Gene transcription analysis during interaction between potato and Ralstonia solanacearum

Bacterial wilt (BW) caused by Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs) is an important quarantine disease that spreads worldwide and infects hundreds of plant species. The BW defense response of potato is a complicated continuous process, which involves transcription of a battery of genes. The molecular mechanisms of potato-Rs interactions are poorly understood. In this study, we combined suppression subtractive hybridization and macroarray hybridization to identify genes that are differentially expressed during the incompatible interaction between Rs and potato. In total, 302 differentially expressed genes were identified and classified into 12 groups according to their putative biological functions. Of 302 genes, 81 were considered as Rs resistance-related genes based on the homology to genes of known function, and they have putative roles in pathogen recognition, signal transduction, transcription factor functioning, hypersensitive response, systemic acquired resistance, and cell rescue and protection. Additionally, 50 out of 302 genes had no match or low similarity in the NCBI databases, and they may represent novel genes. Of seven interesting genes analyzed via RNA gel blot and semi-quantitative RT-PCR, six were induced, one was suppressed, and all had different transcription patterns. The results demonstrate that the response of potato against Rs is rapid and involves the induction of numerous various genes. The genes identified in this study add to our knowledge of potato resistance to Rs

Geometric Entropy of Nonrelativistic Fermions and Two Dimensional Strings

We consider the geometric entropy of free nonrelativistic fermions in two dimensions and show that it is ultraviolet finite for finite fermi energies, but divergent in the infrared. In terms of the corresponding collective field theory this is a {\em nonperturbative} effect and is related to the soft behaviour of the usual thermodynamic entropy at high temperatures. We then show that thermodynamic entropy of the singlet sector of the one dimensional matrix model at high temperatures is governed by nonperturbative effects of the underlying string theory. In the high temperature limit the ``exact'' expression for the entropy is regular but leads to a negative specific heat, thus implying an instability. We speculate that in a properly defined two dimensional string theory, the thermodynamic entropy could approach a constant at high temperatures and lead to a geometric entropy which is finite in the ultraviolet.Comment: LaTex, 19 pages, no figures. Some references adde

The Consistent Result of Cosmological Constant From Quantum Cosmology and Inflation with Born-Infeld Scalar Field

The Quantum cosmology with Born-Infeld(B-I) type scalar field is considered. In the extreme limits of small cosmological scale factor the wave function of the universe can also be obtained by applying the methods developed by Hartle-Hawking(H-H) and Vilenkin. H-H wave function predicts that most Probable cosmological constant $\Lambda$ equals to $\frac{1}{\eta}$($\frac{1}{2\eta}$ equals to the maximum of the kinetic energy of scalar field). It is different from the original results($\Lambda=0$) in cosmological constant obtained by Hartle-Hawking. The Vilenkin wave function predicts a nucleating unverse with largest possible cosmological constant and it is larger than $1/\eta$. The conclusions have been nicely to reconcile with cosmic inflation. We investigate the inflation model with B-I type scalar field, and find that $\eta$ depends on the amplitude of tensor perturbation $\delta_h$, with the form $\frac{1}{\eta}\simeq \frac{m^2}{12\pi[(\frac{9\delta_{\Phi}^2}{N \delta_h^2})^2-1]}.$ The vacuum energy in inflation epoch depends on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $\frac{\delta_h}{\delta_{\Phi}}$. The amplitude of the tensor perturbation ${\delta_{h}}$ can, in principle, be large enough to be discovered. However, it is only on the border of detectability in future experiments. If it has been observed in future, this is very interesting to determine the vacuum energy in inflation epoch.Comment: 12 pages, one figure, references added, accepted by European Physical Journal

Relationships between intrauterine fetal growth trajectories and markers of adiposity and inflammation in young adults

Background There is now good evidence that events during gestation significantly influence the developmental well-being of an individual in later life. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between intrauterine growth trajectories determined by serial ultrasound and subsequent markers of adiposity and inflammation in the 27-year-old adult offspring from the Raine Study, an Australian longitudinal pregnancy cohort. Methods Ultrasound fetal biometric measurements including abdominal circumference (AC), femur length (FL), and head circumference (HC) from 1333 mother-fetal pairs (Gen1–Gen2) in the Raine Study were used to develop fetal growth trajectories using group-based trajectory modeling. Linear mixed modeling investigated the relationship between adult body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) of Gen2 at 20 (n = 485), 22 (n = 421) and 27 (n = 437) years and the fetal growth trajectory groups, adjusting for age, sex, adult lifestyle factors, and maternal factors during pregnancy. Results Seven AC, five FL and five HC growth trajectory groups were identified. Compared to the average-stable (reference) group, a lower adult BMI was observed in two falling AC trajectories: (β = −1.45 kg/m2, 95% CI: −2.43 to −0.46, P = 0.004) and (β = −1.01 kg/m2, 95% CI: −1.96 to −0.05, P = 0.038). Conversely, higher adult BMI (2.58 kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.98 to 4.18, P = 0.002) and hs-CRP (37%, 95% CI: 9–73%, P = 0.008) were observed in a rising FL trajectory compared to the reference group. A high-stable HC trajectory associated with 20% lower adult hs-CRP (95% CI: 5–33%, P = 0.011). Conclusion This study highlights the importance of understanding causes of the unique patterns of intrauterine growth. Different fetal growth trajectories from early pregnancy associate with subsequent adult adiposity and inflammation, which predispose to the risk of diabetes and cardiometabolic disease

HuR binding to AU-rich elements present in the 3 ' untranslated region of Classical swine fever virus

Background: Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is the member of the genus Pestivirus under the family Flaviviridae. The 5' untranslated region (UTR) of CSFV contains the IRES, which is a highly structured element that recruits the translation machinery. The 3' UTR is usually the recognition site of the viral replicase to initiate minus-strand RNA synthesis. Adenosine-uridine rich elements (ARE) are instability determinants present in the 3' UTR of short-lived mRNAs. However, the presence of AREs in the 3' UTR of CSFV conserved in all known strains has never been reported. This study inspects a possible role of the ARE in the 3' UTR of CSFV. Results: Using RNA pull-down and LC/MS/MS assays, this study identified at least 32 possible host factors derived from the cytoplasmic extracts of PK-15 cells that bind to the CSFV 3' UTR, one of which is HuR. HuR is known to bind the AREs and protect the mRNA from degradation. Using recombinant GST-HuR, this study demonstrates that HuR binds to the ARE present in the 3' UTR of CSFV in vitro and that the binding ability is conserved in strains irrespective of virulence. Conclusions: This study identified one of the CSFV 3' UTR binding proteins HuR is specifically binding to in the ARE region

Characterization of latex allergenic components by capillary zone electrophoresis and N-terminal sequence analysis

In a previous study, protein components purified from latex gloves that elicited allergenic reactions were characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and yielded apparent molecular weights of 14, 22, 30, 34, 46, and 58 kD, These allergenic components were isolated for further characterization by capillary zone electrophoresis and N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. These components all migrated at approximately 25 and 35 min on capillary zone electrophoresis, Diode array spectral analysis detected indistinguishable characteristics between these two protein peaks, In addition, complex formation of these components with patients' immunoglobulin was demonstrated by capillary zone electrophoresis. Analysis of components separated by SDS-PAGE on a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane showed that the first 13 residues were identical to the sequence of hevein, Based on the criteria of charge-to-mass ratio and N-terminal amino acid sequence, our results suggest that these components of latex proteins are similar in the primary structure

Testing Holographic Principle from Logarithmic and Higher Order Corrections to Black Hole Entropy

The holographic principle is tested by examining the logarithmic and higher order corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes. For the BTZ black hole, I find some disagreement in the principle for a holography screen at spatial infinity beyond the leading order, but a holography with the screen at the horizon does not, with an appropriate choice of a period parameter, which has been undetermined at the leading order, in Carlip's horizon-CFT approach for black hole entropy in any dimension. Its higher dimensional generalization is considered to see a universality of the parameter choice. The horizon holography from Carlip's is compared with several other realizations of a horizon holography, including induced Wess-Zumino-Witten model approaches and quantum geometry approach, but none of the these agrees with Carlip's, after clarifications of some confusions. Some challenging open questions are listed finally.Comment: To appear in JHEP. The corrections in Sec.2 with those that follow are more clearly explained. Careful distingtion between the implications of my results to AdS/CFT and to the holograhic principl

Running Spectral Index and Formation of Primordial Black Hole in Single Field Inflation Models

A broad range of single field models of inflation are analyzed in light of all relevant recent cosmological data, checking whether they can lead to the formation of long-lived Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). To that end we calculate the spectral index of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations as well as its first and second derivatives. PBH formation is possible only if the spectral index increases significantly at small scales, i.e. large wave number $k$. Since current data indicate that the first derivative $\alpha_S$ of the spectral index $n_S(k_0)$ is negative at the pivot scale $k_0$, PBH formation is only possible in the presence of a sizable and positive second derivative ("running of the running") $\beta_S$. Among the three small-field and five large-field models we analyze, only one small-field model, the "running mass" model, allows PBH formation, for a narrow range of parameters. We also note that none of the models we analyze can accord for a large and negative value of $\alpha_S$, which is weakly preferred by current data.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, Refs. added, Minor textual change; version to appear in JCA

Near-threshold K+K^{+} Production in Heavy-ion Collisions

Within a hadronic transport model we study in detail contributions to kaon yields and momentum spectra from various baryon (resonance)-baryon (resonance) and $\pi N$ interactions in heavy-ion collisions at beam energies near the free-space kaon production threshold. It is found that the finite lifetime of baryon resonances affects significantly the shape of kaon spectra, and the high energy parts of the kaon spectra are dominated by kaons from $\pi N\rightarrow \Lambda K^{+}$ processes. $N^{*}(1440)$ resonances are found to contribute about 10\% to the kaon yield. Effects of boosting the Fermi momentum distributions of the two colliding nuclei into their center of mass frame, centrality of the reaction as well as the nuclear equation of state on kaon yields and spectra are also discussed. Model calculations on $K^{+}$, $\pi^{+}$ and $\pi^{-}$ spectra for the reaction of Au+Au at $E_{beam}/A= 1.0$ GeV are compared with the experimental data from the KaoS collaboration.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures available upon request. TAMU preprint #940403

Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravity and Generalized Second Law of Thermodynamics on the Event Horizon

In blackhole physics, the second law of thermodynamics is generally valid whether the blackhole is a static or a non-static one. Considering the universe as a thermodynamical system the second law of blackhole dynamics extends to the non-negativity of the sum of the entropy of the matter and the horizon, known as generalized second law of thermodynamics(GSLT). Here, we have assumed the universe to be bounded by the event-horizon or filled with perfect fluid and holographic dark energy in two cases. Thus considering entropy to be an arbitrary function of the area of the event-horizon, we have tried to find the conditions and the restrictions over the scalar field and equation of state for the validity of the GSLT and both in quintessence-era and in phantom-era in scalar tensor theory.Comment: 8 page