Global maximization of Jatropha oil production under semi‐arid conditions by balancing vegetative growth with reproductive capacity

Jatropha curcas L. is a drought tolerant crop that is globally cultivated under semi‐arid conditions as a biodiesel feedstock. Despite its great potential, however, many projects failed to reach commercially viable seed and oil yields. The aim of the study was to provide globally applicable solutions for maximization of Jatropha oil production under semi‐arid conditions. Under extremely low irrigation (10% of potential evapotranspiration; ETp), fruit production was very low and a surprisingly significant portion of the fruits delayed their maturity up to six months post‐bloom. Increasing irrigation to mid‐level (60% ETp) significantly elevated fruit production and speeded up the ripening rate, whereas further increasing irrigation to a higher level (90% ETp) decreased seed and oil yields, probably due to the increased investment in vegetative growth. Nevertheless, maximal seed and oil yields at 60% ETp remained far below targeted yields. Coupling irrigation at 60% ETp, with induction of vegetative arrest, by soil application of a commercial gibberellin synthesis inhibitor, brought forward the second bloom period by two months, reduced vegetative growth, promoted floral production and significantly enhanced reproductive capacity by more than doubling oil production. The results show that under semi‐arid conditions, commercially viable seed and oil yields of Jatropha can be achieved by carefully balancing vegetative growth with reproductive capacity through the combined application of optimal irrigation regimes and induced vegetative arrest.     

Plant-growth regulators derived from the sweetener stevioside

A series of isosteviol derivatives such as aromatic esters and amino acid amides were synthesized. Their effects on seed germination and root elongation of the crop plants, Capsicum annuum, Lens culinaris medicus, Lycopersicon esculentum, Trifollium spp. and Triticum vulgare, were studied. The derivatives could be arranged into four groups: (1) seed germination inhibitors (2) root elongation inhibitors (3) root elongation inducers (4) general inhibitors.     

Ontogenetic development of diffusional restriction to protein at the pial surface of the rat brain: an electron microscopical study

Blood–brain, blood–CSF and ventricular CSF–brain barriers to protein, are present very early in brain development. In order to determine whether the outer pial surface of the brain also restricts free penetration of macromolecules, the dorso-lateral part of the sensorimotor cortex from rats at embryonic day 12 (E12), 14, 16, and 18, the day of birth (P0), and adult rat, was studied by electron microscopical techniques. Potassium ferrocyanide, Ruthenium Red and immunogold labelling of endogenous albumin were used to investigate junctional structures and the sites of restriction to albumin diffusion. At E12, large fenestrated sinusoids were present in the pia-arachnoid and the brain surface was formed by an incomplete layer of neuroepithelial and presumptive radial glial end feet, but capillaries in the pia-arachnoid showed no fenestrations at E14 or later. From E14, we observed the progressive appearance of distinct junctional structures between the glial end feet which, to our knowledge, have not been described before. Analysis of albumin distribution from E16 to P0 suggests that the junctions may contribute to restriction of diffusion between the subarachnoid space and the brain extracellular fluid. The restriction to the penetration of protein at both the pial and the ependymal surfaces may ensure the isolation of the neural environment during a critical phase in development of the nervous system. The changes in the structure of the junctions between E12 and P0 suggests a transitional series of embryonic junctional types, which eventually give way to the mature junctions of the adult. Parallels between the embryonic glial junctions and junctions described in adult invertebrate brain, suggest some interesting parallels in junctional development in phylogeny and ontogeny.     

Is Male Cohabitation Costly for Females of the Spider Stegodyphus lineatus (Eresidae)?

Reproductive interests of females and males can vary over a number of issues, including the number of matings and the occurrence and duration of mate guarding and cohabitation. The mating system of the spider Stegodyphus lineatus (Eresidae) is characterized by an exceptional sexual conflict where males induce females to remate by committing infanticide. Females experience high costs because of this male strategy, while males benefit. During the mating season, males tend to stay with females for several days. We examined whether this male strategy of cohabitation is also disadvantageous for females of S. lineatus. A field experiment revealed that male presence in a female's nest negatively affected her body condition, whereas cohabiting males gained weight because they fed on prey caught in webs of females. As a response, females did not renew their webs when males were present. Thus, females with a cohabiting male experienced the combined cost of prey loss and loss of time available for foraging. These costs are expected to increase with every additional cohabiting male. Mated females behaved more aggressively toward males than did virgin females. This behavior may be interpreted as an adaptive response to reduce mating costs.     

Costimulation of Naive CD8+ Lymphocytes Induces CD4 Expression and Allows Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection requires cell surface expression of CD4. Costimulation of CD8⁺/CD4⁻ T lymphocytes by anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies or by allogeneic dendritic cells induced expression of CD4 and rendered these CD8 cells susceptible to HIV-1 infection. Naive CD45RA⁺ cells responded with greater expression of CD4 than did CD45RO⁺ cells. CD8⁺ lymphocytes derived from fetal or newborn sources exhibited a greater tendency to express CD4, consistent with their naive states. This mechanism of infection suggests HIV-induced perturbation of the CD8 arm of the immune response and could explain the generally rapid disease progression seen in HIV-infected children.     

Positive Feedback Mechanisms among Local Ca Releases,NCX, and ICaL Ignite Pacemaker Action Potentials

Recent data suggest that cardiac pacemaker cell function is determined by numerous time-, voltage-, and Ca-dependent interactions of cell membrane electrogenic proteins (M-clock) and intracellular Ca cycling proteins (Ca-clock), forming a coupled-clock system. Many aspects of the coupled-clock system, however, remain underexplored. The key players of the system are Ca release channels (ryanodine receptors), generating local Ca releases (LCRs) from sarcoplasmic reticulum, electrogenic Na/Ca exchanger (NCX) current, and L-type Ca current (I_CaL). We combined numerical model simulations with experimental simultaneous recordings of action potentials (APs) and Ca to gain further insight into the complex interactions within the system. Our simulations revealed a positive feedback mechanism, dubbed AP ignition, which accelerates the diastolic depolarization (DD) to reach AP threshold. The ignition phase begins when LCRs begin to occur and the magnitude of inward NCX current begins to increase. The NCX current, together with funny current and T-type Ca current accelerates DD, bringing the membrane potential to I_CaL activation threshold. During the ignition phase, I_CaL-mediated Ca influx generates more LCRs via Ca-induced Ca release that further activates inward NCX current, creating a positive feedback. Simultaneous recordings of membrane potential and confocal Ca images support the model prediction of the positive feedback among LCRs and I_CaL, as diastolic LCRs begin to occur below and continue within the voltage range of I_CaL activation. The ignition phase onset (identified within the fine DD structure) begins when DD starts to notably accelerate (～0.15 V/s) above the recording noise. Moreover, the timing of the ignition onset closely predicted the duration of each AP cycle in the basal state, in the presence of autonomic receptor stimulation, and in response to specific inhibition of either the M-clock or Ca-clock, thus indicating general importance of the new coupling mechanism for regulation of the pacemaker cell cycle duration, and ultimately the heart rate.     

Transgenic tobacco plants having a higher level of methionine are more sensitive to oxidative stress

Methionine is an essential amino acid the low level of which limits the nutritional quality of plants. We formerly produced transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants overexpressing CYSTATHIONE γ‐SYNTHASE (CGS) (FA plants), methionine's main regulatory enzyme. These plants accumulate significantly higher levels of methionine compared with wild‐type (WT) plants. The aim of this study was to gain more knowledge about the effect of higher methionine content on the metabolic profile of vegetative tissue and on the morphological and physiological phenotypes. FA plants exhibit slightly reduced growth, and metabolic profiling analysis shows that they have higher contents of stress‐related metabolites. Despite this, FA plants were more sensitive to short‐ and long‐term oxidative stresses. In addition, compared with WT plants and transgenic plants expressing an empty vector, the primary metabolic profile of FA was altered less during oxidative stress. Based on morphological and metabolic phenotypes, we strongly proposed that FA plants having higher levels of methionine suffer from stress under non‐stress conditions. This might be one of the reasons for their lesser ability to cope with oxidative stress when it appeared. The observation that their metabolic profiling is much less responsive to stress compared with control plants indicates that the delta changes in metabolite contents between non‐stress and stress conditions is important for enabling the plants to cope with stress conditions.     

Amplified Intergenic Locus Polymorphism as a Basis for Bacterial Typing of Listeria spp. and Escherichia coli

DNA-based methods are increasingly important for bacterial typing. The high number of polymorphic sites present among closely related bacterial genomes is the basis for the presented method. The method identifies multilocus genomic polymorphisms in intergenic regions termed AILP (amplified intergenic locus polymorphism). For each locus, a pair of unique PCR primers was designed to amplify an intergenic sequence from one open reading frame (ORF) to the adjacent ORF. Presence, absence, and size variation of the amplification products were identified and used as genetic markers for rapidly differentiating among strains. Polymorphism was evaluated using 18 AILP sites among 28 strains of Listeria monocytogenes and 6 strains of Listeria spp. and 30 AILP markers among 27 strains of Escherichia coli. Up to four alleles per locus were identified among Listeria strains, and up to six were identified among E. coli strains. In both species, more than half of the AILP sites revealed intraspecies polymorphism. The AILP data were applied to phylogenetic analysis among Listeria and E. coli strains. A clear distinction between L. monocytogenes and Listeria spp. was demonstrated. In addition, the method separated L. monocytogenes into the three known lineages and discriminated the most common virulent serotypic group, 4b. In E. coli, AILP analysis separated the known groups as well as the virulent O157:H7 isolates. These findings for both Listeria and E. coli are in agreement with other phylogenetic studies using molecular markers. The AILP method was found to be rapid, simple, reproducible, and a low-cost method for initial bacterial typing that could serve as a basis for epidemiological investigation.     

Methodological aspects of microcalorimetry used to assess the dynamics of microbial activity during composting

Isothermal microcalorimetry is a sensitive non-invasive analytical tool that can become useful in research on compost and other biosolids. The aim of the present study was to address several methodological aspects that are critical to the use of microcalorimetry to assess the dynamics of microbial activity in such systems. The results show that: (1) The calorimetric baseline is strongly influenced by the run temperature in the range relevant to composting systems (20–60 °C), and is also affected by addition of the water that is required to maintain or optimize microbial activity, presumably because some water evaporates through ampoule gaskets. (2) Amending mature compost with readily available substrates requires additional careful baseline treatment. (3) Sample heterogeneity can be successfully minimized by passing through a 2-mm sieve. Additional size separation can be useful to enable focusing on the more active fractions. (4) Oxygen depletion is a key feature in batch calorimetric analysis; for samples of highly active composts or manure, the total amount of heat released relative to the oxygen available in the ampoule may indicate the co-existence of anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways. Finally, practical recommendations for microcalorimetry analyses of pre-mature and mature composts are outlined.