Effects of implementing a clinical pharmacist service in a mixed Norwegian ICU.

Objectives: An unacceptably high proportion of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) develop drug-related problems (DRPs). DRPs might cause harm and increase costs and length of stay. The implementation of a clinical pharmacist service has been shown to detect a high number of DRPs and contributes effectively to solving these across different healthcare systems.

Genetic Determinism and Evolutionary Reconstruction of a Host Jump in a Plant Virus.

In spite of their widespread occurrence, only few host jumps by plant viruses have been evidenced and the molecular bases of even fewer have been determined. A combination of three independent approaches, 1) experimental evolution followed by reverse genetics analysis, 2) positive selection analysis, and 3) locus-by-locus analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) allowed reconstructing the Potato virus Y (PVY; genus Potyvirus, family Potyviridae) jump to pepper (Capsicum annuum), probably from other solanaceous plants. Synthetic chimeras between infectious cDNA clones of two PVY isolates with contrasted levels of adaptation to C.

Penium margaritaceum as a model organism for cell wall analysis of expanding plant cells.

The growth of a plant cell encompasses a complex set of subcellular components interacting in a highly coordinated fashion. Ultimately, these activities create specific cell wall structural domains that regulate the prime force of expansion, internally generated turgor pressure. The precise organization of the polymeric networks of the cell wall around the protoplast also contributes to the direction of growth, the shape of the cell, and the proper positioning of the cell in a tissue.

Two euAGAMOUS genes control C-function in Medicago truncatula.

C-function MADS-box transcription factors belong to the AGAMOUS (AG) lineage and specify both stamen and carpel identity and floral meristem determinacy. In core eudicots, the AG lineage is further divided into two branches, the euAG and PLE lineages. Functional analyses across flowering plants strongly support the idea that duplicated AG lineage genes have different degrees of subfunctionalization of the C-function.

Narrow bottlenecks affect Pea seedborne mosaic virus populations during vertical seed transmission but not during leaf colonization.

The effective size of populations (Ne) determines whether selection or genetic drift is the predominant force shaping their genetic structure and evolution. Populations having high Ne adapt faster, as selection acts more intensely, than populations having low Ne, where random effects of genetic drift dominate. Estimating Ne for various steps of plant virus life cycle has been the focus of several studies in the last decade, but no estimates are available for the vertical transmission of plant viruses, although virus seed transmission is economically significant in at least 18% of plant viruses in at least one plant species.

The interplay between P uptake pathways in mycorrhizal peas: a combined physiological and gene-silencing approach.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have a key role in plant phosphate (Pi) uptake by their efficient capture of soil phosphorus (P) that is transferred to the plant via Pi transporters in the root cortical cells. The activity of this mycorrhizal Pi uptake pathway is often associated with downregulation of Pi transporter genes in the direct Pi uptake pathway. As the total Pi taken up by the plant is determined by the combined activity of mycorrhizal and direct pathways, it is important to understand the interplay between these, in particular the actual activity of the pathways.

The helper component proteinase cistron of Potato virus Y induces hypersensitivity and resistance in Potato genotypes carrying dominant resistance genes on chromosome IV.

The Nc(tbr) and Ny(tbr) genes in Solanum tuberosum determine hypersensitive reactions, characterized by necrotic reactions and restriction of the virus systemic movement, toward isolates belonging to clade C and clade O of Potato virus Y (PVY), respectively. We describe a new resistance from S. sparsipilum which possesses the same phenotype and specificity as Nc(tbr) and is controlled by a dominant gene designated Nc(spl).

Protocol: using virus-induced gene silencing to study the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in Pisum sativum.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is an alternative reverse genetics tool for silencing of genes in some plants, which are difficult to transform. The pea early-browning virus (PEBV) has been developed as a VIGS vector and used in pea for functional analysis of several genes. However, the available PEBV-VIGS protocols are inadequate for studying genes involved in the symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF).

Investigations of barley stripe mosaic virus as a gene silencing vector in barley roots and in Brachypodium distachyon and oat.

Background: Gene silencing vectors based on Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) are used extensively in cereals to study gene function, but nearly all studies have been limited to genes expressed in leaves of barley and wheat. However since many important aspects of plant biology are based on root-expressed genes we wanted to explore the potential of BSMV for silencing genes in root tissues. Furthermore, the newly completed genome sequence of the emerging cereal model species Brachypodium distachyon as well as the increasing amount of EST sequence information available for oat (Avena species) have created a need for tools to study gene function in these species.

Potyviral resistance derived from cultivars of Phaseolus vulgaris carrying bc-3 is associated with the homozygotic presence of a mutated eIF4E allele.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs) play a central role in potyviral infection. Accordingly, mutations in the gene encoding eIF4E have been identified as a source of recessive resistance in several plant species. In common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, four recessive genes, bc-1, bc-2, bc-3 and bc-u, have been proposed to control resistance to the potyviruses Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) and Bean common mosaic necrosis virus.

Virus-induced gene silencing in Medicago truncatula and Lathyrus odorata.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has become an important reverse genetics tool for functional genomics. VIGS vectors based on Pea early browning virus (PEBV, genus Tobravirus) and Bean pod mottle virus (genus Comovirus) are available for the legume species Pisum sativum and Glycine max, respectively. With the aim of extending the application of the PEBV VIGS vector to other legumes, we examined susceptibility of 99 accessions representing 24 legume species including 21 accessions of Medicago truncatula and 38 accessions Lotus japonicus.

Insertion of introns: a strategy to facilitate assembly of infectious full length clones.

Some DNA fragments are difficult to clone in Escherichia coli by standard methods. It has been speculated that unintended transcription and translation result in expression of proteins that are toxic to the bacteria. This problem is frequently observed during assembly of infectious full-length virus clones.

The role of the coat protein region in symptom formation on Physalis floridana varies between PVY strains.

The Potato virus Y (PVY) cDNA full-length clone created by Jakab et al. [Jakab, G., Droz, E.

Multiple determinants in the coding region of Pea seed-borne mosaic virus P3 are involved in virulence against sbm-2 resistance.

Viral determinants for overcoming Pisum sativum recessive resistance, sbm-2, against the potyvirus Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV) were identified in the region encoding the N-terminal part of the P3 protein. Codons conserved between sbm-2 virulent isolates in this region: Q21, K30 and H122 were found to specifically impair sbm-2 virulence when mutated in selected genetic backgrounds. The corresponding amino acids, Gln21 and Lys30, are neighbored by P3 residues strongly conserved among potyviruses and His122 is conserved particularly in potyviral species infecting legumes.

The potyvirus recessive resistance gene, sbm1, identifies a novel role for translation initiation factor eIF4E in cell-to-cell trafficking.

From the characterization of the recessive resistance gene, sbm1, in pea we have identified the eukaryotic translation initiation factor, eIF4E, as a susceptibility factor required for infection with the Potyvirus, Pea seed-borne mosaic virus. A functional analysis of the mode of action of the product of the dominant allele revealed a novel function for eIF4E in its support for virus movement from cell-to-cell, in addition to its probable support for viral RNA translation, and hence replication. Different resistance specificities in two independent pea lines were explained by different mutations in eIF4E.

Mutations in potato virus Y genome-linked protein determine virulence toward recessive resistances in Capsicum annuum and Lycopersicon hirsutum.

The recessive resistance genes pot-1 and pvr2 in Lycopersicon hirsutum and Capsicum annuum, respectively, control Potato virus Y (PVY) accumulation in the inoculated leaves. Infectious cDNA molecules from two PVY isolates differing in their virulence toward these resistances were obtained using two different strategies. Chimeras constructed with these cDNA clones showed that a single nucleotide change corresponding to an amino acid substitution (Arg119His) in the central part of the viral protein genome-linked (VPg) was involved in virulence toward the pot-1 resistance.

Evidence for diversifying selection in Potato virus Y and in the coat protein of other potyviruses.

The modes of evolution of the proteins of Potato virus Y were investigated with a maximum-likelihood method based on estimation of the ratio between non-synonymous and synonymous substitution rates. Evidence for diversifying selection was obtained for the 6K2 protein (one amino acid position) and coat protein (24 amino acid positions). Amino acid sites in the coat proteins of other potyviruses (Bean yellow mosaic virus, Yam mosaic virus) were also found to be under diversifying selection.

A new pathotype of Pea seedborne mosaic virus explained by properties of the P3-6k1- and viral genome-linked protein (VPg)-coding regions.

A fourth pathotype of Pea seedborne mosaic virus, a member of the genus Potyvirus, was identified by analysis of the infection profile on a panel of Pisum sativum lines. The new pathotype, designated P-3, was able to overcome resistance specified by the sbm-1 resistance gene but could not overcome resistance specified by the sbm-2 resistance gene. This infection profile distinguished P-3 from previously described pathotypes, P-1, P-2, and P-4.