Browsing by Autor "Yasunari Fujita"

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Analytical Methods for Identification and Quantification of Quinoa Saponins: A Review
(American Chemical Society, 2025) Rodrigo Villagomez; Maribel Lozano; Yonny Flores; Yasufumi Kobayashi; Yasunari Fujita; Giovanna R. Almanza
Quinoa saponins (SAPs) are key secondary metabolites occurring as complex mixtures mainly in the seed coat of <i>Chenopodium quinoa</i> Willd. Although traditionally removed due to their bitter taste and potential toxicity, quinoa SAPs display diverse biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, antifungal, molluscicidal, hemolytic, and cytotoxic effects, that support their potential applications in pharmaceuticals, functional foods, cosmetics, and biopesticides. Their amphiphilic nature also enables their use as natural emulsifiers. This review (1981-2024) summarizes advances in analytical methodologies for quinoa SAPs, emphasizing that while GC-MS and LC-MS/MS are widely applied for profiling, full structural elucidation still requires isolation and analysis by NMR and MS. We discuss key considerations for quinoa SAPs identification using GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, and NMR. Quantification remains challenging and is often based on relative estimations, with afrosymmetric, UV-vis, and GC-MS methods being the most frequently employed, while HPLC-DAD, LC-MS, and GC-MS/MS offer greater sensitivity. Ultimately, the selection of the analytical method and standard critically determines accuracy.
Chromosome-level genome assemblies for two quinoa inbred lines from northern and southern highlands of Altiplano where quinoa originated
(Frontiers Media, 2024) Yasufumi Kobayashi; Hideki Hirakawa; Kenta Shirasawa; Kazusa Nishimura; Kenichiro Fujii; Rolando Oros; Giovanna R. Almanza; Yukari Nagatoshi; Y. Yasui; Yasunari Fujita
Quinoa is emerging as a key seed crop for global food security due to its ability to grow in marginal environments and its excellent nutritional properties. Because quinoa is partially allogamous, we have developed quinoa inbred lines necessary for molecular genetic analysis. Our comprehensive genomic analysis showed that the quinoa inbred lines fall into three genetic subpopulations: northern highland, southern highland, and lowland. Lowland and highland quinoa are the same species, but have very different genotypes and phenotypes. Lowland quinoa has relatively small grains and a darker grain color, and is widely tested and grown around the world. In contrast, the white, large-grained highland quinoa is grown in the Andean highlands, including the region where quinoa originated, and is exported worldwide as high-quality quinoa. Recently, we have shown that viral vectors can be used to regulate endogenous genes in quinoa, paving the way for functional genomics to reveal the diversity of quinoa. However, although a high-quality assembly has recently been reported for a lowland quinoa line, genomic resources of the quality required for functional genomics are not available for highland quinoa lines. Here we present high-quality chromosome-level genome assemblies for two highland inbred quinoa lines, J075 representing the northern highland line and J100 representing the southern highland line, using PacBio HiFi sequencing and dpMIG-seq. In addition, we demonstrate the importance of verifying and correcting reference-based scaffold assembly with other approaches such as linkage maps. The assembled genome sizes of J075 and J100 are 1.29 and 1.32 Gb, with contigs N50 of 66.3 and 12.6 Mb, and scaffold N50 of 71.2 and 70.6 Mb, respectively, comprising 18 pseudochromosomes. The repetitive sequences of J075 and J100 represent 72.6% and 71.5% of the genome, the majority of which are long terminal repeats, representing 44.0% and 42.7% of the genome, respectively. The <i>de novo</i> assembled genomes of J075 and J100 were predicted to contain 65,303 and 64,945 protein-coding genes, respectively. The high quality genomes of these highland quinoa lines will facilitate quinoa functional genomics research on quinoa and contribute to the identification of key genes involved in environmental adaptation and quinoa domestication.
Chromosome-level genome assemblies for two quinoa inbred lines from northern and southern highlands of Altiplano where quinoa originated
(2024) Yasufumi Kobayashi; Hideki Hirakawa; Kenta Shirasawa; Kazusa Nishimura; Kenichiro Fujii; Rolando Oros; Giovanna R. Almanza; Yukari Nagatoshi; Y. Yasui; Yasunari Fujita
Summary Quinoa, an annual allotetraploid plant native to the Andean highlands of South America, is emerging as an important seed crop for global food and nutrition security due to its ability to grow in marginal environments and its excellent nutritional properties. Because quinoa is partially allogamous, we have developed quinoa inbred lines necessary for molecular genetic analysis. Our comprehensive genomic analysis showed that the quinoa inbred lines fall into three genetic subpopulations: northern highland, southern highland, and lowland. Lowland and highland quinoa are the same species, but have very different genotypes and phenotypes. Lowland quinoa has relatively small grains and a darker grain color, and is widely tested and grown around the world. In contrast, the white, large-grained highland quinoa is grown in the Andean highlands, including the region where quinoa originated, and is exported worldwide as high-quality quinoa. Recently, we have shown that viral vectors can be used to regulate endogenous genes in quinoa, paving the way for functional genomics of quinoa. However, although a high-quality assembly has recently been reported for a lowland quinoa line, genomic resources of the quality required for functional genomics are not available for highland quinoa lines. Here we present high-quality chromosome-level genome assemblies for two highland inbred quinoa lines, J075 representing the northern highland line and J100 representing the southern highland line, using PacBio HiFi sequencing and dpMIG-seq. The assembled genome sizes of J075 and J100 are 1.29 and 1.32 Gb, with contigs N50 of 66.3 and 12.6 Mb, and scaffold N50 of 71.2 and 70.6 Mb, respectively, comprising 18 pseudochromosomes. The repetitive sequences of J075 and J100 represent 72.6% and 71.5% of the genome, the majority of which are long terminal repeats ( Gypsy and Copia ), representing 44.0% and 42.7% of the genome, respectively. The de novo assembled genomes of J075 and J100 were predicted to contain 64,945 and 65,303 protein-coding genes, respectively. The high quality genomes of these highland quinoa lines will facilitate quinoa functional genomics research on quinoa and contribute to the identification of key genes involved in environmental adaptation and quinoa domestication.