Development and validation of CAPS-marker associated with the <i>Rf2</i> gene in sorghum (<i>Sorghum bicolor</i> (L.) Moench)

Background. The development of heterotic hybrids based on cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is the leading strategy in breeding sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). The trait of pollen fertility restoration in forms with CMS A1 (milo), predominantly used in sorghum breeding, is determined by at least two dominant complementary genes Rf1 and Rf2, and also gene Rf5. The development of accessible molecular markers of sorghum Rf genes is highly relevant for hybrid breeding, since they can significantly accelerate the process of creating female sterile forms (A lines), sterility maintainers (B lines) and pollen fertility restorers (R lines).Material and methods. The studied material included 36 sorghum accessions from the VIR collection, which differed by the ability to restore pollen fertility in forms with A1-type CMS. The nucleotide polymorphism of 935 bp fragments of the PPR genes Sobic.002G057050, Sobic.002G054100, and Sobic.002G054200 located at the chromosome 2 was studied.Results. The fragments obtained with the use of a pair of 2459403fw and 2459403 primers were 935 bp long and included parts of three genes: Sobic.002G057050, Sobic.002G054100, Sobic.002G054200. For identifying the sequence variant Sobic.002G057050-1090 associated with the Rf2 gene, Tru9 I restrictase was chosen, which allows obtaining a 572 bp fragment unique for all the studied R lines. Such a marker was found in 10 sorghum lines from West China and Kyrgyzstan, which are widely used in breeding as fertility restorers. The fragment was found neither in three lines with sterile cytoplasm and their fertile analogues, nor in 7 accessions of kafir sorghum, which lacked functional alleles of Rf genes.Conclusions. It has been demonstrated that the marker can be used for selection and checking purity of R and B/A lines. It is also applicable for verifying hybridity of F1 seeds and analyzing hybrid populations from crosses of R lines 924-4, 928-1, 929-3, 931-1, 933-1/6, 1237-3, 1243-2, 1251, 1150-1, F10BC2 with A lines Nizkorosloe 81s, А-83 and А-10598. It may be suggested that the ability to restore pollen fertility in R lines, which lack the marker CAPS- 572, is determined by another Rf gene. The studied 935 bp fragment of Sobic.002G057050 harbours 22 SNP, therefore the development of CAPS-markers for their identification and differentiation can be promising

LOCAL BARLEY ACCESSIONS FROM ETHIOPIA RESISTANT TO POWDERY MILDEW

The mlo11 allele associated with the loss of function of the Mlo locus and controlling mildew resistance in the majority of modern barley cultivars was identified in Ethiopian barley landraces. Twenty-seven accessions from Ethiopia were studied during laboratory experiments which resulted in identifying k-5448 as an accession resistant to powdery mildew. Three accessions (k-8555, k-8682 k-17554) were heterogeneous by the studied trait. With the help of molecular markers we showed that the resistant components of the selected forms are protected by the mlo11 gene

Оценка риска осложнений в бариатрической хирургии

Introduction. Surgical treatment of obese patients includes a high risk of complications.Material and methods. The article presents the analysis of the informativeness and reliability of OS-MRS, E. Livingston, P. Turner scores in predicting postoperative complications in patients with overweight and metabolic disorders.Results. According to the study, the OS-MRS score was the most reliable.Введение. Хирургическое лечение пациентов с ожирением несет высокий риск осложнений.Материал и методы. Представлен анализ информативности и достоверности шкал OS-MRS, E. Livingston, P. Turner в прогнозировании послеоперационных осложнений у пациентов с избыточной массой тела и метаболическими нарушениями.Результаты. По данным проведенного исследования, шкала OS-MRS является наиболее достоверной

Оценка факторов риска бариатрических операций у пациентов пожилого возраста с морбидным ожирением

The objective was to improve the efficiency and safety of surgical treatment in elderly patients with morbid obesity.Methods and materials. The study included 20 patients with morbid obesity aged 60 to 69 years. The following scores and indices were used to assess the comorbidity of patients and the risk of complications from surgery: OS-MRS, Charlson comorbidity index, Caprini score, HAS-BLED score.Results. The course of the postoperative period in elderly patients with morbid obesity was smooth in 17 (85 %) people and did not differ from that in middle-aged patients, subject to careful preoperative examination and preparation. The factors of the initial comorbid background and the duration of the operation had the greatest influence on the result of bariatric surgery.Conclusion. Bariatric surgery in elderly patients with morbid obesity should be carried out taking into account careful selection, examination and assessment of the risk of adverse outcome in a specialized surgical center of a multidisciplinary hospital.Цель – повышение эффективности и безопасности хирургического лечения у пациентов с морбидным ожирением пожилого возраста.Методы и материалы. В исследование включены 20 больных в возрасте от 60 до 69 лет. Для оценки коморбидности пациентов и риска развития осложнений оперативного вмешательства использовали следующие шкалы и индексы: Шкала оценки риска летальности в бариатрической хирургии OS-MRS, Индекс коморбидности Charlson, Шкала Carрini, Шкала HAS-BLED.Результаты. Течение послеоперационного периода у пациентов пожилого возраста с морбидным ожирением было гладким у 17 (85 %) человек и не отличалось от такового у пациентов среднего возраста при условии тщательного предоперационного обследования и подготовки. Наибольшее влияние на результат бариатрической операции оказывали факторы исходного коморбидного фона и продолжительность операции.Заключение. Бариатрические операции у пациентов пожилого возраста с морбидным ожирением должны проводиться с учетом тщательного отбора, обследования и оценки риска неблагоприятного исхода в условиях специализированного хирургического центра многопрофильного стационара.

Evolutionary Toggling of Vpx/Vpr Specificity Results in Divergent Recognition of the Restriction Factor SAMHD1

SAMHD1 is a host restriction factor that blocks the ability of lentiviruses such as HIV-1 to undergo reverse transcription in myeloid cells and resting T-cells. This restriction is alleviated by expression of the lentiviral accessory proteins Vpx and Vpr (Vpx/Vpr), which target SAMHD1 for proteasome-mediated degradation. However, the precise determinants within SAMHD1 for recognition by Vpx/Vpr remain unclear. Here we show that evolution of Vpx/Vpr in primate lentiviruses has caused the interface between SAMHD1 and Vpx/Vpr to alter during primate lentiviral evolution. Using multiple HIV-2 and SIV Vpx proteins, we show that Vpx from the HIV-2 and SIVmac lineage, but not Vpx from the SIVmnd2 and SIVrcm lineage, require the C-terminus of SAMHD1 for interaction, ubiquitylation, and degradation. On the other hand, the N-terminus of SAMHD1 governs interactions with Vpx from SIVmnd2 and SIVrcm, but has little effect on Vpx from HIV-2 and SIVmac. Furthermore, we show here that this difference in SAMHD1 recognition is evolutionarily dynamic, with the importance of the N- and C-terminus for interaction of SAMHD1 with Vpx and Vpr toggling during lentiviral evolution. We present a model to explain how the head-to-tail conformation of SAMHD1 proteins favors toggling of the interaction sites by Vpx/Vpr during this virus-host arms race. Such drastic functional divergence within a lentiviral protein highlights a novel plasticity in the evolutionary dynamics of viral antagonists for restriction factors during lentiviral adaptation to its hosts. © 2013 Fregoso et al

Selective Constraints on Amino Acids Estimated by a Mechanistic Codon Substitution Model with Multiple Nucleotide Changes

Empirical substitution matrices represent the average tendencies of substitutions over various protein families by sacrificing gene-level resolution. We develop a codon-based model, in which mutational tendencies of codon, a genetic code, and the strength of selective constraints against amino acid replacements can be tailored to a given gene. First, selective constraints averaged over proteins are estimated by maximizing the likelihood of each 1-PAM matrix of empirical amino acid (JTT, WAG, and LG) and codon (KHG) substitution matrices. Then, selective constraints specific to given proteins are approximated as a linear function of those estimated from the empirical substitution matrices. Akaike information criterion (AIC) values indicate that a model allowing multiple nucleotide changes fits the empirical substitution matrices significantly better. Also, the ML estimates of transition-transversion bias obtained from these empirical matrices are not so large as previously estimated. The selective constraints are characteristic of proteins rather than species. However, their relative strengths among amino acid pairs can be approximated not to depend very much on protein families but amino acid pairs, because the present model, in which selective constraints are approximated to be a linear function of those estimated from the JTT/WAG/LG/KHG matrices, can provide a good fit to other empirical substitution matrices including cpREV for chloroplast proteins and mtREV for vertebrate mitochondrial proteins. The present codon-based model with the ML estimates of selective constraints and with adjustable mutation rates of nucleotide would be useful as a simple substitution model in ML and Bayesian inferences of molecular phylogenetic trees, and enables us to obtain biologically meaningful information at both nucleotide and amino acid levels from codon and protein sequences.Comment: Table 9 in this article includes corrections for errata in the Table 9 published in 10.1371/journal.pone.0017244. Supporting information is attached at the end of the article, and a computer-readable dataset of the ML estimates of selective constraints is available from 10.1371/journal.pone.001724

Who Watches the Watchmen? An Appraisal of Benchmarks for Multiple Sequence Alignment

Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a fundamental and ubiquitous technique in bioinformatics used to infer related residues among biological sequences. Thus alignment accuracy is crucial to a vast range of analyses, often in ways difficult to assess in those analyses. To compare the performance of different aligners and help detect systematic errors in alignments, a number of benchmarking strategies have been pursued. Here we present an overview of the main strategies--based on simulation, consistency, protein structure, and phylogeny--and discuss their different advantages and associated risks. We outline a set of desirable characteristics for effective benchmarking, and evaluate each strategy in light of them. We conclude that there is currently no universally applicable means of benchmarking MSA, and that developers and users of alignment tools should base their choice of benchmark depending on the context of application--with a keen awareness of the assumptions underlying each benchmarking strategy.Comment: Revie

Characteristics of cerebro-vascular insufficiency development with low blood pressure

Low blood pressure - the risk factor of cerebro - vascular insufficiency development. Anisimova A.V., Kolesnikova T.I., Anisimov K.V., Zhukotskiy A.V.In the article presented the results of dynamic clinical and laboratory examinations and observations of 126 patients from 35 to 55 years old with steady low blood pressure. We discovered additional pathogenetic mechanisms in cell and subcellular levels of formation of cerebro - vascular process and their characteristics with low blood pressure. Special attention was turned on morphofunctional changes in subpopulation composition of red blood cells and hemoreologic blood parameters. All these changes in total are informational markers of development and progression of cerebro - vascular insufficiency and low blood pressure is an additional risk factor of ischemic and atherosclerotic process.В статье представлены результаты динамического клинико-лабораторного обследования и наблюдения за 126 пациентами со стойкой артериальной гипотонией в возрасте от 35 до 55 лет. Выявлены дополнительные патогенетические механизмы клеточного и субклеточного уровней формирования цереброваскулярного процесса и их особенности при артериальной гипотонии. Особое внимание обращено на морфофункциональные изменения субпопуляционного состава эритроцитов, а также гемореологических параметров крови. Совокупность этих изменений является информационными маркерами развития и прогрессирования цереброваскулярной недостаточности, а артериальная гипотензия является дополнительным фактором риска развития ишемического и атеросклеротического процесса

Parents awareness of helminthosis and enterobiosis is a preventionand timely detection of the disease

The article deals with the problems of parents lack of awareness about the prevention, risks, and clinical manifestations of helminthic diseases, in particular enterobiosis, and possible ways to raise awareness.В статье рассмотрены проблемы неосведомленностиродителей о профилактике, рисках, клинических проявлений, которые несут гельминтозные заболевания, а в частности энтеробиоз и возможные пути повышения осведомленности