We report the identification of interspecific barcoding InDel regions in Vaccinium species. We compared five complete Vaccinium chloroplast (cp) genomes (V. bracteatum, V. vitis-idaea, V. uliginosum, V. macrocarpon, and V. oldhamii) to identify regions that can be used to distinguish them. Comparative analysis of nucleotide diversity from five cp genomes revealed 25 hotspot coding and noncoding regions, occurring in 65 of a total of 505 sliding windows, that exhibited nucleotide diversity (Pi) > 0.02. PCR validation of 12 hypervariable InDel regions identified seven candidate barcodes with high discriminatory powers: accD-trnT-GGU, rpoB-rpoA, ycf2-trnL-GAA, rps12-ycf15, trnV-GAC, and ndhE-ndhF. Among them, the rpoB-rpoA(2) and ycf2-trnL-CAA sequences clearly showed the intraspecific and interspecific distance among five Vaccinium species by using a K2P technique. In phylogenetic analysis, included five Vaccinium species (n = 19) in the Bayesian and Neighbor-Joining (NJ) analysis revered all species in two major clades and resolved taxonomic position within species groups. These two locus provide comprehensive information that aids the phylogenetics of this genus and increased discriminatory capacity during species authentication.

Carotenoid oxygenase is a key enzyme involved in the metabolism of carotenoids, which are important quality factors affecting the pigmentation and aroma of flowers and fruits, as well as main regulators of plant phytohormones, such as abscisic acid (ABA) and strigolactone (SL). To investigate the regulation of carotenoid metabolism, including ABA and SL biosynthesis by carotenoid oxygenase genes, in B. rapa and B. oleracea, we studied the expression of these genes in response to salt, drought, cold, ABA, and SL treatments. In the Brassica database, we identified genes related to carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (CCD) 1, CCD4, CCC7, CCD8, NCED (9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase) 2, NCED3, NCED5, NCED 6, and NCED9. We classified 15 and 14 carotenoid oxygenase candidate genes in B. rapa and B. oleracea, respectively. CCD1 and CCD4 showed similar transcription trends under abiotic stress treatment conditions in both B. rapa and B. oleracea, with expression peaking at 3-6 h post treatment before decreasing at 12 h. NCED2, NCED6, and NCED9 were responsive to ABA and SL treatments. Our results show that the phytohormone biosynthetic enzymes involved in carotenoid oxygenase pathways may be activated as multifunctional stress signaling factors with a variety of transcriptional responses via their interactions under abiotic stress treatment conditions in B. rapa and B. oleracea.

View related articlesView Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles MITOGENOME ANNOUNCEMENTComplete chloroplast genome sequences of Vaccinium bracteatum Thunb., V. vitis-idaea L., and V. uliginosum L.

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Purpose:The purpose was to compare aqueous inflammatory and angiogenic cytokine levels in diabetic macular edema (DME).Materials and Methods:Aqueous samples were obtained from 50 eyes with DME and 12 normal eyes (control group). DME was classified according to the morphologic pattern based on optical coherence tomography: Diffuse retinal thickening (DRT; n = 19), cystoid macular edema (CME; n = 17), or serous retinal detachment (SRD; n = 14). Aqueous samples were collected just before intravitreal injection and at the beginning of cataract surgery in the control group. Interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, interferon-induced protein (IP)-10, monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-AA, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels were measured by multiplex bead assay.Results:The IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, and PDGF-AA levels differed significantly among the three groups of DME (P = 0.014, P = 0.038, P = 0.021, and P = 0.041, respectively). However, there were no differences between groups in aqueous concentration levels of MCP-1 and VEGF (P = 0.205 and P = 0.062, respectively). IL-6 (P = 0.026) and IL-8 (P = 0.023) correlated positively with central foveal thickness (CFT) in the CME group. None of the cytokine levels correlated significantly with CFT in any of the DRT and SRD groups.Conclusions:Aqueous concentrations of cytokines varied according to the morphologic pattern of DME, which might explain the variable response to treatments such as intravitreal bevacizumab or triamcinolone injection.