Divergent cytosine DNA methylation patterns in single-cell, soybean root hairs.

Chromatin modifications, such as cytosine methylation of DNA, play a significant role in mediating gene expression in plants, which affects growth, development, and cell differentiation. As root hairs are single-cell extensions of the root epidermis and the primary organs for water uptake and nutrients, we sought to use root hairs as a single-cell model system to measure the impact of environmental stress. We measured changes in cytosine DNA methylation in single-cell root hairs as compared with multicellular stripped roots, as well as in response to heat stress.

Effect of lipo-chitooligosaccharide on early growth of C4 grass seedlings.

Although lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) are important signal molecules for plant-symbiont interactions, a number of reports suggest that LCOs can directly impact plant growth and development, separate from any role in plant symbioses. In order to investigate this more closely, maize and Setaria seedlings were treated with LCO and their growth was evaluated. The data indicate that LCO treatment significantly enhanced root growth.

P2X7 receptor activation induces inflammatory responses in salivary gland epithelium.

Inflammation of the salivary gland is a well-documented aspect of salivary gland dysfunction that occurs in Sjogren's syndrome (SS), an autoimmune disease, and in γ-radiation-induced injury during treatment of head and neck cancers. Extracellular nucleotides have gained recognition as key modulators of inflammation through activation of cell surface ionotropic and metabotropic receptors, although the contribution of extracellular nucleotides to salivary gland inflammation is not well understood. In vitro studies using submandibular gland (SMG) cell aggregates isolated from wild-type C57BL/6 mice indicate that treatment with ATP or the high affinity P2X7R agonist 3'-O-(4-benzoyl)benzoyl-ATP (BzATP) induces membrane blebbing and enhances caspase activity, responses that were absent in SMG cell aggregates isolated from mice lacking the P2X7R (P2X7R(-/-)).