Transformation and analysis of tobacco plant var Petit havana with T-urf13 gene under anther-specific TA29 promoter

T-urf13, a well-documented cms-associated gene from maize, has been shown to render methomyl sensitivity to heterologous systems like rice, yeast and bacteria when expressed constitutively. Since these transgenic plants were fertile, it was hypothesized that T-urf13 gene if expressed in anthers may result in male sterility that could be used for hybrid seed production. Hence, this work was aimed at analysing whether T-urf13 gene when expressed in anthers can result in male sterile plants or requires methomyl treatment to cause male sterility (controllable). This is the first report of transformation of tobacco with T-urf13 gene under anther-specific promoter (TA29) with or without mitochondrial targeting sequence. Most of the transgenic plants obtained were fertile; this was surprising as many male sterile plants were expected as T-urf13 gene is a cms associated gene. Our results suggest that it may not be possible to obtain male sterility by expressing URF13 in the anther by itself or by methomyl application

Identifying and evaluating horizontal support and resistance levels: an empirical study on US stock markets

We propose a novel rule-based mechanism that identifies Horizontal Support And Resistance (HSAR) levels. The novelty of this system resides in the manner it encloses principles, found in well known technical manuals, used for the identification via visual assessment. The drawing of these levels derives from historical locals, rather than denoting support (resistance) levels from the lowest (highest) price levels of precedent constant time intervals. We further proceed in evaluating whether these levels are efficient trend-reversal predictors, and if they can generate systematic abnormal returns. The dataset used includes adjusted for dividends and splits, daily closing prices of stocks listed on National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the last 2 decades. Our results are aligned with the efficient market hypothesis. More concretely, support levels outperform resistance ones in predicting trend interruptions but they fail to generate excess returns when they are compared with simple buy-and-hold strategies