A rapid, highly sensitive and selective method was developed for the determination of the cyantraniliprole and its major metabolite J9Z38 in cucumber, tomato and soil by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Target compounds were extracted with acetonitrile and an aliquot cleaned with primary and secondary amine. Two pairs of precursor product ion transi...

Among the fundamental questions regarding cultivated plants is their geographic origin and region of domestication. The genus Cucumis, which includes cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and melon (Cucumis melo), has numerous wild African species, and it has therefore been assumed that melon originated in Africa. For cucumber, this seemed less likely because wild cucumbers exist in India and a closely re...

To provide an insight into the mechanism of interspecific interactions mediated by allelochemicals, cucumber and figleaf gourd seedlings were compared on their response to cinnamic acid, an autotoxin from root exudates of cucumber. Reactive oxygen species metabolism and plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity were examined in roots upon exposure to cinnamic acid. This exposure resulted in signific...

Rapid cell division and expansion in early fruit development are important phases for cucumber fruit yield and quality. Kinesin proteins are microtubule-based motors responsible for modulating cell division and enlargement. In this work, the candidate kinesin genes involved in rapid cell division and expansion during cucumber fruit development were investigated. The morphological and cellular c...

Chromosome-specific painting is a powerful technique in molecular cytogenetic and genome research. We developed an oligonucleotide (oligo)-based chromosome painting technique in cucumber (Cucumis sativus) that will be applicable in any plant species with a sequenced genome. Oligos specific to a single chromosome of cucumber were identified using a newly developed bioinformatic pipeline and then...

The toxic mushroom Naematoloma fasciculare contains several bitter components . The toxicity to mice, which was located in the water-soluble fraction , was estimated to be 2MU/g of the raw sample. On the other hand, the bitter components were detected only in the fat-soluble fraction, indicating that the bitter components are not responsible for the toxicity . Isolation of one of the bitter com...

Bitter is a taste modality associated with toxic substances evoking aversive behaviour in most animals, and the valence of different taste modalities is conserved between mammals and Drosophila. Despite knowledge gathered in the past on the peripheral perception of taste, little is known about the identity of taste interneurons in the brain. Here we show that hugin neuropeptide-containing neuro...

Drosophila melanogaster can taste various compounds and separate them into few basic categories such as sweet, bitter and salt taste. Here we investigate mechanisms underlying acid detection in Drosophila and report that the fly displays strong taste aversion to common carboxylic acids. We find that acid tastants act by the activation of a subset of bitter neurons and inhibition of sweet neuron...

Gustatory responses to the basic taste substances (sweet, salty, sour and bitter) were studied in hypothyroid and hyperthyroid subjects. The intensity and hedonic responses were evaluated using "category scaling" for 7 concentrations of glucose, sodium chloride, citric acid and quinine sulphate. The intensity and hedonic values decrease in hyperthyroidism for salt and bitter solution, and sourn...

The feasibility of the production of a reference material for pesticide residue analysis in a cucumber matrix was investigated. Cucumber was spiked at 0.075 mg/kg with each of the 15 selected pesticides (acetamiprid, azoxystrobin, carbendazim, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, diazinon, (α + β)-endosulfan, fenitrothion, imazalil, imidacloprid, iprodione, malathion, methomyl, tebuconazole and thiabend...