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Nopal (Opuntia) is a resource that is discarded after pruning complete cladodes. For this reason, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the combined use of organic matter (nopal) and goat manure on changes in soil characteristics and on the growth and yield performance of carrot and tomato plants. Physicochemical analysis of the soil and goat manure was carried out, and germination tests and physical characterization of the plants and the products obtained were performed on tomato and carrot plants after adding the components of the cladodes alone and the cladodes with goat manure. The results showed that the application of the nopal cladode components increased the cation exchange capacity of the soil. The highest germination rate was obtained by the application of liquid nopal, with a 1.7-fold increase in the germination rate of carrot seeds, while that for tomato seeds was only 14%. Similar results were obtained for the germination percentage. An increase in resistance to water stress of approximately 15 days was observed in both tomato and carrot plants. Plant development and production were achieved in tomato, with a 100% increase in carrot plant length and a threefold increase in production. The addition of nopal to the soil improved the soil characteristics and the production yield of carrots and tomatoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important crop in Mexico due to its growing demand in recent years. Therefore, alternatives should be sought to increase their production, one of them is the use of growth regulators, of which gibberellins are important growth regulators involved in mooring and fruit development, flowering, cell elongation and expansion in plants. In order to evaluate the effect of the application of gibberellins (GA3) on the yield of jalapeño pepper produced in greenhouse, the present investigation was carried out in two successive experiments. In experiment 1, five doses of gibberellins were evaluated: 0 (control), 10, 30, 50 and 500 mg L-1 that were sprayed in one and two applications. The fertilization in this experiment was with nutritive solution (N, P, K and microelements). In experiment 2 the same doses of GA3 were evaluated, also in one and two applications, but the fertilization was carried out with calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate soluble in water. In experiment 1, no increase in yield was detected. In contrast, in experiment 2, the 10 mg L-1 dose of GA3 in combination with the fertilization with calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate increased the yield of jalapeño pepper. The results show gibberellins as key elements combined with low fertilization to increase pepper production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Plant Science is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a large protein family that mainly function in protecting cells from abiotic stress, but these proteins are also involved in regulating plant growth and development. In this study, we performed a functional analysis of LEA13 and LEA30 from Arabidopsis thaliana. The results showed that the expression of both genes increased when plants were subjected to drought-stressed conditions. The insertional lines lea13 and lea30 were identified for each gene, and both had a T-DNA element in the regulatory region, which caused the genes to be downregulated. Moreover, lea13 and lea30 were more sensitive to drought stress due to their higher transpiration and stomatal spacing. Microarray analysis of the lea13 background showed that genes involved in hormone signaling, stomatal development, and abiotic stress responses were misregulated. Our results showed that LEA proteins are involved in drought tolerance and participate in stomatal density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mucilage extracted from the parenchymatous and chlorenchymatous tissues of Opuntia robusta were obtained using water or ethanol as the extraction solvent. The changes in the different tissues by using different extraction solvents were evaluated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy; in addition, the effect of mucilage coating on the various quality characteristics of tomato (Lycopersicum sculentum) was evaluated. The SEM results showed that the mucilage extracted from the parenchyma had a higher aggregation level that the mucilage extracted from the chlorenchyma. The presence of three characteristic bands of pectic substances in the FT-IR spectra between 1050 and 1120 cm−1 indicated that the mucilage extracted from the parenchymatous tissue had a higher content of pectic compounds than the mucilage extracted from the chlorenchymatous tissue. It was also observed in the Raman spectra that the level of pectic substances in the mucilage extracted from the parenchymatous was higher than that in the mucilage extracted from the chlorenchymatous tissue. The mucilage extracted from the parenchymatous tissue was more effective as an edible coating than the mucilage extracted from the chlorenchymatous tissue. Tomatoes covered with mucilage showed significantly enhanced firmness and reduced weight loss. The uncoated tomatoes showed higher lycopene content than the coated tomatoes on the 21st day. This study showed that the Opuntia robusta tissue and extraction solvent influence mucilage characteristics and that Opuntia robusta mucilage is a promising edible coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trichoderma harzianum fungus is one of the most widely used biological control agents in agriculture. A new T. harzianum THITR01 strain was isolated and their spores were mutagenized with ethyl methane sulfonate obtaining 174 mutants. M7, M14, M21 and M24 are mutant strains that showed 97.4%-100% antagonist effect against Sclerotium rolfsii, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum compared to the wild strain. Under potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium with either NaCl, sorbitol or NaHCO3 there were nonsignificant growth rate differences between the mutants and the wild strain. M14 and M21 mutant strains were inoculated on 'Jalapeño' pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L. var. annuum) with unavailable P promoted a significant increase in root fresh weight (54% and 40%, respectively) and dry weight (28% in both strains), compared to plant inoculation with the wild strain. The M14 strain presented the highest P solubilization ability (13.4 μg g-1) in the substrate and promoted a change on root architecture. There was a higher relative water content (82.9%) in drought stressed plants inoculated with the M24 mutant than in plants that were inoculated with the wild type strain (76.3%), and also higher levels of proline in chili pepper plants inoculated with the M24 mutant (939.5 μg g-1 dry weight) than in plants inoculated with the wild type strain (419.8 μg g-1 dry weight). Therefore, M14, M21 and M24 mutant strains could potentially be used as biocontrol agents and plant protector from abiotic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a new coronavirus discovered that appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, causes COVID-19 disease which have resulted in cases similar to SARS-atypical pneumonia. Worldwide, around 116 million cases and 2.57 million deaths are reported with new cases and increasing mortality every day. To date, there is no specific commercial treatment to control the infection. Repurpose drugs targeting the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor represents an alternative strategy to block the binding of SARS-CoV-2 protein S and forestall virus adhesion, internalization, and replication in the host cell. Methods: We performed a rigid molecular docking using the receptor binding domain of the S1 subunit of S protein (RBD S1 )-ACE2 (PDB ID: 6VW1) interaction site and 1,283 drugs FDA approved. The docking score, frequency of the drug in receptor site, and interactions at the binding site residues were used as analyzing criteria. Results: This research yielded 40 drugs identified as a potential inhibitor of RBD S1 -ACE2 interaction. Among the inhibitors, compounds such as ipratropium, formoterol, and fexofenadine can be found. Specialists employ these drugs as therapies to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and virtually any respiratory infection. Conclusions : Our results will serve as the basis for in vitro and in vivo studies to evaluate the potential use of those drugs to generate affordable and convenient therapies to treat COVID-19., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2021 Tristán-Flores FE et al.)

Although more than 25,000 genes of Arabidopsis thaliana have been sequenced and mapped, adequate expression or functional information is available for less than 15% of them. In the case of Oryza sativa (rice), about half of more than 55,000 predicted genes have been assigned to a vague functional category on the basis of their sequence, but fewer than 100 have been ascribed a precise, verified function after the identification of a mutant phenotype caused by the molecular disruption of the corresponding gene. Enhancer detection and gene trapping represent insertional mutagenesis strategies that report random expression of many genes and often generate loss-of-function mutations. Several trapping vectors have been designed in a limited number of species, and large-scale enhancer detection and gene trap screens that aim to generate a wide range of spatially and temporally restricted expression patterns have been initiated in both Arabidopsis and rice. These strategies are proving to be essential to the functional annotation of completely sequenced genomes, enabling the analysis of gene function in the context of the entire plant life cycle and substantially expanding our understanding of plant growth and development.