No abstract

Natural phenols are an important functional compound widely distributed in plants with benefits that promote human health. The content of total phenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins and their composition distribution in 18 soybean cultivars was investigated. There are four phenolic acid distribution forms in these soybean cultivars, namely free, esterified, glycosided, and insoluble-bound. Total phenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins from 6 black soybean cultivars were found in higher numbers than those from 12 other yellow soybean cultivars. Free and esterified phenolic acids were the main phenolic acid form in all 18 soybean samples. Chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid were the dominant phenolic acids in eight detected phenolic acids, and daidzin and genistin were the abundant isoflavones in five detected isoflavones. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities of total phenols from the 6 black soybean cultivars were greater than those from the 12 yellow soybean cultivars, and there was a significant positive correlation between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content. Black soybeans could be a potential resource for developing natural antioxidants that may play a crucial role in human health protection.

Toxoplasmosis caused by infection with Toxoplasma gondii is an important parasitic zoonosis with a worldwide distribution. In this study, we examined the functions of two thioredoxins (namely CTrp26 and CTrx1) of T. gondii tachyzoites by generation of HA tag strains or gene deficient parasites in Type I RH strain (ToxoDB#10). Immunofluorescence analysis (IFA) was used to investigate the subcellular localization of the thioredoxins (Trxs). Results of IFA showed that both CTrp26 and CTrx1 were located in the cytoplasm of T. gondii. Functional characterizations of CTrp26 and CTrx1-deficient parasites were performed by plaque assay, intracellular replication, egress, H2O2 resistance, detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) assays in vitro, as well as mouse infection in vivo. Our results showed that deletion of CTrp26 or CTrx1 did not influence the ability of T. gondii RH strain to replicate, egress, form plaque, resist H2O2 exposure, maintain the ROS level, and T-AOC, and also did not serve as virulence factors in Kunming mice. Taken together, these results provide new properties of the two Trxs. Although they are not essential for RH strain, they may have roles in other strains of this parasite due to their different expression patterns, which warrants future research.

No abstract

Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic enteric parasite that can infect humans and a number of animal species including rabbits with a worldwide distribution. Infection with G. duodenalis can cause serious public health problems and significant economic losses to animal husbandry. So accurate understanding of the prevalence and genotype distribution of G. duodenalis in rabbits is necessary. In the present study, a total of 616 fecal samples were collected from rabbits in Shandong province, eastern China, and examined in G. duodenalis prevalence and genotypes by nested PCR amplification of β-giardin (bg), glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh), and triosephosphate isomerase (tpi) gene loci of G. duodenalis. Sixty-nine (11.2%) of the examined rabbit fecal samples were G. duodenalis-positive. Of them, the prevalence of G. duodenalis is 8.4% (41/490) in Rizhao city and 22.2% (28/126) in Weihai city. Breeds, region, and feeding modes were highly correlated with G. duodenalis infection in rabbits. Moreover, three genotypes