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Key message: The transcription of GhAG2 was strongly enhanced by glyphosate treatment. Overexpression of GhAG2 could improve plant tolerance to salt and salicylic acid stress. Although glyphosate has been widely used as an herbicide over the past decade owing to its high efficacy on weed controls and worldwide commercialization of glyphosate-resistant crops, little is known about the glyphosate-induced responses and transcriptional changes in cotton plants. Here, we report the identification of 26 differentially expressed genes after glyphosate treatment, among which, six highly up-regulated sequences share homology to cotton expressed sequence tags (ESTs) responsive to abiotic stresses. In addition, we cloned GhAG2, a gene whose transcription was strongly enhanced by glyphosate treatment and other abiotic stresses. Transgenic GhAG2 plants showed improved tolerance to salt, and salicylic acid (SA) stress. The results could open the door to exploring the function of the GhAG2 proteins, the glyphosate-induced transcriptional profiles, and the physiological biochemical responses in cotton and other crops. GhAG2 could also be used to improve salt stress tolerance through breeding and biotechnology in crops. Furthermore, these results could provide guidelines to develop a glyphosate-inducible system for controlled expression of targeted genes in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochanin A (BCA) and CPe-III peptide, which both exist in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), possess significant antihyperlipidemic properties. However, the actual mechanisms of those compounds in inhibiting the dysregulation of lipid metabolism and complicated inflammation have not been well characterized. This study investigated the effects of BCA, CPe-III peptide, and combined BCA and CPe-III peptide (BC) on the expression of genes involved in hepatic lipid and inflammation metabolism. Results demonstrated that BCA, CPe-III peptide, and BC significantly attenuated hepatitis and hyperlipidemia by downregulating those genes involved in pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α), hepatic fatty acid (FA) synthesis (ACC1 and FAS), cholesterol metabolism (SREBP2, HMGCR, and PCSK9), and upregulating key regulators involved in FA oxidation (PPARα and FABP1), lipolysis (ATGL), LDLR, reverse cholesterol transport (ABCA1, SR-B1, and LXRα), and cholesterol catabolism (CYP7A1). Moreover, they also altered the expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins, including SREBP2, PCSK9, LDLR, ABCA1, and CYP7A1. Finally, these results revealed that the combination treatment of BCA and CPe-III peptide resulted in greater antihyperlipidemic activity compared with individual compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochanin A (BCA), the most abundant isoflavone in chickpeas, presents a wide range of biological activities, such as hypolipidaemic, anti-oxidative, anti-proliferative, and estrogen-like effects. We investigated the interaction between BCA and human serum albumin (HSA) via several techniques. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy verified the conformational variation of HSA after BCA addition, and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed the relevant binding parameters. Circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to estimate the secondary structural changes of HSA with and without BCA. Molecular docking and dynamics simulations were then applied to study the characteristics of HSA with BCA. Energy decomposition analysis was used to prove that Trp214 in subdomain IIA of HSA is the most likely binding site of BCA. Van der Waals forces and hydrophobic interactions may play important roles during the binding process. All of our results showed that BCA presents significant binding affinity to HSA, thus confirming that the role of HSA has as an efficient transporter of biomolecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women, with approximately 1 million diagnoses annually. Triterpenoids, which have cancer preventive or anti-tumour efficacy towards various tumour cells, may play a role in breast cancer prevention. In our previous study, an acetic ether (EtOAc) fraction from the sporocarp of the edible mushroom Pleurotus eryngii (P. eryngii) exhibited significant tumour cell growth inhibition both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, three pentacyclic triterpenoid compounds (1-3) were isolated from EtOAc extracts using chromatographic separation and were identified using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). The compounds were 2, 3, 6, 23-tetrahydroxy-urs-12-en-28 oic acid (1), 2,3,23-trihydroxy-urs-12-en-28 oic acid (2) and lupeol (3). All three purified triterpenes showed significant inhibitory activity against breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines in vitro, with the greatest activity exhibited by compound 1, followed by compound 2 and 3. The IC values were 15.71, 48 and 66.89 μM, respectively. Our study may help elucidate the health benefits of P. eryngii mushroom consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of chickpea albumin hydrolysate (CAH) on antihyperlipidemic and antitumor functions. The antihyperlipidemic results showed that CAH exhibited a dose dependent ability to decrease the levels of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), while increasing HDL cholesterol (HDL-C). Additionally, the appearance of the hyperlipidemic livers was ameliorated significantly. The antitumor results showed that CAH administration significantly increased the tumor inhibition rate and decreased tumor volume. CAH was also able to increase the spleen index and promote spleen lymphocyte proliferation. In addition, CAH treatment led to a remarkable rise in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, while dramatically decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA) in the liver. Most importantly, we found that the physical conditions, such as appetite, activity, and coat luster of the mice in the CAH test group were better than those in the tumor control (TC) and positive control (PC) groups. These results taken together indicate that CAH warrants being further investigated and developed as an adjunctive element for hepatic lipid control, as well as antitumor and hypolipidemic therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]