Variation of Clonal, Mesquite-Associated Rhizobial and Bradyrhizobial Populations from Surface and Deep Soils by Symbiotic Gene Region Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Plasmid Profile Analysis

Genetic characteristics of 14 Rhizobium and 9 Bradyrhizobium mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)-nodulating strains isolated from surface (0- to 0.5-rn) and deep (4- to 6-m) rooting zones were determined in order to examine the hypothesis that surface- and deep-soil symbiont populations were related but had become genetically distinct during adaptation to contrasting soil conditions. To examine genetic diversity, Southern blots of PstI-digested genomic DNA were sequentially hybridized with the nodDABC region of Rhizobium meliloti, the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifHDK region encoding nitrogenase structural genes, and the chromosome- localized ndvB region ofR. meliloti. Plasmid profile and host plant nodulation assays were also made. Isolates from mesquite nodulated beans and cowpeas but not alfalfa, clover, or soybeans. Mesquite was nodulated by diversespeciesofsymbionts(R.meliloti,Rhizobiumleguminosarumbv.phaseoli,andParasponiabradyrhizobia). There were no differences within the groups of mesquite-associated rhizobia or bradyrhizobia in cross- inoculation response. The ndvB hybridization results showed the greatest genetic diversity among rhizobial strains. The pattern of ndvB-hybridizing fragments suggested that surface and deep strains were clonally related, but groups of related strains from each soil depth could be distinguished. Less variation was found with nifHDK and nodDABC probes. Large plasmids (\u3e1,500 kb) were observed in al rhizobia and some bradyrhizobia

Suppression of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber lasers with resonant pumping: experimental results

Experimental results are presented showing that resonant pumping can significantly improve the stability of erbium-doped fiber lasers. In particular, it is observed that an erbium fiber laser that exhibits sustained spiking behavior when pumped at 980nm will revert to stable cw operation when pumped at 1510 nm

Low-Energy 3He(α, γ)7Be Cross-Section Measurements

The cross section and branching ratio for 3He(α, γ)7Be have been measured from Ec.m.=165 to 1170 keV by counting prompt γ rays from a windowless, recirculating, 3He gas target. Absolute cross sections were also measured at Ec.m.=945 and 1250 keV by measuring the 7Be activity produced in a 3He gas cell with a Ni entrance foil. The inferred zero-energy intercept is S34(0)=0.52±0.03 keV b. The effect of this extrapolated value on the solar-neutrino problem is discussed

Broken replication forks trigger heritable DNA breaks in the terminus of a circular chromosome

<p><u>(A) Circular map of the <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> chromosome</u>: <i>oriC</i>, <i>dif</i> and <i>terD</i> to <i>terB</i> sites are indicated. Numbers refer to the chromosome coordinates (in kb) of MG1655. (<u>B) Linear map of the terminus region:</u> chromosome coordinates are shown increasing from left to right, as in the marker frequency panels (see Figure 1C for example), therefore in the opposite direction to the circular map. In addition to <i>dif</i> and <i>ter</i> sites, the positions of the <i>parS</i>_pMT1 sites used for microscopy experiments are indicated. (<u>C) MFA analysis of terminus DNA loss in the <i>recB</i> mutant</u>: sequence read frequencies of exponential phase cells normalized to the total number of reads were calculated for each strain. Ratios of normalized reads in isogenic wild-type and <i>recB</i> mutant are plotted against chromosomal coordinates (in kb). The profile ratio of the terminus region is enlarged and the profile of the corresponding entire chromosomes is shown in inset. Original normalized profiles used to calculate ratios are shown in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007256#pgen.1007256.s005" target="_blank">S1 Fig</a>. The position of <i>dif</i> is indicated by a red arrow. The <i>ter</i> sites that arrest clockwise forks (<i>terC</i>, <i>terB</i>, green arrow) and counter-clockwise forks (<i>terA</i>, <i>terD</i>, blue arrow) are shown. <u>(D) Schematic representation of focus loss in the <i>recB</i> mutant:</u> Time-lapse microscopy experiments showed that loss of a focus in the <i>recB</i> mutant occurs concomitantly with cell division in one of two daughter cells, and that the cell that keeps the focus then generates a focus-less cell at each generation. The percentage of initial events was calculated as the percentage of cell divisions that generate a focus-less cell, not counting the following generations. In this schematic representation, two initial events occurred (generations #2 and #7) out of 9 generations, and focus loss at generation #2 is heritable. Panels shown in this figure were previously published in [<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007256#pgen.1007256.ref019" target="_blank">19</a>] and are reproduced here to introduce the phenomenon.</p