Black Soldier Fly-Composted Organic Fertilizer Enhances Growth, Yield, and Nutrient Quality of Three Key Vegetable Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Worldwide, French beans ( L.), tomato ( L.), and kales ( L.

Exploring Black Soldier Fly Frass as Novel Fertilizer for Improved Growth, Yield, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Maize Under Field Conditions.

Black soldier fly frass fertilizer (BSFFF) is increasingly gaining momentum worldwide as organic fertilizer. However, research on its performance on crop production remains largely unknown. Here, we evaluate the comparative performance of BSFFF and commercial organic fertilizer (SAFI) on maize (H513) production.

Low-cost technology for recycling agro-industrial waste into nutrient-rich organic fertilizer using black soldier fly.

Efforts to recycle organic waste using black soldier fly (BSF) larvae into high-quality alternative protein ingredients in animal feeds and organic fertilizers have gained momentum worldwide. However, there is limited information on waste manipulation to increase nutrient retention for enhanced larval performance and frass fertilizer quality. In the present study, brewer's spent grain with a carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio of 11 (control) was amended with sawdust to obtain substrates with C/N ratios of 15, 20, 25 and 30.

Biochar and gypsum amendment of agro-industrial waste for enhanced black soldier fly larval biomass and quality frass fertilizer.

Black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens L.) is one of the most efficient bio-waste recyclers. Although, waste substrate amendments with biochar or gypsum during composting process are known to enhance nutrient retention, their impact on agro-industrial waste have not been documented.

Identification of Known and Novel microRNAs and Their Targets in Peach (Prunus persica) Fruit by High-Throughput Sequencing.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs that have functions in post-transcriptional gene regulation in plants. Although the most important economic component of peach trees (Prunus persica) is the fruit, not much is known about miRNAs in this organ. In this study, miRNAs and their targets were identified and characterized from libraries of small RNAs of peach fruit through Solexa based-sequencing and bioinformatics approaches.

Advances in identification and validation of plant microRNAs and their target genes.

Developments in the field of molecular biology and genetics, such as microarray, gene transfer and discovery of small regulatory RNAs, have led to significant advances in plant biotechnology. Among the small RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) have elicited much interest as key post-transcriptional regulators in eukaryotic gene expression. Advances in genome and transcriptome sequencing of plants have facilitated the generation of a huge wealth of sequence information that can find much use in the discovery of novel miRNAs and their target genes.

Computational identification of microRNAs in the strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) genome sequence and validation of their precise sequences by miR-RACE.

In plants, microRNAs (miRNAs) play significant roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation and have been found to control many genes involved in different biological and metabolic processes. Extensive studies were carried out to discover miRNAs and analyze their functions in model plant species, such as in Arabidopsis and rice that have been reported. In this research, we used bioinformatics to predict microRNAs in an important strawberry rootstock cultivar to discover and validate precise sequences of microRNAs in strawberry.

Characterization of target mRNAs for grapevine microRNAs with an integrated strategy of modified RLM-RACE, newly developed PPM-RACE and qPCRs.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate target gene expression by mediating target gene cleavage or inhibition of translation at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels in higher plants. Until now, many grapevine microRNAs (Vv-miRNAs) have been identified and quite a number of miRNA target genes were also verified by various analysis. However, global interaction of miRNAs with their target genes still remained to perform more research.

Characterization and expression profiling of selected microRNAs in tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) 'Jiangshu14'.

Presence of selected tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) microRNAs (sly-miRNAs) was validated and their expression profiles established in roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits of tomato variety Jiangshu14 by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). In addition conservation characteristics these sly-miRNAs were analyzed and target genes predicted bioinformatically. Results indicate that some of these miRNAs are specific to tomato while most are conserved in other plant species.

Whole genome identification and analysis of FK506-binding protein family genes in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.).

In plant and animal species FK506-binding protein (FKBP) family genes are important conserved genes and it is defined as the receptors of FK506 and rapamycin, where they work as PPIase and protein folding chaperones. FKBP have been isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, and Zea mays. In grape, twenty-three genes containing the FK506-binding domain (FKBP_C) were first time identified by HMMER and blast research, they were classified into three groups and 17 out of the 23 genes were located on 11 chromosomes (Chr1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19).

Microarray analysis of differentially expressed genes engaged in fruit development between Prunus mume and Prunus armeniaca.

Microarray analysis is a technique that can be employed to provide expression profiles of single genes and new insights to elucidate the biological mechanisms responsible for fruit development. To evaluate expression of genes mostly engaged in fruit development between Prunus mume and Prunus armeniaca, we first identified differentially expressed transcripts along the entire fruit life cycle by using microarrays spotted with 10,641 ESTs collected from P. mume and other Prunus EST sequences.

Characterization of grapevine microR164 and its target genes.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an extensive class of newly identified small RNAs that regulate gene expression at post-transcription level by mRNA cleavage or translation. In our study, we used qRT-PCR and found that Vv-miR164 is expression in grapevine leaves, stems, tendrils, inflorescences, flowers and fruits. In addition, two potential target genes for Vv-miR164 were also found and verified by PPM-RACE and RLM-RACE.

Plant variety and cultivar identification: advances and prospects.

Plant variety and cultivar identification is one of the most important aspects in agricultural systems. The large number of varieties or landraces among crop plants has made it difficult to identify and characterize varieties solely on the basis of morphological characters because they are non stable and originate due to environmental and climatic conditions, and therefore phenotypic plasticity is an outcome of adaptation. To mitigate this, scientists have developed and employed molecular markers, statistical tests and software to identify and characterize the required plant cultivars or varieties for cultivation, breeding programs as well as for cultivar-right-protection.

Deep sequencing discovery of novel and conserved microRNAs in trifoliate orange (Citrus trifoliata).

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in post-transcriptional gene regulation and have been shown to control many genes involved in various biological and metabolic processes. There have been extensive studies to discover miRNAs and analyze their functions in model plant species, such as Arabidopsis and rice. Deep sequencing technologies have facilitated identification of species-specific or lowly expressed as well as conserved or highly expressed miRNAs in plants.

MiR-RACE, a new efficient approach to determine the precise sequences of computationally identified trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) microRNAs.

Background: Among the hundreds of genes encoding miRNAs in plants reported, much more were predicted by numerous computational methods. However, unlike protein-coding genes defined by start and stop codons, the ends of miRNA molecules do not have characteristics that can be used to define the mature miRNAs exactly, which made computational miRNA prediction methods often cannot predict the accurate location of the mature miRNA in a precursor with nucleotide-level precision. To our knowledge, there haven't been reports about comprehensive strategies determining the precise sequences, especially two termini, of these miRNAs.