Metamitron replacing carbaryl in post bloom thinning of apple trees.

Carbaryl or the mixture of carbaryl with NAA (naphthalene acetic acid) or BA (benzyladenine) are the post-bloom chemical thinners most widely used in apple thinning in Brazil. The marketing restriction of carbaryl demands new options of apple post-bloom thinners, requiring the evaluation of others compounds for this purpose. Metamitron is one of the substances that may be used in chemical thinning of apples. Metamitron was evaluated at two concentrations, alone or in mixture with BA, in "MaxiGala", "Fuji Suprema" and "Fred Hough" apple cultivars. Applications of metamitron at 384 mg L-1 and at 768 mg L-1 in a mixture with BA, ranging from 40 mg L-1 to 80 mg L-1, sprayed on fruits with diameter ranging from 5 to 25 mm were compared ith the standard treatment and hand thinning. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with 4-6 repetitions of a single plant. The variables analyzed were: fruit set (%); percentage of floral clusters with 1, 2, 3, 4 or more fruits; fruit yield (kg); verage fruit fresh mass (g) and percentage of dropped fruit after thinning. Metamitron alone or in combination with BA reduced production per plant and significantly increased the fresh weight of fruits in all cultivars tested. Metamitron at 800 mg L-1 resulted in excessive fruit thinning, especially in ?MaxiGala? cultivar. Metamitron or metamitron + BA have potential to compose the program of chemical thinning of apple trees to replace carbaryl. Index terms: Plant growth regulators, concentration, fruit set, fruit production. O carbaryl ou a mistura de carbaryl com ANA (ácido naftaleno acético) ou BA (Benziladenina) são os produtos mais utilizados no raleio químico da macieira no Brasil. Com o cancelamento do registro do carbaryl como raleante de pós-floração, são necessárias novas alternativas, sendo importante testar diferentes raleantes com esta finalidade. Dentre as substâncias passíveis de utilização no raleio da macieira insere-se o metamitron. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a resposta da aplicação de metamitron no raleio das macieiras ?Fuji Suprema?, ?MaxiGala? e ?Fred Hough?. O uso de metamitron foi testado em duas concentrações, só ou em mistura de tanque com BA, e comparado com BA e BA + etefom, em três cultivares de macieira: ?Maxigala?, ?Fuji Suprema? e ?Fred Hough?. Aplicações de 384 mg L-1 e 768 mg L-1 de metamitron em mistura com BA de 40 mg L-1 e 80 mg L-1 aplicado em frutos de 5 a 25 mm de diâmetro foram comparadas com ?tratamento-padrão? e raleio manual. Foi usado o delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso com cinco a seis repetições. As variáveis analisadas foram: frutificação efetiva (%), percentagem de cachos florais com 1; 2; 3; 4 ou mais frutos por inflorescência, produção por planta (kg), número de frutos por planta, massa média dos frutos (g) e percentagem de queda de frutos após o raleio. O metamitron só, ou em combinação com BA, reduziu a produção por planta e aumentou a massa média dos frutos em todas as cultivares estudadas. Metamitron a 768 mg L-1 resultou em excessivo raleio, especialmente na ?MaxiGala?. Metamitron ou metamitron + BA tem potencial para compor o programa de raleio químico da macieira em substituição ao carbaryl. Termos para indexação: Regulador de crescimento, concentração, frutificação efetiva, produção

Avanços na propagação de fruteiras no Brasil e no mundo - macieira.

RESUMO ? A produção de maçãs é uma atividade de grande importância econômica em nível mundial. A ampla disseminação e cultivo da macieira em várias regiões do mundo deve-se ao desenvolvimento de técnicas propagativas desde sua domesticação até à atualidade. A macieira pode ser propagada por sementes, com restrita a utilização em programas de melhoramento genético, e multiplicada por vários métodos de propagação vegetativa, tanto para porta-enxertos como para cultivares-copa. Levando-se em consideração o elevado nível tecnológico atualmente empregado na cultura da macieira, a propagação de plantas tem papel de grande relevância, no sentido de viabilizar a produção de mudas de elevado padrão morfofisiológico e fitossanitário, demandando novos avanços e aprimoramentos à medida que novas cultivares-copa e porta-enxertos são desenvolvidos.Termos para indexação: Malus domestica, produção de mudas, enxertia.I SIMPROFRUTI (I Simpósio Internacional sobre “Avanços na propagação de fruteiras”). Evento on line de 25-29.09.17 (http://www.simprofruti.com.br/)

Functionally compromised CHD7 alleles in patients with isolated GnRH deficiency

Inactivating mutations in chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 7 (CHD7) cause CHARGE syndrome, a severe multiorgan system disorder of which Isolated gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency (IGD) is a minor feature. Recent reports have described predominantly missense CHD7 alleles in IGD patients, but it is unclear if these alleles are relevant to causality or overall genetic burden of Kallmann syndrome (KS) and normosmic form of IGD. To address this question, we sequenced CHD7 in 783 well-phenotyped IGD patients lacking full CHARGE features; we identified nonsynonymous rare sequence variants in 5.2% of the IGD cohort (73% missense and 27% splice variants). Functional analyses in zebrafish using a surrogate otolith assay of a representative set of these CHD7 alleles showed that rare sequence variants observed in controls showed no altered function. In contrast, 75% of the IGD-associated alleles were deleterious and resulted in both KS and normosmic IGD. In two families, pathogenic mutations in CHD7 coexisted with mutations in other known IGD genes. Taken together, our data suggest that rare deleterious CHD7 alleles contribute to the mutational burden of patients with both KS and normosmic forms of IGD in the absence of full CHARGE syndrome. These findings (i) implicate a unique role or preferential sensitivity for CHD7 in the ontogeny of GnRH neurons, (ii) reiterate the emerging genetic complexity of this family of IGD disorders, and (iii) demonstrate how the coordinated use of well-phenotyped cohorts, families, and functional studies can inform genetic architecture and provide insights into the developmental biology of cellular systems

A verified genomic reference sample for assessing performance of cancer panels detecting small variants of low allele frequency

BackgroundOncopanel genomic testing, which identifies important somatic variants, is increasingly common in medical practice and especially in clinical trials. Currently, there is a paucity of reliable genomic reference samples having a suitably large number of pre-identified variants for properly assessing oncopanel assay analytical quality and performance. The FDA-led Sequencing and Quality Control Phase 2 (SEQC2) consortium analyze ten diverse cancer cell lines individually and their pool, termed Sample A, to develop a reference sample with suitably large numbers of coding positions with known (variant) positives and negatives for properly evaluating oncopanel analytical performance.ResultsIn reference Sample A, we identify more than 40,000 variants down to 1% allele frequency with more than 25,000 variants having less than 20% allele frequency with 1653 variants in COSMIC-related genes. This is 5-100x more than existing commercially available samples. We also identify an unprecedented number of negative positions in coding regions, allowing statistical rigor in assessing limit-of-detection, sensitivity, and precision. Over 300 loci are randomly selected and independently verified via droplet digital PCR with 100% concordance. Agilent normal reference Sample B can be admixed with Sample A to create new samples with a similar number of known variants at much lower allele frequency than what exists in Sample A natively, including known variants having allele frequency of 0.02%, a range suitable for assessing liquid biopsy panels.ConclusionThese new reference samples and their admixtures provide superior capability for performing oncopanel quality control, analytical accuracy, and validation for small to large oncopanels and liquid biopsy assays.Peer reviewe

Missense mutations in TENM4, a regulator of axon guidance and central myelination, cause essential tremor.

Essential tremor (ET) is a common movement disorder with an estimated prevalence of 5% of the population aged over 65 years. In spite of intensive efforts, the genetic architecture of ET remains unknown. We used a combination of whole-exome sequencing and targeted resequencing in three ET families. In vitro and in vivo experiments in oligodendrocyte precursor cells and zebrafish were performed to test our findings. Whole-exome sequencing revealed a missense mutation in TENM4 segregating in an autosomal-dominant fashion in an ET family. Subsequent targeted resequencing of TENM4 led to the discovery of two novel missense mutations. Not only did these two mutations segregate with ET in two additional families, but we also observed significant over transmission of pathogenic TENM4 alleles across the three families. Consistent with a dominant mode of inheritance, in vitro analysis in oligodendrocyte precursor cells showed that mutant proteins mislocalize. Finally, expression of human mRNA harboring any of three patient mutations in zebrafish embryos induced defects in axon guidance, confirming a dominant-negative mode of action for these mutations. Our genetic and functional data, which is corroborated by the existence of a Tenm4 knockout mouse displaying an ET phenotype, implicates TENM4 in ET. Together with previous studies of TENM4 in model organisms, our studies intimate that processes regulating myelination in the central nervous system and axon guidance might be significant contributors to the genetic burden of this disorder

Differential roles of epigenetic changes and Foxp3 expression in regulatory T cell-specific transcriptional regulation

Naturally occurring regulatory T (Treg) cells, which specifically express the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (Foxp3), are engaged in the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance and homeostasis. By transcriptional start site cluster analysis, we assessed here how genome-wide patterns of DNA methylation or Foxp3 binding sites were associated with Treg-specific gene expression. We found that Treg-specific DNA hypomethylated regions were closely associated with Treg up-regulated transcriptional start site clusters, whereas Foxp3 binding regions had no significant correlation with either up- or down-regulated clusters in nonactivated Treg cells. However, in activated Treg cells, Foxp3 binding regions showed a strong correlation with down-regulated clusters. In accordance with these findings, the above two features of activation-dependent gene regulation in Treg cells tend to occur at different locations in the genome. The results collectively indicate that Treg-specific DNA hypomethylation is instrumental in gene up-regulation in steady state Treg cells, whereas Foxp3 down-regulates the expression of its target genes in activated Treg cells. Thus, the two events seem to play distinct but complementary roles in Treg-specific gene expression