Comparative gene expression analysis of susceptible and resistant near-isogenic lines in common wheat infected by Puccinia triticina

Gene expression after leaf rust infection was compared in near-isogenic wheat lines differing in the Lr10 leaf rust resistance gene. RNA from susceptible and resistant plants was used for cDNA library construction. In total, 55 008 ESTs were sequenced from the two libraries, then combined and assembled into 14 268 unigenes for further analysis. Of these ESTs, 89% encoded proteins similar to (E value of < or =10(-5)) characterized or annotated proteins from the NCBI non-redundant database representing diverse molecular functions, cellular localization and biological processes based on gene ontology classification. Further, the unigenes were classified into susceptible and resistant classes based on the EST members assembled from the respective libraries. Several genes from the resistant sample (14-3-3 protein, wali5 protein, actin-depolymerization factor and ADP-ribosylation factor) and the susceptible sample (brown plant hopper resistance protein, caffeic acid O-methyltransferase, pathogenesis-related protein and senescence-associated protein) were selected and their differential expression in the resistant and susceptible samples collected at different time points after leaf rust infection was confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. The molecular pathogenicity of leaf rust in wheat was studied and the EST data generated made a foundation for future studies

Magnetic Exciton Mediated Superconductivity in the Hidden-Order Phase of URu2Si2

We propose the magnetic exciton mediated superconductivity occurring in the enigmatic hidden-order phase of URu2Si2. The characteristic of the massive collective excitation observed only in the hidden-order phase is well reproduced by the antiferro hexadecapole ordering model as the trace of the dispersive crystalline-electric-field excitation. The disappearance of the superconductivity in the high-pressure antiferro magnetic phase can naturally be understood by the sudden suppression of the magnetic-exciton intensity. The analysis of the momentum dependence of the magnetic-exciton mode leads to the exotic chiral d-wave singlet pairing in the Eg symmetry. The Ising-like magnetic-field response of the mode yields the strong anisotropy observed in the upper critical field even for the rather isotropic 3-dimensional Fermi surfaces of this compound.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

SU(3)_flavor analysis of two-body weak decays of charmed baryons

We study two-body weak decays of charmed baryons \Lambda_c and \Xi_c into an octet or decuplet baryon and a pseudoscalar meson employing the SU(3) flavor symmetry. Using certain measured Cabibbo-favored modes, we fix the reduced amplitudes and predict the branching ratios of various decays of charmed baryons in the Cabibbo-enhanced, -suppressed and -doubly suppressed modes.Comment: 25 pages, No figure, Phys. Rev. D (to appear

Development of 5006 Full-Length CDNAs in Barley: A Tool for Accessing Cereal Genomics Resources

A collection of 5006 full-length (FL) cDNA sequences was developed in barley. Fifteen mRNA samples from various organs and treatments were pooled to develop a cDNA library using the CAP trapper method. More than 60% of the clones were confirmed to have complete coding sequences, based on comparison with rice amino acid and UniProt sequences. Blastn homologies (E<1E-5) to rice genes and Arabidopsis genes were 89 and 47%, respectively. Of the 5028 possible amino acid sequences derived from the 5006 FLcDNAs, 4032 (80.2%) were classified into 1678 GreenPhyl multigenic families. There were 555 cDNAs showing low homology to both rice and Arabidopsis. Gene ontology annotation by InterProScan indicated that many of these cDNAs (71%) have no known molecular functions and may be unique to barley. The cDNAs showed high homology to Barley 1 GeneChip oligo probes (81%) and the wheat gene index (84%). The high homology between FLcDNAs (27%) and mapped barley expressed sequence tag enabled assigning linkage map positions to 151–233 FLcDNAs on each of the seven barley chromosomes. These comprehensive barley FLcDNAs provide strong platform to connect pre-existing genomic and genetic resources and accelerate gene identification and genome analysis in barley and related species

The K2K SciBar Detector

A new near detector, SciBar, for the K2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation expe riment was installed to improve the measurement of neutrino energy spectrum and to study neutrino interactions in the energy region around 1 GeV. SciBar is a 'fully active' tracking detector with fine segmentation consisting of plastic scintillator bars. The detector was constructed in summer 2003 and is taking data since October 2003. The basic design and initial performance is presented.Comment: 7 pages, 4figures, Contributed to Proceedings of the 10th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, Vienna, February 16-21, 200

Precise study of the resonance at Q0=(1,0,0) in URu2Si2

New inelastic neutron scattering experiments have been performed on URu2Si2 with special focus on the response at Q0=(1,0,0), which is a clear signature of the hidden order (HO) phase of the compound. With polarized inelastic neutron experiments, it is clearly shown that below the HO temperature (T0 = 17.8 K) a collective excitation (the magnetic resonance at E0 \approx 1.7 meV) as well as a magnetic continuum co-exist. Careful measurements of the temperature dependence of the resonance lead to the observation that its position shifts abruptly in temperature with an activation law governed by the partial gap opening and that its integrated intensity has a BCS-type temperature dependence. Discussion with respect to recent theoretical development is made

Replication Study of Candidate Genes Associated With Type 2 Diabetes Based On Genome-Wide Screening

OBJECTIVE—The present study was conducted to confirm possible associations between candidate genes from genome-wide association studies and type 2 diabetes in Japanese diabetic patients and a community-based general population. A total of 11 previously reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the TCF7L2, CDKAL1, HHEX, IGF2BP2, CDKN2A/B, SLC30A8, and KCNJ11 genes were analyzed

Nonet Symmetry and Two-Body Decays of Charmed Mesons

The decay of charmed mesons into pseudoscalar (P) and vector (V) mesons is studied in the context of nonet symmetry. We have found that it is badly broken in the PP channels and in the P sector of the PV channels as expected from the non-ideal mixing of the \eta and the \eta'. In the VV channels, it is also found that nonet symmetry does not describe the data well. We have found that this discrepancy cannot be attributed entirely to SU(3) breaking at the usual level of 20--30%. At least one, or both, of nonet and SU(3) symmetry must be very badly broken. The possibility of resolving the problem in the future is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, UTAPHY-HEP-

Evolution of Heterogeneous Antiferromagnetic State in URu2Si2: Study of Hydrostatic-Pressure, Uniaxial-Stress and Rh-Dope Effects

We have investigated the nature of the competition between hidden order and antiferromagnetic (AF) order in URu_2Si_2 by performing the neutron scattering experiments under hydrostatic-pressure P, uniaxial-stress sigma, and Rh-substitution conditions. Hidden order observed at ambient pressure in pure URu_2Si_2 is found to be replaced by the AF order by applying P, sigma along the tetragonal basal plane, and by doping Rh. We discuss these experimental results on the basis of the crystalline strain calculations, and suggest that this phase transition is generated by the 0.1% increase of the tetragonal c/a ratio. We have also found that the magnetic excitation observed in the hidden order phase vanishes in the AF phase. We show that this variation can be qualitatively explained by assuming the hidden order parameter to be quadrupole.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of workshop on Novel Pressure-Induced Phenomena In Condensed Matter Systems, 2006 Fukuok