Overexpression of RoDELLA impacts the height, branching, and flowering behaviour of Pelargonium × domesticum transgenic plants

Key message We reported the cloning of a rose DELLA gene. We obtained transgenic Pelargonium lines overexpressing this gene which presented several phenotypes in plant growth, root growth, flowering time and number of inflorescences. Abstract Control of development is an important issue for production of ornamental plant. The plant growth regulator, gibberellins (GAs), plays a pivotal role in regulating plant growth and development. DELLA proteins are nuclear negative regulator of GA signalling. Our objective was to study the role of GA in the plant architecture and in the blooming of ornamentals. We cloned a rose DELLA homologous gene, RoDELLA, and studied its function by genetic transformation of pelargonium. Several transgenic pelargonium (Pelargonium × domesticum ‘Autum Haze’) lines were produced that ectopically expressed RoDELLA under the control of the 35S promoter. These transgenic plants exhibited a range of phenotypes which could be related to the reduction in GA response. Most of transgenic plants showed reduced growth associated to an increase of the node and branch number. Moreover, overexpression of RoDELLA blocked or delayed flowering in transgenic pelargonium and exhibited defects in the root formation. We demonstrated that pelargonium could be used to validate ornamental gene as the rose DELLA gene. RoDELLA overexpression modified many aspects of plant developmental pathways, as the plant growth, the transition of vegetative to floral stage and the ability of rooting

Ratio-Based Analysis of Differential mRNA Processing and Expression of a Polyadenylation Factor Mutant pcfs4 Using Arabidopsis Tiling Microarray

US National Institutes of Health [1R15GM07719201A1]; US National Science Foundation [IOS-0817818]; Ohio Plant Biotech Consortium; National Natural Science Foundation of China [60774033]; Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher EducatiBackground: Alternative polyadenylation as a mechanism in gene expression regulation has been widely recognized in recent years. Arabidopsis polyadenylation factor PCFS4 was shown to function in leaf development and in flowering time control. The function of PCFS4 in controlling flowering time was correlated with the alternative polyadenylation of FCA, a flowering time regulator. However, genetic evidence suggested additional targets of PCFS4 that may mediate its function in both flowering time and leaf development. Methodology/Principal Findings: To identify further targets, we investigated the whole transcriptome of a PCFS4 mutant using Affymetrix Arabidopsis genomic tiling 1.0R array and developed a data analysis pipeline, termed RADPRE (Ratio-based Analysis of Differential mRNA Processing and Expression). In RADPRE, ratios of normalized probe intensities between wild type Columbia and a pcfs4 mutant were first generated. By doing so, one of the major problems of tiling array data-variations caused by differential probe affinity-was significantly alleviated. With the probe ratios as inputs, a hierarchy of statistical tests was carried out to identify differentially processed genes (DPG) and differentially expressed genes (DEG). The false discovery rate (FDR) of this analysis was estimated by using the balanced random combinations of Col/pcfs4 and pcfs4/Col ratios as inputs. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of the DPGs and DEGs revealed potential new roles of PCFS4 in stress responses besides flowering time regulation. Conclusion/Significance: We identified 68 DPGs and 114 DEGs with FDR at 1% and 2%, respectively. Most of the 68 DPGs were subjected to alternative polyadenylation, splicing or transcription initiation. Quantitative PCR analysis of a set of DPGs confirmed that most of these genes were truly differentially processed in pcfs4 mutant plants. The enriched GO term "regulation of flower development'' among PCFS4 targets further indicated the efficacy of the RADPRE pipeline. This simple but effective program is available upon request

Management of penile fracture: Can it wait?

Objectives: To assess the effect of timing of presentation of cases with penile fracture on the long-term outcome of surgical intervention. Patients and methods: Between 2000 and 2015, 42 patients with penile fracture were operated in our centre, immediately after admission. To assess the effect of timing of presentation, patients were classified into 2 groups: group 1 with early presentation (≤24 h) and group 2 with delayed presentation (>24 h). All patients had a routine follow-up visit at 6 months after surgery; during this visit, long-term complications were assessed. Results: Group 1 included 26 patients (62%) and group 2 included 16 (38%). In group 1, patients presented to the emergency department from within 24 h (mean: 3.96 ± 2.47 h) after occurrence of the penile trauma. Patients in group 2 presented from 24 h to 4 days (mean: 79.50 ± 37.62 h). The incidence rate of long-term complications was 7.6% and 68.7% in group 1 and group 2, respectively (OR 26.4, 95% CI 4.41–157.86, p = 0.0001). Concerning erectile dysfunction and penile nodules, there was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.67 and 0.06, respectively). However, painful penetration was significantly higher in group 2 (50% vs 3.8% in group 2 and 1, respectively, OR 25, 95% CI 2.69–231.59, p = 0.001). Penile curvature was seen only in the second group (43.8%). Conclusion: Immediate surgical repair has the best prognosis and should remain the recommended treatment modality of penile fracture. Keywords: Penis, Fracture, Surgical timing, Outcom

Meso-FE modelling of textile composites and X-ray tomography

International audienceAmong the recent advances made in the analysis and simulation of the mechanical behaviour of composite materials, calculations on a mesoscopic scale make it possible to take into account the internal architecture of a textile and to compute its deformations. The mesoscopic analysis covers the reinforcement behaviour during manufacturing (draping and permeability) and performance in-service (response to applied loads and strains, including damage development). X-ray tomography (lCT) is a tool well suited for determining the 3D internal geometry of the composite. The current characteristics of the lCT devices allow micrometrescale characterization, providing high-quality geometrical models. The paper presents an overview of lCT-based meso-modelling of textile composites, illustrated by novel modelling results. It covers two segmentation methods (structural tensor and texture analysis), models of the behaviour (deformation response) at meso-scale of textile reinforcements and damage models for textile composites. A set of cases is analysed where X-ray tomography provides the definition of the initial models and the validation of the results obtained by mesoscopic analysis

Direct target gene analyses for TCP20 using a glucocorticoid inducible TCP20 (TCP20-GR)

TCP (TEOSINTE BRANCHED1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF1) transcription factors control developmental processes in plants. We identified direct target genes of the Arabidopsis class I TCP20 protein in leaf development based on a glucocorticoid receptor induction assay and genome-wide expression studies. For this, we tagged TCP20 with a glucucorticoid receptor (GR) domain and transformed the resulting TCP20-GR construct into tcp20 knockout plants. Induction of these and wild type controls was done with Dexamethasone and Cycloheximide. Plants were harvested 8 h after induction, uninduced plants were taken as control

At-TAX: a whole genome tiling array resource for developmental expression analysis and transcript identification in Arabidopsis thaliana

Gene expression maps for model organisms, including Arabidopsis thaliana, have typically been created using gene-centric expression arrays. Here, we describe a comprehensive expression atlas, Arabidopsis thaliana Tiling Array Express (At-TAX), which is based on whole-genome tiling arrays. We demonstrate that tiling arrays are accurate tools for gene expression analysis and identified more than 1,000 unannotated transcribed regions. Visualizations of gene expression estimates, transcribed regions, and tiling probe measurements are accessible online at the At-TAX homepage