Evidence for thermosensitivity of the cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) immature fiber (im) mutant via hypersensitive stomatal activity.

Thickness of cotton fiber, referred to as fiber maturity, is a key determinant of fiber quality, lint yield, and textile performance. The cotton immature fiber (im) mutant has been used to study fiber maturity since its fiber is thinner than the wild type near isogeneic line (NIL), Texas Marker-1 (TM-1). The im phenotype is caused by a single recessive mutation of a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) gene that reduces the activity of mitochondrial complex I and up-regulates stress responsive genes.

Staurosporine-induced collapse of cochlear hair bundles.

Early postnatal mouse cochlear cultures were treated with a small panel of kinase inhibitors to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of hair-bundle structure in the developing inner ear. At low concentrations (1-10 nM), staurosporine causes the collapse and loss of hair bundles without provoking hair-cell death, as judged by lack of terminal transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) labeling or reactivity to anti-activated caspase-3. Staurosporine exposure results in the fusion of the hair bundle's stereocilia, a resorption of the parallel actin bundles of the stereocilia into the cytoplasm of the hair cell, a detachment of the apical, non-stereociliary membrane of the hair cell from the underlying cuticular plate, and a severing of the hair-bundle's rootlets from the actin cores of the stereocilia.

Development of the hair bundle and mechanotransduction.

This review focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the development of the sensory hair bundle, an apical specialisation of the hair cell that is essential for mechanotransduction. The structure, function and development of the hair bundle is described, with an emphasis on the properties and possible roles played by the different link types that interconnect the individual elements of the hair bundle - the multiple stereocilia and the single kinocilium. Studies of mouse and zebrafish mutants have revealed that several classes of molecule are required for the genesis and maintenance of hair-bundle structure.

Increasing sennoside yields in tinnevelly senna (Cassia angustifolia) I: effects of drought, foliar nitrogen spray and crop type.

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the promise of Tinnevelly senna, Cassia angustifolia Vahl, as an alternative crop for stressful agroecosystems. Effects of drought, foliar nitrogen application and crop type on sennoside yields were studied with simultaneous measurements of net photosynthesis. Short term drought increased sennoside A + B concentration (% dw).

Physiological and antioxidant responses of cotton and spurred anoda under interference and mild drought.

The influence of plant interference and a mild drought on gas exchange and oxidative stress was investigated using potted plants of two cotton species (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Delta Pine 5415, and Gossypium barbadense L.