Redox-engineering enhances maize thermotolerance and grain yield in the field.

Increasing populations and temperatures are expected to escalate food demands beyond production capacities, and the development of maize lines with better performance under heat stress is desirable. Here, we report that constitutive ectopic expression of a heterologous glutaredoxin S17 from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtGRXS17) can provide thermotolerance in maize through enhanced chaperone activity and modulation of heat stress-associated gene expression. The thermotolerant maize lines had increased protection against protein damage and yielded a sixfold increase in grain production in comparison to the non-transgenic counterparts under heat stress field conditions.

Management, Analyses, and Distribution of the MaizeCODE Data on the Cloud.

MaizeCODE is a project aimed at identifying and analyzing functional elements in the maize genome. In its initial phase, MaizeCODE assayed up to five tissues from four maize strains (B73, NC350, W22, TIL11) by RNA-Seq, Chip-Seq, RAMPAGE, and small RNA sequencing. To facilitate reproducible science and provide both human and machine access to the MaizeCODE data, we enhanced SciApps, a cloud-based portal, for analysis and distribution of both raw data and analysis results.

Evolution of buffering in a genetic circuit controlling plant stem cell proliferation.

Precise control of plant stem cell proliferation is necessary for the continuous and reproducible development of plant organs. The peptide ligand CLAVATA3 (CLV3) and its receptor protein kinase CLAVATA1 (CLV1) maintain stem cell homeostasis within a deeply conserved negative feedback circuit. In Arabidopsis, CLV1 paralogs also contribute to homeostasis, by compensating for the loss of CLV1 through transcriptional upregulation.

An Efficient Cell Sorting Protocol for Maize Protoplasts.

Maize is one the most widely cultivated crops worldwide and an important model system for the study of genetics and cytogenetics. Although the availability of a genome sequence has enabled new quantitative genomic studies, developing methods to isolate specific types of cells will enable useful approaches for transcriptomic analysis in the crop plant. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) is a powerful technique for cell isolation and the study of transcriptional profiles from specific cell populations.

Advancing Crop Transformation in the Era of Genome Editing.

Plant transformation has enabled fundamental insights into plant biology and revolutionized commercial agriculture. Unfortunately, for most crops, transformation and regeneration remain arduous even after more than 30 years of technological advances. Genome editing provides novel opportunities to enhance crop productivity but relies on genetic transformation and plant regeneration, which are bottlenecks in the process.

The Maize PI/GLO Ortholog Zmm16/sterile tassel silky ear1 Interacts with the Zygomorphy and Sex Determination Pathways in Flower Development.

In monocots and eudicots, B class function specifies second and third whorl floral organ identity as described in the classic ABCE model. Grass B class APETALA3/DEFICIENS orthologs have been functionally characterized; here, we describe the positional cloning and characterization of a maize (Zea mays) PISTILLATA/GLOBOSA ortholog Zea mays mads16 (Zmm16)/sterile tassel silky ear1 (sts1). We show that, similar to many eudicots, all the maize B class proteins bind DNA as obligate heterodimers and positively regulate their own expression.

Sugars, signalling, and plant development.

Like all organisms, plants require energy for growth. They achieve this by absorbing light and fixing it into a usable, chemical form via photosynthesis. The resulting carbohydrate (sugar) energy is then utilized as substrates for growth, or stored as reserves.

grassy tillers1 promotes apical dominance in maize and responds to shade signals in the grasses.

The shape of a plant is largely determined by regulation of lateral branching. Branching architecture can vary widely in response to both genotype and environment, suggesting regulation by a complex interaction of autonomous genetic factors and external signals. Tillers, branches initiated at the base of grass plants, are suppressed in response to shade conditions.

The prognostic and predictive value of CA-125 regression during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian or primary peritoneal carcinoma.

Purpose: To assess the significance of CA-125 regression as a prognostic indicator and predictor of optimal cytoreduction at interval debulking surgery (IDS) in women with ovarian or primary peritoneal carcinoma receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Methods: 63 women treated between 2004 and 2007 with neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy followed by IDS were studied retrospectively. Pre-operative CA-125 values were used to calculate a regression coefficient (CA-125r) using exponential regression analysis.

A conserved mechanism of bract suppression in the grass family.

Suppression of inflorescence leaf, or bract, growth has evolved multiple times in diverse angiosperm lineages, including the Poaceae and Brassicaceae. Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants have revealed several genes involved in bract suppression, but it is not known if these genes play a similar role in other plants with suppressed bracts. We identified maize (Zea mays) tassel sheath (tsh) mutants, characterized by the loss of bract suppression, that comprise five loci (tsh1-tsh5).

Severe sequence-specific toxicity when capecitabine is given after Fluorouracil and leucovorin.

Purpose: Options for single-agent fluoropyrimidine adjuvant therapy after bowel cancer resection include intravenous fluorouracil with leucovorin (FU/LV) or oral capecitabine. These treatments have similar efficacy but differ in convenience and toxicity. We therefore wished to compare their overall acceptability to patients.

Width of a ferrofluid finger: hysteresis and a double energy minimum.

We study a ferrofluid in a horizontal Hele-Shaw geometry subjected to a vertical magnetic field. Specifically, we calculate the energy of a single ferrofluid finger using an idealized model for the finger. By minimizing this energy, we find the preferred finger width as a function of the applied field.

Adhesion phenomena in ferrofluids.

One efficient way of determining the bond strength of adhesives is to measure the force or the work required to separate two surfaces bonded by a thin adhesive film. We consider the case in which the thin film is not a conventional adhesive material but a high viscosity ferrofluid confined between two narrowly spaced parallel flat plates subjected to an external magnetic field. Our theoretical results demonstrate that both the peak adhesive force and the separation energy are significantly influenced by the action and symmetry properties of the applied field.

Identification of proteins regulated by interferon-alpha in resistant and sensitive malignant melanoma cell lines.

Treatment of patients with malignant melanoma with interferon-alpha achieves a response in a small but significant subset of patients. Currently, although much is known about interferon biology, little is known about either the particular mechanisms of interferon-alpha activity that are crucial for response or why only some patients respond to interferon-alpha therapy. Two melanoma cell lines (MeWo and MM418) that are known to differ in their response to the antiproliferative activity of interferon-alpha, have been used as a model system to investigate interferon-alpha action.

Orientational preference and predictability in a symmetric arrangement of magnetic drops.

An investigation of a symmetrical arrangement of N quasi-two-dimensional magnetic domains in an external field is carried out. By minimizing the linearized interaction energy for this arrangement using a nearest-neighbor approximation, an orientationally preferred state of the system is found. This orientational preference leads to a large degree of predictability in the final patterns as demonstrated by some experiments using ferrofluids.

The JAK/STAT pathway is not sufficient to sustain the antiproliferative response in an interferon-resistant human melanoma cell line.

The mechanism of resistance of malignant melanoma to treatment with interferon-alpha is unknown, and currently there is no reliable method of predicting response. Signalling via the JAK/STAT pathway is known to mediate many interferon-regulated events and has been implicated in mediating the antiproliferative response. The objective of this study was to determine whether defects in JAK/STAT signalling may be responsible for interferon resistance.

Controlling fingering instabilities in rotating ferrofluids.

We perform a detailed analytic and numerical study of the evolution of a ferrofluid drop confined to a rotating Hele-Shaw cell in the presence of an azimuthal magnetic field. Our results demonstrate that the centrifugally driven interfacial instabilities can be simply controlled with the use of a current-carrying wire. We compare an analytic linear analysis to our computational results and show that a number of observed features cannot be explained by linear theory alone, including a "diamond ring" instability that results when a droplet is nearly stabilized.