Role of Autophagy in Cell Growth under Salinity.

The microalga (formerly ) is able to accumulate high amounts of the carotenoid astaxanthin in the course of adaptation to stresses like salinity. Technologies aimed at production of natural astaxanthin for commercial purposes often involve salinity stress; however, after a switch to stressful conditions,   experiences massive cell death which negatively influences astaxanthin yield. This study addressed the possibility to improve cell survival in   subjected to salinity via manipulation of the levels of autophagy using AZD8055, a known inhibitor of TOR kinase previously shown to accelerate autophagy in several microalgae.

Leaf Epidermis: The Ambiguous Symplastic Domain.

The ability to develop secondary (post-cytokinetic) plasmodesmata (PD) is an important evolutionary advantage that helps in creating symplastic domains within the plant body. Developmental regulation of secondary PD formation is not completely understood. In flowering plants, secondary PD occur exclusively between cells from different lineages, e.

Regulation of plasmodesmata in Arabidopsis leaves: ATP, NADPH and chlorophyll b levels matter.

In mature leaves, cell-to-cell transport via plasmodesmata between mesophyll cells links the production of assimilates by photosynthesis with their export to sink organs. This study addresses the question of how signals derived from chloroplasts and photosynthesis influence plasmodesmata permeability. Cell-to-cell transport was analyzed in leaves of the Arabidopsis chlorophyll b-less ch1-3 mutant, the same mutant complemented with a cyanobacterial CAO gene (PhCAO) overaccumulating chlorophyll b, the trxm3 mutant lacking plastidial thioredoxin m3, and the ntrc mutant lacking functional NADPH:thioredoxin reductase C.

Short-term renal and metabolic effects of low dose vildagliptin treatment added-on insulin therapy in non-proteinuric patients with type 2 diabetes: open-label randomized prospective study.

Objective The aim of this randomized comparative study was to assess renal and metabolic effects of vildagliptin in insulin-treated type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients without overt chronic kidney disease. Subjects and methods We randomized 47 insulin-treated non-proteinuric patients with satisfactory controlled T2DM and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73m 2 either to continue insulin therapy (control) or to receive combined insulin-vildagliptin treatment (VIG group).

Two Novel Amyloid Proteins, RopA and RopB, from the Root Nodule Bacterium .

Amyloids represent protein fibrils with a highly ordered spatial structure, which not only cause dozens of incurable human and animal diseases but also play vital biological roles in Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Despite the fact that association of bacterial amyloids with microbial pathogenesis and infectious diseases is well known, there is a lack of information concerning the amyloids of symbiotic bacteria. In this study, using the previously developed proteomic method for screening and identification of amyloids (PSIA), we identified amyloidogenic proteins in the proteome of the root nodule bacterium Among 54 proteins identified, we selected two proteins, RopA and RopB, which are predicted to have β-barrel structure and are likely to be involved in the control of plant-microbial symbiosis.

The Huperzia selago Shoot Tip Transcriptome Sheds New Light on the Evolution of Leaves.

Lycopodiophyta-consisting of three orders, Lycopodiales, Isoetales and Selaginellales, with different types of shoot apical meristems (SAMs)-form the earliest branch among the extant vascular plants. They represent a sister group to all other vascular plants, from which they differ in that their leaves are microphylls-that is, leaves with a single, unbranched vein, emerging from the protostele without a leaf gap-not megaphylls. All leaves represent determinate organs originating on the flanks of indeterminate SAMs.

The absence of chlorophyll b affects lateral mobility of photosynthetic complexes and lipids in grana membranes of Arabidopsis and barley chlorina mutants.

The lateral mobility of integral components of thylakoid membranes, such as plastoquinone, xanthophylls, and pigment-protein complexes, is critical for the maintenance of efficient light harvesting, high rates of linear electron transport, and successful repair of damaged photosystem II (PSII). The packaging of the photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes in the membrane depends on their size and stereometric parameters which in turn depend on the composition of the complexes. Chlorophyll b (Chlb) is an important regulator of antenna size and composition.

Chlorophyllide-a-Oxygenase (CAO) deficiency affects the levels of singlet oxygen and formation of plasmodesmata in leaves and shoot apical meristems of barley.

In plants, organogenesis and specification of cell layers and tissues rely on precise symplastic delivery of regulatory molecules via plasmodesmata. Accordingly, abundance and aperture of plasmodesmata at individual cell boundaries should be controlled by the plant. Recently, studies in Arabidopsis established reactive oxygen species as major regulators of plasmodesmata formation and gating.

Uninephrectomized High-Fat-Fed Nicotinamide-Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats: A Model for the Investigation of Diabetic Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes (DM2) could be reproduced in rats with alimentary obesity by using low doses of streptozotocin (LD-STZ) as well as STZ in high doses with preliminary nicotinamide (NA) administration. However, STZ could induce tubulotoxicity. .

Physiological, anatomical and biochemical characterisation of photosynthetic types in genus Cleome (Cleomaceae).

C photosynthesis has evolved many times in 18 different families of land plants with great variation in leaf anatomy, ranging from various forms of Kranz anatomy to C photosynthesis occurring within a single type of photosynthetic cell. There has been little research on photosynthetic typing in the family Cleomaceae, in which only one C species has been identified, Cleome gynandra L. There is recent interest in selecting and developing a C species from the family Cleomaceae as a model C system, since it is the most closely related to Arabidopsis, a C model system (Brown et al.