Project description:Ganoderma colossum (Fr.) Baker, a white rot fungus distributed in tropical and subtropical forests, is a rare Ganoderma mushroom belonging to the family Ganodermataceae. In Asia, the fruiting body of G. colossum has been used as tonics or as folk medicine for a variety of illnesses, including malignant diseases. Colossolactone H (colo H) as a new compound was isolated and studied for its anticancer mechanism in human lung cancer H1650 cells. We used microarrays to analyze the gene expression changes upon colo H treatment that helped underlying the molecular mechanism of colo H in H1650 lung cancer cells. The H1650 cells treated with colo H for 12 and 24 h for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera L.) is an ancient palm species that since early times had been integrally exploited due to their many benefits to the habitants of the tropical and subtropical areas (Niral and Jerard, 2018). The coconut together with the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) belongs to the Arecaceae family and represent a natural source of oils and carbohydrates both, highly demanded in food and pharmaceutical industries. The coconut shows high morphological variations, but grouping normally in two groups, according to their morphology and growth habits, the “Tall” and the “Dwarf” varieties. Frequently, hybrids are considered as a third variety resulting from cross pollination between Tall and Dwarfs. Tall varieties begin to flowering at 5-7 years after planting, and continue emitting inflorescences and fruits up to 80 to 100 years. When adults, tall palms reach heights between 20-30 m; producing fruits from medium to large in size with abundant solid endosperm and high oil content. In case of dwarf palm varieties, they start flowering and fruiting at 3-4 years after planting, and continue producing by almost 50 years. As adults, their height is 8-10 m, producing fruits from small to medium size with moderate amounts of solid endosperm and less oil content than tall varieties. The solid endosperm, also named as “coconut meat” and when it is dry “copra”, is the source of medium chain saturated fatty acids (MCSFA), e.g. lauric acid (C12:0), myristic acid (C14:0) and palmitic acid (C16:0), among others, and their content of total fatty acids is higher in Tall than in Dwarf varieties. Coconut Oil contains high levels of lauric acid and exhibit characteristics as increased oxidative stability, low melting points and formation of stable emulsions, all them highly appreciated in the food and chemical industries (Kumar, 2011; Reynolds et al., 2019). Moreover, due to its high content of antioxidants such as tocopherol and beta-carotene, coconut oil exhibit various health benefits, such as antibacterial, antiviral, and cardiovascular protection. Coconut fruit growth and ripening is intrinsically related with development of the different seed tissues, i.e., endosperms, embryo and pericarp. The endosperms of the coconut fruit did not accumulate synchronically with fruit maturation.
