Karakteristik Geokimia Basal Alkali Formasi Manamas di Sungai Bihati, Baun, Pulau Timor

ABSTRAK Batuan beku Formasi Manamas di Sungai Bihati, Baun merupakan salah satu singkapan batuan beku di Pulau Timor yang belum banyak diteliti berdasarkan karakter geokimia. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui genesa dan proses yang terjadi pada batuan beku Formasi Manamas dalam kerangka tektonik yang terjadi di Pulau Timor berdasarkan analisis petrografi dan geokimia. Analisis geokimia dilakukan dengan menggunakan X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) dan Inductively Coupled Plasma-mass Spectrometery (ICP-MS) untuk mengetahui senyawa utama, unsur jejak, dan unsur tanah jarang. Batuan beku Formasi Manamas berupa intrusi basal dengan afinitas alkali yang menunjukkan pola pengayaan unsur tanah jarang yang identik dengan Ocean Island Basalt (OIB). Penelitian ini membuktikan adanya dua mekanisme pengayaan unsur yang berbeda yaitu fluid related enrichment yang berkaitan dengan aktifitas subduksi lempeng Samudra Hindia di bawah Busur Banda dan melt related enrichment yang diperkirakan berasal dari sisa lempeng Samudra Hindia yang patah yang masuk kedalam zona reservoir OIB. Kedua magma lalu bercampur dan mengalami underplating di bawah Busur Banda. ABSTRACT The igneous rock of Manamas Formation in the Bihati River, Baun is one of the igneous rock outcrops in Timor Island that has not been widely studied based on its geochemical characteristic. This study aims to determine the genesis and processes that occur in the igneous rocks of the Manamas Formation within tectonic framework of Timor Island based on petrographic and geochemical analysis. X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-mass Spectrometery (ICP-MS) were used to determine the major elements, trace elements, and rare earth elements. The igneous rock of the Manamas Formation is a basalt intrusion with an alkaline affinity which shown an enrichment pattern of rare earth elements identical to Ocean Island Basalt (OIB). This study proves the existence of two different mechanisms of elemental enrichment, fluid related enrichment which related to the subduction activity of the Indian Ocean plate under the Banda Arc and also melt related enrichment which originated from the broken Indian Ocean plate which enters the OIB reservoir zone. The two different magmas then mix and underplating beneath the Banda Arc.

Characterization and Toxicity of Crude Toxins Produced by Cordyceps fumosorosea against Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) and Aphis craccivora (Koch)

Cordyceps fumosorosea, an insect pathogenic fungus, produces different toxins/secondary metabolites which can act as pest control agents. This study reports the extraction and characterization of crude mycelial extracts of C. fumosorosea isolate SP502 along with their bio-efficacy against Bemisia tabaci and Aphis craccivora. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometery and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of C. fumosorosea isolate SP502 extracts showed the presence of five major compounds—Trichodermin, 5-Methylmellein, Brevianamide F, Enniatin and Beauvericin—which all may potentially be involved in insecticidal activity. The HPLC analysis of C. fumosorosea mycelial extracts and Beauvericin standard showed similar chromatographic peaks, with the content of Beauvericin in the crude toxin being calculated as 0.66 mg/ml. The median lethal concentrations of C. fumosorosea mycelial extracts towards first, second, third and fourth instar nymphs of A. craccivora were 46.35, 54.55, 68.94, and 81.92 µg/mL, respectively. The median lethal concentrations of C. fumosorosea mycelial extracts towards first, second, third and fourth instar nymphs of B. tabaci were 62.67, 72.84, 77.40, and 94.40 µg/mL, respectively. Our results demonstrate that bioactive compounds produced by C. fumosorosea isolate SP502 have insecticidal properties and could, therefore, be developed into biopesticides for the management of B. tabaci and A. craccivora.

Simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetics studies of five isoflavones in rat plasma by UHPLC-MS/MS after oral administration of Radix Astragali extract

A rapid, sensitive and convenient method based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucoside (CCSG), ononin, calycosin, (6aR,11aR)-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-β-d-glucopyanoside (DPPG), and 7,2′-dihydroxy-3′,4′-dimethoxyisoflavan-7-O-β-d-glucopyanoside (DIFG) in rat plasma after oral administration of the methanol extraction from Radix Astragali. Theophylline played the role of internal standard (IS). Preparation of plasma samples by liquid-liquid extraction method with ethyl acetate after precipitation of protein with methanol. The analytes were detected with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometery (MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and a positive ion electrospray ionization (ESI). The method was validated with the concentration ranges of 1.96–62.69 ng/mL for CCSG, 1.70–54.5 ng/mL for ononin, 1.85–59.06 ng/mL for calycosin, 2.14–137.24 ng/mL for DPPG and1.96–125.25 ng/mL for DIFG, respectively. The method had the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) with 0.49, 0.21, 0.92, 1.07, and 0.98 ng/mL for CCSG, ononin, calycosin, DPPG and DIFG respectively, and the precision less than 10%. The RSD of the accuracy was in the range of −4.35–8.91%. The results may be helpful to provide more accurate references to clinical application of this herb.

Phytochrome mediated responses in Agrobacterium fabrum: growth, swimming, plant infection and interbacterial competition

The soil bacterium Agrobacterium fabrum C58 infects plants by a unique DNA transfer mechanism. A. fabrum has two phytochrome photoreceptors, Agp1 and Agp2. We found that DNA transfer into plants by A. fabrum is down regulated by light and that phytochrome knockout mutants have diminished DNA transfer rates. The regulation pattern matches with that of bacterial conjugation reported earlier. Growth, swimming and interbacterial competition were also affected in phytochrome knockout mutants, although these effects were often not affected by light. We can thus distinguish between light-regulated and light-independent phytochrome responses. In microarray studies, transcription of only 4 genes was affected by light, indicating that most light responses are regulated post-transcriptionally. In a mass spectrometery-based proteomic study, 24 proteins were different between light and dark grown bacteria, whereas 382 proteins differed between wild type and phytochrome knockout mutants, pointing again to light-dependent and light-independent roles of Agp1 and Agp2.

ANIBACTERIAL EFFICACY AND GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETERY ANALYSIS OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS PRESENT IN DIFFERENT EXTRACTS OF ALLIUM SATIVUM

Objective: Medicinal plants are rich libraries containing wide variety of compounds of therapeutic values. Allium sativum commonly known as garlic is a very well-known medicinal plants being used with food products. In the present study, the antibacterial activity of different extracts of A. sativum was investigated along with their phytochemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometery (GC-MS) to explore antimicrobial compounds present in extracts.Methods: The antibacterial activity of A. sativum was evaluated against 9 reference bacterial strains and 3 MDR bacterial strains including Escherichia coli MDREC1, Klebsiella pneumoniae MDRKP2, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa MDRPA3 by microbroth dilution and agar well diffusion method.Results: The results obtained from agar well diffusion assay showed the zone of inhibition from 12 to 26 mm for different extracts. The methanol and acetone extracts were found most potent against reference and MDR bacterial strains. MIC values were in the range of 1.87–7.5 mg/ml. Further, GCMS analysis confirmed the presence of 35 compounds including dodecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, and methyl ester in common.Conclusion: The varied antimicrobial activity of extracts was due to the presence of different concentrations of the identified compounds which can be isolated and used for the treatment of various infectious diseases caused by MDR strains of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and K. pneumoniae.

DIMEdb: an integrated database and web service for metabolite identification in direct infusion mass spectrometery

MotivationMetabolomics involves the characterisation, identification, and quantification of small molecules (metabolites) that act as the reaction intermediates of biological processes. Over the past few years, we have seen wide scale improvements in data processing, database, and statistical analysis tools. Direct infusion mass spectrometery (DIMS) is a widely used platform that is able to produce a global fingerprint of the metabolome, without the requirement of a prior chromatographic step - making it ideal for wide scale high-throughput metabolomics analysis. In spite of these developments, metabolite identification still remains a key bottleneck in untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics studies. The first step of the metabolite identification task is to query masses against a metaboite database to get putative metabolite annotations. Each existing metabolite database differs in a number of aspects including coverage, format, and accessibility - often limiting the user to a rudimentary web interface. Manually combining multiple search results for a single experiment where there may be potentially hundreds of masses to investigate becomes an incredibly arduous task.ResultsTo facilitate unified access to metabolite information we have created the Direct Infusion MEtabolite database (DIMEdb), a comprehensive web-based metabolite database that contains over 80,000 metabolites sourced from a number of renowned metabolite databases of which can be utilised in the analysis and annotation of DIMS data. To demostrate the efficacy of DIMEdb, a simple use case for metabolic identification is presented. DIMEdb aims to provide a single point of access to metabolite information, and hopefully facilitate the development of much needed bioinformatic tools.AvailabilityDIMEdb is freely available at https://[email protected] informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Patulin and patulin producing Penicillium spp. occurrence in apples and apple-based products including baby food

Introduction: Patulin has raised the international attention because of its health risk. In fact, it has mutagenic, neurotoxic, immunotoxic, genotoxic and gastrointestinal effects in animals. In the present work, patulin and patulin-producing Penicillium spp. in apple and apple-based products marketed in Qatar were analysed. Methodology: Sampling was carried out using apple fruits and apple-based products. Fungi were isolated from undamaged apples, apple juice and baby apple food. DNA extraction was carried out with DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, USA). The molecular identification of fungal isolates was carried out using ITS1-ITS4 PCR. PCR products were sequenced and blasted. Patulin was extracted and analyzed by LC/MS/MS, then quantified using Agilent 1290UHPLC coupled to 6460 triple quadruple mass spectrometer. Results: Forty-five samples of undamaged fresh apple fruits, apple juice and apple-based baby food products sold in different markets in Qatar were surveyed for both fungal and patulin contamination using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometery (LC/MS/MS). Twenty-five Penicillium spp. isolates were selected, including 23 P. expansum and one isolate each of P. brevicompactum and P. commune. All the tested Penicillium spp. isolates produced patulin in vitro (from 40 to 100 μg/g on Malt Yeast Extract agar medium). Patulin was detected in 100% of apple juice samples at levels ranging from 5.27 to 82.21 µg/kg. Only 5 samples contained patulin levels higher than European Union recommended limit (50 µg/kg). The average patulin contamination was 30.67 µg/kg and 10.92 µg/kg in baby apple juice and in baby apple compote, respectively.

Feline urine metabolomic signature: characterization of low-molecular-weight substances in urine from domestic cats

Objectives This aim of this study was to characterize the composition and content of the feline urine metabolome. Methods Eight healthy domestic cats were acclimated at least 10 days before starting the study. Urine samples (~2 ml) were collected by ultrasound-guided cystocentesis. Samples were centrifuged at 1000 × g for 8 mins, and the supernatant was analyzed by gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometery. The urine metabolome was characterized using an untargeted metabolomics approach. Results Three hundred and eighteen metabolites were detected in the urine of the eight cats. These molecules are key components of at least 100 metabolic pathways. Feline urine appears to be dominated by carbohydrates, carbohydrate conjugates, organic acid and derivatives, and amino acids and analogs. The five most abundant molecules were phenaceturic acid, hippuric acid, pseudouridine phosphate and 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionic acid. Conclusions and relevance This study is the first to characterize the feline urine metabolome. The results of this study revealed the presence of multiple low-molecular-weight substances that were not known to be present in feline urine. As expected, the origin of the metabolites detected in urine was diverse, including endogenous compounds and molecules biosynthesized by microbes. Also, the diet seemed to have had a relevant role on the urine metabolome. Further exploration of the urine metabolic phenotype will open a window for discovering unknown, or poorly understood, metabolic pathways. In turn, this will advance our understanding of feline biology and lead to new insights in feline physiology, nutrition and medicine.