New insights into globoids of protein storage vacuoles in wheat aleurone using synchrotron soft X-ray microscopy

Mature developed seeds are physiologically and biochemically committed to store nutrients, principally as starch, protein, oils, and minerals. The composition and distribution of elements inside the aleurone cell layer reflect their biogenesis, structural characteristics, and physiological functions. It is therefore of primary importance to understand the mechanisms underlying metal ion accumulation, distribution, storage, and bioavailability in aleurone subcellular organelles for seed fortification purposes. Synchrotron radiation soft X-ray full-field imaging mode (FFIM) and low-energy X-ray fluorescence (LEXRF) spectromicroscopy were applied to characterize major structural features and the subcellular distribution of physiologically important elements (Zn, Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, and P). These direct imaging methods reveal the accumulation patterns between the apoplast and symplast, and highlight the importance of globoids with phytic acid mineral salts and walls as preferential storage structures. C, N, and O chemical topographies are directly linked to the structural backbone of plant substructures. Zn, Fe, Na, Mg, Al, and P were linked to globoid structures within protein storage vacuoles with variable levels of co-localization. Si distribution was atypical, being contained in the aleurone apoplast and symplast, supporting a physiological role for Si in addition to its structural function. These results reveal that the immobilization of metals within the observed endomembrane structures presents a structural and functional barrier and affects bioavailability. The combination of high spatial and chemical X-ray microscopy techniques highlights how in situ analysis can yield new insights into the complexity of the wheat aleurone layer, whose precise biochemical composition, morphology, and structural characteristics are still not unequivocally resolved

Plasma–liquid interactions: a review and roadmap

Plasma–liquid interactions represent a growing interdisciplinary area of research involving plasma science, fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, photolysis, multiphase chemistry and aerosol science. This review provides an assessment of the state-of-the-art of this multidisciplinary area and identifies the key research challenges. The developments in diagnostics, modeling and further extensions of cross section and reaction rate databases that are necessary to address these challenges are discussed. The review focusses on non-equilibrium plasmas

Exon expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines from subjects with schizophrenia before and after glucose deprivation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of glucose reduction stress on lymphoblastic cell line (LCL) gene expression in subjects with schizophrenia compared to non-psychotic relatives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>LCLs were grown under two glucose conditions to measure the effects of glucose reduction stress on exon expression in subjects with schizophrenia compared to unaffected family member controls. A second aim of this project was to identify cis-regulated transcripts associated with diagnosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were a total of 122 transcripts with significant diagnosis by probeset interaction effects and 328 transcripts with glucose deprivation by probeset interaction probeset effects after corrections for multiple comparisons. There were 8 transcripts with expression significantly affected by the interaction between diagnosis and glucose deprivation and probeset after correction for multiple comparisons. The overall validation rate by qPCR of 13 diagnosis effect genes identified through microarray was 62%, and all genes tested by qPCR showed concordant up- or down-regulation by qPCR and microarray. We assessed brain gene expression of five genes found to be altered by diagnosis and glucose deprivation in LCLs and found a significant decrease in expression of one gene, glutaminase, in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). One SNP with previously identified regulation by a 3' UTR SNP was found to influence IRF5 expression in both brain and lymphocytes. The relationship between the 3' UTR rs10954213 genotype and IRF5 expression was significant in LCLs (p = 0.0001), DLPFC (p = 0.007), and anterior cingulate cortex (p = 0.002).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Experimental manipulation of cells lines from subjects with schizophrenia may be a useful approach to explore stress related gene expression alterations in schizophrenia and to identify SNP variants associated with gene expression.</p

Magnesium and calcium overaccumulate in the leaves of a schengen3 mutant of Brassica rapa

Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) are essential mineral nutrients poorly supplied in many human food systems. In grazing livestock, Mg and Ca deficiencies are costly welfare issues. Here, we report a Brassica rapa loss-of-function schengen3 (sgn3) mutant, braA.sgn3.a-1, which accumulates twice as much Mg and a third more Ca in its leaves. We mapped braA.sgn3.a to a single recessive locus using a forward ionomic screen of chemically mutagenized lines with subsequent backcrossing and linked-read sequencing of second back-crossed, second filial generation (BC2F2) segregants. Confocal imaging revealed a disrupted root endodermal diffusion barrier, consistent with SGN3 encoding a receptor-like kinase required for normal formation of Casparian strips, as reported in thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). Analysis of the spatial distribution of elements showed elevated extracellular Mg concentrations in leaves of braA.sgn3.a-1, hypothesized to result from preferential export of excessive Mg from cells to ensure suitable cellular concentrations. This work confirms a conserved role of SGN3 in controlling nutrient homeostasis in B. rapa, and reveals mechanisms by which plants are able to deal with perturbed shoot element concentrations resulting from a “leaky” root endodermal barrier. Characterization of variation in leaf Mg and Ca accumulation across a mutagenized population of B. rapa shows promise for using such populations in breeding programs to increase edible concentrations of essential human and animal nutrients

Analysis of Chaperone mRNA Expression in the Adult Mouse Brain by Meta Analysis of the Allen Brain Atlas

The pathology of many neurodegenerative diseases is characterized by the accumulation of misfolded and aggregated proteins in various cell types and regional substructures throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems. The accumulation of these aggregated proteins signals dysfunction of cellular protein homeostatic mechanisms such as the ubiquitin/proteasome system, autophagy, and the chaperone network. Although there are several published studies in which transcriptional profiling has been used to examine gene expression in various tissues, including tissues of neurodegenerative disease models, there has not been a report that focuses exclusively on expression of the chaperone network. In the present study, we used the Allen Brain Atlas online database to analyze chaperone expression levels. This database utilizes a quantitative in situ hybridization approach and provides data on 270 chaperone genes within many substructures of the adult mouse brain. We determined that 256 of these chaperone genes are expressed at some level. Surprisingly, relatively few genes, only 30, showed significant variations in levels of mRNA across different substructures of the brain. The greatest degree of variability was exhibited by genes of the DnaJ co-chaperone, Tetratricopeptide repeat, and the HSPH families. Our analysis provides a valuable resource towards determining how variations in chaperone gene expression may modulate the vulnerability of specific neuronal populations of mammalian brain

Experimental data

Our experimental data provided here are consisting of: (1) Original files from the deformation experiments. All the data were recorded with frequency of 1 second (ti). Recorded parameters are stress (fi), confining pressure (pci) and displacement of sigma-1 (deformation) piston (dxi). (2) Original FTIR spectra from two experimental sets with H2O addition range 0 - 0.5 wt% (for H2O amount in samples, check Table 1 in the article).(3) Most important original EBSD files (.ctf).THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV