Chemical Priming with Salt and Urea Improves Germination and Seedling Growth of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.) under Osmotic Stress

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - A common problem with vegetable production in saline areas is poor crop stand, but for black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) germination data are limited and...     

Do Fertilizers and Irrigation Disruption Change Some Physiological Traits of Safflower?

To investigate the effects of nanofertilizers and biofertilizers on the morpho-physiological and biochemical traits of safflower under full irrigation and water deficit stress, this study was carried out as a split-plot experiment based on a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at Urmia University in 2015. The main plot was full irrigation (control) and irrigation disruption at heading, flowering, and grain filling stages. Fertilizers, including control (without fertilizer), biofertilizer, water spray, foliar application of nanofertilizers, chemical fertilizers, and combined application of fertilizers, were assigned to the subplot. Plants under full irrigation and combined fertilizers had maximum height and chlorophyll a, whereas the lowest ones were obtained in irrigation disruption at the heading stage and control treatments. The maximum oil content (28.41%) was detected in irrigation disruption at the grain filling stage and nanofertilizer treatment, the lowest (21.96%) was obtained at irrigation disruption at the flowering stage and water spray treatment. The highest proline (397.21 µg g⁻¹ fresh leaf) was found in irrigation disruption at the grain filling stage and water spray treatment, and the lowest (154.68 µg g⁻¹ fresh leaf) was obtained at full irrigation and water spray treatment. Irrigation disruption at the heading stage and control treatments decreased carbohydrate content of fresh leaves by 86.54% compared to full irrigation and the combined fertilizers treatment. Irrigation disruption increases saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acid) and decreases vitamin E and linoleic acid. The combined application of fertilizers significantly increased safflower oil quality. Overall, concerning the obtained highest oil percentage (28.41%), irrigation disruption during grain filling reduced water consumption and application of combined fertilizer via improving oil quality, so it is recommended to farmers.

     

Metabolic Regulation of CaMKII Protein and Caspases in Xenopus laevis Egg Extracts

The metabolism of the Xenopus laevis egg provides a cell survival signal. We found previously that increased carbon flux from glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) through the pentose phosphate pathway in egg extracts maintains NADPH levels and calcium/calmodulin regulated protein kinase II (CaMKII) activity to phosphorylate caspase 2 and suppress cell death pathways. Here we show that the addition of G6P to oocyte extracts inhibits the dephosphorylation/inactivation of CaMKII bound to caspase 2 by protein phosphatase 1. Thus, G6P sustains the phosphorylation of caspase 2 by CaMKII at Ser-135, preventing the induction of caspase 2-mediated apoptotic pathways. These findings expand our understanding of oocyte biology and clarify mechanisms underlying the metabolic regulation of CaMKII and apoptosis. Furthermore, these findings suggest novel approaches to disrupt the suppressive effects of the abnormal metabolism on cell death pathways.     

Improved Intraoperative Visualization of Nerves through a Myelin-Binding Fluorophore and Dual-Mode Laparoscopic Imaging

The ability to visualize and spare nerves during surgery is critical for avoiding chronic morbidity, pain, and loss of function. Visualization of such critical anatomic structures is even more challenging during minimal access procedures because the small incisions limit visibility. In this study, we focus on improving imaging of nerves through the use of a new small molecule fluorophore, GE3126, used in conjunction with our dual-mode (color and fluorescence) laparoscopic imaging instrument. GE3126 has higher aqueous solubility, improved pharmacokinetics, and reduced non-specific adipose tissue fluorescence compared to previous myelin-binding fluorophores. Dosing and kinetics were initially optimized in mice. A non-clinical modified Irwin study in rats, performed to assess the potential of GE3126 to induce nervous system injuries, showed the absence of major adverse reactions. Real-time intraoperative imaging was performed in a porcine model. Compared to white light imaging, nerve visibility was enhanced under fluorescence guidance, especially for small diameter nerves obscured by fascia, blood vessels, or adipose tissue. In the porcine model, nerve visualization was observed rapidly, within 5 to 10 minutes post-intravenous injection and the nerve fluorescence signal was maintained for up to 80 minutes. The use of GE3126, coupled with practical implementation of an imaging instrument may be an important step forward in preventing nerve damage in the operating room.     

Modulation of the NOD-like receptors NOD1 and NOD2: A chemist’s perspective

The innate immune system is the body’s first defense against invading microorganisms, relying on the recognition of bacterial-derived small molecules by host protein receptors. This recognition event and downstream immune response rely heavily on the specific chemical features of both the innate immune receptors and their bacterial derived ligands. This review presents a chemist’s perspective on some of the most crucial and complex components of two receptors (NOD1 and NOD2): starting from the structural and chemical characteristics of bacterial-derived small molecules, to the specific proposed models of molecular recognition of these molecules by immune receptors, to the subsequent post-translational modifications that ultimately dictate downstream immune signaling. Recent advances in the field are discussed, as well as the potential for the development of targeted therapeutics.     

Predicting Splicing from Primary Sequence with Deep Learning

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Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Rhizobacteria Promote Growth of Russian Knapweed (Acroptilon repens L.) in a Cd-Contaminated Soil

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Improving soil microbial activity and using microbial synergistic relations, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria...     

ASTRAL-Pro: Quartet-Based Species-Tree Inference despite Paralogy

Phylogenetic inference from genome-wide data (phylogenomics) has revolutionized the study of evolution because it enables accounting for discordance among evolutionary histories across the genome. To this end, summary methods have been developed to allow accurate and scalable inference of species trees from gene trees. However, most of these methods, including the widely used ASTRAL, can only handle single-copy gene trees and do not attempt to model gene duplication and gene loss. As a result, most phylogenomic studies have focused on single-copy genes and have discarded large parts of the data. Here, we first propose a measure of quartet similarity between single-copy and multicopy trees that accounts for orthology and paralogy. We then introduce a method called ASTRAL-Pro (ASTRAL for PaRalogs and Orthologs) to find the species tree that optimizes our quartet similarity measure using dynamic programing. By studying its performance on an extensive collection of simulated data sets and on real data sets, we show that ASTRAL-Pro is more accurate than alternative methods.