PubMed

Related Articles Global Profiling of Various Metabolites in Platycodon grandiflorum by UPLC-QTOF/MS. Int J Mol Sci. 2015;16(11):26786-26796 Authors: Lee JW, Ji SH, Kim GS, Song KS, Um Y, Kim OT, Lee Y, Hong CP, Shin DH, Kim CK, Lee SE, Ahn YS, Lee DY Abstract In this study, a method of metabolite profiling based on UPLC-QTOF/MS was developed to analyze Platycodon grandiflorum. In the optimal UPLC, various metabolites, including major platycosides, were separated well in 15 min. The metabolite extraction protocols were also optimized by selecting a solvent for use in the study, the ratio of solvent to sample and sonication time. This method was used to profile two different parts of P. grandiflorum, i.e., the roots of P. grandiflorum (PR) and the stems and leaves of P. grandiflorum (PS), in the positive and negative ion modes. As a result, PR and PS showed qualitatively and quantitatively different metabolite profiles. Furthermore, their metabolite compositions differed according to individual plant samples. These results indicate that the UPLC-QTOF/MS-based profiling method is a good tool to analyze various metabolites in P. grandiflorum. This metabolomics approach can also be applied to evaluate the overall quality of P. grandiflorum, as well as to discriminate the cultivars for the medicinal plant industry. PMID: 26569219 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles The influence of gut microbiota on drug metabolism and toxicity. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol. 2015 Nov 16; Authors: Li H, He J, Jia W Abstract INTRODUCTION: Gut microbiota plays critical roles in drug metabolism. The variation of gut microbiota contributes to the interindividual differences towards drug therapy including drug-induced toxicity and efficacy. Accordingly, the investigation and elucidation of gut microbial impacts on drug metabolism and toxicity will not only facilitate the way of personalized medicine, but also improve the rational drug design. Areas covered: This review provides an overview on the microbiota-host co-metabolism on drug metabolism and summarizes 30 clinical drugs which are co-metabolized by host and gut microbiota. Moreover, this review is specifically focused on elucidating the gut microbial modulation on some clinical drugs, in which the gut microbial influences on drug metabolism, drug-induced toxicity and efficacy are discussed. Expert opinion: The gut microbial contribution to drug metabolism and toxicity is increasingly recognized, but remains largely unexplored due to the extremely complex relationship between gut microbiota and host. The mechanistic elucidation of gut microbiota in drug metabolism is critical before any practical progress in drug design or personalized medicine could be made by modulating human gut microbiota. Analytical technique innovation is urgently required to strengthen our capability in recognizing microbial functions, including metagenomics, metabolomics, and the integration of multi-disciplinary knowledge. PMID: 26569070 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles High density lipoprotein efficiently accepts surface but not internal oxidised lipids from oxidised low density lipoprotein. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015 Nov 10; Authors: Rasmiena AA, Barlow CK, Ng TW, Tull D, Meikle PJ Abstract OBJECTIVE: Oxidised low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) contributes to atherosclerosis, whereas high density lipoprotein (HDL) is known to be atheroprotective due, at least in part, to its ability to remove oxidised lipids from oxLDL. The molecular details of the lipid transfer process are not fully understood. We aimed to identify major oxidised lipid species of oxLDL and investigate their transfer upon co-incubation with HDL with varying levels of oxidation. APPROACH AND RESULTS: A total of 14 major species of oxidised phosphatidylcholine and oxidised cholesteryl ester from oxLDL were identified using an untargeted mass spectrometry approach. HDL obtained from pooled plasma of normolipidemic subjects (N=5) was oxidised under mild and heavy oxidative conditions. Non-oxidised (native) HDL and oxidised HDL were co-incubated with oxLDL, re-isolated and lipidomic analysis was performed. Lipoprotein surface lipids, oxidised phosphatidylcholines and oxidised cholesterols (7-ketocholesterol and 7β-hydroxycholesterol), but not internal oxidised cholesteryl esters, were effectively transferred to native HDL. Saturated and monounsaturated lyso-phosphatidylcholines were also transferred from the oxLDL to native HDL. These processes were attenuated when HDL was oxidised under mild and heavy oxidative conditions. The impaired capacities were accompanied by an increase in a ratio of sphingomyelin to phosphatidylcholine and a reduction in phosphatidylserine content in oxidised HDL, both of which are potentially important regulators of the oxidised lipid transfer capacity of HDL. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has revealed the differential transfer efficiency of surface and internal oxidised lipids from oxLDL and their acceptance onto HDL. These capacities were modulated when HDL was itself oxidised. PMID: 26569052 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Predictive associations between serum fatty acids and lipoproteins in healthy non-obese Norwegians: implications for cardiovascular health. Metabolomics. 2016;12(1):6 Authors: Lin C, Rajalahti T, Mjøs SA, Kvalheim OM Abstract A battery of methods for multivariate data analysis has been used to assess the associations between concentrations of fatty acids (FAs) and lipoprotein subclasses and particle size in serum for a normolipidemic population of ethnic Norwegians living in the rural Fjord region. Significant gender differences were found in the lipoprotein and FA patterns. Predictive FA patterns were revealed for lipoprotein features of importance for cardiovascular (CV) health. Thus, the subclasses of atherogenic small and very small low density lipoprotein (LDL) particles and the same subclasses of high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles were associated with a pattern of saturated FAs and mono-unsaturated C16-C18 FAs. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the ratio of EPA to arachidonic acid (AA) had strongest associations to features that promotes CV health: (i) large average size of HDL and LDL particles, and, (ii) small average size of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles. Total concentration of HDL in both genders correlated to EPA, but docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) correlated just as strongly for women. For men, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) showed stronger association to HDL concentration than EPA. For both genders, concentration of large LDL particles showed associations to levels of EPA, but stronger to DHA and DPA. High values of EPA/AA seem to be the strongest single biomarker for good CV health in both men and women. PMID: 26568746 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Use of biomarkers for assessing radiation injury and efficacy of countermeasures. Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2015 Nov 15; Authors: Singh VK, Newman VL, Romaine PL, Hauer-Jensen M, Pollard HB Abstract Several candidate drugs for Acute Radiation Syndrome have been identified which have low toxicity and significant radioprotective and radiomitigative efficacy. Inasmuch as exposing healthy human volunteers to injurious levels of radiation is unethical, development and approval of new radiation countermeasures for ARS are therefore presently based on animal studies and Phase I safety study in healthy volunteers. The Animal Efficacy Rule that underlies the Food and Drug Administration approval pathway requires a sound understanding of the mechanisms of injury, drug efficacy, and efficacy biomarkers. In this context, it is important to identify biomarkers for radiation injury and drug efficacy that can extrapolate animal efficacy results, and can be used to convert drug doses deduced from animal studies to those that can be efficacious when used in humans. Here, we summarize the progress of studies to identify candidate biomarkers for the extent of radiation injury and for evaluation of countermeasure efficacy. PMID: 26568096 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Large-scaled metabolic profiling of human dermal fibroblasts derived from pseudoxanthoma elasticum patients and healthy controls. PLoS One. 2014;9(9):e108336 Authors: Kuzaj P, Kuhn J, Michalek RD, Karoly ED, Faust I, Dabisch-Ruthe M, Knabbe C, Hendig D Abstract Mutations in the ABC transporter ABCC6 were recently identified as cause of Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), a rare genetic disorder characterized by progressive mineralization of elastic fibers. We used an untargeted metabolic approach to identify biochemical differences between human dermal fibroblasts from healthy controls and PXE patients in an attempt to find a link between ABCC6 deficiency, cellular metabolic alterations and disease pathogenesis. 358 compounds were identified by mass spectrometry covering lipids, amino acids, peptides, carbohydrates, nucleotides, vitamins and cofactors, xenobiotics and energy metabolites. We found substantial differences in glycerophospholipid composition, leucine dipeptides, and polypeptides as well as alterations in pantothenate and guanine metabolism to be significantly associated with PXE pathogenesis. These findings can be linked to extracellular matrix remodeling and increased oxidative stress, which reflect characteristic hallmarks of PXE. Our study could facilitate a better understanding of biochemical pathways involved in soft tissue mineralization. PMID: 25265166 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related Articles Potential for Dietary ω-3 Fatty Acids to Prevent Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Reduce the Risk of Primary Liver Cancer. Adv Nutr. 2015 Nov;6(6):694-702 Authors: Jump DB, Depner CM, Tripathy S, Lytle KA Abstract Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has increased in parallel with central obesity, and its prevalence is anticipated to increase as the obesity epidemic remains unabated. NAFLD is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in developed countries and is defined as excessive lipid accumulation in the liver, that is, hepatosteatosis. NAFLD ranges in severity from benign fatty liver to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and NASH is characterized by hepatic injury, inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis. NASH can progress to cirrhosis, and cirrhosis is a risk factor for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The prevention of NASH will lower the risk of cirrhosis and NASH-associated HCC. Our studies have focused on NASH prevention. We developed a model of NASH by using mice with the LDL cholesterol receptor gene ablated fed the Western diet (WD). The WD induces a NASH phenotype in these mice that is similar to that seen in humans and includes robust induction of hepatic steatosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, and fibrosis. With the use of transcriptomic, lipidomic, and metabolomic approaches, we examined the capacity of 2 dietary ω-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5ω-3; EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6ω-3; DHA), to prevent WD-induced NASH. Dietary DHA was superior to EPA at attenuating WD-induced changes in plasma lipids and hepatic injury and at reversing WD effects on hepatic metabolism, oxidative stress, and fibrosis. The outcome of these studies suggests that DHA may be useful in preventing NASH and reducing the risk of HCC. PMID: 26567194 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 triggers necrotic cell death. Cell Cycle. 2015 Nov 2;14(21):3506-12 Authors: Forveille S, Zhou H, Sauvat A, Bezu L, Müller K, Liu P, Zitvogel L, Pierron G, Rekdal Ø, Kepp O, Kroemer G Abstract The oncolytic peptide LTX-315 has been designed for killing human cancer cells and turned out to stimulate anti-cancer immune responses when locally injected into tumors established in immunocompetent mice. Here, we investigated the question whether LTX-315 induces apoptosis or necrosis. Transmission electron microscopy or morphometric analysis of chromatin-stained tumor cells revealed that LTX-315 failed to induce apoptotic nuclear condensation and rather induced a necrotic phenotype. Accordingly, LTX-315 failed to stimulate the activation of caspase-3, and inhibition of caspases by means of Z-VAD-fmk was unable to reduce cell killing by LTX-315. In addition, 2 prominent inhibitors of regulated necrosis (necroptosis), namely, necrostatin-1 and cycosporin A, failed to reduce LTX-315-induced cell death. In conclusion, it appears that LTX-315 triggers unregulated necrosis, which may contribute to its pro-inflammatory and pro-immune effects. PMID: 26566869 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles Genomics-based strategies for the use of natural variation in the improvement of crop metabolism. Plant Sci. 2016 Jan;242:47-64 Authors: Scossa F, Brotman Y, de Abreu E Lima F, Willmitzer L, Nikoloski Z, Tohge T, Fernie AR Abstract Next-generation genomics holds great potential in the study of plant phenotypic variation. With several crop reference genomes now available, the affordable costs of de novo genome assembly or target resequencing offer the opportunity to mine the enormous amount of genetic diversity hidden in crop wild relatives. Wide introgressions from these wild ancestors species or land races represent a possible strategy to improve cultivated varieties. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms underlying metabolic diversity within plant species and the possible strategies (and barriers) to introgress novel metabolic traits into cultivated varieties. We show how deep genomic surveys uncover various types of structural variants from extended gene pools of major crops and highlight how this variation may be used for the improvement of crop metabolism. PMID: 26566824 [PubMed - in process]

Related Articles [Metabolic profiling analysis of amino metabolites in plant extract based on pre-column derivatization-ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry]. Se Pu. 2015 Jun;33(6):613-21 Authors: Ziang J, Zhao C, Zhao Y, Zhao J, Li L, Lu X, Xu G Abstract Amino metabolites are important compounds that play a key role in plant growth and development. A metabolic profiling analysis method of amino metabolites in plant extract was developed based on pre-column derivatization-ultra high performance liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry. Using the tobacco leaf as an example, a total of 87 amino metabolites, including amino acids, amines, peptides, alkaloids etc. were detected. The repeatability of the method was good with RSDs of 85 amino metabolites between 1. 5% and 18. 8%. Forty-three amino metabolites validated by standard samples showed good linearity with the correlation coefficients of 0.993-0.999, covered linear range of four orders of magnitude. The limits of detection were 0.03-6.58 ng/mL. The intra-day and inter-day precisions were 0.7%-15.6% and 0.8%-22.9%, respectively. The recoveries were 74.4%-122.7%. The influence of topping on metabolic profiling of amino metabolites in fresh tobacco was investigated using the developed method. The results showed that the amino metabolites in the upper tobacco leaves were most affected than those in the middle and lower leaves. Metabolism of amino metabolites in the upper leaves after topping was mainly towards the alkaloid synthesis. The method integrated the advantages of triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and high resolution quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry. It can be used for metabolic profiling analysis of amino metabolites in plant extract with high sensitivity and selectivity. PMID: 26536764 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Related Articles [Development and Application of Metabonomics in Forensic Toxicology]. Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2015 Jun;31(3):219-26 Authors: Yan H, Shen M Abstract Metabonomics is an important branch of system biology following the development of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. It can perform high-throughput detection and data processing with multiple parameters, potentially enabling the identification and quantification of all small metabolites in a biological system. It can be used to provide comprehensive information on the toxicity effects, toxicological mechanisms and biomarkers, sensitively finding the unusual metabolic changes caused by poison. This article mainly reviews application of metabonomics in toxicological studies of abused drugs, pesticides, poisonous plants and poisonous animals, and also illustrates the new direction of forensic toxicology research. PMID: 26442377 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Newborn urinary metabolic signatures of prematurity and other disorders: a case control study. J Proteome Res. 2015 Nov 13; Authors: Diaz SO, Pinto J, Barros AS, Morais E, Duarte D, Negrao F, Pita C, Almeida MD, Carreira IM, Spraul M, Gil AM Abstract This work assesses the urinary metabolite signature of prematurity in newborns by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, while establishing the role of possible confounders and signature specificity, through comparison to other disorders. Gender and delivery mode are shown to impact importantly on newborn urine composition, their analysis pointing out at specific metabolite variations requiring consideration in unmatched subject groups. Premature newborns are, however, characterized by a stronger signature of varying metabolites, suggestive of disturbances in nucleotide metabolism, lung surfactants biosynthesis and renal function, along with enhancement of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity, fatty acids oxidation and oxidative stress. Comparison with other abnormal conditions (respiratory depression episode, large for gestational age, malformations, jaundice and premature rupture of membranes) reveals that such signature seems to be largely specific of preterm newborns, showing that NMR metabolomics can retrieve particular disorder effects, as well as general stress effects. These results provide valuable novel information on the metabolic impact of prematurity, contributing to the better understanding of its effects on the newborn's state of health. PMID: 26566167 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Bactericidal Antibiotics Induce Toxic Metabolic Perturbations that Lead to Cellular Damage. Cell Rep. 2015 Nov 3;13(5):968-980 Authors: Belenky P, Ye JD, Porter CB, Cohen NR, Lobritz MA, Ferrante T, Jain S, Korry BJ, Schwarz EG, Walker GC, Collins JJ Abstract Understanding how antibiotics impact bacterial metabolism may provide insight into their mechanisms of action and could lead to enhanced therapeutic methodologies. Here, we profiled the metabolome of Escherichia coli after treatment with three different classes of bactericidal antibiotics (?-lactams, aminoglycosides, quinolones). These treatments induced a similar set of metabolic changes after 30 min that then diverged into more distinct profiles at later time points. The most striking changes corresponded to elevated concentrations of central carbon metabolites, active breakdown of the nucleotide pool, reduced lipid levels, and evidence of an elevated redox state. We examined potential end-target consequences of these metabolic perturbations and found that antibiotic-treated cells exhibited cytotoxic changes indicative of oxidative stress, including higher levels of protein carbonylation, malondialdehyde adducts, nucleotide oxidation, and double-strand DNA breaks. This work shows that bactericidal antibiotics induce a complex set of metabolic changes that are correlated with the buildup of toxic metabolic by-products. PMID: 26565910 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

MassyTools: A High-Throughput Targeted Data Processing Tool for Relative Quantitation and Quality Control Developed for Glycomic and Glycoproteomic MALDI-MS. J Proteome Res. 2015 Nov 13; Authors: Jansen BC, Reiding KR, Bondt A, Hipgrave Ederveen AL, Palmblad M, Falck D, Wuhrer M Abstract The study of N-linked glycosylation has long been complicated by a lack of bioinformatics tools. In particular, there is still a lack of fast and robust data processing tools for targeted (relative) quantitation. We have developed modular, high-throughput data processing software, MassyTools, that is capable of calibrating spectra, extracting data, and performing quality control calculations based on a user-defined list of glycan or glycopeptide compositions. Typical examples of output include relative areas after background subtraction, isotopic pattern-based quality scores, spectral quality scores, and signal-to-noise ratios. We demonstrated MassyTools' performance on MALDI-TOF-MS glycan and glycopeptide data from different samples. MassyTools yielded better calibration than the commercial software flexAnalysis, generally showing 2-fold better ppm errors after internal calibration. Relative quantitation using MassyTools and flexAnalysis gave similar results, yielding a relative standard deviation (RSD) of the main glycan of ∼6%. However, MassyTools yielded 2- to 5-fold lower RSD values for low-abundant analytes than flexAnalysis. Additionally, feature curation based on the computed quality criteria improved the data quality. In conclusion, we show that MassyTools is a robust automated data processing tool for high-throughput, high-performance glycosylation analysis. The package is released under the Apache 2.0 license and is freely available on GitHub ( https://github.com/Tarskin/MassyTools ). PMID: 26565759 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Prognosis Biomarkers of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock by 1H NMR Urine Metabolomics in the Intensive Care Unit. PLoS One. 2015;10(11):e0140993 Authors: Garcia-Simon M, Morales JM, Modesto-Alapont V, Gonzalez-Marrachelli V, Vento-Rehues R, Jorda-Miñana A, Blanquer-Olivas J, Monleon D Abstract Early diagnosis and patient stratification may improve sepsis outcome by a timely start of the proper specific treatment. We aimed to identify metabolomic biomarkers of sepsis in urine by 1H-NMR spectroscopy to assess the severity and to predict outcomes. Urine samples were collected from 64 patients with severe sepsis or septic shock in the ICU for a 1H NMR spectra acquisition. A supervised analysis was performed on the processed spectra, and a predictive model for prognosis (30-days mortality/survival) of sepsis was constructed using partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). In addition, we compared the prediction power of metabolomics data respect the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score. Supervised multivariate analysis afforded a good predictive model to distinguish the patient groups and detect specific metabolic patterns. Negative prognosis patients presented higher values of ethanol, glucose and hippurate, and on the contrary, lower levels of methionine, glutamine, arginine and phenylalanine. These metabolites could be part of a composite biopattern of the human metabolic response to sepsis shock and its mortality in ICU patients. The internal cross-validation showed robustness of the metabolic predictive model obtained and a better predictive ability in comparison with SOFA values. Our results indicate that NMR metabolic profiling might be helpful for determining the metabolomic phenotype of worst-prognosis septic patients in an early stage. A predictive model for the evolution of septic patients using these metabolites was able to classify cases with more sensitivity and specificity than the well-established organ dysfunction score SOFA. PMID: 26565633 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Metabolomics screening identifies reduced L-carnitine to be associated with progressive emphysema. Clin Sci (Lond). 2015 Nov 12; Authors: Conlon TM, Bartel J, Ballweg K, Günter S, Prehn C, Krumsiek J, Meiners S, Theiss FJ, Adamski J, Eickelberg O, Yildirim AO Abstract Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by chronic bronchitis, small airway remodeling and emphysema. Emphysema is the destruction of alveolar structures, leading to enlarged airspaces and reduced surface area impairing the ability for gaseous exchange. To further understand the pathological mechanisms underlying progressive emphysema we used mass spectrometry-based approaches to quantitate the lung, bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid (BALF) and serum metabolome during emphysema progression in the established murine porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) model on days 28, 56 and 161, compared to PBS controls. Partial Least Square analysis revealed greater changes in the metabolome of lung followed by BALF rather than serum during emphysema progression. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that emphysema progression is associated with a reduction in lung specific L-carnitine, a metabolite critical for transporting long chain fatty acids into the mitochondria for their subsequent β-oxidation. In vitro , stimulation of the ATII-like LA4 cell line with L-carnitine diminished apoptosis induced by both PPE and H2O2. Moreover, PPE-treated mice demonstrated impaired lung function compared to PBS treated controls (lung compliance; 0.067±0.008ml/cmH20 vs 0.035±0.005ml/cmH20, p<0.0001), which improved following supplementation with L-carnitine (0.051±0.006, p<0.01) and was associated with a reduction in apoptosis. In summary, our results provide a new insight into the role of L-carnitine and, importantly, suggest therapeutic avenues for COPD. PMID: 26564208 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

High-resolution NMR-based metabolic detection of microgram biopsies using a 1 mm HRμMAS probe. Analyst. 2015 Nov 13; Authors: Nishiyama Y, Endo Y, Nemoto T, Bouzier-Sore AK, Wong A Abstract A prototype 1 mm High-Resolution micro-Magic Angle Spinning (HRμMAS) probe is described. High quality (1)H NMR spectra were obtained from 490 μg of heterogeneous biospecimens, offering a rich-metabolite profiling. The results demonstrate the potential of HRμMAS as a new NMR analytical tool in metabolomics. PMID: 26563772 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Compound identification in forensic toxicological analysis with untargeted LC-MS-based techniques. Bioanalysis. 2015 Nov 13; Authors: Oberacher H, Arnhard K Abstract Untargeted LC-MS/MS techniques have become indispensable tools for systematic toxicological analysis. Compound identification is based on the mass spectrometric information obtained, and this may include m/z, isotopic pattern, retention time and fragmentation information. All these different kinds of analytical features can be stored in libraries and databases. Currently, the most competent approach for compound identification involves tandem mass spectral library search. State-of-the-art databases were shown to be sensitive, specific, robust and instrument-independent. Low- and high-resolution instruments can both be used to develop efficient screening workflows. For automated and unattended acquisition of tandem mass spectral data, data-dependent acquisition control is the method of choice. Due to their impressive detection sensitivity, data-independent acquisition techniques are finding increased applicability. PMID: 26563687 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Biotechnological advances in tea (Camellia sinensis [L.] O. Kuntze): a review. Plant Cell Rep. 2015 Nov 13; Authors: Mukhopadhyay M, Mondal TK, Chand PK Abstract KEY MESSAGE: This article presents a comprehensive review on the success and limitations of biotechnological approaches aimed at genetic improvement of tea with a purpose to explore possibilities to address challenging areas. Tea is a woody perennial tree with a life span of more than 100 years. Conventional breeding of tea is slow and limited primarily to selection which leads to narrowing down of its genetic base. Harnessing the benefits of wild relatives has been negligible due to low cross-compatibility, genetic drag and undesirable alleles for low yield. Additionally, being a recalcitrant species, in vitro propagation of tea is constrained too. Nevertheless, maneuvering with tissue/cell culture techniques, a considerable success has been achieved in the area of micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis as well as genetic transformation. Besides, use of molecular markers, "expressomics" (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics), map-based cloning towards construction of physical maps, generation of expressed sequenced tags (ESTs) have facilitated the identification of QTLs and discovery of genes associated with abiotic or biotic stress tolerance and agronomic traits. Furthermore, the complete genome (or at least gene space) sequence of tea is expected to be accessible in the near future which will strengthen combinational approaches for improvement of tea. This review presents a comprehensive account of the success and limitations of the biotechnological tools and techniques hitherto applied to tea and its wild relatives. Expectedly, this will form a basis for making further advances aimed at genetic improvement of tea in particular and of economically important woody perennials in general. PMID: 26563347 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptides in the exosomes of patients with active and latent M. tuberculosis infection using MRM-MS. PLoS One. 2014;9(7):e103811 Authors: Kruh-Garcia NA, Wolfe LM, Chaisson LH, Worodria WO, Nahid P, Schorey JS, Davis JL, Dobos KM Abstract The identification of easily measured, accurate diagnostic biomarkers for active tuberculosis (TB) will have a significant impact on global TB control efforts. Because of the host and pathogen complexities involved in TB pathogenesis, identifying a single biomarker that is adequately sensitive and specific continues to be a major hurdle. Our previous studies in models of TB demonstrated that exosomes, such as those released from infected macrophages, contain mycobacterial products, including many Mtb proteins. In this report, we describe the development of targeted proteomics assays employing multiplexed multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) in order to allow us to follow those proteins previously identified by western blot or shotgun mass spectrometry, and enhance biomarker discovery to include detection of Mtb proteins in human serum exosomes. Targeted MRM-MS assays were applied to exosomes isolated from human serum samples obtained from culture-confirmed active TB patients to detect 76 peptides representing 33 unique Mtb proteins. Our studies revealed the first identification of bacteria-derived biomarker candidates of active TB in exosomes from human serum. Twenty of the 33 proteins targeted for detection were found in the exosomes of TB patients, and included multiple peptides from 8 proteins (Antigen 85B, Antigen 85C, Apa, BfrB, GlcB, HspX, KatG, and Mpt64). Interestingly, all of these proteins are known mycobacterial adhesins and/or proteins that contribute to the intracellular survival of Mtb. These proteins will be included as target analytes in future validation studies as they may serve as markers for persistent active and latent Mtb infection. In summary, this work is the first step in identifying a unique and specific panel of Mtb peptide biomarkers encapsulated in exosomes and reveals complex biomarker patterns across a spectrum of TB disease states. PMID: 25080351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]