Sublethal Heavy Metal Stress Stimulates Innate Immunity in Tomato

Effect of sublethal heavy metal stress as plant biotic elicitor for triggering innate immunity in tomato plant was investigated. Copper in in vivo condition induced accumulation of defense enzymes like peroxidase (PO), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), and β-1,3 glucanase along with higher accumulation of total phenol, antioxidative enzymes (catalase and ascorbate peroxidase), and total chlorophyll content. Furthermore, the treatment also induced nitric oxide (NO) production which was confirmed by realtime visualization of NO burst using a fluorescent probe 4,5-diaminofluorescein diacetate (DAF-2DA) and spectrophotometric analysis. The result suggested that the sublethal dose of heavy metal can induce an array of plant defense responses that lead to the improvement of innate immunity in plants

Gathering over Meeting Nodes in Infinite Grid

The gathering over meeting nodes problem asks the robots to gather at one of the pre-defined meeting nodes. The robots are deployed on the nodes of an anonymous two-dimensional infinite grid which has a subset of nodes marked as meeting nodes. Robots are identical, autonomous, anonymous and oblivious. They operate under an asynchronous scheduler. They do not have any agreement on a global coordinate system. All the initial configurations for which the problem is deterministically unsolvable have been characterized. A deterministic distributed algorithm has been proposed to solve the problem for the remaining configurations. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is studied in terms of the number of moves required for gathering. A lower bound concerning the total number of moves required to solve the gathering problem has been derived

Zinc Fertilization in Potato: A Physiological and Bio-chemical Study

Aims: More than 54% of soils in West Bengal are Zinc (Zn) deficient and therefore, Zn−fertilization is assumed to play a key role not only for increasing potato yield but also for combating wide spread deficiency of micronutrients (mainly Zn) in many potato growing areas of the state. Place and Duration of Study: A two-year field experiment was conducted during winter 2013-14 and 2014-15 at to assess the advantages of Zn nutrition in potato cv. Kufri Jyoti under alluvial soil (Entisols) of West Bengal, India Methodology: The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) having five treatments and four replications The potato was fertilized with five zinc levels (0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 kg Zn ha−1) through zinc sulphate heptahydrate i.e. ZnSO4, 7H2O (commercial grade Multi-Zn contained 21% Zn) at the time of planting. A uniform dose of NPK at 200:150:150 kg ha−1 RDF was applied in all the plots in the form of urea (46% N), single super phosphate (16% P2O5), and muriate of potash (60% K2O). Results: Application Zn fertilizer at 4.5 kg ha−1 recorded significantly higher germination %, plant height, leaf area index (LAI), dry matter accumulation (DMA) and number of tubers hill−1. Total number and yield of tuber ha−1 were also changed significantly (P≤ .05) with the levels of Zn-fertilization. Quality parameters like total soluble solids (TSS), total acidity, ascorbic acid, starch and amount of total sugar contents of fresh potato tuber as well as organoleptic quality of chips (colour) also influenced significantly (P≤ .05) with varied levels of Zn fertilization. Conclusion: Results suggest that application of 4.5 kg Zn ha−1 in combination with recommended dose fertilizer (RDF) of NPK (i.e. 200:150:150 kg ha−1) is vital for optimizing yield components, yield and quality of potato (cv. Kufri Jyoti) in trans-Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India

Immunodeficiency, autoimmune thrombocytopenia and enterocolitis caused by autosomal recessive deficiency of PIK3CD-encoded phosphoinositide 3-kinase δ.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase δ (PI3Kδ), a lipid kinase consisting of a catalytic (p110δ, encoded by PIK3CD) and a regulatory subunit (p85, encoded by PIK3R1), generates the second messenger phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3) in the plasma membrane of leukocytes downstream of antigen and cytokine receptors.1 Signaling via PDK1, AKT, mTOR and downstream targets such as FOXO1, contributes to the metabolic and transcriptional changes required for the expansion, differentiation and effector function of lymphocytes. Activating germline mutations in PIK3CD cause the immune dysregulatory disease activated PI3Kδ syndrome (APDS), usually presenting with recurrent sinopulmonary infections in childhood, herpesvirus infections and CD4+ lymphopenia, underscoring the important role of balanced p110δ activity in human adaptive immunity. Ablation of p110δ in mice leads to aberrant T cell responses and intestinal inflammation. In humans, immune dysregulation including severe colitis is present in many cancer patients who are treated with the p110δ-specific inhibitor Idelalisib. Recently, one patient with autosomal recessive deficiency of p85α and two patients with loss-of function mutations in p110δ have been described who developed humoral immunodeficiency and colitis

Universal Stress Proteins Are Important for Oxidative and Acid Stress Resistance and Growth of Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e In Vitro and In Vivo

Background: Pathogenic bacteria maintain a multifaceted apparatus to resist damage caused by external stimuli. As part of this, the universal stress protein A (UspA) and its homologues, initially discovered in Escherichia coli K-12 were shown to possess an important role in stress resistance and growth in several bacterial species. Methods and Findings: We conducted a study to assess the role of three homologous proteins containing the UspA domain in the facultative intracellular human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes under different stress conditions. The growth properties of three UspA deletion mutants (deltalmo0515, deltalmo1580 and deltalmo2673) were examined either following challenge with a sublethal concentration of hydrogen peroxide or under acidic conditions. We also examined their ability for intracellular survival within murine macrophages. Virulence and growth of usp mutants were further characterized in invertebrate and vertebrate infection models. Tolerance to acidic stress was clearly reduced in Δlmo1580 and deltalmo0515, while oxidative stress dramatically diminished growth in all mutants. Survival within macrophages was significantly decreased in deltalmo1580 and deltalmo2673 as compared to the wild-type strain. Viability of infected Galleria mellonella larvae was markedly higher when injected with deltalmo1580 or deltalmo2673 as compared to wild-type strain inoculation, indicating impaired virulence of bacteria lacking these usp genes. Finally, we observed severely restricted growth of all chromosomal deletion mutants in mice livers and spleens as compared to the load of wild-type bacteria following infection. Conclusion: This work provides distinct evidence that universal stress proteins are strongly involved in listerial stress response and survival under both in vitro and in vivo growth conditions

Interleukin-12p40 Modulates Human Metapneumovirus-Induced Pulmonary Disease in an Acute Mouse Model of Infection

The mechanisms that regulate the host immune response induced by human metapneumovirus (hMPV), a newly-recognized member of the Paramyxoviridae family, are largely unknown. Cytokines play an important role in modulating inflammatory responses during viral infections. IL-12p40, a known important mediator in limiting lung inflammation, is induced by hMPV and its production is sustained after the resolution phase of infection suggesting that this cytokine plays a role in the immune response against hMPV. In this work, we demonstrated that in mice deficient in IL-12p40, hMPV infection induced an exacerbated pulmonary inflammatory response and mucus production, altered cytokine response, and decreased lung function. However, hMPV infection in these mice does not have an effect on viral replication. These results identify an important regulatory role of IL-12p40 in hMPV infection

On Nil-Symmetric Rings

The concept of nil-symmetric rings has been introduced as a generalization of symmetric rings and a particular case of nil-semicommutative rings. A ring R is called right (left) nil-symmetric if, for a,b,c∈R, where a,b are nilpotent elements, abc=0  (cab=0) implies acb=0. A ring is called nil-symmetric if it is both right and left nil-symmetric. It has been shown that the polynomial ring over a nil-symmetric ring may not be a right or a left nil-symmetric ring. Further, it is also proved that if R is right (left) nil-symmetric, then the polynomial ring R[x] is a nil-Armendariz ring

Mutual Visibility by Fat Robots with Slim Omnidirectional Camera

In the existing literature of the Mutual Visibility problem for autonomous robot swarms, the adopted visibility models have some idealistic assumptions that are not consistent with practical sensing device implementations. This paper investigates the problem in the more realistic visibility model called opaque fat robots with slim omnidirectional camera. The robots are modeled as unit disks, each having an omnidirectional camera represented as a disk of smaller size. We assume that the robots have compasses that allow agreement in the direction and orientation of both axes of their local coordinate systems. The robots are equipped with visible lights which serve as a medium of communication and also as a form of memory. We present a distributed algorithm for the Mutual Visibility problem which is provably correct in the semi-synchronous setting. Our algorithm also provides a solution for Leader Election which we use as a subroutine in our main algorithm. Although Leader Election is trivial with two axis agreement in the full visibility model, it is challenging in our case and is of independent interest

<i>Ex vivo</i> analyses of formulated bio-elicitors from a phytopathogen in the improvement of innate immunity in host

<p>Three different bio-elicitors viz. BE 1, BE 2 and BE 3 were formulated from <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>lycopersici.</i> All three elicitors were screened for defence regulating capacity in an <i>ex vivo</i> system where <i>Lycopersicum esculentum</i> was used as a model host plant. Application of bio-elicitors on detached leaves showed varied degrees of defence induction and antioxidative enzymes and total phenol accumulation after 24 h incubation. Among all, BE 3 (2%) was found to be the most effective. Furthermore, production of nitric oxide (NO) was measured in treated leaves, and concurrently, the extent of oxidative damage was evaluated by measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and total chlorophyll content. All bio-elicitors except BE 3, which was effective at concentrations as low as 2%, showed enhanced production of MDA and proline and reduction in total chlorophyll at higher concentrations. These results suggest that among three elicitors tested, BE 3 (2%) can be used as a potential bio-elicitor in organic tomato farming.</p