Effective and specific in planta RNAi in cyst nematodes: expression interference of four parasitism genes reduces parasitic success

Cyst nematodes are highly evolved sedentary plant endoparasites that use parasitism proteins injected through the stylet into host tissues to successfully parasitize plants. These secretory proteins likely are essential for parasitism as they are involved in a variety of parasitic events leading to the establishment of specialized feeding cells required by the nematode to obtain nourishment. With the advent of RNA interference (RNAi) technology and the demonstration of host-induced gene silencing in parasites, a new strategy to control pests and pathogens has become available, particularly in root-knot nematodes. Plant host-induced silencing of cyst nematode genes so far has had only limited success but similarly should disrupt the parasitic cycle and render the host plant resistant. Additional in planta RNAi data for cyst nematodes are being provided by targeting four parasitism genes through host-induced RNAi gene silencing in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana, which is a host for the sugar beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii. Here it is reported that mRNA abundances of targeted nematode genes were specifically reduced in nematodes feeding on plants expressing corresponding RNAi constructs. Furthermore, this host-induced RNAi of all four nematode parasitism genes led to a reduction in the number of mature nematode females. Although no complete resistance was observed, the reduction of developing females ranged from 23% to 64% in different RNAi lines. These observations demonstrate the relevance of the targeted parasitism genes during the nematode life cycle and, potentially more importantly, suggest that a viable level of resistance in crop plants may be accomplished in the future using this technology against cyst nematodes

Bostonia. Volume 21

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

California’s 2016-17 Budget: Preparing for Gloom with a Rainy-Day Fund

California was in a better position during the 2016-2017 budget cycle than it had been in previous years.  Rather than arguing over budget cuts, the majority Democrats spent their time debating spending priorities.  In the end, legislative Democrats and Governor Jerry Brown both claimed victory, which left the state on a solid financial footing.  As Governor Brown entered the second half of his second term, the Democratic Party continued to strengthen its hold on the state.  November 2016 Election Day victories provided the party with a two-thirds majority in the legislature, ensuring state government in the coming years would remain an exclusively intraparty affair

California's 2013-14 Budget: Brown Turns the Tide

Unlike his first budgets, Governor Jerry Brown began this budget cycle from a position of political strength. The Democrats controlled a 2/3 supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, allowing them to increase taxes without a single Republican vote. Voters approved Brown’s temporary tax increases in a November 2012 referendum, adding several billion in state revenue. The improved economic and political situations allowed Brown and Democratic lawmakers to broaden the debate over the 2013-2014 budget. The centerpiece is a massive restructuring of state money for K-14 education. In addition, Brown wants to continue paying down the “Wall of Debt”, the nearly $30 billion the state had accumulated over its previous borrowing spree

California’s 2015-16 Budget: Fiscal Surpluses and Water Deficits

California’s budget politics were temporarily sidetracked by an increasingly severe statewide drought, forcing the state to take action. Democratic lawmakers elected new leadership, who, like their predecessors, argued the state should increase social spending. The major budget clash centered on California’s booming economy and what to do with a large projected tax surplus. The legislature wanted to spend the revenue, while Governor Jerry Brown downplayed the fiscal estimates and wanted to squirrel away the extra money in the state’s new rainy-day fund. Brown sparred with the University of California over UC’s increasing reliance on out-of-state students to fund the university, limiting the number of spots for California students.

California’s 2016-17 Budget: Preparing for Gloom with a Rainy-Day Fund

California was in a better position during the 2016-2017 budget cycle than it had been in previous years.  Rather than arguing over budget cuts, the majority Democrats spent their time debating spending priorities.  In the end, legislative Democrats and Governor Jerry Brown both claimed victory, which left the state on a solid financial footing.  As Governor Brown entered the second half of his second term, the Democratic Party continued to strengthen its hold on the state.  November 2016 Election Day victories provided the party with a two-thirds majority in the legislature, ensuring state government in the coming years would remain an exclusively intraparty affair

California's 2013-14 Budget: Brown Turns the Tide

Unlike his first budgets, Governor Jerry Brown began this budget cycle from a position of political strength. The Democrats controlled a 2/3 supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, allowing them to increase taxes without a single Republican vote. Voters approved Brown’s temporary tax increases in a November 2012 referendum, adding several billion in state revenue. The improved economic and political situations allowed Brown and Democratic lawmakers to broaden the debate over the 2013-2014 budget. The centerpiece is a massive restructuring of state money for K-14 education. In addition, Brown wants to continue paying down the “Wall of Debt”, the nearly $30 billion the state had accumulated over its previous borrowing spree

California's 2014-15 Budget: Political Corruption Distracts the State

Governor Jerry Brown used the relatively easy budget negotiations during this budget cycle to set himself up to run as the elder statesman seeking reelection for an unprecedented fourth term as governor. But it was not budget politics or even elections that occupied Sacramento’s attention this fiscal year, but rather a series of three separate political corruption investigations and convictions in the State Senate that tarnished the Golden State. These cases not only generated a great deal of negative media attention, but they cost the Democrats three seats, as the caucus was forced to suspend all three senators. This denied the Democrats their supermajority in the Senate, and therefore the legislature as a whole