Alkylresorcinols (ARs) were first proposed as potential biomarkers of wholegrain wheat and rye intake a decade ago. Since then there has been a considerable body of research which suggests that ARs do meet most criteria of a biomarker of these foods. Results from human studies on plasma AR and their plasma and urinary metabolites strongly indicate that these compounds are responsive to whole gr...

The timing and rate of genomic variation induced by allopolyploidization in the intergeneric wheat-rye (Triticum spp. - Secale cereale L.) hybrid triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) was studied using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analyses with 2 sets of primers, EcoRI-MseI (E-M) and PstI-MseI (P-M), which primarily amplify repetitive and low-copy sequences, respectively. The re...

Alternate forms of the PolII transcription initiation machinery have been proposed to play a role in selective activation of cell-type-specific gene expression programs during cellular differentiation. The cannonball (can) gene of Drosophila encodes a homolog of a TBP-associated factor (dTAF5) protein expressed only in spermatocytes, where it is required for normal transcription of genes requir...

BACKGROUND Literature is lacking on the effects of feeding by-product feed (BF)-based silage on rumen fermentation parameters, nutrient digestion and nitrogen (N) retention in sheep. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of replacing rye straw with BF-based silage as a roughage source on ruminal parameters, total-tract apparent nutrient digestibility, and N balance in shee...

Crop rotations that include tap-rooted species of cover crops may help alleviate the deleterious effects of soil compaction on plant growth by modifying soil physical properties. We studied the effects of compaction and cover crops on the least limiting water range (LLWR) and air permeability in the surface layers of a loamy (Exp. 1) and a sandy soil (Exp. 2). There were three compaction treatm...

Plasma alkylresorcinols (AR) are useful as dietary biomarkers of wheat and rye whole grain (WG) during interventions but need to be validated in free-living populations. This study estimated the medium-term reproducibility and relative validity of plasma AR as biomarkers of WG and cereal fiber intake. Seventy-two Swedish adults kept 3-d weighed food records on 2 occasions 2-3 mo apart. Of these...

Grain softness protein (GSP) is an important protein for overcoming milling and grain defenses in the innate immunity systems of cereals. The objective of this study was to evaluate and understand GSP sequences in selected wheat, rye and triticale. Using sequences for this gene from a sequence database, we performed clustering analysis to compare the sequences obtained from 3 germplasms wi...

Animals may respond to habitat quality and habitat edges and these responses may affect their distribution between habitats. We studied the movement behaviour of a ground-dwelling generalist predator, the carabid beetle Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger). We performed a mark-recapture experiment in two adjacent habitats; a large plot with oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus) and a plot with rye (Se...

A diet rich in lignans has been suggested to be protective against a range of chronic diseases. The distribution and metabolic fate of lignans is, however, very poorly understood. We fed high-fibre wheat breads low in lignans (n 8) or high-fibre rye breads (n 9) rich in plant lignans to pigs for 58-67 d, and analysed the content of plant lignans and their metabolites in the diet, blood, bile, f...

The objective of this study was to determine the efficiency of rye and barley starch hydrolysis in mashing processes using cereal malts as a source of amylolytic enzymes and starch, and to establish the volatile profile of the obtained agricultural distillates. In addition, the effects of the pretreatment method of unmalted cereal grains on the physicochemical composition of the prepared mashes...