ZnCl2 treatment improves nutrient quality and Zn accumulation in peanut seeds and sprouts.

Peanut is a popular food due to its high nutrient content. The effects of ZnCl2 on peanut seed germination, fatty acid and sugar contents, vitamin biosynthesis, antioxidant content, and Zn assimilation were evaluated in this study. Treatment with ZnCl2 significantly improved the germination rate, enhanced reactive oxygen species production and reduced the content of total fatty acids in peanut seed and sprout. However, ZnCl2 treatment did not reduce total sugar or total protein relative to the control. Germination promoted the biosynthesis of phenolics and resveratrol and increased the antioxidant capacity, as evaluated by Fe3+ reducing power and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging ability, especially under Zn stress conditions. The vitamin content decreased in the following order among treatments: germinated seeds with ZnCl2 treatment > germinated seeds without ZnCl2 treatment > dormant seeds. Interestingly, Zn content was approximately five times higher in the germinated ZnCl2-treated seeds compared to in the untreated germinated seeds and the dormant seeds. The results of this study provide a new method for producing healthy foods with enhanced vitamin content and antioxidant capacity.

On the Molecular Basis of Division of Labor in Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Workers: RNA-seq Analysis.

The fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren is an important invasive pest. Among S. invicta workers behavioral changes depend on age where younger ants are nurses and older ants foragers. To identify potential genes associated with this division of labor, we compared gene expression between foragers and nurses by high-throughput sequencing. In total, we identified 1,618 genes significantly differently expressed between nurses and foragers, of which 542 were upregulated in foragers and 1,076 were upregulated in nurses. Several pathways related to metabolism were significantly enriched, such as lipid storage and fatty acid biosynthesis, which might contribute to the division of labor in S. invicta. Several genes involved in DNA methylation, transcription, and olfactory responses as well as resistance to stress were differentially expressed between nurses and foragers workers. Finally, a comparison between previously published microarray data and our RNA-seq data in S. invicta shows 116 genes overlap, and the GO term myofibril assembly (GO: 0030239) were simultaneously significantly enriched. These results advance knowledge of potentially important genes and molecular pathways associated with worker division of labor in S. invicta. We hope our dataset will provide . candidate target genes to disrupt organization in S. invicta as a control strategy against this invasive pest.