Subcellular Localization and Role of Potato Virus X (Pvx) Tgbp2 and Tgbp3 in Virus Movement

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused to the PVX TGBp2 or TGBp3 coding sequences and the fusions were inserted into PVX genomes or plasmids. Confocal microscopy was then used to study subcellular accumulation patterns of the fusion proteins in the presence and absence of virus infection. Mutations were introduced into the TGBp2 and TGBp3 coding sequences to identify domains controlling protein subcellular targeting. Novel TGBp2 induced vesicles were identified. These are ER-derived structures which are important for virus cell-to-cell movement. A central conserved amino acid sequence in PVX TGBp2 was shown to modulate vesicle morphology. Substitution of only a single amino acid was sufficient to change vesicle morphology, increase TGBp2 association with the ER, and inhibit PVX movement. A single mutation disrupting ER association of TGBp3, inhibited PVX cell-to-cell movement. Mutations near the C-terminus of TGBp3 delayed PVX cell-to-cell movement and inhibited vascular transport. These data indicate that the C-terminal cytosolic domain plays a role in virus movement that has not been previously described. Degradation of GFP:TGBp2 and TGBp3:GFP is stimulated by virus infection. These observations led to a model suggesting that viral induced ER stress and protein degradation may be linked to virus cell-to-cell movement. Lysiphlebus testaceipes was measured to have a supercooling point of approximately -26�C, but that supercooling point became significantly warmer as the parasitoid aged (12+ hour old males supercooled at approximately -20�C ), the greenbug host had a supercooling point of -26�C as well. The 12 hour LTemp50 for L. testaceipes mummies and adults was approximately -6�C, with -8�C being sufficient to kill all test specimens. The LTime50 ranged from 66.8h for adults at -6�C to 683.9h for mummies at 5�C. Functional Response studies revealed that a type I functional response equation was sufficient to describe attack rates for L. testaceipes on greenbug at all study temperatures, however all attacks ceased at 2�C. Sentinel plant investigations revealed that L. testaceipes was the primary parasitoid active in the winter wheat field in Payne county Oklahoma. Additionally, L. testaceipes was actively parasitizing greenbugs and other small grain aphids throughout the winter of 2003-2004.Department of Entomology and Plant Patholog

Review on the current trends in tongue diagnosis systems

AbstractTongue diagnosis is an essential process to noninvasively assess the condition of a patient's internal organs in traditional medicine. To obtain quantitative and objective diagnostic results, image acquisition and analysis devices called tongue diagnosis systems (TDSs) are required. These systems consist of hardware including cameras, light sources, and a ColorChecker, and software for color correction, segmentation of tongue region, and tongue classification. To improve the performance of TDSs, various types TDSs have been developed. Hyperspectral imaging TDSs have been suggested to acquire more information than a two-dimensional (2D) image with visible light waves, as it allows collection of data from multiple bands. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging TDSs have been suggested to provide 3D geometry. In the near future, mobile devices like the smart phone will offer applications for assessment of health condition using tongue images. Various technologies for the TDS have respective unique advantages and specificities according to the application and diagnostic environment, but this variation may cause inconsistent diagnoses in practical clinical applications. In this manuscript, we reviewed the current trends in TDSs for the standardization of systems. In conclusion, the standardization of TDSs can supply the general public and oriental medical doctors with convenient, prompt, and accurate information with diagnostic results for assessing the health condition

Novel Diagnostic Algorithm for the Floating and Sunken Pulse Qualities and Its Clinical Test

We propose a novel classification algorithm for the floating pulse and the sunken pulse using a newly defined coefficient (Cfs). To examine the validity of the proposed algorithm, we carried out a clinical test in which 12 oriental medical doctors made pairwise diagnoses on the pulses of volunteering subjects. 169 subjects were simultaneously diagnosed by paired doctors, and the diagnoses in 121 subjects were concordant, yielding an accuracy of 72% and a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.42, which indicates reasonable agreement between doctors. Two sample T-tests showed that subjects in the sunken pulse group had significantly higher BMI and Cfs (P < .05) than those in the floating pulse group. The pulse classification by the algorithm converged with the diagnoses of paired doctors with an accuracy up to 69%. With these results, we confirm the validity of the novel classification algorithm for the floating and sunken pulses

A Study of Solids and Gas Mixing in a Partitioned Fluidized Bed

A partitioned fluidized bed gasifier has been developed for improving coal gasification performance. The basic concept is to divide a fluidized bed into two parts, a gasifier and a combustor, by a partition. Char is burnt in the combustor and generated heat is supplied to the gasifier by solid mixing. Therefore, solid mixing should be maximized whereas gas mixing between syngas and the combusted gas should be minimized. In this study, gas and solid mixing behaviors were verified in cold model acrylic beds. For monitoring solid mixing behavior, transient temperature trends in the beds were analyzed. A heat source and a heat sink were installed in each bed. Dozens of thermocouples were used to monitor temperature distribution

Potato virus X TGBp1 induces plasmodesmata gating and moves between cells in several host species whereas CP moves only in N. benthamiana leaves

AbstractExperiments were conducted to compare the plasmodesmal transport activities of Potato virus X (PVX) TGBp1 and coat protein (CP) in several plant species. Microinjection experiments indicated that TGBp1 gates plasmodesmata in Nicotiana tabacum leaves. These results support previous microinjection studies indicating that TGBp1 gates plasmodesmata in Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana clevelandii leaves. To study protein movement, plasmids expressing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene fused to the PVX TGBp1 or CP genes were biolistically bombarded to leaves taken from four different PVX host species. GFP/TGBp1 moved between adjacent cells in N. tabacum, N. clevelandii, N. benthamiana, and Lycopersicon esculentum, whereas GFP/CP moved only in N. benthamiana leaves. Mutations m12 and m13 were introduced into the TGBp1 gene and both mutations eliminated TGBp1 ATPase active site motifs, inhibited PVX movement, reduced GFP/TGBp1 cell-to-cell movement in N. benthamiana leaves, and eliminated GFP/TGBp1 movement in N. tabacum, N. clevelandii, and L. esculentum leaves. GFP/TGBp1m13 formed aggregates in tobacco cells. The ability of GFP/CP and mutant GFP/TGBp1 fusion proteins to move in N. benthamiana and not in the other PVX host species suggests that N. benthamiana plants have a unique ability to promote protein intercellular movement

Polythiophenes comprising conjugated pendantstoward long-term air-stable inverted polymer solar cellswith high open circuit voltages

A series of polythiophenes (PTs) functionalized with bulky conjugated side chains comprising tert-butylsubstituted carbazole (tCz) as an electron donor pendant and bisbenzothiazolylvinyl (DBT) as anelectron acceptor pendant were synthesized via Stille copolymerization for polymer solar cell (PSC)applications. We use the descriptors PTtCz, PT(tCz)0.9(DBT)0.1, PT(tCz)0.64(DBT)0.36, PT(tCz)0.45(DBT)0.55,and PTDBT to identify each of these conjugated polymers, with the names denoting the compositionsof the bulky pendants. The tunable energy levels of the PTs were accomplished by incorporating bothtCz as a donor pendant and DBT as an acceptor pendant, while retaining the low-lying HOMO levels( 5.26 to 5.39 eV). Furthermore, lower bandgaps were observed for the DBT-derived PTs because ofstronger donor–p–acceptor characteristics and more efficient intramolecular charge transfer.Conventional PSCs were fabricated by spin-coating the blend of each PT and the fullerene derivative(PC71BM). The conventional PSC devices exhibited high open circuit voltages (Voc) of around 0.79–0.91 V. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs based on PTtCz : PC71BM (w/w ¼ 1 : 2.5)reached 2.48% with a Voc of 0.91 V, short circuit current (Jsc) of 6.58 (mA cm 2) and fill factor (FF) of41% under the illumination of AM1.5, 100 mW cm 2. Furthermore, a PTtCz/PC71BM-based inverted PSCwith ZnOx and MoO3 as an electron extraction layer and a hole extraction layer respectively was capableof retaining ca. 80% of its original efficiency after storage under ambient conditions (withoutencapsulation) for 1032 h, according to the ISOS-D-1 shelf protocol. The highly durable inverted PSCaccompanied by a large Voc value was achieved for the PT-type polymers