Development of a bioassay to assess resistance to Fusarium oxysporum (Schlecht.) in asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.)

Fusarium oxysporum is one of the major pathogens causing root and crown rot in asparagus. Breeding of cultivars resistant to F. oxysporum would be the most efficient strategy for pathogen control. In this study, a bioassay was developed for screening seedling resistance. The non‐destructive bioassay comprises inoculation with a highly aggressive F. oxysporum isolate, incubation in a climate chamber and quantification of disease symptoms by a digital image analysing system and a PTA‐ELISA. This bioassay is simple to implement and demonstrated high reproducibility. Subsequently, it was used to determine the resistance behaviour of 16 asparagus genotypes to F. oxysporum. The asparagus cultivars revealed different levels of susceptibility, whereas the wild relative A. densiflorus was confirmed to be resistant.     

基于F3Net显著性目标检测的蝴蝶图像前背景自动分割

[目的]具有复杂背景的蝴蝶图像前背景分割难度大.本研究旨在探索基于深度学习显著性目标检测的蝴蝶图像自动分割方法.[方法]应用DUTS-TR数据集训练F3Net显著性目标检测算法构建前背景预测模型,然后将模型用于具有复杂背景的蝴蝶图像数据集实现蝴蝶前背景自动分割.在此基础上,采用迁移学习方法,保持ResNet骨架不变,利...     

基于SIFT特征和近似最近邻算法的医学CT图像检索

针对医学X线计算机断层（Computed Tomography,CT）图像,提出了一种基于尺度不变特征变换（Scale InvariantFeature Transform,SIFT）特征和近似最近邻算法的检索方法。首先通过SIFT算法得到图像的特征点和相应的特征向量,再采用近似最近邻算法进行SIFT特征向量的匹配搜索,得到数据库中与参考图像最相似的图像序列。实验结果表明,该法能检索到与目标图像细节相符的结果,大大提高了检索速度。与传统的基于纹理的检索方法相比,查准率和检索结果与目标图像的相似程度方面更佳,符合医学CT图像检索的要求。     

基于图像几何变换映射的色盲矫正方法

为了提高色盲患者分辨色彩的能力,提出了基于图像几何变换映射的色盲矫正方法。首先根据图像中颜色面两侧的颜色比例对颜色空间各个平面进行相应的几何变换,进而划分不同的颜色映射区域,通过颜色变换,生成色盲患者较易分辨颜色的图像。实验表明,该方法可以改善色盲患者对原本难以区分的颜色的分辨能力,同时计算速度快,有望满足实时处理的需要,性能上优于已有的方法。     

Actin depolymerizing factor stabilizes an existing state of F-actin and can change the tilt of F-actin subunits

Proteins in the actin depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin family are essential for rapid F-actin turnover, and most depolymerize actin in a pH-dependent manner. Complexes of human and plant ADF with F-actin at different pH were examined using electron microscopy and a novel method of image analysis for helical filaments. Although ADF changes the mean twist of actin, we show that it does this by stabilizing a preexisting F-actin angular conformation. In addition, ADF induces a large ( approximately 12 degrees ) tilt of actin subunits at high pH where filaments are readily disrupted. A second ADF molecule binds to a site on the opposite side of F-actin from that of the previously described ADF binding site, and this second site is only largely occupied at high pH. All of these states display a high degree of cooperativity that appears to be an integral part of F-actin.     

OSP/claudin-11 forms a complex with a novel member of the tetraspanin super family and beta1 integrin and regulates proliferation and migration of oligodendrocytes

Oligodendrocyte-specific protein (OSP)/claudin-11 is a major component of central nervous system myelin and forms tight junctions (TJs) within myelin sheaths. TJs are essential for forming a paracellular barrier and have been implicated in the regulation of growth and differentiation via signal transduction pathways. We have identified an OSP/claudin-11-associated protein (OAP)1, using a yeast two-hybrid screen. OAP-1 is a novel member of the tetraspanin superfamily, and it is widely expressed in several cell types, including oligodendrocytes. OAP-1, OSP/claudin-11, and beta1 integrin form a complex as indicated by coimmunoprecipitation and confocal immunocytochemistry. Overexpression of OSP/claudin-11 or OAP-1 induced proliferation in an oligodendrocyte cell line. Anti-OAP-1, anti-OSP/claudin-11, and anti-beta1 integrin antibodies inhibited migration of primary oligodendrocytes, and migration was impaired in OSP/claudin-11-deficient primary oligodendrocytes. These data suggest a role for OSP/claudin-11, OAP-1, and beta1 integrin complex in regulating proliferation and migration of oligodendrocytes, a process essential for normal myelination and repair.     

Is formation of visible channels in a phospholipid bilayer by botulinum neurotoxin type B sensitive to its disulfide?

Botulinum neurotoxin, produced by Clostridium botulinum as a approximately 150-kDa single-chain protein, is nicked proteolytically either endogenously or exogenously. The approximately 50- and approximately 100-kDa chains of the dichain molecule remain held together by an interchain disulfide bridge and noncovalent interactions. The neurotoxin binds to receptors of the target cell and is internalized by endocytosis. Thereafter, a portion of the neurotoxin, the approximately 50-kDa chain, escapes to the cytosol, where it blocks neurotransmitter release. Botulinum neurotoxin serotype B is released by the bacteria primarily as an unnicked single chain. We reduced this unnicked protein and used its binding to ganglioside in a lipid layer to produce helical tubular crystals of unnicked botulinum neurotoxin type B in its disulfide-reduced state. The helical arrangement of the neurotoxin allowed determination of the structure of the molecule using cryo-electron microscopy and image processing. The resulting model reveals that neurotoxin molecules formed loops extending out from the surface of the bilayer and bending toward a neighboring loop. Although channels have been seen with disulfide-linked neurotoxin (Schmid, Robinson, and DasGupta (1993) Direct visualization of botulinum neurotoxin-induced channels in phospholipid vesicles, Nature 364, 827-830), no channels were seen here, a finding which suggests that the reduced, unnicked neurotoxin is incapable of forming a visible channel.     

Landsat TM inventory and assessment of waterbird habitat in the southern <Emphasis Type="Italic">altiplano</Emphasis> of South America

The diverse set of wetlands in southern altiplano of South America supports a number of endemic and migratory waterbirds. These species include endangered endemic flamingos and shorebirds that nest in North America and winter in the altiplano. This research developed maps from nine Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images (254,300 km²) to provide an inventory of aquatic waterbird habitats. Image processing software was used to produce a map with a classification of wetlands according to the habitat requirements of different types of waterbirds. A hierarchical procedure was used to, first, isolate the bodies of water within the TM image; second, execute an unsupervised classification on the subsetted image to produce 300 signatures of cover types, which were further subdivided as necessary. Third, each of the classifications was examined in the light of field data and personal experience for relevance to the determination of the various habitat types. Finally, the signatures were applied to the entire image and other adjacent images to yield a map depicting the location of the various waterbird habitats in the southern altiplano. The data sets referenced with a global positioning system receiver were used to test the classification system. Multivariate analysis of the bird communities censused at each lake by individual habitats indicated a salinity gradient, and then the depth of the water separated the birds. Multivariate analysis of the chemical and physical data from the lakes showed that the variation in lakes were significantly associated with difference in depth, transparency, latitude, elevation, and pH. The presence of gravel bottoms was also one of the qualities distinguishing a group of lakes. This information will be directly useful to the Flamingo Census Project and serve as an element for risk assessment for future development.This revised version was published online in March 2005 with corrections to the issue cover date.     

Dipolar assisted rotational resonance NMR of tryptophan and tyrosine in rhodopsin

Two dimensional (2D) solid-state (13)C.(13)C dipolar recoupling experiments are performed on a series of model compounds and on the visual pigment rhodopsin to establish the most effective method for long range distance measurements in reconstituted membrane proteins. The effects of uniform labeling, inhomogeneous B(1) fields, relaxation and dipolar truncation on cross peak intensity are investigated through NMR measurements of simple amino acid and peptide model compounds. We first show that dipolar assisted rotational resonance (DARR) is more effective than RFDR in recoupling long-range dipolar interactions in these model systems. We then use DARR to establish (13)C-(13)C correlations in rhodopsin. In rhodopsin containing 4'-(13)C-Tyr and 8,19-(13)C retinal, we observe two distinct tyrosine-to-retinal correlations in the DARR spectrum. The most intense cross peak arises from a correlation between Tyr268 and the retinal 19-(13)CH(3), which are 4.8 A apart in the rhodopsin crystal structure. A second cross peak arises from a correlation between Tyr191 and the retinal 19-(13)CH(3), which are 5.5 A apart in the crystal structure. These data demonstrate that long range (13)C em leader (13)C correlations can be obtained in non-crystalline integral membrane proteins reconstituted into lipid membranes containing less than 150 nmoles of protein. In rhodopsin containing 2-(13)C Gly121 and U-(13)C Trp265, we do not observe a Trp-Gly cross peak in the DARR spectrum despite their close proximity (3.6 A) in the crystal structure. Based on model compounds, the absence of a (13)C em leader (13)C cross peak is due to loss of intensity in the diagonal Trp resonances rather than to dipolar truncation.