scholarly journals Trees as bioindicators of environmental pollution and its impact on wood chemical composition

BioResources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 2184-2187
Author(s):  
Carmen-Alice Teacă
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Wood Cellulose ◽  
Biomass Resources ◽  
Wood Chemical Composition ◽  
Structural Polymers

Trees provide one of the most versatile biomass resources for many applications, namely wood. The chemical composition of wood determines its properties, being of real significance for its further capitalization, and depending on many factors. In nature, trees’ biomass is subjected to considerable pollution stress with further alteration of their normal growth conditions. Some correlations have been established between wood’s chemical composition and its further exploitation accordingly to particular circumstances of climate changes and pollution. The content of the main structural polymers from wood, cellulose and lignin, as well other components undergoes notable changes under the influence of pollution phenomena.

scholarly journals Cell Wall Chemical Composition ofEnterococcus faecalis in the Viable but Nonculturable State

2000 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1953-1959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Signoretto ◽  
Maria del Mar Lleò ◽  
Maria Carla Tafi ◽  
Pietro Canepari
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Physiological State ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Lipoteichoic Acid ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Vbnc State ◽  
Viable But Nonculturable ◽  
Dividing Cells

ABSTRACT The viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state is a survival mechanism adopted by many bacteria (including those of medical interest) when exposed to adverse environmental conditions. In this state bacteria lose the ability to grow in bacteriological media but maintain viability and pathogenicity and sometimes are able to revert to regular division upon restoration of normal growth conditions. The aim of this work was to analyze the biochemical composition of the cell wall ofEnterococcus faecalis in the VBNC state in comparison with exponentially growing and stationary cells. VBNC enterococcal cells appeared as slightly elongated and were endowed with a wall more resistant to mechanical disruption than dividing cells. Analysis of the peptidoglycan chemical composition showed an increase in total cross-linking, which rose from 39% in growing cells to 48% in VBNC cells. This increase was detected in oligomers of a higher order than dimers, such as trimers (24% increase), tetramers (37% increase), pentamers (65% increase), and higher oligomers (95% increase). Changes were also observed in penicillin binding proteins (PBPs), the enzymes involved in the terminal stages of peptidoglycan assembly, with PBPs 5 and 1 being prevalent, and in autolytic enzymes, with a threefold increase in the activity of latent muramidase-1 in E. faecalis in the VBNC state. Accessory wall polymers such as teichoic acid and lipoteichoic acid proved unchanged and doubled in quantity, respectively, in VBNC cells in comparison to dividing cells. It is suggested that all these changes in the cell wall of VBNC enterococci are specific to this particular physiological state. This may provide indirect confirmation of the viability of these cells.

scholarly journals Versatile Physiological Functions of Plant GSK3-Like Kinases

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 697
Author(s):  
Juan Mao ◽  
Wenxin Li ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Jianming Li
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Glycogen Synthase ◽  
Plant Stress ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Physiological Functions ◽  
Environmental Signals ◽  
Plant Stress Responses ◽  
Diverse Plant

The plant glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3)-like kinases are highly conserved protein serine/threonine kinases that are grouped into four subfamilies. Similar to their mammalian homologs, these kinases are constitutively active under normal growth conditions but become inactivated in response to diverse developmental and environmental signals. Since their initial discoveries in the early 1990s, many biochemical and genetic studies were performed to investigate their physiological functions in various plant species. These studies have demonstrated that the plant GSK3-like kinases are multifunctional kinases involved not only in a wide variety of plant growth and developmental processes but also in diverse plant stress responses. Here we summarize our current understanding of the versatile physiological functions of the plant GSK3-like kinases along with their confirmed and potential substrates.

scholarly journals The Effect of Elicitors and Canopy Management in the Chemical Composition of Vitis vinifera Red Varieties in Warm and Hot Areas in Spain

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1192
Author(s):  
Natalia Gutiérrez ◽  
Leyre López-de-Silanes ◽  
Carlos Escott ◽  
Iris Loira ◽  
Juan Manuel del Fresno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Vitis Vinifera ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Total Phenolic ◽  
Phenolic Fraction ◽  
Biological Origin ◽  
Phenolic Index ◽  
Canopy Management

Canopy management practices in vineyards, such as sprawling systems and shoot trimming, can change the accumulation of metabolites in grapes. The use of elicitors of biological origin on grapevines of Vitis vinifera red grape varieties may also modulate the chemical composition of the berries. These modifications are often observed in the accumulation of phenolic compounds, including pigments. Both technical approaches are alternatives involved in minimizing the effects of global climate change in warm areas. The increase of temperature related to climate change accelerates the accumulation of sugars, but produces unbalanced grapes. This work establishes the use of button sensors to monitor the climate changes occurring at grape cluster level. Together with climate monitoring, conventional instrumental analytical techniques are used to follow up the chemical composition and the phenolic fraction of grapes in four different production areas in Spain. The effect of either treatment seems variable and to be affected by external factors besides the treatment itself and the climate conditions. While there is a fine effect that correlates with the use of elicitors in varieties like Merlot and Tempranillo, there is minimal improvement observed in Tintilla de Rota. The total phenolic index increases were between 2.3% and 11.8% in the first two parcels. The same happened with the vineyard’s canopy management systems, with increased pigment accumulation and the total phenolic index rising (37.7% to 68.7%) after applying intense shoot trimming, or a variation in sugar concentrations when using sprawl conduction. This study aims to provide viticulturists and oenologists in particular, and farmers in general, with data on the field regarding the use of alternative sustainable practices in the cultivation of grapes. The techniques used involved 100% natural products without adjuvants. The benefits obtained from applying some of these practices would be to produce technically mature grapes despite climate changes, and the elaboration of more balanced wines.

scholarly journals Sequence and regulation of a gene encoding a human 89-kilodalton heat shock protein.

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 2615-2626 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Hickey ◽  
S E Brandon ◽  
G Smale ◽  
D Lloyd ◽  
L A Weber
Keyword(s):  
Heat Shock ◽  
Heat Shock Protein ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Gene Families ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Complete Sequence ◽  
Start Codon ◽  
Hybridization Probe ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Alpha Gene

Vertebrate cells synthesize two forms of the 82- to 90-kilodalton heat shock protein that are encoded by distinct gene families. In HeLa cells, both proteins (hsp89 alpha and hsp89 beta) are abundant under normal growth conditions and are synthesized at increased rates in response to heat stress. Only the larger form, hsp89 alpha, is induced by the adenovirus E1A gene product (M. C. Simon, K. Kitchener, H. T. Kao, E. Hickey, L. Weber, R. Voellmy, N. Heintz, and J. R. Nevins, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:2884-2890, 1987). We have isolated a human hsp89 alpha gene that shows complete sequence identity with heat- and E1A-inducible cDNA used as a hybridization probe. The 5'-flanking region contained overlapping and inverted consensus heat shock control elements that can confer heat-inducible expression on a beta-globin reporter gene. The gene contained 10 intervening sequences. The first intron was located adjacent to the translation start codon, an arrangement also found in the Drosophila hsp82 gene. The spliced mRNA sequence contained a single open reading frame encoding an 84,564-dalton polypeptide showing high homology with the hsp82 to hsp90 proteins of other organisms. The deduced hsp89 alpha protein sequence differed from the human hsp89 beta sequence reported elsewhere (N. F. Rebbe, J. Ware, R. M. Bertina, P. Modrich, and D. W. Stafford (Gene 53:235-245, 1987) in at least 99 out of the 732 amino acids. Transcription of the hsp89 alpha gene was induced by serum during normal cell growth, but expression did not appear to be restricted to a particular stage of the cell cycle. hsp89 alpha mRNA was considerably more stable than the mRNA encoding hsp70, which can account for the higher constitutive rate of hsp89 synthesis in unstressed cells.

The positive regulatory function of the 5'-proximal open reading frames in GCN4 mRNA can be mimicked by heterologous, short coding sequences

1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 3827-3836
Author(s):  
N P Williams ◽  
P P Mueller ◽  
A G Hinnebusch
Keyword(s):  
Translational Control ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Open Reading Frames ◽  
Regulatory Function ◽  
Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Yeast Genes ◽  
Reading Frames

Translational control of GCN4 expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is mediated by multiple AUG codons present in the leader of GCN4 mRNA, each of which initiates a short open reading frame of only two or three codons. Upstream AUG codons 3 and 4 are required to repress GCN4 expression in normal growth conditions; AUG codons 1 and 2 are needed to overcome this repression in amino acid starvation conditions. We show that the regulatory function of AUG codons 1 and 2 can be qualitatively mimicked by the AUG codons of two heterologous upstream open reading frames (URFs) containing the initiation regions of the yeast genes PGK and TRP1. These AUG codons inhibit GCN4 expression when present singly in the mRNA leader; however, they stimulate GCN4 expression in derepressing conditions when inserted upstream from AUG codons 3 and 4. This finding supports the idea that AUG codons 1 and 2 function in the control mechanism as translation initiation sites and further suggests that suppression of the inhibitory effects of AUG codons 3 and 4 is a general consequence of the translation of URF 1 and 2 sequences upstream. Several observations suggest that AUG codons 3 and 4 are efficient initiation sites; however, these sequences do not act as positive regulatory elements when placed upstream from URF 1. This result suggests that efficient translation is only one of the important properties of the 5' proximal URFs in GCN4 mRNA. We propose that a second property is the ability to permit reinitiation following termination of translation and that URF 1 is optimized for this regulatory function.

Application of natural and synthetic polyamines as growth regulators to improve the freezing tolerance of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Todorova ◽  
I. Sergiev ◽  
V. Alexieva
Keyword(s):  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Foliar Application ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Triticum Aestivum L ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Freezing Stress ◽  
Preliminary Treatment ◽  
Fresh Weight ◽  
Soil Culture ◽  
Weight Losses

Wheat cultivars were grown as soil culture under normal growth conditions. Twoweek- old seedlings were exposed to 4°C for 6 h and then transferred to −12°C for 24 h in the dark. Twenty-four hours before freezing stress, some of the plants were sprayed with aqueous solutions of spermine, spermidine, putrescine, 1,3-diaminopropane (1,3-DAP) and diethylenetriamine (DETA). The data showed that freezing stress caused a decrease in the fresh weight, chlorophyll content and plant survival rate, accompanied by a simultaneous accumulation of free proline and the enhanced leakage of electrolytes. Preliminary treatment with polyamines caused a decline in electrolyte leakage and a considerable augmentation in proline quantity, indicating that the compounds are capable of preventing frost injury. Additionally, the foliar application of polyamines retarded the destruction of chlorophyll, and lessened fresh weight losses due to freezing stress. The synthetic triamine DETA was the most effective, having the most pronounced action in all the experiments, followed by the tetraamine spermine. The application of polyamines to wheat crops could be a promising approach for improving plant growth under unfavourable growth conditions, including freezing temperatures. The results demonstrate that treatment with polyamines could protect winter wheat by reducing the stress injuries caused by subzero temperatures.

scholarly journals Influence of stress conditions on the quality of obtained sprouts – modification of their chemical composition

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Magdalena Zielińska-Dawidziak
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Metal Ions ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Stress Conditions ◽  
Light Illumination ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Chemical Factors

Sprouts are generally accepted as a pro-healthy food. They are consumed as a source of valuable macronutrients, antioxidants, microelements, and vitamins. Changing growth conditions of sprouts enables modification of their nutritional quality, as well as their safety. Thus, in order to achieve the most desirable composition of the produced sprouts, the conditions for their production are optimized. The aim of this review is to present methods currently used to modify the nutritional quality of plant sprouts. Most scientific works focus on stress conditions inducing the synthesis of secondary metabolites, mainly antioxidants. An increase in their content is achieved after application of physical (e.g., light illumination, temperature) or chemical factors (e.g., salinity stress, phytohormones, metal ions, etc). Though the application of these modifications on a larger scale is problematic. These problems include difficulties in predicting the effect of the stressor and an increased price of the obtained sprouts. However, since it is possible to enrich sprouts with valuable health-promoting substances, these methods are still considered very promising.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Activation of Quiescent Uq Transposable Elements during Endosperm Development in Zea Mays.

Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-464
Author(s):  
Y B Pan ◽  
P A Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Transposable Elements ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Inbred Lines ◽  
Endosperm Development ◽  
Maize Breeding ◽  
Breeding Lines ◽  
Element System ◽  
Aleurone Tissue ◽  
Sufficient Stimulus

Abstract This study addresses the question of the activation of quiescent transposable elements in maize breeding lines. The a-ruq reporter allele of the Uq transposable element system expresses Uq activity (spots or sectors of spots in otherwise colorless aleurone tissue) when exposed to various genotypes of assorted maize inbred lines lacking any active Uq element. This activation of quiescent Uq elements occurs randomly during the growth of the endosperm. It is concluded that there are components in the genome that enhance the rare activation of quiescent Uq elements. Further, it seems that this activation occurs in the absence of any stress-inducing treatment, but that normal growth conditions provide sufficient stimulus for such activation.

scholarly journals Identification and Characterization of Chalcone Isomerase Genes Involved in Flavonoid Production in Dracaena cambodiana

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahong Zhu ◽  
Wan Zhao ◽  
Rongshuang Li ◽  
Dong Guo ◽  
Huiliang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcriptional Profiling ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Ultraviolet B ◽  
Chalcone Isomerase ◽  
Enzyme Activity Assay ◽  
Dragon’S Blood ◽  
Dracaena Cambodiana ◽  
Key Enzyme

Dragon’s blood is a traditional medicine in which flavonoids are the main bioactive compounds; however, the underlying formation mechanism of dragon’s blood remains largely poorly understood. Chalcone isomerase (CHI) is the key enzyme in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. However, CHI family genes are not well understood in Dracaena cambodiana Pierre ex Gagnep, an important source plant of dragon’s blood. In this study, 11 CHI family genes were identified from D. cambodiana, and they were classified into three types. Evolutionary and transcriptional profiling analysis revealed that DcCHI1 and DcCHI4 might be involved in flavonoid production. Both DcCHI1 and DcCHI4 displayed low expression levels in stem under normal growth conditions and were induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA), 6-benzyl aminopurine (6-BA, synthetic cytokinin), ultraviolet-B (UV-B), and wounding. The recombinant proteins DcCHI1 and DcCHI4 were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by His-Bind resin chromatography. Enzyme activity assay indicated that DcCHI1 catalyzed the formation of naringenin from naringenin chalcone, while DcCHI4 lacked this catalytic activity. Overexpression of DcCHI1 or DcCHI4 enhanced the flavonoid production in D. cambodiana and tobacco. These findings implied that DcCHI1 and DcCHI4 play important roles in flavonoid production. Thus, our study will not only contribute to better understand the function and expression regulation of CHI family genes involved in flavonoid production in D. cambodiana but also lay the foundation for developing the effective inducer of dragon’s blood.

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