Effect of Plant Growth Regulators and Micronutrients on Reproductive Attributes of Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) in Hasta bahar Cropping Season

Plant growth regulators and micronutrients at various combinations [GA3 50ppm + Cycocel 1000ppm + KNO30.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1%; GA3 50ppm + Cycocel 2000ppm + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1%; GA3 50ppm + Paclobutrazol 2.5g a.i./tree (soil application) + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% Boron 0.1%; GA350ppm + Paclobutrazol 3.5g a.i./tree (soil application) + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1%; GA3 50ppm + Paclobutrazol 1000ppm (foliar application) + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1%; and, GA3 50ppm + Paclobutrazol 2000ppm + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1%] were sprayed before flower emergence in acid lime. Minimum days taken to emergence of flower bud (39.57), duration of flowering (24.07), days to 50% fruit set (6.54) and days taken to fruit maturity (145.90) were observed with application of GA3 50ppm + Paclobutrazol 3.5g a.i./tree (soil application) + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1% (T5), whereas, fruit drop (5.92%) was minimum with GA3 50ppm + Cycocel 2000ppm + KNO3 0.2% + Zn 0.3% + Boron 0.1% (T3). Treatment T3 also increased the number of flowers per meter length of shoot (49.65) as well as fruit yield (8.90)

Structure of the archaeal chemotaxis protein CheY in a domain-swapped dimeric conformation

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection

Structure of the archaeal chemotaxis protein CheY in a domain-swapped dimeric conformation

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection

Increased Throughput by Parallelization of Library Preparation for Massive Sequencing

Background: Massively parallel sequencing systems continue to improve on data output, while leaving labor-intensive library preparations a potential bottleneck. Efforts are currently under way to relieve the crucial and time-consuming work to prepare DNA for high-throughput sequencing. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we demonstrate an automated parallel library preparation protocol using generic carboxylic acid-coated superparamagnetic beads and polyethylene glycol precipitation as a reproducible and flexible method for DNA fragment length separation. With this approach the library preparation for DNA sequencing can easily be adjusted to a desired fragment length. The automated protocol, here demonstrated using the GS FLX Titanium instrument, was compared to the standard manual library preparation, showing higher yield, throughput and great reproducibility. In addition, 12 libraries were prepared and uniquely tagged in parallel, and the distribution of sequence reads between these indexed samples could be improved using quantitative PCR-assisted pooling. Conclusions/Significance: We present a novel automated procedure that makes it possible to prepare 36 indexed libraries per person and day, which can be increased to up to 96 libraries processed simultaneously. The yield, speed and robust performance of the protocol constitute a substantial improvement to present manual methods, without the need of extensive equipment investments. The described procedure enables a considerable efficiency increase for small to midsiz

Time-resolved crystallography using the Hadamard transform

YesWe describe a method for performing time-resolved X-ray crystallographic experiments based on the Hadamard transform, in which time resolution is defined by the underlying periodicity of the probe pulse sequence, and signal/noise is greatly improved over that for the fastest pump-probe experiments depending on a single pulse. This approach should be applicable on standard synchrotron beamlines and will enable high-resolution measurements of protein and small-molecule structural dynamics. It is also applicable to other time-resolved measurements where a probe can be encoded, such as pump-probe spectroscopy.Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD program “The Molecular Basis of Biological Mechanisms” 089312/Z/09/Z. This work was also supported by the EPSRC Award “Dynamic Structural Science at the Research Complex at Harwell” EP/I01974X/1 and by BBSRC Award BB/H001905/1

A New Species of River Dolphin from Brazil or:How Little Do We Know Our Biodiversity

True river dolphins are some of the rarest and most endangered of all vertebrates. They comprise relict evolutionary lineages of high taxonomic distinctness and conservation value, but are afforded little protection. We report the discovery of a new species of a river dolphin from the Araguaia River basin of Brazil, the first such discovery in nearly 100 years. The species is diagnosable by a series of molecular and morphological characters and diverged from its Amazonian sister taxon 2.08 million years ago. The estimated time of divergence corresponds to the separation of the Araguaia-Tocantins basin from the Amazon basin. This discovery highlights the immensity of the deficit in our knowledge of Neotropical biodiversity, as well as vulnerability of biodiversity to anthropogenic actions in an increasingly threatened landscape. We anticipate that this study will provide an impetus for the taxonomic and conservation reanalysis of other taxa shared between the Araguaia and Amazon aquatic ecosystems, as well as stimulate historical biogeographical analyses of the two basins

In Vivo Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Monitors Binding of Specific Probes to Cancer Biomarkers

One of the most important factors in choosing a treatment strategy for cancer is characterization of biomarkers in cancer cells. Particularly, recent advances in Monoclonal Antibodies (MAB) as primary-specific drugs targeting tumor receptors show that their efficacy depends strongly on characterization of tumor biomarkers. Assessment of their status in individual patients would facilitate selection of an optimal treatment strategy, and the continuous monitoring of those biomarkers and their binding process to the therapy would provide a means for early evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic intervention. In this study we have demonstrated for the first time in live animals that the fluorescence lifetime can be used to detect the binding of targeted optical probes to the extracellular receptors on tumor cells in vivo. The rationale was that fluorescence lifetime of a specific probe is sensitive to local environment and/or affinity to other molecules. We attached Near-InfraRed (NIR) fluorescent probes to Human Epidermal Growth Factor 2 (HER2/neu)-specific Affibody molecules and used our time-resolved optical system to compare the fluorescence lifetime of the optical probes that were bound and unbound to tumor cells in live mice. Our results show that the fluorescence lifetime changes in our model system delineate HER2 receptor bound from the unbound probe in vivo. Thus, this method is useful as a specific marker of the receptor binding process, which can open a new paradigm in the “image and treat” concept, especially for early evaluation of the efficacy of the therapy

Phylogenetic relationships of the New World titi monkeys (Callicebus): First appraisal of taxonomy based on molecular evidence

Background: Titi monkeys, Callicebus, comprise the most species-rich primate genus-34 species are currently recognised, five of them described since 2005. The lack of molecular data for titi monkeys has meant that little is known of their phylogenetic relationships and divergence times. To clarify their evolutionary history, we assembled a large molecular dataset by sequencing 20 nuclear and two mitochondrial loci for 15 species, including representatives from all recognised species groups. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred using concatenated maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses, allowing us to evaluate the current taxonomic hypothesis for the genus. Results: Our results show four distinct Callicebus clades, for the most part concordant with the currently recognised morphological species-groups-the torquatus group, the personatus group, the donacophilus group, and the moloch group. The cupreus and moloch groups are not monophyletic, and all species of the formerly recognized cupreus group are reassigned to the moloch group. Two of the major divergence events are dated to the Miocene. The torquatus group, the oldest radiation, diverged c. 11 Ma; and the Atlantic forest personatus group split from the ancestor of all donacophilus and moloch species at 9-8 Ma. There is little molecular evidence for the separation of Callicebus caligatus and C. dubius, and we suggest that C. dubius should be considered a junior synonym of a polymorphic C. caligatus. Conclusions: Considering molecular, morphological and biogeographic evidence, we propose a new genus level taxonomy for titi monkeys: Cheracebus n. gen. in the Orinoco, Negro and upper Amazon basins (torquatus group), Callicebus Thomas, 1903, in the Atlantic Forest (personatus group), and Plecturocebus n. gen. in the Amazon basin and Chaco region (donacophilus and moloch groups). © 2016 Byrne et al