scholarly journals Changes in Amino Acid Content of Excised Leaves During Incubation. III. Role of Sugar in the Accumulation of Proline in Wilted Leaves

1966 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1585-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecil R. Stewart ◽  
Clayton J. Morris ◽  
John F. Thompson
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe ◽  
David Poumo Tchouassi ◽  
Martha Njeri Muturi ◽  
Christian W. W. Pirk ◽  
Catherine L. Sole ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In a recent study using DNA barcoding, we identified the plants fed upon by four Afro-tropical mosquito species that vector dengue, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. Herein, we have expanded on this study by investigating the role of three of the plants Pithecellobium dulce (Fabaceae), Leonotis nepetifolia (Lamiaceae), and Opuntia ficus-indica (Cactaceae) on survival, fecundity, and egg viability of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti. Methods: We tested these effects using females that received a) an initial three rations of bloodmeal, and b) received no bloodmeal at all. Two controls were included; age-matched females fed on glucose solution with or without initial bloodmeal, and those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Data was collected daily over a 30-day period. The amino acid content of Ae. aegypti guts and the amino acid content of their respective diets was detected by coupled liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry.Results: Females fed on P. dulce and exclusive bloodmeal had a shorter survival than those fed on glucose. On the other hand, females fed on L. nepetifolia survived longer than those fed exclusively on bloodmeal, whereas those fed on O. ficus-indica had the shortest survival time. With initial bloodmeal, females fed on L. nepetifolia laid 1.6-fold more eggs while those fed on the other diets laid fewer eggs, compared to those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Hatching rates of the eggs laid varied with the diet. Mass spectroscopic analysis of gut contents of mosquitoes exposed to the different diets showed qualitative and quantitative differences in their amino acid levels. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the central role of plant nutrients in the reproductive fitness of dengue vectors which may impact their disease transmission potential.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe ◽  
David P. Tchouassi ◽  
Martha N. Muturi ◽  
Christian W. W. Pirk ◽  
Catherine L. Sole ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In a recent study using DNA barcoding, we identified the plants fed upon by four Afro-tropical mosquito species that vector dengue, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. Herein, we have expanded on this study by investigating the role of three of the plants Pithecellobium dulce (Fabaceae), Leonotis nepetifolia (Lamiaceae), and Opuntia ficus-indica (Cactaceae) on survival, fecundity, and egg viability of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti. Methods: We tested these effects using females that received a) an initial three rations of bloodmeal, and b) received no bloodmeal at all. Two controls were included; age-matched females fed on glucose solution with or without initial bloodmeal, and those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Data was collected daily over a 30-day period. The amino acid content of Ae. aegypti guts and the amino acid content of their respective diets was detected by coupled liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry.Results: Females fed on P. dulce and exclusive bloodmeal had a shorter survival than those fed on glucose. On the other hand, females fed on L. nepetifolia survived longer than those fed exclusively on bloodmeal, whereas those fed on O. ficus-indica had the shortest survival time. With initial bloodmeal, females fed on L. nepetifolia laid 1.6-fold more eggs while those fed on the other diets laid fewer eggs, compared to those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Hatching rates of the eggs laid varied with the diet. Mass spectroscopic analysis of gut contents of mosquitoes exposed to the different diets showed qualitative and quantitative differences in their amino acid levels. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the central role of plant nutrients in the reproductive fitness of dengue vectors which may impact their disease transmission potential.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe ◽  
David P. Tchouassi ◽  
Martha N. Muturi ◽  
Christian W. W. Pirk ◽  
Catherine L. Sole ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In a recent study using DNA barcoding, we identified the plants fed upon by four Afro-tropical mosquito species that vector dengue, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. Herein, we have expanded on this study by investigating the role of three of the plants Pithecellobium dulce (Fabaceae), Leonotis nepetifolia (Lamiaceae), and Opuntia ficus-indica (Cactaceae) on survival, fecundity, and egg viability of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti. Methods We tested these effects using females that received a) an initial three rations of bloodmeal, and b) received no bloodmeal at all. Two controls were included; age-matched females fed on glucose solution with or without initial bloodmeal, and those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Data was collected daily over a 30-day period. The amino acid content of Ae. aegypti guts and the amino acid content of their respective diets was detected by coupled liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry. Results Females fed on P. dulce and exclusive bloodmeal had a shorter survival than those fed on glucose. On the other hand, females fed on L. nepetifolia survived longer than those fed exclusively on bloodmeal, whereas those fed on O. ficus-indica had the shortest survival time. With initial bloodmeal, females fed on L. nepetifolia laid 1.6-fold more eggs while those fed on the other diets laid fewer eggs, compared to those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Hatching rates of the eggs laid varied with the diet. Mass spectroscopic analysis of gut contents of mosquitoes exposed to the different diets showed qualitative and quantitative differences in their amino acid levels. Conclusion Our findings highlight the central role of plant nutrients in the reproductive fitness of dengue vectors which may impact their disease transmission potential.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (21) ◽  
pp. 3898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamsudin ◽  
Selamat ◽  
Sanny ◽  
A.R ◽  
Jambari ◽  
...  

Stingless bee honey produced by Heterotrigona itama from different botanical origins was characterised and discriminated. Three types of stingless bee honey collected from acacia, gelam, and starfruit nectars were analyzed and compared with Apis mellifera honey. The results showed that stingless bee honey samples from the three different botanical origins were significantly different in terms of their moisture content, pH, free acidity, total soluble solids, colour characteristics, sugar content, amino acid content and antioxidant properties. Stingless bee honey was significantly different from Apis mellifera honey in terms of physicochemical and antioxidant properties. The amino acid content was further used in the chemometrics analysis to evaluate the role of amino acid in discriminating honey according to botanical origin. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed that the stingless bee honey was completely distinguishable from Apis mellifera honey. Notably, a clear distinction between the stingless bee honey types was also observed. The specific amino acids involved in the distinction of honey were cysteine for acacia and gelam, phenylalanine and 3-hydroxyproline for starfruit, and proline for Apis mellifera honey. The results showed that all honey samples were successfully classified based on amino acid content.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Odhiambo Nyasembe ◽  
David Poumo Tchouassi ◽  
Martha Njeri Muturi ◽  
Christian W. W. Pirk ◽  
Catherine L. Sole ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In a recent study using DNA barcoding, we identified the plants fed upon by four Afro-tropical mosquito species that vector dengue, malaria, and Rift Valley fever. Herein, we have expanded on this study by investigating the role of three of the plants Pithecellobium dulce (Fabaceae), Leonotis nepetifolia (Lamiaceae), and Opuntia ficus-indica (Cactaceae) on survival, fecundity, and egg viability of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti.Methods: We tested these effects using females that received a) an initial three rations of bloodmeal, and b) received no bloodmeal at all. Two controls were included; age-matched females fed on glucose solution with or without initial bloodmeal, and those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Data was collected daily over a 30-day period. The amino acid content of Ae. aegypti guts and the amino acid content of their respective diets was detected by coupled liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry. Results: Females fed on P. dulce and exclusive bloodmeal had a shorter survival than those fed on glucose. On the other hand, females fed on L. nepetifolia survived longer than those fed exclusively on bloodmeal, whereas those fed on O. ficus-indica had the shortest survival time. With initial bloodmeal, females fed on L. nepetifolia laid 1.6-fold more eggs while those fed on the other diets laid fewer eggs, compared to those fed exclusively on bloodmeal. Hatching rates of the eggs laid varied with the diet. Mass spectroscopic analysis of gut contents of mosquitoes exposed to the different diets showed qualitative and quantitative differences in their amino acid levels. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the central role of plant nutrients in the reproductive fitness of dengue vectors which may impact their disease transmission potential.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (19) ◽  
pp. 9998-10009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrysa Ntountoumi ◽  
Panayotis Vlastaridis ◽  
Dimitris Mossialos ◽  
Constantinos Stathopoulos ◽  
Ioannis Iliopoulos ◽  
...  

Abstract We provide the first high-throughput analysis of the properties and functional role of Low Complexity Regions (LCRs) in more than 1500 prokaryotic and phage proteomes. We observe that, contrary to a widespread belief based on older and sparse data, LCRs actually have a significant, persistent and highly conserved presence and role in many and diverse prokaryotes. Their specific amino acid content is linked to proteins with certain molecular functions, such as the binding of RNA, DNA, metal-ions and polysaccharides. In addition, LCRs have been repeatedly identified in very ancient, and usually highly expressed proteins of the translation machinery. At last, based on the amino acid content enriched in certain categories, we have developed a neural network web server to identify LCRs and accurately predict whether they can bind nucleic acids, metal-ions or are involved in chaperone functions. An evaluation of the tool showed that it is highly accurate for eukaryotic proteins as well.


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