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Systematic functional profiling of the gene set that directs embryonic development is an important challenge. To tackle this challenge, we used 4D imaging of C. elegans embryogenesis to capture the effects of 500 gene knockdowns and developed an automated approach to compare developmental phenotypes. The automated approach quantifies features-including germ layer cell numbers, tissue position, and tissue shape-to generate temporal curves whose parameterization yields numerical phenotypic signatures. In conjunction with a new similarity metric that operates across phenotypic space, these signatures enabled the generation of ranked lists of genes predicted to have similar functions, accessible in the PhenoBank web portal, for ∼25% of essential development genes. The approach identified new gene and pathway relationships in cell fate specification and morphogenesis and highlighted the utilization of specialized energy generation pathways during embryogenesis. Collectively, the effort establishes the foundation for comprehensive analysis of the gene set that builds a multicellular organism., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study tackles the individual and joint effect of alpha -tocopherol and hydroxytyrosol acetate on the oxidation of sunflower oil submitted to accelerated storage conditions at intermediate temperature, in order to deepen the understanding of antioxidant-prooxidant behaviour. This was accomplished by 1 H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. For this purpose, the evolution of the degradation of both the main components of the oil and the aforementioned added compounds was monitored by this technique throughout the storage time. Furthermore, the formation of a very large number of oxylipins and the evolution of their concentration up to a very advanced stage of oil oxidation, as well as the occurrence of lipolysis, were also simultaneously studied. The results obtained show very clearly and thoroughly that in the oxidation process of the oil enriched in binary mixtures, interactions occur between alpha -tocopherol and hydroxytyrosol acetate that notably reduce the antioxidant effect of the latter compound with the corresponding negative consequences that this entails. The methodology used here has proved to be very efficient to evaluate the antioxidant power of mixtures of compounds.

Sunflower oil samples, both unenriched and enriched with four different concentrations of hydroxytyrosol acetate, were subjected to accelerated storage at 70 °C until a very advanced oxidation stage and the process was monitored by 1 H NMR spectroscopy. The aim of the study is to know the effect that the presence of this antioxidant has on the oxidation process of sunflower oil under the aforementioned conditions, as well as on the formation and evolution of the concentration of a significant number of oxylipins. The oxidation process was studied globally by monitoring, during storage time, the degradation of both the linoleic acyl group of sunflower oil, which is the main component of sunflower oil, and the added hydroxytyrosol acetate. Simultaneously, the identification of up to twenty-six different types of oxylipins formed in the oxidation process and the monitoring of the evolution of their concentration over the storage time were carried out. In this way, essential information about the effect that hydroxytyrosol acetate provokes on the oxidation of this oil rich in omega-6 polyunsaturated acyl groups, has been obtained. It has also been shown that the enrichment of sunflower oil with this antioxidant under the conditions tested does not prevent the oxidation process but slows it down, affecting the entire oxidation process.

Lipid oxidation causes food degradation and the formation of toxic compounds. Therefore, the addition to foods of compounds able to avoid, delay or minimize this degradative process is a commonly used strategy. Nevertheless, neither the identity of most of the formed compounds in this complex process nor the way in which their formation is affected by the strategy used are well known. In this context, the effect the temperature increase and the enrichment level in alpha-tocopherol on the evolution of the walnut oil oxidation, as a model of an oil rich in polyunsaturated omega-6 acyl groups, submitted to storage conditions, are tackled by 1 H NMR. The study has allowed knowing the degradation kinetic of both the oil acyl groups and alpha-tocopherol, the identification of a very high number of oxylipins and the kinetic of their formation. The temperature increase accelerates the formation of all oxylipins, favouring the formation of hydroperoxy conjugated E , E -dienes and related derivatives versus that of the Z , E -isomers. The enrichment in alpha-tocopherol accelerates the formation of hydroperoxy conjugated Z , E -dienes and related derivatives, and delays in relation to the formation of the former that of the E , E -isomers and related derivatives, hindering, to a certain extent, the formation of the latter in line with the enrichment level.