Comprehensive Metabolite Profiling in Genetic Resources of Garlic (Allium sativum L.) Collected from Different Geographical Regions

Garlic (Allium sativum) is the second most important Allium crop that has been used as a vegetable and condiment from ancient times due to its characteristic flavor and taste. Although garlic is a sterile plant that reproduces vegetatively through cloves, garlic shows high biodiversity, as well as phenotypic plasticity and environmental adaptation capacity. To determine the possible mechanism underlying this phenomenon and to provide new genetic materials for the development of a novel garlic cultivar with useful agronomic traits, the metabolic profiles in the leaf tissue of 30 garlic accessions collected from different geographical regions, with a special focus on the Asian region, were investigated using LC/MS. In addition, the total saponin and fructan contents in the roots and cloves of the investigated garlic accessions were also evaluated. Total saponin and fructan contents did not separate the garlic accessions based on their geographical origin, implying that saponin and fructan contents were clone-specific and agroclimatic changes have affected the quantitative and qualitative levels of saponins in garlic over a long history of cultivation. Principal component analysis (PCA) and dendrogram clustering of the LC/MS-based metabolite profiling showed two major clusters. Specifically, many Japanese and Central Asia accessions were grouped in cluster I and showed high accumulations of flavonol glucosides, alliin, and methiin. On the other hand, garlic accessions grouped in cluster II exhibited a high accumulation of anthocyanin glucosides and amino acids. Although most of the accessions were not separated based on country of origin, the Central Asia accessions were clustered in one group, implying that these accessions exhibited distinct metabolic profiles. The present study provides useful information that can be used for germplasm selection and the development of new garlic varieties with beneficial biotic and abiotic stress-adaptive traits.     

K6‐minors in triangulations and complete quadrangulations

In this paper, we shall prove that a projective‐planar (resp., toroidal) triangulation G has K₆ as a minor if and only if G has no quadrangulation isomorphic to K₄ (resp., K₅ ) as a subgraph. As an application of the theorems, we can prove that Hadwiger's conjecture is true for projective‐planar and toroidal triangulations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 60: 302‐312, 2009     

The effect of local structural disruption on the yield of photochemical ligation between anthracene-oligonucleotide conjugates.

The techniques of chemical ligation have attracted great attention as an alternative to enzymatic joining of DNA ends. Here we introduce the photoligation of anthracene-modified ODN conjugates through anthracene cyclodimer formation. The effect of the positions and the kinds of single base mismatch on the template was evaluated using eight templates with one-base displacements. We found out that the yield of the ligation was affected by mispairing in a position-dependent manner. Such results would be attributed to the disruption of the local structure at the ligation site.     

Effects of pressure and temperature on the solubility of monosodium L-glutamate monohydrate in water

Abstract

The solubility of monosodium L-glutamate monohydrate (MSG.H₂O) in water was measured at pressures in the range of 0.10-300MPa and 298.15K. The density of MSG solution at high concentrations and heat of solution at saturated concentration were also measured at atmospheric pressure. The solubility, m_s, increased with increasing pressure and the pressure coefficient, Θ_p, [?(? In m_s,? p)_T] at 0.10 MPa was (2.0 ± 0.1) × 10-¹⁰Pa-1. It agrees well with (2.1 ±0.2)× 10-¹⁰ Pa-¹ thermodynamically estimated using the partial molar volume, the activity coefficient of the solute in solution, and the molar volume of the crystal. The excellent agreement at 0.10MPa gives us confidence in the solubility data at higher pressures. The heat of solution data and other pertinent values were used to calculate the temperature coefficient of solubility, Θ_T [? (? In m_s/?(1/T))_p], by a thermodynamic equality. The resulting Θ_T compares well with the data directly measured by Ogawa.     

Photochemical ligation of DNA conjugates through anthracene cyclodimer formation and its fidelity to the template sequences

Anthracene readily forms photoadducts, anthracene dimers, and this photodimerization reaction has been well characterized. In general, however, the reaction requires close proximity and certain spatial alignment of both reaction partners. DNA could provide an ideal scaffold for accelerating the photocyclic addition. We synthesized a number of anthracene-DNA conjugates. The sequences of the conjugates, 5'AntODNn and 3'AntODNn (the length of methylene linkers: n = 3 or 6), were designed to bind adjacent sequences of the template with the anthracene units directed such that they stacked with each other. The conjugates were only dimerized in the presence of the template by light irradiation. The efficiency was affected by one-base displacement in the template sequence.     

Highly beta-selective O-glucosidation due to the restricted twist-boat conformation

[reaction: see text] Ethyl 1-thio-2,3,4,6-tetrakis-O-triisopropylsilyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside, ethyl 6-O-benzyl-1-thio-2,3,4-tris-O-triisopropylsilyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside, and ethyl 6-O-pivaloyl-1-thio-2,3,4-tris-O-triisopropylsilyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside induced highly beta-selective O-glucosidations. Among them, the 6-O-pivaloylated substrate provided the best selectivity up to alpha/beta = 3:97 with cyclohexylmethanol, and the substrate was used for glucosidations with secondary and tertiary alcohols in a highly beta-selective manner. The selectivity would be caused by the twist-boat conformation of the pyranose; this is the first beta-selective O-glucosidation based on conformational control of the pyranose ring.     

Swelling of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gels in water-aprotic solvent mixtures

The swelling volume of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PIPAAm) gel in aprotic solvents (acetonitrile (AcN)-, tetrahydrofuran (THF)-, 1,4-dioxane (DO)- and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO))-water mixtures was measured at 25°C. The gel swollen in water shrank first and then reswelled with addition of the aprotic solvents. At an intermediate mole fraction (XDMSO) range of DMSO-water mixtures, the gel demonstrated a reentrant swelling phenomenon the hydrated gel shrank first on addition of a small amount of solvent, showed a typical wide reentrant transition, and gradually reswelled in the range near pure solvent. On the other hand, the gels in AcN-, THF-, and DO-water mixtures demonstrated a reentrant-convex swelling phenomenon: the gels reswelled after a reentrant phase transition in low Xorg (XAcN, XTHF and XDO), showed a maximum swelling in the intermediate Xorg region, and shrank again gradually in the high Xorg region. Such a swelling behavior of the gel was interpreted by correlating with solution properties of the aqueous aprotic solvent mixtures.The strength of hydrogen bonding around amide groups of the homopolymer was examined in pure solvents (water, THF, and DMSO) and in all proportion of aqueous THF to observe the relation with swelling behavior of gel by spectrum analysis of the amide I and II bands of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The swelling properties of gels in solvents and the aqueous mixtures were well correlated with the peak shifts of amide groups of the homopolymer.     

Homogeneous DNA-detection based on the non-enzymatic reactions promoted by target DNA.

Much effort has focused on methods for detecting various genetic differences in individuals, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). SNP can be characterized as a substitution, insertion, or deletion at a single base position on a DNA strand. There is expected to be on average one SNP for every 1000 bases of the human genome, and some variations located in genes are suspected to alter both the protein structure and the expression level. Therefore, highly sensitive techniques with a simple procedure would be desirable for a high-throughput screening of millions of SNPs widely dispersed throughout the human genome. In this short review, we consider recently reported unique techniques for genotyping in a homogeneous solution, and organize them in terms of the chemical and physical processes accelerated on DNA.     

A cationic surfactant is bound to poly(vinylpyrrolidone) in high pH media

Interaction of tetradecylpyridinium bromide with poly(vinylpyrrolidone) was studied by use of an electrode sensitive to the cationic surfactant. In a neutral medium, there was no sign of interaction: potentiometric titration response was in agreement with Nernst equation irrespective of absence and presence of the polymer. But in a medium with pH 11.3, deviation from Nernst response appeared in a PVP solution showing binding of the cationic surfactant onto the polymer which had been thought indifferent to cationic surfactants in spite of strong affinity to anionic surfactants. The result is interpreted in terms of deprotonation from PVP at higher pH media.