Influence of day length and temperature on number of main stem leaves and time to flowering in lupin

A growth chamber experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of day length and temperature on the development of flowering in eight varieties of the three grain lupin species Lupinus albus (Wat and C3396), L. angustifolius (Gungurru, Polonez and W26) and L. luteus, (Juno, Radames and Teo). The plants were grown at two temperatures, 10°C and 18°C, in combination with five daylength regimes: 10, 14, 18, 24 h day at full light intensity and 10 h full light extended with 8 h low intensity light. Increased daylength decreased days from sowing to flowering in all varieties, but had little effect on thermal time to flowering in most varieties. However, C3396, W26 and Radames had a significantly longer thermal time to flowering at high, non‐vernalising temperature (18°C) at short daylengths. Low light intensity daylength extension did not significantly influence thermal time to flowering. For flower initiation, measured as number of leaves on the main stem three types of response were found. All varieties formed fewer leaves on the main stem at 10°C than at 18°C, although the two thermo‐neutral varieties of L. luteus, Juno and Teo, gave only a small response to temperature and daylength. In Polonez, Gungurru and Wat, low temperature decreased leaf number, but there was only a small response to changes in daylength. Three varieties, C3396, W26 and Radames, showed longer thermal time to flowering at 18°C with short daylengths. This could be explained by a greater number of main stem leaves formed at short daylength at non‐vernalising temperatures. Increased daylength decreased leaf number in these varieties, but never to a smaller number than for plants grown at 10°C. In these varieties, low intensity extension of the daylength had a similar (W26, Radames) or decreased (C3396) effect compared to full light extension. The hastening of time to flowering by long days could be separated into two effects: a high light energy effect hastened development by increasing the rate of leaf appearance in all varieties, while low light energy in thermo‐sensitive varieties was able to substitute for vernalisation by decreasing leaf number.     

The European Renal Genome Project: An Integrated Approach Towards Understanding the Genetics of Kidney Development and Disease

Rapid progress in genome research creates a wealth of information on the functional annotation of mammalian genome sequences. However, as we accumulate large amounts of scientific information we are facing problems of how to integrate and relate the data produced by various genomic approaches. Here, we propose the novel concept of an organ atlas where diverse data from expression maps to histological findings to mutant phenotypes can be queried, compared and visualized in the context of a three-dimensional reconstruction of the organ. We will seek proof of concept for the organ atlas by elucidating genetic pathways involved in development and pathophysiology of the kidney. Such a kidney atlas may provide a paradigm for a new systems-biology approach in functional genome research aimed at understanding the genetic bases of organ development, physiology and disease.Key Words: EuReGene, kidney, genome, development, pathophysiology, genetics     

Effect of riboflavin‐producing bacteria against chemically induced colitis in mice

Aim

To assess the anti‐inflammatory effect associated with individual probiotic suspensions of riboflavin‐producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in a colitis murine model.

Methods and Results

Mice intrarectally inoculated with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) were orally administered with individual suspensions of riboflavin‐producing strains: Lactobacillus (Lact.) plantarum CRL2130, Lact. paracasei CRL76, Lact. bulgaricus CRL871 and Streptococcus thermophilus CRL803; and a nonriboflavin‐producing strain or commercial riboflavin. The extent of colonic damage and inflammation and microbial translocation to liver were evaluated. iNOs enzyme was analysed in the intestinal tissues and cytokine concentrations in the intestinal fluids. Animals given either one of the four riboflavin‐producing strains showed lower macroscopic and histologic damage scores, lower microbial translocation to liver, significant decreases of iNOs+ cells in their large intestines and decreased proinflammatory cytokines, compared with mice without treatment. The administration of pure riboflavin showed similar benefits. Lact. paracasei CRL76 accompanied its anti‐inflammatory effect with increased IL‐10 levels demonstrating other beneficial properties in addition to the vitamin production.

Conclusion

Administration of riboflavin‐producing strains prevented the intestinal damage induced by TNBS in mice.

Significance and Impact of the Study

Riboflavin‐producing phenotype in LAB represents a potent tool to select them for preventing/treating IBD.     

Genetik des Äußeren

Valentin Haecker was one of the forerunners of experimental biology, genetics, and developmental physiology. In his ?Entwicklungsgeschichtliche Eigenschaftsanalyse” (Evolutionary Analysis of Traits) published in 1918, Haecker tried to determine the earliest stages in the development of the phenotype (Phenogenetics). His major objective was to integrate two of the most important concepts of Mendelian genetics, phenotype and genotype, within a well‐articulated theory. Haecker realized that a proper analysis of how the genotype gives rise to the phenotype requires an integration of knowledge from the fields of morphology, physiology and experimental embryology.     

HyLiTE: accurate and flexible analysis of gene expression in hybrid and allopolyploid species

Background

Forming a new species through the merger of two or more divergent parent species is increasingly seen as a key phenomenon in the evolution of many biological systems. However, little is known about how expression of parental gene copies (homeologs) responds following genome merger. High throughput RNA sequencing now makes this analysis technically feasible, but tools to determine homeolog expression are still in their infancy.

Results

Here we present HyLiTE – a single-step analysis to obtain tables of homeolog expression in a hybrid or allopolyploid and its parent species directly from raw mRNA sequence files. By implementing on-the-fly detection of diagnostic parental polymorphisms, HyLiTE can perform SNP calling and read classification simultaneously, thus allowing HyLiTE to be run as parallelized code. HyLiTE accommodates any number of parent species, multiple data sources (including genomic DNA reads to improve SNP detection), and implements a statistical framework optimized for genes with low to moderate expression.

Conclusions

HyLiTE is a flexible and easy-to-use program designed for bench biologists to explore patterns of gene expression following genome merger. HyLiTE offers practical advantages over manual methods and existing programs, has been designed to accommodate a wide range of genome merger systems, can identify SNPs that arose following genome merger, and offers accurate performance on non-model organisms.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-014-0433-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

From molecules to the biosphere: Nikolai V. Timoféeff-Ressovsky’s (1900–1981) research program within a totalitarian landscape

Nikolai Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky was one of the key figures in the Synthetic Theory of Evolution. Living and researching under what was arguably the two most powerful and cruel totalitarian regimes in human history, the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, Timoféeff-Ressovsky succeeded in developing an ambitious research program aiming to explain evolution on all major levels, from the molecular-genetic, the populational, and the biogeocenotic to the level of the entire Biosphere. Yet his scientific biography remains largely unwritten and his role under totalitarianism, especially in Nazi Germany, remains highly controversial. Here we approach the problem of his hypothetical cooperation with Nazi authorities examining both the crucial episodes of his biography and summarizing the development of his research program. We conclude that the key decisions he made reflected the specificity of his research program that was focused on the fundamental questions of evolutionary biology.     

Identification and characterization of the intracellular poly-3-hydroxybutyrate depolymerase enzyme PhaZ of Sinorhizobium meliloti

Background  

S. meliloti forms indeterminate nodules on the roots of its host plant alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Bacteroids of indeterminate nodules are terminally differentiated and, unlike their non-terminally differentiated counterparts in determinate nodules, do not accumulate large quantities of Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) during symbiosis. PhaZ is in intracellular PHB depolymerase; it represents the first enzyme in the degradative arm of the PHB cycle in S. meliloti and is the only enzyme in this half of the PHB cycle that remains uncharacterized.     

Correction: deviation of eyes and head in acute cerebral stroke

This is a correction article