Cuticular and Suberin Polymers of Edible Plants. Analysis by Gas Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric and Solid State Spectroscopic Methods

Cutin and suberin are structural and protective polymers of plant surfaces. The epidermal cells of the aerial parts of plants are covered with an extracellular cuticular layer, which consists of polyester cutin, highly resistant cutan, cuticular waxes and polysaccharides which link the layer to the epidermal cells. A similar protective layer is formed by a polyaromatic-polyaliphatic biopolymer suberin, which is present particularly in the cell walls of the phellem layer of periderm of the underground parts of plants (e.g. roots and tubers) and the bark of trees. In addition, suberization is also a major factor in wound healing and wound periderm formation regardless of the plants’ tissue. Knowledge of the composition and functions of cuticular and suberin polymers is important for understanding the physiological properties for the plants and for nutritional quality when these plants are consumed as foods. The aims of the practical work were to assess the chemical composition of cuticular polymers of several northern berries and seeds and suberin of two varieties of potatoes. Cutin and suberin were studied as isolated polymers and further after depolymerization as soluble monomers and solid residues. Chemical and enzymatic depolymerization techniques were compared and a new chemical depolymerization method was developed. Gas chromatographic analysis with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) was used to assess the monomer compositions. Polymer investigations were conducted with solid state carbon-13 cross polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C CP-MAS NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and microscopic analysis. Furthermore, the development of suberin over one year of post-harvest storage was investigated and the cuticular layers from berries grown in the North and South of Finland were compared. The results show that the amounts of isolated cuticular layers and cutin monomers, as well as monomeric compositions vary greatly between the berries. The monomer composition of seeds was found to differ from the corresponding berry peel monomers. The berry cutin monomers were composed mostly of long-chain aliphatic ω-hydroxy acids, with various mid-chain functionalities (double-bonds, epoxy, hydroxy and keto groups). Substituted α,ω-diacids predominated over ω-hydroxy acids in potato suberin monomers and slight differences were found between the varieties. The newly-developed closed tube chemical method was found to be suitable for cutin and suberin analysis and preferred over the solvent-consuming and laborious reflux method. Enzymatic hydrolysis with cutinase was less effective than chemical methanolysis and showed specificity towards α,ω-diacid bonds. According to ₁₃C CP-MAS NMR and FTIR, the depolymerization residues contained significant amounts of aromatic structures, polysaccharides and possible cutan-type aliphatic moieties. Cultivation location seems to have effect on cuticular composition. The materials studied contained significant amounts of different types of biopolymers that could be utilized for several purposes with or without further processing. The importance of the so-called waste material from industrial processes of berries and potatoes as a source of either dietary fiber or specialty chemicals should be further investigated in detail. The evident impact of cuticular and suberin polymers, among other fiber components, on human health should be investigated in clinical trials. These by-product materials may be used as value-added fiber fractions in the food industry and as raw materials for specialty chemicals such as lubricants and emulsifiers, or as building blocks for novel polymers.

Insecticide and raticide plants; analysis and summary of information on the crop possibilities of insecticide and raticide plants.

Mimeographed.

Ectopic expression of soybean leghemoglobin in chloroplasts impairs gibberellin biosynthesis and induces dwarfism in transgenic potato plants

We have characterized potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants expressing a soybean leghemoglobin that is targeted to plastids. Transgenic plants displayed a dwarf phenotype caused by short internode length, and exhibited increased tuberization in vitro. Under in vivo conditions that do not promote tuberization, plants showed smaller parenchymal cells than control plants. Analysis of gibberellin (GA) concentrations indicated that the transgenic plants have a substantial reduction (approximately 10-fold) of bioactive GA(1) concentration in shoots. Application of GA(3) to the shoot apex of the transformed plants completely restored the wild type phenotype suggesting that GA-biosynthesis rather than signal transduction was limiting. Since the first stage of the GA-biosynthetic pathway is located in the plastid, these results suggest that an early step in the pathway may be affected by the presence of the leghemoglobin.

Measuring root traits in barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp vulgare and ssp spontaneum) seedlings using gel chambers, soil sacs and X-ray microtomography

Root characteristics of seedlings of five different barley genotypes were analysed in 2D using gel chambers, and in 3D using soil sacs that were destructively harvested and pots of soil that were assessed non-invasively using X-ray microtomography. After 5 days, Chime produced the greatest number of root axes (similar to 6) and Mehola significantly less (similar to 4) in all growing methods. Total root length was longest in GSH01915 and shortest in Mehola for all methods, but both total length and average root diameter were significantly larger for plants grown in gel chambers than those grown in soil. The ranking of particular growth traits (root number, root angular spread) of plants grown in gel plates, soil sacs and X-ray pots was similar, but plants grown in the gel chambers had a different order of ranking for root length to the soil-grown plants. Analysis of angles in soil-grown plants showed that Tadmore had the most even spread of individual roots and Chime had a propensity for non-uniform distribution and root clumping. The roots of Mehola were less well spread than the barley cultivars supporting the suggestion that wild and landrace barleys tend to have a narrower angular spread than modern cultivars. The three dimensional analysis of root systems carried out in this study provides insights into the limitations of screening methods for root traits and useful data for modelling root architecture.

Overexpression of plant uncoupling mitochondrial protein in transgenic tobacco increases tolerance to oxidative stress

An Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA clone encoding a plant uncoupling mitochondrial protein (AtPUMP1) was overexpressed in transgenic tobacco plants. Analysis of the AtPUMP1 mRNA content in the transgenic lines, determined by Northern blot, revealed variable levels of transgene expression. Antibody probing of Western blots of mitochondrial proteins from three independent transgenic lines showed significant accumulation of AtPUMP1 in this organelle. Overproduction of AtPUMP1 in transgenic tobacco plants led to a significant increase in tolerance to oxidative stress promoted by exogenous hydrogen peroxide as compared to wild-type control plants. These results provide the first biological evidence for a role of PUMP in protection of plant cells against oxidative stress damage.

The influence of visual stimuli in ethnobotanical data collection using the listing task method

The listing task, a method used in social and behavioral sciences, is frequently used in ethnobotanical research to constructfolk taxonomies and select relevant itemsfor subsequent research. The objective of the present study was to determine whether visual stimuli are associated with responses to the theme plants or if context influences the answers. Interviews were conducted with 400 women in Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil, in four different locations: three with a visible presence of plants (a plant store, a supermarket, and a public plaza) and one with no plants (a street corner in the center of the city). The women were asked to name plants. Analysis indicates that visual stimuli influenced responses and that this is more marked in the plant store than in the other locations. The plants cited most often-roses, orchids, ferns, violets, and daisies-were, with little variation, the same in all the locales studied.

Crescimento e absorção de nutrientes pelo amarílis (Hippeastrum x hybridum Hort.)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Interferência intra e interespecífica de Urochloa decumbens e Synedrellopsis grisebachii

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV

Characterization of the Putative Xyloglucan Glycosyltransferase GT14 in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant cell walls largely consist of matrix polysaccharides that are linked to cellulose microfibrils. Xyloglucan, the primary hemicellulose of the cell wall matrix, consists of a repeating glucose tetramer structure with xylose residues attached to the first three units ('XXXG'). In Arabidopsis thaliana, the core XXXG structure is further modified by enzymatic addition of galactose and fucose residues to the xylose side chains to produce XLXG, XXLG, XLLG and XLFG structures. GT14 is a putative glycosyltransferase in the GT47 gene family. Initial predictions of GT14's hydrophobic regions, based on its translated amino acid sequence, are almost identical to its Arabidopsis homolog MUR3, which is a xyloglucan galactosyltransferase targeted to the Golgi membrane. This suggests that, like MUR3, GT14 possesses a transmembrane domain and that it is targeted to the Golgi. The monosaccharide composition of leaves from T-DNA insertion knockouts of GT14 was analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography. The gt14 plants were found to have lower fucose and higher mannose contents than wild type plants. Analysis of cell wall and soluble fractions from gt14 and wild type plants revealed that most of the deficiency in fucose was accounted for in the cell wall, supporting the idea that GT14's target is xyloglucan. Finally, gt14 and wild type plants were transformed with GT14 for complementation and overexpression analysis. The majority of transformed plants did not show significant changes with regard to monosaccharide composition. This may be because the plants were in the T1 generation and, thus, hemizygous. Analysis of homozygous plants in the T2 generation may reveal noticeable changes. Further studies on the xyloglucan composition of gt14 plants are necessary to put the observed reduction in cell wall fucose into a meaningful context.

Rede de conservação on farm para fruteiras nativas da fitofisionomia floresta com araucária: levantamento de informações

Currently, the biodiversity is considered as a powerful food security strategy, ecological and economical for humanity. Brazil is one of the main centers of genetic diversity of native fruit in the world. However, little is known about most of these species. In southwestern Paraná region, this diversity can be found, however, due to human action to increase genetic erosion, it is losing genotypes with potential for use. Thus, the conservation of genetic resources is essential for reduction strategies for damage caused to the environment and the lack of tech-nical information to increase the use of them. This study aimed to obtain information for cre-ating on farm net conservation in four citties this region. This study was carried out in rural properties from Dois Vizinhos, Itapejara D’Oeste, Verê and São Jorge D'Oeste citties, Paraná State, Brazil. It was action plan was established with the rural communities through gathering information with agents considered key in the process, it seeking the greatest number of farm-ers who had their properties in the native fruits as pitanga, jabuticaba, uvaia, cereja-do-mato, guabiroba, guabiju, sete capote, goiaba serrana, araça amarelo e vermelho trees. Semi-structured questionnaire was applied, which concerned issues of presence, handling and use of Myrtaceae fruit trees on their properties and informed consent term. There was a survey of the number and native fruits present in each property. The characterization of each household in terms of diversity handled and used in native fruit was performed. It was realized the soil col-lect in 200 properties with the presence of at least some native fruit tree naturally occurring, in order to determine the preference of the species for the chemical characteristics of the soil. The four citties have native fruits trees in quantity and diversity for the creation of on farm net conservation, with farmers demonstrating knowledge of their role as guardians of this heritage of humanity.

Physical analysis of compost from composting plants in Brazil

Nowadays the composting process has shown itself to be an alternative in the treatment of municipal solid wastes by composting plants. However, although more than 50% of the waste generated by the Brazilian population is composed of matter susceptible to organic composting, this process is, still today, insufficiently developed in Brazil, due to low compost quality and lack of investments in the sector. The objective of this work was to use physical analyses to evaluate the quality of the compost produced at 14 operative composting plants in the Sao Paulo State in Brazil. For this purpose, size distribution and total inert content tests were done. The results were analyzed by grouping the plants according to their productive processes: plants with a rotating drum, plants with shredders or mills, and plants without treatment after the sorting conveyor belt. Compost quality was analyzed considering the limits imposed by the Brazilian Legislation and the European standards for inert contents. The size distribution tests showed the influence of the machinery after the sorting conveyer on the granule sizes as well as the inert content, which contributes to the presence of materials that reduce the quality of the final product

Availability analysis of heat recovery steam generators used in thermal power plants

The combined-cycle gas and steam turbine power plant presents three main pieces of equipment: gas turbines, steam turbines and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). In case of HRSG failure the steam cycle is shut down, reducing the power plant output. Considering that the technology for design, construction and operation of high capacity HRSGs is quite recent its availability should be carefully evaluated in order to foresee the performance of the power plant. This study presents a method for reliability and availability evaluation of HRSGs installed in combined-cycle power plant. The method`s first step consists in the elaboration of the steam generator functional tree and development of failure mode and effects analysis. The next step involves a reliability and availability analysis based on the time to failure and time to repair data recorded during the steam generator operation. The third step, aiming at availability improvement, recommends the fault-tree analysis development to identify components the failure (or combination of failures) of which can cause the HRSG shutdown. Those components maintenance policy can be improved through the use of reliability centered maintenance (RCM) concepts. The method is applied on the analysis of two HRSGs installed in a 500 MW combined-cycle power plant. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of long-term light-trap data for Helicoverpa spp. (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) in Australia: the effect of climate and crop host plants

Regression analyses of a long series of light-trap catches at Narrabri, Australia, were used to describe the seasonal dynamics of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner). The size of the second generation was significantly related to the size of the first generation, to winter rainfall, which had a positive effect, and to spring rainfall which had a negative effect. These variables accounted for up to 96% of the variation in size of the second generation from year to year. Rainfall and crop hosts were also important for the size of the third generation. The area and tonnage of many potential host crops were significantly correlated with winter rain. When winter rain was omitted from the analysis, the sizes of both the second and third generations could be expressed as a function of the size of the previous generation and of the areas planted to lucerne, sorghum and maize. Lucerne and maize always had positive coefficients and sorghum a negative one. We extended our analysis to catches of H. punctigera (Wallengren), which declines in abundance after the second generation. Winter rain had a positive effect on the sizes of the second and third generations, and rain in spring or early summer had a negative effect. Only the area grown to lucerne had a positive effect on abundance. Forecasts of pest levels from a few months to a few weeks in advance are discussed, along with the improved understanding of the seasonal dynamics of both species and the significance of crops in the management of insecticide resistance for H. armigera.

Supervisory control of wastewater treatment plants by combining principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering

In this paper a methodology for integrated multivariate monitoring and control of biological wastewater treatment plants during extreme events is presented. To monitor the process, on-line dynamic principal component analysis (PCA) is performed on the process data to extract the principal components that represent the underlying mechanisms of the process. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering is used to classify the operational state. Performing clustering on scores from PCA solves computational problems as well as increases robustness due to noise attenuation. The class-membership information from FCM is used to derive adequate control set points for the local control loops. The methodology is illustrated by a simulation study of a biological wastewater treatment plant, on which disturbances of various types are imposed. The results show that the methodology can be used to determine and co-ordinate control actions in order to shift the control objective and improve the effluent quality.

Electromagnetic transients analysis of lightning overvoltages on wind power plants

As wind power generation undergoes rapid growth, lightning and overvoltage incidents involving wind power plants have come to be regarded as a serious problem. Firstly, lightning location systems are discussed, as well as important parameters regarding lightning protection. Also, this paper presents a case study, based on a wind turbine with an interconnecting transformer, for the study of adequate lightning and overvoltage protection measures. The electromagnetic transients circuit under study is described, and computational results are presented.