2,625 research outputs found

    Light Influences How the Fungal Toxin Deoxynivalenol Affects Plant Cell Death and Defense Responses

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    The Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) can cause cell death in wheat (Triticum aestivum), but can also reduce the level of cell death caused by heat shock in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) cell cultures. We show that 10 μg mL−1 DON does not cause cell death in Arabidopsis cell cultures, and its ability to retard heat-induced cell death is light dependent. Under dark conditions, it actually promoted heat-induced cell death. Wheat cultivars differ in their ability to resist this toxin, and we investigated if the ability of wheat to mount defense responses was light dependent. We found no evidence that light affected the transcription of defense genes in DON-treated roots of seedlings of two wheat cultivars, namely cultivar CM82036 that is resistant to DON-induced bleaching of spikelet tissue and cultivar Remus that is not. However, DON treatment of roots led to genotype-dependent and light-enhanced defense transcript accumulation in coleoptiles. Wheat transcripts encoding a phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) gene (previously associated with Fusarium resistance), non-expressor of pathogenesis-related genes-1 (NPR1) and a class III plant peroxidase (POX) were DON-upregulated in coleoptiles of wheat cultivar CM82036 but not of cultivar Remus, and DON-upregulation of these transcripts in cultivar CM82036 was light enhanced. Light and genotype-dependent differences in the DON/DON derivative content of coleoptiles were also observed. These results, coupled with previous findings regarding the effect of DON on plants, show that light either directly or indirectly influences the plant defense responses to DON

    The Ursinus Weekly, October 21, 1976

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    Ursinus news in brief: Parsons recovering; Damage fines abolished; Young Democrats revived; Homecoming planned; Voter registration held; MBA fair planned • Messiah cut back • Placement meetings set • Commuters organize • SAC reports • Comment: The ugly American lives on • Richter talks to freshmen • Comment: Alumni-student relations • Rheinpfalz folk culture • Bob Dean: Artist • proTheatre produces one acts • Beautiful noise • Operation: White Cloud • Coming campus events • Handwerk replaces Fry • Soccer drops three • Bears lose • X-Country splits • Kang\u27s return • McGinnis views NBA and Sixershttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1059/thumbnail.jp

    History and Status of ALSEP and the Apollo Lunar Data Project

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    A suite of automated scientific instruments (the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package, or ALSEP) was installed at each of the landing sites of Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 from 1969 to 1972. They operated from deployment until decommissioning on 30 September 1977. These data were continuously transmitted to Earth and saved on the Range Tapes, which were recorded at the Manned Space Flight Network stations. These data were also broken out by experiment and sent to the experiment Principal Investigators on what were called the P.I. Tapes. Starting in April 1973 the Range Tape data were stored in digital format on 7-track magnetic tapes, the ARCSAV Tapes. In February 1976, the handling of the Range Tapes was transferred to UT Galveston. They produced 9-track tapes referred to as the Work Tapes. Following the Apollo program the Range and ARCSAV tapes, which were never archived, were lost. The Work Tapes were archived at the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). Some investigators archived their individual experiment data with NSSDC as well, but much of the data had minimal documentation, were not in digital form, or were stored in difficult to translate formats. Data from many experiments were never delivered to the NSSDC. The Lunar Data Project was started to address the problem of both missing and not readily usable data. Our effort has resulted in recovery of some of the ARCSAV tapes, recovery and digitization of a large volume of Apollo scientific and technical documentation, and restoration of many ALSEP and other Apollo data collections. Restoration involves deciphering formats, assembling necessary ancillary data (metadata), and packaging data in digital format to be archived with the Planetary Data System (PDS). Recovery of the data from the ARCSAV tapes involved having the tapes read on special equipment and extracting the individual experiment data out of the integrated data stream. We will report on the history and status of the various recovery efforts

    GREEN IGUANAS (\u3ci\u3eIGUANA IGUANA\u3c/i\u3e): THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN A SOUTH FLORIDA PARK

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    We examined the demographic response of the Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) to the removal of Raccoons in an urban maritime state park in southern Florida. The rapid growth of iguanas to sexual maturity in an underexploited, if not vacant, niche contributed to the rapid recruitment of a large and growing population during the four and one half years since removal of its limiting predator. We proffer here that at sites where Green Iguanas and high density Raccoons are syntopic, future Raccoon removal programs should be concurrent with an equally concerted effort to remove resident Green Iguanas. In this fashion, by replacing one limiting predator with another, a population explosion can be prevented and an advantage can be maintained in the local control of this exotic species

    A New Giant Stellar Structure in the Outer Halo of M31

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    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has revealed an overdensity of luminous red giant stars ~ 3 degrees (40 projected kpc) to the northeast of M31, which we have called Andromeda NE. The line-of-sight distance to Andromeda NE is within approximately 50 kpc of M31; Andromeda NE is not a physically unrelated projection. Andromeda NE has a g-band absolute magnitude of ~ -11.6 and central surface brightness of ~ 29 mag/sq.arcsec, making it nearly two orders of magnitude more diffuse than any known Local Group dwarf galaxy at that luminosity. Based on its distance and morphology, Andromeda NE is likely undergoing tidal disruption. Andromeda NE's red giant branch color is unlike that of M31's present-day outer disk or the stellar stream reported by Ibata et al. (2001), arguing against a direct link between Andromeda NE and these structures. However, Andromeda NE has a red giant branch color similar to that of the G1 clump; it is possible that these structures are both material torn off of M31's disk in the distant past, or that these are both part of one ancient stellar stream.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; ApJ Letters accepted versio

    Comparison of different in situ hybridization techniques for the detection of various RNA and DNA viruses

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    In situ hybridization (ISH) is a technique to determine potential correlations between viruses and lesions. The aim of the study was to compare ISH techniques for the detection of various viruses in different tissues. Tested RNA viruses include atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) in the cerebellum of pigs, equine and bovine hepacivirus (EqHV, BovHepV) in the liver of horses and cattle, respectively, and Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in the cerebrum of goats. Examined DNA viruses comprise canine bocavirus 2 (CBoV-2) in the intestine of dogs, porcine bocavirus (PBoV) in the spinal cord of pigs and porcine circovirus 2 (PCV-2) in cerebrum, lymph node, and lung of pigs. ISH with self-designed digoxigenin-labelled RNA probe

    Polydnavirus genomes reflect their dual roles as mutualists and pathogens

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    AbstractSymbionts often exhibit significant reductions in genome complexity while pathogens often exhibit increased complexity through acquisition and diversification of virulence determinants. A few organisms have evolved complex life cycles in which they interact as symbionts with one host and pathogens with another. How the predicted and opposing influences of symbiosis and pathogenesis affect genome evolution in such instances, however, is unclear. The Polydnaviridae is a family of double-stranded (ds) DNA viruses associated with parasitoid wasps that parasitize other insects. Polydnaviruses (PDVs) only replicate in wasps but infect and cause severe disease in parasitized hosts. This disease is essential for survival of the parasitoid's offspring. Thus, a true mutualism exists between PDVs and wasps as viral transmission depends on parasitoid survival and parasitoid survival depends on viral infection of the wasp's host. To investigate how life cycle and ancestry affect PDVs, we compared the genomes of Campoletis sonorensis ichnovirus (CsIV) and Microplitis demolitor bracovirus (MdBV). CsIV and MdBV have no direct common ancestor, yet their encapsidated genomes share several features including segmentation, diversification of virulence genes into families, and the absence of genes required for replication. In contrast, CsIV and MdBV share few genes expressed in parasitized hosts. We conclude that the similar organizational features of PDV genomes reflect their shared life cycle but that PDVs associated with ichneumonid and braconid wasps have likely evolved different strategies to cause disease in the wasp's host and promote parasitoid survival

    Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging of Low Galactic Latitude Fields: Technical Summary and Data Release

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    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) mosaic camera and telescope have obtained five-band optical-wavelength imaging near the Galactic plane outside of the nominal survey boundaries. These additional data were obtained during commissioning and subsequent testing of the SDSS observing system, and they provide unique wide-area imaging data in regions of high obscuration and star formation, including numerous young stellar objects, Herbig-Haro objects and young star clusters. Because these data are outside the Survey regions in the Galactic caps, they are not part of the standard SDSS data releases. This paper presents imaging data for 832 square degrees of sky (including repeats), in the star-forming regions of Orion, Taurus, and Cygnus. About 470 square degrees are now released to the public, with the remainder to follow at the time of SDSS Data Release 4. The public data in Orion include the star-forming region NGC 2068/NGC 2071/HH24 and a large part of Barnard's loop.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures (3 missing to save space), accepted by AJ, in press, see http://photo.astro.princeton.edu/oriondatarelease for data and paper with all figure

    Mutations in GDF5 Reveal a Key Residue Mediating BMP Inhibition by NOGGIN

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    Signaling output of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) is determined by two sets of opposing interactions, one with heterotetrameric complexes of cell surface receptors, the other with secreted antagonists that act as ligand traps. We identified two mutations (N445K,T) in patients with multiple synostosis syndrome (SYM1) in the BMP–related ligand GDF5. Functional studies of both mutants in chicken micromass culture demonstrated a gain of function caused by a resistance to the BMP–inhibitor NOGGIN and an altered signaling effect. Residue N445, situated within overlapping receptor and antagonist interfaces, is highly conserved among the BMP family with the exception of BMP9 and BMP10, in which it is substituted with lysine. Like the mutant GDF5, both BMPs are insensitive to NOGGIN and show a high chondrogenic activity. Ectopic expression of BMP9 or the GDF5 mutants resulted in massive induction of cartilage in an in vivo chick model presumably by bypassing the feedback inhibition imposed by endogenous NOGGIN. Swapping residues at the mutation site alone was not sufficient to render Bmp9 NOG-sensitive; however, successive introduction of two additional substitutions imparted high to total sensitivity on customized variants of Bmp9. In conclusion, we show a new mechanism for abnormal joint development that interferes with a naturally occurring regulatory mechanism of BMP signaling
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