Effect of Pepper-Containing Diets on the Diversity and Composition of Gut Microbiome of Drosophila melanogaster.

One of the greatest impacts on the gastrointestinal microbiome is diet because the host and microbiome share the same food source. In addition, the effect of diet can diverge depending on the host genotype. Diets supplemented with phytochemicals found in peppers might cause shifts in the microbiome. Thus, understanding how these interactions occur can reveal potential health implications associated with such changes. This study aims to explore the gut microbiome of different Drosophila genetic backgrounds and the effects of dietary pepper treatments on its composition and structure. We analyzed the gut microbiomes of three Drosophila melanogaster genetic backgrounds (Canton-S, Oregon-RC, and Berlin-K) reared on control and pepper-containing diets (bell, serrano, and habanero peppers). Results of 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that the variability of Drosophila gut microbiome can be driven mainly by genetic factors. When the abundance of these communities is considered, pepper-containing diets also appear to have an effect. The most relevant change in microbial composition was the increment of Lactobacillaceae and Acetobacteraceae abundance in the pepper-containing diets in comparison with the controls in Oregon-RC and Berlin-K. Regression analysis demonstrated that this enhancement was associated with the content of phenolic compounds and carotenoids of the peppers utilized in this study; specifically, to the concentration of ß-carotene, ß-cryptoxanthin, myricetin, quercetin, and apigenin.

Genome-wide Diversity and Association Mapping for Capsaicinoids and Fruit Weight in Capsicum annuum L.

Accumulated capsaicinoid content and increased fruit size are traits resulting from Capsicum annuum domestication. In this study, we used a diverse collection of C. annuum to generate 66,960 SNPs using genotyping by sequencing. The study identified 1189 haplotypes containing 3413 SNPs. Length of individual linkage disequilibrium (LD) blocks varied along chromosomes, with regions of high and low LD interspersed with an average LD of 139 kb. Principal component analysis (PCA), Bayesian model based population structure analysis and an Euclidean tree built based on identity by state (IBS) indices revealed that the clustering pattern of diverse accessions are in agreement with capsaicin content (CA) and fruit weight (FW) classifications indicating the importance of these traits in shaping modern pepper genome. PCA and IBS were used in a mixed linear model of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin content and fruit weight to reduce spurious associations because of confounding effects of subpopulations in genome-wide association study (GWAS). Our GWAS results showed SNPs in Ankyrin-like protein, IKI3 family protein, ABC transporter G family and pentatricopeptide repeat protein are the major markers for capsaicinoids and of 16 SNPs strongly associated with FW in both years of the study, 7 are located in known fruit weight controlling genes.

Synthesis and photoluminescence properties of La2Zr2O7:Eu3+@YBO3 core@shell nanoparticles.

Novel heterostructured La2Zr2O7:Eu(3+)@YBO3 core@shell nanoparticles (NPs) composed of a trivalent europium doped lanthanum zirconate (La2Zr2O7:Eu(3+)) core and yttrium orthoborate (YBO3) shell are reported in this paper for the first time. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to confirm the formation of the heterostructured core@shell NPs. Luminescent enhancement was observed after the La2Zr2O7:Eu(3+) core NPs were coated with the thin YBO3 shells under 405 nm excitation. Based on optical transition property analysis and fluorescent decay measurement, the reduction of non-radiative transition rate is possibly responsible for the luminescent enhancement. Moreover, an improvement of the symmetry around the Eu(3+) ions in the La2Zr2O7:Eu(3+) core NPs was found after the YBO3 shell coating.