Auditor of State Mary Mosiman today released a reaudit report on the Mason City Community School District (District) for the period July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. The reaudit also covered items applicable to the years ended June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2017.

Auditor of State Mary Mosiman today released a reaudit report on the Mason City Community School District (District) for the period July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. The reaudit also covered items applicable to the years ended June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2017

Primer registro de anomalía intersexual gonadal de Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) desde el Mar de Alborán.

El objetivo principal de este trabajo es dar a conocer el primer registro de una anomalía intersexual gonadal de Trachurus mediterraneus desde el mar de Alborán (Mediterráneo occidental). Este espécimen es el primer registro de intersexualidad para un jurel en el mundo.Postprin

Preparation of High Internal Water-Phase Double Emulsions Stabilized by a Single Anionic Surfactant for Fabricating Interconnecting Porous Polymer Microspheres

Herein we report a one-step method to prepare high internal water-phase double emulsions (W/O/W) via catastrophic phase inversion of water-in-oil high internal phase emulsions (W/O HIPEs) stabilized solely by 12-acryloxy-9-octadecenoic acid (AOA) through increasing the content of water phase. This is the first time for double emulsions to be stabilized solely by a single small molecular surfactant, which are usually costabilized by both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfactants. After neutralized with ammonia, AOA is confirmed to be capable of stabilizing both W/O emulsions and O/W emulsions, which may account for its unique ability to stabilize double emulsions. The effects of different conditions (including changing the concentrations of AOA and salt (NaCl), pH value, the polarity of oils, the addition interval of water and stirring rate, etc.) on the formation and the stability of double emulsions as well as the inversion point have been investigated by using optical microscopy and conductivity monitoring. Finally, porous polymer microspheres with high interconnection (polyHIPE microspheres) were fabricated by γ-ray initiated polymerization of the as-prepared double emulsions composed of different monomers (styrene, or <i>n</i>-butyl acrylate, or methyl methacrylate), which have been confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Our method is facile and effective for preparing high interconnecting porous polymer microspheres without tedious post-treatment of the products in common emulsion polymerization due to the use of polymerizable surfactant

Fine Mapping of Two Additive Effect Genes for Awn Development in Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L.)

<div><p>Awns, important domestication and agronomic traits in rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L.), are conferred by polygenes and the environment. Near isogenic line (NIL) pairs BM33 and BM38 were constructed from crosses between awnless <i>japonica</i> cv Nipponbare as recurrent parent, and lines SLG or Funingxiaohongmang (awned <i>japonica</i> accessions), respectively, as donors. In order to study the genetic and molecular mechanism of awning, two unknown, independent genes with additive effects were identified in a cross between the NILs. To map and clone the two genes, a BC₄F₄ population of 8,103 individuals and a BC₄F₆ population of 11,206 individuals were constructed. <i>Awn3-1</i> was fine mapped to a 101.13 kb genomic region between Indel marker In316 and SNP marker S9-1 on chromosome 3. Nine predicted genes in the interval were annotated in the Rice Annotation Project Database (RAP-DB), and <i>Os03g0418600</i> was identified as the most likely candidate for <i>Awn3-1</i> through sequence comparisons and RT-PCR assays. <i>Awn4-2</i> was fine mapped to a 62.4 kb genomic region flanked by simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker M1126 and Indel maker In73 on chromosome 4L. This region contained the previously reported gene <i>An-1</i> that regulates awn development. Thus, <i>An-1</i> may be the candidate gene of <i>Awn4-2</i>. These results will facilitate cloning of the awn genes and thereby provide an understanding of the molecular basis of awn development.</p></div

Predicted genes in the finely mapped region of <i>Awn3-1</i> and <i>Awn4-2</i>.

<p>Predicted genes in the finely mapped region of <i>Awn3-1</i> and <i>Awn4-2</i>.</p

Sequence variation in <i>Awn4-2</i>, <i>awn4-2</i>, <i>An-1</i> and <i>an-1</i>.

<p>Black bars represent 5’ upstream regions and introns. Grey bars represent 5’ and 3’ untranstated regions. Black boxes represent coding regions. The short dashes represent single base deletions. The black triangles represent a 4.4 Kb or 3-bp insertion. Bar = 1Kb.</p

Awn phenotypes.

<p>(A) Panicle phenotypes comparing BM33a (right) and BM33b (left); (B) BM38a (right) and BM38b (left). (C) Distinguishable phenotypes in the F₂ population of the cross between NILs BM33a and BM38a. These classes were consistent with the presence of LA (left), MA (center) and SA (right). Phenotypic comparison of seed arrays from mature spikelets of NIL lines BM33a (upper) and BM33b (lower) (D) and BM38a (left) and BM38b (right) (E). (F) Distribution of awn ratio. (G) Distribution of awn length. Bars, 10 mm. See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0160792#pone.0160792.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a> for abbreviations LA, MA, and SA.</p

Semi-quantitative analysis of expression of <i>Os04g0350700</i>.

<p>(A) Expression of <i>Os04g0350700</i> in 0–1 cm and 2–5 cm young panicles of awned plants, awnless plants, with Nipponbare as control plants; (B) Expression of actin1 was used as a control.</p

Fine mapping and prediction of <i>Awn3-1</i>.

<p>(A) <i>Awn3-1</i> was located between markers RM6283 and RM3180 on rice chromosome 3. Numbers of recombinants are shown below the position of the eight markers. Chromosomal constitution of eleven recombinants (plant numbers 19, 162, 569, 661, 793, 231 and 636) are shown with their panicle type. Grey and white bars represent chromosomal segment of heterozygous and Nipponbare, respectively. (B) <i>Awn3-1</i> was fine mapped to a 101.13 kb genomic region between markers In316 and S9. (C) The Nipponbare genomic BACs (OSJNBb0056b16 and OSJNBb0028K20) in this region. (D) Gene prediction according to RAP-DB. The gray ellipse in (A) represents the centromere.</p

Overexpression of <i>OsMYB48-1</i>, a Novel MYB-Related Transcription Factor, Enhances Drought and Salinity Tolerance in Rice

<div><p>MYB-type transcription factors (TFs) play essential roles in plant growth, development and respond to environmental stresses. Role of MYB-related TFs of rice in drought stress tolerance is not well documented. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of a novel MYB-related TF, <i>OsMYB48-1</i>, of rice. Expression of <i>OsMYB48-1</i> was strongly induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG), abscisic acid (ABA), H₂O₂, and dehydration, while being slightly induced by high salinity and cold treatment. The OsMYB48-1 protein was localized in the nucleus with transactivation activity at the C terminus. Overexpression of <i>OsMYB48-1</i> in rice significantly improved tolerance to simulated drought and salinity stresses caused by mannitol, PEG, and NaCl, respectively, and drought stress was caused by drying the soil. In contrast to wild type plants, the overexpression lines exhibited reduced rate of water loss, lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content and higher proline content under stress conditions. Moreover, overexpression plants were hypersensitive to ABA at both germination and post-germination stages and accumulated more endogenous ABA under drought stress conditions. Further studies demonstrated that overexpression of <i>OsMYB48-1</i> could regulate the expression of some ABA biosynthesis genes (<i>OsNCED4</i>, <i>OsNCED5</i>), early signaling genes (<i>OsPP2C68</i>, <i>OSRK1</i>) and late responsive genes (<i>RAB21</i>, <i>OsLEA3</i>, <i>RAB16C</i> and <i>RAB16D</i>) under drought stress conditions. Collectively, these results suggested that <i>OsMYB48-1</i> functions as a novel MYB-related TF which plays a positive role in drought and salinity tolerance by regulating stress-induced ABA synthesis.</p></div