Transcriptional Profiling and Genetic Mapping of Barley Responses to Bacterial Flagellin.

Diverse plant species detect bacterial flagellin using leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR RLKs) to activate defense responses and promote resistance against bacterial invasion. In barley, the impact of flagellin on inducible defense responses has not been fully described. Here, we report that the flagellin-derived flg22 peptide induces callose, ROS bursts and differential expression of 2603 genes in barley.

Clinical and analytical validation of an 82-gene comprehensive genome-profiling panel for identifying and interpreting variants responsible for inherited retinal dystrophies.

Inherited retinal dystrophies comprise a clinically complex and heterogenous group of diseases characterized by visual impairment due to pathogenic variants of over 300 different genes. Accurately identifying the causative gene and associated variant is crucial for the definitive diagnosis and subsequent selection of precise treatments. Consequently, well-validated genetic tests are required in the clinical practice.

Deep vs shallow: GPS tags reveal a dichotomy in movement patterns of loggerhead turtles foraging in a coastal bay.

Background: Individual variation in movement strategies of foraging loggerhead turtles have been documented on the scale of tens to hundreds of kilometers within single ocean basins. Use of different strategies among individuals may reflect variations in resources, predation pressure or competition. It is less common for individual turtles to use different foraging strategies on the scale of kilometers within a single coastal bay.

Cell-layer specific roles for gibberellins in nodulation and root development.

Gibberellins (GA) have a profound influence on the formation of lateral root organs. However, the precise role this hormone plays in the cell-specific events during lateral root formation, rhizobial infection and nodule organogenesis, including interactions with auxin and cytokinin (CK), is not clear. We performed epidermal- and endodermal-specific complementation of the severely GA-deficient na pea (Pisum sativum) mutant with Agrobacterium rhizogenes.

Significant Mitigation of Blast Overpressure Exposure During Training by Adjustment of Body Position as Demonstrated With Field Data.

Introduction: During training and deployment, service members (SMs) experience blast exposure, which may potentially negatively impact brain health in the short and long term. This article explores if blast exposure mitigation can be effectively achieved for four different weapon training scenarios that are being monitored as part of the CONQUER (COmbat and traiNing QUeryable Exposure/event Repository) program. The training scenarios considered here are a detonating cord linear (det linear) breaching charge, a water breaching charge, a shoulder-fired weapon, and a 120-mm mortar.

The Role of CLE Peptides in the Suppression of Mycorrhizal Colonization of Tomato.

Symbioses with beneficial microbes are widespread in plants, but these relationships must balance the energy invested by the plants with the nutrients acquired. Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi occurs throughout land plants, but our understanding of the genes and signals that regulate colonization levels is limited, especially in non-legumes. Here, we demonstrate that in tomato, two CLV3/EMBRYO-SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptides, SlCLE10 and SlCLE11, act to suppress AM colonization of roots.

Dynamic monitoring of service members to quantify blast exposure levels during combat training using BlackBox Biometrics Blast Gauges: explosive breaching, shoulder-fired weapons, artillery, mortars, and 0.50 caliber guns.

CONQUER is a pilot blast monitoring program that monitors, quantifies, and reports to military units the training-related blast overpressure exposure of their service members. Overpressure exposure data are collected using the BlackBox Biometrics (B3) Blast Gauge System (BGS, generation 7) sensors mounted on the body during training. To date, the CONQUER program has recorded 450,000 gauge triggers on monitored service members.

Pharmacological Interventions for Sialorrhoea in People with Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background/objectives: Sialorrhoea is a common non motor complication experienced by people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite its prevalence there is conflicting evidence on how to effectively treat it. Our aim was to establish the efficacy and safety outcomes of pharmacological interventions used to treat sialorrhoea in people with idiopathic PD.

Mendel: From genes to genome.

Two hundred years after the birth of Gregor Mendel, it is an appropriate time to reflect on recent developments in the discipline of genetics, particularly advances relating to the prescient friar's model species, the garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). Mendel's study of seven characteristics established the laws of segregation and independent assortment.

Right time, right place: The dynamic role of hormones in rhizobial infection and nodulation of legumes.

Many legume plants form beneficial associations with rhizobial bacteria that are hosted in new plant root organs, nodules, in which atmospheric nitrogen is fixed. This association requires the precise coordination of two separate programs, infection in the epidermis and nodule organogenesis in the cortex. There is extensive literature indicating key roles for plant hormones during nodulation, but a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal roles of plant hormones during the different stages of nodulation is required.

An Coupled Assay for PEPC with Control of Bicarbonate Concentration.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) catalyzes a critical step in carbon metabolism in plants and bacteria, the irreversible reaction between bicarbonate and phosphoenolpyruvate to produce the C compound oxaloacetate. This enzyme is particularly important in the context of C photosynthesis, where it is the initial carbon-fixing enzyme. Many studies have used kinetic approaches to characterize the properties of PEPCs from different species, different post-translational states, and after mutagenesis.

Electrospun fibre diameter and its effects on vascular smooth muscle cells.

Bypass grafting is a technique used in the treatment of vascular disease, which is currently the leading cause of mortality worldwide. While technology has moved forward over the years, synthetic grafts still show significantly lower rates of patency in small diameter bypass operations compared to the gold standard (autologous vessel grafts). Scaffold morphology plays an important role in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) performance, with studies showing how fibre alignment and surface roughness can modulate phenotypic and genotypic changes.

Architected fibrous scaffolds for engineering anisotropic tissues.

Mimicking the native three-dimensional microenvironment is of crucial importance when biofabricating a new healthcare material. One aspect of the native tissue that is often omitted when designing a suitable scaffold is its anisotropy. Not only is matching native mechanical properties important when designing implantable scaffolds or healthcare materials, but matching physiological structure is also important as many cell populations respond differently to fiber orientation.

The influence of ethylene, gibberellins and brassinosteroids on energy and nitrogen-fixation metabolites in nodule tissue.

Legume nodules are a unique plant organ that contain nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria. For this interaction to be mutually beneficial, plant and bacterial metabolism must be precisely co-ordinated. Plant hormones are known to play essential roles during the establishment of legume-rhizobial symbioses but their role in subsequent nodule metabolism has not been explored in any depth.

The active site of magnesium chelatase.

The insertion of magnesium into protoporphyrin initiates the biosynthesis of chlorophyll, the pigment that underpins photosynthesis. This reaction, catalysed by the magnesium chelatase complex, couples ATP hydrolysis by a ChlID motor complex to chelation within the ChlH subunit. We probed the structure and catalytic function of ChlH using a combination of X-ray crystallography, computational modelling, mutagenesis and enzymology.

The legacy of MeNZB and possible implications for COVID-19 vaccination.

It is now over a decade since the meningococcal B vaccine, MeNZB, was in routine use in New Zealand. From July 2004 until June 2008 it was administered in a three-dose schedule to over a million individuals, aged six weeks to 20 years, to provide protection against the epidemic strain of group B Meningococci. The cost of the campaign, including the development of the vaccine was substantial, in excess of $200M, but it contributed to a reduced incidence of meningococcal infections along with a reduction in morbidity and mortality.

Assessment of Dietary Intake Using Food Photography and Video Recording in Free-Living Young Adults: A Comparative Study.

Background: Conventional methods of dietary assessment are prone to recall bias and place burden on participants.

Objective: Our aim was to compare the performance of image-based dietary assessment (IBDA), including food photography (FP) and video recording (VR), with the criterion of weighed food records (WFR).

Design: In this comparative study, participants captured meals using FP and VR before and after consumption, over 2 days.

The role of CLAVATA signalling in the negative regulation of mycorrhizal colonization and nitrogen response of tomato.

Plants form mutualistic nutrient-acquiring symbioses with microbes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The formation of these symbioses is costly, and plants employ a negative feedback loop termed autoregulation of mycorrhizae (AOM) to limit formation of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM). We provide evidence for the role of one leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (FAB), a hydroxyproline O-arabinosyltransferase enzyme (FIN), and additional evidence for one receptor-like protein (SlCLV2) in the negative regulation of AM formation in tomato.

Modulating electrospun polycaprolactone scaffold morphology and composition to alter endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenic gene response.

The aim of this study was to look at how the composition and morphology of polymer scaffolds could be altered to create an optimized environment for endothelial cells. Four polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were electrospun with increasing fibre diameters ranging from 1.64 μm to 4.

Brassinosteroids play multiple roles in nodulation of pea via interactions with ethylene and auxin.

A comprehensive analysis of the role of brassinosteroids in nodulation, including their interactions with auxin and ethylene revealed that brassinosteroids inhibit infection, promote nodule initiation but do not influence nodule organogenesis or function. Nodulation, the symbiosis between legumes and rhizobial bacteria, is regulated by a suite of hormones including brassinosteroids. Previous studies have found that brassinosteroids promote nodule number by inhibiting ethylene biosynthesis.

The role of CLV1, CLV2 and HPAT homologues in the nitrogen-regulation of root development.

Plants use a variety of signals to control root development, including in modifying root development in response to nutrient stress. For example, in response to nitrogen (N) stress, plants dramatically modulate root development, including the formation of N-fixing nodules in legumes. Recently, specific CLE peptides and/or receptors important for their perception, including CLV1 and CLV2, have been found to play roles in root development, including in response to N supply.

Kinetic Modifications of C PEPC Are Qualitatively Convergent, but Larger in Than in .

C photosynthesis results from a set of anatomical features and biochemical components that act together to concentrate CO within the leaf and boost productivity. This complex trait evolved independently many times, resulting in various realizations of the phenotype, but in all C plants the primary fixation of atmospheric carbon is catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. Comparisons of C and non-C PEPC from a few closely related species suggested that the enzyme was modified to meet the demands of the C cycle.

Lateral Gene Transfer Acts As an Evolutionary Shortcut to Efficient C4 Biochemistry.

The adaptation of proteins for novel functions often requires changes in their kinetics via amino acid replacement. This process can require multiple mutations, and therefore extended periods of selection. The transfer of genes among distinct species might speed up the process, by providing proteins already adapted for the novel function.

What drives interspecies graft union success? Exploring the role of phylogenetic relatedness and stem anatomy.

The underlying mechanisms that determine whether two species can form a successful graft union (graft compatibility) remain obscure. Two prominent hypotheses are (1) the more closely related species are, the higher the graft success and (2) the vascular anatomy at the graft junction influences graft success. In this paper these two hypotheses are examined in a systematic way using graft combinations selected from a range of (a) phylogenetically close and more distant legume species, (b) species displaying different germination patterns and (c) scions and rootstocks possessing contrasting stem tissues and vascular patterns.