PastPlace: the historical gazetteer service from the people who brought you A Vision of Britain through Time

The PastPlace API offers a simple web service, responding to a variety of queries by returning information from the same database as underlies the Vision of Britain web site, in a range of structured formats. These queries can be typed into a web browser as URLs, and the response viewed in the browser. However, the queries would more usually be sent by another server on the web, and the response processed by that server. That server might itself be creating web pages for use by the general public, but it might also be a cataloguing or records management system, using our API as a name authority. This poster is the first public description of the servic

Comparative Metabolomics of Early Development of the Parasitic Plants Phelipanche aegyptiaca and Triphysaria versicolor.

Parasitic weeds of the family Orobanchaceae attach to the roots of host plants via haustoria capable of drawing nutrients from host vascular tissue. The connection of the haustorium to the host marks a shift in parasite metabolism from autotrophy to at least partial heterotrophy, depending on the level of parasite dependence. Species within the family Orobanchaceae span the spectrum of host nutrient dependency, yet the diversity of parasitic plant metabolism remains poorly understood, particularly during the key metabolic shift surrounding haustorial attachment. Comparative profiling of major metabolites in the obligate holoparasite Phelipanche aegyptiaca and the facultative hemiparasite Triphysaria versicolor before and after attachment to the hosts revealed several metabolic shifts implicating remodeling of energy and amino acid metabolism. After attachment, both parasites showed metabolite profiles that were different from their respective hosts. In P. aegyptiaca, prominent changes in metabolite profiles were also associated with transitioning between different tissue types before and after attachment, with aspartate levels increasing significantly after the attachment. Based on the results from 15N labeling experiments, asparagine and/or aspartate-rich proteins were enriched in host-derived nitrogen in T. versicolor. These results point to the importance of aspartate and/or asparagine in the early stages of attachment in these plant parasites and provide a rationale for targeting aspartate-family amino acid biosynthesis for disrupting the growth of parasitic weeds

Synthesis and screening of modified 6,6′-Bis(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]triazin-3-yl)-2,2′-bipyridine ligands for actinide and lanthanide separation in nuclear waste treatment

Effects of chloro and bromo substitution at the 4-position of the pyridine ring of 6,6′-bis(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]triazin-3-yl)-2,2′-bipyridine (CyMe4-BTBP) have been studied with regard to the extraction of Am(III) from Eu(III) and Cm(III) from 0.1–3 M HNO3. Similarly to CyMe4-BTBP, a highly efficient (DAm > 10 at 3 M HNO3) and selective (SFAm/Eu > 100 at 3 M HNO3) extraction was observed for Cl-CyMe4-BTBP and Br-CyMe4-BTBP in 1-octanol but in the absence of a phase-transfer agent

Extraction of minor actinides, lanthanides and other fission products by silica-immobilized BTBP/BTPhen ligands

Novel BTBP [bis-(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-2,2’-bipyridine] / BTPhen [bis-(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline] functionalized silica gels have been developed to extract minor actinides, lanthanides and other fission products. BTPhen functionalized silica gel is capable of near-quantitative removal of Am(III) in the presence of Eu(III) from aqueous HNO3, while BTBP functionalized silica gel is able to remove problematic corrosion and fission products that are found in PUREX raffinates

Synthesis of novel BTPhen-functionalized silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles for separating trivalent actinides and lanthanides

BTPhen [bis-(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline] functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), which selectively extracts Am(III) over Eu(III) from 0.1 M HNO3 with fast kinetics and a separation factor of 30 have been synthesized. These MNPs also show a small but significant selectivity for Am(III) over Cm(III) with a separation factor of around 3 in 0.1 M HNO3. We report also the synthesis of these BTPhen and related ligands via an improved synthetic route by-passing the problematic benzylic oxidation with stoichiometric SeO2

Transformation and regeneration of the holoparasitic plant Phelipanche aegyptiaca

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transformation and subsequent regeneration of holoparasitic plants has never been reported, in part due to challenges in developing transformation protocols, but also because regeneration of obligate parasites is difficult since their survival depends completely on successful haustorium penetration of a host and the formation of vascular connections. The recent completion of a massive transcriptome sequencing project (the Parasitic Plant Genome Project) will fuel the use of genomic tools for studies on parasitic plants. A reliable system for holoparasite transformation is needed to realize the full value of this resource for reverse genetics and functional genomics studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we demonstrate that transformation of <it>Phelipanche aegyptiaca </it>is achieved by infection of 3 month-old <it>in vitro </it>grown <it>P. aegyptiaca </it>calli with <it>Agrobacterium rhizogenes </it>harboring the yellow fluorescent protein (YFP). Four months later, YFP-positive regenerated calli were inoculated onto tomato plants growing in a minirhizotron system. Eight days after inoculation, transgenic parasite tissue formed lateral haustoria that penetrated the host and could be visualized under UV illumination through intact host root tissue. YFP-positive shoot buds were observed one month after inoculation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This work constitutes a breakthrough in holoparasitic plant research methods. The method described here is a robust system for transformation and regeneration of a holoparasitic plant and will facilitate research on unique parasitic plant capabilities such as host plant recognition, haustorial formation, penetration and vascular connection.</p

Characterisation of Osteopontin in an In Vitro Model of Embryo Implantation

At the onset of pregnancy, embryo implantation is initiated by interactions between the endometrial epithelium and the outer trophectoderm cells of the blastocyst. Osteopontin (OPN) is expressed in the endometrium and is implicated in attachment and signalling roles at the embryo–epithelium interface. We have characterised OPN in the human endometrial epithelial Ishikawa cell line using three different monoclonal antibodies, revealing at least nine distinct molecular weight forms and a novel secretory pathway localisation in the apical domain induced by cell organisation into a confluent epithelial layer. Mouse blastocysts co-cultured with Ishikawa cell layers served to model embryo apposition, attachment and initial invasion at implantation. Exogenous OPN attenuated initial, weak embryo attachment to Ishikawa cells but did not affect the attainment of stable attachment. Notably, exogenous OPN inhibited embryonic invasion of the underlying cell layer, and this corresponded with altered expression of transcription factors associated with differentiation from trophectoderm (Gata2) to invasive trophoblast giant cells (Hand1). These data demonstrate the complexity of endometrial OPN forms and suggest that OPN regulates embryonic invasion at implantation by signalling to the trophectoder