Anatomical and ultrastructural examination of adventitious root formation in stem slices of apple

Adventitious root formation in vitro in 1-mm stem slices cut from microshoots of apple cv. Jork 9 was studied using light and electron microscopy. When indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) had been added to the medium, starch grains accumulated during the first 24 h of culture in cells of the cambial region and in cells in the vicinity of vascular tissue and in the primary rays. This accumulation occurred only in the basal part of explants. After that, the nuclei in these cells were activated, and the density of the cytoplasm and the number of cell organelles increased, whereas starch was broken down. Cambium cells started to divide transversely and at 96 h, after several divisions, a continuous ring of isodiametric cytoplasmic cells had appeared around the xylem near the basal cutting surface. The cells in this ring were rich in cell structures, and did not contain large starch grains and a central vacuole. Root meristemoids regenerated from the portions of the ring that were localized in the primary rays. From the other cells in the ring, callus developed. The meristemoids did not grow into the direction of the epidermis as in shoots, but along the vascular bundles. After emergence from the cutting surface, the meristemoids were transformed into small, dome-like primordia. They developed a typical root apex with root cap, root ground meristem and tracheid connection with shoot vascular tissue. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Large-Scale Conformational Transitions and Dimerization Are Encoded in the Amino-Acid Sequences of Hsp70 Chaperones

Hsp70s are a class of ubiquitous and highly conserved molecular chaperones playing a central role in the regulation of proteostasis in the cell. Hsp70s assist a myriad of cellular processes by binding unfolded or misfolded substrates during a complex biochemical cycle involving large-scale structural rearrangements. Here we show that an analysis of coevolution at the residue level fully captures the characteristic large-scale conformational transitions of this protein family, and predicts an evolutionary conserved–and thus functional–homo-dimeric arrangement. Furthermore, we highlight that the features encoding the Hsp70 dimer are more conserved in bacterial than in eukaryotic sequences, suggesting that the known Hsp70/Hsp110 hetero-dimer is a eukaryotic specialization built on a pre-existing template.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of La protease. A catalytically active serine residue.

Comparative sequence analysis of Escherichia coli ATP-dependent La protease led to the suggestion that Ser679 is the catalytically active enzyme residue. Site-directed mutagenesis Ser679----Ala, investigation of the cells containing the mutant plasmid, and study of the partially purified mutant protein produced results in favour of this suggestion.     

c-Myc Regulates Proliferation and Fgf10 Expression in Airway Smooth Muscle after Airway Epithelial Injury in Mouse

During lung development, Fibroblast growth factor 10 (Fgf10), which is expressed in the distal mesenchyme and regulated by Wnt signaling, acts on the distal epithelial progenitors to maintain them and prevent them from differentiating into proximal (airway) epithelial cells. Fgf10-expressing cells in the distal mesenchyme are progenitors for parabronchial smooth muscle cells (PSMCs). After naphthalene, ozone or bleomycin-induced airway epithelial injury, surviving epithelial cells secrete Wnt7b which then activates the PSMC niche to induce Fgf10 expression. This Fgf10 secreted by the niche then acts on a subset of Clara stem cells to break quiescence, induce proliferation and initiate epithelial repair. Here we show that conditional deletion of the Wnt target gene c-Myc from the lung mesenchyme during development does not affect proper epithelial or mesenchymal differentiation. However, in the adult lung we show that after naphthalene-mediated airway epithelial injury c-Myc is important for the activation of the PSMC niche and as such induces proliferation and Fgf10 expression in PSMCs. Our data indicate that conditional deletion of c-Myc from PSMCs inhibits airway epithelial repair, whereas c-Myc ablation from Clara cells has no effect on airway epithelial regeneration. These findings may have important implications for understanding the misregulation of lung repair in asthma and COPD.     

In Silico Insights into Protein-Protein Interactions and Folding Dynamics of the Saposin-Like Domain of Solanum tuberosum Aspartic Protease

The plant-specific insert is an approximately 100-residue domain found exclusively within the C-terminal lobe of some plant aspartic proteases. Structurally, this domain is a member of the saposin-like protein family, and is involved in plant pathogen defense as well as vacuolar targeting of the parent protease molecule. Similar to other members of the saposin-like protein family, most notably saposins A and C, the recently resolved crystal structure of potato (Solanum tuberosum) plant-specific insert has been shown to exist in a substrate-bound open conformation in which the plant-specific insert oligomerizes to form homodimers. In addition to the open structure, a closed conformation also exists having the classic saposin fold of the saposin-like protein family as observed in the crystal structure of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plant-specific insert. In the present study, the mechanisms of tertiary and quaternary conformation changes of potato plant-specific insert were investigated in silico as a function of pH. Umbrella sampling and determination of the free energy change of dissociation of the plant-specific insert homodimer revealed that increasing the pH of the system to near physiological levels reduced the free energy barrier to dissociation. Furthermore, principal component analysis was used to characterize conformational changes at both acidic and neutral pH. The results indicated that the plant-specific insert may adopt a tertiary structure similar to the characteristic saposin fold and suggest a potential new structural motif among saposin-like proteins. To our knowledge, this acidified PSI structure presents the first example of an alternative saposin-fold motif for any member of the large and diverse SAPLIP family.     

What shapes giant hogweed invasion? Answers from a spatio-temporal model integrating multiscale monitoring data

In this study we simulated the invasion of Heracleum mantegazzianum with a spatiotemporal model that combined a life-cycle matrix model with mechanistic local and corridor dispersal and a stochastic long-distance dispersal in a cellular automaton. The model was applied to the habitat configuration and invader distribution of eight 1?km2 study areas. Comparing the simulations with monitoring data collected over 7?years (2002?C2009) yielded a modelling efficiency of 0.94. We tested the significance of different mechanisms of invasion by omitting or modifying single model components one at a time. Thus we found that the extent of H. mantegazzianum invasion at landscape level depends on both landscape-scale processes and local processes which control recruitment success and population density. Limiting recruitment success (100????30?%) and successionally decreasing the carrying capacity of habitats (max????0) over 30?years significantly improved the projections of the invasion at the landscape level. Local dispersal reached farther than 10?m, i.e. farther than previously assumed, but appeared to be unaffected by wind directions. Long-distance dispersal together with local dispersal dominated the invasion quantitatively. Dispersal through corridors accounted for less invasive spread. Its importance, with respect to invasion speed (number of colonised model grid cells) is probably limited over short periods of time (7?years). Only dispersal along rivers made a significant quantitative contribution to invasion of H. mantegazzianum. We suggest that biotic heterogeneity of suitable habitats is responsible for varying invasion success and that successionally increasing competition leads to declining population densities of H. mantegazzianum over several decades slowing down the spread on the landscape scale.     

Effect of oxygen and air flow on xylanolytic and cellulolytic activity from bacterial cultures grown on bagasse pith

Summary The xylanolytic and cellulolytic activity fromCellulomanas were reduced by high O₂ concentrations in continous culture as well as by an air flow passed trough the samples, suggesting an inhibition or inactivation of enzymes in such conditions.     

D-xylo and Lyxofuranonucleosides Reviewed: Some Suggestions on The Mechanism of Activity of Antiviral Nucleosides

Abstract

D-Xylo and Lyxofuranonucleosides have not been extensively studied. Therefore in order to perform a systematic Structure-Antiviral Activity Relationship of the nucleoside analogs we have first synthesized their α and β anomers, some of them being unknown or their structure doubtful in the literature.     

Gas exchange and resource-use patterns along a Mediterranean successional gradient

Abstract. Gas exchange, leaf-nitrogen concentration and water potential were measured in early and late spring in early successional herbaceous plants occurring after cutting and after fire, and in mature woody species from the Mediterranean climax community Quercetum ilicis in central Italy. Net photosynthesis peaked in early spring in all species studied when values for temperature and light were lower but leaf-nitrogen content was higher as compared to late spring, suggesting that nitrogen more than energy input controlled photosynt-hetic rates. Herbaceous pioneer species occurring after cutting showed higher field photo synthetic capacity than evergreen climax trees and shrubs. By contrast, net photosynthesis of herbaceous species occurring in a persistent stage after fire, was in the same range as that of climax trees. This evidence suggests that carbon-gaining appears to be partly related to the dynamic stage of succession and not solely to the growth form.