The Musca domestica antifungal peptide-1A (MAF-1A peptide) from housefly larvae was synthesized by solid-phase synthesis technique, and antiviral, antioxidant, and antifungal properties were evaluated in this study. Present results indicated that it could significantly inhibit the infection of influenza virus HN, Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), and Bombyx mori nuclear polyhydrosis virus (BmNPV), which displayed excellent virucidal activities. Antioxidant results demonstrated that the MAF-1A peptide had effective scavenging activity for hydroxyl and superoxide radicals, which were similar to that of ascorbic acid. Besides, antifungal results showed that it can also significantly inhibit the growth of four fungi, and the half inhibitory concentrations (IC) values were ∼59.3, 84.2, 144.9, and 48.5 μg/ml, respectively, highlighting an important role of MAF-1A peptide in the defense of M domestica against pathogenic microorganisms. These results revealed that the MAF-1A peptide from housefly larvae has great potential as a natural ingredient for the exploitation of antiviral and antifungal therapeutic agents, avoiding abuse of chemical agents and environmental pollution.

In cereal crops, ABA deficiency during seed maturation phase causes pre-harvest sprouting (PHS), and molybdenum cofactor (MoCo) is required for ABA biosynthesis.Here, two rice PHS mutants F254 and F5-1 were characterized. In addition to the PHS, these mutants showed pleiotropic phenotypes such as twisting and slender leaves, and then died when the seedling developed to four or five leaves. Map-based cloning showed that OsCNX6 and OsCNX1 encoding homologs of MoaE and MoeA were responsible for F254 and F5-1 mutants, respectively. Genetic complementation indicated that OsCNX6 not only rescued the PHS and seedling lethal phenotype of the cnx6 mutant, but also recovered the MoCo-dependent enzyme activities such as xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH), aldehyde oxidase (AO), nitrate reductase (NR) and sulfite oxidase (SO).Expression pattern showed that OsCNX6 was richly expressed in seed during embryo maturation by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR and RNA in situ hybridization. Furthermore, the OsCNX6 overexpression plants can significantly enhance the MoCo-dependent enzyme activities, and improved the osmotic and salt stress tolerance without unfavorable phenotypes.Collectively, these data indicated that OsCNX6 participated in MoCo biosynthesis, and is essential for rice development, especially for seed dormancy and germination, and OsCNX6 could be an effective target for improving abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Based on active contour segmentation algorithm and image acquisition system, Cherry Valley duck meats were collected after evisceration, protein extracts were preliminarily isolated, and their various biological properties were evaluated in present study. The amino acid analysis revealed that these protein extracts contained abundant essential amino acids including Thr, Val, Ile, Leu, Met, Phe, Lys, and His, suggesting that this duck meat have high nutritional value. Antioxidant results indicated that the protein extracts had great free radical scavenging effects and excellent in vivo antioxidant capacities. The immunomodulatory results demonstrated that the duck protein extracts exhibited obvious co‐mitogenic effects on the splenocytes activated by the mitogen and effective natural killer (NK) cells' activity. Moreover, the proposed image processing method based on the visceral contour recognition can be applied in poultry processing, which can improve the production efficiency of Cherry Valley duck processing in the poultry industry. Practical applications In the world, duck meat is very popular by people for a long time because of its delicacy and high nutritional value. In the present study, antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities of protein extracts from the Cherry Valley duck show that this duck has significant nutritional value to human body. For a long time, there are many difficult problems on the automatic slaughter and evisceration of duck, chicken and goose in poultry processing industry. Moreover, avian influenza virus has been threatening poultry breeding and slaughter processing, which can easily harm to the health of workers and cause a wide range of virus spread. Image recognition system and contour segmentation algorithm may provide useful information for the development of automatic slaughter of Cherry Valley ducks, which is also helpful to conduct further research in food processing and utilization of various kinds of poultry.

The interest in carotenoids from the natural-antioxidant point of view has recently risen sharply because of their substantial health benefits. Here, we report the identification and antioxidant activity of carotenoids extracted by superfine grinding from Rhodobacter sphaeroides 3757 which is a species of photosynthetic bacteria. After separation and purification by silica gel column chromatography and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), the four major carotenoids from the superfine powder of R. sphaeroide 3757 were identified as bixin, hydroxyspheroidenone, 3,3¢,4¢-tetrahydrospirilloxanthin-20-al, and spheroidenone by reversed phase - high performance liquid chromatography - atmospheric pressure chemical ionization - mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-APCI-MS). The antioxidant activity of the carotenoids extracted after superfine grinding of dry biomass of R. sphaeroide 3757 was higher than that after ultrasonic treatment. When the ratio solvent-to-solid was 30, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of the extracts after superfine grinding were 74.0% ± 3.1%, 0.497 ± 0.022, and 77.6% ± 3.2%, respectively. By contrast, the extracts after ultrasonic treatment, these numbers were 61.0% ± 2.5%, 0.328 ± 0.014, and 55.2% ± 2.3%, respectively. These results indicate that carotenoids from R. sphaeroide 3757 show a significant antioxidant activity in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner, and that superfine grinding is the optimal extraction method. We hope to provide scientific guidance for commercial production of natural- antioxidant and functional food from carotenoids of R. sphaeroide.

Free chlorine and a combined organic N-chloramine (3-chloro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolidinone, compound 1) were compared for efficacy as disinfectants against an admixture of cysts of Giardia lamblia and Giardia canis in water solution under a variety of test conditions; variables were pH, temperature, and water quality. In general, compound 1 was found to reduce the giardial excystation in the solutions at lower concentration or shorter contact time at a given total chlorine concentration than did free chlorine.

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