Chokeberry reduces inflammation in human preadipocytes.

Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, is an indigenous fruit from North America used as food and to prevent chronic disease by Indigenous Peoples. The objective of this study was to test anti-inflammatory effects of anthocyanin on palmitic acid (PA)-induced IL-6 gene expression, IL-6 DNA methylation, and histone (H3) acetylation. Additionally, we examined effects of anthocyanins Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside (C3Gal) and Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G) on IL-6 gene expression. Human primary pre-adipocytes were treated with chokeberry juice extract (CBE), C3Gal or C3G in the presence or absence of PA or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). CBE inhibited LPS- and PA-induced IL-6 mRNA expression (p < 0.0001), while C3G and C3Gal had smaller effects. Human IL-6 promoter DNA methylation was increased (p = 0.0256) in CBE treated cells compared to control. Histone H3 acetylations were not affected by CBE or PA treatment. These data indicate that CBE epigenetically reduced PA-induced inflammation by regulating IL-6 DNA methylation without affecting histone modifications in human preadipocyte cells.

Effect of a maternal high-fat diet with vegetable substitution on fetal brain transcriptome.

Maternal dietary conditions play a major role in fetal growth and brain development. The primary aim of this study was to determine the effects of 5% of energy substitution by vegetables in a maternal dietary fat on placental and fetal weight and on fetal brain gene expression. Two-month-old female C57BL/6 mice were fed 16% (normal-fat, NF), 45% fat (HF), or HF substituted with vegetables (5% energy, HF+VS) diets for 12 weeks. Dams were then bred with NF diet-fed male mice. Placenta and fetal weights were measured at gestational age 19 (D19). RNA was isolated from fetal whole brains and sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. HF+VS diet prevented maternal HF diet-induced decreases in placental weight at D19. Feeding of a maternal HF diet was associated with 79 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), while maternal vegetable substitution was associated with 131 DEGs. The vegetable substitution diet decreased Apold1 (P=.0319), Spata2l (P=.0404), and Celsr1 (P<.03) expression compared to HF diet. Enrichment analysis of HF vs. HF+VS DEGs identified that synapse organization and regulation of embryonic development were significantly represented. KEGG enrichment analysis identified a significant representation of DEGs in the ubiquitin mediated proteolysis pathway in HF vs. HF+VS, and chemokine signaling pathway in NF vs. HF. These findings suggest that at D19, in a rodent model, a maternal HF diet alters placental and fetal growth, and that vegetable supplementation renders a protective effect against these changes.

Genetic Screening for EMS-Induced Maize Embryo-Specific Mutants Altered in Embryo Morphogenesis.

We have previously identified embryo-specific (emb) mutations that resulted in maize kernels containing abnormal embryos with normal-appearing endosperm among the progeny of active Robertson's Mutator stocks. Our rationale for the mutant screen described here is that it should be possible to produce ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS)-induced emb mutations at a frequency higher than that obtained by transposon mutagenesis and with greater ease. This proved to be the case when we screened for mutations that are embryo-specific among progeny of materials generated with EMS-treated pollen. The EMS-induced emb mutation frequency reported here is nearly three times the 4.5% we obtained with the transposable element stocks. The 45 mutants reported here were all tested for germination capacity and nearly all were lethal. The embryo phenotypes of 34 mutations were examined by dissection of the mature embryos. All were found to be retarded in development and morphologically abnormal. Half of the mutants in this group were blocked in the proembryo and transition stages. They likely include mutations in nuclear genes coding for plastid proteins. The other 17 are mainly blocked in the coleoptilar stage, or in later stages with a low frequency. This group likely includes mutations in genes regulating the completion of shoot apical meristem (SAM) development and accompanying morphogenetic events. Most of the complementation tests using 19 of the mutations in 35 unique combinations complimented each other, except for two pairs of mutations with similar phenotypes. Our results provide additional evidence for the presence of many emb loci in the maize genome.

The effects of varying chromosome arm dosage on maize plant morphogenesis.

Maize is an especially well-suited species for studying the effects of aneuploidy on plant development. We used B-A translocations and testers that were crossed seven times into inbred W22 to generate a dosage series for 14 chromosome arms. This is the first report of dosage effects on maize morphogenesis using inbred B-A stocks and inbred tester stocks. We compared plants containing one dose or three doses of each of the 14 chromosome arms with plants containing two doses for seven measured traits. These were leaf width, leaf length, plant height, ear height, internode length, ear node circumference, and tassel branch number. We observed the typical maize aneuploid syndrome wherein one dose was more widespread and more severe in its effects than three doses. All but two of the one-dose effects were negative, and all of the three-dose effects were negative. The occurrence of positive responses by hyperploid plants in our earlier B-A-A study and the absence of any positive responses among the hyperploids reported for the 14 simple B-A translocations tested for dosage effects in the present study and previously may reflect gene dosage interaction between the two chromosome arm segments present in the B-A-A translocations. The overall congruence of our results with those of previous studies suggests that the traits measured are quantitative traits controlled by multiple genes whose activities provide a balanced regulation that transcends individual inbred lines or diverse genetic backgrounds and that such genes may be especially abundant in chromosome arm 1L.