Negative feedback control of jasmonate signaling by an alternative splice variant of JAZ10

The plant hormone jasmonate (JA) activates gene expression by promoting ubiquitin-dependent degradation of JAZ transcriptional repressor proteins. A key feature of all JAZ proteins is the highly conserved Jas motif, which mediates both JAZ degradation and JAZ binding to the transcription factor MYC2. Rapid expression of JAZ genes in response to JA is thought to attenuate JA responses, but little is known about the mechanisms by which newly synthesized JAZ proteins exert repression in the presence of the hormone. Here, we show that desensitization to JA is mediated by an alternative splice variant (JAZ10.4) of JAZ10 that lacks the Jas motif. Unbiased protein-protein interaction screens identified three related bHLH transcription factors (MYC2, MYC3, and MYC4) and the co-repressor NINJA as JAZ10.4-binding partners. We show that the N-terminal region of JAZ10.4 contains a cryptic MYC2-binding site that resembles the Jas motif, and that the ZIM motif of JAZ10.4 functions as a transferable repressor domain whose activity is associated with recruitment of NINJA. Functional studies showed that expression of JAZ10.4 from the native JAZ10 promoter complemented the JA-hypersensitive phenotype of a jaz10 mutant. Moreover, treatment of these complemented lines with JA resulted in rapid accumulation of JAZ10.4 protein. Our results provide an explanation for how the unique domain architecture of JAZ10.4 links transcription factors to a co-repressor complex, and suggest how JA-induced transcription and alternative splicing of JAZ10 pre-mRNA creates a regulatory circuit to attenuate JA responses.Fil: Moreno, Javier Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; Argentina. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Shyu, Christine. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Campos, Marcelo L.. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Patel, Lalita C.. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Chung, Hoo Sun. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Yao, Jian. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: He, Sheng Hang. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Howe, Gregg A.. Michigan State University; Estados Unido

Oral signs of intravenous chemotherapy with 5- Fluorouracil and Leucovorin calcium in colon cancer treatment

Several studies have shown how cytostatics may cause hypofunction of salivary glands but failed to elucidate any potentially related side effects. Keeping in mind the sialochemical assistance and the role of saliva on the homeostasis of the stomatognathic system, the aim of this study was to establish potential gland disorders in patients submitted to 5- Fluorouracil (5-Fu) and Leucovorin calcium(LV) as well as their correlation with certain oral health disorders that diminish the quality of life. Materials and methods: the focus of this research was observational and longitudinal. Twenty-five patients diagnosed with colon cancer at an initial, intermediate and late phase submitted to specifically devised therapy were assessed. Clinical history, oral health indexes and basal or stimulated saliva samples were recorded. Results: Basal and stimulated flow dropped in the intermediate stage. Stimulated saliva pH decreased during treatment. On basal saliva, urea, sodium and potassium rose during the intermediate phase. Löe and Silness rates as well as simplified bleeding increased during therapy but reverted by the end of the treatment. Depth index of the vestibular gingival sulcus rose during the intermediate phase but did not return. Conclusion: This treatment caused functional salivary gland disorders as evidenced by basal and stimulated hyposialia, and acidification of stimulated saliva pH during the intermediate phase. Increase in basal urea may be due to proteic catabolism arising from plasma or glands. Variation in Na+ and K+ of basal saliva concentrates might be assumed as a possible duct disorder. Recovery of bleeding and Löe and Silness rates may point to a transient inflammatory effect associated to a decrease in salivary flow. Increase in the depth rates of the periodontal vestibular sulcus could be correlated with a higher risk of periodontal disease

Design and Fabrication of Flexible Copper Sensor Decorated with Bismuth Micro/Nanodentrites to Detect Lead and Cadmium in Noninvasive Samples of Sweat

The use of economic methods to design and fabricate flexible copper sensors decorated with bismuth micro/nanodentrites for the detection of lead and cadmium in sweat is demonstrated. The flexible copper sensors were constructed with simple and cost-effective materials; namely, flexible and adhesive conductive copper tape, adhesive label containing the design of a three-electrode electrochemical system, and nail polish or spray as a protective layer. The flexible copper device consisted of a working electrode decorated with bismuth micro/nanodentrites using an electrodeposition technique, a copper pseudo-reference and copper counter electrodes. Under optimal experimental conditions, the flexible sensing platform showed excellent performance toward the detection of lead and cadmium using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPAdSV) in a wide linear range from 2.0 μM to 50 μM with acceptable reproducibility and repeatability, and limits of detection and quantification of 5.36 and 17.9 μM for Cd2+ ions and 0.76 μM and 2.5 for Pb2+ ions. Studies of addition and recovery in spiked artificial sweat sample were performed, with a recovery of 104.6%. The flexible copper device provides a great opportunity for application in wearable perspiration-based healthcare systems or portable sensors to detect toxic metals in biological samples

Convergence of developmental mutants into a single tomato model system: 'Micro-Tom' as an effective toolkit for plant development research

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The tomato (<it>Solanum lycopersicum </it>L.) plant is both an economically important food crop and an ideal dicot model to investigate various physiological phenomena not possible in <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>. Due to the great diversity of tomato cultivars used by the research community, it is often difficult to reliably compare phenotypes. The lack of tomato developmental mutants in a single genetic background prevents the stacking of mutations to facilitate analysis of double and multiple mutants, often required for elucidating developmental pathways.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We took advantage of the small size and rapid life cycle of the tomato cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) to create near-isogenic lines (NILs) by introgressing a suite of hormonal and photomorphogenetic mutations (altered sensitivity or endogenous levels of auxin, ethylene, abscisic acid, gibberellin, brassinosteroid, and light response) into this genetic background. To demonstrate the usefulness of this collection, we compared developmental traits between the produced NILs. All expected mutant phenotypes were expressed in the NILs. We also created NILs harboring the wild type alleles for <it>dwarf</it>, <it>self-pruning </it>and <it>uniform fruit</it>, which are mutations characteristic of MT. This amplified both the applications of the mutant collection presented here and of MT as a genetic model system.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The community resource presented here is a useful toolkit for plant research, particularly for future studies in plant development, which will require the simultaneous observation of the effect of various hormones, signaling pathways and crosstalk.</p

Pharmacotherapy of traumatic childhood aphasia: beneficial effects of donepezil alone and combined with intensive naming therapy

Currently, language therapy is the only treatment for childhood aphasia (CA). This study explored using the cognitive-enhancing drug donepezil (DP) to improve language recovery in a 9-year-old girl with chronic anomic aphasia caused by left temporal-parietal brain injury. The study involved DP treatment alone, combined with intensive naming therapy (INT), and washout periods. Results showed that DP alone improved spontaneous speech, comprehension, repetition, and attention, while combining DP with INT further enhanced naming abilities. Improvements remained after treatment, and DP had no side effects, enabling the child to return to regular schooling. Further research is needed to confirm these findings

Effect of different lignocellulosic diets on bacterial microbiota and hydrolytic enzyme activities in the gut of the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis)

Cotton boll weevils, Anthonomus grandis, are omnivorous coleopteran that can feed on diets with different compositions, including recalcitrant lignocellulosic materials. We characterized the changes in the prokaryotic community structure and the hydrolytic activities of A. grandis larvae fed on different lignocellulosic diets. A. grandis larvae were fed on three different artificial diets: cottonseed meal (CM), Napier grass (NG) and corn stover (CS). Total DNA was extracted from the gut samples for amplification and sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes dominated the gut microbiota followed by Actinobacteria, Spirochaetes and a small number of unclassified phyla in CM and NG microbiomes. In the CS feeding group, members of Spirochaetes were the most prevalent, followed by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. Bray-Curtis distances showed that the samples from the CS community were clearly separated from those samples of the CM and NG diets. Gut extracts from all three diets exhibited endoglucanase, xylanase, ß-glucosidase and pectinase activities. These activities were significantly affected by pH and temperature across different diets. We observed that the larvae reared on a CM showed significantly higher activities than larvae reared on NG and CS. We demonstrated that the intestinal bacterial community structure varies depending on diet composition. Diets with more variable and complex compositions, such as CS, showed higher bacterial diversity and richness than the two other diets. In spite of the detected changes in composition and diversity, we identified a core microbiome shared between the three different lignocellulosic diets. These results suggest that feeding with diets of different lignocellulosic composition could be a viable strategy to discover variants of hemicellulose and cellulose breakdown systems.Fil: Ben Guerrero, Emiliano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar; ArgentinaFil: Soria, Marcelo Abel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Biología Aplicada y Alimentos. Cátedra de Microbiología Agrícola; ArgentinaFil: Salvador, Ricardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Microbiología y Zoología Agrícola; ArgentinaFil: Ceja Navarro, Javier A.. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Campos, Eleonora. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Brodie, Eoin L.. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Talia, Paola Monica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Castelar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Convergence of developmental mutants into a single tomato model system: \u27Micro-Tom\u27 as an effective toolkit for plant development research

Background The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant is both an economically important food crop and an ideal dicot model to investigate various physiological phenomena not possible in Arabidopsis thaliana. Due to the great diversity of tomato cultivars used by the research community, it is often difficult to reliably compare phenotypes. The lack of tomato developmental mutants in a single genetic background prevents the stacking of mutations to facilitate analysis of double and multiple mutants, often required for elucidating developmental pathways. Results We took advantage of the small size and rapid life cycle of the tomato cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) to create near-isogenic lines (NILs) by introgressing a suite of hormonal and photomorphogenetic mutations (altered sensitivity or endogenous levels of auxin, ethylene, abscisic acid, gibberellin, brassinosteroid, and light response) into this genetic background. To demonstrate the usefulness of this collection, we compared developmental traits between the produced NILs. All expected mutant phenotypes were expressed in the NILs. We also created NILs harboring the wild type alleles for dwarf, self-pruning and uniform fruit, which are mutations characteristic of MT. This amplified both the applications of the mutant collection presented here and of MT as a genetic model system. Conclusions The community resource presented here is a useful toolkit for plant research, particularly for future studies in plant development, which will require the simultaneous observation of the effect of various hormones, signaling pathways and crosstalk

Research on the Cultivation of Business English Talents and the Teaching Mode of Business English in Colleges for Nationalities

With the development of society, the strengthening of economic globalization and the deepening of reform and open-up, Business English teaching is attracting more and more attention. But Business English teaching in colleges for nationalities is still facing many problems, hinders the improvement of Business English teaching quality and the development of Business English. Starting from the connotation of Business English, this paper reveals the common problems existing in Business English teaching, analyzes the causes and puts forward some reform measures, in order to cultivate well-educated Business English talents for the ethnic areas