Macronutrient concentrations of soybean infected with soybean cyst nematode

Soybean cultivars (Glycine max(L.) Merr.) infected with soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycinesIchinohe) often show symptoms similar to K deficiency. The objectives of this experiment were to determine if SCN infection affected macronutrient concentrations in soybean seedling vegetative tissues, determine whether increased K fertility can overcome these possible effects, and to determine if these possible effects are localized at the site of infection or expressed systemically throughout the root system. Soybean plants were grown with root systems split into two halves. This allowed differential K (0.2, 2.4 and 6.0 mM K nutrient solutions) and SCN (0 and 15 000 eggs/plant) treatments to be applied to opposite root-halves of the same plant. Thirty days after plants were inoculated with SCN, macronutrient concentrations of shoot and root tissues were determined. Potassium concentration in leaf blades was not affected; but K concentrations in leaf-petiole and stem tissues were increased with SCN infection. Roots infected with SCN contained lower K concentrations than uninfected roots, but only for the 2.4 mM K treatment. Thus, at the medium level of K fertility, SCN reduced K concentration in soybean roots, and increasing K fertility to the high level overcame the effect. Because K concentrations in the shoot tissues were not reduced by SCN infection, above ground portions of the plant may be able to overcome limitations that occur in roots during the first 30 days of infection. Increasing K fertility level in soybean fields may not benefit vegetative growth of soybean infected with SCN.     

Manganese requirement for optimum photosynthesis and growth in NAD-malic enzyme C-4 species

Despite the evidence for a critical role of Mn in malate decarboxylation and CO₂ release for carbon fixation reactions in C-4 plants, there is a lack of information on their Mn requirement. The objective of this study was to establish Mn levels needed for optimum growth and photosynthesis of four agriculturally important C-4 species, NAD-ME C-4 pearl millet and purple amaranth, and NADP-ME C-4 corn and sorghum, as compared to two C-3 species, wheat and squash. Plants were grown hydroponically in a complete nutrient solution with Mn concentrations ranging from 0 to 100 μM. We report that under these conditions, C-3 and NADP-ME C-4 plants reached their maximum biomass production with 2–5 μM Mn, the concentration commonly used in plant nutrient media. In contrast, Mn concentrations supporting maximum performance of NAD-ME C-4 plants were up to 20-fold higher and ranged between 50 and 100 μM. Although leaf tissue Mn concentrations increased in parallel with Mn nutrition in all plants, the higher leaf Mn had no effect on NADP-ME C-4 or C-3 plants, but it caused a large, up to 100%, increase in net photosynthetic rate in NAD-ME C-4 species. The highest photosynthetic rates across the spectrum of photon flux density were recorded for C-3 and NADP-ME C-4 plants receiving 2–5 μM Mn, and for NAD-ME C-4 species millet and amaranth supplied with 50 or 100 μM Mn, respectively. Squash (C-3) plants were the most sensitive to Mn and their photosynthetic rate was severely depressed with more than 10 μM Mn. The increase in photosynthetic rates of NAD-ME C-4 species occurred without an increase in stomatal conductance, eliminating CO₂ uptake as the main cause. We propose that the higher photosynthetic rates in NAD-ME C-4 species supplied with higher Mn were a result of increased activation of the Mn-dependent NAD-ME in bundle sheath cells, producing greater CO₂ supply for Calvin cycle reactions. This is, to our knowledge, the first report on a significantly higher Mn requirement for optimum photosynthesis and biomass production of NAD-ME C-4 species.     

HUMAN ACTUARIAL AGING INCREASES FASTER WHEN BACKGROUND DEATH RATES ARE LOWER: A CONSEQUENCE OF DIFFERENTIAL HETEROGENEITY?

Many analyses of human populations have found that age-specific mortality rates increase faster across most of adulthood when overall mortality levels decline. This contradicts the relationship often expected from Williams' classic hypothesis about the effects of natural selection on the evolution of senescence. More likely, much of the within-species difference in actuarial aging is not due to variation in senescence, but to the strength of filters on the heterogeneity of frailty in older survivors. A challenge to this differential frailty hypothesis was recently posed by an analysis of life tables from historical European populations and traditional societies that reported variation in actuarial aging consistent with Williams' hypothesis after all. To investigate the challenge, we reconsidered those cases and aging measures. Here we show that the discrepancy depends on Ricklefs' aging rate measure, ω, which decreases as mortality levels drop because it is an index of mortality level itself, not the rate of increase in mortality with age. We also show unappreciated correspondence among the parameters of Gompertz-Makeham and Weibull survival models. Finally, we compare the relationships among mortality parameters of the traditional societies and the historical series, providing further suggestive evidence that differential heterogeneity has strong effects on actuarial aging.     

Differential sensitivity of Arabidopsis siRNA biogenesis mutants to genotoxic stress

Plant response to stress has been linked to different RNA-silencing processes and epigenetic mechanisms. Our recent results showed that Arabidopsis thaliana Dicer-like (DCL) mutants were impaired in transgenerational changes, recombination frequency and stress tolerance. We also found that transgenerational changes were dependent on changes in DNA methylation. Here, we hypothesized that plants deficient in the production of small RNAs would show an impaired abiotic stress response. To test this, we exposed A. thaliana dcl2, dcl3, dcl4, dcl2 dcl3 (d2d3), dcl2 dcl4 (d2d4), dcl2 dcl3 dcl4 (d2d3d4), nrpd1a, rdr2 and rdr6 mutants to methyl methane sulfonate (MMS). We found dcl4 and rdr6 to be more sensitive and dcl2, dcl3, d2d3 and rdr2 plants more resistant to MMS, as shown by fresh weight, root length and survival rate. The in vitro repair assay showed the lower ability of dcl2 and dcl3 to repair UV-damaged DNA. To summarize, we found that whereas mutants impaired in transactivating siRNA biogenesis were more sensitive to MMS, mutants impaired in natural antisense siRNA and heterochromatic siRNA biogeneses were more tolerant. Our data suggest that plant response to MMS is in part regulated through biogenesis of various siRNAs.     

Mixtures of poly(triethylenetetramine/cystamine bisacrylamide) and poly(triethylenetetramine/cystamine bisacrylamide)-g-poly(ethylene glycol) for improved gene delivery

Branched disulfide-containing poly(amido ethyleneimines) (SS-PAEIs) are biodegradable polymeric gene carrier analogues of the well-studied, nondegradable, and often toxic branched polyethylenimines (bPEIs), but with distinct advantages for cellular transgene delivery. Clinical success of polycationic gene carriers is hampered by obscure design and formulation requirements. This present work reports synthetic and formulation properties for a graft copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and a branched SS-PAEI, poly(triethylentetramine/cystaminebisacrylamide) (p(TETA/CBA)). Several laboratories have previously demonstrated the advantages of PEG conjugation to gene carriers, but have also shown that PEG conjugation may perturb plasmid DNA (pDNA) condensation, thereby interfering with nanoparticle formation. With this foundation, our studies sought to mix various amounts of p(TETA/CBA) and p(TETA/CBA)-g-PEG2k to alter the relative amount of PEG in each formulation used for polyplex formation. The influence of different PEG/polycation amounts in the formulations on polymer/nucleic acid nanoparticle (polyplex) size, surface charge, morphology, serum stability and transgene delivery was studied. Polyplex formulations were prepared using p(TETA/CBA)-g-PEG2k, p(TETA/CBA), and mixtures of the two species at 10/90 and 50/50 volumetric mixture ratios (wt/wt %), respectively. As expected, increasing the amount of PEG in the formulation adversely affects polyplex formation. However, optimal polymer mixtures could be identified using this facile approach to further clarify design and formulation requirements necessary to understand and optimize carrier stability and biological activity. This work demonstrates the feasibility to easily overcome typical problems observed when polycations are modified and thus avoids the need to synthesize multiple copolymers to identify optimal gene carrier candidates. This approach may be applied to other polycation-PEG preparations to alter polyplex characteristics for optimal stability and biological activity.     

Foliar boron applications increase the final number of branches and pods on branches of field-grown soybeans

Our previous work demonstrated that boron (B) supplied to soybeans (Glycine max [L.] Merrill cv `Williams 82') by a stem infusion technique increased the number of pods on branches and led to a significant yield increase. Therefore, research was continued to determine whether soil or foliar applications of B could be used to achieve the same results. Field experiments were completed with both soil and foliar applications of B. Only the foliar applications of B resulted in a significant increase in the number of pods/branch. When split foliar treatments were applied twice during flowering, the total application of 0.56 kilograms of B per hectare was the optimal treatment for increasing pods/branch. In a second field experiment in 1987, soybeans were treated weekly from flowering through podfill with six split foliar applications of aqueous H₃BO₃ solutions so that total applications were either 0, 1.1, or 2.24 kilograms of B per hectare. Foliar applications increased the number of branches/plant at the end of the season and significantly stimulated the formation of pods on branches, with 1.12 kilograms of B per hectare being the optimal treatment for these variables. This rate also tended to increase the number of seeds/plant and seed yield/plant. A duplicate experiment with minor modifications was conducted during the summer of 1988, and again the 1.12 kilograms of B per hectare application rate resulted in significant increases in number of branches at harvest as well as number of pods on branches. The 2.24 kilograms of B per hectare application rate also significantly increased these parameters. Foliar B applications induced increases in leaf B concentration far above the 60 micrograms per gram level that was previously accepted as the upper level of tolerance for soybeans. Since optimal branching and per plant yield parameters were achieved by plants with B leaf concentrations greater than 160 micrograms per gram, the accepted range of soybean tolerance for B must be reconsidered when B is foliarly applied.     

Nucleoside diphosphatase and 5'-nucleotidase activities of soybean root nodules and other tissues

Nucleoside diphosphatase and 5′-nucleotidase activities were both found to be very high in extracts of soybean (Glycine max L.) root nodules. Both activities increased early in soybean nodule development, prior to the rise in leghemoglobin, and both were found at equivalent levels in nitrogenfixing and nonfixing nodules. Based on a survey of other tissues, these activities were both highest in soybean nodules (1300 nanomoles per milligram protein per minute, nucleoside diphosphatase and 500 nanomoles per milligram protein per minute, 5′-nucleotidase), but they were not always associated with each other; in some tissues one was high and the other low. Neither activity correlated well with ureide production; both seem, rather, to be primarily involved in some other metabolic function. Both the nucleoside diphosphatase and 5′-nucleotidase of soybean nodules were soluble proteins, and neither appeared to be associated with plastids, mitochondria, or bacteroids.