Project description:Kaempferitrin is extracted in significantly high quantities from the leaves of Cinnamomum osmophloeum, which belongs to the genus Cinnamomum, the same genus many antidiabetic herbal remedy in Chinese medicine. Oral administration of kaempferitrin reduces blood sugar in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. In this project, we studied the differential expression profile with proteomic approach using the liver cancer cell line hepG2, as liver cells were responsible for the regulation of lipid generation systemically.
Project description:The proteins accumulated in tomato young fruits were investigated by mass spectrometry-based label-free proteomics. Protein accumulation pattern was investigated during the time course of young fruits and the effect of pollination was compared with emasculated fruits.
Project description:We have performed a transcriptome analysis of genes at three different ripening stages of the pink-white fruits and the ripe stage of the red fruits of Chinese bayberry. This analysis provided a total of 119,701 unigenes, of which 41.43% were annotated in the Nr database. Our results showed that the formation of the pink-white color in Chinese bayberry fruits depended on the anthocyanin metabolic pathway, regulated by MYB1. Downregulated expression of key anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway genes, such as UFGT, F3’H, and ANS at the late stage of fruits development compared with DK3 fruits resulted in the failure to form red fruits. Our findings shed light on the regulatory mechanisms and metabolic processes that control color development in the fruits of Chinese bayberry.
Project description:Using sRNA-Seq to provide small RNA status in fruit ripening stages in sweet orange DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mark involved in many biological processes. The genome of the climacteric tomato fruit undergoes a global loss of DNA methylation due to active DNA demethylation during the ripening process. It is unclear whether the ripening of other fruits is also associated with global DNA demethylation. We characterized the single-base resolution DNA methylomes of sweet orange fruits. Compared to immature orange fruits, ripe orange fruits gained DNA methylation at over 30,000 genomic regions and lost DNA methylation at about 1,000 genomic regions, suggesting a global increase in DNA methylation during orange fruit ripening. This increase in DNA methylation was correlated with decreased expression of DNA demethylase genes. The application of a DNA methylation inhibitor interfered with ripening, indicating that the DNA hypermethylation is critical for the proper ripening of orange fruits. We found that ripening-associated DNA hypermethylation was associated with the repression of several hundred genes, such as photosynthesis genes, and with the activation of hundreds of genes including genes involved in ABA responses. Our results suggest important roles of DNA methylation in orange fruit ripening.