363 research outputs found
Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study
The control of flowering in perennial grasses is an important trait, especially among biofuel feedstocks. Lignocellulosic biomass may be increased commensurate with decreased or delayed flowering as the plant allocates energy for stems and leaves harvested for bioenergy at the end of the growing season. For transgenic feedstocks, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) grown in its geographic center of distribution, it is foreseeable that regulators may require greatly decreased gene flow frequencies to enable commercialization. Transgenic switchgrass with various overexpression levels of a rice microRNA gene, miR156, when grown in field conditions, holds promise for decreased flowering, yielding high biomass, and altered cell wall traits, which renders it as a potential crossing partner for further breeding with switchgrass lines for decreased recalcitrance. In the current research, we simulated a latitudinal cline in controlled growth chamber experiments for various individual sites from the tropics to cool-temperate conditions which included weekly average high and low temperatures and day lengths over the switchgrass growing season for each simulated site: Guayaquil, Ecuador; Laredo, Texas, USA; and Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. Flowering and reproduction among transgenic lines with low (T-14 and T-35)-to-moderate (T-27 and T-37) overexpression of miR156 were assessed. Lower simulated latitudes (higher temperatures with low-variant day length) and long growing seasons promoted flowering of the miR156 transgenic switchgrass lines. Tropical conditions rescued the flowering phenotype in all transgenic lines except T-27. Higher numbers of plants in lines T-35 and T-37 and the controls produced panicles, which also occurred earlier in the study as temperatures increased and day length decreased. Line T-14 was the exception as more clonal replicates flowered in the cool-temperate (Vermont) conditions. Increased biomass was found in transgenic lines T-35 and T-37 in tropical conditions. No difference in biomass was found in subtropical (Texas) chambers, and two lines (T-14 and T-35) produced less biomass than the control in cool-temperate conditions. Our findings suggest that switchgrass plants engineered to overexpress miR156 for delayed flowering to promote bioconfinement and biomass production may be used for plant breeding at tropical sites
Very bright orange fluorescent plants: endoplasmic reticulum targeting of orange fluorescent proteins as visual reporters in transgenic plants
Background
The expression of fluorescent protein (FP) genes as real-time visual markers, both transiently and stably, has revolutionized plant biotechnology. A palette of colors of FPs is now available for use, but the diversity has generally been underutilized in plant biotechnology. Because of the green and far-red autofluorescent properties of many plant tissues and the FPs themselves, red and orange FPs (RFPs, and OFPs, respectfully) appear to be the colors with maximum utility in plant biotechnology. Within the color palette OFPs have emerged as the brightest FP markers in the visible spectra. This study compares several native, near-native and modified OFPs for their “brightness” and fluorescence, therefore, their usability as marker genes in transgenic plant tissues. Results
The OFPs DsRed2, tdTomato, mOrange and pporRFP were all expressed under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter in agroinfiltration-mediated transient assays in Nicotiana benthamiana. Each of these, as well as endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeted versions, were stably expressed in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum and Arabidopsis thaliana. Congruent results were observed between transient and stable assays. Our results demonstrated that there are several adequate OFP genes available for plant transformation, including the new pporRFP, an unaltered tetramer from the hard coral Porites porites. When the tandem dimer tdTomato and the monomeric mOrange were targeted to the ER, dramatic, ca. 3-fold, increase in plant fluorescence was observed. Conclusions
From our empirical data, and a search of the literature, it appears that tdTomato-ER and mOrange-ER are the two highest fluorescing FPs available as reporters for transgenic plants. The pporRFP is a brightly fluorescing tetramer, but all tetramer FPs are far less bright than the ER-targeted monomers we report here
Genetic load and transgenic mitigating genes in transgenic \u3ci\u3eBrassica rapa\u3c/i\u3e (field mustard) × \u3ci\u3eBrassica napus\u3c/i\u3e (oilseed rape) hybrid populations
Abstract Background
One theoretical explanation for the relatively poor performance of Brassica rapa (weed) × Brassica napus (crop) transgenic hybrids suggests that hybridization imparts a negative genetic load. Consequently, in hybrids genetic load could overshadow any benefits of fitness enhancing transgenes and become the limiting factor in transgenic hybrid persistence. Two types of genetic load were analyzed in this study: random/linkage-derived genetic load, and directly incorporated genetic load using a transgenic mitigation (TM) strategy. In order to measure the effects of random genetic load, hybrid productivity (seed yield and biomass) was correlated with crop- and weed-specific AFLP genomic markers. This portion of the study was designed to answer whether or not weed × transgenic crop hybrids possessing more crop genes were less competitive than hybrids containing fewer crop genes. The effects of directly incorporated genetic load (TM) were analyzed through transgene persistence data. TM strategies are proposed to decrease transgene persistence if gene flow and subsequent transgene introgression to a wild host were to occur. Results
In the absence of interspecific competition, transgenic weed × crop hybrids benefited from having more crop-specific alleles. There was a positive correlation between performance and number of B. napus crop-specific AFLP markers [seed yield vs. marker number (r = 0.54, P = 0.0003) and vegetative dry biomass vs. marker number (r = 0.44, P = 0.005)]. However under interspecific competition with wheat or more weed-like conditions (i.e. representing a situation where hybrid plants emerge as volunteer weeds in subsequent cropping systems), there was a positive correlation between the number of B. rapa weed-specific AFLP markers and seed yield (r = 0.70, P = 0.0001), although no such correlation was detected for vegetative biomass. When genetic load was directly incorporated into the hybrid genome, by inserting a fitness-mitigating dwarfing gene that that is beneficial for crops but deleterious for weeds (a transgene mitigation measure), there was a dramatic decrease in the number of transgenic hybrid progeny persisting in the population. Conclusion
The effects of genetic load of crop and in some situations, weed alleles might be beneficial under certain environmental conditions. However, when genetic load was directly incorporated into transgenic events, e.g., using a TM construct, the number of transgenic hybrids and persistence in weedy genomic backgrounds was significantly decreased
Examining increased flexibility in assessment formats
There have been calls in the literature for changes to assessment practices in higher education, to increase flexibility and give learners more control over the assessment process (Boud and Falchikov 2006; Nicol and MacFarlane-Dick 2006; Taras 2002). This article explores the possibilities of allowing student choice in the format used to present their work, as a starting point for changing assessment, based on recent studies and current examples of flexible assessment practice in Higher Education. The benefits of this flexible assessment format approach are highlighted, along with a discussion of classic assessment considerations such as validity, reliability and marking concerns. The role of technology in facilitating assessment method choice is considered, in terms of new opportunities for providing student choice in the way they evidence their learning and present their work. Considerations for implementing flexible assessment choices into the curriculum are presented, along with a call that further research into such practice is needed to develop a comprehensive set of practical recommendations and best practice for implementation of flexible assessment choice into the curriculum. The article should be of interest to curriculum developers and academics considering implementing changes to the assessment process to increase student ownership and control
Improving the professional knowledge base for education: Using knowledge management (KM) and Web 2.0 tools
Improving education systems is an elusive goal. Despite considerable investment, international studies such as the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) project and the McKinsey Report How the world’s best performing schools come out on top indicate that improving teacher quality is more important than increased financial investment. Both reports challenge governments, academics and practitioners to adopt new ways of sharing and building knowledge.
This paper makes the case for national education systems to adopt tried and tested knowledge management and web 2.0 tools used by other sectors and highlights the neglected potential of teacher educators as agents for improvement
Assessing the bioconfinement potential of a Nicotianahybrid platform for use in plant molecular farming applications
Research: Epidemiology Associations of blood glucose and prevalent diabetes with risk of cardiovascular disease in 500 000 adult Chinese: the China Kadoorie Biobank
Abstract Aims To examine the relationship of self-reported diabetes, and of random blood glucose levels among individuals without known diabetes, with the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Chinese adults. Methods We examined cross-sectional data from the China Kadoorie Biobank of 0.5 million people aged 30-79 years recruited from 10 diverse regions of China in the period [2004][2005][2006][2007][2008]. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios of prevalent cardiovascular disease associated with self-reported diabetes, and with measured random blood glucose levels among participants with no history of diabetes, adjusting simultaneously for age, sex, area, education, smoking, alcohol, blood pressure and physical activity. Results A total of 3.2% of participants had self-reported diabetes (men 2.9%; women 3.3%) and 2.8% had screen-detected diabetes (men 2.6%; women 2.8%), i.e. they had no self-reported history of diabetes but a blood glucose level suggestive of a diagnosis of diabetes. Compared with individuals without a history of diabetes, the odds ratios associated with self-reported diabetes were 2.18 (95% CI 2.06-2.30) and 1.88 (95% CI 1.75-2.01) for prevalent ischaemic heart disease and stroke/transient ischaemic attack, respectively. Among participants without self-reported diabetes there was a positive association between random blood glucose and ischaemic heart disease and stroke/transient ischaemic attack prevalence (P for trend <0.0001). Below the diabetic threshold (<11.1 mmol/l) each additional 1 mmol/ l of random blood glucose was associated with 4% (95% CI 2-5%) and 5% (95% CI 3-7%) higher odds of prevalent ischaemic heart disease and stroke/transient ischaemic attack, respectively. Conclusions In this adult Chinese population, self-reported diabetes was associated with a doubling of the odds of prevalent cardiovascular disease. Below the threshold for diabetes there was still a modest, positive association between random blood glucose and prevalent cardiovascular disease
Rapid in vivo analysis of synthetic promoters for plant pathogen phytosensing
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to engineer transgenic plants for the purpose of early detection of plant pathogen infection, which was accomplished by employing synthetic pathogen inducible promoters fused to reporter genes for altered phenotypes in response to the pathogen infection. Toward this end, a number of synthetic promoters consisting of inducible regulatory elements fused to a red fluorescent protein (RFP) reporter were constructed for use in phytosensing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For rapid analysis, an <it>Agrobacterium</it>-mediated transient expression assay was evaluated, then utilized to assess the inducibility of each synthetic promoter construct <it>in vivo</it>. Tobacco (<it>Nicotiana tabacum </it>cv. Xanthi) leaves were infiltrated with <it>Agrobacterium </it>harboring the individual synthetic promoter-reporter constructs. The infiltrated tobacco leaves were re-infiltrated with biotic (bacterial pathogens) or abiotic (plant defense signal molecules salicylic acid, ethylene and methyl jasmonate) agents 24 and 48 hours after initial agroinfiltration, followed by RFP measurements at relevant time points after treatment. These analyses indicated that the synthetic promoter constructs were capable of conferring the inducibility of the RFP reporter in response to appropriate phytohormones and bacterial pathogens, accordingly.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These observations demonstrate that the <it>Agrobacterium</it>-mediated transient expression is an efficient method for <it>in vivo </it>assays of promoter constructs in less than one week. Our results provide the opportunity to gain further insights into the versatility of the expression system as a potential tool for high-throughput <it>in planta </it>expression screening prior to generating stably transgenic plants for pathogen phytosensing. This system could also be utilized for temporary phytosensing; e.g., not requiring stably transgenic plants.</p
Trans-ethnic Mendelian-randomization study reveals causal relationships between cardiometabolic factors and chronic kidney disease.
Funder: Government Department of BusinessFunder: Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)Funder: Vice-Chancellor Fellowship from the University of BristolFunder: Shanghai Thousand Talents ProgramFunder: Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) Springboard AwardFunder: BBSRC Innovation fellowshipFunder: NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of BristolBACKGROUND: This study was to systematically test whether previously reported risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) are causally related to CKD in European and East Asian ancestries using Mendelian randomization. METHODS: A total of 45 risk factors with genetic data in European ancestry and 17 risk factors in East Asian participants were identified as exposures from PubMed. We defined the CKD by clinical diagnosis or by estimated glomerular filtration rate of 25 kg/m2. CONCLUSIONS: Eight cardiometabolic risk factors showed causal effects on CKD in Europeans and three of them showed causality in East Asians, providing insights into the design of future interventions to reduce the burden of CKD.This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank resource under Application Numbers ‘40135’ and ‘15825’. J.Z. is funded by a Vice-Chancellor Fellowship from the University of Bristol. This research was also funded by the UK Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit [MC_UU_00011/1, MC_UU_00011/4 and MC_UU_00011/7]. J.Z. is supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) Springboard Award, the Wellcome Trust, the Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK [SBF006\1117]. This study was funded/supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol (G.D.S., T.R.G. and R.E.W.). This study received funding from the UK Medical Research Council [MR/R013942/1]. J.Z., Y.M.Z. and T.R.G are funded by a BBSRC Innovation fellowship. J.Z. is supported by the Shanghai Thousand Talents Program. Y.M.Z. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81800636]. H.Z. is supported by the Training Program of the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [91642120], a grant from the Science and Technology Project of Beijing, China [D18110700010000] and the University of Michigan Health System–Peking University Health Science Center Joint Institute for Translational and Clinical Research [BMU2017JI007]. N.F. is supported by the National Institutes of Health awards R01-MD012765, R01-DK117445 and R21-HL140385. R.C. is funded by a Wellcome Trust GW4 Clinical Academic Training Fellowship [WT 212557/Z/18/Z]. The Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT Study) is a collaboration between HUNT Research Centre (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Trøndelag County Council, Central Norway Regional Health Authority and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. M.C.B. is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) Skills Development Fellowship [MR/P014054/1]. S.F. is supported by a Wellcome Trust PhD studentship [WT108902/Z/15/Z]. Q.Y. is funded by a China Scholarship Council PhD scholarship [CSC201808060273]. Y.C. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [2016YFC0900500, 2016YFC0900501 and 2016YFC0900504]. The China Kadoorie Biobank baseline survey and the first resurvey were supported by a grant from the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong. The long-term follow-up is supported by grants from the UK Wellcome Trust [202922/Z/16/Z, 088158/Z/09/Z and 104085/Z/14/Z]. Japan-Kidney-Biobank was supported by AMED under Grant Number 20km0405210. P.C.H. is supported by Cancer Research UK [grant number: C18281/A19169]. A.K. was supported by DFG KO 3598/5–1. N.F. is supported by NIH awards R01-DK117445, R01-MD012765 and R21-HL140385. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health
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