Fruit is rich in different phenolic compounds which are recognized as potential natural medicaments and have been used in folk medicine for centuries. In order to evaluate phenol composition, the Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) fruit and leaf extracts were subjected to the spectrophotometric and HPLC analysis. The radical scavenging activity was estimated using DPPH test and antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion and microwell dilution tests. All extracts showed high phenol content from 89.89±0.45 to 117.34±1.40 mg of gallic acid equivalents GAE/g extract dry matter (DM), but different composition of phenol compounds. Flavonols, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols and phenolic acids were the main phenol classes found in the investigated fruit and leaf extracts. All extracts showed significant radical scavenging activity and a correlation with total phenol content (R 2 = 0.9832). Significant antimicrobial activity was found against Gram-positive, followed by Gram-negative strains, and yeast in all tested extracts. Cornelian cherry fruit and leaf extracts, rich in phenolic content, with significant antiradical and antimicrobial activity, can be used as additives in food and medicaments.

Charge collection properties of particle detectors made in HV-CMOS technology were investigated before and after irradiation with reactor neutrons. Two different sensor types were designed and processed in 180 and 350 nm technology by AMS. Edge-TCT and charge collection measurements with electrons from 90 Sr source were employed. Diffusion of generated carriers from undepleted substrate contributes significantly to the charge collection before irradiation, while after irradiation the drift contribution prevails as shown by charge measurements at different shaping times. The depleted region at a given bias voltage was found to grow with irradiation in the fluence range of interest for strip detectors at the HL-LHC. This leads to large gains in the measured charge with respect to the one before irradiation. The increase of the depleted region was attributed to removal of effective acceptors removal. The evolution of depleted region with fluence was investigated and modeled. Initial studies show a small effect of short term annealing on charge collection.

A growing body of research supports the view that within-species sequence variation in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is functional, in the sense that it has important phenotypic effects. However, most of this empirical foundation is based on comparisons across populations, and few studies have addressed the functional significance of mtDNA polymorphism within populations. Here, using mitonuclear introgression lines, we assess differences in whole-organism metabolic rate of adult Drosophila subobscura fruit flies carrying either of three different sympatric mtDNA haplotypes. We document sizeable, up to 20%, differences in metabolic rate across these mtDNA haplotypes. Further, these mtDNA effects are to some extent sex specific. We found no significant nuclear or mitonuclear genetic effects on metabolic rate, consistent with a low degree of linkage disequilibrium between mitochondrial and nuclear genes within populations. The fact that mtDNA haplotype variation within a natural population affects metabolic rate, which is a key physiological trait with important effects on life-history traits, adds weight to the emergent view that mtDNA haplotype variation is under natural selection and it revitalizes the question as to what processes act to maintain functional mtDNA polymorphism within populations.

BackgroundA number of recent studies have shown that the pattern of mitochondrial DNA variation and evolution is at odds with a neutral equilibrium model. Theory has suggested that selection on mitonuclear genotypes can act to maintain stable mitonuclear polymorphism within populations. However, this effect largely relies upon selection being either sex-specific or frequency dependent. Here, we use mitonuclear introgression lines to assess differences in a series of key life-history traits (egg-to-adult developmental time, viability, offspring sex-ratio, adult longevity and resistance to desiccation) in Drosophila subobscura fruit flies carrying one of three different sympatric mtDNA haplotypes.ResultsWe found functional differences between these sympatric mtDNA haplotypes, but these effects were contingent upon the nuclear genome with which they were co-expressed. Further, we demonstrate a significant mitonuclear genetic effect on adult sex ratio, as well as a sex × mtDNA × nuDNA interaction for adult longevity.ConclusionsThe observed effects suggest that sex specific mitonuclear selection contributes to the maintenance of mtDNA polymorphism and to mitonuclear linkage disequilibrium in this model system.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0421-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.