Developmental plasticity of epithelial stem cells in tooth and taste bud renewal.

In Lake Malawi cichlids, each tooth is replaced in one-for-one fashion every ∼20 to 50 d, and taste buds (TBs) are continuously renewed as in mammals. These structures are colocalized in the fish mouth and throat, from the point of initiation through adulthood. Here, we found that replacement teeth (RT) share a continuous band of epithelium with adjacent TBs and that both organs coexpress stem cell factors in subsets of label-retaining cells.

Nitrogen fixation characteristics of root nodules in different peanut varieties and their relationship with yield.

Root nodules in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) could directly utilize nitrogen (N) in the atmosphere as N source, which plays an important role in the N supply in peanut. However, little is known about the mechanism of efficient N fixation by root nodule.

[Differences in nitrogen utilization characteristics of different peanut genotypes in high fertility soils].

A total of twenty genotypes of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) were used to investigate the differences in nitrogen (N) utilization characteristics in a pot experiment with N isotope tracing analysis. Results showed the main N sources for peanut in high fertility soils following as soil N source > N fixed by root nodule source > fertilizer N source. The N uptake and accumulation in peanut from total N and the three N supplied sources (fertilizer N, soil N and N fixation) varied among the different genotypes.

Coevolutionary patterning of teeth and taste buds.

Teeth and taste buds are iteratively patterned structures that line the oro-pharynx of vertebrates. Biologists do not fully understand how teeth and taste buds develop from undifferentiated epithelium or how variation in organ density is regulated. These organs are typically studied independently because of their separate anatomical location in mammals: teeth on the jaw margin and taste buds on the tongue.