LEC1, FUS3, ABI3 and Em expression reveals no correlation with dormancy in Arabidopsis.

Dormant Arabidopsis seeds require stratification and light for germination. To study gene expression during establishment, maintenance and release of dormancy, various Arabidopsis ecotypes that are different in their degree of dormancy were investigated; three nsm mutants that lack the stratification-dependency, and the precocious germination and reduced dormancy of the abi3-1 mutant (insensitive to ABA). Genes examined by mRNA abundance include LEC1, FUS3 and ABI3, transcription factors that are major regulators of embryo development and, at least indirectly, play some role in the control of dormancy.

Impact of endurance concentric contraction training on acute force deficit following in vitro lengthening contractions.

The purposes of this study were to (1) determine whether endurance training employing solely concentric contractions would reduce force deficit following lengthening contractions, and (2) to determine if aged skeletal muscle would respond similarly from training, compared with young animals. Young (3-month) and old (23-month) male Fischer 344 rats were randomly assigned to either a control or an exercise training group. Exercise training consisted of 10 weeks of treadmill running (15% grade, 45 min/day, and 5 days/week) such that by the end of training the young and old rats were exercising at 27 and 15 m/min, respectively (approximately 70% ).