Genetic variability of anther donor versus spontaneous doubled haploid descendents and colchicine induced doubled haploid sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) lines

Haploid (n) and doubled haploid (DH) plants were developed in anther culture of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Regenerants were analyzed by flow cytometry for haploid (n = 12) and spontaneous doubled haploid (2n = 24) genomes. Haploid plants were forwarded to colchicine-treatment for induced doubled haploid (2n·) plant production. Molecular polymorphism of anther donor plants (2n), the haploid regenerants (n), the spontaneous (2n) and induced (2n·)-DH plants were analysed by RAPD-, SSR- and ISSR-PCR. The analysis of anther-donor plants compared to DH-descendents showed an unexpectedly wide range of molecular polymorphism. Our results suggest that genetic changes occurring during meiotic recombination is higher than those of occurring during colchicine-induced genomic duplication

Seedling Resistance to Stagonospora nodorum Blotch in Wheat Genotypes

In two independent experiments set up in the greenhouse the seedling resistance to Stagonospora nodorum blotch was investigated in 92 varieties, breeding lines and genotypes with a known genetic background. The greatest area under the disease progress curve calculated from lesion type was 37.06, while in the case of the most resistant genotype this value was 0.38. Many of the lines and varieties bred in Martonvásár proved to have excellent resistance in terms of both percentage of infected leaf area and lesion type. Observations indicate that, depending on the aim of the experiment, the efficient selection of breeding lines is possible in the seedling stage either on the basis of the area under the disease progress curve calculated for lesion types, or on the basis of lesion types scored 7, 11 or 14 days after inoculation

Fog climatology in Hungary

The fog not only makes the traffic more difficult, but it is frequently accompanied by increased air pollution. A research program has been started recently to improve our knowledge about fog both in macro and micro scales. In the first part of the research project, analysis of the data collected in the last 60 years has been performed. This database contains information about the visibility and the duration of the reduced visibility at 8 different cities in different regions of Hungary. The climatology of fog in Hungary has been studied in only few research programs, and no comprehensive analysis of the data has been performed. The first results of the data analysis show that the frequency and duration of the mist significantly reduced between the 1980s and 2000s, and the most dramatic reduction occurred in the northeast region of the country. Furthermore, the frequency of fog also dropped in this time period. The most dramatic reduction of the fog and mist events was found in northeastern Hungary, which was one of the most polluted regions in the country until the 90s of the last century. The coincidence of the significant reduction of duration of fog and that of the sulfate emission in NE Hungary supports the hypothesis that there is a strong correlation between the air pollution and the formation of the mist and fog

The Beta-1-Receptor Blocker Nebivolol Elicits Dilation of Cerebral Arteries by Reducing Smooth Muscle [Ca2+]i

K

Az ozmotikus stresszválasz szabályozása magasabbrendű növényekben. = Regulation of osmotic stress responses in higher plants

Pályázatunkban egy új genetikai rendszert dolgoztunk ki, amely alkalmas a stressz jelátvitelben szerepet játszó növényi gének azonosítására. RT-PCR módszerrel jellemeztük több stressz indukált Arabidopsis gén aktivitását különböző stressz és homonkezelés után. A gének 5? promoter régióját megklónoztuk, és promoter nélküli luciferáz (LUC) illetve zöld fluorescens protein (GFP) riporter génekhez kapcsoltuk. A riporter gének aktivitását transzgenikus Arabidopsis növényekben tanulmányoztuk. Az új szabályozó faktorok azonosítása érdekében egy Arabidopsis cDNS könyvtárat hoztunk létre a pER8-GW expressziós vektorban, ami ösztradiol által indukálható expressziós kazettát hordoz. A cDNS könyvtár segítségével egy transzgenikus Arabidopsis növény populációt hoztunk létre. A transzgenikus növényeket só rezisztenciára, ABA érzékenységre illetve a már korábban beépített riporter gén aktivitásának megváltozására teszteltük. Több olyan Arabidopsis vonalat sikerült azonosítani, amelyekben az ösztradiol adása megnövekedett só vagy ABA toleranciával, illetve a riporter gén aktivitásával járt együtt. A C38-33 vonalban megemelkedett só toleranciát kaptunk a beépült cDNS transzkripciójának aktiválásával. A cDNS egy új, S1 domén-t tartalmazó fehérjét kódol. Az ADH-121 vonalban egy AP típusú transzkripció faktort azonosítottunk, ami képes volt az ADH-LUC riporter gén kontrukció aktiválására a külső környezeti tényezőktől függetlenül. | We have developed a genetic system to identify new regulatory factors, controlling stress responses in higher plants, namely in Arabidopsis. Using quantitative RT-PCR, we have characterized the expression of several stress-responsive genes in different conditions and hormonal treatments. The 5? promoter sequences of 5 stress-induced genes have been cloned and fused to promoterless reporter genes, such as the firefly luciferase (LUC) or the green fluorescence protein (GFP). Activity of the reporter gene constructs was characterized in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, using non-destructive assays. In order to identify new regulatory factors, a transformation-competent cDNA library was created in the plant expression vector pER8-GW, carrying an estradiol-responsive expression cassette. Large-scale Arabidopsis transformation generated a collection of transgenic plants, each carrying a cDNA clone. Transgenic plants were screened for salt tolerance, ABA insensitivity or activation of reporter gene constructs. Several salt tolerant or ABA insensitive lines were obtained and characterized. In some lines reporter genes were activated upon the induction of transgene expression, in the absence of stress. In the line C38-33 increased salt tolerance was obtained by the activation of a full length cDNA, coding for a previously unknown protein with S1 domain. In the line ADH-121, activation of an AP transcription factor lead to the increased expression of the ADH-LUC reporter construct

Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Induces Relaxations of Peripheral and Cerebral Arteries, which are Differentially Impaired by Aging

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a well-known neuropeptide, which also has vasomotor effects. However, little is known regarding its age-related and organ-specific vasomotor effects. We hypothesized that the vasomotor effects of PACAP depend on the tissue origin of the vessels and aging substantially modulates its actions. Thus, carotid (CA) and basilar arteries (BA) were isolated from young (2 months old), middle age (12 months old), and old (30 months old) rats. Their vasomotor responses were measured with an isometric myograph (DMT610M) in response to cumulative concentrations of PACAP1-38 (10-9-10-6 M). PACAP1-38 induced (1) significantly greater concentration-dependent relaxations in CA compared to that of BA of young, middle age, and old rats; (2) relaxations of CA significantly decreased, whereas they did not change substantially in BA, as a function of age; (3) sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced relaxation did not change after PACAP1-38 administration in any conditions; and (4) inhibition of PAC1 receptors by selective PAC1 receptor blocker (PACAP6-38) completely diminished the responses to PACAP in all age groups of BA and CA. In conclusion, these findings suggest that PACAP1-38 has greater vasomotor effect in CA than that in BA, whereas aging has less effect on PACAP-induced relaxation of cerebral arteries and BA than that in peripheral arteries and CA suggesting that the relaxation to PACAP is maintained in cerebral arteries even in old age

Hemolyzed Blood Elicits a Calcium Antagonist and High CO2 Reversible Constriction via Elevation of [Ca2+] in Isolated Cerebral Arteries

LBL

Age and nutritional state influence the effects of cholecystokinin on energy balance

AbstractCholecystokinin (CCK) is anorexic, irrespective whether it is applied intraperitoneally (IP) or intracerebroventricularly (ICV) in male Wistar rats. The metabolic effects depend on the route of administration: by the IP route it elicits hypothermia (presumably by type-1 receptors, CCK1R-s), while ICV administration is followed by fever-like hypermetabolism and hyperthermia via activation of CCK2R-s, which latter response seems to be most important in the postprandial (compensatory) hypermetabolism. The efficacy of the IP injected CCK varies with age: it causes strong anorexia in young adult 4 and 6-months old and again in old rats (aged 18–24months), but the middle-aged (12-month old) ones seem to be resistant to this effect. Such pattern of effects may contribute to the explanation of age-related obesity observed in middle-aged animals as well as to the aging anorexia and loss of body weight in old ones. Diet-induced obesity accelerates the appearance of CCK-resistance as well as the return of high sensitivity to CCK in further aging, while chronic calorie-restriction prevents the development of resistance, as if the speed of the age-related regulatory changes was altered by the nutritional state. The effects of ICV applied CCK also change with age: the characteristic anorexic and hypermetabolic/hyperthermic effects can be observed in young adult rats, but the effects gradually and monotonically decline with age and disappear by the old age of 24months. These disparate age-related patterns of CCK efficacy upon peripheral or central administration routes may indicate that although both peripheral and central CCKR-s exert anorexic effects, they may have dissimilar roles in the regulation of overall energy balance

CRK5 Protein Kinase Contributes to the Progression of Embryogenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana

The fine tuning of hormone (e.g., auxin and gibberellin) levels and hormone signaling is required for maintaining normal embryogenesis. Embryo polarity, for example, is ensured by the directional movement of auxin that is controlled by various types of auxin transporters. Here, we present pieces of evidence for the auxin-gibberellic acid (GA) hormonal crosstalk during embryo development and the regulatory role of the Arabidopsis thaliana Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase-Related Kinase 5 (AtCRK5) in this regard. It is pointed out that the embryogenesis of the Atcrk5-1 mutant is delayed in comparison to the wild type. This delay is accompanied with a decrease in the levels of GA and auxin, as well as the abundance of the polar auxin transport (PAT) proteins PIN1, PIN4, and PIN7 in the mutant embryos. We have previously showed that AtCRK5 can regulate the PIN2 and PIN3 proteins either directly by phosphorylation or indirectly affecting the GA level during the root gravitropic and hypocotyl hook bending responses. In this manuscript, we provide evidence that the AtCRK5 protein kinase can in vitro phosphorylate the hydrophilic loops of additional PIN proteins that are important for embryogenesis. We propose that AtCRK5 can govern embryo development in Arabidopsis through the fine tuning of auxin-GA level and the accumulation of certain polar auxin transport proteins

The AtCRK5 Protein Kinase Is Required to Maintain the ROS NO Balance Affecting the PIN2-Mediated Root Gravitropic Response in Arabidopsis

The Arabidopsis AtCRK5 protein kinase is involved in the establishment of the proper auxin gradient in many developmental processes. Among others, the Atcrk5-1 mutant was reported to exhibit a delayed gravitropic response via compromised PIN2-mediated auxin transport at the root tip. Here, we report that this phenotype correlates with lower superoxide anion (O-2(center dot-)) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels but a higher nitric oxide (NO) content in the mutant root tips in comparison to the wild type (AtCol-0). The oxidative stress inducer paraquat (PQ) triggering formation of O-2(center dot-) (and consequently, H2O2) was able to rescue the gravitropic response of Atcrk5-1 roots. The direct application of H2O2 had the same effect. Under gravistimulation, correct auxin distribution was restored (at least partially) by PQ or H2O2 treatment in the mutant root tips. In agreement, the redistribution of the PIN2 auxin efflux carrier was similar in the gravistimulated PQ-treated mutant and untreated wild type roots. It was also found that PQ-treatment decreased the endogenous NO level at the root tip to normal levels. Furthermore, the mutant phenotype could be reverted by direct manipulation of the endogenous NO level using an NO scavenger (cPTIO). The potential involvement of AtCRK5 protein kinase in the control of auxin-ROS-NO-PIN2-auxin regulatory loop is discussed