The nonvolatile and volatile substances changes based on non-target metabonomics reveals the formation mechanism of Tsamba flavor before and after roasting of highland barley.

As the traditional staple food for Tibetan people in northwest China, Tsamba is the main processing product of highland barley and roasting is the key processing step to determine the flavor of Tsamba. In this study, non-targeted metabonomics were employed to analyze the changes of non-volatile and volatile metabolites, as well as active substances, before and after roasting. The active substances in tsamba were significantly increased after roasting.

The development of hooded awns in barley: From ectopic Kap1 expression to yield potential.

Awns in barley have different shapes including awnless, straight, hooded, crooked, and leafy awns. The hooded awns are characterized by an appendage of the lemma, which forms a trigonal or cap-shaped structure, and even blossoms and yields fruits on barley awn. In the lemma primordia of wild-type (straight awn), cells divide and elongate to form the straight awn.

Genome-wide identification, characterization, and evolutionary analysis of the barley TALE gene family and its expression profiles in response to exogenous hormones.

Three-amino-loop-extension (TALE) family belongs to the homeobox gene superfamily and occurs widely in plants, playing a crucial role in regulating their growth and development. Currently, genome-wide analysis of the TALE family has been completed in many plants. However, the systematic identification and hormone response analysis of the TALE gene family in barley are still lacking.

Two new anti-inflammatory trachylobane diterpenoids from .

Two new rare trachylobane euphoratones A-B (-), together with five known diterpenoids (compounds ), were isolated from the aerial parts of . Their structures were unambiguously elucidated through HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis. Compounds , , and showed weak anti-inflammatory activities (IC 77.

Cytotoxic steroids from the stems of Strophanthus divaricatus.

Phytochemical investigation on the stems of Strophanthus divaricatus led to the isolation of four undescribed cardiac glycosides and one undescribed C pregnane, together with eleven known steroids. Their structures were elucidated by a comprehensive analysis of HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectra. The absolute configuration of 16 was determined by comparison of the experimental and computed ECD spectra.

Flow cytometic analysis of Penaeus monodon haemocyte responses to poly I:C.

This study was aimed at investigating the cellular responses of Penaeus monodon haemocytes to poly I:C stimulation using flow cytometric assay. Total haemocyte count (THC), percentages of different haemocyte subpopulations [hyaline cells (HC), semigranular cells (SGC) and granular cells (GC)], non-specific esterase activity (EA), total reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) production, nitric oxide (NO) production, apoptotic haemocyte ratio and plasmic phenoloxidase (PO) activity were determined in poly I:C-injected shrimp. Results showed that poly I:C at a low dose (5 μg shrimp) caused obvious increases in THC, GC proportion, ROS/RNS production and NO production, but had no significant effect on EA, apoptosis and PO activity.

Isolation and Characterization of Ftsz Genes in Cassava.

The filamenting temperature-sensitive Z proteins (FtsZs) play an important role in plastid division. In this study, three FtsZ genes were isolated from the cassava genome, and named MeFtsZ1, MeFtsZ2-1, and MeFtsZ2-2, respectively. Based on phylogeny, the MeFtsZs were classified into two groups (FtsZ1 and FtsZ2).

Identification, Expression, and Functional Analysis of the Fructokinase Gene Family in Cassava.

Fructokinase (FRK) proteins play important roles in catalyzing fructose phosphorylation and participate in the carbohydrate metabolism of storage organs in plants. To investigate the roles of FRKs in cassava tuber root development, seven genes (-) were identified, and - were isolated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the family genes can be divided into α (, , , ) and β (, , ) groups.

Structure, Expression, and Functional Analysis of the Hexokinase Gene Family in Cassava.

Hexokinase (HXK) proteins play important roles in catalyzing hexose phosphorylation and sugar sensing and signaling. To investigate the roles of HXKs in cassava tuber root development, seven genes () were isolated and analyzed. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that the MeHXK family can be divided into five subfamilies of plant HXKs.

Isopentenyl transferase gene (ipt) downstream transcriptionally fused with gene expression improves the growth of transgenic plants.

This research reports a promising approach to increase a plant's physiological cytokinin content. This approach also enables the increase to play a role in plant growth and development by introducing the ipt gene to downstream transcriptionally fuse with other genes under the control of a CaMV35S promoter, in which the ipt gene is far from the 35S promoter. According to Kozak's ribosome screening model, expression of the ipt gene is reduced by the terminal codon of the first gene and the internal untranslated nucleotides between the fused genes.

Embryo and anther regulation of the mabinlin II sweet protein gene in Capparis masaikai Lévl.

Mabinlin II is one of the major sweet proteins stored in the seeds of Capparis masaikai Lévl. Its promoter region (779 bp) located 5' upstream of the mabinlin II gene has been isolated and named as MBL-779 (GenBank accession number, EU014073). This promoter contains two typical TATA box regions and a series of motifs related to seed-specific promoters, such as ACGT motifs, RY motif, napin motif, and G box.

Activation of genes presumed in cytokinin signal pathway of two-component system in response to the increased cytokinin contents in ipt-GUS transgenic Arabidopsis.

The ipt-GUS activated transgenic Arabidopsis had 20-25 fold higher cytokinin contents than the wild type. Changes in cytokinin content in vivo triggering gene expressions involved in signal pathway of two-component system have been analyzed on the day of 6 d, 12 d, 20 d and 30 d after seed cultivation on MS medium in light conditions. The results showed that the two cytokinin receptors, His-kinase CRE1 was more sensitive to the increased cytokinin contents than CKI1.

[The structure and phosphorus or potassium deficiency induced expression of a calmodulin-like protein gene in Arabidopsis].

According to our previous microarray analysis, we found a putative calmodulin gene related to Pi deficiency and designated AtPsiCaM (Arabidopsis Pi-starvation-induced CaM). Results of structural analysis indicate that AtPsiCaM has three conserved EF-hands motif and belongs to calmodulin-like proteins family (Figs. 1-3).

[Application of Ac/Ds transposon system to genetate marker gene free transgenic plants in rice].

It is critical to generate marker gene free transgenic plants for retransformating or eliminating the potential harmfulness of marker gene and its product. In this study, Ac/Ds transposon system was developed for removal of hpt selection marker gene to obtain marker-free transgenic plants in rice ( Oryza sativa L.).

Characterization of enhancer trap and gene trap harboring Ac/Ds transposon in transgenic rice.

Insertion mutagenesis has become one of the most popular methods for gene functions analysis. Here we report a two-element Ac/Ds transposon system containing enhancer trap and gene trap for gene tagging in rice. The excision of Ds element was examined by PCR amplification.