Submergence stress is a limiting factor for direct-seeded rice systems in rainfed lowlands and flood-prone areas of South and Southeast Asia. The present study demonstrated that submergence stress severely hampered the germination and seedling growth of rice, however, seed priming alleviated the detrimental effects of submergence stress. To elucidate the molecular basis of seed priming-induced submergence tolerance, transcriptome analyses were performed using 4-day-old primed (selenium-Se and salicylic acid-SA priming) and non-primed rice seedlings under submergence stress. Genomewide transcriptomic profiling identified 2371 and 2405 transcripts with Se- and SA-priming, respectively, that were differentially expressed in rice compared with non-priming treatment under submergence. Pathway and gene ontology term enrichment analyses revealed that genes involved in regulation of secondary metabolism, development, cell, transport, protein, and metal handling were over-represented after Se- or SA-priming. These coordinated factors might have enhanced the submergence tolerance and maintained the better germination and vigorous seedling growth of primed rice seedlings. It was also found that many genes involved in cellular and metabolic processes such as carbohydrate metabolism, cellular, and metabolic biosynthesis, nitrogen compound metabolic process, transcription, and response to oxidative stress were induced and overlapped in seed priming treatments, a finding which reveals the common mechanism of seed priming-induced submergence tolerance. Taken together, these results may provide new avenues for understanding and advancing priming-induced responses to submergence tolerance in crop plants.

Infectious diseases and cancers are some of the commonest causes of deaths throughout the world. The previous two decades have witnessed a combined endeavor across various biological sciences to address this issue in novel ways. The advent of recombinant DNA technologies has provided the tools for producing recombinant proteins that can be used as therapeutic agents. A number of expression systems have been developed for the production of pharmaceutical products. Recently, advances have been made using plants as bioreactors to produce therapeutic proteins directed against infectious diseases and cancers. This review highlights the recent progress in therapeutic protein expression in plants (stable and transient), the factors affecting heterologous protein expression, vector systems and recent developments in existing technologies and steps towards the industrial production of plant-made vaccines, antibodies, and biopharmaceuticals.

Strawberry trees (Arbutus unedoL.) are naturally grown in particular Black Sea and Mediterranean regions of Turkey with great diversity due to continuous seed propagation for centuries. The trees differ in terms of most of the horticultural characteristics. We investigated the phenolic compounds and the biochemical and pomological characteristics of the fruits of eight strawberry tree selections naturally grown in the western part of Turkey. Significant differences were found among the genotypes in terms of their phenolic compounds and their biochemical and pomological characteristics. Among soluble sugars, fructose (11.63 g 100 g−1) was the dominant sugar, followed by glucose (6.10 g 100 g−1) and sucrose (1.44 g 100 g−1) for all the genotypes. Positive correlation was found between fruit weight and soluble sugar content. Malic acid was the major organic acid (0.67-2.33 g 100 g−1), and the second major organic acid in strawberry tree fruits was citric acid (0.25-0.87 g 100 g−1). Vitamin C content was an average of 56.22 g 100 g−1for the eight genotypes. Among phenolic compounds, gallic acid was dominant (1.62-7.29 mg 100 g−1), followed by chlorogenic acid (1.23-3.14 mg 100 g−1), on an average basis.

No abstract

To treat current infectious diseases, different therapies are used that include drugs or vaccines or both. Currently, the world is facing an increasing problem of drug resistance from many pathogenic microorganisms. In majority of cases, when vaccines are used, formulations consist of live attenuated microorganisms. This poses an additional risk of infection in immunocompromised patients and people suffering from malnutrition in developing countries. Therefore, there is need to improve drug therapy as well as to develop next generation vaccines, in particular against infectious diseases with highest mortality rates. For patients in developing countries, costs related to treatments are one of the major hurdles to reduce the disease burden. In many cases, use of prophylactic vaccines can help to control the incidence of infectious diseases. In the present review, we describe some infectious diseases with high impact on health of people in low and middle income countries. We discuss the prospects of plants as alternative platform for the development of next-generation subunit vaccines that can be a cost-effective source for mass immunization of people in developing countries.