310 research outputs found
Factors affecting reproductive success in three entomophilous orchid species in Hungary
The reproductive success of orchids is traditionally estimated by determining the fruit-set of individuals. Here, we investigated both the fruit and the seed production of three orchid species and the factors that may affect individual fruit-set, like pollination strategy, individual traits or the annual amount of precipitation. The species [Dactylorhiza sambucina (L.) Soó, Dactylorhiza majalis (Rchb.) P. F. Hunt & Summerhayes and Platanthera bifolia (L.) L. C. M. Richard] were studied in three consecutive years (2010–2012) in the Bükk Mountains, Hungary. All three species were proved to be non-autogamous by a bagging experiment. Data analyses showed significant differences between seed numbers but not between fruit-sets of species. There was no statistical difference in individual reproductive success between wet and dry years, however, the effect of the annual amount of precipitation is significant on the population level. Comparison of published fruit-set data revealed accordance with our results in P. bifolia, but not in D. sambucina and D. majalis. We assume that the surprisingly high fruit-set values of the two Dactylorhiza species may be due to the fact that the pollination crisis reported from Western European countries is not an actual problem in the Bükk Mountains, Hungary
RNA editing of the GLI1 transcription factor modulates the output of Hedgehog signaling
The Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway has important roles in tumorigenesis and in embryonal patterning. The Gliomaassociated oncogene 1 (GLI1) is a key molecule in HH signaling, acting as a transcriptional effector and, moreover, is considered to be a potential therapeutic target for several types of cancer. To extend our previous focus on the implications of alternative splicing for HH signal transduction, we now report on an additional post-transcriptional mechanism with an impact on GLI1 activity, namely RNA editing. The GLI1 mRNA is highly edited at nucleotide 2179 by adenosine deamination in normal cerebellum, but the extent of this modification is reduced in cell lines from the cerebellar tumor medulloblastoma. Additionally, basal cell carcinoma tumor samples exhibit decreased GLI1 editing compared with normal skin. Interestingly, knocking down of either ADAR1 or ADAR2 reduces RNA editing of GLI1. This adenosine to inosine substitution leads to a change from Arginine to Glycine at position 701 that influences not only GLI1 transcriptional activity, but also GLI1-dependent cellular proliferation. Specifically, the edited GLI1, GLI1-701G, has a higher capacity to activate most of the transcriptional targets tested and is less susceptible to inhibition by the negative regulator of HH signaling suppressor of fused. However, the Dyrk1a kinase, implicated in cellular proliferation, is more effective in increasing the transcriptional activity of the non-edited GLI1. Finally, introduction of GLI1-701G into medulloblastoma cells confers a smaller increase in cellular growth relative to GLI1. In conclusion, our findings indicate that RNA editing of GLI1 is a regulatory mechanism that modulates the output of the HH signaling pathway. Copyright © 2013 Landes Bioscience
Orchestration of Network Services Across Multiple Operators: The 5G Exchange Prototype
Future 5G networks will rely on the coordinated
allocation of compute, storage, and networking resources in
order to meet the functional requirements of 5G services as well
as guaranteeing efficient usage of the network infrastructure.
However, the 5G service provisioning paradigm will also require
a unified infrastructure service market that integrates multiple
operators and technologies. The 5G Exchange (5GEx) project,
building heavily on the Software-Defined Network (SDN) and the
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) functionalities, tries to
overcome this market and technology fragmentation by
designing, implementing, and testing a multi-domain
orchestrator (MdO) prototype for fast and automated Network
Service (NS) provisioning over multiple-technologies and
spanning across multiple operators. This paper presents a first
implementation of the 5GEx MdO prototype obtained by
extending existing open source software tools at the disposal of
the 5GEx partners. The main functions of the 5GEx MdO
prototype are showcased by demonstrating how it is possible to
create and deploy NSs in the context of a Slice as a Service
(SlaaS) use-case, based on a multi-operator scenario. The 5GEx
MdO prototype performance is experimentally evaluated
running validation tests within the 5GEx sandbox. The overall
time required for the NS deployment has been evaluated
considering NSs deployed across two operators
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