The consumption of berry fruits, including strawberries, has been suggested to have beneficial effects against oxidative stress mediated diseases. Berries contain multiple phenolic compounds and secondary metabolites that contribute to their biological properties.

Levamisole, an imidazo(2,1-b)thiazole derivative, has been reported to be a potential antitumor agent. In the present study, we have investigated the mechanism of action of one of the recently identified analogues, 4a (2-benzyl-6-(4'-fluorophenyl)-5-thiocyanato-imidazo[2,1-b][1], [3], [4]thiadiazole).

Due to the functional defects in apoptosis signaling molecules or deficient activation of apoptosis pathways, leukemia has become an aggressive disease with poor prognosis. Although the majority of leukemia patients initially respond to chemotherapy, relapse is still the leading cause of death. Hence targeting apoptosis pathway would be a promising strategy for the improved treatment of leukemia. Hydantoin derivatives possess a wide range of important biological and pharmacological properties including anticancer properties. Here we investigated the antileukemic activity and mechanism of action of one of the potent azaspiro hydantoin derivative, (ASHD).

Genome duplication event in edible dicots under the orders Rosid and Asterid, common during the oligocene period, is missing for species under the order Caryophyllales. Despite this, grain amaranths not only survived this period but display many desirable traits missing in species under rosids and asterids. For example, grain amaranths display traits like C4 photosynthesis, high-lysine seeds, high-yield, drought resistance, tolerance to infection and resilience to stress. It is, therefore, of interest to look for minor genome rearrangements with potential functional implications that are unique to grain amaranths. Here, by deep sequencing and assembly of 16 transcriptomes (86.8 billion bases) we have interrogated differential genome rearrangement unique to Amaranthus hypochondriacus with potential links to these phenotypes. We have predicted 125,581 non-redundant transcripts including 44,529 protein coding transcripts identified based on homology to known proteins and 13,529 predicted as novel/amaranth specific coding transcripts. Of the protein coding de novo assembled transcripts, we have identified 1810 chimeric transcripts. More than 30% and 19% of the gene pairs within the chimeric transcripts are found within the same loci in the genomes of A. hypochondriacus and Beta vulgaris respectively and are considered real positives. Interestingly, one of the chimeric transcripts comprises two important genes, namely DHDPS1, a key enzyme implicated in the biosynthesis of lysine, and alpha-glucosidase, an enzyme involved in sucrose catabolism, in close proximity to each other separated by a distance of 612 bases in the genome of A. hypochondriacus in a convergent configuration. We have experimentally validated that transcripts of these two genes are also overlapping in the 3' UTR with their expression negatively correlated from bud to mature seed, suggesting a potential link between the high seed lysine trait and unique genome organization.