Labour politics and society in South Yorkshire.

This doctoral thesis looks at Labour politics and society in South Yorkshire between the start of the Second World War in September 1939 and the fall from office of the Attlee Labour Government in October 1951. While it accepts the predominating effects of national and international factors in providing challenges which Labour councils and local Labour Parties had to find solutions to - such as the effects of the Sheffield Blitz in 1940 and the need to re-plan Sheffield and the maintaining of the organisational existence of Labour Parties during the Second World War - it nevertheless examines those 'micro-historical' factors which made for the local diversity of the party in South Yorkshire. It tries to create a holistic and rounded portrait of the local Labour movement based mainly on fragmentary archival and newspaper evidence and examines current historical debates for local relevance such as whether a post-war consensus actually existed, whether popular political attitudes were radical or conservative and, whether such popular attitudes favoured or disfavoured Labour. It also looks at Marxist debates over the concept of 'Labourism' and whether Labour was narrowly culturally determined or whether other factors were equally important. Chapter One introduces the thesis. Chapter Two examines the fears over the post-war industrial future of Sheffield which took place during the Second World War within the City Council and between it and organisations like the trade unions and the Chamber of Commerce. It also looks at City Council debates over the proposed post-war regionalisation of local government and how that was prevented by a united council. This shows that the centralising tendencies of the London government could be resisted by the peripheries and that such tendencies were not inevitable. Chapter Three examines town planning in Sheffield during the Second World War after the Blitz in December 1940 provided an opportunity to create a more modem, better planned and less ugly city. The planning process is examined and the secrecy of the City Council noted at a time when the country was fighting to defend an open and democratic society from the Nazis. Chapter Three also looks at the wartime context of the acute post-war housing crisis. Chapter Four looks at the wartime Labour Party in South Yorkshire, its ebb in membership prior to 1942 and its resurgence after that date ending with an examination of the 1945 General Election in Sheffield. Chapter Five looks at local government between 1945 and 1951, examining the factors which prevented the reform of the local structure of local government, the effect on Sheffield and Rotherham Councils of the nationalisation of electricity, gas and local authority hospitals, and the attempts to implement the Butler Education Act of 1944 in South Yorkshire. Chapter Six looks at the attempts to implement the 1945 Collie town plan for Sheffield and the reasons for the lack of progress as well as at the contrasting housing records of Sheffield and Rotherham Councils. It attempts to account for the latter's better record when compared with the former. Chapter Seven looks the ideology and cultural determinants of the Labour Party in South Yorkshire between 1945 and 1951. It also examines Labour organisation noting the essential role of women as unpaid voluntary labour and contrasting it with their limited entry to local political office. Finally it looks at and comments on the municipal and general election results in Sheffield of the Labour Party between 1945 and 1951. Chapter Eight provides a conclusion

Single neuron transcriptomics identify SRSF/ SR protein B52 as a regulator of axon growth and Choline acetyltransferase splicing.

We removed single identified neurons from living Drosophila embryos to gain insight into the transcriptional control of developing neuronal networks. The microarray analysis of the transcriptome of two sibling neurons revealed seven differentially expressed transcripts between both neurons (threshold: log(2)1.4). One transcript encodes the RNA splicing factor B52. Loss of B52 increases growth of axon branches. B52 function is also required for Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT ) splicing. At the end of embryogenesis, loss of B52 function impedes splicing of ChAT, reduces acetylcholine synthesis, and extends the period of uncoordinated muscle twitches during larval hatching. ChAT regulation by SRSF proteins may be a conserved feature since changes in SRSF5 expression and increased acetylcholine levels in brains of bipolar disease patients have been reported recently

Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana BBX32 Gene in Soybean Increases Grain Yield

Crop yield is a highly complex quantitative trait. Historically, successful breeding for improved grain yield has led to crop plants with improved source capacity, altered plant architecture, and increased resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. To date, transgenic approaches towards improving crop grain yield have primarily focused on protecting plants from herbicide, insects, or disease. In contrast, we have focused on identifying genes that, when expressed in soybean, improve the intrinsic ability of the plant to yield more. Through the large scale screening of candidate genes in transgenic soybean, we identified an Arabidopsis thaliana B-box domain gene (AtBBX32) that significantly increases soybean grain yield year after year in multiple transgenic events in multi-location field trials. In order to understand the underlying physiological changes that are associated with increased yield in transgenic soybean, we examined phenotypic differences in two AtBBX32-expressing lines and found increases in plant height and node, flower, pod, and seed number. We propose that these phenotypic changes are likely the result of changes in the timing of reproductive development in transgenic soybean that lead to the increased duration of the pod and seed development period. Consistent with the role of BBX32 in A. thaliana in regulating light signaling, we show that the constitutive expression of AtBBX32 in soybean alters the abundance of a subset of gene transcripts in the early morning hours. In particular, AtBBX32 alters transcript levels of the soybean clock genes GmTOC1 and LHY-CCA1-like2 (GmLCL2). We propose that through the expression of AtBBX32 and modulation of the abundance of circadian clock genes during the transition from dark to light, the timing of critical phases of reproductive development are altered. These findings demonstrate a specific role for AtBBX32 in modulating soybean development, and demonstrate the validity of expressing single genes in crops to deliver increased agricultural productivity

Sequencing and Comparative Genome Analysis of Two Pathogenic Streptococcus gallolyticus Subspecies: Genome Plasticity, Adaptation and Virulence

Streptococcus gallolyticus infections in humans are often associated with bacteremia, infective endocarditis and colon cancers. The disease manifestations are different depending on the subspecies of S. gallolyticus causing the infection. Here, we present the complete genomes of S. gallolyticus ATCC 43143 (biotype I) and S. pasteurianus ATCC 43144 (biotype II.2). The genomic differences between the two biotypes were characterized with comparative genomic analyses. The chromosome of ATCC 43143 and ATCC 43144 are 2,36 and 2,10 Mb in length and encode 2246 and 1869 CDS respectively. The organization and genomic contents of both genomes were most similar to the recently published S. gallolyticus UCN34, where 2073 (92%) and 1607 (86%) of the ATCC 43143 and ATCC 43144 CDS were conserved in UCN34 respectively. There are around 600 CDS conserved in all Streptococcus genomes, indicating the Streptococcus genus has a small core-genome (constitute around 30% of total CDS) and substantial evolutionary plasticity. We identified eight and five regions of genome plasticity in ATCC 43143 and ATCC 43144 respectively. Within these regions, several proteins were recognized to contribute to the fitness and virulence of each of the two subspecies. We have also predicted putative cell-surface associated proteins that could play a role in adherence to host tissues, leading to persistent infections causing sub-acute and chronic diseases in humans. This study showed evidence that the S. gallolyticus still possesses genes making it suitable in a rumen environment, whereas the ability for S. pasteurianus to live in rumen is reduced. The genome heterogeneity and genetic diversity among the two biotypes, especially membrane and lipoproteins, most likely contribute to the differences in the pathogenesis of the two S. gallolyticus biotypes and the type of disease an infected patient eventually develops