Coffee cysteine proteinases and related inhibitors with high expression during grain maturation and germination

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cysteine proteinases perform multiple functions in seeds, including participation in remodelling polypeptides and recycling amino acids during maturation and germination. Currently, few details exist concerning these genes and proteins in coffee. Furthermore, there is limited information on the cysteine proteinase inhibitors which influence the activities of these proteinases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two cysteine proteinase (CP) and four cysteine proteinase inhibitor (CPI) gene sequences have been identified in coffee with significant expression during the maturation and germination of coffee grain. Detailed expression analysis of the cysteine proteinase genes CcCP1 and CcCP4 in Robusta using quantitative RT-PCR showed that these transcripts accumulate primarily during grain maturation and germination/post germination. The corresponding proteins were expressed in <it>E. coli </it>and purified, but only one, CcCP4, which has a KDDL/KDEL C-terminal sequence, was found to be active after a short acid treatment. QRT-PCR expression analysis of the four cysteine proteinase inhibitor genes in Robusta showed that CcCPI-1 is primarily expressed in developing and germinating grain and CcCPI-4 is very highly expressed during the late post germination period, as well as in mature, but not immature leaves. Transcripts corresponding to CcCPI-2 and CcCPI-3 were detected in most tissues examined at relatively similar, but generally low levels.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Several cysteine proteinase and cysteine proteinase inhibitor genes with strong, relatively specific expression during coffee grain maturation and germination are presented. The temporal expression of the CcCP1 gene suggests it is involved in modifying proteins during late grain maturation and germination. The expression pattern of CcCP4, and its close identity with KDEL containing CP proteins, implies this proteinase may play a role in protein and/or cell remodelling during late grain germination, and that it is likely to play a strong role in the programmed cell death associated with post-germination of the coffee grain. Expression analysis of the cysteine proteinase inhibitor genes suggests that CcCPI-1 could primarily be involved in modulating the activity of grain CP activity; while CcCPI-4 may play roles modulating grain CP activity and in the protection of the young coffee seedlings from insects and pathogens. CcCPI-2 and CcCPI-3, having lower and more widespread expression, could be more general "house-keeping" CPI genes.</p

Multiple Beneficial Health Effects of Natural Alkylglycerols from Shark Liver Oil

Alkylglycerols (alkyl-Gro) are ether lipids abundant in the liver of some elasmobranch fish species such as ratfishes and some sharks. Shark liver oil from Centrophorus squamosus (SLO), or alkyl-Gro mix from this source, have several in vivo biological activities including stimulation of hematopoiesis and immunological defences, sperm quality improvement, or anti-tumor and anti-metastasis activities. Several mechanisms are suggested for these multiple activities, resulting from incorporation of alkyl-Gro into membrane phospholipids, and lipid signaling interactions. Natural alkyl-Gro mix from SLO contains several alkyl-Gro, varying by chain length and unsaturation. Six prominent constituents of natural alkyl-Gro mix, namely 12:0, 14:0, 16:0, 18:0, 16:1 n-7, and 18:1 n-9 alkyl-Gro, were synthesized and tested for anti-tumor and anti-metastatic activities on a model of grafted tumor in mice (3LL cells). 16:1 and 18:1 alkyl-Gro showed strong activity in reducing lung metastasis number, while saturated alkyl- Gro had weaker (16:0) or no (12:0, 14:0, 18:0) effect. Multiple compounds and mechanisms are probably involved in the multiple activities of natural alkyl-Gro

An Update on the Therapeutic Role of Alkylglycerols

Scandinavian folk medicine used shark liver oil for the treatment of cancers and other ailments based on the rarity of tumors in sharks and their ability to resist infections. Shark liver oil is a source of alkylglycerols which have been studied as anti-cancer agents in several clinical trials. Moreover, alkylglycerols have been investigated for the treatment of radiation induced side effects and for their ability to boost the immune system. Several experimental studies have shown the ability of alkylglycerols to open the blood brain barrier to facilitate the access of therapeutic drugs to the central nervous system. This review covers the most important studies of alkylglycerols in both animals and humans

Libéralisme, corporatisme et dérogeance : à propos des édits sur le commerce de 1701 et 1765

Christian Cheminade : Liberalism, corporatism and derogation. On the commercial edicts of 1701 and 1765. In 1700-1 the Counsel on Trade was favourable to a liberal demand from the trading gentry, but dared not attack openly the limits on trade imposed by corporations' charters. This contradiction can be seen in the 1701 Edict, intended to liberalise wholesale trade, but which finally only abolished the "law of deroga¬ tion". To remove this ambiguity, the trading deputies launched another liberal campaign in 1754, which led to a text establishing a link between the ending of the derogation and complete freedom for wholesale trade. But opposition from the Six Paris Guilds prevented the Edict from being promulgated for ten years. It was finally published in 1765, with no reference to derogation whose abolition had in the mean time become the battle cry of the defenders of corporatism. But the Six Guilds ensured that the Edict would not be applied in the capital.Cheminade Christian. Libéralisme, corporatisme et dérogeance : à propos des édits sur le commerce de 1701 et 1765. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°26, 1994. Economie et politique. pp. 269-284

L'abbé Coyer et l'Essai sur la prédication (1781) ou une réconciliation du christianisme et de la philosophie

The year before he died, abbé Coyer (1707-1782) wrote an Essai sur la prédication, Carême entier en un seul discours, presented as a sermon, in which he tried to return to his vocation as a Catholic priest. He in no way rejected the ideas he had defended throughout his career, which led to him being classified as a representative of the Enlightenment ; but for the first time he presented his moral criticism, socio-political denunciations and reform projects as inseparable from his belief in Christian doctrine, and above all from the practice of evangelical morality derived from the Sermon on the Mount. He defined an ideal guiding the virtue of both the individual and citizen, promoted by the philosophe, and the Christian, taught by the priest. But this synthesis was elaborated in the context of an awareness of failure, for in 1781 the French, despite their proclamations, were neither Christians, nor citizens, nor men.Cheminade Christian. L'abbé Coyer et l'Essai sur la prédication (1781) ou une réconciliation du christianisme et de la philosophie. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°34, 2002. Christianisme et Lumières, sous la direction de Sylviane Albertan-Coppola et Antony McKenna. pp. 325-331

Architecture et médecine à la fin du XVIIIe siècle : la ventilation des hôpitaux, de l'Encyclopédie au débat sur l'Hôtel-Dieu de Paris

Christian Cheminade: Architecture and Medecine in the Late 18th Century: Ventilation in Hospitals, from the Encyclopédie to the Debate on the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. In the Encyclopédie articles Hôpital and Hotel-dieu we see the emergence of the idea that hospital architecture has a role to play in the healing of the sick. As putrid air was considered to be an essential factor in infection and contagion, forward-looking doctors and architects considered that it was crucial to preserve patients from it. Thus the hospitals planned after 1773 to replace the old Hôtel-Dieu in Paris were designed so as to create the maximum ventilation and isolation of the wards; that is why the traditional rectangular or cross-shaped plans were gradually abandoned. In the late 1780s a radically new hospital model was established, composed of parallel, completely separate buildings, which remained the norm for nearly a century. This reflection, encouraged and even organized by the government, shows the beginning of an enlightened policy of public health at the end of the Old Régime.Cheminade Christian. Architecture et médecine à la fin du XVIIIe siècle : la ventilation des hôpitaux, de l'Encyclopédie au débat sur l'Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. In: Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie, n°14, 1993. pp. 85-109