Applied Biological Chemistry

Application of rapeseed meal as organic fertilizer improves soil environment and crop productivity by supplying the nutrients. This study aimed to investigate the optimal application levels of rapeseed meal for rice cultivation. Application of rapeseed meal increased the height of rice plants by about 5–10% compared to the control, and its application at a rate of 50, 100, 200, and 300 kg/0.1 ha increased the nitrogen content in rice leaves at 30 days after treatment by 107.3, 110.4, 114.7, and 114.7%, respectively, compared to the control. In treatments with a mixture of chemical fertilizer and rapeseed meal (50, 100, 200, and 300 kg/0.1 ha), the nitrogen content in rice leaves increased by 105.1–107.7% compared to that in the control; there was no significant difference between the treatment with chemical fertilizer only and that with the mixture of chemical fertilizer and rapeseed meal. The chemical properties of soil treated with rapeseed meal at 200 and 300 kg/0.1 ha or with the mixture of 200 kg/0.1 ha rapeseed meal and chemical fertilizer (1/2 level) showed that nitrate and ammonium increased in treated soils as compared to untreated soil. The yield and yield components were positively correlated with the application levels of rapeseed meal and the mixture of rapeseed meal and chemical fertilizer. The application of rapeseed meal at 100–200 kg/0.1 ha is considered optimal, and efficient application of nitrogen is achieved by mixing chemical fertilizer (11 kg/0.1 ha) with rapeseed meal (100–200 kg/0.1 ha).

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Cynanchum wilfordii has been used as a health-enhancing food product in Korea. Owing to its morphological similarity to C. wilfordii and relative ease of cultivation, C. auriculatum has been illegally used as a substitute plant for C. wilfordii. In the present study, we developed markers to discriminate between C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum. Species-specific primer sets for C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum were designed based on the single nucleotide polymorphisms of the chloroplast matK genes for quantitative real-time PCR using SYBR green. The limit of detection of primer sets for each species was assessed by analyzing serially 1/10-diluted DNAs at concentrations of 0.001–100% (=10 ng) and binary mixtures of a flour matrix spiked with decreasing concentrations (103–1 mg/g) of non- and heated C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum, respectively. We found that species-specific primer sets indicated good amplification efficiency and correlation coefficients (R 2) of the standard curves in the extracted DNA. The developed markers were successfully applied to 19 commercial C. wilfordii food products and could prove a useful tool for verifying the presence of C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum in commercial products.

Đậu tương là một sản phẩm nông nghiệp quan trọng tại Trung Quốc, với một số địa điểm địa lý thường mang lại những vụ mùa đậu tương chất lượng cao hơn và do đó có giá trị kinh tế cao hơn. Trong nghiên cứu này, các phân tích metabolomics và transcriptomics đã được thực hiện trên mẫu đậu tương từ chín khu vực thuộc tỉnh Heilongjiang và Liaoning, sử dụng công nghệ sắc ký lỏng ghép khối (LC-MS) không nhắm mục tiêu và công nghệ giải trình tự Illumina. Mục tiêu chính là thiết kế một phương pháp hiệu quả và khách quan để xác định nguồn gốc địa lý của từng giống đậu tương nhằm giảm thiểu các hành vi gian lận tiềm ẩn. Thông qua các phân tích đa chiều và một chiều, đã thành công trong việc xác định các chất chuyển hóa biểu hiện khác nhau (DEMs) và các gen biểu hiện khác nhau (DEGs), tạo ra các kết quả có ý nghĩa thống kê. Việc tích hợp các tập dữ liệu metabolomics và transcriptomics đã giúp xây dựng một mô hình mạng tương quan có khả năng phân biệt đậu tương có nguồn gốc từ các địa điểm địa lý khác nhau, dẫn đến việc xác định các dấu hiệu sinh học quan trọng nhằm nổi bật các sự khác biệt đáng chú ý. Để xác thực tính khả thi của phương pháp này trong ứng dụng thực tiễn, phân tích phân biệt dựa trên bình phương nhỏ nhất (PLS-DA) đã được sử dụng để phân biệt các mẫu đậu tương từ chín khu vực. Kết quả một cách thuyết phục đã chứng minh tính khả dụng và độ tin cậy của phương pháp này trong việc xác định chính xác nguồn gốc địa lý của đậu tương. Đặc biệt, nghiên cứu này khác biệt với các nghiên cứu trước đó về truy xuất nguồn gốc đậu tương, nhờ vào việc tích hợp phân tích dữ liệu metabolomics và transcriptomics, từ đó tiết lộ các dấu hiệu sinh học cung cấp sự phân biệt chính xác hơn về đặc điểm đậu tương giữa các khu vực khác nhau, thu hẹp một khoảng trống nghiên cứu quan trọng trong lĩnh vực truy xuất nguồn gốc đậu tương. Phương pháp phân tích tích hợp dữ liệu đôi sáng tạo này có khả năng nâng cao độ chính xác của các công cụ truy xuất nguồn gốc đậu tương và mở ra một nền tảng mới cho nghiên cứu về xác định sản phẩm nông nghiệp trong tương lai.

The inflammation process in the human body plays a central role in the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) exert potentially a decisive role in human body, particularly in physiological and pathological process. The chronic inflammation state could generate several types of diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and arthritis, especially if it is concomitant with high levels of pro-inflammatory markers and ROS. The respiratory burst of inflammatory cells during inflammation increases the production and accumulation of ROS. However, ROS regulate various types of kinases and transcription factors such nuclear factor-kappa B which is related to the activation of pro-inflammatory genes. The exact crosstalk between pro-inflammatory markers and ROS in terms of pathogenesis and development of serious diseases is still ambitious. Many studies have been attempting to determine the mechanistic mutual relationship between ROS and pro-inflammatory markers. Therefore hereby, we review the hypothetical relationship between ROS and pro-inflammatory markers in which they have been proposed to initiate cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and arthritis.

Our previous study we isolated novel bacterial stain, Epidermidibacterium keratini, called EPI-7T from skin samples. Repeated column separation yielded one new pyrimidine compound, 1,1′-biuracil, from EPI-7T culture solutions grown in R2A medium. Its chemical structure was determined based on spectroscopic data, IR, FAB/MS, and NMR. And 1,1′-biuracil and EPI-7T culture solutions showed regulating effects of anti-aging associated mRNA expressions in UV-irradiated fibroblasts without toxicity in Hs68 cells. These results demonstrates the cosmetic potential of 1,1′-biuracil and EPI-7T as anti-aging agents.

Microbiological contamination of fresh vegetables is a recent food safety concern. Bacillus cereus has been recognized as the most frequently detected foodborne pathogen in fresh-cut salads in Korea. Prevalence and level of contamination of B. cereus was determined in samples from processing lines of packaged fresh-cut vegetable salad manufacturing companies (A, B, C, and D). B. cereus was detected in the 27.3–30.8 % of food samples (raw material, salads in washing steps, and final products) and the contamination levels were up to 9.5 × 102 CFU/g, while detection rates in environmental samples were very low. Molecular subtyping of B. cereus strains detected in the processing environments (company A) and retail products (companies A and E) was conducted to reveal the contamination sources during processing. High genetic similarity was found in the bacterial strains obtained from the processing lines and retail products of company A. This result suggested that B. cereus strains of same clone may have circulated in the products prepared in the same company. Genetic similarities were also observed among part of the B. cereus isolates obtained from the processing line of company A and from the retail products of company E, suggesting that some of the B. cereus clones may have originated from the raw materials. The identified information can be used to develop the intervention technology for fresh-cut vegetable processing.

The objective of this study was to determine methane yields (MY) of organic wastes in biogasification facilities according to the mixing ratio of food waste/food waste leachate and sewage sludge. One biogasification facility that treated sewage sludge only was compared with three biogasification facilities treating sewage sludge and food waste. The theoretical MY was derived based on analyses of carbohydrate, fat, and protein to examine the efficiency of the biogasification facility. The average actual MY was 0.424 Sm3CH4/kg volatile solids, which corresponded to 83.7% of theoretical MY. In the case of combined anaerobic digestion (CD) mixing with food waste/food waste leachate, inhibitory factors (volatile fatty acids [VFAs], total nitrogen [TN], and organic matter contents) showed the tendency to have relatively higher values in CD facilities than in the biogasification facility treating sewage sludge only. Mean concentrations of VFAs and TN in the anaerobic digester effluent, and the organic loading rate were 406 mg/L, 3,721 mg/L, and 1.62 kg volatile solids/m3 day, respectively. The influence of anaerobic digester effluent was in charge of 10% within the influent environmental loading rate from the sewage treatment plants associated with the biogasification facilities. Analyses of the microbial community showed that a remarkable change in the structure of methanogens was directly related to different MY in each plant. In particular, Methanoculleus and Methanosaeta increased with an increasing ratio of food waste/food waste leachate to sludge, while Methanococcus and Methanosarcina decreased. In conclusion, CD showed steady operational conditions and high efficiency of MY by injecting food waste/food waste leachate into the anaerobic digester. It met the current criteria for integrated treatment of organic waste in biogasification facilities in South Korea.