4,917 research outputs found
Genomic characterization of putative allergen genes in peach/almond and their synteny with apple
No full textAbstract Background Fruits from several species of the Rosaceae family are reported to cause allergic reactions in certain populations. The allergens identified belong to mainly four protein families: pathogenesis related 10 proteins, thaumatin-like proteins, lipid transfer proteins and profilins. These families of putative allergen genes in apple (Mal d 1 to 4) have been mapped on linkage maps and subsequent genetic study on allelic diversity and hypoallergenic traits has been carried out recently. In peach (Prunus persica), these allergen gene families are denoted as Pru p 1 to 4 and for almond (Prunus dulcis)Pru du 1 to 4. Genetic analysis using current molecular tools may be helpful to establish the cause of allergenicity differences observed among different peach cultivars. This study was to characterize putative peach allergen genes for their genomic sequences and linkage map positions, and to compare them with previously characterized homologous genes in apple (Malus domestica). Results Eight Pru p/du 1 genes were identified, four of which were new. All the Pru p/du 1 genes were mapped in a single bin on the top of linkage group 1 (G1). Five Pru p/du 2 genes were mapped on four different linkage groups, two very similar Pru p/du 2.01 genes (A and B) were on G3, Pru p/du 2.02 on G7,Pru p/du 2.03 on G8 and Pru p/du 2.04 on G1. There were differences in the intron and exon structure in these Pru p/du 2 genes and in their amino acid composition. Three Pru p/du 3 genes (3.01–3.03) containing an intron and a mini exon of 10 nt were mapped in a cluster on G6. Two Pru p/du 4 genes (Pru p/du 4.01 and 4.02) were located on G1 and G7, respectively. The Pru p/du 1 cluster on G1 aligned to the Mal d 1 clusters on LG16; Pru p/du 2.01A and B on G3 to Mal d 2.01A and B on LG9; the Pru p/du 3 cluster on G6 to Mal d 3.01 on LG12; Pru p/du 4.01 on G1 to Mal d 4.03 on LG2; and Pru p/du 4.02 on G7 to Mal d 4.02 on LG2. Conclusion A total of 18 putative peach/almond allergen genes have been mapped on five linkage groups. Their positions confirm the high macro-synteny between peach/almond and apple. The insight gained will help to identify key genes causing differences in allergenicity among different cultivars of peach and other Prunus species.</p
T-cell epitopes of the major peach allergen, Pru p 3: Identification and differential T-cell response of peach-allergic and non-allergic subjects
No full textLipid transfer proteins (LTPs), particularly peach Pru p 3, are the most relevant plant food allergens in the South of Europe, and, therefore, their allergic properties have been extensively studied. However, neither T-cell epitopes nor their effect on the patients’ T-cell response has been investigated in any member of the LTP panallergen family. The objective of the present study was to map the major T-cell epitopes of Pru p 3, as well as to evaluate their induced T-cell response in peach-allergic versus control subjects. Thus, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 18 peach-allergic patients and Pru p 3-specific T-cell lines (TCLs) from 9 of them were cultured with Pru p 3 and with a panel of 17 derived peptides (10-mer overlapping in 5 amino acids representing the full sequence of Pru p 3). Proliferation in 5-day assays was carried out via tritiated-thymidine incorporation, while IL4 and IFNγ production was assessed via sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent tests (ELISA) of TCL culture supernatants. The results were compared to those obtained from 10 non-peach allergic control volunteers. Two consecutive peptides showed the highest activation capacity. About 74% of PBMCs and TCLs recognized them, forming a single T-epitope: Pru p 365–80. Additionally, other specific T-cell epitopes were observed. Pru p 325–35 was detected by more than 60% of TCLs from peach-allergic patients, and Pru p 345–55 only activated PBMCs from control subjects. Interestingly, TCLs from patients were associated with a Th2-type, whereas control TCLs presented a Th1-type cytokine response. The major immunogenic T-cell epitope identified in Pru p 3, Pru p 365–80, is a good candidate to develop new vaccines for hypersensitivity reactions associated with LTP allergens from Rosaceae fruits
Marketing Portfolio Choices by Independent Peach Growers: An Application of the Polychotomous Selection Model
No full textIn selecting a marketing channel for fresh peach sales, Georgia commercial peach growers choose the channel after accounting for buyers' preferences for quality attributes. Using the polychotomous selection model and survey data we identified external and internal quality attributes as essential factors influencing the choice of a marketing channel and the share of the crop marketed. Other factors influencing the choice and the volume sold through each marketing channel included orchard characteristics and the variety-determined fruit maturity.Marketing,
A new introduction from the Italian MAS.PES peach breeding program: ‘MAISSA’, a stony hard flat peach
No full textMAS.PES is an apricot and peach breeding program located in northern Italy aimed at the introduction of cultivars featuring enhanced fruit quality and disease resistance (http://www.maspes.org). Among the most promising commercial outcomes, ‘Maissa’, early selected as ‘BO06013020’, is to be mentioned. It is a flat, yellow peach from a [Sweet Cap x BO 96028059 (Spring Red x Big Top)] cross, ripening in late August/first week of September in northern Italy (southern Po Valley, 44°50’ latitude), around 50 days after ‘Big Top’ nectarine, a commercial cultivar of reference for the Italian peach industry. The tree growth habit is regular, of medium-high vigour, chilling is medium, yield is high; fruit shape is flat, rather regular, with over 70% blush, over 220g in weight; flesh texture is stony hard (Hd trait), while parents and grandparents were all classified as belonging to the slow softening texture type (a possible mutation at the F locus); it is of the ‘low acid’ type (D trait), with soluble solids over 17 °Brix when harvested at full maturity; it has a delicious flavour, rather unusual for a stony hard peach. Harvest could be adjusted according to commercial purposes, since flesh never melts, thus can be started when the fruit reaches 13 °Brix. ‘Maissa’ needs a careful field management in order to avoid brown rot damages on fruit
Peach rootstocks as affected by selenate addition to soil.
No full textSelenium is known to be non essential for plant growth, but it may have beneficial biological functions in some species, known as ‘accumulators’, which required Se for their normal growth. Selenate and selenite are the major forms readily absorbed by plants and converted to organic Se. Both anions may be toxic at higher concentrations, reducing the plant yield, but can stimulate plant growth at low concentrations. Some soils contain Se above the normal levels and it may produce toxicity in plants. Little is known about the physiological response of fruit-tree species to selenium. The present study aimed at investigating the ability of two peach rootstocks to absorb selenium and the physiological responses to the Se accumulated in plant tissue
Evaluation of novel peach cultivars in the European Union: the EUFRIN Peach and Apricot Working Group initiative
No full textPeach cultivars can undergo large performance variations when cultivated in different environmental conditions. As growers cannot afford the financial risk of choosing a cultivar unsuited to their specific conditions, information as comprehensive as possible on the marketed cultivars is useful and highly needed. Several organizations in the European Union (EU) are engaged in the performance assessment of the novel cultivars based on experimental trials. However, the exchange of information is overall poor, limiting the completeness of information on new releases that would derive from integrating the results obtained in various climatic and agronomical contexts. The Apricot and Peach working group established in 2014 within EUFRIN (European Fruit Research Institutes Network, www.eufrin.org) has recently embarked on a new initiative aiming to implement a collaborative varietal evaluation system in the EU countries. The first step was the establishment o fa common list of descriptors to assess the performance of peach cultivars in the testing trials. About 40 descriptors, related to different phenological traits as flowering or harvest period, productivity, fruit appearance and internal quality, susceptibility to physiological disorders and to some major diseases in peach were selected. The protocols to measure and score each trait are being set up, as well as the selection of a common set of cultivars to include as references in the various testing sites in order to homogenize the evaluation. Implementation of this network will allow a real-time information exchange on the new peach releases
Hyperspectral Imaging for Peach Ripening Assessment
No full textThe present research is focused on the application of artificial vision to peach ripening assessment, avoiding multiplicative and additive effect. Original images were acquired with a hyperspectral camera. Vision allows a spatially detailed determination of the ripening stage of the fruit. Optical indexes are proposed, based on the combination of wavelengths close to the chlorophyll absorption peak at 680 nm. Ind1 corresponds approximately to the depth of the absorption peak, and Ind2 corresponds to the relative absorption peak. An artificial image of each index was obtained by computing the corresponding reflectance images. Score images have been also computed from Principal Components and Partial Least Squares Analysis. In any case the best performances correspond to such images that correct multiplicative and additive effects. Ind2 is the preferred index; it showed the highest discriminating power between ripening stages and no influence of convexity. Ind2 also allowed the differentiation of ripening regions within the fruits, and it showed the evolution of those regions during ripening. This fact has been also observed in some of the score image
Fruit trait segregation in a peach cross between distant genotypes
No full textA cross between distant genotypes was performed to introgress novel traits from a wild type peach into commercial cultivars. ‘PI 91459’, an ornamental-like peach (Rutgers University, NJ, USA) was chosen as the female parent for its weeping tree growth and long fruit peduncle. This trait would lessen the possibility of contact between the branch and the fruit during final swell, resulting in possible skin damage at harvest. ‘Bounty’, a yellow peach was chosen as a male for its large fruit size, since the female parent bears very small fruits. Ten seedlings out of the fifteen-tree progeny were randomly selected to measure branch crotch angle, fruit mass and peduncle length. On average, the fruit mass of the progeny was 43% larger than that of the seed parent. The fruit peduncle was 30% longer in the female as compared to the male parent. The progeny mean was close to mid-parent mean. Half of the seedlings had a penduncle length similar to that of the seed parent which may indicate a Mendelian mechanism of inheritance. The crotch angle was 80°, larger than either parent, conferring a wide spreading growth habit to the tree
Mimotope mapping as a complementary strategy to define allergen IgE-epitopes: peach Pru p 3 allergen as a model.
No full textLipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are the major allergens of Rosaceae fruits in the Mediterranean area. Pru p 3, the LTP and major allergen of peach, is a suitable model for studying food allergy and amino acid sequences related with its IgE-binding capacity. In this work, we sought to map IgE mimotopes on the structure of Pru p 3, using the combination of a random peptide phage display library and a three-dimensional modelling approach. Pru p 3-specific IgE was purified from 2 different pools of sera from peach allergic patients grouped by symptoms (OAS-pool or SYS-pool), and used for screening of a random dodecapeptide phage display library. Positive clones were further confirmed by ELISA assays testing individual sera from each pool. Three-dimensional modelling allowed location of mimotopes based on analysis of electrostatic properties and solvent exposure of the Pru p 3 surface. Twenty-one phage clones were selected using Pru p 3-specific IgE, 9 of which were chosen using OAS-specific IgE while the other 12 were selected with systemic-specific IgE. Peptide alignments revealed consensus sequences for each pool: L37 R39 T40 P42 D43 R44 A46 P70 S76 P78 Y79 for OAS-IgE, and N35 N36 L37 R39 T40 D43 A46 S76 I77 P78 for systemic-IgE. These 2 consensus sequences were mapped on the same surface of Pru p 3, corresponding to the helix 2-loop-helix 3 region and part of the non-structured C-terminal coil. Thus, 2 relevant conformational IgE-binding regions of Pru p 3 were identified using a random peptide phage display library. Mimotopes can be used to study the interaction between allergens and IgE, and to accelerate the process to design new vaccines and new immunotherapy strategie
Charles W. Peach, palaeobotany and Scotland
No full textThe move south from Wick to the city of Edinburgh in 1865, some four years after retirement from the Customs service, provided Charles W. Peach with new opportunities for fossil-collecting and scientific networking. Here he renewed and maintained his interest in natural history and made significant palaeobotanical collections from the Carboniferous of the Midland Valley of Scotland. These are distinguished by some interesting characteristics of their documentation which the following generations of fossil collectors and researchers would have done well to emulate. Many of his fossil plant specimens have not only the locality detail,but also the date, month and year of collection neatly handwritten on attached paper labels; as a result, we can follow Peach's collecting activities over a period of some 18 years or so. Comments and even illustrative sketches on the labels of some fossils give us first-hand insight into Peach's observations. Study of these collections now held in National Museums Scotland reveals a pattern of collecting heavily biased towards those localities readily accessible from the newly expanding railways which provided a relatively inexpensive and convenient means of exploring the geology of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
Charles W. Peach had a very 'hands-on' practical approach to scientific investigation which led him to construct novel glass plates with mounted Sphenopteris cuticle, removed intact from Lower Carboniferous shales and limestones originating in West Lothian. These resemble the herbarium sheets with which he was familiar from his parallel and highly significant work on extant flora including nearshore marine algae. He also prepared hand ground glass microscope slides,particularly of permineralised plant material from Pettycur in Fife, using whatever materials he had to hand at the time. Peach's collection raises questions about the evolution of accepted standards of documentation in private collections, in parallel with the evolution of collecting practices by the new professionals such as the workers of the Geological Survey. Its relatively rapid deposition in museums,compared to many private collections, may also have contributed to its apparently high rate of usage by contemporary workers
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