Biomass Crop Production: Benefits for Soil Quality and Carbon Sequestration

Research at three locations in the southeastern US is quantifying changes in soil quality and soil carbon storage that occur during production of biomass crops compared with row crops. After three growing seasons, soil quality improved and soil carbon storage increased on plots planted to cottonwood, sycamore, sweetgum with a cover crop, switchgrass, and no-till corn. For tree crops, sequestered belowground carbon was found mainly in stumps and large roots. At the TN site, the coarse woody organic matter storage belowground was 1.3 Mg ha{sup {minus}1}yr{sup {minus}1}, of which 79% was stumps and large roots and 21% fine roots. Switchgrass at the AL site also stored considerable carbon belowground as coarse roots. Most of the carbon storage occurred mainly in the upper 30 cw although coarse roots were found to depths of greater than 60 cm. Biomass crops contributed to improvements in soil physical quality as well as increasing belowground carbon sequestration. The distribution and extent of carbon sequestration depends on the growth characteristics and age of the individual biomass crop species. Time and increasing crop maturity will determine the potential of these biomass crops to significantly contribute to the overall national goal of increasing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Agrobacterium rhizogenes-Mediated Transformation of the Parasitic Plant Phtheirospermum japonicum

Background: Plants within the Orobanchaceae are an agriculturally important group of parasites that attack economically important crops to obtain water and nutrients from their hosts. Despite their agricultural importance, molecular mechanisms of the parasitism are poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings: We developed transient and stable transformation systems for Phtheirospermum japonicum, a facultative parasitic plant in the Orobanchaceae. The transformation protocol was established by a combination of sonication and acetosyringone treatments using the hairy-root-inducing bacterium, Agrobacterium rhizogenes and young seedlings. Transgenic hairy roots of P. japonicum were obtained from cotyledons 2 to 3 weeks after A. rhizogenes inoculation. The presence and the expression of transgenes in P. japonicum were verified by genomic PCR, Southern blot and RT-PCR methods. Transgenic roots derived from A. rhizogenes-mediated transformation were able to develop haustoria on rice and maize roots. Transgenic roots also formed apparently competent haustoria in response to 2,6dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (DMBQ), a haustorium-inducing chemical. Using this system, we introduced a reporter gene with a Cyclin B1 promoter into P. japonicum, and visualized cell division during haustorium formation. Conclusions: We provide an easy and efficient method for hairy-root transformation of P. japonicum. Transgenic marker analysis revealed that cell divisions during haustorium development occur 24 h after DMBQ treatment. The protocol

Two <em>Dictyostelium</em> Tyrosine Kinase-Like kinases function in parallel, stress-induced STAT activation pathways

When Dictyostelium cells are hyperosmotically stressed, STATc is activated by tyrosine phosphorylation. Unusually, activation is regulated by serine phosphorylation and consequent inhibition of a tyrosine phosphatase: PTP3. The identity of the cognate tyrosine kinase is unknown, and we show that two tyrosine kinase–like (TKL) enzymes, Pyk2 and Pyk3, share this function; thus, for stress-induced STATc activation, single null mutants are only marginally impaired, but the double mutant is nonactivatable. When cells are stressed, Pyk2 and Pyk3 undergo increased autocatalytic tyrosine phosphorylation. The site(s) that are generated bind the SH2 domain of STATc, and then STATc becomes the target of further kinase action. The signaling pathways that activate Pyk2 and Pyk3 are only partially overlapping, and there may be a structural basis for this difference because Pyk3 contains both a TKL domain and a pseudokinase domain. The latter functions, like the JH2 domain of metazoan JAKs, as a negative regulator of the kinase domain. The fact that two differently regulated kinases catalyze the same phosphorylation event may facilitate specific targeting because under stress, Pyk3 and Pyk2 accumulate in different parts of the cell; Pyk3 moves from the cytosol to the cortex, whereas Pyk2 accumulates in cytosolic granules that colocalize with PTP3

Age Distribution of Cases of 2009 (H1N1) Pandemic Influenza in Comparison with Seasonal Influenza

INTRODUCTION: Several aspects of the epidemiology of 2009 (H1N1) pandemic influenza have not been accurately determined. We sought to study whether the age distribution of cases differs in comparison with seasonal influenza. METHODS: We searched for official, publicly available data through the internet from different countries worldwide on the age distribution of cases of influenza during the 2009 (H1N1) pandemic influenza period and most recent seasonal influenza periods. Data had to be recorded through the same surveillance system for both compared periods. RESULTS: For 2009 pandemic influenza versus recent influenza seasons, in USA, visits for influenza-like illness to sentinel providers were more likely to involve the age groups of 5-24, 25-64 and 0-4 years compared with the reference group of >64 years [odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 2.43 (2.39-2.47), 1.66 (1.64-1.69), and 1.51 (1.48-1.54), respectively]. Pediatric deaths were less likely in the age groups of 2-4 and <2 years than the reference group of 5-17 years [OR (95% CI): 0.46 (0.25-0.85) and 0.49 (0.30-0.81), respectively]. In Australia, notifications for laboratory-confirmed influenza were more likely in the age groups of 10-19, 5-9, 20-44, 45-64 and 0-4 years than the reference group of >65 years [OR (95% CI): 7.19 (6.67-7.75), 5.33 (4.90-5.79), 5.04 (4.70-5.41), 3.12 (2.89-3.36) and 1.89 (1.75-2.05), respectively]. In New Zealand, consultations for influenza-like illness by sentinel providers were more likely in the age groups of <1, 1-4, 35-49, 5-19, 20-34 and 50-64 years than the reference group of >65 years [OR (95% CI): 2.38 (1.74-3.26), 1.99 (1.62-2.45), 1.57 (1.30-1.89), 1.57 (1.30-1.88), 1.40 (1.17-1.69) and 1.39 (1.14-1.70), respectively]. CONCLUSIONS: The greatest increase in influenza cases during 2009 (H1N1) pandemic influenza period, in comparison with most recent seasonal influenza periods, was seen for school-aged children, adolescents, and younger adults

Epidemiological Characteristics of 2009 (H1N1) Pandemic Influenza Based on Paired Sera from a Longitudinal Community Cohort Study

Steven Riley and colleagues analyze a community cohort study from the 2009 (H1N1) influenza pandemic in Hong Kong, and found that more children than adults were infected with H1N1, but children were less likely to progress to severe disease than adults

Prevalence of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Antibodies, Tampa Bay Florida — November–December, 2009

BACKGROUND: In 2009, a novel influenza virus (2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus (pH1N1)) caused significant disease in the United States. Most states, including Florida, experienced a large fall wave of disease from September through November, after which disease activity decreased substantially. We determined the prevalence of antibodies due to the pH1N1 virus in Florida after influenza activity had peaked and estimated the proportion of the population infected with pH1N1 virus during the pandemic. METHODS: During November-December 2009, we collected leftover serum from a blood bank, a pediatric children's hospital and a pediatric outpatient clinic in Tampa Bay Florida. Serum was tested for pH1N1 virus antibodies using the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) assay. HI titers ≥40 were considered seropositive. We adjusted seroprevalence results to account for previously established HI assay specificity and sensitivity and employed a simple statistical model to estimate the proportion of seropositivity due to pH1N1 virus infection and vaccination. RESULTS: During the study time period, the overall seroprevalence in Tampa Bay, Florida was 25%, increasing to 30% after adjusting for HI assay sensitivity and specificity. We estimated that 5.9% of the population had vaccine-induced seropositivity while 25% had seropositivity secondary to pH1N1 virus infection. The highest cumulative incidence of pH1N1 virus infection was among children aged 5-17 years (53%) and young adults aged 18-24 years (47%), while adults aged ≥50 years had the lowest cumulative incidence (11-13%) of pH1N1 virus infection. CONCLUSIONS: After the peak of the fall wave of the pandemic, an estimated one quarter of the Tampa Bay population had been infected with the pH1N1 virus. Consistent with epidemiologic trends observed during the pandemic, the highest burdens of disease were among school-aged children and young adults