Quality Evaluation of Wild and Cultivated Asparagus: A Comparison between Raw and Steamed Spears

Asparagus is highly appreciated for its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics and wild genotypes are valuable components of traditional dishes. In this study, the physical and chemical traits of wild (green and violet) and cultivated asparagus (‘Grande’, ‘Purple Passion’, and ‘Bianco di Bassano del Grappa’), both raw and steamed, were evaluated. Steaming did not affect the total phenols content with the exception of wild green (+49%) and ‘Grande’ (−31%). Only for wild violet asparagus steaming increased the total antioxidant activity (+46%). Chlorogenic acid and chicoric acid were found only in wild asparagus, while rutin was generally higher in colored cultivated asparagus than wild ones. The highest content of isorhamnetin-3-rutinoside was found in wild violet asparagus while only traces of this compound were detected in the cultivated ones. Steaming influenced the content of both chlorophylls and carotenoids in asparagus, also resulting in changes in the color parameters in cooked spears. Overall, the sugar content in wild asparagus was lower than in the cultivated ones and steaming had a low impact on this chemical trait. Principal component analysis highlighted the most evident separation between wild asparagus and cultivated ones. These results indicate that wild asparagus can be considered a nutritious and refined food, and provide specific information required for cooking process strategies in the agri-food industrial sector.

Phylogenetic conservatism drives nutrient dynamics of coral reef fishes

The relative importance of evolutionary history and ecology for traits that drive ecosystem processes is poorly understood. Consumers are essential drivers of nutrient cycling on coral reefs, and thus ecosystem productivity. We use nine consumer “chemical traits” associated with nutrient cycling, collected from 1,572 individual coral reef fishes (178 species spanning 41 families) in two biogeographic regions, the Caribbean and Polynesia, to quantify the relative importance of phylogenetic history and ecological context as drivers of chemical trait variation on coral reefs. We find: (1) phylogenetic relatedness is the best predictor of all chemical traits, substantially outweighing the importance of ecological factors thought to be key drivers of these traits, (2) phylogenetic conservatism in chemical traits is greater in the Caribbean than Polynesia, where our data suggests that ecological forces have a greater influence on chemical trait variation, and (3) differences in chemical traits between regions can be explained by differences in nutrient limitation associated with the geologic context of our study locations. Our study provides multiple lines of evidence that phylogeny is a critical determinant of contemporary nutrient dynamics on coral reefs. More broadly our findings highlight the utility of evolutionary history to improve prediction in ecosystem ecology.

Benzoquinones in the defensive secretion of a bug (Pamillia behrensii): a common chemical trait retrieved in the Heteroptera

Benzoquinones are a phylogenetically widespread compound class within arthropods, appearing in harvestman, millipedes and insects. Whereas the function of benzoquinones as defensive compounds against potential predators and microbes has been well established, the full extent of benzoquinone usage across arthropods, and especially within Insecta, has yet to be established. Adding to the growing list of unique evolutionary origins of benzoquinone employment, we describe in this paper the metathoracic scent gland secretion of the mirid bug Pamillia behrensii, which is composed of heptan-2-one, 2-heptyl acetate, 2,3-dimethyl-1-4-benzoquinone, 2,3-dimethyl-1-4-hydroquinone as well as one unknown compound. Similarly, to many other arthropods that use benzoquinones, Pamillia releases the contents of its gland as a defensive mechanism in response to harassment by other arthropod predators. Morphological investigation of the gland showed that the benzoquinone-producing gland complex of P. behrensii follows a similar blueprint to metathoracic scent glands described in other Heteropterans. Overall, our data further underpins the widespread convergent evolution and use of benzoquinones for defense across the Arthropoda, now including the order Hemiptera.

The Heritability of Some Qualitative and Quantitative Traits at One Set of Spring Barley Genotypes

Work collections are subjected to a renewal process, therefore a regular evaluation is needed inorder to appreciate the genetic advance of the existing variability at collection level and further to identify valuable genotypes in terms of morphoproductive and qualitative traits (protein, starch). The barley intended for brewing must correspond to some qualitative parameters, of which proteins and starch content are of major importance. For this purpose, a study was conducted to assess the variability and heritability indicators corresponding to the two traits at 48 barley genotypes. The genotypes that were the subject of this study were sown in three experimental years 2013, 2014 and 2016. The mean values of 2013 year was 13.71 compared with only 10.77, and 11.27 in 2014 and 2016. The significant value of the heritability coefficient along with the genetic advantage of 0.81 indicates the success of selection work for this important chemical trait.

Integrated in vivo and in vitro nascent chain profiling reveals widespread translational pausing

Although the importance of the nonuniform progression of elongation in translation is well recognized, there have been few attempts to explore this process by directly profiling nascent polypeptides, the relevant intermediates of translation. Such approaches will be essential to complement other approaches, including ribosome profiling, which is extremely powerful but indirect with respect to the actual translation processes. Here, we use the nascent polypeptide's chemical trait of having a covalently attached tRNA moiety to detect translation intermediates. In a case study,Escherichia coliSecA was shown to undergo nascent polypeptide-dependent translational pauses. We then carried out integrated in vivo and in vitro nascent chain profiling (iNP) to characterize 1,038 proteome members ofE.colithat were encoded by the first quarter of the chromosome with respect to their propensities to accumulate polypeptidyl–tRNA intermediates. A majority of them indeed undergo single or multiple pauses, some occurring only in vitro, some occurring only in vivo, and some occurring both in vivo and in vitro. Thus, translational pausing can be intrinsically robust, subject to in vivo alleviation, or require in vivo reinforcement. Cytosolic and membrane proteins tend to experience different classes of pauses; membrane proteins often pause multiple times in vivo. We also note that the solubility of cytosolic proteins correlates with certain categories of pausing. Translational pausing is widespread and diverse in nature.

Variation in carbon and nitrogen concentration among major woody tissue types in temperate trees

Quantifying variation in the wood chemical traits of trees is critical for parameterizing forest biogeochemical budgets and models. Available data on wood chemical traits are based largely on samples taken from main stems; few studies have evaluated how wood chemical traits vary among major woody tissue types. We examined variation in wood carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations in 17 temperate tree species across five woody tissue types: sapwood, heartwood, small branches, coarse roots, and bark; analyses were corrected for losses of volatile C. Both C and N varied significantly among tissue types, but differences were driven mainly by high C and N in bark, a pattern observed for nearly all species. Among nonbark tissue types, bivariate correlations among sapwood, heartwood, small branches, and coarse roots were highly significant and positive for wood C (r = 0.88–0.98) and N (r = 0.66–0.95) concentrations. We suggest that intraspecific variation in C across tissue types is less important than interspecific variation for assessment and modeling of forest-level C dynamics. In contrast, differences in N among tissue types were larger and appeared to be more important to incorporate into forest-level nutrient assessments and models. Our results suggest that, with the exception of bark, wood chemical trait values derived from stemwood can be used to accurately represent whole-tree trait values in models of forest C and N stocks and fluxes, at least for temperate species.