TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of B-domain deleted recombinant human factor VIII (GC-γ AHF) in rats

Recombinant human factor VIII is a glycoprotein that is used for the treatment of hemophilia A. The B-domain deleted recombinant factor VIII, GC-γ AHF, was newly developed by the Korea Green Cross Pharmaceutical Company. To investigate its pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution, GC-γ AHF was labelled with 125I. Following a single intravenous administration of [125I]GC-γ AHF to rats, plasma concentrations of [125I]GC-γ AHF versus time curves were analyzed and the pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated. The data obtained from plasma as fitted with a two compartment open model and mean residence time (MRT) was 123.83 min. The half life of radioactivity associated with [125I]GC-γ AHF in plasma was 13.25 min and other pharmacokinetic parameters of GC-γ AHF were as follows: Clearance, 23 ml/min/kg; steady-state volume of distribution, 2.84 l/kg. A larger proportion of the administered radioactivity was excreted via urine than via faeces and the total administered dose recovered in excreta was 88.2%. The total levels of radioactivity were higher in liver, stomach and small intestine than in other tissues. These studies suggest that the pharmacokinetic data of GC-γ AHF obtained from rats in the present study would be useful for preclinical evaluation of the newly developed genetically engineered human protein

Poly ADP‐ribose polymerase‐1 promotes seed‐setting rate by facilitating gametophyte development and meiosis in rice ( Oryza sativa

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), which transfer either monomer or polymer of ADP-ribose from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) onto target proteins, are required for multiple processes in DNA damage repair, cell cycle, development, and abiotic stress in animals and plants. Here, the uncharacterized rice (Oryza sativa) OsPARP1, which has been predicted to have two alternative OsPARP1 mRNA splicing variants, OsPARP1.1 and OsPARP1.2, was investigated. However, bimolecular fluorescence complementation showed that only OsPARP1.1 interacted with OsPARP3 paralog, suggesting that OsPARP1.1 is a functional protein in rice. OsPARP1 was preferentially expressed in the stamen primordial and pollen grain of mature stamen during flower development. The osparp1 mutant and CRISPR plants were delayed in germination, indicating that defective DNA repair machinery impairs early seed germination. The mutant displayed a normal phenotype during vegetative growth but had a lower seed-setting rate than wild-type plants under normal conditions. Chromosome bridges and DNA fragmentations were detected in male meiocytes at anaphase I to prophase II. After meiosis II, malformed tetrads or tetrads with micronuclei were formed. Meanwhile, the abnormality was also found in embryo sac development. Collectively, these results suggest that OsPARP1 plays an important role in mediating response to DNA damage and gametophyte development, crucial for rice yield in the natural environment