Performance evaluation and variability analysis for morpho-physiological traits of orange fleshed tomato varieties introduced in Nigeria climatic conditions

Received: April 29th, 2023 ; Accepted: August 22nd, 2023 ; Published: October 24th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] introduction of orange flesh tomato in Nigeria climatic conditions through characterization is the best way to understand its adaptability and fight against the lack of ß-carotene in the landraces and improved varieties currently cultivated in the country. This study was aimed to evaluate7 tomato varieties comprised of 4orange-fleshed tomato imported from New Zealand and 3 local varieties for their morphological, agronomic and chemical composition and fruit quality characters. Phenotyping was used to assess the morphological and agronomic traits and while biochemical assays was used for fruit quality characters. The four orange fleshed tomato varieties were indeterminate and the 3 local varieties were determinate. There were significant variability and differences in plant height (54.93 cm to 72.23 cm), leaf number (14 to 24), leaf length (24.10 cm to 28.53 cm), length width (15.13 cm to 16.93 cm), internode length (2.41 cm to 3.29 cm), root collar (3.46 cm to 4.53 cm), days to 1% flowering (20 to 23), days to maturity (34 to 42), number of clusters per plant (5 to 10), fruits per cluster (4 to 6), fruit weight (72.64 g to 488.58 g), fruit length (27 mm to54.89 mm), fruit diameter (23.67 mm to 28 mm), transverse fruit section (1 mm to 3 mm), moisture content (92.30 to 95.33%), protein (0.15 to 1.02%), fat (0.15 to 1.02%), fibre (0.92 to 2.37%) and carbohydrate (1.86 to 6.41%). At the time the local varieties senesced they showed higher yields than the introduced varieties, but as indeterminate they were better than the local ones because they continued fruiting after the local ones died off. Flesh color of pericarps and ripened fruit color ranged from orange to red while fruit shape varied from highly rounded to cylindrical (long oblong). Fruit size showed variation from small to moderate size

Induced pluripotent stem cell-based disease modeling identifies ligand-induced decay of megalin as a cause of Donnai-Barrow syndrome

Donnai-Barrow syndrome (DBS) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by multiple pathologies including malformation of forebrain and eyes, as well as resorption defects of the kidney proximal tubule. The underlying cause of DBS are mutations in LRP2, encoding the multifunctional endocytic receptor megalin. Here, we identified a unique missense mutation R3192Q of LRP2 in an affected family that may provide novel insights into the molecular causes of receptor dysfunction in the kidney proximal tubule and other tissues affected in DBS. Using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell lines we generated neuroepithelial and kidney cell types as models of the disease. Using these cell models, we documented the inability of megalinR3192Q to properly discharge ligand and ligand-induced receptor decay in lysosomes. Thus, mutant receptors are aberrantly targeted to lysosomes for catabolism, essentially depleting megalin in the presence of ligand in this affected family

Self-Organized Branching Processes: A Mean-Field Theory for Avalanches

We discuss mean-field theories for self-organized criticality and the connection with the general theory of branching processes. We point out that the nature of the self-organization is not addressed properly by the previously proposed mean-field theories. We introduce a new mean-field model that explicitly takes the boundary conditions into account; in this way, the local dynamical rules are coupled to a global equation that drives the control parameter to its critical value. We study the model numerically, and analytically we compute the avalanche distributions.Comment: 4 pages + 4 ps figure

Retromer binds the FANSHY sorting motif in SorLA to regulate amyloid precursor protein sorting and processing

sorLA is a sorting receptor for amyloid precursor protein (APP) genetically linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Retromer, an adaptor complex in the endosome-to-Golgi retrieval pathway, has been implicated in APP transport because retromer deficiency leads to aberrant APP sorting and processing and levels of retromer proteins are altered in AD. Here we report that sorLA and retromer functionally interact in neurons to control trafficking and amyloidogenic processing of APP. We have identified a sequence (FANSHY) in the cytoplasmic domain of sorLA that is recognized by the VPS26 subunit of the retromer complex. Accordingly, we characterized the interaction between the retromer complex and sorLA and determined the role of retromer on sorLA-dependent sorting and processing of APP. Mutations in the VPS26 binding site resulted in receptor redistribution to the endosomal network, similar to the situation seen in cells with VPS26 knockdown. The sorLA mutant retained APP-binding activity but, as opposed to the wild-type receptor, misdirected APP into a distinct non-Golgi compartment, resulting in increased amyloid processing. In conclusion, our data provide a molecular link between reduced retromer expression and increased amyloidogenesis as seen in patients with sporadic AD

LRP2 contributes to planar cell polarity-dependent coordination of motile cilia function

Motile cilia are protruding organelles on specialized epithelia that beat in a synchronous fashion to propel extracellular fluids. Coordination and orientation of cilia beating on individual cells and across tissues is a complex process dependent on planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling. Asymmetric sorting of PCP pathway components, essential to establish planar polarity, involves trafficking along the endocytic path, but the underlying regulatory processes remain incompletely understood. Here, we identified the endocytic receptor LRP2 as regulator of PCP component trafficking in ependyma, a multi-ciliated cell type that is involved in facilitating flow of the cerebrospinal fluid in the brain ventricular system. Lack of receptor expression in gene-targeted mice results in a failure to sort PCP core proteins to the anterior or posterior cell side and, consequently, in the inability to coordinate cilia arrangement and to aligned beating (loss of rotational and translational polarity). LRP2 deficiency coincides with a failure to sort NHERF1, a cytoplasmic LRP2 adaptor to the anterior cell side. As NHERF1 is essential to translocate PCP core protein Vangl2 to the plasma membrane, these data suggest a molecular mechanism whereby LRP2 interacts with PCP components through NHERF1 to control their asymmetric sorting along the endocytic path. Taken together, our findings identified the endocytic receptor LRP2 as a novel regulator of endosomal trafficking of PCP proteins, ensuring their asymmetric partition and establishment of translational and rotational planar cell polarity in the ependyma

The energy spectrometer for particles (ESP): Instrument description and orbital performance

The ESP detector is functionally described, along with the pertinent orbital and spin properties of the spacecraft that supports it. The phoswiched plastic/BGO scintillators sensor design, electronic implementation, and resulting data types are recounted, and the ground calibration procedures are reported. Several illustrative examples of data are given, including the solar proton event of 29 September 1989, and the nearly periodic episodes of high relativistic electron flux that are associated with solar coronal holes which have been a dominant feature of the space weather over the past few years. 2 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab

Indirect Dark Matter Detection from Dwarf Satellites: Joint Expectations from Astrophysics and Supersymmetry

We present a general methodology for determining the gamma-ray flux from annihilation of dark matter particles in Milky Way satellite galaxies, focusing on two promising satellites as examples: Segue 1 and Draco. We use the SuperBayeS code to explore the best-fitting regions of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) parameter space, and an independent MCMC analysis of the dark matter halo properties of the satellites using published radial velocities. We present a formalism for determining the boost from halo substructure in these galaxies and show that its value depends strongly on the extrapolation of the concentration-mass (c(M)) relation for CDM subhalos down to the minimum possible mass. We show that the preferred region for this minimum halo mass within the CMSSM with neutralino dark matter is ~10^-9-10^-6 solar masses. For the boost model where the observed power-law c(M) relation is extrapolated down to the minimum halo mass we find average boosts of about 20, while the Bullock et al (2001) c(M) model results in boosts of order unity. We estimate that for the power-law c(M) boost model and photon energies greater than a GeV, the Fermi space-telescope has about 20% chance of detecting a dark matter annihilation signal from Draco with signal-to-noise greater than 3 after about 5 years of observation