three proteasomal cleavage methods were combined in turn with MHC I-peptide binding predictions to model MHC I-peptide processing and the presentation pathway. These integrations markedly improved MHC I peptide identification, increasing area under the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC) values from 0.82 to 0.91. The results suggested that both MHC I ligand and proteasomal in vitro degradation data can give an exact simulation of in vivo processed digestion. The information extracted from cCP and iCP in vitro cleavage data demonstrated that both cCP and iCP are selective in their usage of peptide bonds for cleavage.
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Discrimination between Demodex folliculorum (Acari: Demodicidae) isolates from China and Spain based on mitochondrial cox1 sequences
Ya-e Zhao, Jun-xian Ma, Li Hu, Li-ping Wu, Manuel De Rojas
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 829-836.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200363
For a long time, classification of Demodex mites has been based mainly on their hosts and phenotypic characteristics. A new subspecies of Demodex folliculorum has been proposed, but not confirmed. Here, cox1 partial sequences of nine isolates of three Demodex species from two geographical sources (China and Spain) were studied to conduct molecular identification of D. folliculorum. Sequencing showed that the mitochondrial cox1 fragments of five D. folliculorum isolates from the facial skin of Chinese individuals were 429 bp long and that their sequence identity was 97.4%. The average sequence divergence was 1.24% among the five Chinese isolates, 0.94% between the two geographical isolate groups (China (5) and Spain (1)), and 2.15% between the two facial tissue sources (facial skin (6) and eyelids (1)). The genetic distance and rate of third-position nucleotide transition/transversion were 0.0125, 2.7 (3/1) among the five Chinese isolates, 0.0094, 3.1 (3/1) between the two geographical isolate groups, and 0.0217, 4.4 (3/1) between the two facial tissue sources. Phylogenetic trees showed that D. folliculorum from the two geographical isolate groups did not form sister clades, while those from different facial tissue sources did. According to the molecular characteristics, it appears that subspecies differentiation might not have occurred and that D. folliculorum isolates from the two geographical sources are of the same population. However, population differentiation might be occurring between isolates from facial skin and eyelids.
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Motion performance and impingement risk of total hip arthroplasty with a simulation module
Hai Zhou, Cheng-tao Wang, Wen-ting Ji, Xiang-sen Zeng, Shu Fang, Dong-mei Wang
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 849-854.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1200168
The present study introduced a new motion analysis method for total hip arthroplasty (THA). A motion simulation module of THA was designed and developed, which can simulate the THA鈥檚 implantation condition and motion and detect the theoretic range of motion (ROM) before the prosthetic component impingement happens. The impingement risk of THA should be investigated through comparing the analysis data of module with the realistic kinematics obtained from hip motion measurement. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate how to use this module, the kinematic data of the hip were recorded by measuring the lower limbs motion of general population in six activities of daily living (ADLs), i.e., kneeling, squatting, ascending stair, descending stair, walking, and jogging. Analysis results showed that the possibilities of impingement and dislocation were larger during the squatting activity. It is reasonable to believe that the motion simulation module of THA in the present study is helpful for clinical medicine engineering, and hip implant design and optimization.
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Spinous process plate fixation for cervical spinal fusion after spinal trauma: two case reports
Hiroki Hirabayashi, Jun Takahashi, Hiroyuki Hashidate, Nobuhide Ogihara, Keijiro Mukaiyama, Shugo Kuraishi, Masayuki Shimizu, Hiroyuki Nakagawa, Renzo Matsue, Hiroyuki Kato
Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology), 2013, 14(9): 855-858.
https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.B1300063
Posterior cervical fixation with various forms of instrumentation has been used for reconstruction in cases of traumatic disorders and degenerative or tumor-related dysfunction of the cervical spine. Recently, posterior plate and rod techniques using lateral mass screws or pedicle screws have been reported to show excellent fusion rates (Xu et al., 2010). Nevertheless, because such cervical spinal instrumentation requires screw anchorage, which may expose the vertebral artery or neural structures and cause neighboring lateral mass damage, they are not used by some surgeons (Mihara et al., 2001; Xu et al., 2010). A spinous process plate system, S-plate (Kisco Co., Ltd., Kobe, Japan), has been developed for short in situ fusions in selected patients. In this fixation procedure, the spinous processes are securely sandwiched between a pair of spiked plates, which are pressed together by tightening screws that extend through the plates (Neo et al., 2006). To our knowledge, only one report has described this cervical fixation technique, specifically as a salvage operation for failed anterior cervical fusion (Neo et al., 2006).
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14 articles
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