Australian consumer awareness of health benefits associated with vegetable consumption.

Aim: The present study investigated the perceived health benefits of specific vegetable consumption to guide the use of nutrition and health claims on vegetable marketing collateral.

Methods: Free elicitation and consumer ranking data were collected through an online survey of 1000 adults from across Australia and analysed for the perceived importance of vegetables in the daily diet, number of serves consumed per day, knowledge about health-related benefits of specific vegetables and perceived health benefits of vegetable consumption.

Results: The importance of vegetables in the diet and daily vegetable consumption was higher in people from an English-speaking background, females, people aged 45 years and over and people living in non-metropolitan areas.

Cell death patterns in Arabidopsis cells subjected to four physiological stressors indicate multiple signalling pathways and cell cycle phase specificity.

Corpse morphology, nuclear DNA fragmentation, expression of senescence-associated genes (SAG) and cysteine protease profiles were investigated to understand cell death patterns in a cell cycle-synchronised Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension culture treated with four physiological stressors in the late G2 phase. Within 4 h of treatment, polyethylene glycol (PEG, 20 %), mannose (100 mM) and hydrogen peroxide (2 mM) caused DNA fragmentation coinciding with cell permeability to Evans Blue (EB) and produced corpse morphology corresponding to apoptosis-like programmed cell death (AL-PCD) with cytoplasmic retraction from the cell wall. Ethylene (8 mL per 250-mL flask) caused permeability of cells to EB without concomitant nuclear DNA fragmentation and cytoplasmic retraction, suggesting necrotic cell death.

Regreening in spathes of Zantedeschia after anthesis: its physiology and control by fructification and hormones.

The mature pigmented spathe of Zantedeschia is characterized by a developmental process, wherein the spathe regreens after anthesis and prior to senescence of the inflorescence. Previous research has shown that spathe regreening involves redifferentiation of chloroplasts and re-accumulation of chlorophyll, but the detailed physiological changes associated with regreening are still largely unknown. Using Zantedeschia aethiopica and the Zantedeschia pentlandii variety 'Best Gold' as models, this study explores the physiological mechanism and possible roles of fructification, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and gibberellin (GA3 ) in induction or progression of spathe regreening.

Quantitative Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of carrot bioactives.

Rapid quantitative near-infrared Fourier transform Raman analyses of the key phytonutrients in carrots, polyacetylenes and carotenoids, are reported here for the first time. Solvent extracts of 31 carrot lines were analyzed for these phytonutrients by conventional methods, polyacetylenes by GC-FID and carotenoids by visible spectrophotometry. Carotenoid concentrations were 0-5586 μg g(-1) dry weight (DW).

Resource partitioning in relation to cohabitation of Lactobacillus species in the mouse forestomach.

Phylogenetic analysis of gut communities of vertebrates is advanced, but the relationships, especially at the trophic level, between commensals that share gut habitats of monogastric animals have not been investigated to any extent. Lactobacillus reuteri strain 100-23 and Lactobacillus johnsonii strain 100-33 cohabit in the forestomach of mice. According to the niche exclusion principle, this should not be possible because both strains can utilise the two main fermentable carbohydrates present in the stomach digesta: glucose and maltose.

Structure and functions of exopolysaccharide produced by gut commensal Lactobacillus reuteri 100-23.

Lactobacillus reuteri strain 100-23 together with a Lactobacillus-free mouse model, provides a system with which the molecular traits underpinning bacterial commensalism in vertebrates can be studied. A polysaccharide was extracted from sucrose-containing liquid cultures of strain 100-23. Chemical analysis showed that this exopolysaccharide was a levan (β-2, 6-linked fructan).

Controlled atmosphere treatment of broccoli after harvest delays senescence and induces the expression of novel BoCAR genes.

The current study examines the transcription of four genes (BoCAR1A, BoCAR5, BoCAR6-4 and BoCAR25) found to be up-regulated in response to high CO(2)/low O(2) treatment in broccoli (Brassica oleracea). Messenger RNA levels for the four genes declined after tissues were removed from CA. Physiological and biochemical changes and gene expression patterns were examined in broccoli tissues held in one of four different atmospheres, namely air (<1% CO(2), 21% O(2)), high carbon dioxide and low oxygen (CA 10% CO(2), 5% O(2)), low oxygen (0% CO(2), 5% O(2)), and high carbon dioxide (10% CO(2), 20% O(2)).

Galactosidases in opening, senescing and water-stressed Sandersonia aurantiaca flowers.

Three glycosyl hydrolase family 35 β-galactosidase-encoding cDNAs, SaGAL1 (full-length), SaGAL2 and SaGA3L (both partial), have been isolated from Sandersonia aurantiaca (Hook.) SaGAL1 protein was functionally expressed in E. coli and β-galactosidase identity confirmed by activity assay.

Ethylene-sensitivity regulates proteolytic activity and cysteine protease gene expression in petunia corollas.

To investigate ethylene's role in petal senescence, a comparative analysis of age-related changes in total protein, protease activity, and the expression of nine cysteine protease genes in the corollas of ethylene-sensitive Petuniaxhybrida cv. Mitchell Diploid (MD) and ethylene-insensitive (35S:etr1-1; line 44568) transgenic petunias was conducted. The later stages of corolla senescence in MD flowers were associated with decreased fresh weight, decreased total protein, and increased proteolytic activity.

Evaluation of carbohydrates in Pukekohe Longkeeper and Grano cultivars of Allium cepa.

The storage, soluble, and structural carbohydrates of two onion cultivars, the hard, pungent Pukekohe Longkeeper (PLK) and the softer, milder Houston Grano, were analyzed to determine differences that might be related to their response to sulfur nutrition received during growth as well as their postharvest attributes and end-use suitability. PLK tissue contained 1.37 times more dry matter than Grano and was composed of more fructan and sucrose and less glucose and fructose than Grano [corrected] There were also differences in neutral sugar content, especially galactose, and the amount, size, and content of pectin fractions soluble in chelator and weak alkali.

Molecular analysis of programmed cell death during senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica oleracea: cloning broccoli LSD1, Bax inhibitor and serine palmitoyltransferase homologues.

This study was undertaken to characterize the programmed cell death (PCD) processes that occur during detached and natural on-plant senescence and correlate them with the expression of putative regulatory genes that may be involved in the process. DNA fragmentation and TUNEL analysis of broccoli florets showed that DNA was processed into fragments of approximately 180 bp after 48 h of harvest-induced tissue senescence. Characteristic laddering patterns were also visible in Arabidopsis leaves undergoing natural on-plant senescence and during detached senescence.

Identification of dehydration-responsive cysteine proteases during post-harvest senescence of broccoli florets.

Harvest-induced senescence of broccoli results in tissue wilting and sepal chlorosis. As senescence progresses, chlorophyll and protein levels in floret tissues decline and endo-protease activity (measured with azo-casein) increases. Protease activity increased from 24 h after harvest for tissues held in air at 20 degrees C.

Programmed cell death during flower senescence: isolation and characterization of cysteine proteinases from Sandersonia aurantiaca.

Cysteine protease inhibitors delayed the senescence of Sandersonia aurantiaca Hook. flowers. Tepal fading and wilting occurred later in the 2,2´ -dipyridyl-treated flowers, and these flowers had a greater soluble protein content and less active endoproteases compared with control flowers that were held in water.