Rhythmic and Light-Inducible Appearance of Clock-Associated Pseudo-Response Regulator Protein PRR9 through Programmed Degradation in the Dark in Arabidopsis thaliana

The above article was published in Plant and Cell Physiology48(11): 1644–1651. Figure 1 was shown incorrectly online. The figure legend inFigure 1C was missing. The correct figure is given below. View larger version (26K):   Fig. 1 Construction     

EDITORIAL

The Annals of Botany, one of the oldest botanical journals incontinuous publication, publishes eclectic and innovative papers,both on-line and in print, in almost every sphere of plant biology.Its policy has been and remains to improve and develop all aspectsof the Journal’s provision for the benefit of authorsand readers alike. In doing so, it aims to meet fully theirdemands for a high level of originality in scientific content,top quality reproduction and prompt publication with wide accessibility.Annals of Botany faces these     

The Bioinformatics Open Access option

We are pleased to report that July 2005 saw the launch of ournew Open Access option, part of the Oxford Open initiative (http://www.oxfordjournals.org/oxfordopen/).Bioinformatics authors can now choose to publish their work‘open access’ in an established, high-impact journal,under what we believe is a sustainable publication model. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR AUTHORS SUBMITTING TO BIOINFORMATICS The decision of whether to pay for open access is made by thecorresponding author upon acceptance (importantly this decisionis kept completely separate from the editorial review process).If a Bioinformatics author chooses to pay for the Open Accessoption, his or her paper will be made freely available onlineimmediately; if an author does not choose the option his orher     

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Council and Business Meetings, 2002

Council Meeting, 2002 Call to order.—The SMBE Council met during two sessionsat the Sorrento Hilton, Sorrento, Italy. President Michael Cleggcalled the first session to order at 1:37 p.m. on June 13, 2002and the second at 1:15 p.m. on June 14, 2002. In attendanceat the first session were Councilor Montserrat Aguadé,President Michael Clegg, Editor Simon Easteal, Treasurer DickHudson, and Secretary Marcy Uyenoyama; these Council memberswere joined at the second session by President-Elect NaoyukiTakahata. S. Blair Hedges, organizer of the 2004 annual meetings,made a     

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) Council and Business Meetings, 2004 State College, Pennsylvania, USA

Council Meeting

1. Call to order.—President John Avise called the meetingto order at 9:00 AM, 17 June 2004. In attendance were PresidentJohn Avise, Treasurer Marta L. Wayne, Editorial Advisory Boardmember Stanley A. Sawyer, Editor William Martin, Past- PresidentNaoyuki Takahata, Secretary Sudhir Kumar, and Councillors G.Brian Golding, Laura A. Katz, and Jody Hey. President-ElectJeffrey R. Powell arrived later due to flight delays. The meetingbegan with Introductions.
2. Approval of minutes.—Councilapproved the minutes of the2003 Council and Business meetings,published in the December2003 issue of the journal MolecularBiology and Evolution (MBE).
3. Editor's report.—Most ofthe meeting addressed a discussionconcerning the Journal'sfuture and dealings with the OxfordUniversity Press (OUP) (seereport).
4. Treasurer's report.—Treasurer Marta L. Waynesummarizedthe financial state of the Society (see report).The fiscalyear has now changed to January–December (coincidentwith     

Toward a more International and Reputable Journal

Editors in 2004 In 2004 I, Hiroo Fukuda (University of Tokyo), was appointedto be the Editor-in-Chief of Plant and Cell Physiology (PCP).As my first task I have added four overseas and four domesticEditors: John Harada (University of California, Davis), FumihikoKatagiri (University of Minnesota, from July), Jiayang Li (ChineseAcademy of Science), Eberhard Schäfer (Freiburg University,from July), Ikuko Hara-Nishimura (Kyoto University), FumihikoSato (Kyoto University), Ichiro Terashima (Osaka University)and Hideyuki Takahashi (Tohoku University, from July). I would like to take     

优雅蝈螽与暗褐蝈螽精子束的显微观察

本文应用微分干涉相衬法对优雅蝈螽Ｇampsocleis gratiosa Brunner von Wattenwyl和暗褐蝈螽G. sedakovii （Fischer von Waldheim） 雄性精巢管基部、输精管、贮精囊和精包,及雌性受精囊中精子束的形态变化进行了观察,对探讨螽斯近缘种的生殖隔离机制和生殖生物学具有重要意义.结果表明：这两种蝈螽的精子束通过精包转移到雌性受精囊后,精子束的形态发生了显著变化.精巢管基部的精子为游离的单个精子;输精管、贮精囊和精包中精子成束排列形成较分散的精子束,精子束头部包裹有粘液帽;雌性受精囊中的精子束的精子呈羽状排列,精子的头部汇集在中央轴上.两种蝈螽精子束形态差异不显著.     

Editorial

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. THE RICH DIVERSITY OF GENOMICS—A REPORT ON THE ‘COMPARATIVE AND FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS (BITS) WORKSHOP’, HINXTON, UK, 27–30 OCTOBER 2005 The Comparative and Functional Genomics (BITS) Workshop hasa history that in many ways reflects the changing face of moderngenomics. Started 15 years ago under the banner of ‘Identificationof the Transcribed Sequence’, the meeting was designedto bring together leading researchers from around the worldwho were pioneering new global approaches to gene discoveryin a small workshop setting. As more and more transcribed sequencesbecame known, the emphasis of the meeting, like the communityit served, focused on how to characterize the function of allthe newly acquired genes. A decision was therefore made to changeits name to ‘Beyond the Identification of the TranscribedSequence Workshop’, or BITS for short. As the years havepassed the meeting has continued to diversify and change (ashas its name), but it has continued to attract scientists tothe cutting edge of genomics research. At this year's meeting,hosted . . . [Full Text of this Article]     

岩木瓜化学成分的分离、结构鉴定与杀虫活性

为明确岩木瓜Ficus tsiangii Merr. ex Corner的杀虫活性成分及杀虫活性,利用活性跟踪分离技术,通过硅胶柱层析、薄层层析及葡聚糖凝胶等手段对岩木瓜茎和根皮的化学成分进行了分离、纯化,结合化合物理化性质和波谱数据对其结构进行了鉴定.结果表明,从岩木瓜中分离得到4个生物活性化合物,分别为β-香树脂醇乙酸酯、蒲公英赛酮、柯依利素及齐墩果酸.利用胃毒法测定了这些化合物（500μg/g糖）对家蝇Musca domestica成虫的生物活性,其中蒲公英赛酮处理试虫48 h后的校正死亡率达到83.33%,表现出较强杀虫活性,并进一步测定了其对试虫的毒力.结果表明,蒲公英赛酮处理家蝇成虫48 h后表现出较强毒力,其LC₅₀值为89.82μg/g糖,略低于对照药剂鱼藤酮毒力（LC₅₀值为67.58μg/g糖）.因此,蒲公英赛酮值得进一步深入研究.     

Can sugars be produced from fatty acids? A test case for pathway analysis tools

Motivation: In recent years, several methods have been proposedfor determining metabolic pathways in an automated way basedon network topology. The aim of this work is to analyse thesemethods by tackling a concrete example relevant in biochemistry.It concerns the question whether even-chain fatty acids, beingthe most important constituents of lipids, can be convertedinto sugars at steady state. It was proved five decades agothat this conversion using the Krebs cycle is impossible unlessthe enzymes of the glyoxylate shunt (or alternative bypasses)are present in the system. Using this example, we can comparethe various methods in pathway analysis. Results: Elementary modes analysis (EMA) of a set of enzymescorresponding to the Krebs cycle, glycolysis and gluconeogenesissupports the scientific evidence showing that there is no pathwaycapable of converting acetyl-CoA to glucose at steady state.This conversion is possible after the addition of isocitratelyase and malate synthase (forming the glyoxylate shunt) tothe system. Dealing with the same example, we compare EMA withtwo tools based on graph theory available online, PathFindingand Pathway Hunter Tool. These automated network generatingtools do not succeed in predicting the conversions known fromexperiment. They sometimes generate unbalanced paths and revealproblems identifying side metabolites that are not responsiblefor the carbon net flux. This shows that, for metabolic pathwayanalysis, it is important to consider the topology (includingbimolecular reactions) and stoichiometry of metabolic systems,as is done in EMA. Contact: ldpf{at}minet.uni-jena.de; schuster{at}minet.uni-jena.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are availableat Bioinformatics online. FOOTNOTES Associate Editor: Alfonso Valencia Received on July 24, 2008; revised on September 18, 2008; accepted on September 18, 2008     

飞行过程中棉铃虫对温度的主动选择

为了探讨温度对迁飞性昆虫空中群体聚集成层等行为的作用机制,在室内利用自行设计的连续温度梯度发生装置对棉铃虫Helicoverpa armigera在飞行过程中的温度选择行为进行了研究.结果表明：在存在明显温差的连续温度梯度中,所有棉铃虫飞行个体均对温度具有显著的选择行为.棉铃虫试虫群体表现出对空间最优飞行温度共同的主动选择,选择的温度范围是20~22℃之间;在这一温度范围内棉铃虫的振翅频率最高,持续振翅时间最长.对不同温度梯度条件下各温度区间内试虫的飞行时间进行定量比较发现,在16~22℃温度梯度场中的棉铃虫群体对最适温度的选择比在19~30℃的温度梯度场中的群体更显著,表明在温度较低的迁飞季节中温度对迁飞棉铃虫空中虫群聚集成层的影响要比在高温季节更明显.持续飞行时间对棉铃虫振翅频率的影响明显,表明昆虫迁飞高度与昆虫自身能量的消耗存在联系.     

The FLOWERING LOCUS T/TERMINAL FLOWER 1 family in Lombardy poplar

Genes in the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1)family have been shown to be important in the control of theswitch between vegetative and reproductive growth in severalplant species. We isolated nine members of the FT/TFL1 familyfrom Lombardy poplar (Populus nigra var. italica Koehne). Sequenceanalysis of the members of the FT/TFL1 family revealed considerablehomology within their coding regions both among family membersand to the members of the same family in Arabidopsis, tomatoand grapevine. Moreover, members of this family in all fourspecies examined display a common exon–intron organization.Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the genes fall into fourdifferent clades: two into the TFL1 clade; five into the FTclade; and one each into the MOTHER OF FT AND TFL1 and BROTHEROF FT AND TFL1 clades. One gene in the TFL1 clade, PnTFL1, isexpressed in vegetative meristems, and transgenic Arabidopsisthat ectopically expressed PnTFL1 had a late-flowering phenotype.The expression patterns of two genes in the FT clade, PnFT1and PnFT2, suggested a role for them in the promotion of flowering,and transgenic Arabidopsis that ectopically expressed eitherPnFT1 or PnFT2 had an early-flowering phenotype.     

Positive Association Among Three Binary Variables and Cross-Product Ratios

We show that, when the three-way association level among thethree binary variables, X, U₁ and U₂ is fixed, D_P = pr(X = 1¦U₁= 1) – pr(X = 1¦U₁ = 0) increases as the cross-productratio of U₁ and U₂ increases under the assumption that X ispositively associated with U₁ and U₂. We then discuss some implicationsof this property.     

Four TFL1/CEN-Like Genes on Distinct Linkage Groups Show Different Expression Patterns to Regulate Vegetative and Reproductive Development in Apple (Malusxdomestica Borkh.)

Recent molecular analyses in several plant species revealedthat TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1) and CENTRORADIALIS (CEN) homologsare involved in regulating the flowering time and/or maintainingthe inflorescence meristem. In apple (Malusxdomestica Borkh.),four TFL1/CEN-like genes, MdTFL1, MdTFL1a, MdCENa and MdCENb,were found and mapped by a similar position on putatively homoeologouslinkage groups. Apple TFL1/CEN-like genes functioned equivalentlyto TFL1 when expressed constitutively in transgenic Arabidopsisplants, suggesting that they have a potential to complementthe TFL1 function. Because MdTFL1 and MdTFL1a were expressedin the vegetative tissues in both the adult and juvenile phases,they could function redundantly as a flowering repressor anda regulator of vegetative meristem identity. On the other hand,MdCENa was mainly expressed in fruit receptacles, cultured tissuesand roots, suggesting that it is involved in the developmentof proliferating tissues but not in the control of the transitionfrom the juvenile to the adult phase. In contrast, MdCENb wassilenced in most organs probably due to gene duplication bythe polyploid origin of apple. The expression patterns of MdTFL1and MdCENa in apple were also supported by the heterologousexpression of β-glucuronidase fused with their promoterregions in transgenic Arabidopsis. Our results suggest thatfunctional divergence of the roles in the regulation of vegetativemeristem identity may have occurred among four TFL1/CEN-likegenes during evolution in apple.     

Differential Expression of Genes Involved in the Biosynthesis and Perception of Ethylene during Ripening of Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims)

An increase in the enzyme activity of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylicacid (ACC) synthase and ACC oxidase induces the evolution ofethylene during the ripening of passion fruit. A much higherlevel of ethylene is produced in arils than in seeds or peelsduring ripening. The pattern of expression of two ACC synthasegenes (PE-ACS1 and PE-ACS2), one ACC oxidase gene (PE-ACO1),and two ethylene receptor genes (PE-ETR1 and PE-ERS1) revealedthat the expression of these genes is differentially regulated.Expression of PE-ACS1 and PE-ACO1 was enhanced during ripeningand after ethylene treatment. However, prominent expressionof PE-ACS1 was delayed compared to that of PE-ACO1. Much largerquantities of PE-ACS1 mRNA and PE-ACO1 mRNA were seen in arilsthan in seeds; this corresponds well with an increase in theamount of ethylene produced by the plant tissue itself. Thelevel of PE-ACS2 mRNA was detectable in arils of the preclimactericfruit, although it decreased during ripening. These resultssuggest that expression of PE-ACS1 and PE-ACO1 is required toincrease the activity of ethylene biosynthetic enzymes duringripening. The level of expression of PE-ETR1 and PE-ERS1 didnot significantly change over the course of ripening; however,the mRNA levels of PE-ETR1 and PE-ERS1 were much higher in arilsthan in seeds. ⁴Present address: Center forMolecular Genetics Research, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529 Japan.     

Mutations in the Arabidopsis SWC6 gene, encoding a component of the SWR1 chromatin remodelling complex, accelerate flowering time and alter leaf and flower development

Mutations affecting the Arabidopsis SWC6 gene encoding a putativeorthologue of a component of the SWR1 chromatin remodellingcomplex in plants have been characterized. swc6 mutations causeearly flowering, shortened inflorescence internodes, and alteredleaf and flower development. These phenotypic defects resemblethose of the photoperiod independent early flowering 1 (pie1)and early in short days 1 (esd1) mutants, also affected in homologuesof the SWR1 complex subunits. SWC6 is a ubiquitously expressednuclear HIT-Zn finger-containing protein, with the highest levelsfound in pollen. Double mutant analyses suggest that swc6 abolishesthe FLC-mediated late-flowering phenotype of plants carryingactive alleles of FRI and of mutants of the autonomous pathway.It was found that SWC6 is required for the expression of theFLC repressor to levels that inhibit flowering. However, theeffect of swc6 in an flc null background and the down-regulationof other FLC-like/MAF genes in swc6 mutants suggest that floweringinhibition mediated by SWC6 occurs through both FLC- and FLC-likegene-dependent pathways. Both genetic and physical interactionsbetween SWC6 and ESD1 have been demonstrated, suggesting thatboth proteins act in the same complex. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation,it has been determined that SWC6, as previously shown for ESD1,is required for both histone H3 acetylation and H3K4 trimethylationof the FLC chromatin. Altogether, these results suggest thatSWC6 and ESD1 are part of an Arabidopsis SWR1 chromatin remodellingcomplex involved in the regulation of diverse aspects of plantdevelopment, including floral repression through the activationof FLC and FLC-like genes. Key words: Arabidopsis, chromatin remodelling, floral repression, HIT-Zn finger, phase transition, SWR1 complex     

长角血蜱不同发育期盾窝超微结构的比较研究

为阐明蜱类盾窝及其发育特点,用扫描电镜观察了长角血蜱Haemaphysalis longicornis不同发育期盾窝的结构,并分析了血餐对盾窝发育的影响.结果表明：幼蜱仅具1对盾窝原基,且每个盾窝原基有1个盾窝孔;若蜱盾窝有了一定的发育,面积（长径×短径）增大且盾窝孔数增多（2~6个）;成蜱盾窝面积最大,且盾窝孔数达21~35个.盾窝的发育主要在幼蜱蜕皮阶段及若蜱的吸血和蜕皮阶段,雌蜱盾窝孔径显著大于雄蜱（P<0.01）,成蜱、若蜱和幼蜱的盾窝孔孔径在吸血过程中（交配雌蜱除外）各虫期均无显著变化 （P>0.05）.综合分析成蜱与未成熟蜱盾窝孔径,发现它们之间无显著差异 （P>0.05）,这在一定程度上说明蜱类的盾窝孔径在未成熟期可能已经有了雌雄分化.