Background Germinated barley foodstuff (GBF) has been shown to attenuate intestinal injury in animal models, largely by increasing luminal short‐chain fatty acid production. Aim To investigate the safety and efficacy of GBF in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods Ten patients with active UC received 30 g of GBF daily for 4 weeks in an open‐label treatment protocol while the baseline anti‐inflammatory therapy was continued. The response to treatment was evaluated clinically and endoscopically. Pre‐ and post‐treatment stool concentrations of short‐chain fatty acids were measured by gas‐liquid chromatography. Results Patients showed improvement in their clinical activity index scores, with a significant decrease in the score from 6.9 ± 1.4 to 2.8 ± 1.5 (mean ± S.E.M., P < 0.05). The endoscopic index score fell from 6.1 ± 2.3 to 3.8 ± 2.3 (P < 0.0001). Patients showed an increase in stool butyrate concentrations after GBF treatment (P < 0.05). No side‐effects were observed. Conclusions Oral GBF therapy may have a place in management of ulcerative colitis, but controlled studies are needed to demonstrate its efficacy in the treatment of this disorder.

Pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins are widespread in eukaryotes and in particular, include several hundred members in land plants. The majority of PPR proteins are localized in mitochondria and plastids, where they play a crucial role in various aspects of RNA metabolism at the post-transcriptional level in gene expression. However, many of their functions remain to be characterized. In contrast to vascular plants, the moss Physcomitrella patens has only 105 PPR genes. This number may represent a minimum set of PPR proteins required for post-transcriptional regulation in plant organelles. Here, we review the overall structure of the P. patens PPR gene family and the current status of the functional characterization of moss PPR proteins.

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