Rui Yukui

Fatty Acids Composition of Apple and Pear Seed Oils

In this study, oil content and fatty acid composition of apple and pear seeds were analyzed. Apple (cv. red Fuji) seeds and pear (cv. Dangshan Suli) seeds contained a large quantity of oils (apple seed oil, 291 g/kg seed; pear seed oil, 179 g/kg seed). Eleven types of fatty acids were identified in apple and pear seed oil; c16:0, c16:1, c18:0, c18:1, c18:2, c18:3, c20:0, c20:1, c20:2, c22:0, and c24:0. The dominant fatty acids in apple seed oil were c18:1 (43.03 g/100g oil), c18:0 (26.47 g/100g oil), and c16:0 (5.60 g/100g oil). The same three fatty acids were also dominant in pear oil (c18:1, 56.80 g/100g oil; c18:0, 20.28 g/100g oil; and c16:0, 6.39 g/100g oil). Compared with previous research, an additional six fatty acids were found in apple seed oil (c16:1, c18:3, c20:1, c20:2, c22:0, and c24:0). Unsaturated fatty acids comprised 70.598 g/100g oil of apple seed oil and 77.846 g/100g oil of pear seed oil. In conclusion, apple seeds and pear seeds contain a large quantity of oil comprised of many fatty acids, especially unsaturated fatty acids. These data suggest that apple and pear seeds could be new sources of edible oils.

Determination of Trace Elements, Heavy Metals and Rare Earth Elements in Corn Seeds from Beijing by ICP-MS Simultaneously

Food nutrition and food safety have been paid more and more attention, so it is important to find new detecting method. ICP-MS is a good method to detect many elements simultaneously with high accuracy, but detecting more than ten elements simultaneously has little been reported, especially in cereal. Contents of forty elements in corn kernel from Beijing were detected by ICP-MS, we conclude that; 19 elements (Li, I, Co, Ni, Mo, Cs, B, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ti, Cd, Sn, Tl, Pb and Cr) in corn can be precisely and accurately determined simultaneously. As, Se, Bi, Th, U, Sb, Al and rare earth elements could not be precisely detected at this condition, probably due to too low concentrations; Corn from Beijing contains many wholesome trace elements, such as Mo, B, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Rb and Sr; but the toxic elements little, so it is safe and not polluted.

Transgenic cotton could safely be grown since CpTI toxin rapidly degrades in the rhizosphere soil

Abstract Cultivation of transgenic plants is debated worldwide. Potential environmental risks have to be considered, before acceptance of expanding cultivation, despite the advantages of the use of fewer pesticides. Here, the potential effects on soil ecosystems of transgenic plants have been studied. As a model, genetically engineered cotton producing cowpea trypsin inhibitor (CpTI) has been used. The degradation of CpTI in the rhizosphere of the transgenic CpTI+Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton cultivar SGK321 was assessed. During plant development, concentrations of CpTI toxin in the rhizosphere were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). As the plants developed, the residue of CpTI in the rhizosphere increased, and reached a peak at topping stage (100 days after planting). After this stage, the residue began to decrease, and was nil the following year (258 days after planting). The conclusion is that genetically engineered cotton can safely be cultivated since no accumulation of substances released from the transgenic plants was persistent in the soil.

Mineral element distribution in organs of dual-toxin transgenic (Bt+CpTI) cotton seedling

Abstract Being a new cultivar, the physiology of transgenic cotton, especially dual-toxin transgenic (Bt+CpTI) cotton, is not yet completely understood. Twelve elements in three organs of dual-toxin transgenic cotton seedlings were analyzed by ICP-MS. The distributions of the 12 elements were substantially different from those of non-transgenic cotton. In particular, the contents of B, Mg, P, K and Ca were the highest in leaves, while those of Si, Fe, Rb and Cu were the highest in roots; other elements had similar contents in the two organs, which were higher than those in the stem. Compared with non-transgenic cotton, the 12 elements could be classified into four groups according to their contents and distributions in the three organs: (a) P, K and Cu: their contents in transgenic cotton were remarkably lower, especially contents of P and K in leaves that were one times lower than those in leaves of non-transgenic cotton; (b) B, Mg and Mo: their contents in leaves and roots of transgenic cotton were higher, but lower in stems, compared with non-transgenic cotton; (c) Si, Mn, Fe, Rb and Zn: compared with non-transgenic cotton, these were lower in leaves and stems, but higher in roots of transgenic cotton; and (d) Ca: compared with non-transgenic cotton, its content was higher in all three organs of the transgenic counterpart. The decrease in soluble proteins and the expression of Bt and CpTI genes could be responsible for these changes. Further studies are needed to verify this hypothesis.

Determination of amino acids and mineral elements in flower tissue of Amygdalus persica var. persica f. duplex

Flowering peach trees, whose flowers have not be used and result in lot of waste of resources. This paper detected 18 kinds of amino acids and eight trace elements to provide data support for resource utilization of flowering peach blossom. Results showed that two amino acids (Asp and Pro) were higher than 2.0%, Glu, Lys, Leu, Ala and Val were more than 1.0% in flowers of flowering peach, especially Pro was the highest. Flowers of flowering peach contain many kinds of mineral elements, Mg, Ca, K and Mn were very high, which is beneficial for human health. All these data proved that flowers of flowering peach have high value as foods.

Composition and safety analysis of Chinese traditional fermented soybean paste made by transgenic soybean

The traditional Chinese soybean paste was produced by cooked transgenic soybean fermentation with the composition of moisture 53%, amino acid 0.84% (calculated by nitrogen), votive sugar 6.21% and total acid 1.66%. A number of microorganism species were isolated and identified, including fungi and bacteria, and the bacterium species Rhizopus oryzae Went and Prinsen Geerligs were dominant in transgenic soybean paste. The results showed that the transgenic soybean paste contain abundant amino acids and vitamins (vitamin A, 42.87 IU; vitamin B, 10.31 mg; vitamin B, 20.64 mg; nicotinamide, 2.54 mg; pantothenic acid, 0.63 mg; vitamin B, 6,847 µg; folic acid, 105 µg; vitamin B, 123.85 µg; and biotin, 56.34 µg). Pathogenic microorganisms were not be detected in the transgenic fermented soybean paste.

Cropping systems change the concentration of microelements in soils

Connections of microelements with human health, diseases and nutrition gain more and more recognition from various scientists in the domains of medicine, nutrition, etc. (He et al., 2004). The deficiency of elements such as Mn, Fe and Mo could result in some cancers (Wang et al., 1989), and it is well known that levels of Cr, Zn, Se and I are related to some diseases. Selenium, an essential element of the human body, has the function of enhancing immune ability, is anti-oxidant and antitumour, and many health foods depend on the levels of Se (Jing et al., 2003). Thus, it is important for human health to control the concentration of Se in food, especially the natural concentrations in food. Cr (III) can enhance resistance to diabetes, and I can be used for the prevention of thyroid gland disease. Crops, as a direct neighbour of the soil, can influence soil physical and chemical characters, plant growth, quality and quantity of stubble, and soil microbial biomass and its activity (Huang et al., 2003). There are many methods to detect microelements, such as atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) (Yang et al., 2005) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) (Xu et al., 2001), etc. Because many elements can be detected at the same time, with higher precision (Yang et al., 2005), ICP-MS has greater application than other methods.