The interaction of strigolactones with abscisic acid during the drought response in rice

Published online: 10 March 2018; Open Access ArticleBoth strigolactones (SLs) and abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthetically originate from carotenoids. Considering their common origin, the interaction of these two hormones at the biosynthetic and/or regulatory level may be anticipated. Here we show that, in rice, drought simultaneously induces SL production in the root, and ABA production and the expression of SL biosynthetic genes in the shoot. Under control conditions, the ABA concentration was higher in shoots of the SL biosynthetic rice mutants dwarf10 (d10) and d17 than in wild-type plants, while a similar trend was observed for the SL perception mutant d3. These differences were enhanced under drought. However, drought did not result in an increase in leaf ABA content in the rice mutant line d27, carrying a mutation in the gene encoding the first committed enzyme in SL biosynthesis, to the same extent as in the other SL mutants and the wild type. Accordingly, d10, d17, and d3 lines were more drought tolerant than wild-type plants, whereas d27 displayed decreased tolerance. Finally, overexpression of OsD27 in rice resulted in increased levels of ABA when compared with wild-type plants. We conclude that the SL and ABA pathways are connected with each other through D27, which plays a crucial role in determining ABA and SL content in rice

Propiedades psicométricas del pain and sensitivity reactivity scale (psrs) en población neurotípica joven adulta

La investigación de las respuestas sensoriales a los estímulos se ha incrementado en los últimos años, siendo su valoración compleja, ya que se considera una respuesta subjetiva y dependiente de diferencias individuales, pero que está presente tanto en población no-clínica como en población clínica. Existen algunas escalas y cuestionarios para su valoración, pero tienen limitaciones para su posterior uso, están indicados principalmente para población clínica y la mayoría son unidimensionales. La prueba Pain and Sensitivity Reactivity Scale (PSRS) está compuesto por 50 ítems que miden el dolor, la hiposensibilidad e hipersensibilidad. Para su análisis se recogieron los datos mediante una encuesta online respondida por una muestra no clínica de 1122 adolescentes y adultos (M = 22.39, DT = 7.32). En los primeros resultados descriptivos aparecen diferencias de género en algunas de las escalas de la prueba, y una buena consistencia interna tanto para la prueba total como para las escalas que lo componen. Además, en el análisis factorial exploratorio aparecen las tres dimensiones principales de la prueba. Los primeros resultados muestran que la prueba puede ser útil para medir las variables. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones importantes porque podrán poner en referencia el malestar físico, la hiposensibilidad e hipersensibilidad en una muestra neurotípica ofreciendo la posibilidad de contextualizar la evaluación y el manejo de estas variables en población clínica.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

How reproducible are surface areas calculated from the BET equation?

Porosity and surface area analysis play a prominent role in modern materials science. At the heart of this sits the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) theory, which has been a remarkably successful contribution to the field of materials science. The BET method was developed in the 1930s for open surfaces but is now the most widely used metric for the estimation of surface areas of micro- and mesoporous materials. Despite its widespread use, the calculation of BET surface areas causes a spread in reported areas, resulting in reproducibility problems in both academia and industry. To prove this, for this analysis, 18 already-measured raw adsorption isotherms were provided to sixty-one labs, who were asked to calculate the corresponding BET areas. This round-robin exercise resulted in a wide range of values. Here, the reproducibility of BET area determination from identical isotherms is demonstrated to be a largely ignored issue, raising critical concerns over the reliability of reported BET areas. To solve this major issue, a new computational approach to accurately and systematically determine the BET area of nanoporous materials is developed. The software, called "BET surface identification" (BETSI), expands on the well-known Rouquerol criteria and makes an unambiguous BET area assignment possible

The role of strigolactones and the fungal microbiome in rice during drought adaptation

Rice is the most important food crop in the world, feeding over half the world’s population. However, rice water use efficiency, defined by units of yield produced per unit of water used, is the lowest of all crops. The aim of this thesis was to study the effect of plant hormones and the root microbiome on drought tolerance in rice. The new plant hormone, strigolactone, was shown to be upregulated under drought and to regulate drought tolerance in interaction with the drought-hormone abscisic acid. Using a large collection of rice genotypes grown in the field, we showed that the composition of the root associated fungal microbiome is determined by the rice genotype and can contribute to drought tolerance. </p

Bodemweerbaarheid verhogen: de rol van organische stof toevoegingen en het microbioom in de bodem.

De landbouwsector kan efficiënter en duurzamer worden als schone organische reststoffen - van compost tot verenmeel - aan de bodem worden toegevoegd. Er zijn dan namelijk minder voedingsstoffen via kunstmest nodig. Maar het gebruik van organische materialen heeft meer voordelen: ze zijn een bron van voedsel voor het bodemleven en nuttige micro-organismen in de bodem kunnen de bodem weerbaarder maken tegen bepaalde ziekteverwekkers in gewassen. Dit vermindert de afhankelijkheid en het gebruik van chemische bestrijdingsmiddelen