Articulating beneficial rhizobacteria-mediated plant defenses through induced systemic resistance: A review

Induced systemic resistance (ISR) is a mechanism by which certain plant beneficial rhizobacteria and fungi produce immunity, which can stimulate crop growth and resilience against various phytopathogens, insects, and parasites. These beneficial rhizobacteria and fungi improve plant performance by regulating hormone signaling, including salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), prosystemin, pathogenesis-related gene 1, and ethylene (ET) pathways,which activate the gene expression of ISR, the synth...     

K+ channel mutations in adrenal aldosterone-producing adenomas and hereditary hypertension

Endocrine tumors such as aldosterone-producing adrenal adenomas (APAs), a cause of severe hypertension, feature constitutive hormone production and unrestrained cell proliferation; the mechanisms linking these events are unknown. We identify two recurrent somatic mutations in and near the selectivity filter of the potassium (K(+)) channel KCNJ5 that are present in 8 of 22 human APAs studied. Both produce increased sodium (Na(+)) conductance and cell depolarization, which in adrenal glomerulosa cells produces calcium (Ca(2+)) entry, the signal for aldosterone production and cell proliferation. Similarly, we identify an inherited KCNJ5 mutation that produces increased Na(+) conductance in a Mendelian form of severe aldosteronism and massive bilateral adrenal hyperplasia. These findings explain pathogenesis in a subset of patients with severe hypertension and implicate loss of K(+) channel selectivity in constitutive cell proliferation and hormone production.