Efficient plant regeneration of native spearmint (Mentha spicata L.)

Summary Protocols and media constituents for efficient in vitro plant regeneration of Native Spearmint (Mentha spicata L. cultivar ‘Native Spearmint’) have been defined. Adventitious shoots were initiated either directly from morphogenetically competent cells of explants or primary callus. Leaf explants from at least 2-mo.-old in vitro-maintained shoots exhibited the greatest morphogenetic capacity. Explants derived from basal portions of leaves at the bottom of the shoot were most responsive, with up to a 100% regeneration frequency and greater than nine shoots per explant. Highest frequency of meristemoids and morphogenetic callus were initiated from explants cultured onto a basal medium containing Murashige and Skoog (MS) salts, supplemented with 4 mg thidiazuron (TDZ) per L and 25% (vol/vol) coconut water (CW) for 10 to 14 d in darkness. Bud and shoot development required removal of both TDZ and CW from the medium. Shoot propagules were transferred to basal medium supplemented with 0.01 mg α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) per L and grown under low light for about 2 wk to facilitate shoot elongation. Individual shoots about 1 cm tall were dissected and retransferred onto the same medium. Root initiation began within 4 to 6 d and a functional root system developed within 2 to 3 wk. These plantlets were transferred to soil and acclimated successfully for growth and development in a greenhouse. This is the first report of an efficient regeneration system for Native Spearmint based on adventitious organogenesis.     

Fine mapping and candidate gene analysis of dense and erect panicle 3, DEP3, which confers high grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Architecture of the rice inflorescence, which is determined mainly by the morphology, number and length of primary and secondary inflorescence branches, is an important agronomical trait. In the current study, we characterized a novel dense and erect panicle (EP) mutant, dep3, derived from the Oryza sativa ssp. japonica cultivar Hwacheong treated with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. The panicle of the dep3 mutant remained erect from flowering to full maturation, whereas the panicle of the wild type plant began to droop after flowering. The dep3 mutation also regulated other panicle characteristics, including panicle length, grain shape and grain number per panicle. Anatomical observations revealed that the dep3 mutant had more small vascular bundles and a thicker culm than wild type plants, explaining the EP phenotype. Genetic analysis indicated that the phenotype with the dense and EP was controlled by a single recessive gene, termed dep3. The DEP3 gene was identified as the candidate via a map-based cloning approach and was predicted to encode a patatin-like phospholipase A2 (PLA2) superfamily domain-containing protein. The mutant allele gene carried a 408?bp genomic deletion within LOC_Os06g46350, which included the last 47?bp coding region of the third exon and the first 361?bp of the 3??-untranslated region. Taken together, our results indicated that the patatin-like PLA2 might play a significant role in the formation of vascular bundles, and that the dep3 mutant may provide another EP resource for rice breeding programs.     

Chikungunya virus neutralization antigens and direct cell-to-cell transmission are revealed by human antibody-escape mutants

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus responsible for numerous epidemics throughout Africa and Asia, causing infectious arthritis and reportedly linked with fatal infections in newborns and elderly. Previous studies in animal models indicate that humoral immunity can protect against CHIKV infection, but despite the potential efficacy of B-cell-driven intervention strategies, there are no virus-specific vaccines or therapies currently available. In addition, CHIKV has been reported to elicit long-lasting virus-specific IgM in humans, and to establish long-term persistence in non-human primates, suggesting that the virus might evade immune defenses to establish chronic infections in man. However, the mechanisms of immune evasion potentially employed by CHIKV remain uncharacterized. We previously described two human monoclonal antibodies that potently neutralize CHIKV infection. In the current report, we have characterized CHIKV mutants that escape antibody-dependent neutralization to identify the CHIKV E2 domain B and fusion loop "groove" as the primary determinants of CHIKV interaction with these antibodies. Furthermore, for the first time, we have also demonstrated direct CHIKV cell-to-cell transmission, as a mechanism that involves the E2 domain A and that is associated with viral resistance to antibody-dependent neutralization. Identification of CHIKV sub-domains that are associated with human protective immunity, will pave the way for the development of CHIKV-specific sub-domain vaccination strategies. Moreover, the clear demonstration of CHIKV cell-to-cell transmission and its possible role in the establishment of CHIKV persistence, will also inform the development of future anti-viral interventions. These data shed new light on CHIKV-host interactions that will help to combat human CHIKV infection and inform future studies of CHIKV pathogenesis.     

Calcium carbonate prevents Botryococcus braunii growth inhibition caused by medium acidification

Journal of Applied Phycology - Microalgae, Botryococcus braunii in particular, have received increasing interest owing to their potential as biofuel sources. Although the fertilizer components...     

Analysis of Factors That Determine Weight Gain during Smoking Cessation Therapy

Cigarette smokers are generally known to gain weight after quitting smoking, and such weight gain is thought to contribute to the worsening of glucose tolerance. While smoking cessation therapy such as nicotine replacement is useful to minimize post-cessation weight gain, substantial gain occurs even during the therapy. The purpose of the present study was to identify factors associated with weight gain during smoking cessation therapy. We evaluated 186 patients(132 males and 54 females)who visited our outpatient clinic for smoking cessation, and successfully achieved smoking abstinence. We performed gender-adjusted regression analysis for the rate of BMI increase from the beginning of cessation to 3 months after initiation. Furthermore, we performed multivariate analysis to investigate factors that determine the BMI increase after smoking cessation. The mean BMI significantly (p<0.0001) increased from 23.5±3.6 kg/m² at the initial consultation to 23.9±3.8 kg/m² at 3 months after the start of therapy. There was no significant difference in the extent of BMI increase between nicotine patch and varenicline therapy groups. Factors significantly correlated with the %BMI increase at 3 months after the start of therapy were triglyceride (p = 0.0006, βa = 0.260), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.0386, βa = −0.168), daily cigarette consumption (p = 0.0385, βa = 0.154), and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) score (p = 0.0060, βa = 0.203). Stepwise multivariate analysis demonstrated that triglyceride and the FTND score were the factors determining the post-cessation BMI increase and that the FTND score was the strongest one. The present study demonstrated that smokers with a high FTND score are more likely to gain weight during smoking cessation therapy. Thus, smokers with a high nicotine dependency may require intervention against weight gain in the cessation clinic.     

Adiponectin Provides Additional Information to Conventional Cardiovascular Risk Factors for Assessing the Risk of Atherosclerosis in Both Genders

Background

This study evaluated the relation between adiponectin and atherosclerosis in both genders, and investigated whether adiponectin provides useful additional information for assessing the risk of atherosclerosis.

Methods

We measured serum adiponectin levels and other cardiovascular risk factors in 1033 subjects (454 men, 579 women) from the Korean Genomic Rural Cohort study. Carotid intima–media-thickness (CIMT) was used as measure of atherosclerosis. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using multiple logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC), the category-free net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were calculated.

Results

After adjustment for conventional cardiovascular risk factors, such as age, waist circumference, smoking history, low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure and insulin resistance, the ORs (95%CI) of the third tertile adiponectin group were 0.42 (0.25–0.72) in men and 0.47 (0.29–0.75) in women. The area under the curve (AUC) on the ROC analysis increased significantly by 0.025 in men and 0.022 in women when adiponectin was added to the logistic model of conventional cardiovascular risk factors (AUC in men: 0.655 to 0.680, p = 0.038; AUC in women: 0.654 to 0.676, p = 0.041). The NRI was 0.32 (95%CI: 0.13–0.50, p<0.001), and the IDI was 0.03 (95%CI: 0.01–0.04, p<0.001) for men. For women, the category-free NRI was 0.18 (95%CI: 0.02–0.34, p = 0.031) and the IDI was 0.003 (95%CI: −0.002–0.008, p = 0.189).

Conclusion

Adiponectin and atherosclerosis were significantly related in both genders, and these relationships were independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, adiponectin provided additional information to conventional cardiovascular risk factors regarding the risk of atherosclerosis.     

Postnatal changes in the rheological properties of the aorta in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Postnatal changes in the rheological properties of the aortic wall were investigated in relation to morphological development of the wall in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at 3, 8 and 20 weeks old. The mechanical tensile characteristics of the longitudinal wall strip excised from the proximal thoracic aorta were assessed with stress-strain and stress-relaxation tests. Wall tension in the low and medium strain ranges was significantly lower in 3-week-old rats than in 8-week-old rats and in 8-week-old rats than in 20-week-old rats. Wall stress was significantly lower in 3-week-old rats than in 8- and 20-week-old rats mainly in the medium strain range, but was significantly greater in 3-week-old rats than in 8- and 20-week-old rats in the high strain range. The value of incremental elastic modulus at 3 weeks old was significantly smaller than that at 8 and 20 weeks old at a strain of 0.25 and significantly larger than that at 8 and 20 weeks old at a strain of 0.50. The value of relaxation strength at 5 min after the stretching was significantly greater at 3 weeks old than that at 8 and 20 weeks old. The wall was viscoelastic in the low and medium strain ranges at 3 weeks though large wall stress was generated in the high strain range. Histological investigation revealed that the smooth muscle layer, fine elastin fiber connecting thick elastin fibers and wall thickness were thin at 3 weeks old in comparison with those at 8 and 20 weeks old, though there was no significant difference in number of nuclei of the smooth muscle cells among the three age groups. Changes in the tensile characteristics of the wall reflected well those of the microstructure of the wall with growth. The rheological properties and microstructure of the aortic wall were close to maturation at 8 weeks in SD rats.     

Estimation of effective population size of HIV-1 within a host: a pseudomaximum-likelihood approach

Using pseudomaximum-likelihood approaches to phylogenetic inference and coalescent theory, we develop a computationally tractable method of estimating effective population size from serially sampled viral data. We show that the variance of the maximum-likelihood estimator of effective population size depends on the serial sampling design only because internal node times on a coalescent genealogy can be better estimated with some designs than with others. Given the internal node times and the number of sequences sampled, the variance of the maximum-likelihood estimator is independent of the serial sampling design. We then estimate the effective size of the HIV-1 population within nine hosts. If we assume that the mutation rate is 2.5 x 10(-5) substitutions/generation and is the same in all patients, estimated generation lengths vary from 0.73 to 2.43 days/generation and the mean (1.47) is similar to the generation lengths estimated by other researchers. If we assume that generation length is 1.47 days and is the same in all patients, mutation rate estimates vary from 1.52 x 10(-5) to 5.02 x 10(-5). Our results indicate that effective viral population size and evolutionary rate per year are negatively correlated among HIV-1 patients.