Publications by authors named "Monika Bielecka"

Article Synopsis
  • Tanshinones are bioactive red pigments found in Danshen, a key herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but their biosynthetic pathway is only partially understood.
  • Recent studies reveal significant differences in the diterpenoid profiles of different Salvia species, indicating a complex genetic relationship.
  • A combination of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and RNA sequencing was used to examine the leaves and roots of two Salvia species, leading to the identification of thousands of transcripts and key gene families involved in the biosynthesis of tanshinones.
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Mowat-Wilson syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the ZEB2 gene, intragenic deletions of the ZEB2 gene, and microdeletions in the critical chromosomal region 2q22-23, where the ZEB2 gene is located. Mowat-Wilson syndrome is characterized by typical facial features that change with the age, severe developmental delay with intellectual disability, and multiple congenital abnormalities. The authors describe the clinical and genetic aspects of 28th patients with Mowat-Wilson syndrome diagnosed in Poland.

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Subgenus of the extended genus of comprises several Central Asian medicinal and aromatic species, of which and are the most widespread. These plants are cultivated in Europe as robust ornamentals, and several cultivars are available. However, their medicinal potential remains underutilized because of limited information about their phytochemical and genetic diversity.

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Sulfur is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and development. Reaching a thorough understanding of the molecular basis for changes in plant metabolism depending on the sulfur-nutritional status at the systems level will advance our basic knowledge and help target future crop improvement. Although the transcriptional responses induced by sulfate starvation have been studied in the past, knowledge of the regulation of sulfur metabolism is still fragmentary.

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We used expressed sequence tag library and whole genome sequence mining to identify a suite of putative desaturase genes representing the four main activities required for production of polyunsaturated fatty acids in hemp seed oil. Phylogenetic-based classification and developing seed transcriptome analysis informed selection for further analysis of one of seven Δ12 desaturases and one of three Δ15 desaturases that we designate CSFAD2A and CSFAD3A, respectively. Heterologous expression of corresponding cDNAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed CSFAD2A to have Δx+3 activity, while CSFAD3A activity was exclusively at the Δ15 position.

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Gene-metabolite correlation networks of three independent biological systems were interrogated using an approach to define, and subsequently model, causality. The major goal of this work was to analyse how information from those metabolites, that displayed a rapid response to perturbation of the biological system, is processed through the response network to provide signal-specific adaptation of metabolism. For this purpose, comparison of network topologies was carried out on three different groups of system elements: transcription factors, other genes and metabolites, with special emphasis placed on those features which are possible sites of metabolic regulation or response propagation.

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In this study we sought for a quantitative parameter which would offer the best reproducibility of a standard (13)C-alpha-ketoisocaproic acid ((13)C-KICA) breath test. On 3 separate days 14 healthy volunteers (7 females, 7 males) took orally 1 mg/kg body mass (13)C-KICA and 20 mg/kg body mass L-leucine. Samples of expiratory air for (13)CO(2) measurement with the use of isotope ratio mass spectrometry were collected every 5 min during the first hour and then at 70, 80, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, 240, 300, 360, 540, 720, and 1440 min.

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