Quantification of Lanthanides on a PMMA Microfluidic Device with Three Optical Pathlengths Using PCR of UV-Visible, NIR, and Raman Spectroscopy.

Microfluidic devices (MFDs) offer customizable, low-cost, and low-waste platforms for performing chemical analyses. Optical spectroscopy techniques provide nondestructive monitoring of small sample volumes within microfluidic channels. Optical spectroscopy can probe speciation, oxidation state, and concentration of analytes as well as detect counterions and provide information about matrix composition.

The N-terminal extension of Arabidopsis ARGONAUTE 1 is essential for microRNA activities.

microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate target gene expression through their ARGONAUTE (AGO) effector protein, mainly AGO1 in Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition to the highly conserved N, PAZ, MID and PIWI domains with known roles in RNA silencing, AGO1 contains a long, unstructured N-terminal extension (NTE) of little-known function. Here, we show that the NTE is indispensable for the functions of Arabidopsis AGO1, as a lack of the NTE leads to seedling lethality.

Draft Genome Sequence of the Plant Growth-Promoting Sphingobium sp. Strain AEW4, Isolated from the Rhizosphere of the Beachgrass Ammophila breviligulata.

sp. strain AEW4 is a novel isolate from rhizosphere soil attached to the root of the American beachgrass The genomic sequence consisted of 4,678,518 bp and 4,428 protein-coding sequences. Here we report the draft genome sequence of this strain and some initial insights on its plant growth-promoting capabilities.