Ethylene- and pathogen-inducible Arabidopsis acyl-CoA-binding protein 4 interacts with an ethylene-responsive element binding protein

Six genes encode proteins with acyl-CoA-binding domains in Arabidopsis thaliana. They are the small 10-kDa cytosolic acyl-CoA-binding protein (ACBP), membrane-associated ACBP1 and ACBP2, extracellularly-targeted ACBP3, and kelch-motif containing ACBP4 and ACBP5. Here, the interaction of ACBP4 with an A. thaliana ethylene-responsive element binding protein (AtEBP), identified in a yeast two-hybrid screen, was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. The subcellular localization of ACBP4 and AtEBP, was addressed using an ACBP4:DsRed red fluorescent protein fusion and a green fluorescent protein (GFP):AtEBP fusion. Transient expression of these autofluoresence-tagged proteins in agroinfiltrated tobacco leaves, followed by confocal laser scanning microscopy, indicated their co-localization predominantly at the cytosol which was confirmed by FRET analysis. Immuno-electron microscopy on Arabidopsis sections not only localized ACBP4 to the cytosol but also to the periphery of the nucleus upon closer examination, perhaps as a result of its interaction with AtEBP. Furthermore, the expression of ACBP4 and AtEBP in Northern blot analyses was induced by the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, methyl jasmonate treatments, and Botrytis cinerea infection, suggesting that the interaction of ACBP4 and AtEBP may be related to AtEBP-mediated defence possibly via ethylene and/or jasmonate signalling

Envelhecimento pulpar em dentes jovens

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre no Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde Egas MonizOs dentes são órgãos mineralizados, implantados nos alvéolos dentários maxilares e mandibulares, enervados e vascularizados. São essenciais para a função mastigatória, na fonética, na deglutição, na estética e na manutenção da harmonia facial, e, como tal, desempenham um papel fulcral na nossa saúde, bem-estar, e no quotidiano. O envelhecimento pulpar de um dente é um fenómeno expectável, contínuo, e fisiológico, que surge com o avançar da idade do indivíduo, e reflete o seu avanço. Diversos estudos têm descrito o processo de envelhecimento da polpa dentária, referindo, no entanto, um conjunto de fatores etiológicos que contribuem para que este fenómeno seja acelerado, podendo ocorrer até em idades jovens. O objetivo deste trabalho é fazer uma revisão bibliográfica por forma a aferir, à luz da evidência científica atual, qual a etiologia multifatorial que se pode associar ao envelhecimento precoce da polpa dentária, e elucidar quanto ao seu mecanismo e a possíveis hipóteses de travar ou desacelerar este processo

An integral equation method for solving neumann problems on simply and multiply connected regions with smooth boundaries

This research presents several new boundary integral equations for the solution of Laplace’s equation with the Neumann boundary condition on both bounded and unbounded multiply connected regions. The integral equations are uniquely solvable Fredholm integral equations of the second kind with the generalized Neumann kernel. The complete discussion of the solvability of the integral equations is also presented. Numerical results obtained show the efficiency of the proposed method when the boundaries of the regions are sufficiently smooth

Transgenic tobacco overexpressing Brassica juncea HMG-CoA synthase 1 shows increased plant growth, pod size and seed yield

Seeds are very important not only in the life cycle of the plant but they represent food sources for man and animals. We report herein a mutant of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A synthase (HMGS), the second enzyme in the mevalonate (MVA) pathway that can improve seed yield when overexpressed in a phylogenetically distant species. In Brassica juncea, the characterisation of four isogenes encoding HMGS has been previously reported. Enzyme kinetics on recombinant wild-type (wt) and mutant BjHMGS1 had revealed that S359A displayed a 10-fold higher enzyme activity. The overexpression of wt and mutant (S359A) BjHMGS1 in Arabidopsis had up-regulated several genes in sterol biosynthesis, increasing sterol content. To quickly assess the effects of BjHMGS1 overexpression in a phylogenetically more distant species beyond the Brassicaceae, wt and mutant (S359A) BjHMGS1 were expressed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Xanthi) of the family Solanaceae. New observations on tobacco OEs not previously reported for Arabidopsis OEs included: (i) phenotypic changes in enhanced plant growth, pod size and seed yield (more significant in OE-S359A than OE-wtBjHMGS1) in comparison to vector-transformed tobacco, (ii) higher NtSQS expression and sterol content in OE-S359A than OE-wtBjHMGS1 corresponding to greater increase in growth and seed yield, and (iii) induction of NtIPPI2 and NtGGPPS2 and downregulation of NtIPPI1, NtGGPPS1, NtGGPPS3 and NtGGPPS4. Resembling Arabidopsis HMGS-OEs, tobacco HMGS-OEs displayed an enhanced expression of NtHMGR1, NtSMT1-2, NtSMT2-1, NtSMT2-2 and NtCYP85A1. Overall, increased growth, pod size and seed yield in tobacco HMGS-OEs were attributed to the up-regulation of native NtHMGR1, NtIPPI2, NtSQS, NtSMT1-2, NtSMT2-1, NtSMT2-2 and NtCYP85A1. Hence, S359A has potential in agriculture not only in improving phytosterol content but also seed yield, which may be desirable in food crops. This work further demonstrates HMGS function in plant reproduction that is reminiscent to reduced fertility of hmgs RNAi lines in let-7 mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans.published_or_final_versio

Voltage control of nuclear spin in ferromagnetic Schottky diodes

We employ optical pump-probe spectroscopy to investigate the voltage dependence of spontaneous electron and nuclear spin polarizations in hybrid MnAs/n-GaAs and Fe/n-GaAs Schottky diodes. Through the hyperfine interaction, nuclear spin polarization that is imprinted by the ferromagnet acts on conduction electron spins as an effective magnetic field. We demonstrate tuning of this nuclear field from <0.05 to 2.4 kG by varying a small bias voltage across the MnAs device. In addition, a connection is observed between the diode turn-on and the onset of imprinted nuclear polarization, while traditional dynamic nuclear polarization exhibits relatively little voltage dependence.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review B Rapid Communications. 15 pages, 3 figure

Az ingázás térbeli jellegzetességeinek változása az Észak-Dunántúlon, különös tekintettel Győr munkaügyi vonzáskörzetére

A tanulmányban megvizsgáljuk a KSH által 2001-ben és 2011-ben elvégzett népszámlálás ingázásra vonatkozó főbb adatainak és a két felvétel összehasonlítása során tapasztalt eltérések területi konzekvenciáit. A vizsgálat célja elsősorban az volt, hogy Győr köré szerveződő ingázó, munkaügyi vonzásterek jellegzetességeit megismerjük. Ezért az országos szintű vizsgálatok mellett részletesebben koncentráltunk az észak-Dunántúlra, melynek központrendszerét tártuk fel, s még részletesebben vizsgáltuk ezen belül Győr, s a városkörnyéki tér jellegzetességeit

Cross-activation of the motor cortex during unilateral contractions of the quadriceps

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have demonstrated that unilateral muscle contractions in the upper limb produce motor cortical activity in both the contralateral and ipsilateral motor cortices. The increase in excitability of the corticomotor pathway activating the resting limb has been termed &quot;cross-activation&quot;, and is of importance due to its involvement in cross-education and rehabilitation. To date, very few studies have investigated cross-activation in the lower limb. Sixteen healthy participants (mean age 29 &plusmn; 9 years) took part in this study. To determine the effect of varying contraction intensities in the lower limb, we investigated corticomotor excitability and intracortical inhibition of the right rectus femoris (RF) while the left leg performed isometric extension at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of maximum force output. Contraction intensities of 50% maximal force output and greater produced significant cross-activation of the corticomotor pathway. A reduction in silent period duration was observed during 75% and 100% contractions, while the release of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) was only observed during maximal (100%) contractions. We conclude that increasing isometric contraction intensities produce a monotonic increase in cross-activation, which was greatest during 100% force output. Unilateral training programs designed to induce cross-education of strength in the lower limb should therefore be prescribed at the maximal intensity tolerable

Effect of varying acid hydrolysis condition in Gracilaria sp. fermentation using sasad

Macroalgae or seaweed is being considered as promising feedstock for bioalcohol production due to high polysaccharides content. Polysaccharides can be converted into fermentable sugar through acid hydrolysis pre-treatment. In this study, the potential of using carbohydrate-rich macroalgae, Gracilaria sp. as feedstock for bioalcohol production via various acid hydrolysis conditions prior to the fermentation process was investigated and evaluated. The seaweed used in this research was from the red algae group, using species of Gracilaria sp. which was collected from Sg. Petani Kedah, Malaysia. Pre-treatment of substrate was done using H2SO4 and HCl with molarity ranging from 0.2M to 0.8M. The pretreatment time were varied in the range of 15 to 30 minutes. Fermentation was conducted using Sasad, a local Sabahan fermentation agent as a starter culture. Alcohol extraction was done using a distillation unit. Reducing sugar analysis was done by Benedict test method. Alcohol content analysis was done using specific gravity test. After hydrolysis, it was found out that acid hydrolysis at 0.2M H2SO4 and pre-treated for 20 minutes at 121°C has shown the highest reducing sugar content which has yield (10.06 mg/g) of reducing sugar. It was followed by other samples hydrolysis using 0.4M HCl with 30 minutes pre-treatment and 0.2M H2SO4, 15 minutes pre-treatment with yield of 8.06 mg/g and 5.75 mg/g reducing sugar content respectively. In conclusion, acid hydrolysis of Gracilaria sp. can produce higher reducing sugar yield and thus it can further enhance the bioalcohol production yield. Hence, acid hydrolysis of Gracilaria sp. should be studied more as it is an important step in the bioalcohol production and upscaling process