Sexual colouration and sperm traits in guppies

The relationships among the area, hue, saturation and brightness of orange colouration and sperm traits in the guppy Poecilia reticulata were investigated. Males with greater areas of orange colouration had significantly larger sperm loads, more motile sperm and longer sperm relative to males with relatively little orange colouration. Males with greater areas of orange colouration did not possess more viable sperm than males with relatively little orange colouration. There was no evidence that any of the sperm traits were related to the hue, saturation or brightness of the orange colouration. These results are discussed in the context of the roles that direct and indirect selection might play in maintaining female preference for male guppies with large areas of orange colouration.     

Cold induction of EARLI1, a putative Arabidopsis lipid transfer protein, is light and calcium dependent

As sessile organisms, plants must adapt to their environment. One approach toward understanding this adaptation is to investigate environmental regulation of gene expression. Our focus is on the environmental regulation of EARLI1, which is activated by cold and long‐day photoperiods. Cold activation of EARLI1 in short‐day photoperiods is slow, requiring several hours at 4 °C to detect an increase in mRNA abundance. EARLI1 is not efficiently cold‐activated in etiolated seedlings, suggesting that photomorphogenesis is necessary for its cold activation. Cold activation of EARLI1 is inhibited in the presence of the calcium channel blocker lanthanum chloride or the calcium chelator EGTA. Addition of the calcium ionophore Bay K8644 results in cold‐independent activation of EARLI1. These data suggest that EARLI1 is not an immediate target of the cold response, and that calcium flux affects its expression. EARLI1 is a putative secreted protein and has motifs found in lipid transfer proteins. Over‐expression of EARLI1 in transgenic plants results in reduced electrolyte leakage during freezing damage, suggesting that EARLI1 may affect membrane or cell wall stability in response to low temperature stress.     

Analyses of reaction norms reveal new chromosome regions associated with tick resistance in cattle

Despite single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) availability and frequent cost reduction has allowed genome-wide association studies even in complex traits as tick resistance, the use of this information source in SNP by environment interaction context is unknown for many economically important traits in cattle. We aimed at identifying putative genomic regions explaining differences in tick resistance in Hereford and Braford cattle under SNP by environment point of view as well as to identify candidate genes derived from outliers/significant markers. The environment was defined as contemporary group means of tick counts, since they seemed to be the most appropriate entities to describe the environmental gradient in beef cattle. A total of 4363 animals having tick counts (n=10 673) originated from 197 sires and 3966 dams were used. Genotypes were acquired on 3591 of these cattle. From top 1% SNPs (410) having the greatest effects in each environment, 75 were consistently relevant in all environments, which indicated SNP by environment interaction. The outliers/significant SNPs were mapped on chromosomes 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 24, 26 and 28, and potential candidate genes were detected across environments. The presence of SNP by environment interaction for tick resistance indicates that genetic expression of resistance depends upon tick burden. Markers with major portion of genetic variance explained across environments appeared to be close to genes with different direct or indirect functions related to immune system, inflammatory process and mechanisms of tissue destruction/repair, such as energy metabolism and cell differentiation.     

Organization and expression of mouse Hox3 cluster genes

Summary The three yolk protein genes (yp) of Drosophila melanogaster are transcribed in a sex- and tissue-limited fashion. We have searched for cis-regulatory sequences in regions flanking yp1 and yp2 to identify the elements that confer female-specific expression in the fat body. One such 127 by element has previously been identified in this region. We show here the existence of two additional regions which confer female fat body-specific expression on an Adh reporter gene and on the native yp2 gene, respectively. This suggests some redundancy in the regulation of expression of the yp genes. Computer searches for putative binding sites for the DSX protein, which regulates sex-specific expression of the yp genes, revealed several such sites in our constructs. However, the significance of these is unclear since many such sites also occur in genes which one would not expect to be regulated in a sex-specific manner (e.g. Adh, Actin 5C). We suggest that DSX acts in concert with other proteins to mediate sex- and tissue-specific expression of the yp genes.     

Phylogenetics of New World Astragalus: Screening of novel nuclear loci for the reconstruction of phylogenies at low taxonomic levels

This study explores methods to use information gathered from genomics technology to understand evolutionary relationships in the hyperdiverse legume group Neo-Astragalus. These species inhabit deserts and mountains of North and South America, and even though the monophyly of the group is well established, relationships within it are still poorly understood. Plastid genes, commonly used to infer phylogenies in plants, are usually not useful for closely related taxa because of low levels of genetic variation. TheMedicago truncatula genome project provided a suite of candidate nuclear loci with high levels of variation that might prove suitable for low-level phylogenetics. This paper reports the development of methods for screening a large number of these nuclear loci, and detailed analysis of four of them. Four different patterns of phylogenetic diversification occur in the loci sampled from these genomes ofAstragalus species. One locus (CNGC4) was single copy and could be directly used in phylogenetic analyses. Two loci (ARG10 and FENR) showed patterns strongly suggestive of duplication events in some taxa, and one locus (tRALS) has apparently undergone a cryptic duplication, making it very difficult to diagnose. Potential methods for using the information provided by these loci are discussed.     

30%己乙水剂对玉米根系伤流液及其组分的影响

以玉米3138为材料,在大田和PVC管栽条件下研究了应用植物生长调节剂30％己乙水剂对玉米根系伤流量、伤流中无机离子流量、氨基酸组分及流量、激素流量等的影响,结果表明：30％己乙水剂可提高玉米根系伤流量,特别是大喇叭口期和籽粒形成期;提高了伤流中K,P,Ca,Mg,Si,Zn,Mn,Fe,B,Mo,Cu等无机元素流量,氨基酸总流量提高,主要的运输形式氨基酸Ser,Clu,Lys．Arg,Val,Ala,Leu,I1e,His,Try,Phe流量均明显增加,非蛋白质氨基酸GAba大幅度增加,伤流液中IAA在籽粒形成和灌浆期提高,授粉后伤流中Gas提高,CTKs在籽粒形成期提高,ABA在灌浆期提高,吐丝前低于对照。表明30％已乙水剂可促进根系吸收和合成物质向地上部分的输送,对促进地上部发育有重要作用。     

Plant Cell Wall Is a Stumbling Stone for Molecular Biologists

Cell wall is a key structure of the plant organism engaged in numerous functions, and plants spend enormous resources on cell wall formation. Cell wall components are the most widespread organic substances on the Earth. However important is assembling plant cell wall polysaccharides, this process has been insufficiently studied by the methods of molecular genetics; in particular, too little is known of the genes that code for the relevant enzymes (glycosyltransferases, GT). The review addresses the current situation by expounding on GT classification, describing the characteristics of enzymes that synthesize cell wall polysaccharides, and summing up the existing knowledge of already identified and putative cellulose and callose synthases and GT localized in the Golgi apparatus. The methodology for searching and characterizing new genes that participate in cell wall formation is under discussion.__________Translated from Fiziologiya Rastenii, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2005, pp. 443–462.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Gorshkova, Nikolovski, Finaev.     

Gene expression of the biosynthetic enzymes and biosynthesis of starch during Rice Grain development

Amylose and amylopectin are determinants of the physicochemical properties for starch and grain quality in rice. Their biosynthesis is catalyzed by the interplay of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS), soluble starch synthase (SSS), a starch branching enzyme (SBE), and a starch debranching enzyme (SDE). In this study, the genes for these enzymes were highly expressed 7 to 28 days after flowering during grain development, and their expression closely matched increases in both starch content and grain weight Among all the tested cultivars, amylose contents in the rice grains remained essentially constant throughout their development The AGPase gene was highly expressed in the high-yield cultivars of both glutinous and non-glutinous rice. The SSS gene was actively expressed when mature GBSS mRNA decreased. Genes responsible for amylopectin biosynthesis were simultaneously expressed in the late stage of grain development. We have now demonstrated that the expression patterns of starch biosynthetic genes differ between glutinous and non-glutinous rice, and between Tongil (a Japonica/ Indica hybrid) and Japonica types.