Microsatellite analysis of Damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) accessions from various regions in Iran reveals multiple genotypes

BACKGROUND: Damask roses (Rosa damascena Mill.) are mainly used for essential oil production. Previous studies have indicated that all production material in Bulgaria and Turkey consists of only one genotype. Nine polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of 40 accessions of R. damascena collected across major and minor rose oil production areas in Iran. RESULTS: All microsatellite markers showed a high level of polymorphism (5–15 alleles per microsatellite marker, with an average of 9.11 alleles per locus). Cluster analysis of genetic similarities revealed that these microsatellites identified a total of nine different genotypes. The genotype from Isfahan province, which is the major production area, was by far the most common genotype (27/40 accessions). It was identical to the Bulgarian genotype. Other genotypes (each represented by 1–4 accessions) were collected from minor production areas in several provinces, notably in the mountainous Northwest of Iran. CONCLUSION: This is the first study that uncovered genetic diversity within Damask rose. Our results will guide new collection activities to establish larger collections and manage the Iranian Damask rose genetic resources. The genotypes identified here may be directly useful for breeding

Transcriptional responses of winter barley to cold indicate nucleosome remodelling as a specific feature of crown tissues

We report a series of microarray-based comparisons of gene expression in the leaf and crown of the winter barley cultivar Luxor, following the exposure of young plants to various periods of low (above and below zero) temperatures. A transcriptomic analysis identified genes which were either expressed in both the leaf and crown, or specifically in one or the other. Among the former were genes responsible for calcium and abscisic acid signalling, polyamine synthesis, late embryogenesis abundant proteins and dehydrins. In the crown, the key organ for cereal overwintering, cold treatment induced transient changes in the transcription of nucleosome assembly genes, and especially H2A and HTA11, which have been implicated in cold sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the leaf, various heat-shock proteins were induced. Differences in expression pattern between the crown and leaf were frequent for genes involved in certain pathways responsible for osmolyte production (sucrose and starch, raffinose, γ-aminobutyric acid metabolism), sugar signalling (trehalose metabolism) and secondary metabolism (lignin synthesis). The action of proteins with antifreeze activity, which were markedly induced during hardening, was demonstrated by a depression in the ice nucleation temperature

Sugarcane genes associated with sucrose content

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background -</p> <p>Sucrose content is a highly desirable trait in sugarcane as the worldwide demand for cost-effective biofuels surges. Sugarcane cultivars differ in their capacity to accumulate sucrose and breeding programs routinely perform crosses to identify genotypes able to produce more sucrose. Sucrose content in the mature internodes reach around 20% of the culms dry weight. Genotypes in the populations reflect their genetic program and may display contrasting growth, development, and physiology, all of which affect carbohydrate metabolism. Few studies have profiled gene expression related to sugarcane's sugar content. The identification of signal transduction components and transcription factors that might regulate sugar accumulation is highly desirable if we are to improve this characteristic of sugarcane plants.</p> <p>Results -</p> <p>We have evaluated thirty genotypes that have different Brix (sugar) levels and identified genes differentially expressed in internodes using cDNA microarrays. These genes were compared to existing gene expression data for sugarcane plants subjected to diverse stress and hormone treatments. The comparisons revealed a strong overlap between the drought and sucrose-content datasets and a limited overlap with ABA signaling. Genes associated with sucrose content were extensively validated by qRT-PCR, which highlighted several protein kinases and transcription factors that are likely to be regulators of sucrose accumulation. The data also indicate that aquaporins, as well as lignin biosynthesis and cell wall metabolism genes, are strongly related to sucrose accumulation. Moreover, sucrose-associated genes were shown to be directly responsive to short term sucrose stimuli, confirming their role in sugar-related pathways.</p> <p>Conclusion -</p> <p>Gene expression analysis of sugarcane populations contrasting for sucrose content indicated a possible overlap with drought and cell wall metabolism processes and suggested signaling and transcriptional regulators to be used as molecular markers in breeding programs. Transgenic research is necessary to further clarify the role of the genes and define targets useful for sugarcane improvement programs based on transgenic plants.</p

Understanding healthcare customers’ goals and behaviours

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the role that goals and goal setting play in healthcare consumers’ decision-making. This thesis is set in the health service area, specifically in Cystic Fibrosis (CF), which is a life-threatening illness. CF is the most common genetically inherited life-shortening chronic disease with no current cure. However, medication adherence reduces the disease exacerbation, which is associated with improved well-being. This thesis aims to extend the hierarchy of goals by providing the links between drivers, goal types and outcomes. It also empirically investigates the effect of goal priorities on behaviour preferences. The focus of the thesis is understanding healthcare customers’ goals, the drivers of goal setting, their preferences for goals and their engagement in different health-related behaviours.There are seven main research questions addressed in three studies: (1) what are the effects of goal setting on well-being? (Study 1); (2) what are the definitions of different types of goals? (Study 1); (3) what are CF patients’ goals, drivers and outcomes? (Study 2); (4) what is the conceptual framework linking drivers, goal types and outcomes? (Study 2); (5) what are the CF patients’ goal priorities and behaviour preferences (Study 3); (6) are there any variations in individuals’ goal priorities and behaviour preferences? (Study 3); and (7) how do goal priorities impact on behaviour preferences? (Study 3)This thesis uses a mixed method approach to incorporate a variety of data in the research. The range of data is qualitative data (systematic literature review and 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews with CF patients) and quantitative data (320 Discrete Choice Experiment: 40 CF patients × 8 choice sets and 520 best-worst tasks: 40 CF patients × 13 tasks). Mixed method approach is used in order to gain a better understanding of goals, drivers, outcomes and empirically model the relationship between goal priorities and behaviour preferences.This thesis includes three papers based on three integrated studies. Paper 1 is a systematic review of goal setting in healthcare service. It identifies definitions of different types of goals in healthcare and demonstrates how goal setting impacts on health-related outcomes such as well-being. The five themes reported are: (1) effects of goal characteristics on health-related outcomes; (2) effects of goal setting on health-related outcomes; (3) effects of goal achievement on health-related outcomes; (4) goal alignment between patients and healthcare service providers; and (5) individual and collaborative goal setting of patients and healthcare service providers. The results of this study reveal the importance of goal setting and the role of healthcare customers in goal setting. Thus, goal setting and involving patients in goal setting sessions is an effective approach for well-being improvement.Paper 2 is based on a qualitative study of 21 CF patients about their goals, drivers and outcomes. This paper provides the Hierarchy of Customer Goals Conceptual Framework, linking three different types of goals (life goals, focal goals and action plan goals) to drivers and outcomes. Life goals are higher order long-term goals that individuals want to obtain or maintain during their life (e.g. independency or spirituality). Focal goals are those that patients set to achieve in the medium term (e.g. symptom reduction or losing weight). Action plan goals are short-term routine, repetitive activities (e.g. taking regular medication or following a specific diet). This paper argues that three different goals, including life goals, focal goals and action plan goals, are associated with promotion/prevention world views and the patients’ perceived role (passive compliance, insular controlling and partnering) as drivers and well-being (subjective well-being and financial wellbeing) as outcomes.\ua0\ua0\ua0Paper 3 investigates how goal priorities impact on behaviour preferences. Paper 3 is based on a quantitative study of 40 adults with CF. The data collected for this study includes discrete choice experiments and best-worst tasks. The paper argues that there are variations in healthcare customers’ priorities of goals and preferences of behaviours and importantly, these sources of variation can explain the passive/active structure for behaviours and personal non-medical/medical structure for goals. It also supports the impact of goal priorities on behaviour preferences through a factor-on-factor regression model (FFRM).The thesis contributes to advancing theoretical and applied knowledge in healthcare service marketing. First, it provides a new conceptualisation of different types of goals (life goals, focal goals and action plan goals) in healthcare (Study 1). Second, the Hierarchy of Customer Goals Conceptual Framework (Study 2), presenting links between drivers of goal setting, goal types and outcomes, extends previous models and theories related to the structure of goals including Bagozzi and Dholakia, 1999. The conceptual framework also demonstrates the link between goal setting and important outcomes, including well-being. Therefore, this thesis makes a significant contribution to advancing the Transformative Service Research in healthcare service marketing. Third, the factor-on-factor regression model (Study 3), using sources of preference heterogeneity, confirms structures for both goal priorities and behaviour preferences and the relationship between goal priorities and behaviour preferences. Thus, it makes a considerable contribution to goal-driven models, such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour. \ua0\ua0​​​​​​​Limitations of the research are acknowledged. First, the conceptual framework is proposed and tested for CF adults. Future research could study goal setting and develop the conceptual framework across age groups and investigate the effect of socio-demographic characteristics on the relationship between goal priorities and behaviour preferences. Second, the scope of this thesis does not extend to unattainable goals that may change over time. Future research could study other variables such as goal achievement and goal adjustment in the conceptual model and test the model through longitudinal studies. Third, the practical difficulties associated with collecting data from people with such a disease has meant that there is a limitation in the sample size. A larger sample size is expected to enable researchers to validate the significance of the model more effectively by generating a sample with more variation. Fourth, this research tests the model from an individual perspective. However, the role of significant others and healthcare service providers, such as clinicians, nurses, allied health and social workers, is important in chronic diseases. Future research may consider the role of other parties in goal setting by identifying the nature of the relative influence of each of the parties on the formation of collective goal priorities and behaviour preferences. Fifth, not all components of the proposed conceptual framework in Study 2 are tested empirically in this thesis. Future work could also consider other components of the conceptual framework presented, such as life goals, drivers and outcomes and test the whole model empirically. Finally, although this research uses a mixed-method approach for a deep understanding of goals and behaviours (through interviews) and investigating the relationship between goal priorities and behaviour preferences (through discrete choice experiments and best-worst tasks), future research could employ other research methods, such as field experiment to investigate the effect of goals on behaviours

Estimation of the cardinal temperatures for germination of four Satureja species growing in Iran / Ocena Temperatur Głównych Kiełkowania Czterech Gatunków Cząbru Rosnących W Iranie

Wstęp: Kiełkowanie nasion jest złożonym procesem fizjologicznym regulowanym przez czynniki genetyczne i środowiskowe, w tym temperaturę, wodę, tlen, światło i pH. Wśród nich, temperatura jest jednym z najważniejszych czynników wpływających na maksymalną szybkość i procent kiełkowania diaspor. Cel: W niniejszej pracy określono temperatury główne (Tb, To, Tc) kiełkowania nasion dla czterech gatunków cząbru występujących w Iranie. Metody: Nasiona Satureja mutica Fish. et C. A. Mey., S. macrantha C. A. Mey., S. sahandica Bornm i S. bachtiarica Bunge inkubowano w dziewięciu stałych temperaturach (od 0 do 40°C), w przedziałach co 5°C. Wykonano doświadczenie czynnikowe w układzie całkowicie losowym z czterema powtórzeniami, a dla określenia temperatur głównych zastosowano trzy modele regresji: segmentową regresję liniową (ISL), wielomianu kwadratowego (QPN) oraz regresję pięcioparametrową (FPB). Wyniki: Najwyższy procent kiełkowania (GP)odnotowano w temperaturze 20°C, odpowiednio: u S. mutica (86%), S. macrantha (55%), S. sahandica (81%) i S. bachtiarica (89%). Z wyjątkiem S. sahandica, nie stwierdzono jednak istotnej różnicy między 20 a 25°C. Kiełkowanie ustało w 0°C i w 40°C. Najwyższa zdolność kiełkowania (GR), najkrótszy średni czas kiełkowania (MGT) oraz czas kiełkowania 50% nasion (D50) obserwowano przy 20-25°C u wszystkich gatunków. Zdolność kiełkowania diaspor S. bachtiarica była istotnie (p≤0.05) wyższa niż u trzech pozostałych gatunków we wszystkich analizowanych temperaturach. Żaden z gatunków nie osiągnął 50% kiełkowania w temperaturach wyższych niż 30°C. Wnioski: Uzyskane wyniki pokazały przewagę S. bachtiarica nad innymi gatunkami, a S. macrantha charakteryzowała się najniższymi parametrami opisującymi kiełkowanie. Modele FPB i ISL najdokładniej przewidywały poziom temperatur głównych, ze względu na wyższą wartość współczynnika determinacji R2 i niższą wartość średniej kwadratowej błędów (RMSE). We wszystkich trzech modelach najniższe i najwyższe temperatury główne (Tb, To, Tc) zanotowano odpowiednio u S. macrantha i S. mutica