Camu camu is a typical Amazon native fruit shrub that possesses a diploid genome, moderate genetic diversity, and population structure. The fruits accumulate several essential nutrients and synthesize L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in great quantities and an array of diverse secondary metabolites with corroborated in vitro and in vivo health-promoting activities. These beneficial effects include antioxidative and antiinflammatory activities, antiobesity, hypolipidemic, antihypertensive and antidiabetic effects, DNA damage and cancer protection effects, and other bioactivities. Many health-promoting phytochemicals are biosynthesized in several metabolic pathways of camu camu. Their reconstruction from the fruit transcriptome database was accomplished by our research group. These include basic metabolic pathways such as glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway, vitamin C biosynthesis pathways...

Las microalgas son microorganismos fotosintéticos con gran potencial para abastecer las demandas energéticas mundiales. Sin embargo, los limitados conocimientos que se tienen de estos organismos, en particular a nivel molecular de los procesos metabólicos, han limitado su uso con estos propósitos. En esta investigación se ha realizado el análisis in silico de la subunidad alfa de la acetil-Coenzima A carboxilasa heteromérica (αACCasa), una enzima clave en la biosíntesis de lípidos de las microalgas Chlorella sp. y Scenedesmus sp. Asimismo, se ha medido la expresión de este gen en ambas especies cultivadas en medios deficientes de nitrógeno. Los resultados indican que la αACCasa muestra conservación estructural y funcional en ambas especies de microalgas y su mayor similitud genética con otras especies de microalgas. Asimismo, se ha mostrado que el nivel de expresión del g...

The aim of this work was to elucidate the molecular and biochemical mechanisms that control L-ascorbic acid (AsA) content variation in Myrciaria dubia. The AsA was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography, gene expression by real-time quantitative PCR, and enzyme activities by spectrophotometric methods from leaves and immature fruits of two genotypes (Md-60,06 and Md-02,04) with pronounced (about 2 times) differences in the AsA content. In either genotype, the fruit peel had ∼ 1.5 times more AsA than the fruit pulp and ∼ 15.0 times more than the leaf. All tissues examined demonstrated the capability for AsA biosynthesis through the D-mannose/L-galactose pathway because mRNAs of the six key genes [GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GMP), GDP-D-mannose-3′,5′-epimerase (GME), GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase (GGP), L-galactose-1-phosphate phosphatase (GPP), L-galactose dehyd...

Camu-camu is a shrub, native to the Amazon that thrives in areas where flooding is frequent. Genetically, the plant is characterized by a diploid genome and moderate genetic diversity. Several parts of the plant are used in traditional folk medicine to treat a variety of acute and chronic diseases. For over 50 years, the exceptionally high vitamin C content of camu-camu has attracted worldwide attention that continues today because of the recent discovery of several health-promoting phytochemicals with corroborated biological activities (e.g., antioxidant, anti-obesity, antidiabetic). All of these beneficial attributes are well supported by in vitro and in vivo studies as well as human clinical trials. The metabolic precursors of these phytochemicals are synthesized in key metabolic pathways (i.e., the shikimate pathway, the mevalonate pathway). Of these metabolic pathways, we show detai...

Myrciaria dubia is an Amazonian fruit shrub that produces numerous bioactive phytochemicals, but is best known by its high L-ascorbic acid (AsA) content in fruits. Pronounced variation in AsA content has been observed both within and among individuals, but the genetic factors responsible for this variation are largely unknown. The goals of this research, therefore, were to assemble, characterize, and annotate the fruit transcriptome of M. dubia in order to reconstruct metabolic pathways and determine if multiple pathways contribute to AsA biosynthesis.RESULTS: In total 24,551,882 high-quality sequence reads were de novo assembled into 70,048 unigenes (mean length = 1150 bp, N50 = 1775 bp). Assembled sequences were annotated using BLASTX against public databases such as TAIR, GR-protein, FB, MGI, RGD, ZFIN, SGN, WB, TIGR_CMR, and JCVI-CMR with 75.2 % of unigenes having annotations. Of the...

Myrciaria dubia “camu-camu” is a native shrub of the Amazon that is commonly found in areas that are flooded for three to four months during the annual hydrological cycle. This plant species is exceptional for its capacity to biosynthesize and accumulate important quantities of a variety of health-promoting phytochemicals, especially vitamin C [1], yet few genomic resources are available [2]. Here we provide the dataset of a de novo assembly and functional annotation of the transcriptome from a pool of samples obtained from seeds during the germination process and seedlings during the initial growth (until one month after germination). Total RNA/mRNA was purified from different types of plant materials (i.e., imbibited seeds, germinated seeds, and seedlings of one, two, three, and four weeks old), pooled in equimolar ratio to generate the cDNA library and RNA paired-end sequencing wa...

The Amazonian shrub Myrciaria dubia (camu-camu) produces vitamin C-rich fruits of growing commercial interest. However, sustainable utilization requires assessment and protection of the genetic diversity of the available germplasm. This study aimed to develop and apply microsatellite markers to assess genetic diversity and construct a core collection of M. dubia germplasm from the Peruvian Amazon. Sixteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed using an enrichment approach. The evaluation of 336 genotypes from 43 accessions of the germplasm bank, originating from eight river basins, was conducted using these newly developed markers. Genetic diversity parameters, including observed and expected heterozygosity, were calculated. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed to assess the distribution of genetic variation within and among accessions and river basins. Bayesian c...

The Amazonian shrub Myrciaria dubia (camu-camu) produces vitamin C-rich fruits of growing commercial interest. However, sustainable utilization requires assessment and protection of the genetic diversity of the available germplasm. This study aimed to develop and apply microsatellite markers to assess genetic diversity and construct a core collection of M. dubia germplasm from the Peruvian Amazon. Sixteen polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed using an enrichment approach. The evaluation of 336 genotypes from 43 accessions of the germplasm bank, originating from eight river basins, was conducted using these newly developed markers. Genetic diversity parameters, including observed and expected heterozygosity, were calculated. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed to assess the distribution of genetic variation within and among accessions and river basins. Bayesian c...