Reflective mulch increases fruit yield of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L. cv. Darrow) grown in a northern maritime environment while maintaining key fruit quality traits.

Background: In maritime growing environments, blueberry yield often exhibits excessive season-to-season variation, associated with poorly adapted photosynthetic responses to low light conditions. It is therefore necessary to develop methods that stabilise yield while maintaining or improving fruit quality. Here, we placed reflective mulch alongside plants at the early green fruit stage, to test the hypothesis that increasing the available seasonal light integral could enhance blueberry yield.

A member of the TERMINAL FLOWER 1/CENTRORADIALIS gene family controls sprout growth in potato tubers.

Potato tuber bud dormancy break followed by premature sprouting is a major commercial problem which results in quality losses and decreased tuber marketability. An approach to controlling premature tuber sprouting is to develop potato cultivars with a longer dormancy period and/or reduced rate of sprout growth. Our recent studies using a potato diploid population have identified several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that are associated with tuber sprout growth.

Photosynthetic limitation as a factor influencing yield in highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) grown in a northern European environment.

Published evidence indicates that nearly 60% of blueberry-producing countries experience yield instability. Yield is a complex trait determined by genetic and environmental factors. Here, using physiological and biochemical approaches, we tested the hypothesis that yield instability results from year-to-year environmental variation that limits carbon assimilation, storage and partitioning.

The control of phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate concentrations by activation of the Src homology 2 domain containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 2, SHIP2.

Activation of class Ia PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) produces PtdInsP3, a vital intracellular mediator whose degradation generates additional lipid signals. In the present study vanadate analogues that inhibit PTPs (protein tyrosine phosphatases) were used to probe the mechanisms which regulate the concentrations of these molecules allowing their independent or integrated function. In 1321N1 cells, which lack PtdInsP3 3-phosphatase activity, sodium vanadate or a cell permeable derivative, bpV(phen) [potassium bisperoxo(1,10-phenanthroline)oxovanadate (V)], increased the recruitment into anti-phosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates of PI3K activity and of the p85 and p110a subunits of class Ia PI3K and enhanced the recruitment of PI3K activity stimulated by PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor).

Insulin regulation of hepatic insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) gene expression and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling is impaired by the presence of hydrogen peroxide.

Hepatic expression of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) is rapidly and completely inhibited by insulin. The signalling pathway that mediates this effect of insulin requires the activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase). Many of the cellular actions of insulin, including activation of PI 3-kinase, can be 'mimicked' by oxidative stresses, such as H(2)O(2).

dS6K-regulated cell growth is dPKB/dPI(3)K-independent, but requires dPDK1.

Genetic studies in Drosophila melanogaster underscore the importance of the insulin-signalling pathway in controlling cell, organ and animal size. Effectors of this pathway include Chico (the insulin receptor substrate homologue), dPI(3)K, dPKB, dPTEN, and dS6K. Mutations in any of these components have a striking effect on cell size and number, with the exception of dS6K.