Effect of composted sewage sludge on morpho-physiological growth parameters, grain yield and selected functional compounds of barley.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have evaluated the effects of composted sewage sludge on barley and found a positive influence on crop productivity. No studies have investigated the effects of composted sewage sludge on functional compounds of the caryopsis, such as phenolics and ß-glucans. The former play a role in plant defence mechanisms and both could be influenced by variations of kernel size related to fertilization intensity. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of different doses (3-12 mg ha-1 ) of composted sewage sludge applied alone or in combination with mineral fertilization on morpho-physiological and yield qualitative parameters, especially phenolics and ß-glucans contents of grains, in barley. RESULTS: Increasing fertilization rates, irrespective of fertilizer type, improved morpho-physiological and yield parameters, whereas the phenolic compounds and the related antioxidant activity significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The ß-glucans and the main color indices did not show significant differences. The combined application of 6 mg ha-1 sewage sludge and nitrogen was not significantly different from mineral fertilization. Morpho-physiological and qualitative parameters, as well as bioactive compounds, were all significantly correlated with nutrient levels, with higher r values for nitrogen. CONCLUSION: Composted sewage sludge had a similar effect compared to mineral fertilization. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Lipid degradation and sensory characteristics of ripened sausages packed in modified atmosphere at different carbon dioxide concentrations.

BACKGROUND: Conflicting results about the effect of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) rich in CO2 on the quality of different kinds of meat products are present in the literature. In this study, the degree of lipid degradation and the sensory characteristics of ripened sausages packed in modified atmosphere at three different carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were evaluated during 5 months of storage. RESULTS: The degree of hydrolytic degradation of the lipid fraction was found to decrease with increasing CO2 concentration. Similarly, oxidative phenomena occurred at a lower rate when the CO2 concentration increased. The variations in CO2 concentration influenced the perception of rancid flavor in the examined sausages. CONCLUSION: An increase in CO2 concentration in MAP slowed down the evolution of lipid oxidation owing to the minor extent of hydrolytic degradation, whose products have pro-oxidant activity. This effect was more evident in the first 2 months of storage.

Involvement of DNA methylation in the control of cell growth during heat stress in tobacco BY-2 cells.

The alteration of growth patterns, through the adjustment of cell division and expansion, is a characteristic response of plants to environmental stress. In order to study this response in more depth, the effect of heat stress on growth was investigated in tobacco BY-2 cells. The results indicate that heat stress inhibited cell division, by slowing cell cycle progression. Cells were stopped in the pre-mitotic phases, as shown by the increased expression of CycD3-1 and by the decrease in the NtCycA13, NtCyc29 and CDKB1-1 transcripts. The decrease in cell length and the reduced expression of Nt-EXPA5 indicated that cell expansion was also inhibited. Since DNA methylation plays a key role in controlling gene expression, the possibility that the altered expression of genes involved in the control of cell growth, observed during heat stress, could be due to changes in the methylation state of their promoters was investigated. The results show that the altered expression of CycD3-1 and Nt-EXPA5 was consistent with changes in the methylation state of the upstream region of these genes. These results suggest that DNA methylation, controlling the expression of genes involved in plant development, contributes to growth alteration occurring in response to environmental changes.

Exploitation of the nutritional and functional characteristics of traditional Italian legumes: the potential of sourdough fermentation.

This study aimed at evaluating the composition of nineteen traditional Italian legumes and at investigating the potential of the sourdough fermentation with selected lactic acid bacteria to improve the nutritional and functional features. Traditional Italian legumes, all with product certifications and belonging to Phaseolus vulgaris, Cicer arietinum, Lathyrus sativus, Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum species, were used in this study. Seeds were milled, and flours were analyzed for proximate composition and subjected to sourdough fermentation at 30°C for 24h. Lactobacillus plantarum C48 and Lactobacillus brevis AM7 were used as selected starters. Compared to control doughs, without bacterial inoculum, the concentrations of free amino acids (FAA), soluble fibres, and total phenols increased for all legume sourdoughs. Raffinose decreased of up to ca. 64%. During sourdough fermentation, the level of GABA markedly increased and reached values up to 624mg/kg. Condensed tannins decreased. At the same time, almost all legume sourdoughs showed increases of the antioxidant and phytase activities. As shown by PCA analysis based on data of total FAA, GABA, raffinose, soluble/insoluble dietary fibre, condensed tannins and antioxidant and phytase activities, all legume sourdoughs were clearly differentiated from control doughs. The traditional Italian legumes are bio-diverse, and all showed high levels of nutritional elements and suitability for optimal sourdough fermentation. Legume flours subjected to sourdough fermentation would be suitable to be used alone or better in mixture with cereals, and as gluten-free ingredients for making novel and healthy foods.

A Survey of MicroRNA Length Variants Contributing to miRNome Complexity in Peach (Prunus Persica L.).

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNA molecules produced from hairpin structures and involved in gene expression regulation with major roles in plant development and stress response. Although each annotated miRNA in miRBase (www.mirbase.org) is a single defined sequence with no further details on possible variable sequence length, isomiRs - namely the population of variants of miRNAs coming from the same precursors - have been identified in several species and could represent a way of broadening the regulatory network of the cell. Next-gen-based sequencing makes it possible to comprehensively and accurately assess the entire miRNA repertoire including isomiRs. The aim of this work was to survey the complexity of the peach miRNome by carrying out Illumina high-throughput sequencing of miRNAs in three replicates of five biological samples arising from a set of different peach organs and/or phenological stages. Three hundred-ninety-two isomiRs (miRNA and miRNA*-related) corresponding to 26 putative miRNA coding loci, have been highlighted by mirDeep-P and analyzed. The presence of the same isomiRs in different biological replicates of a sample and in different tissues demonstrates that the generation of most of the detected isomiRs is not random. The degree of mature sequence heterogeneity is very different for each individual locus. Results obtained in the present work can thus contribute to a deeper view of the miRNome complexity and to better explore the mechanism of action of these tiny regulators.

Evidences for insulator activity of the 5'UTR of the Drosophila melanogaster LTR-retrotransposon ZAM.

Insulators or chromatin boundary are DNA elements that organize the genome into discrete regulatory domains by limiting the actions of enhancers and silencers through a "positional-blocking mechanism". The role of these sequences, both in modulation of the enhancers range of action (enhancer-promoter selectivity) and in the organization of the chromatin in functional domains, is emerging strongly in these last years. There is a great interest in identifying new insulators because deeper knowledge of these elements can help understand how cis-regulatory elements coordinate the expression of the target genes. However, while insulators are critical in gene regulation and genome functioning, only a few have been reported so far. Here, we describe a new insulator sequence that is located in the 5'UTR of the Drosophila retrotransposon ZAM. We have used an "enhancer-blocking assay" to test its effects on the activity of the enhancer in transiently transfected Drosophila S2R(+) cell line. Moreover, we show that the new insulator is able to affect significantly the enhancer-promoter interaction in the human cell line HEK293. These results suggest the possibility of employing the ZAM insulator in gene transfer protocols from insects to mammals in order to counteract the transgene positional and genotoxic effects.