Endosperm carotenoid content in wheat is a primary determinant of flour colour and this affects both the nutritional value of the grain and its utility for different applications. Utilising wheat ...rice synteny two genes, ε-cyclase (ε-LCY) and phytoene synthase (Psy-A1), were identified as candidate genes for two of the QTL affecting lutein content in wheat endosperm. Analysis of the sequence changes in ε-LCY and Psy-A1 revealed possible causal mechanisms for both QTL. A point mutation in ε-LCY results in the substitution of a conserved amino acid in the high lutein allele. This substitution has been observed in high lutein-accumulating species from the Gentiales order. In Psy-A1, a sequence duplication at the end of exon 2 creates a new splice site and causes alternative splicing of the transcript and activation of a cryptic exon, resulting in four different transcripts: a wild-type transcript, two transcripts with early terminations and a transcript that would produce an in-frame, albeit longer protein. Only the wild-type splice variant produced an enzymatically active protein and its mRNA abundance was reduced by titration with the other splice variants. This reduction in wild-type mRNA is argued to result in a reduction in PSY protein and thus carotenoid content in wheat.
Background Rhinovirus-induced acute asthma is the most frequent trigger for asthma exacerbations. Objective We assessed which inflammatory mediators were released from bronchial epithelial cells ...(BECs) after infection with rhinovirus and then determined whether they were also present in subjects with acute virus-induced asthma, with the aim to identify a biomarker or biomarkers for acute virus-induced asthma. Methods BECs were obtained from bronchial brushings of steroid-naive asthmatic subjects and healthy nonatopic control subjects. Cells were infected with rhinovirus 16. Inflammatory mediators were measured by means of flow cytometry with a cytometric bead array. Subjects with acute asthma and virus infection were recruited; they were characterized clinically by using lung function tests and had blood taken to measure the inflammatory mediators identified as important by the BEC experiments. Results IFN-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) and RANTES were released in the greatest quantities, followed by IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α. Dexamethasone treatment of BECs only partially suppressed IP-10 and TNF-α but was more effective at suppressing RANTES, IL-6, and IL-8. In acute clinical asthma serum IP-10 levels were increased to a greater extent in those with acute virus-induced asthma (median of 604 pg/mL compared with 167 pg/mL in those with non-virus-induced acute asthma,P< .01). Increased serum IP-10 levels were predictive of virus-induced asthma (odds ratio, 44.3 95% CI, 3.9-100.3). Increased serum IP-10 levels were strongly associated with more severe airflow obstruction (r= -0.8;P< .01). Conclusions IP-10 release is specific to acute virus-induced asthma. Clinical implications Measurement of serum IP-10 could be used to predict a viral trigger to acute asthma.
Carotenoids Howitt, Crispin A.; Pogson, Barry J.; Cuttriss, Abby J. ...
The Structure and Function of Plastids
Book Chapter
Carotenoid pigments provide fruit and flowers with distinctive red, orange and yellow colors and a number of aromas, which make them commercially important in agriculture, food manufacturing and the ...cosmetic industry. However, it is their roles in photosynthesis and nutrition that explain the absolute requirement for carotenoids in the survival of plants and animals alike. Carotenoids comprise a large family of over 600 members of isoprenoids (Britton et al., 2004).
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