共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 15 毫秒
1.
Susanne Rasmussen John H. M. Thornley Anthony J. Parsons Scott J. Harrison 《Annals of botany》2013,111(6):1219-1231
Background and Aims
There are many unresolved issues concerning the biochemistry of fructan biosynthesis. The aim of this paper is to address some of these by means of modelling mathematically the biochemical processes.Methods
A model has been constructed for the step-by-step synthesis of fructan polymers. This is run until a steady state is achieved for which a polymer distribution is predicted. It is shown how qualitatively different distributions can be obtained.Key Results
It is demonstrated how a set of experimental results on polymer distribution can by simulated by a simple parameter adjustments.Conclusions
Mathematical modelling of fructan biosynthesis can provide a useful tool for helping elucidate the details of the biosynthetic processes. 相似文献2.
Background and Aims
In recent years considerable effort has focused on linking wood anatomy and key ecological traits. Studies analysing large databases have described how these ecological traits vary as a function of wood anatomical traits related to conduction and support, but have not considered how these functions interact with cells involved in storage of water and carbohydrates (i.e. parenchyma cells).Methods
We analyzed, in a phylogenetic context, the functional relationship between cell types performing each of the three xylem functions (conduction, support and storage) and wood density and theoretical conductivity using a sample of approx. 800 tree species from China.Key Results
Axial parenchyma and rays had distinct evolutionary correlation patterns. An evolutionary link was found between high conduction capacity and larger amounts of axial parenchyma that is probably related to water storage capacity and embolism repair, while larger amounts of ray tissue have evolved with increased mechanical support and reduced hydraulic capacity. In a phylogenetic principal component analysis this association of axial parenchyma with increased conduction capacity and rays with wood density represented orthogonal axes of variation. In multivariate space, however, the proportion of rays might be positively associated with conductance and negatively with wood density, indicating flexibility in these axes in species with wide rays.Conclusions
The findings suggest that parenchyma types may differ in function. The functional axes represented by different cell types were conserved across lineages, suggesting a significant role in the ecological strategies of the angiosperms. 相似文献3.
Zha D Chen F Ramamoorthy S Fridberger A Choudhury N Jacques SL Wang RK Nuttall AL 《PloS one》2012,7(4):e32757
Background
Mammalian hearing is refined by amplification of the sound-evoked vibration of the cochlear partition. This amplification is at least partly due to forces produced by protein motors residing in the cylindrical body of the outer hair cell. To transmit power to the cochlear partition, it is required that the outer hair cells dynamically change their length, in addition to generating force. These length changes, which have not previously been measured in vivo, must be correctly timed with the acoustic stimulus to produce amplification.Methodology/Principal Findings
Using in vivo optical coherence tomography, we demonstrate that outer hair cells in living guinea pigs have length changes with unexpected timing and magnitudes that depend on the stimulus level in the sensitive cochlea.Conclusions/Significance
The level-dependent length change is a necessary condition for directly validating that power is expended by the active process presumed to underlie normal hearing. 相似文献4.
Danny Challis Lilian Antunes Erik Garrison Eric Banks Uday S Evani Donna Muzny Ryan Poplin Richard A Gibbs Gabor Marth Fuli Yu 《BMC genomics》2015,16(1)
Background
Identifying insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs) with high confidence has been intrinsically challenging in short-read sequencing data. Here we report our approach for improving INDEL calling accuracy by using a machine learning algorithm to combine call sets generated with three independent methods, and by leveraging the strengths of each individual pipeline. Utilizing this approach, we generated a consensus exome INDEL call set from a large dataset generated by the 1000 Genomes Project (1000G), maximizing both the sensitivity and the specificity of the calls.Results
This consensus exome INDEL call set features 7,210 INDELs, from 1,128 individuals across 13 populations included in the 1000 Genomes Phase 1 dataset, with a false discovery rate (FDR) of about 7.0%.Conclusions
In our study we further characterize the patterns and distributions of these exonic INDELs with respect to density, allele length, and site frequency spectrum, as well as the potential mutagenic mechanisms of coding INDELs in humans.Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1333-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献5.
Background and Aims
Plants respond to the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of a resource supply. However, their responses will depend on intraspecific competition for resource acquisition. Although plants are subject to various intensities of intraspecific competition, most studies of resource heterogeneity have been carried out under a single density so that the effects of intraspecific competition on plant responses to resource heterogeneity are largely unknown.Methods
A growth experiment was performed to investigate plant responses to the temporal heterogeneity of water supply and nutrient levels under multiple plant densities. The annual plant Perilla frutescens was grown using different combinations of frequency of water supply, nutrient level and density, while providing the same total amount of water under all conditions. The effects of the treatments on biomass, allocation to roots and intensity of competition were analysed after 48 d.Key Results
Biomass and allocation to roots were larger under homogeneous than under heterogeneous water supply, and the effects of water heterogeneity were greater at high density than at low density. The effects of water heterogeneity were greater at high nutrient level than at low level for biomass, while the effects were greater at low nutrient level than high level for allocation to roots. Competition was severer under homogeneous than under heterogeneous water supply.Conclusions
Competition for water probably makes plants more sensitive to the water heterogeneity. In addition, the intensity of intraspecific competition can be affected by the temporal patterns of water supply. Because both resource heterogeneity and intraspecific competition affect resource acquisition and growth of plants, their interactive effects should be evaluated more carefully under future studies. 相似文献6.
Ja-Rang Lee Chang Pyo Hong Jae-Woo Moon Yi-Deun Jung Dae-Soo Kim Tae-Hyung Kim Jeong-An Gim Jin-Han Bae Yuri Choi Jungwoo Eo Yun-Jeong Kwon Sanghoon Song Junsu Ko Young Mok Yang Hak-Kyo Lee Kyung-Do Park Kung Ahn Kyoung-Tag Do Hong-Seok Ha Kyudong Han Joo Mi Yi Hee-Jae Cha Byung-Wook Cho Jong Bhak Heui-Soo Kim 《BMC genomics》2014,15(1)
7.
Maurits W. Vandegehuchte Adrien Guyot Michiel Hubeau Tom De Swaef David A. Lockington Kathy Steppe 《Annals of botany》2014,114(4):667-676
Background
Stem diameter variations are mainly determined by the radial water transport between xylem and storage tissues. This radial transport results from the water potential difference between these tissues, which is influenced by both hydraulic and carbon related processes. Measurements have shown that when subjected to the same environmental conditions, the co-occurring mangrove species Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa unexpectedly show a totally different pattern in daily stem diameter variation.Methods
Using in situ measurements of stem diameter variation, stem water potential and sap flow, a mechanistic flow and storage model based on the cohesion–tension theory was applied to assess the differences in osmotic storage water potential between Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa.Key results
Both species, subjected to the same environmental conditions, showed a resembling daily pattern in simulated osmotic storage water potential. However, the osmotic storage water potential of R. stylosa started to decrease slightly after that of A. marina in the morning and increased again slightly later in the evening. This small shift in osmotic storage water potential likely underlaid the marked differences in daily stem diameter variation pattern between the two species.Conclusions
The results show that in addition to environmental dynamics, endogenous changes in the osmotic storage water potential must be taken into account in order to accurately predict stem diameter variations, and hence growth. 相似文献8.
Lauchlan H. Fraser Amber Greenall Cameron Carlyle Roy Turkington Cynthia Ross Friedman 《Annals of botany》2009,103(5):769-775
Background and Aims
Changes in rainfall and temperature brought about through climate change may affect plant species distribution and community composition of grasslands. The primary objective of this study was to test how manipulation of water and temperature would influence the plasticity of stomatal density and leaf area of bluebunch wheatgrass, Pseudoroegneria spicata. It was hypothesized that: (1) an increased water supply will increase biomass and leaf area and decrease stomatal density, while a reduced water supply will cause the opposite effect; (2) an increase in temperature will reduce biomass and leaf area and increase stomatal density; and (3) the combinations of water and temperature treatments can be aligned along a stress gradient and that stomatal density will be highest at high stress.Methods
The three water supply treatments were (1) ambient, (2) increased approx. 30 % more than ambient through weekly watering and (3) decreased approx. 30 % less than ambient by rain shades. The two temperature treatments were (1) ambient and (2) increased approx. 1–3 °C by using open-top chambers. At the end of the second experimental growing season, above-ground biomass was harvested, oven-dried and weighed, tillers from bluebunch wheatgrass plants sampled, and the abaxial stomatal density and leaf area of tillers were measured.Key Results
The first hypothesis was partially supported – reducing water supply increased stomatal density, but increasing water supply reduced leaf area. The second hypothesis was rejected. Finally, the third hypothesis could not be fully supported – rather than a linear response there appears to be a parabolic stomatal density response to stress.Conclusions
Overall, the abaxial stomatal density and leaf area of bluebunch wheatgrass were plastic in their response to water and temperature manipulations. Although bluebunch wheatgrass has the potential to adapt to changing climate, the grass is limited in its ability to respond to a combination of reduced water and increased temperature.Key words: Bluebunch wheatgrass, Pseudoroegneria spicata, biomass, climate change, grassland, open top chamber, rain shade, stomata 相似文献9.
Albert Gubern-Mérida Michiel Kallenberg Bram Platel Ritse M. Mann Robert Martí Nico Karssemeijer 《PloS one》2014,9(1)
Objectives
To objectively evaluate automatic volumetric breast density assessment in Full-Field Digital Mammograms (FFDM) using measurements obtained from breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).Material and Methods
A commercially available method for volumetric breast density estimation on FFDM is evaluated by comparing volume estimates obtained from 186 FFDM exams including mediolateral oblique (MLO) and cranial-caudal (CC) views to objective reference standard measurements obtained from MRI.Results
Volumetric measurements obtained from FFDM show high correlation with MRI data. Pearson’s correlation coefficients of 0.93, 0.97 and 0.85 were obtained for volumetric breast density, breast volume and fibroglandular tissue volume, respectively.Conclusions
Accurate volumetric breast density assessment is feasible in Full-Field Digital Mammograms and has potential to be used in objective breast cancer risk models and personalized screening. 相似文献10.
Human endometrial CD98 is essential for blastocyst adhesion 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Domínguez F Simón C Quiñonero A Ramírez MÁ González-Muñoz E Burghardt H Cervero A Martínez S Pellicer A Palacín M Sánchez-Madrid F Yáñez-Mó M 《PloS one》2010,5(10):e13380
Background
Understanding the molecular basis of embryonic implantation is of great clinical and biological relevance. Little is currently known about the adhesion receptors that determine endometrial receptivity for embryonic implantation in humans.Methods and Principal Findings
Using two human endometrial cell lines characterized by low and high receptivity, we identified the membrane receptor CD98 as a novel molecule selectively and significantly associated with the receptive phenotype. In human endometrial samples, CD98 was the only molecule studied whose expression was restricted to the implantation window in human endometrial tissue. CD98 expression was restricted to the apical surface and included in tetraspanin-enriched microdomains of primary endometrial epithelial cells, as demonstrated by the biochemical association between CD98 and tetraspanin CD9. CD98 expression was induced in vitro by treatment of primary endometrial epithelial cells with human chorionic gonadotropin, 17-β-estradiol, LIF or EGF. Endometrial overexpression of CD98 or tetraspanin CD9 greatly enhanced mouse blastocyst adhesion, while their siRNA-mediated depletion reduced the blastocyst adhesion rate.Conclusions
These results indicate that CD98, a component of tetraspanin-enriched microdomains, appears to be an important determinant of human endometrial receptivity during the implantation window. 相似文献11.
Background
TC10 is a small GTPase found in lipid raft microdomains of adipocytes. The protein undergoes activation in response to insulin, and plays a key role in the regulation of glucose uptake by the hormone.Methodology/Principal Findings
TC10 requires high concentrations of magnesium in order to stabilize guanine nucleotide binding. Kinetic analysis of this process revealed that magnesium acutely decreased the nucleotide release and exchange rates of TC10, suggesting that the G protein may behave as a rapidly exchanging, and therefore active protein in vivo. However, in adipocytes, the activity of TC10 is not constitutive, indicating that mechanisms must exist to maintain the G protein in a low activity state in untreated cells. Thus, we searched for proteins that might bind to and stabilize TC10 in the inactive state. We found that Caveolin interacts with TC10 only when GDP-bound and stabilizes GDP binding. Moreover, knockdown of Caveolin 1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes increased the basal activity state of TC10.Conclusions/Significance
Together these data suggest that TC10 is intrinsically active in vivo, but is maintained in the inactive state by binding to Caveolin 1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes under basal conditions, permitting its activation by insulin. 相似文献12.
S. R. Turner A. Cook J. M. Baskin C. C. Baskin R. E. Tuckett K. J. Steadman K. W. Dixon 《Annals of botany》2009,104(5):833-844
Background and Aims
The Sapindaceae is one of 17 plant families in which seed dormancy is caused by a water-impermeable seed or fruit coat (physical dormancy, PY). However, until now the water gap in Sapindaceae had not been identified. The primary aim of this study was to identify the water gap in Dodonaea petiolaris (Sapindaceae) seeds and to describe its basic morphology and anatomy.Methods
Seed fill, viability, water-uptake (imbibition) and other characteristics were assessed for D. petiolaris seeds. The location and structure of the water gap were investigated using a blocking experiment, time series photography, scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. Dodonaea petiolaris seeds with PY also were assessed for loss of PY at four ecologically significant temperatures under moist and dry conditions. Seeds of three other species of Sapindaceae were examined for presence of a water gap.Key Results
The water gap in D. petiolaris seeds was identified as a small plug in the seed coat adjacent to the hilum and opposite the area where the radicle emerges. The plug was dislodged (i.e. water gap opened = dormancy break) by dipping seeds in boiling water for 2·5 min or by incubating seeds on a moist substrate at 20/35 °C for 24 weeks. Layers of cells in the plug, including palisade and subpalisade, are similar to those in the rest of the seed coat. The same kind of water gap was found in three other species of Sapindaceae, Diplopeltis huegelii, Distichostemon hispidulus and Dodonaea aptera.Conclusions
Following dormancy break (opening of water gap), initial uptake of water by the seed occurs only through the water gap. Thus, the plug must be dislodged before the otherwise intact seed can germinate. The anatomy of the plug is similar to water gaps in some of the other plant families with PY. 相似文献13.
Background
Knowledge about how change the importance of soil seed bank and relationship between seed mass and abundance during vegetation succession is crucial for understanding vegetation dynamics. Many studies have been conducted, but their ecological mechanisms of community assembly are not fully understood.Methodology
We examined the seasonal dynamics of the vegetation and soil seed bank as well as seed size distribution along a successional gradient. We also explored the potential role of the soil seed bank in plant community regeneration, the relationship between seed mass and species abundance, and the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes along a successional gradient.Principal Findings
Species richness of seed bank increased (shallow layer and the total) and seed density decreased (each layer and the total) significantly with succession. Species richness and seed density differed significantly between different seasons and among soil depths. Seed mass showed a significant negative relationship with relative abundance in the earliest successional stage, but the relationships were not significant in later stages. Seed mass showed no relationship with relative abundance in the whole successional series in seed bank. Results were similar for both July 2005 and April 2006.Conclusions
The seed mass and abundance relationship was determined by a complex interaction between small and larger seeded species and environmental factors. Both stochastic processes and deterministic processes were important determinants of the structure of the earliest stage. The importance of seed bank decreased with succession. The restoration of abandoned farmed and grazed meadows to the species-rich subalpine meadow in Tibetan Plateau can be successfully achieved from the soil seed bank. However, at least 20 years are required to fully restore an abandoned agricultural meadow to a natural mature subalpine meadow. 相似文献14.
Background
History drives community assembly through differences both in density (density effects) and in the sequence in which species arrive (sequence effects). Density effects arise from predictable population dynamics, which are free of history, but sequence effects are due to a density-free mechanism, arising solely from the order and timing of immigration events. Few studies have determined how components of immigration history (timing, number of individuals, frequency) alter local dynamics to determine community assembly, beyond addressing when immigration history produces historically contingent assembly.Methods/Findings
We varied density and sequence effects independently in a two-way factorial design to follow community assembly in a three-species aquatic protozoan community. A superior competitor, Colpoda steinii, mediated alternative community states; early arrival or high introduction density allowed this species to outcompete or suppress the other competitors (Poterioochromonas malhamensis and Eimeriidae gen. sp.). Multivariate analysis showed that density effects caused greater variation in community states, whereas sequence effects altered the mean community composition.Conclusions
A significant interaction between density and sequence effects suggests that we should refine our understanding of priority effects. These results highlight a practical need to understand not only the “ingredients” (species) in ecological communities but their “recipes” as well. 相似文献15.
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17.
Shengfu Chen Rongpei Wu Yanping Huang Fufu Zheng Yangbin Ou Xiangan Tu Yadong Zhang Yong Gao Xin Chen Tao Zheng Qiyun Yang Zi Wan Yuanyuan Zhang Xiangzhou Sun Guihua Liu Chunhua Deng 《PloS one》2013,8(12)
Background
Insulin resistance (IR) triggers endothelial dysfunction, which contributes to erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular disease.Aim
To evaluate whether IR was related to ED in young adult patients.Methods
A total of 283 consecutive men complaining of ED at least six months were enrolled, with a full medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests collected. Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI) was used to determine IR. The severity of ED was assessed by IIEF-5 questionnaire. Endothelial function was assessed by ultrasonographic examination of brachial artery flow mediated dilation (FMD).Results
IR was detected in 52% patients. Subjects with IR had significant higher total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c), glycated haemoglobin (HBA1c), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and body mass index (BMI), but showed significant lower IIEF-5 score, FMD%, high density lipoprotein -cholesterol (HDL-c), testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels than patients without IR. Multiple regression analysis showed QUICKI and testosterone were independent predictors of IIEF-5 score. Furthermore, the incidence of IR was correlated with the severity of ED.Conclusions
Compared with other CVFs, IR was found as the most prevalent in our subjects. Besides, IR was independently associated with ED and its severity, suggesting an adverse effect of insulin resistance on erectile function. 相似文献18.
Junqi Zhu Bruno Andrieu Jan Vos Wopke van der Werf Christian Fournier Jochem B. Evers 《Annals of botany》2014,114(4):753-762
Background and Aims
Experimental evidence challenges the approximation, central in crop models, that developmental events follow a fixed thermal time schedule, and indicates that leaf emergence events play a role in the timing of development. The objective of this study was to build a structural development model of maize (Zea mays) based on a set of coordination rules at organ level that regulate duration of elongation, and to show how the distribution of leaf sizes emerges from this.Methods
A model of maize development was constructed based on three coordination rules between leaf emergence events and the dynamics of organ extension. The model was parameterized with data from maize grown at a low plant population density and tested using data from maize grown at high population density.Key Results
The model gave a good account of the timing and duration of organ extension. By using initial conditions associated with high population density, the model reproduced well the increase in blade elongation duration and the delay in sheath extension in high-density populations compared with low-density populations. Predictions of the sizes of sheaths at high density were accurate, whereas predictions of the dynamics of blade length were accurate up to rank 9; moderate overestimation of blade length occurred at higher ranks.Conclusions
A set of simple rules for coordinated growth of organs is sufficient to simulate the development of maize plant structure without taking into account any regulation by assimilates. In this model, whole-plant architecture is shaped through initial conditions that feed a cascade of coordination events. 相似文献19.
Cheng-Jin Chu Jacob Weiner Fernando T. Maestre You-Shi Wang Charles Morris Sa Xiao Jian-Li Yuan Guo-Zhen Du Gang Wang 《Annals of botany》2010,106(4):647-652
Background and Aims
Competition drives self-thinning (density-dependent mortality) in crowded plant populations. Facilitative interactions have been shown to affect many processes in plant populations and communities, but their effects on self-thinning trajectories have not been investigated.Methods
Using an individual-based ‘zone-of-influence’ model, we studied the potential effects of the size symmetry of competition, abiotic stress and facilitation on self-thinning trajectories in plant monocultures. In the model, abiotic stress reduced the growth of all individuals and facilitation ameliorated the effects of stress on interacting individuals.Key Results
Abiotic stress made the log biomass – log density relationship during self-thinning steeper, but this effect was reduced by positive interactions among individuals. Size-asymmetric competition also influenced the self-thinning slope.Conclusions
Although competition drives self-thinning, its course can be affected by abiotic stress, facilitation and competitive symmetry. 相似文献20.
Ullrich RT Jikeli JF Diedenhofen M Böhm-Sturm P Unruh M Vollmar S Hoehn M 《PloS one》2011,6(5):e19592