Hormone interactions during lateral root formation

Lateral root (LR) formation, the production of new roots from parent roots, is a hormone- and environmentally-regulated developmental process in higher plants. Physiological and genetic studies using Arabidopsis thaliana and other plant species have revealed the roles of several plant hormones in LR formation, particularly the role of auxin in LR initiation and primordium development, resulting in much progress toward understanding the mechanisms of auxin-mediated LR formation. However, hormone interactions during LR formation have been relatively underexamined. Recent studies have shown that the plant hormones, cytokinin and abscisic acid negatively regulate LR formation whereas brassinosteroids positively regulate LR formation. On the other hand, ethylene has positive and negative roles during LR formation. This review summarizes recent findings on hormone-regulated LR formation in higher plants, focusing on auxin as a trigger and on the other hormones in LR formation, and discusses the possible interactions among plant hormones in this developmental process.     

Key steps in the morphogenesis of a cranial placode in an invertebrate chordate, the tunicate Ciona savignyi

Tunicates and vertebrates share a common ancestor that possessed cranial neurogenic placodes, thickenings in embryonic head epidermis giving rise to sensory structures. Though orthology assignments between vertebrate and tunicate placodes are not entirely resolved, vertebrate otic placodes and tunicate atrial siphon primordia are thought to be homologous based on morphology and position, gene expression, and a common signaling requirement during induction. Here, we probe key points in the morphogenesis of the tunicate atrial siphon. We show that the siphon primordium arises within a non-dividing field of lateral-dorsal epidermis. The initial steps of atrial primordium invagination are similar to otic placode invagination, but a placode-derived vesicle is never observed as for the otic vesicle of vertebrates. Rather, confocal imaging reveals an atrial opening through juvenile stages and beyond. We inject a photoactivatable lineage tracer to show that the early atrial siphon of the metamorphic juvenile, including its aperture and lining, derives from cells of the atrial placode itself. Finally, we perturb the routing of the gut to the left atrium by laser ablation and pharmacology to show that this adaptation to a sessile lifestyle depends on left-right patterning mechanisms present in the free-swimming chordate ancestor.     

蜜环菌子实体的诱导和发生条件

研究蜜环菌子实体在人工诱导下的发生规律,主要包括子实体发生与培养基种类、培养基量、培养时间等的关系。麦芽汁培养基是适合蜜环菌子实体发生的培养基,在该培养基上蜜环菌子实体发生率可以达到100%,子实体最短可以在45天发生。子实体发生与培养基瓶装量有关,每瓶中培养基总固形物(琼脂除外)达到6.75g才足以发生子实体。子实体发生时间与25℃的培养时间有关系,培养时间不足使子实体发生时间延迟。菌体总生物量对培养基中总营养成分的转化率可以达到65.90%,子实体生物量对培养基中总营养成分的转化率为1.52%~9.11%。     

Effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on the cytodifferentiation of gonadotropes in rat adenohypophysial primordia in organ culture

The effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on the development of gonadotropes were investigated by the use of organ culture and by means of immunocytochemistry and radioimmunoassay. Pituitary primordia from rat fetuses were cultured in a medium with or without 10^-9 M GnRH during the first 24 h of culture. The ratio of the number of immunoreactive LH cells to the total number of cells in the explants derived from 13.5-day fetuses was increased by the GnRH treatment after 6 or 8 days of culture, while the total number of cells was not altered. LH released into the medium and LH content of explants were not affected by the GnRH treatment. Subsequent treatment with 10^-9 M GnRH for 4 h after 7 days of culture resulted in a marked release of LH, accompanying a significant decline in LH content, in both explants exposed or unexposed to the first GnRH treatment. However, the former explants contained a lower amount of LH than the latter explants. The present results indicate that pituitary primordia at 13.5 days of gestation are capable to respond to GnRH, and that GnRH is effective in stimulating the responsiveness of gonadotropes to GnRH during early pituitary cytodifferentiation.     

小麦茎顶端原基分化的综合模式

研究了小麦(Triticum aestivum L.)茎顶端不同类型原基分化的动态过程,以明确原基分化的综合模式,并建立了不同原基分化之间的定量关系.结果表明,小麦叶原基和苞叶原基分化与播后累积生长度日(GDD, growing degree days after sowing)的关系呈S形曲线,而小穗原基和小花原基为上升段抛物曲线.从分化模式看,苞叶原基具备营养器官原基特征;小穗和小花原基的分化进程能较好地反映基因型和生态条件对顶端发育的影响.小麦茎顶端原基分化的综合模式为由三段子模式构成的近似S曲线.叶原基数由基因型和环境条件共同决定,而苞叶原基、小穗原基和小花原基数以环境因子的影响为主.以平均热间距来衡量,适期播种处理的叶片、苞叶和小穗原基分化速率最高;而小花原基数与小花分化持续期之间的数量关系最为密切.研究结果有助于揭示和理解小麦茎顶端发育的生物学规律.     

Development of mantle leaves inPlatycerium bifurcatum (Polypodiaceae)

InPlatycerium bifurcatum the leaf primordia emerge alternately right and left below the shoot apical cell on the dorsal surface of the rhizome. They arise from groups of small cells, a single large cell becoming the initial of the leaf apical cell. The longitudinal axis of the leaf apical cell is at a right angle to the rhizome axis and the leaf primordia are arranged longitudinally in two rows. The leaf apical cell gives rise to marginal initials which are responsible for leaf growth in one plain. Early marginal cells are crescent-shaped while the later ones are wedge-shaped. Hairy marginal cells appear in the very early stages of development. The interpretation of these cells as a promeristem and as initials are discussed.     

培养基清除结皮对蛹虫草原基形成的影响

为探讨培养基清除结皮对蛹虫草原基的形成影响,提高食用真菌蛹虫草的培养产量和品质,在无菌条件下,用无菌刀切除长满菌丝的培养基上表面部分,在温差和光周期刺激下培养,考察菌丝扭结和子实体生长情况,并检测蛹虫草子实体虫草素、虫草酸和多糖含量。结果显示培养基清除结皮组蛹虫草子实体生长快、颜色较深、易形成孢子头,其虫草素和腺苷含量显著升高(P<0.05),但虫草多糖含量变化不显著(P>0.05)。培养基清除结皮可显著地促进蛹虫草原基的形成,提高子实体产量和品质。     

A fish with no sex: gonadal and adrenal functions partition between zebrafish NR5A1 co-orthologs

People with NR5A1 mutations experience testicular dysgenesis, ovotestes, or adrenal insufficiency, but we do not completely understand the origin of this phenotypic diversity. NR5A1 is expressed in gonadal soma precursor cells before expression of the sex-determining gene SRY. Many fish have two co-orthologs of NR5A1 that likely partitioned ancestral gene subfunctions between them. To explore ancestral roles of NR5A1, we knocked out nr5a1a and nr5a1b in zebrafish. Single-cell RNA-seq identified nr5a1a-expressing cells that co-expressed genes for steroid biosynthesis and the chemokine receptor Cxcl12a in 1-day postfertilization (dpf) embryos, as does the mammalian adrenal–gonadal (interrenal-gonadal) primordium. In 2dpf embryos, nr5a1a was expressed stronger in the interrenal-gonadal primordium than in the early hypothalamus but nr5a1b showed the reverse. Adult Leydig cells expressed both ohnologs and granulosa cells expressed nr5a1a stronger than nr5a1b. Mutants for nr5a1a lacked the interrenal, formed incompletely differentiated testes, had no Leydig cells, and grew far larger than normal fish. Mutants for nr5a1b formed a disorganized interrenal and their gonads completely disappeared. All homozygous mutant genotypes lacked secondary sex characteristics, including male breeding tubercles and female sex papillae, and had exceedingly low levels of estradiol, 11-ketotestosterone, and cortisol. RNA-seq showed that at 21dpf, some animals were developing as females and others were not, independent of nr5a1 genotype. By 35dpf, all mutant genotypes greatly under-expressed ovary-biased genes. Because adult nr5a1a mutants form gonads but lack an interrenal and conversely, adult nr5a1b mutants lack a gonad but have an interrenal, the adrenal, and gonadal functions of the ancestral nr5a1 gene partitioned between ohnologs after the teleost genome duplication, likely owing to reciprocal loss of ancestral tissue-specific regulatory elements. Identifying such elements could provide hints to otherwise unexplained cases of Differences in Sex Development.     

毛舞花姜花器官的发生与发育

通过扫描电镜观察了毛舞花姜(Globba barthei Gagne p.)的花序及花器官的发生与发育。3枚萼片原基首先于花顶连续发生,随后花顶的中心凹陷形成环状原基,环状原基进一步分化形成三枚花瓣—雄蕊共同原基,并在花顶的中心形成花杯。共同原基分化形成花瓣和三枚内轮雄蕊,紧接着外轮雄蕊在花杯的顶点发生。远轴的两枚内轮雄蕊延伸生长并相互融合形成了唇瓣,近轴的一枚形成了可育雄蕊;近轴的两枚外轮雄蕊发育形成了成熟花结构中的侧生退化雄蕊,而远轴的一枚缺失。近轴的两枚外轮雄蕊原基起始的同时,3枚心皮原基也在中心花杯的内侧发生而后与外轮雄蕊相间排列。对毛舞花姜花序的发生和发育的观察发现,在花序轴的头几片初级苞片中产生的是珠芽原基而非蝎尾状小花序原基,其形态特征类似于早期的蝎尾状小花序原基,由此推测珠芽很可能是蝎尾状小花序的变异。