Abstract It is suggested that oxidative stress induced by cellular reactive oxygen species is one of the major causal factors of aging. The effect of dietary supplementation of anti-oxidants on response to environmental stressors and lifespan has been studied in various model organisms. In the present study, we examine the effect of Artemisia annua extract on resistance to oxidative, heat, and ultraviolet stresses in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Artemisia annua significantly increases survival under oxidative and heat stresses, however has no effects in response to ultraviolet stress. Then, we measured the in vivo changes in expression of stress-responsive genes by Artemisia annua using green fluorescence protein. The expression of hsp-16.2, known to be involved in response to heat stress, is significantly increased by Artemisia annua supplementation. An anti-oxidant gene, sod-3, was also up-regulated by Artemisia annua. However, both mean and maximum lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans was not altered by dietary supplementation of Artemisia annua. These findings indicate that Artemisia annua confers health-promoting effects through increasing the resistance to environmental stressors and has no effect on lifespan in C. elegans. Our study suggests that Artemisia annua can be used for the development of novel natural therapeutics for diseases caused by environmental stressors.

We investigated the reactions of four bat species from four different lineages to UV light: Hipposideros armiger (Hodgson, 1835) and Scotophilus kuhlii Leach, 1821, which use constant frequency (CF) or frequency modulation (FM) echolocation, respectively; and Rousettus leschenaultii (Desmarest, 1820) and Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797), cave and tree-roosting Old World fruit bats, respectively. Following acclimation and training involving aversive stimuli when exposed to UV light, individuals of S. kuhlii and C. sphinx exposed to such stimuli displayed conditioned reflexes such as body crouching, wing retracting, horizontal crawling, flying and/or vocalization, whereas individuals of H. armiger and R. leschenaultii, in most cue-testing sessions, remained still on receiving the stimuli. Our behavioral study provides direct evidence for the diversity of cone-based UV vision in the order Chiroptera and further supports our earlier postulate that, due to possible sensory tradeoffs and roosting ecology, defects in the short wavelength opsin genes have resulted in loss of UV vision in CF bats, but not in FM bats. In addition, Old World fruit bats roosting in caves have lost UV vision, but those roosting in trees have not. Bats are thus the third mammalian taxon to retain ancestral cone-based UV sensitivity in some species.

In order to compare the nutrition components of transgenic maize seeds (chitinase gene), achieved by the pollen-mediated approach, with its non-transgenic counterpart, Vitamin B1, vitamin B2, fatty acids and essential amino acids of transgenic maize seeds and their counterparts were analyzed by the Chinese national standard methods or AOAC methods. The results showed that the contents of all the six kinds of fatty acids detected in transgenic maize seeds were significantly higher than those in their non-transgenic counterpart, the content of vitamin B2 in transgenic maize was significantly lower than that in non-transgenic maize seeds, the content of total amino acids in transgenic maize seed was higher than that in non-transgenic maize seeds, while vitamin B1 and most of essential amino acid have no significant difference between transgenic maize and non-transgenic maize seeds. According to the above data, transgenic foods should be strictly analyzed to find out whether it can reach the standard of "substantial equivalence" in nutrient composition.

Con el fin de comparar los componentes nutricionales de las semillas de maíz transgénico (gen quitinasa), obtenidos por el método del polen, con respecto a un maíz no transgénico, se analizó la vitamina B1, vitamina B2, ácidos grasos y aminoácidos esenciales de semillas de maíz transgénico y sus homólogos, a través del método chino estándar nacional o métodos de la AOAC. Los resultados mostraron que el contenido de los seis tipos de ácidos grasos detectados en semillas de maíz transgénico fueron significativamente superiores a los de su contraparte no transgénico, el contenido de vitamina B2 en el maíz transgénico fue significativamente menor que en las semillas de maíz no transgénico. El contenido total de aminoácidos en las semillas de maíz transgénico fue mayor que en las semillas de maíz no transgénico, mientras que la vitamina B1, y la mayor parte de los aminoácidos esenciales, no tuvieron ninguna diferencia significativa entre el maíz y las semillas transgénicas de maíz no transgénico. De acuerdo con la información anterior, los alimentos transgénicos deben ser rigurosamente analizados, para saber si se puede alcanzar el estándar de "equivalencia sustancial" en la composición de nutrientes.