Applying Principles of Crossbreeding to Maximize Hybrid Vigor

This fact sheet explains how crossbreeding can be a powerful tool to improve the productivity and profitability of a beef cattle operation when it is used correctly

The Receptor-Like Kinase SERK3/BAK1 Is Required for Basal Resistance against the Late Blight Pathogen Phytophthora infestans in Nicotiana benthamiana

BACKGROUND The filamentous oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans causes late blight, an economically important disease, on members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), such as the crop plants potato and tomato. The related plant Nicotiana benthamiana is a model system to study plant-pathogen interactions, and the susceptibility of N. benthamiana to Phytophthora species varies from susceptible to resistant. Little is known about the extent to which plant basal immunity, mediated by membrane receptors that recognise conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), contributes to P. infestans resistance. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We found that different species of Phytophthora have varying degrees of virulence on N. benthamiana ranging from avirulence (incompatible interaction) to moderate virulence through to full aggressiveness. The leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) BAK1/SERK3 is a major modulator of PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in Arabidopsis thaliana and N. benthamiana. We cloned two NbSerk3 homologs, NbSerk3A and NbSerk3B, from N. benthamiana based on sequence similarity to the A. thaliana gene. N. benthamiana plants silenced for NbSerk3 showed markedly enhanced susceptibility to P. infestans infection but were not altered in resistance to Phytophthora mirabilis, a sister species of P. infestans that specializes on a different host plant. Furthermore, silencing of NbSerk3 reduced the cell death response triggered by the INF1, a secreted P. infestans protein with features of PAMPs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE We demonstrated that N. benthamiana NbSERK3 significantly contributes to resistance to P. infestans and regulates the immune responses triggered by the P. infestans PAMP protein INF1. In the future, the identification of novel surface receptors that associate with NbSERK3A and/or NbSERK3B should lead to the identification of new receptors that mediate recognition of oomycete PAMPs, such as INF1.This work was supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, BBSRC, Nuffield Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG). SS was supported by a personal research fellowship (SCHO1347/1-1). JPR is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (FT0992129). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Measuring the deviation of the 2-3 lepton mixing from maximal with atmospheric neutrinos

The measurement of the deviation of the 2-3 leptonic mixing from maximal, D_23 = 1/2 - sin^2(theta_23), is one of the key issues for understanding the origin of the neutrino masses and mixing. In the three-neutrino context we study the dependence of various observables in the atmospheric neutrinos on D_23. We perform a global three-neutrino analysis of the atmospheric and reactor neutrino data taking into account the effects of both the oscillations driven by the "solar" parameters (Delta_m_21^2 and theta_12) and the 1-3 mixing. The departure from the one-dominant mass scale approximation results into the shift of the 2-3 mixing from maximal by Delta_sin^2(theta_23) ~ 0.04, so that D_23 ~ 0.04 +- 0.07 (1 sigma). Though value of the shift is not statistically significant, the tendency is robust. The shift is induced by the excess of the e-like events in the sub-GeV sample. We show that future large scale water Cherenkov detectors can determine D_23 with accuracy of a few percent, comparable with the sensitivity of future long baseline experiments. Moreover, the atmospheric neutrinos will provide unique information on the sign of the deviation (octant of theta_23).Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX2e file using RevTEX4, 6 figures and 1 table include

A matter of time: Using dynamics and theory to uncover mechanisms of transcriptional bursting

Eukaryotic transcription generally occurs in bursts of activity lasting minutes to hours; however, state-of-the-art measurements have revealed that many of the molecular processes that underlie bursting, such as transcription factor binding to DNA, unfold on timescales of seconds. This temporal disconnect lies at the heart of a broader challenge in physical biology of predicting transcriptional outcomes and cellular decision-making from the dynamics of underlying molecular processes. Here, we review how new dynamical information about the processes underlying transcriptional control can be combined with theoretical models that predict not only averaged transcriptional dynamics, but also their variability, to formulate testable hypotheses about the molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional bursting and control.Comment: 41 pages, 4 figures, review articl

High-order volterra model predictive control and its application to a nonlinear polymerisation process

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has recently found wide acceptance in the process industry, but the existing design and implementation methods are restricted to linear process models. A chemical process involves, however, severe nonlinearity which cannot be ignored in practice. This paper aims to solve this nonlinear control problem by extending MPC to nonlinear models. It develops an analytical framework for nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), and also offers a third-order Volterra series based nonparametric nonlinear modelling technique for NMPC design which relieves practising engineers from the need for first deriving a physical-principles based model. An on-line realisation technique for implementing the NMPC is also developed. The NMPC is then applied to a Mitsubishi Chemicals polymerisation reaction process. The results show that this nonlinear MPC technique is feasible and very effective. It considerably outperforms linear and low-order Volterra model based methods. The advantages of the approach developed lie not only in control performance superior to existing NMPC methods, but also in relieving practising engineers from the need for deriving an analytical model and then converting it to a Volterra model through which the model can only be obtained up to the second order

Traversable Wormholes Construction in 2+1 Dimensions

We study traversable Lorentzian wormholes in the three-dimensional low energy string theory by adding some matter source involving a dilaton field. It will be shown that there are two-different types of wormhole solutions such as BTZ and black string wormholes depending on the dilaton backgrounds, respectively. We finally obtain the desirable solutions which confine exotic matter near the throat of wormhole by adjusting NS charge.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, JHEP style, one reference adde

Quantitative transcription factor binding kinetics at the single-molecule level

We have investigated the binding interaction between the bacteriophage lambda repressor CI and its target DNA using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. Large, step-wise changes in the intensity of the red fluorescent protein fused to CI were observed as it associated and dissociated from individually labeled single molecule DNA targets. The stochastic association and dissociation were characterized by Poisson statistics. Dark and bright intervals were measured for thousands of individual events. The exponential distribution of the intervals allowed direct determination of the association and dissociation rate constants, ka and kd respectively. We resolved in detail how ka and kd varied as a function of 3 control parameters, the DNA length L, the CI dimer concentration, and the binding affinity. Our results show that although interaction with non-operator DNA sequences are observable, CI binding to the operator site is not dependent on the length of flanking non-operator DNA.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Biophysical Journa

Elucidating glycosaminoglycan–protein–protein interactions using carbohydrate microarray and computational approaches

Glycosaminoglycan polysaccharides play critical roles in many cellular processes, ranging from viral invasion and angiogenesis to spinal cord injury. Their diverse biological activities are derived from an ability to regulate a remarkable number of proteins. However, few methods exist for the rapid identification of glycosaminoglycan–protein interactions and for studying the potential of glycosaminoglycans to assemble multimeric protein complexes. Here, we report a multidisciplinary approach that combines new carbohydrate microarray and computational modeling methodologies to elucidate glycosaminoglycan–protein interactions. The approach was validated through the study of known protein partners for heparan and chondroitin sulfate, including fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and its receptor FGFR1, the malarial protein VAR2CSA, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). We also applied the approach to identify previously undescribed interactions between a specific sulfated epitope on chondroitin sulfate, CS-E, and the neurotrophins, a critical family of growth factors involved in the development, maintenance, and survival of the vertebrate nervous system. Our studies show for the first time that CS is capable of assembling multimeric signaling complexes and modulating neurotrophin signaling pathways. In addition, we identify a contiguous CS-E-binding site by computational modeling that suggests a potential mechanism to explain how CS may promote neurotrophin-tyrosine receptor kinase (Trk) complex formation and neurotrophin signaling. Together, our combined microarray and computational modeling methodologies provide a general, facile means to identify new glycosaminoglycan–protein–protein interactions, as well as a molecular-level understanding of those complexes

KMT-2018-BLG-1292: A Super-Jovian Microlens Planet in the Galactic Plane

We report the discovery of KMT-2018-BLG-1292Lb, a super-Jovian $M_{\rm planet} = 4.5\pm 1.3\,M_J$ planet orbiting an F or G dwarf $M_{\rm host} = 1.5\pm 0.4\,M_\odot$, which lies physically within {\cal O}(10\,\pc) of the Galactic plane. The source star is a heavily extincted $A_I\sim 5.2$ luminous giant that has the lowest Galactic latitude, $b=-0.28^\circ$, of any planetary microlensing event. The relatively blue blended light is almost certainly either the host or its binary companion, with the first explanation being substantially more likely. This blend dominates the light at $I$ band and completely dominates at $R$ and $V$ bands. Hence, the lens system can be probed by follow-up observations immediately, i.e., long before the lens system and the source separate due to their relative proper motion. The system is well characterized despite the low cadence $\Gamma=0.15$--$0.20\,{\rm hr^{-1}}$ of observations and short viewing windows near the end of the bulge season. This suggests that optical microlensing planet searches can be extended to the Galactic plane at relatively modest cost.Comment: 35 pages, 3 Tables, 8 figure

Requirement of RIZ1 for cancer prevention by methyl-balanced diet

The typical Western diet is not balanced in methyl nutrients that regulate the level of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and its derivative metabolite S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), which in turn may control the activity of certain methyltransferases. Feeding rodents with amino acid defined and methyl-imbalanced diet decreases hepatic SAM and causes liver cancers. RIZ1 (PRDM2 or KMT8) is a tumor suppressor and functions in transcriptional repression by methylating histone H3 lysine 9. Here we show that a methyl-balanced diet conferred additional survival benefits compared to a tumor-inducing methyl-imbalanced diet only in mice with wild type RIZ1 but not in mice deficient in RIZ1. While absence of RIZ1 was tumorigenic in mice fed the balanced diet, its presence did not prevent tumor formation in mice fed the imbalanced diet. Unlike most of its related enzymes, RIZ1 was upregulated by methyl-balanced diet. Methyl-balanced diet did not fully repress oncogenes such as c-Jun in the absence of RIZ1. The data identify RIZ1 as a critical target of methyl-balanced diet in cancer prevention. The molecular understanding of dietary carcinogenesis may help people make informed choices on diet, which may greatly reduce the incidence of cancer