Symbiotic Variations among Wheat Genotypes and Detection of Quantitative Trait Loci for Molecular Interaction with Auxin-Producing PGPR.

Crop varieties differ in their ability to interact with Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), but the genetic basis for these differences is unknown. This issue was addressed with the PGPR Sp245, using 187 wheat accessions. We screened the accessions based on the seedling colonization by the PGPR and the expression of the phenylpyruvate decarboxylase gene (for synthesis of the auxin indole-3-acetic acid), using fusions.

The classical pink-eyed dilution mutation affects angiogenic responsiveness.

Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels are formed from existing vessels. Mammalian populations, including humans and mice, harbor genetic variations that alter angiogenesis. Angiogenesis-regulating gene variants can result in increased susceptibility to multiple angiogenesis-dependent diseases in humans.

Endostatin inhibits the growth of endometriotic lesions but does not affect fertility.

Objective: To determine whether endometriosis can be treated with the angiogenesis inhibitor endostatin and the effect of this treatment on fertility and reproduction.

Design: Pharmacologic intervention in a surgically induced model of endometriosis and in female mice undergoing mating.

Setting: Animal research facility.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs differentially suppress endometriosis in a murine model.

Objective: To determine whether nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) affect the establishment and progression of endometriotic lesions in a murine model.

Design: Pharmacologic intervention in a surgically induced murine model of abdominal/peritoneal endometriosis.

Setting: Animal research facility.

Genetic loci that control the angiogenic response to basic fibroblast growth factor.

Angiogenesis is controlled by a balance between stimulatory growth factors and endogenous inhibitors. We propose that the balance of stimulators and inhibitors, as well as the general sensitivity of the endothelium to these factors, varies from individual to individual. Indeed, we have found that individual mouse strains have dramatically different responses to growth factor-induced neovascularization.

Genetic loci that control vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is regulated by the balance between angiogenic stimulators and inhibitors. Numerous reports have demonstrated that tumors induce aggressive angiogenesis by up-regulating the production of angiogenesis stimulating growth factors to overcome the baseline levels of endogenous inhibitors. However, the possibility of large differences in the host's responsiveness to angiogenic factors has been largely overlooked.

The inflammatory milieu associated with conjunctivalized cornea and its alteration with IL-1 RA gene therapy.

Purpose: This study was designed to gain an insight into the inflammatory milieu into which a donor limbal graft is routinely introduced. The objective of this study was to modulate this environment by gene therapy with the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 RA).

Methods: In a mouse model, the ocular surface cytokine environment associated with a conjunctivalized cornea was assessed 4 weeks after injury.

Injection of antiangiogenic agents into the macaque preovulatory follicle: disruption of corpus luteum development and function.

Ovulation and conversion of the follicle into the corpus luteum involve remarkable changes in vascular permeability and neovascularization of the luteinizing granulosa layer. To evaluate the importance of these vascular events in follicle rupture and luteal development, sequential experiments were designed in which vehicle or angiogenic inhibitors (TNP-470 or angiostatin) were injected directly into the preovulatory follicle of rhesus monkeys during spontaneous menstrual cycles. After control injections, 13 of 14 animals exhibited serum levels of progesterone (P) during the subsequent luteal phase that were comparable to untreated animals in our colony.

Arteriolar and venular patterning in retinas of mice selectively expressing VEGF isoforms.

The murine VEGF gene is alternatively transcribed to yield the VEGF(120), VEGF(164), and VEGF(188) isoforms, which differ in their potential to bind to heparan sulfate and neuropilin-1 and to stimulate endothelial growth. Here, their role in retinal vascular development was studied in mice selectively expressing single isoforms. VEGF(164/164) mice were normal, healthy, and had normal retinal angiogenesis.