Research Publications (Food Safety)

Cadmium is one of the most common heavy metal contaminants found in agricultural fields. MutSα, MutSβ, and MutSγ are three different MutS-associated protein heterodimer complexes consisting of MSH2/MSH6, MSH2/MSH3, and MSH2/MSH7, respectively. These complexes have different mismatch recognition properties and abilities to support MMR.

Introduction

Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch,) and nectarine fruits (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var nectarine), are characterized by a rapid deterioration at room temperature. Therefore, cold storage is widely used to delay fruit post-harvest ripening and extend fruit commercial life. Physiological disorders, collectively known as chilling injury, can develop typically after 3 weeks of low-temperature storage and affect fruit quality.

Methods

Vast quantities of synthetic pesticides have been widely applied in various fields to kill plant pathogens, resulting in increased pathogen resistance and decreased effectiveness of such chemicals. In addition, the increased presence of pesticide residues affects living organisms and the environment largely on a global scale.

(E)-β-ocimene, a ubiquitous monoterpene volatile in plants, is emitted from flowers to attract pollinators and/or from vegetative tissues as part of inducible defenses mediated by complex signaling networks when plants are attacked by insect herbivores. Wild pear species Pyrus betuleafolia used worldwide as rootstock generally displays valuable pest-resistant traits and is a promising genetic resource for pear breeding.

Plants with certain medicinal values are a good source for isolating function-specific endophytes. Rosa roxburghii Tratt. has been reported to be a botanical source of antimicrobial compounds, which may represent a promising candidate for screening endophytic fungi with antimicrobial potential. In this study, 54 endophytes were isolated and molecularly identified from R. roxburghii.

Ethylene is a two-carbon gaseous plant growth regulator that involved in several important physiological events, including growth, development, ripening and senescence of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental crops. The hormone accelerates ripening of ethylene sensitive fruits, leafy greens and vegetables at micromolar concentrations, and its accumulation can led to fruit decay and waste during the postharvest stage.

The trichothecene toxin-producing fungus Trichoderma arundinaceum has potential as a biological control agent. However, most biocontrol studies have focused only on one strain, IBT 40837. In the current study, three Trichoderma isolates recovered from bean-field soils produced the trichothecene harzianum A (HA) and trichodermol, the latter being an intermediate in the HA biosynthesis. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the three isolates were assigned to the species T. arundinaceum.

Two previously undescribed lactones, phomolides A and B (1 and 2), and three new sesquiterpenoids, phomenes A–C (3–5), together with one known compound, colletotricholide A (6), were isolated from the endophytic fungus Phomopsis sp. SZSJ-7B.

The Golden 2-Like (G2-like or GLK) transcription factors are essential for plant growth, development, and many stress responses as well as heavy metal stress. However, G2-like regulatory genes have not been studied in soybean. This study identified the genes for 130 G2-Like candidates’ in the genome of Glycine max (soybean). These GLK genes were located on all 20 chromosomes, and several of them were segmentally duplicated.

Rice is the world’s most important food crop and is of great importance to ensure world food security. In the rice cultivation process, weeds are a key factor that affects rice production. Weeds in the field compete with rice for sunlight, water, nutrients, and other resources, thus affecting the quality and yield of rice. The chemical treatment of weeds in rice fields using herbicides suffers from the problem of sloppy herbicide application methods.

Fusarium (FER) and Gibberella ear rots (GER) are the two most devastating diseases of maize (Zea mays L.) which reduce yield and affect grain quality worldwide, especially by contamination with mycotoxins. Genetic improvement of host resistance to effectively tackle FER and GER diseases requires the identification of stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) to facilitate the application of genomics-assisted breeding for improving selection efficiency in breeding programs.

Biofortification is the supply of micronutrients required for humans and livestock by various methods in the field, which include both farming and breeding methods and are referred to as short-term and long-term solutions, respectively. The presence of essential and non-essential elements in the atmosphere, soil, and water in large quantities can cause serious problems for living organisms.

Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, showing blood replenishment, anti-tumour, anti-hepatitis, and immunomodulation activities amongst others. However, the mechanism of its pharmacological activities remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of bioactive ingredients from Limonium Sinense using an integrated approach.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination is a serious global concern that warrants constant attention. Therefore, a hydroponic study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different concentrations (0, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 15 mg/l) of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on the Cd content in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) under Cd stress conditions.

Plant productivity is being seriously compromised by climate-change-induced temperature extremities. Agriculture and food safety are threatened due to global warming, and in many cases the negative impacts have already begun. Heat stress leads to significant losses in yield due to changes in growth pattern, plant phonologies, sensitivity to pests, flowering, grain filling, maturity period shrinkage, and senescence. Tomato is the second most important vegetable crop.

This research focused on cadmium (Cd), which negatively affects plant growth and auxin hemostasis. In plants, many processes are indirectly controlled through the expression of certain genes due to the secretion of bacterial auxin, as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) acts as a reciprocal signaling molecule in plant–microbe interaction.

Soil lead (Pb) contamination is one of the environmental problems facing the modern world. Sources of Pb in soil include industrial activities such as mining and smelting processes, agricultural activities such as application of insecticide and municipal sewage sludges, and urban activities such as use of lead in gasoline, paints, and other materials.

Background Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal. Its emission is suspected to be further increased due to the dramatic application of ash to agricultural soils and newly reclaimed ones. Thereby, Cd stress encountered by plants will exacerbate. Acute and chronic exposure to Cd can upset plant growth and development and ultimately causes plant death.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused serious cadmium (Cd) pollution in soil. Tartary buckwheat is an important pseudocereal crop with the potential ability to tolerate various stresses. However, the responses to Cd stress in this species are unclear.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of paddy soil affects safe crop production. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of plant biostimulant amino acid fertilizer on the phytoremediation capability of an emergent accumulator plant Nasturtium officinale R. Br. for Cd-contaminated paddy soils. A pot study was carried out to study the effects of different concentrations of amino acid fertilizer on the Cd accumulation of N. officinale grown in Cd-contaminated paddy soil.

The increasing contamination of soil with arsenic (As), and salinity has become a menace to food security and human health. The current study investigates the comparative efficacy of plain biochar (BC), and silicon-nanoparticles doped biochar (SBC) for ameliorating the As and salinity-induced phytotoxicity in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) and associated human health risks.

Cadmium (Cd) toxicity not only affects plant growth and development, but also affects human health through the food chain. Several studies have demonstrated that Selenium (Se) alleviates Cd stress in plants; however, whether and how Se-alleviated Cd stress by regulating the structure of soil microbial community remain largely unclear.

Climate warming may affect the performance of plants directly through altering vegetative or reproductive traits, and indirectly through modifying interactions with their pollinators. On the other hand, the addition of fertilizers to the soil may increase the quantity and quality of floral rewards, favoring the visitation of pollinators and, consequently, the reproductive success of plants.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of agricultural soils poses a potential public health issue for humans. Phytoremediation-based accumulating plants are an effective and sustainable technology for Cadmium remediation of contaminated agricultural soil. The rhizosphere microbiome can promote the growth and Cadmium accumulation in hyperaccumulators, but its taxonomic and functional traits remain elusive.

Plant-specific TIFY [TIF(F/Y)XG] proteins serve important roles in the regulation of plant stress responses. This family encodes four subfamilies of proteins, JAZ (JASMONATE ZIM-domain), PPD (PEAPOD), ZML (Zinc-finger Inflorescence-like), and TIFY. In this work, a total of 16 JAZ, 3 PPD, 7 ZML, and 2 TIFY genes were found in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) at the genome-wide level.