Chemotaxis with directional sensing during Dictyostelium aggregation

We show that the chemotactic movements of colonies of the starving amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum are driven by a force that depends on both the direction of propagation (directional sensing) of reaction-diffusion chemotactic waves and on the gradient of the concentration of the chemoattractant, solving the chemotactic wave paradox. It is shown that the directional sensing of amoebae is due to the sensitivity of the cells to the time variation of the concentration of the chemoattractant combined with its spatial gradient. It is also shown that chemotaxis exclusively driven by local concentration gradient leads to unstable local motion, preventing cells from aggregation. These findings show that the formation of mounds, which initiate multicellularity in Dictyostelium discoideum, is caused by the sensitivity of the amoebae due to three factors, namely, to the direction of propagation of the chemoattractant, to its spatial gradient, and to the emergence of cAMP “emitting centres”, responsible for the local accumulation of the amoebae.     

Regulation of growth by the trehalose pathway: Relationship to temperature and sucrose

Carbon signaling can override carbon supply in the regulation of growth. At least some of this regulation is imparted by the sugar signal trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) through the protein kinase, SnRK1. This signaling pathway regulates biosynthetic processes involved in growth under optimal growing conditions. Recently, using a seedling system we showed that under sub-optimal conditions, such as cold, carbon signaling by T6P/ SnRK1 enables recovery of growth following relief of the stress. The T6P/ SnRK1 mechanism thus could be selected as a means of improving low temperature tolerance. High-throughput automated Fv/Fm measurements provide a potential means to screen for T6P/ SnRK1, and here we confirm through measurements of Fv/Fm in rosettes that T6P promotes low temperature tolerance and recovery during cold to warm transfer. Further, to better understand the coordination between sugars, trehalose pathway, and temperature-dependent growth, we examine the interrelationship between sugars, trehalose phosphate synthase (TPS), and trehalose phosphate phosphatase (TPP) gene expression and T6P content in seedlings. Sucrose, particularly when fed exogenously, correlated well with TPS1 and TPPB gene expression, suggesting that these enzymes are involved in maintaining carbon flux through the pathway in relation to sucrose supply. However, when sucrose accumulated to higher levels under low temperature and low N, TPS1 and TPPB expression were less directly related to sucrose; other factors may also contribute to regulation of TPS1 and TPPB expression under these conditions. TPPA expression was not related to sucrose content and all genes were not well correlated with endogenous glucose. Our work has implications for understanding acclimation to sink-limited growth conditions such as low temperature and for screening cold-tolerant genotypes with altered T6P/ SnRK1 signaling.     

Catharanthus roseus mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 confers UV and heat tolerance to Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Catharanthus roseus is an important source of pharmaceutically important Monoterpenoid Indole Alkaloids (MIAs). Accumulation of many of the MIAs is induced in response to abiotic stresses such as wound, ultra violet (UV) irradiations, etc. Recently, we have demonstrated a possible role of CrMPK3, a C. roseus mitogen-activated protein kinase in stress-induced accumulation of a few MIAs. Here, we extend our findings using Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate the role of CrMPK3 in giving tolerance to abiotic stresses. Yeast cells transformed with CrMPK3 was found to show enhanced tolerance to UV and heat stress. Comparison of CrMPK3 and SLT2, a MAPK from yeast shows high-sequence identity particularly at conserved domains. Additionally, heat stress is also shown to activate a 43 kDa MAP kinase, possibly CrMPK3 in C. roseus leaves. These findings indicate the role of CrMPK3 in stress-induced MIA accumulation as well as in stress tolerance.     

Metabolome and water status phenotyping of Arabidopsis under abiotic stress cues reveals new insight into ESK1 function

Metabolomic investigation of the freezing-tolerant Arabidopsis mutant esk1 revealed large alterations in polar metabolite content in roots and shoots. Stress metabolic markers were found to be among the most significant metabolic markers associated with the mutation, but also compounds related to growth regulation or nutrition. The metabolic phenotype of esk1 was also compared to that of wild type (WT) under various environmental constraints, namely cold, salinity and dehydration. The mutant was shown to express constitutively a subset of metabolic responses which fits with the core of stress metabolic responses in the WT. But remarkably, the most specific metabolic responses to cold acclimation were not phenocopied by esk1 mutation and remained fully inducible in the mutant at low temperature. Under salt stress, esk1 accumulated lower amounts of Na⁺ in leaves than the WT, and under dehydration stress its metabolic profile and osmotic potential were only slightly impacted. These phenotypes are consistent with the hypothesis of an altered water status in esk1 , which actually exhibited basic lower water content (WC) and transpiration rate (TR) than the WT. Taken together, the results suggest that ESK1 does not function as a specific cold acclimation gene, but could rather be involved in water homeostasis.     

The stimulating effect of a cold dark-pretreatment on the etioplast/chloroplast transformation of angiosperms. III. Involvement of the excision factor and of cold-retarded aging processes?

Our question is whether the stimulating effect of a cold dark-pretreatment on the process of de-etiolation in primary leaves of wheat seedlings under subsequent continuous white light is essentially mediated by the retarding effect of highly lowered temperatures on the following processes: aging and/or senescence, realization of the so-called excision factor in detached leaves, decrease of the cytokinin level in detached leaves. The strong stimulating effect of a cold dark-preatreatment remains inspite of progressive aging in parts of the leaves and a strong decrease of the capability of chlorophyll accumulation in detached in contrast to attached leaves. The strong stimulatory effect of a cold dark-pretreatment is not diminished by application of cytokinin or gibberellic acid. The stimulating effect of a cold dark-pretreatment is detectable over several days under continuous light, but it is lost during a warm dark-phase of a few hours duration between the cold dark-pretreatment and the white light phase.     

A surface acoustic wave sensor functionalized with a polypyrrole molecularly imprinted polymer for selective dopamine detection

A surface acoustic wave sensor operating at 104 MHz and functionalized with a polypyrrole molecularly imprinted polymer has been designed for selective detection of dopamine (DA). Optimization of pyrrole/DA ratio, polymerization and immersion times permitted to obtain a highly selective sensor, which has a sensitivity of 0.55°/mM (≈550 Hz/mM) and a detection limit of ≈ 10 nM. Morphology and related roughness parameters of molecularly imprinted polymer surfaces, before and after extraction of DA, as well as that of the non imprinted polymer were characterized by atomic force microscopy. The developed chemosensor selectively recognized dopamine over the structurally similar compound 4‐hydroxyphenethylamine (referred as tyramine), or ascorbic acid,which co‐exists with DA in body fluids at a much higher concentration. Selectivity tests were also carried out with dihydroxybenzene, for which an unexpected phase variation of order of 75% of the DA one was observed. Quantum chemical calculations, based on the density functional theory, were carried out to determine the nature of interactions between each analyte and the PPy matrix and the DA imprinted PPy polypyrrole sensing layer in order to account for the important phase variation observed during dihydroxybenzene injection. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

海州常山花粉低温贮藏及其生理生化特征研究

以海州常山花粉为研究材料,探究了贮藏方式、贮藏时间、贮藏温度及预冻方式、低温解冻方式对花粉萌发率的影响,以及-80 ℃及4 ℃低温贮藏过程中海州常山花粉保护酶活性和渗透调节物质含量的变化,以筛选海州常山花粉的培养方法及贮藏条件,为其杂交育种奠定基础。结果表明：（1）进行低温贮藏时,花药和散粉两种贮藏效果差异不显著;不同的预冷方式对花粉低温贮藏影响并不显著;-80 ℃贮藏条件下,37 ℃水浴解冻效果显著优于室温解冻。（2）海州常山花粉在-80 ℃低温下贮藏90 d后仍具有7.99%的萌发率,更有效的保持了花粉萌发率。（3）随着低温胁迫时间的延续,4 ℃及-80 ℃两种低温条件下贮藏的海州常山花粉超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）活性、过氧化物酶（POD）活性均呈现出先升后降的趋势。（4）4 ℃及-80 ℃两种低温贮藏的海州常山花粉可溶性糖含量及-80 ℃低温贮藏的海州常山花粉可溶性蛋白含量,随着低温胁迫时间的延续,呈现出先升后降的趋势;4 ℃低温贮藏条件下的海州常山花粉可溶性蛋白含量呈现逐渐下降的趋势。研究认为,海州常山花粉更适宜于在-80 ℃低温下长期贮藏,它可以通过提高自身的SOD、POD活性,增加可溶性糖和可溶性蛋白累积来增强抗寒性,维持自身活力。     

Formation of Thick Dense Yttrium Iron Garnet Films Using Aerosol Deposition

Aerosol deposition (AD) is a thick-film deposition process that can produce layers up to several hundred micrometers thick with densities greater than 95% of the bulk. The primary advantage of AD is that the deposition takes place entirely at ambient temperature; thereby enabling film growth in material systems with disparate melting temperatures. This report describes in detail the processing steps for preparing the powder and for performing AD using the custom-built system. Representative characterization results are presented from scanning electron microscopy, profilometry, and ferromagnetic resonance for films grown in this system. As a representative overview of the capabilities of the system, focus is given to a sample produced following the described protocol and system setup. Results indicate that this system can successfully deposit 11 µm thick yttrium iron garnet films that are  > 90% of the bulk density during a single 5 min deposition run. A discussion of methods to afford better control of the aerosol and particle selection for improved thickness and roughness variations in the film is provided.