Interdisciplinary environmental studies in urban parks as a basis for their sustainable management

The goal of this paper is to present interdisciplinary environmental studies in urban park. Simple measures are proposed here for evaluating the status of vegetation and its habitat. When systematically applied, these measures could be a basis for sustainable management of the park greenery. Studies performed in Skaryszewski Park in Warsaw are as an example. Studies confirmed the assumption that simple and relatively cheap field and laboratory methods could be a good basis for recognising the status of plant habitats in parks

How to explore what is hidden? A review of techniques for vascular tissue expression profile analysis

Abstract The evolution of plants to efficiently transport water and assimilates over long distances is a major evolutionary success that facilitated their growth and colonization of land. Vascular tissues, namely xylem and phloem, are characterized by high specialization, cell heterogeneity, and diverse cell components. During differentiation and maturation, these tissues undergo an irreversible sequence of events, leading to complete protoplast degradation in xylem or partial degradation in phloem, enabling their undisturbed conductive function. Due to the unique nature of vascular tissue, and the poorly understood processes involved in xylem and phloem development, studying the molecular basis of tissue differentiation is challenging. In this review, we focus on methods crucial for gene expression research in conductive tissues, emphasizing the importance of initial anatomical analysis and appropriate material selection. We trace the expansion of molecular techniques in vascular gene expression studies and discuss the application of single-cell RNA sequencing, a high-throughput technique that has revolutionized transcriptomic analysis. We explore how single-cell RNA sequencing will enhance our knowledge of gene expression in conductive tissues

Alterations in N-glycosylation of HCV E2 Protein in Children Patients with IFN-RBV Therapy Failure

The glycosylation of viral envelope proteins plays an important role in virus biology and the immune response of the host to infection. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope proteins E1 and E2, key players in virus entry and spread, are highly N-glycosylated and possess 4 (5 in certain genotypes) to 11 conserved glycosylation sites, respectively. Many published results based on recombinant proteins indicate that the glycan shield can mask the epitopes targeted by neutralizing antibodies. Glycan shifting within the conserved linear E2 region (412–423) could be one of the escape strategies used by HCV. In the present report, we isolated E2 genes from samples (collected before the IFN-RBV therapy) originating from pediatric patients infected with HCV gt 1a. We analyzed the biochemical properties of cloned E2 glycoprotein variants and investigated their glycosylation status. The sequencing of E2 genes isolated from patients who did not respond to therapy revealed mutations at N-glycosylation sites, thus leading to a lower molecular weight and a low affinity to both linear and conformational neutralizing antibodies. The loss of the glycosylation site within the conserved epitope (amino acid 417) impaired the binding with AP33, an antibody that potently neutralizes all genotypes of HCV. Our findings, based on clinical samples, confirm the influence of N-glycosylation aberrations on the antigenic and conformational properties of HCV E1/E2, which may possibly correlate with the outcome of therapy in patients

Variability of stomata and 45S and 5S rDNAs loci characteristics in two species of Anthoxanthum genus: A. aristatum and A. odoratum (Poaceae)

Diploid Anthoxanthum odoratum and tetraploid A. aristatum were compared with respect to stomatal guard cell lengths, and stomatal density at adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the lamina. Further, the genome size of both species was determined by flow cytometry, and the number as well as the chromosomal distribution of 5S and 45S rDNAs were examined using FISH with ribosomal DNA (rDNA) probes. The average length of stomatal guard cells in A. odoratum was shown to be greater than that for A. aristatum, but the ranges overlapped. Moreover, reduction in stomatal frequency was found at higher ploidy levels.The genome size was 6.863 pg/2C DNA for A. aristatum and 13.252 pg/2C DNA for A. odoratum. A. aristatum has four sites of 5S rDNA in its root-tip meristematic cells, whereas A. odoratum has six. Both species have six sites of 45S rDNA. Chromosomal localization of the rDNA varied, which suggests that chromosome rearrangements took place during Anthoxanthum genome evolution