Nuclear processes associated with plant immunity and pathogen susceptibility

Plants are sessile organisms that have evolved exquisite and sophisticated mechanisms to adapt to their biotic and abiotic environment. Plants deploy receptors and vast signalling networks to detect, transmit and respond to a given biotic threat by inducing properly dosed defence responses. Genetic analyses and, more recently, next-generation -omics approaches have allowed unprecedented insights into the mechanisms that drive immunity. Similarly, functional genomics and the emergence of pathogen genomes have allowed reciprocal studies on the mechanisms governing pathogen virulence and host susceptibility, collectively allowing more comprehensive views on the processes that govern disease and resistance. Among others, the identification of secreted pathogen molecules (effectors) that modify immunity-associated processes has changed the plant–microbe interactions conceptual landscape. Effectors are now considered both important factors facilitating disease and novel probes, suited to study immunity in plants. In this review, we will describe the various mechanisms and processes that take place in the nucleus and help regulate immune responses in plants. Based on the premise that any process required for immunity could be targeted by pathogen effectors, we highlight and describe a number of functional assays that should help determine effector functions and their impact on immune-related processes. The identification of new effector functions that modify nuclear processes will help dissect nuclear signalling further and assist us in our bid to bolster immunity in crop plants

Landscape Agency and Evenki-Iakut Reindeer Husbandry Along the Zhuia River, Eastern Siberia

This article is dedicated to the memory of Vasilii Nikolaeich Maksimov who drowned with his son while crossing the Zhuia River in 2012. The field research and laboratory analysis for this article was sponsored mainly by a grant from the Research Council of Norway (NFR 179316) within the multinational research framework “BOREAS: Histories from the North” organized by the European Science Foundation EUROCORES programme. A portion of the laboratory work, and the time for writing an analysis was made possible by an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC AdG 295458). The research could not have been carried out without the in-kind support, equipment and expertise of the Irkutsk State Technological University and the logistical support of the mining enterprise ‘Svetlyi’ based in Bodaibo. We are grateful to Iurii Vasil’evich Zharkov of the goldmining company Vitim and his uncle Iurii Alekseevich Zharkov of Svetlyi Ltd for professionally and reliably arranging ground transport for us and our equipment to and from the banks of the Zhuia River. We are also grateful to Iurii Konstantinovich Polititsyn, a lifetime resident of Svetlyi, who gave advice on sites of previous Evenki occupation and whose family helped us to navigate the river and organise the fieldwork. For this article, DGA was the principal investigator of the two grants, participated in most of the fieldwork, and composed this English text consulting Russian-language drafts prepared by EMI and OPV. EMI organized the fieldwork, conducted the trench digging, and prepared preliminary versions of the maps. OPV participated in the fieldwork, collected botanical samples, and participated in the interpretation of the pollen diagrams. ML participated in the fieldwork and conducted the phosphate analysis. The arduous work of identifying and counting the pollen grains, fungal spores and charcoal fragments was done by NVK in her laboratory in Irkutsk. We are indebted to our colleagues Drs. Ed Schofield and Dmitryi Mauquoy of the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen for drafting the pollen diagrams and constructing the age-depth model and to Paul Ledger and Ilse Kamerling, also of the University of Aberdeen, for helping draft the final versions of the maps and figures.Peer reviewedPostprin

Foraminiferal proliferations in the Alborz Basin (northern Iran): global responses to Early Carboniferous glaciations

© 2017 Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer-Verlag Berlin HeidelbergThe Tournaisian interval of the Mobarak Formation in the Alborz Basin (Iran) preserves a specific bed with Earlandiidae and three foraminiferal zones that are restricted to specific intervals within the late Tournaisian and correlate with northern Eurasian biostratigraphic units. The bed with Earlandiidae dates to the early Tournaisian and corresponds with the lower Tournaisian and lower part of the upper Tournaisian of the Russian Stratigraphic Scale. The Granuliferella latispiralis–Latiendothyranopsis zone dates back to the earliest Ivorian (MFZ4?–MFZ5) and correlates with the G. latispiralis and Spinoendothyra costifera zones of the Urals. The Eotextularia diversa zone is of earliest late Ivorian age (MFZ6) and corresponds to the lower part of the E. diversa zone of the Russian Stratigraphic Scale. The Endospiroplectammina venusta–Eoparastaffella ex gr. rotunda zone is of latest Ivorian (MFZ7–MFZ8) age and correlates with the upper part of the E. diversa zone and the E. rotunda zone of the Russian Stratigraphic Scale. The entire early Tournaisian (Hastarian) portion is devoid of recognisable foraminiferal material, which is likely linked to a faunal shift of subtropical and temperate taxa to tropical latitudes in response to the glaciations at the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. The establishment of the G. latispiralis–Latiendothyranopsis zone coincides with the first mondial Tournaisian foraminiferal radiation. The second and third episodes of foraminiferal diversification (E. diversa and E. venusta–Eoparastaffella ex gr. rotunda) are congruent with major foraminiferal shifts from Tethyan realms to higher latitudes in response to thermal periods. The occurrence of specific foraminiferal taxa in Alborz is strongly linked to transgressions and migrations of North Palaeotethyan biotic elements. The described Tournaisian cyclic patterns in the Alborz Basin share significant similarities with those in the North American, western European and Siberian realms, indicating a link with large-scale palaeoclimatic patterns. This cyclic system correlates directly with the pacing of global eustatic sea-level fluctuations caused by climate oscillations and follows the fourth-order ocean-level fluctuations as described from other, independent proxies

Information technologies in teaching humanitarian disciplines

The use of information technology in teaching humanitarian disciplines contributes to the formation of highly qualified, competitive specialists who can adapt to rapidly changing conditions, possessing a high level of development of critical and creative thinking, ready for professional self-development and self-improvement, for the implementation of reflection, capable of setting goals and systematically achieving them. The work actualizes the importance of information technology in the training of highly qualified competitive specialists capable of implementing professional activities at a high level. The purpose of the article is to analyze the experience of implementing information technologies in teaching humanitarian disciplines. Smart boards, multimedia installations, document cameras, electronic textbooks, electronic educational platforms and others were used as information technologies used in the teaching of the humanities. The study made it possible to reveal the influence of information technologies on the level of formation of students' competencies

Monolithic and hybrid integration of InAs/GaAs quantum dot microdisk lasers on silicon

A method of hybrid integration of quantum dot microdisk lasers with silicon wafer is proposed and realized. In addition to the possibility of combining microlasers with various silicon-based electronic and photonic devices, this makes it possible to significantly improve heat removal from the active region of the microlaser. The thermal resistance normalized to the mesa area reaches the level of about 0.002 (K/W)*cm2, which is significantly lower than the corresponding values of QD microlasers on GaAs substrate and monolithically grown on Si. As a result, the threshold current as well as current-induced shift of emission wavelength are reduced in continuous-wave regime

Resource-efficient low-loss four-channel active demultiplexer for single photons

We report a design and implementation of a resource-efficient spatial demultiplexer which produces 4 indistinguishable photons with efficiency of 39.7% per channel. Our scheme is based on a free-space storage/delay line which accumulates 4 photons and releases them by a controlled polarization rotation using a single Pockels cell.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic reconstructions of carbonate factory evolution in the Alborz Basin (northern Iran) indicate a global response to Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian) glaciations

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.The Lower Carboniferous Mobarak Formation records the development of a storm-sensitive pervasive carbonate factory on the southern Paleo-Tethyan passive margin following the opening of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean into the Alborz Basin along the northern margin of Gondwana. Its depositional facies encompass inner ramp peritidal environments, peloidal to crinoidal shoals, storm to fair-weather influenced mid-ramps, proximal to distal shell beds and low energy outer ramps. Sedimentological analyses and foraminiferal biostratigraphy reveal four events affecting carbonate platform evolution in the Alborz Basin during the Lower Carboniferous: (1) A transgression following global temperature rise in the Early Tournaisian (middle Hastarian) caused the formation of thick-bedded argillaceous limestones. This interval correlates with Early Tournaisian nodular to argillaceous limestones in the Moravia Basin (Lisen Formation, Czech Republic), the Dinant Basin (Pont d'Arcole Formation, Belgium), and at the Rhenish Slate Mountains (Lower Alum shale, Germany). (2) Late Hastarian–early Ivorian glaciations previously identified in Southern Gondwana but had not yet recognized in Northern Gondwana were recorded through a sequence boundary. (3) During the Late Tournaisian–Early Visean?, a differential block faulting regime along the basin's margin caused uplift of the westernmost parts of the Alborz Basin and resulted in subsidence in the eastern part of the central basin. This tectonically controlled shift in depositional regime caused vast sub-aerial exposure and brecciation preserved in the top of the Mobarak Formation in the western portion of the Central Alborz Basin. (4) Tectonic activity coinciding with a progressive, multiphase sea level drop caused indirectly by the Viséan and Serpukhovian glaciations phases ultimately led to the stagnation of the carbonate factory. Paleothermometry proxies, the presence of foraminiferal taxa with a northern Paleo-Tethyan affinity and evidence for arid conditions in the terrestrial hinterland place the Alborz Basin at lower latitudes than the approximately 45ο–50ο southern paleolatitude reported thus far

НАКОПИЧЕННЯ ЦЕФТРІАКСОНУ У ЧЕРВОПОДІБНОМУ ВІДРОСТКУ ПРИ ЗАСТОСУВАННІ ЛІМФОТРОПНОЇ ТЕРАПІЇ

У 50 хворих порівнювали накопичення антибіотиків у різних відділах червоподібного відростка (ЧВ) за їх стандартного та лімфотропного (ЛТ) введення. У двох групах по 25 хворих вводили цитобіотик (цефтріаксон) за стандартною і ЛТ методикою за 1 - 2 год до операції. Видалений ЧВ (основу, центральну частину і верхівку) вивчали шляхом гомогенізації і додавання в лабораторну культуру E. coli. Після ЛТ введення антибіотика спостерігали гальмування росту культури мікроорганізмів, що свідчило про переважне його накопичення у ЧВ при ЛТ введенні