Molecular identification and functional expression of porcine Toll-like receptor (TLR) 3 and TLR7

To investigate porcine Toll-like receptors (TLR) responding to viral pathogen associated molecular patterns, the full-length cDNA of porcine TLR3 and TLR7 were identified and characterized. Porcine TLR3 and TLR7 cDNA encode 904- and 1050-amnio-acid polypeptides, respectively. Both porcine TLR3 and TLR7 contain typical functional TLR domains and share about 80% sequence identity to other mammalian orthologues. Tissue expression profiles showed that TLR3 was highly expressed in kidney, duodenum, spleen and liver, and moderately expressed in bone marrow, lung, and skin. Conversely, TLR7 was moderately and constitutively expressed in all tissues evaluated. Stimulation of mammalian cells transfected with porcine TLR3 and TLR7 constructs with TLR3 and TLR7 agonists [poly (I:C) and imiquimod (R837), respectively], and adenovirus elicited activation of interferon regulatory factors (IRFs). These data provide molecular and functional information for porcine TLR3 and TLR7, and implicate their role in mediating immune protection against porcine viral diseases.     

Gene amplification and insecticide resistance

Pesticide resistance in arthropods has been shown to evolve by two main mechanisms, the enhanced production of metabolic enzymes, which bind to and/or detoxify the pesticide, and mutation of the target protein, which makes it less sensitive to the pesticide. One route that leads to enhanced metabolism is the duplication or amplification of the structural gene(s) encoding the detoxifying enzyme, and this has now been described for the three main families (esterases, glutathione S-transferases and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases) implicated in resistance. More recently, a direct or indirect role for gene duplication or amplification has been described for target-site resistance in several arthropod species. This mini-review summarises the involvement of gene duplication/amplification in the insecticide/acaricide resistance of insect and mite pests and highlights recent developments in this area in relation to P450-mediated and target-site resistance.     

The geologically recent giant impact basins at Vesta's south pole

Dawn's global mapping of Vesta reveals that its observed south polar depression is composed of two overlapping giant impact features. These large basins provide exceptional windows into impact processes at planetary scales. The youngest, Rheasilvia, is 500 kilometers wide and 19 kilometers deep and finds its nearest morphologic analog among large basins on low-gravity icy satellites. Extensive ejecta deposits occur, but impact melt volume is low, exposing an unusual spiral fracture pattern that is likely related to faulting during uplift and convergence of the basin floor. Rheasilvia obliterated half of another 400-kilometer-wide impact basin, Veneneia. Both basins are unexpectedly young, roughly 1 to 2 billion years, and their formation substantially reset Vestan geology and excavated sufficient volumes of older compositionally heterogeneous crustal material to have created the Vestoids and howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites.     

Use of a potentiometric vital dye to determine the effect of the herbicide bromoxynil octanoate on mitochondrial bioenenergetics in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

BACKGROUND: The aims of the present study were to validate a vital mitochondrial potentiometric staining method in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and to utilise this method to examine the effect of the herbicide bromoxynil octanoate on mitochondrial potential in this species. A range of stains was investigated, including Rhodamine 123, DASPMI, Mitotracker Green, Mitotracker Orange and JC‐1. RESULTS: Rhodamine 123 (R123) had the highest utility of several candidate stains. Incubation with both 5 and 10 µM carbonyl cyanide 3‐chlorophenylhydrazone caused significant fluorescence collapse [Dunn's post test (40.00, P < 0.01) and (45.49, P < 0.01) respectively], demonstrating that the R123 fluorescence reported mitochondrial potential. The effect of the herbicide bromoxynil octanoate was examined. Exposure to 0.1 mM of bromoxynil resulted in a significant increased mitochondrial fluorescence compared with the baseline (Mann–Whitney U = 222, P < 0.002), while concentrations of 1 mM and greater resulted in significant, almost complete loss of mitochondrial potential [mean fluorescence ratio = 1.193–1.289 (where a ratio of 1 represents total potential loss), Mann–Whitney U = 0.0, P < 0.001 (1 mM ), 0.0, P < 0.0001 (2 mM ), 0.0, P < 0.0001 (5 mM )]. EC₅₀ of the collapse in mitochondrial potential owing to bromoxynil incubation occurred at 0.72 mM , and the mean t₅₀ of bromoxynil octanoate action was 93 s. CONCLUSIONS: R123 is a sensitive potentiometric dye in C. reinhardtii that may find further use in investigations of both mitochondrial bioenergetics in plants and environmental toxicology. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

A 13C NMR study of decomposing logging residues in an Australian hoop pine plantation

Purpose

Residue retention is important for nutrient and water economy in subtropical plantation forests. We examined decomposing hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii Ait. Ex D. Don) residues—foliage, branches, and stem wood—to determine the changes in structural chemistry that occur during decomposition.

Materials and methods

Residues were incubated in situ using 0.05 m² microplots. We used solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to determine the structural composition of harvest residues in the first 24 months of decomposition.

Results and discussion

The spectral data for branch and stem residues were generally similar to one another and showed few changes during decomposition. The lignin content of branch and foliage residues decreased during decomposition. When residues were mixed together during decomposition, the O-alkyl fraction of foliage decreased initially then increased up to 24 months, while the alkyl carbon (C) fraction exhibited the opposite pattern. The decomposition of woody hoop pine residues (branch and stem wood) is surprisingly uniform across the major C forms elucidated with ¹³C NMR, with little evidence of preferential decomposition. When mixed with branch and stem materials, foliage residues showed significant short- and long-term compositional changes. This synergistic effect may be due to the C/N ratio of the treatments and the structure of the microbial decomposer community.

Conclusions

Twenty-four months of decomposition of hoop pine residues did not result in substantial accumulation of recalcitrant C forms, suggesting that they may not contribute to long-term C sequestration.     

Sampling strategies and screening of chickpea (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cicer arietinum</Emphasis> L.) germplasm for salt tolerance

Six hundred accessions of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) landraces and its wild relatives from 28 different countries, available at Australian Temperate and Field Crops Collection (ATFCC) were screened for tolerance to salt under greenhouse conditions using three sampling strategies; (1) random sampling of 200 accessions from different countries, (2) restricted random sampling of 200 accessions from geographical regions with salinity problems and high diversity (Middle East and West & South Asia) and (3) as for strategy 1 but with a reduced representation of accessions from the geographical regions used in strategy 2. Degree of salt tolerance was based on necrosis scores and shoot biomass reduction relative to unstressed controls at harvest after subjecting stressed plants to salt treatment from 21 to 42 days after sowing. There was a wide variation in salinity tolerance determined by both measures. For sampling strategies 1, 2 and 3 respectively; 24, 28 and 14% of accessions were salt tolerant. Accessions from the middle east and south Asian (regions with salinity problem, a long history of chickpea cultivation and high diversity) gave a higher probability (P < 0.01) of getting salt tolerant accessions.