Resolving confusions about jarrah dieback - don’t forget the plants

The name jarrah dieback has been used for two different disorders, leading to considerable confusion. It was coined in the 1940s to describe the sudden death of groups of jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) trees in south western Western Australia, which occurred on poorly drained sites, following exceptionally heavy rainfall. In the 1960s these sites were shown to be infested by Phytophthora cinnamomi and jarrah deaths were attributed to it, even though it was only isolated from 5 % of sampled trees. Also the definition of jarrah dieback was expanded to include deaths of many other plants on infested sites, from which P. cinnamomi was more readily isolated. Jarrah trees die from severe water deficiency, indicating problems with water conduction through roots. Xylem vessel diameters vary along roots, being narrow at the root collar, while distally they are larger, providing water storage. Jarrah transpires vigorously during summer, accessing water at depth on sites with deep soil, but being more dependent on internally stored water when root systems are shallower. Following waterlogging, sapwood vessels become blocked with tyloses, reducing both conductivity and potential water storage; such trees may have insufficient water reserves for summer survival. In jarrah P. cinnamomi is unlikely to cause water deficiency because sapwood invasion is rapidly contained in healthy roots. Recent investigations into P. cinnamomi invasion and host responses in other plants show that it can potentially cause a vascular wilt in Banksia spp. and chronic, symptomless infections in herbaceous plants. Susceptibility to waterlogging damage, and/or mortality resulting from infection by P. cinnamomi can only be clarified by detailed knowledge of the hosts and their vulnerabilities. This is essential for making diagnoses, devising management strategies, and avoiding the confusions of the past

TOLKIN – Tree of Life Knowledge and Information Network: Filling a Gap for Collaborative Research in Biological Systematics

The development of biological informatics infrastructure capable of supporting growing data management and analysis environments is an increasing need within the systematics biology community. Although significant progress has been made in recent years on developing new algorithms and tools for analyzing and visualizing large phylogenetic data and trees, implementation of these resources is often carried out by bioinformatics experts, using one-off scripts. Therefore, a gap exists in providing data management support for a large set of non-technical users. The TOLKIN project (Tree of Life Knowledge and Information Network) addresses this need by supporting capabilities to manage, integrate, and provide public access to molecular, morphological, and biocollections data and research outcomes through a collaborative, web application. This data management framework allows aggregation and import of sequences, underlying documentation about their source, including vouchers, tissues, and DNA extraction. It combines features of LIMS and workflow environments by supporting management at the level of individual observations, sequences, and specimens, as well as assembly and versioning of data sets used in phylogenetic inference. As a web application, the system provides multi-user support that obviates current practices of sharing data sets as files or spreadsheets via email

Perturbation of placental protein glycosylation by endoplasmic reticulum stress promotes maladaptation of maternal hepatic glucose metabolism

Placental hormones orchestrate maternal metabolic adaptations to support pregnancy. We hypothesized that placental ER stress, which characterizes early-onset pre-eclampsia (ePE), compromises glycosylation, reducing hormone bioactivity and these maladaptations predispose the mother to metabolic disease in later life. We demonstrate ER stress reduces the complexity and sialylation of trophoblast protein N-glycosylation, while aberrant glycosylation of vascular endothelial growth factor reduced its bioactivity. ER stress alters the expression of 66 of the 146 genes annotated with “protein glycosylation” and reduces the expression of sialyltransferases. Using mouse placental explants, we show ER stress promotes the secretion of mis-glycosylated glycoproteins. Pregnant mice carrying placentas with junctional zone-specific ER stress have reduced blood glucose, anomalous hepatic glucose metabolism, increased cellular stress and elevated DNA methyltransferase 3A. Using pregnancy-specific glycoproteins as a readout, we also demonstrate aberrant glycosylation of placental proteins in women with ePE, thus providing a mechanistic link between ePE and subsequent maternal metabolic disorders

Cryopreservation Effect on Proliferative and Chondrogenic Potential of Human Chondrocytes Isolated from Superficial and Deep Cartilage

[Abstract] Objectives: To compare the proliferative and chondrogenic potential of fresh and frozen chondrocytes isolated from superficial and deep articular cartilage biopsies. Materials and Methodology: The study included 12 samples of fresh and frozen healthy human knee articular cartilage. Cell proliferation was tested at 3, 6 and 9 days. Studies of mRNA quantification, protein expression and immunofluorescence for proliferation and chondrogenic markers were performed. Results: Stimulation of fresh and frozen chondrocytes from both superficial and deep cartilage with fetal bovine serum produced an increase in the proliferative capacity compared to the non-stimulated control group. In the stimulated fresh cells group, the proliferative capacity of cells from the deep biopsy was greater than that from cells from the superficial biopsy (0.046 vs 0.028, respectively, p<0.05). There was also a significant difference between the proliferative capacity of superficial zone fresh (0.028) and frozen (0.051) chondrocytes (p<0.05). CCND1 mRNA and protein expression levels, and immunopositivity for Ki67 revealed a higher proliferative capacity for fresh articular chondrocytes from deep cartilage. Regarding the chondrogenic potential, stimulated fresh cells showed higher SOX9 and Col II expression in chondrocytes from deep than from superficial zone (p<0.05, T student test). Conclusions: The highest rate of cell proliferation and chondrogenic potential of fresh chondrocytes was found in cells obtained from deep cartilage biopsies, whereas there were no statistically significant differences in proliferative and chondrogenic capacity between biopsy origins with frozen chondrocytes. These results indicate that both origin and cryopreservation affect the proliferative and chondrogenic potential of chondrocytes.Servizo Galego de Saúde; PS07/84Instituto de Salud Carlos III; CIBER BBN CB06-01-0040Ministerio Ciencia e Innovacion; PLE2009-0144Ministerio Ciencia e Innovación; PI 08/202

Glycan labeling strategies and their use in identification and quantification

Most methods for the analysis of oligosaccharides from biological sources require a glycan derivatization step: glycans may be derivatized to introduce a chromophore or fluorophore, facilitating detection after chromatographic or electrophoretic separation. Derivatization can also be applied to link charged or hydrophobic groups at the reducing end to enhance glycan separation and mass-spectrometric detection. Moreover, derivatization steps such as permethylation aim at stabilizing sialic acid residues, enhancing mass-spectrometric sensitivity, and supporting detailed structural characterization by (tandem) mass spectrometry. Finally, many glycan labels serve as a linker for oligosaccharide attachment to surfaces or carrier proteins, thereby allowing interaction studies with carbohydrate-binding proteins. In this review, various aspects of glycan labeling, separation, and detection strategies are discussed

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics

FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study covers a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee) and an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), which could, successively, be installed in the same 100 km tunnel. The scientific capabilities of the integrated FCC programme would serve the worldwide community throughout the 21st century. The FCC study also investigates an LHC energy upgrade, using FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the second volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the electron-positron collider FCC-ee. After summarizing the physics discovery opportunities, it presents the accelerator design, performance reach, a staged operation scenario, the underlying technologies, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, and an implementation plan. FCC-ee can be built with today’s technology. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure could be reused for FCC-hh. Combining concepts from past and present lepton colliders and adding a few novel elements, the FCC-ee design promises outstandingly high luminosity. This will make the FCC-ee a unique precision instrument to study the heaviest known particles (Z, W and H bosons and the top quark), offering great direct and indirect sensitivity to new physics