Assessing Espoused Goals in Private Family Firms Using Content Analysis

Understanding how private family firms gauge performance is of great interest to family business scholars. Unfortunately, finding comparable data to understand differences in the performance of such firms is challenging. This study draws from the organizational identity literature to show how private family firms communicate different goals in publicly available organizational narratives. The authors illustrate a process using content analysis that allows family business scholars to create a comparative data set that captures both normative and utilitarian goals using website and press release narratives from a sample of Australian firms.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Phosphate concentration and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation influence the growth, yield and expression of twelve PHT1 family phosphate transporters in foxtail millet (Setaria italica)

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element which plays several key roles in all living organisms. Setaria italica (foxtail millet) is a model species for panacoid grasses including several millet species widely grown in arid regions of Asia and Africa, and for the bioenergy crop switchgrass. The growth responses of S. italica to different levels of inorganic phosphate (Pi) and to colonisation with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Funneliformis mosseae (syn. Glomus mosseae) were studied. Phosphate is taken up from the environment by the PHT1 family of plant phosphate transporters, which have been well characterized in several plant species. Bioinformatic analysis identified 12 members of the PHT1 gene family (SiPHT1;1-1;12) in S. italica, and RT and qPCR analysis showed that most of these transporters displayed specific expression patterns with respect to tissue, phosphate status and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation. SiPHT1;2 was found to be expressed in all tissues and in all growth conditions tested. In contrast, expression of SiPHT1;4 was induced in roots after 15 days growth in hydroponic medium of low Pi concentration. Expression of SiPHT1;8 and SiPHT1;9 in roots was selectively induced by colonisation with F. mosseae. SiPHT1;3 and SiPHT1;4 were found to be predominantly expressed in leaf and root tissues respectively. Several other transporters were expressed in shoots and leaves during growth in low Pi concentrations. This study will form the basis for the further characterization of these transporters, with the long term goal of improving the phosphate use efficiency of foxtail millet

Sensitivity of jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) to phosphate, phosphite, and arsenate pulses as influenced by fungal symbiotic associations

Many plant species adapted to P-impoverished soils, including jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), develop toxicity symptoms when exposed to high doses of phosphate (Pi) and its analogs such as phosphite (Phi) and arsenate (AsV). The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of fungal symbionts Scutellospora calospora, Scleroderma sp., and Austroboletus occidentalis on the response of jarrah to highly toxic pulses (1.5 mmol kg−1 soil) of Pi, Phi, and AsV. S. calospora formed an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis while both Scleroderma sp. and A. occidentalis established a non-colonizing symbiosis with jarrah plants. All these interactions significantly improved jarrah growth and Pi uptake under P-limiting conditions. The AM fungal colonization naturally declines in AM-eucalypt symbioses after 2–3 months; however, in the present study, the high Pi pulse inhibited the decline of AM fungal colonization in jarrah. Four weeks after exposure to the Pi pulse, plants inoculated with S. calospora had significantly lower toxicity symptoms compared to non-mycorrhizal (NM) plants, and all fungal treatments induced tolerance against Phi toxicity in jarrah. However, no tolerance was observed for AsV-treated plants even though all inoculated plants had significantly lower shoot As concentrations than the NM plants. The transcript profile of five jarrah high-affinity phosphate transporter (PHT1 family) genes in roots was not altered in response to any of the fungal species tested. Interestingly, plants exposed to high Pi supplies for 1 day did not have reduced transcript levels for any of the five PHT1 genes in roots, and transcript abundance of four PHT1 genes actually increased. It is therefore suggested that jarrah, and perhaps other P-sensitive perennial species, respond positively to Pi available in the soil solution through increasing rather than decreasing the expression of selected PHT1 genes. Furthermore, Scleroderma sp. can be considered as a fungus with dual functional capacity capable of forming both ectomycorrhizal and non-colonizing associations, where both pathways are always accompanied by evident growth and nutritional benefits

Rice phosphate transporters associated with phosphate uptake in rice roots colonised with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

© 2007 NRC CanadaThe completed rice-genome sequence was screened with a known inorganic phosphate (Pi) transporter sequence to reveal a family of 13 Pi transporters. This family can be used for studies into Pi acquisition and translocation throughout the plant. Plants that form symbiotic associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are of particular interest with respect to Pi acquisition because of their ability to utilize both direct and fungal pathways of uptake. Localization of transcripts of two Pi transporters by real-time RT-PCR and in situ hybridization were conducted in rice subjected to low Pi, high Pi, and AM colonization. One Pi transporter, ORYsa;Pht1;13, was detected in rice roots under all growth conditions. ORYsa;Pht1;11 was only expressed in roots colonized by AM fungi. Antisense RNA probes of ORYsa;Pht1;11 localized to cortical cells containing arbuscules and hyphal coils, formed by Glomus intraradices Schenck and Smith and Scutellospora calospora (Nicolson and Gerdemann) Walker and Sanders, respectively. Localization of the ORYsa;Pht1;13 probes was similar to that observed for ORYsa;Pht1;11 in colonized rice roots. This research proposes that at least two rice Pi transporters are involved in acquiring Pi via AM fungi, emphasising the complexity of Pi acquisition in plants with access to two Pi uptake pathways.Donna Glassop, Rosamond M. Godwin, Sally E. Smith, and Frank W. Smit

Phosphate transport in plants

Transport of inorganic phosphate (Pi) through plant membranes is mediated by a number of families of transporter proteins. Studies on the topology, function, regulation and sites of expression of the genes that encode the members of these transporter families are enabling roles to be ascribed to each of them. The Pht1 family, of which there are nine members in the Arabidopsis genome, includes proteins involved in the uptake of Pi from the soil solution and the redistribution of Pi within the plant. Members of this family are H2PO4 –/H+ symporters. Most of the genes of the Pht1 family that are expressed in roots are up-regulated in P-stressed plants. Two members of the Pht1 family have been isolated from the cluster roots of white lupin. These same genes are expressed in non-cluster roots. The evidence available to date suggests that there are no major differences between the types of transport systems that cluster roots and non-cluster roots use to acquire Pi. Differences in uptake rates between cluster and non-cluster roots can be ascribed to more high-affinity Pi transporters in the plasma membranes of cluster roots, rather than any difference in the characteristics of the transporters. The efficient acquisition of Pi by cluster roots arises primarily from their capacity to increase the availability of soil Pi immediately adjacent to the rootlets by excretion of carboxylates, protons and phosphatases within the cluster. This paper reviews Pi transport processes, concentrating on those mediated by the Pht1 family of transporters, and attempts to relate those processes involved in Pi acquisition to likely Pi transport processes in cluster roots

Flowering-related genes are not involved in the development of smut whip

Sugarcane grows repeating vegetative units that make up the stalk. Each unit consists of three structures, a leaf, a node and an internode, which arise from the apical meristem that systematically switches between each morphology. The production of vegetative units ceases once the apical meristem changes to reproductive growth. The vegetative growth of the apical meristem also stops when it is infected with smut fungus (Sporisorium scitamineum). Following this, a whip is produced which is covered with spores that disperse and cause further infection. The whip is similar in appearance to the central branch or rachis of a s ugarcane inflorescence. It has been suggested that the whip is a modified floral structure. In order to produce flowers, a sugarcane plant must be sufficiently mature, with at least 2-4 fully expanded internodes, before any floral induction signal will result in the development of a flower. In contrast, a whip can be produced in a very young plant without expanded internodes. The possibility that the developmental pathways for flower and whip production are similar could provide an avenue for flowering to be induced in younger plants. Such a technology would assist breeders to transfer new traits more rapidly through multiple generations per year. This paper presents results from an experiment comparing expressions of genes involved in flowering between S. scitamineum infected and non-infected sugarcane. The study found that the expression of 14 flowering-related genes was not the same at the time of whip development and flowering