Pollen tube contents from failed fertilization contribute to seed coat initiation in Arabidopsis [version 1; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

Plant seeds are essential for human beings, constituting 70% of carbohydrate resources worldwide; examples include rice, wheat, and corn. In angiosperms, fertilization of the egg by a sperm cell is required for seed formation; therefore, fertilization failure results in no seed formation, except in the special case of apomixis. Initially, plants produce many pollen grains inside the anthers; once the pollen grain is deposited onto the top of the pistil, the pollen tube elongates until it reaches the ovule. Generally, only one pollen tube is inserted into the ovule; however, we previously found that if fertilization by the first pollen tube fails, a second pollen tube could rescue fertilization via the so-called fertilization recovery system (FRS). Our previous reports also demonstrated that failed fertilization results in pollen tube-dependent ovule enlargement morphology (POEM), enlarged seeds, and partial seed coat formation if the pollen tube releases the pollen tube contents into the ovule. However, we have not determined whether all the ovules enlarge or produce seed coats if an ovule accepts the pollen tube contents. Therefore, we conducted a partial seed coat formation experiment taking into account both the FRS and POEM phenomena. Notably, the ratios of failed fertilization and the ovules with partial seed coats matched, indicating that all ovules initiate seed coat formation if the fertilization fails but the pollen tube contents enter the ovule. In addition, we confirmed that the agl62 mutant , defective in early endosperm formation, showed seed coat initiation with and without fertilization, indicating that for a normal seed coat initiation, fertilization is not required; however, for the completion of normal seed coat formation, both normal fertilization and endosperm formation are required. Further molecular evidence is required to understand these phenomena because very few factors related to FRS and POEM have been identified

Role of p-glycoprotein expression in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer-a prospective clinical study

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is an integral part of multi-modality approach in the management of locally advanced breast cancer. It is vital to predict response to chemotherapy in order to tailor the regime for a particular patient. The prediction would help in avoiding the toxicity induced by an ineffective chemotherapeutic regime in a non-responder and would also help in the planning of an alternate regime. Development of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents is a major problem and one of the mechanisms considered responsible is the expression of 170-k Da membrane glycoprotein (usually referred to as p-170 or p-glycoprotein), which is encoded by multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene. This glycoprotein acts as an energy dependent pump, which actively extrudes certain families of chemotherapeutic agents from the cells. The expression of p-glycoprotein at initial presentation has been found to be associated with refractoriness to chemotherapy and a poor outcome. Against this background a prospective study was conducted using C219 mouse monoclonal antibody specific for p-glycoprotein to ascertain whether pretreatment detection of p-glycoprotein expression could be utilized as a reliable predictor of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty cases of locally advanced breast cancer were subjected to trucut(® )biopsy and the tissue samples were evaluated immunohistochemically for p-glycoprotein expression and ER, PR status. The response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was assessed clinically and by using ultrasound after three cycles of FAC regime (cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2), Adriamycin 50 mg/m(2), 5-fluorourail 600 mg/m(2 )at an interval of three weeks). The clinical response was correlated with both the pre and post chemotherapy p-glycoprotein expression. Descriptive studies were performed with SPSS version 10. The significance of correlation between tumor response and p-glycoprotein expression was determined with chi square test. RESULTS: A significant relationship was found between the pretreatment p-glycoprotein expression and clinical response. The positive p-glycoprotein expression was associated with poor clinical response rates. When the clinical response was correlated with p-glycoprotein expression, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed between the clinical response and p- glycoprotein expression (p < 0.05). There was another significant observation in terms of development of post NACT p-glycoprotein positivity. Before initiation of NACT, 26 patients (52%) were p-glycoprotein positive and after three cycles of NACT, the positivity increased to 73.5% patients. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that pretreatment p-glycoprotein expression predicts and indicates a poor clinical response to NACT. Patients with positive p-glycoprotein expression before initiation of NACT were found to be poor responders. Thus pretreatment detection of p-glycoprotein expression may be utilized, as a reliable predictor of response to NACT in patients with breast cancer The chemotherapy induced p-glycoprotein positivity observed in the study could possibly explain the phenomenon of acquired chemoresistance and may also serve as an intermediate end point in evaluating drug response particularly if the adjuvant therapy is planned with the same regime

Pollen tube contents from failed fertilization contribute to seed coat initiation in Arabidopsis [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

Plant seeds are essential for human beings, constituting 70% of carbohydrate resources worldwide; examples include rice, wheat, and corn. In angiosperms, fertilization of the egg by a sperm cell is required for seed formation; therefore, fertilization failure results in no seed formation, except in the special case of apomixis. Initially, plants produce many pollen grains inside the anthers; once the pollen grain is deposited onto the top of the pistil, the pollen tube elongates until it reaches the ovule. Generally, only one pollen tube is inserted into the ovule; however, we previously found that if fertilization by the first pollen tube fails, a second pollen tube could rescue fertilization via the so-called fertilization recovery system (FRS). Our previous reports also demonstrated that failed fertilization results in pollen tube-dependent ovule enlargement morphology (POEM), enlarged seeds, and partial seed coat formation if the pollen tube releases the pollen tube contents into the ovule. However, we have not determined whether all the ovules enlarge or produce seed coats if an ovule accepts the pollen tube contents. Therefore, we conducted a partial seed coat formation experiment taking into account both the FRS and POEM phenomena. Notably, the ratios of failed fertilization and the ovules with partial seed coats matched, indicating that all ovules initiate seed coat formation if the fertilization fails but the pollen tube contents enter the ovule. In addition, we confirmed that the agl62 mutant , defective in early endosperm formation, showed seed coat initiation with and without fertilization, indicating that for a normal seed coat initiation, fertilization is not required; however, for the completion of normal seed coat formation, both normal fertilization and endosperm formation are required. Further molecular evidence is required to understand these phenomena because very few factors related to FRS and POEM have been identified

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The spatiotemporal variations of total column ozone concentration over Ethiopia

We have studied spatiotemporal characteristics of ozone concentration over Ethiopia using data from the Ozone Mapper and Profiling Suite-Nadir Mapper (OMPS-NM). Daily total column ozone data of 108 observation points with spatial resolution 1° × 1° over the study area for the period of 2012–2019 have been analyzed. The spatial variations over the region have been studied by considering longitudinal and latitudinal bands separately through the sample mean difference among different bands using multi-comparison analysis of variance technique in order to identify the clusters in the region. For the temporal variability, we model the total column ozone timeseries observation as a sum of seasonal, trend, and temporally correlated noise components. We have found that the total column ozone concentration has a maximum value of 301DU during summer on August 18, 2013 and a minimum value of 216DU during winter on January 03, 2013 over the study period. The 95% confidence level of the overall mean of the total column ozone concentration during the study period was found to be (261.35 ± 2.38)DU. Our spatial data analysis revealed that the spatial distribution of ozone over Ethiopia can be classified into three clusters: southern cluster (4.5°N–8.5°N and 33.5°E–47.5°E), north-eastern cluster (9.5°N to 14.5°N and 41.5°E–47.5°E), and north-western cluster (9.5°N–14.5°N and 33.5°E–40.5°E). We have checked the coefficient of determination among bands in the same cluster to see if the concentration of ozone in one band can be explained by the concentration in another band for each cluster and confirmed the reliability of the classification. In order to capture temporal characteristics, we have computed the spectral periodogram for each cluster and obtained a power peak at frequency f = 0.002 768 Hz, which indicates that the ozone concentration over the region exhibits an annual cyclic behavior. A truncated Fourier series fit is used to determine the annual seasonal component. The non-parametric Mann–Kendall’s trend test with a 95% confidence level of significant has indicated a decreasing linear trend with a depletion rate of 0.77, 0.73, and 0.43 DU/yr over north-western, north-eastern, and southern clusters, respectively. The analysis of residuals for each cluster indicated that the residuals are normally distributed with no significant outliers, and the model explains 85%, 86%, and 79% of the variance in the north-western, north-eastern, and southern clusters, respectively, demonstrating the reliability of the model considered in this study