Root system ideotypes: what is the potential for breeding drought-tolerant grapevine rootstocks?

Adaptation to drought is one of the most important challenges for agriculture. The root system, and its integration with the soil, is fundamental in conferring drought tolerance. At the same time, it is extremely challenging to study.

Effects of Foliar Protector Application and Shading Treatments on the Physiology and Development of Common Bean ( L.).

High solar radiation, combined with high temperature, causes losses in plant production. The application of foliar protector in plants is associated with improvements in photosynthesis, reduction in leaf temperature and, consequently, improved productivity. Two experiments were conducted.

Cytogenetic and Molecular Effects of Kaolin's Foliar Application in Grapevine ( L.) under Summer's Stressful Growing Conditions.

Grapevine varieties from "Douro Superior" (NE Portugal) experience high temperatures, solar radiation, and water deficit during the summer. This summer's stressful growing conditions induce nucleic acids, lipids, and protein oxidation, which cause cellular, physiological, molecular, and biochemical changes. Cell cycle anomalies, mitosis delay, or cell death may occur at the cellular level, leading to reduced plant productivity.

POLθ processes ssDNA gaps and promotes replication fork progression in BRCA1-deficient cells.

Polymerase theta (POLθ) is an error-prone DNA polymerase whose loss is synthetically lethal in cancer cells bearing breast cancer susceptibility proteins 1 and 2 (BRCA1/2) mutations. To investigate the basis of this genetic interaction, we utilized a small-molecule inhibitor targeting the POLθ polymerase domain. We found that POLθ processes single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) gaps that emerge in the absence of BRCA1, thus promoting unperturbed replication fork progression and survival of BRCA1 mutant cells.

POLθ prevents MRE11-NBS1-CtIP-dependent fork breakage in the absence of BRCA2/RAD51 by filling lagging-strand gaps.

POLθ promotes repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) resulting from collapsed forks in homologous recombination (HR) defective tumors. Inactivation of POLθ results in synthetic lethality with the loss of HR genes BRCA1/2, which induces under-replicated DNA accumulation. However, it is unclear whether POLθ-dependent DNA replication prevents HR-deficiency-associated lethality.

Decomposing the mutational landscape of cancer genomes with RepairSig.

Mutational signatures are the outcomes of mutagenic processes that occur prior to, and during, tumorigenesis as a result of DNA damage, DNA repair, and DNA replication. In this issue of Cell Systems, Wojtowicz et al. introduce a new computational model aimed at deconstructing the mutational processes that shape cancer genomes.

Uncovering the effects of kaolin on balancing berry phytohormones and quality attributes of Vitis vinifera grown in warm-temperate climate regions.

Background: The application of kaolin particle film is considered a short-term strategy against several environmental stresses in areas with a Mediterranean-like climate. However, it is known that temperature fluctuations and water availability over the season can jeopardize kaolin efficiency in many Mediterranean crops. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the effects of kaolin foliar application on berry phytohormones, antioxidant defence, and oenological parameters at veraison and harvest stages of Touriga-Franca (TF) and Touriga-Nacional (TN) grapevines in two growing seasons (2017 and 2018).

Particle film technology modulates xanthophyll cycle and photochemical dynamics of grapevines grown in the Douro Valley.

Field-grown grapevines are often exposed to multiple environmental stresses, which challenges wine-growers to develop sustainable measures to sustain vine growth, yield, and quality. Under field conditions this task is demanding, due to differences in the magnitudes of stresses and associated plant responses. In this study we explored the hypothesis that kaolin-particle film application improves grapevine photoprotection through the regulation of xanthophyll cycle genes, limiting the thermal dissipation of excess energy under harsh environmental conditions.

Notch inhibition overcomes resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in EGFR-driven lung adenocarcinoma.

EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma patients treated with gefitinib and osimertinib show a therapeutic benefit limited by the appearance of secondary mutations, such as EGFRT790M and EGFRC797S. It is generally assumed that these secondary mutations render EGFR completely unresponsive to the inhibitors, but contrary to this, we uncovered here that gefitinib and osimertinib increased STAT3 phosphorylation (p-STAT3) in EGFRT790M and EGFRC797S tumoral cells. Interestingly, we also found that concomitant Notch inhibition with gefitinib or osimertinib treatment induced a p-STAT3-dependent strong reduction in the levels of the transcriptional repressor HES1.

Aggregation effects on the magnetic properties of iron oxide colloids.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), and in particular iron oxide nanoparticles (mainly magnetite and maghemite), are being widely used in the form of aqueous colloids for biomedical applications. In such colloids, nanoparticles tend to form assemblies, either aggregates, if the union is permanent, or agglomerates, if it is reversible. These clustering processes have a strong impact on the MNPs' properties that are often not well understood.

Kaolin particle film application stimulates photoassimilate synthesis and modifies the primary metabolome of grape leaves.

Water scarcity is associated with extreme temperatures and high irradiance, and significantly and increasingly affects grapevine yield and quality. In this context, the foliar application of kaolin, a chemically inert mineral that greatly reflects ultraviolet and infrared radiations, as well as, in part, photosynthetically active radiation, has recently been shown to decrease photoinhibition in mature leaves. Here, the influence of this particle film on grapevine leaf metabolome and carbohydrate metabolism was evaluated.

Kaolin Foliar Application Has a Stimulatory Effect on Phenylpropanoid and Flavonoid Pathways in Grape Berries.

Drought, elevated air temperature, and high evaporative demand are increasingly frequent during summer in grape growing areas like the Mediterranean basin, limiting grapevine productivity and berry quality. The foliar exogenous application of kaolin, a radiation-reflecting inert mineral, has proven effective in mitigating the negative impacts of these abiotic stresses in grapevine and other fruit crops, however, little is known about its influence on the composition of the grape berry and on key molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways notably important for grape berry quality parameters. Here, we performed a thorough molecular and biochemical analysis to assess how foliar application of kaolin influences major secondary metabolism pathways associated with berry quality-traits, leading to biosynthesis of phenolics and anthocyanins, with a focus on the phenylpropanoid, flavonoid (both flavonol- and anthocyanin-biosynthetic) and stilbenoid pathways.

Aging With Rising Risk: Have Older Households Experienced Faster-Growing Risk Exposure Than Younger Ones Since the 1990s?

Financial markets have been characterized by boom and bust cycles since the 1980s, while the responsibility for managing retirement wealth has increasingly shifted onto individual households at the same time. Policy makers and experts have expressed concern over rising risk exposure among older householders, who appear to be increasingly exposed to the growing financial risks just as they near retirement. We consider household data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2010 to analyze the correlation between age and risk exposure.

Variable delay-to-signal: a fast paradigm for assessment of aspects of impulsivity in rats.

Testing impulsive behavior in rodents is challenging and labor-intensive. We developed a new behavioral paradigm-the Variable Delay-to-Signal (VDS) test-that provides rapid and simultaneous assessment of response and decision impulsivity in rodents. Presentation of a light at variable delays signals the permission for action (nose poke) contingent with a reward.