Notes

Anatomical diversity and also structure of the thin native to the island Seseli farrenyi (Apiaceae): significance pertaining to translocation.
Heavy metal (HM) pollution in aquatic ecosystems has an adverse effect on both aquatic life forms as well as terrestrial living beings, including humans. Since HMs are recalcitrant, they accumulate in the environment and are subsequently biomagnified through the food chain. Conventional physical and chemical methods used to remove the HMs from aquatic habitats are usually expensive, slow, non-environment friendly, and mostly inefficient. On the contrary, phytoremediation and microbe-assisted remediation technologies have attracted immense attention in recent years and offer a better solution to the problem. These newly emerged remediation technologies are eco-friendly, efficient and cost-effective. Both phytoremediation and microbe-assisted remediation technologies adopt different mechanisms for HM bioremediation in aquatic ecosystems. Recent advancement of molecular tools has contributed significantly to better understand the mechanisms of metal adsorption, translocation, sequestration, and tolerance in plants and microbes. Albeit immense possibilities to use such bioremediation as a successful environmental clean-up technology, it is yet to be successfully implemented in the field conditions. This review article comprehensively discusses HM accumulation in Indian aquatic environments. Furthermore, it describes the effect of HMs accumulation in the aquatic environment and the role of phytoremediation as well as microbe-assisted remediation in mitigation of the HM toxicity. Finally, the review concludes with a note on the challenges, opportunities and future directions for bioremediation in the aquatic ecosystems. © King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2020.In the present study, the effect of elevated CO2 on growth, physiology, yield and proteome was studied on two maize (Zea mays L.) varieties grown under Free-air CO2 enrichment. Growth in high CO2 (530 ppm) did not affect either photosynthesis or pigment contents in both varieties. Reduced MDA content, antioxidant and antioxidative enzymes levels were observed in both varieties in response to high CO2. PEHM-5 accumulated more biomass than SMH-3031 under eCO2. PEHM-5 also had more seed starch and total soluble sugar than SMH-3031. However, SMH-3031 had increased number of seed per cob than PEHM-5. Interestingly, thousand seed weight was significantly increased in PEHM-5 only, while it was decreased in SMH-3031 under eCO2. We observed increased seed size in PEHM-5, while the size of the SMH-3031 seeds remained unaltered. Leaf proteomics revealed more abundance of proteins related to Calvin cycle, protein synthesis assembly and degradation, defense and redox homeostasis in PEHM-5 that contributed to better growth and yield in elevated CO2. While in SMH-3031 leaf, proteins related to Calvin cycle, defense and redox homeostasis were less abundant in elevated CO2 resulting in average growth and yield. The results showed a differential response of two maize varieties to eCO2. © King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2020.In the present study, we investigated the glucose-decreasing action of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The finding of this study could be helpful for people in controlling their blood sugar levels. The LAB candidate was isolated from a Japanese fermented food and identified as Pediococcus pentosaceus by an analysis of its genome sequence. Postprandial blood glucose elevation was investigated using oral starch tolerance tests in mice. Normal mice were fed starch and lyophilized cells of P. pentosaceus QU 19 at the same time. GNE-7883 in vitro Even without pre-administration of P. pentosaceus QU 19, elevation of the blood glucose level was significantly suppressed by the intake of P. pentosaceus QU 19 at the same time as oral administration of starch. According to the results for its survival in simulated digestive juice and the reduction of blood glucose level in mice, P. pentosaceus QU 19 has potential hypoglycemic activity. In vitro measurements revealed that the glucose-decreasing action of P. pentosaceus QU 19 is probably caused by the glucose assimilation of the strain, not the inhibition of carbohydrate-splitting enzymes which has been reported for other LABs previously. These findings indicate that specific strains of LAB, especially P. pentosaceus QU 19, and foods fermented by LAB may be beneficial for people who must manage glucose ingestion. ©2020 BMFH Press.The facultative anaerobic bacterium Lactobacillus casei IGM394 is used as a host for drug delivery systems, and it exhibits the same growth rate under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. L. casei strains carry several genes that facilitate oxygen and reactive oxygen species (ROS) tolerance in their genomes, but their complete functions have not been uncovered. To clarify the oxygen and ROS tolerance mechanisms of L. casei IGM394, we constructed 23 deficient mutants targeting genes that confer oxidative stress resistance. Significantly decreased growth and high H2O2 accumulation were observed in the NADH peroxidase gene-mutated strain (Δnpr) compared with the findings in the wild type. The H2O2 degradation capacity of Δnpr revealed that NADH peroxidase is a major H2O2-degrading enzyme in L. casei IGM394. Interestingly, ΔohrR, a mutant deficient in the organic hydroperoxide (OhrA) repressor, exhibited higher H2O2 resistance than the wild-type strain. Increased Npr expression and H2O2 degradation ability were observed in ΔohrR, further supporting the importance of OhrA to ROS tolerance mechanisms. The other mutants did not exhibit altered growth rates, although some mutants had higher growth in the presence of oxygen. From these results, it is presumed that L. casei IGM394 has multiple oxygen tolerance mechanisms and that the loss of a single gene does not alter the growth rate because of the presence of complementary mechanisms. Contrarily, the H2O2 tolerance mechanism is solely dependent on NADH peroxidase in L. casei IGM394. ©2020 BMFH Press.Recently many researchers have revealed that certain lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have beneficial effects on the immune system. Understanding the mechanisms of how certain LAB induce immunomodulatory functions is important for the development of food ingredients that improve our health. Lactobacillus plantarum OLL2712 has been shown to induce production of interleukin (IL)-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, by murine in vitro-induced dendritic cells (DCs) and peritoneal macrophages. However, it is probable that in vitro-induced DCs have different properties compared with intestinal DCs, and the effects of the LAB on intestinal DCs are not fully understood. In this report, we investigated whether L. plantarum OLL2712 had efficacy for inducing intestinal DCs to produce IL-10 in vitro and whether oral administration of the bacteria induced the same effect. Co-culture of L. plantarum OLL2712 with purified DCs from the mesenteric lymph node (MLN) or Peyer's patch (PP) elevated IL-10 mRNA expression and protein production by both kinds of DCs.
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