Regulation of Nuclear Localization of Signaling Proteins by Cytokinin

Cytokinins are a class of mitogenic plant hormones that play an important role in most aspects of plant development, including shoot and root growth, vascular and photomorphogenic development and leaf senescence. A model for cytokinin perception and signaling has emerged that is similar to bacterial two-component phosphorelays. In this model, binding of cytokinin to the extracellular domain of the Arabidopsis histidine kinase (AHKs) receptors induces autophosphorylation within the intracellular histidine-kinase domain. The phosphoryl group is subsequently transferred to cytosolic Arabidopsis histidine phosphotransfer proteins (AHPs), which have been suggested to translocate to the nucleus in response to cytokinin treatment, where they then transfer the phosphoryl group to nuclear-localized response regulators (Type-A and Type-B ARRs). We examined the effects of cytokinin on AHP subcellular localization in Arabidopsis and, contrary to expectations, the AHPs maintained a constant nuclear/cytosolic distribution following cytokinin treatment. Furthermore, mutation of the conserved phosphoacceptor histidine residue of the AHP, as well as disruption of multiple cytokinin signaling elements, did not affect the subcellular localization of the AHP proteins. Finally, we present data indicating that AHPs maintain a nuclear/cytosolic distribution by balancing active transport into and out of the nucleus. Our findings suggest that the current models indicating relocalization of AHP protein into the nucleus in response to cytokinin are incorrect. Rather, AHPs actively maintain a consistent nuclear/cytosolic distribution regardless of the status of the cytokinin response pathway

High dimethylsulfide photolysis rates in nitrate-rich Antarctic waters

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 31 (2004): L11307, doi:10.1029/2004GL019863.The photochemistry of dimethylsulfide (DMS) was examined in the Southern Ocean to assess its impact on the biogeochemical dynamics of DMS in Antarctic waters. Very high DMS photolysis rate constants (0.16–0.23 h−1) were observed in surface waters exposed to full sunlight. DMS photolysis rates increased linearly with added nitrate concentrations, and 35% of the DMS loss in unamended samples was attributed to the photochemistry of ambient nitrate (29 μM). Experiments with optical filters showed that the UV-A band of sunlight (320–400 nm) accounted for ~65% of DMS photolysis suggesting that dissolved organic matter was the main photosensitizer for DMS photolysis. During the austral spring, DMS photolysis was the dominant loss mechanism under non-bloom and non-ice cover conditions owing to the high doses and deep penetration of UV radiation in the water column, low observed microbial consumption rates, and high in situ nitrate concentrations.This work was supported by NSF (OPP- 0230499, DJK; OPP-0230497, RPK)

indCAPS: A tool for designing screening primers for CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis events

Genetic manipulation of organisms using CRISPR/Cas9 technology generally produces small insertions/deletions (indels) that can be difficult to detect. Here, we describe a technique to easily and rapidly identify such indels. Sequence-identified mutations that alter a restriction enzyme recognition site can be readily distinguished from wild-type alleles using a cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) technique. If a restriction site is created or altered by the mutation such that only one allele contains the restriction site, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by a restriction digest can be used to distinguish the two alleles. However, in the case of most CRISPR-induced alleles, no such restriction sites are present in the target sequences. In this case, a derived CAPS (dCAPS) approach can be used in which mismatches are purposefully introduced in the oligonucleotide primers to create a restriction site in one, but not both, of the amplified templates. Web-based tools exist to aid dCAPS primer design, but when supplied sequences that include indels, the current tools often fail to suggest appropriate primers. Here, we report the development of a Python-based, species-agnostic web tool, called indCAPS, suitable for the design of PCR primers used in dCAPS assays that is compatible with indels. This tool should have wide utility for screening editing events following CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis as well as for identifying specific editing events in a pool of CRISPR-mediated mutagenesis events. This tool was field-tested in a CRISPR mutagenesis experiment targeting a cytokinin receptor (AHK3) in Arabidopsis thaliana. The tool suggested primers that successfully distinguished between wild-type and edited alleles of a target locus and facilitated the isolation of two novel ahk3 null alleles. Users can access indCAPS and design PCR primers to employ dCAPS to identify CRISPR/Cas9 alleles at http://indcaps.kieber.cloudapps.unc.edu/

Determination of Photochemically Produced Carbon Dioxide in Seawater

An analytical system was developed to determine photochemically produced carbon dioxide in marine waters. Our system was designed to measure low levels of carbon dioxide by maintaining a closed system to prevent atmospheric contamination during sample preparation, irradiation, and analysis. To detect low levels of photoproduced carbon dioxide in seawater, background dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was removed before irradiation. To strip out DIC, samples were acidified to pH 3.0 (converting DIC to carbon dioxide) and bubbled with low carbon dioxide air. The pH was then readjusted back to the original value, and the resulting low-DIC seawater samples were transferred pneumatically to air-tight quartz tubes for irradiation. During analysis, samples were pneumatically transferred to a sample loop, injected, and acidified. Carbon dioxide was then stripped out, dried, and carried to a nondispersive infrared carbon dioxide analyzer. Calibration was done with a series of low concentration aqueous carbonate standards (0.05 to 3 μmol L-1). The detection limit, defined as the concentration corresponding to three times the standard deviation of the experimental blank (i.e., DIC-stripped seawater), was similar to ~60 nmol L-1. Method precision was largely dependent on the agreement between multiple injections from the same tube (\u3c ± 2% relative standard deviation [RSD]) and the reproducibility between different tubes (±3% RSD). This method was used to measure carbon dioxide photoproduction in a variety of waters (e.g., estuarine, lake) including the first direct measurements in marine waters

Dynamic patterns of expression for genes regulating cytokinin metabolism and signaling during rice inflorescence development

Inflorescence development in cereals, including such important crops as rice, maize, and wheat, directly affects grain number and size and is a key determinant of yield. Cytokinin regulates meristem size and activity and, as a result, has profound effects on inflorescence development and architecture. To clarify the role of cytokinin action in inflorescence development, we used the NanoString nCounter system to analyze gene expression in the early stages of rice panicle development, focusing on 67 genes involved in cytokinin biosynthesis, degradation, and signaling. Results point toward key members of these gene families involved in panicle development and indicate that the expression of many genes involved in cytokinin action differs between the panicle and vegetative tissues. Dynamic patterns of gene expression suggest that subnetworks mediate cytokinin action during different stages of panicle development. The variation of expression during panicle development is greater among genes encoding proteins involved in cytokinin metabolism and negative regulators of the pathway than for the genes in the primary response pathway. These results provide insight into the expression patterns of genes involved in cytokinin action during inflorescence development in a crop of agricultural importance, with relevance to similar processes in other monocots. The identification of subnetworks of genes expressed at different stages of early panicle development suggests that manipulation of their expression could have substantial effects on inflorescence architecture

Wavelength and Temperature-Dependent Apparent Quantum Yields for Photochemical Formation of Hydrogen Peroxide in Seawater

Wavelength and temperature-dependent apparent quantum yields (AQYs) were determined for the photochemical production of hydrogen peroxide using seawater obtained from coastal and oligotrophic stations in Antarctica, the Pacific Ocean at Station ALOHA, the Gulf of Mexico, and at several sites along the East Coast of the United States. For all samples, AQYs decreased exponentially with increasing wavelength at 25 °C, ranging from 4.6 × 10−4 to 10.4 × 10−4 at 290 nm to 0.17 × 10−4 to 0.97 × 10−4 at 400 nm. AQYs for different seawater samples were remarkably similar irrespective of expected differences in the composition and concentrations of metals and dissolved organic matter (DOM) and in prior light exposure histories; wavelength-dependent AQYs for individual seawater samples differed by less than a factor of two relative to respective mean AQYs. Temperature-dependent AQYs increased between 0 and 35 °C on average by a factor of 1.8 per 10 °C, consistent with a thermal reaction (e.g., superoxide dismutation) controlling H2O2 photochemical production rates in seawater. Taken together, these results suggest that the observed poleward decrease in H2O2photochemical production rates is mainly due to corresponding poleward decreases in irradiance and temperature and not spatial variations in the composition and concentrations of DOM or metals. Hydrogen peroxide photoproduction AQYs and production rates were not constant and not independent of the photon exposure as has been implicitly assumed in many published studies. Therefore, care should be taken when comparing and interpreting published H2O2AQY or photochemical production rate results. Modeled depth-integrated H2O2 photochemical production rates were in excellent agreement with measured rates obtained from in situ free-floating drifter experiments conducted during a Gulf of Maine cruise, with differences (ca. 10%) well within measurement and modeling uncertainties. Results from this study provide a comprehensive data set of wavelength and temperature-dependent AQYs to model and remotely sense hydrogen peroxide photochemical production rates globally

Identifying priority and bright spot areas for improving diabetes care: a geospatial approach.

The objective of this study was to describe a novel geospatial methodology for identifying poor-performing (priority) and well-performing (bright spot) communities with respect to diabetes management at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level. This research was the first phase of a mixed-methods approach known as the focused rapid assessment process (fRAP). Using data from the Lehigh Valley Health Network in eastern Pennsylvania, geographical information systems mapping and spatial analyses were performed to identify diabetes prevalence and A1c control spatial clusters and outliers. We used a spatial empirical Bayes approach to adjust diabetes-related measures, mapped outliers and used the Local Moran\u27s I to identify spatial clusters and outliers. Patients with diabetes were identified from the Lehigh Valley Practice and Community-Based Research Network (LVPBRN), which comprised primary care practices that included a hospital-owned practice, a regional practice association, independent small groups, clinics, solo practitioners and federally qualified health centres. Using this novel approach, we identified five priority ZCTAs and three bright spot ZCTAs in LVPBRN. Three of the priority ZCTAs were located in the urban core of Lehigh Valley and have large Hispanic populations. The other two bright spot ZCTAs have fewer patients and were located in rural areas. As the first phase of fRAP, this method of identifying high-performing and low-performing areas offers potential to mitigate health disparities related to diabetes through targeted exploration of local factors contributing to diabetes management. This novel approach to identification of populations with diabetes performing well or poor at the local community level may allow practitioners to target focused qualitative assessments where the most can be learnt to improve diabetic management of the community

The Role of Receptor-Like Kinases in Regulating Cell Wall Function

The plant cell wall is a rigid but highly dynamic structure that provides mechanical support, protection against pathogen attack, and determines the direction and extent of cell expansion ([Humphrey et al., 2007][1]). The dynamic nature of the plant cell wall allows growing cells to expand whil

14-3-3 Regulates 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylate Synthase Protein Turnover in Arabidopsis

14-3-3 proteins are a family of conserved phospho-specific binding proteins involved in diverse physiological processes. Plants have large 14-3-3 gene families, and many binding partners have been identified, though relatively few functions have been defined. Here, we demonstrate that 14-3-3 proteins interact with multiple 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase (ACS) isoforms in Arabidopsis thaliana. ACS catalyzes the generally rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of the phytohormone ethylene. This interaction increases the stability of the ACS proteins. 14-3-3s also interact with the ETHYLENE-OVERPRODUCER1 (ETO1)/ETO1-LIKE (EOLs), a group of three functionally redundant proteins that are components of a CULLIN-3 E3 ubiquitin ligase that target a subset of the ACS proteins for rapid degradation by the 26S proteasome. In contrast with ACS, the interaction with 14-3-3 destabilizes the ETO1/EOLs. The level of the ETO1/EOLs in vivo plays a role in mediating ACS protein turnover, with increased levels leading to a decrease in ACS protein levels. These studies demonstrate that regulation of ethylene biosynthesis occurs by a mechanism in which 14-3-3 proteins act through a direct interaction and stabilization of ACS and through decreasing the abundance of the ubiquitin ligases that target a subset of ACS proteins for degradation