Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a highly drought sensitive crop, and most semi dwarf rice varieties suffer severe yield losses from reproductive stage drought stress. The genetic complexity of drought ...tolerance has deterred the identification of agronomically relevant quantitative trait loci (QTL) that can be deployed to improve rice yield under drought in rice. Convergent evidence from physiological characterization, genetic mapping, and multi-location field evaluation was used to address this challenge.
Two pairs of backcross inbred lines (BILs) from a cross between drought-tolerant donor Aday Sel and high-yielding but drought-susceptible rice variety IR64 were produced. From six BC4F3 mapping populations produced by crossing the +QTL BILs with the -QTL BILs and IR64, four major-effect QTL--one each on chromosomes 2, 4, 9, and 10--were identified. Meta-analysis of transcriptome data from the +QTL/-QTL BILs identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) significantly associated with QTL on chromosomes 2, 4, 9, and 10. Physiological characterization of BILs showed increased water uptake ability under drought. The enrichment of DEGs associated with root traits points to differential regulation of root development and function as contributing to drought tolerance in these BILs. BC4F3-derived lines with the QTL conferred yield advantages of 528 to 1875 kg ha⁻¹ over IR64 under reproductive-stage drought stress in the targeted ecosystems of South Asia.
Given the importance of rice in daily food consumption and the popularity of IR64, the BC4F3 lines with multiple QTL could provide higher livelihood security to farmers in drought-prone environments. Candidate genes were shortlisted for further characterization to confirm their role in drought tolerance. Differential yield advantages of different combinations of the four QTL reported here indicate that future research should include optimizing QTL combinations in different genetic backgrounds to maximize yield advantage under drought.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The cellular junctional architecture remodeling by
adhesion protein-heat shock protein 60 (LAP-Hsp60) interaction for
(
) passage through the epithelial barrier is incompletely understood. Here, ...using the gerbil model, permissive to internalin (Inl) A/B-mediated pathways like in humans, we demonstrate that
crosses the intestinal villi at 48 h post-infection. In contrast, the single isogenic (
or Δ
) or double (
Δ
) mutant strains show significant defects. LAP promotes
translocation via endocytosis of cell-cell junctional complex in enterocytes that do not display luminal E-cadherin. In comparison, InlA facilitates
translocation at cells displaying apical E-cadherin during cell extrusion and mucus expulsion from goblet cells. LAP hijacks caveolar endocytosis to traffic integral junctional proteins to the early and recycling endosomes. Pharmacological inhibition in a cell line and genetic knockout of caveolin-1 in mice prevents LAP-induced intestinal permeability, junctional endocytosis, and
translocation. Furthermore, LAP-Hsp60-dependent tight junction remodeling is also necessary for InlA access to E-cadherin for
intestinal barrier crossing in InlA-permissive hosts.
(
) is a foodborne pathogen with high mortality (20%-30%) and hospitalization rates (94%), particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, fetuses, newborns, seniors, and immunocompromised individuals. Invasive listeriosis involves
's internalin (InlA) protein binding to E-cadherin to breach the intestinal barrier. However, non-functional InlA variants have been identified in
isolates, suggesting InlA-independent pathways for translocation. Our study reveals that
adhesion protein (LAP) and InlA cooperatively assist
entry into the gut lamina propria in a gerbil model, mimicking human listeriosis in early infection stages. LAP triggers caveolin-1-mediated endocytosis of critical junctional proteins, transporting them to early and recycling endosomes, facilitating
passage through enterocytes. Furthermore, LAP-Hsp60-mediated junctional protein endocytosis precedes InlA's interaction with basolateral E-cadherin, emphasizing LAP and InlA's cooperation in enhancing
intestinal translocation. This understanding is vital in combating the severe consequences of
infection, including sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscess.
Breast cancer, a leading cause of female mortality due to delayed detection owing to asymptomatic nature and limited early diagnostic tools, was investigated using a multi-modal approach. ...Plasma-derived small EVs from breast cancer patients (BrCa, n = 74) and healthy controls (HC, n = 30) were analyzed. Small EVs (n = 104), isolated through chemical precipitation, underwent characterization via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). Validation involved antibody-based tests (TSG101, CD9, CD81, CD63). Infrared spectra of small EVs were obtained, revealing significant differences in lipid acyl chains, particularly in the C-H stretching of CH3. The study focused on the lipid region (3050-2900 cm
), identifying peaks (3015 cm
, 2960 cm
, 2929 cm
) as distinctive lipid characteristics. Spectroscopic lipid-to-lipid ratios (I3015/I2929), (I2960/I2929) emerged as prominent breast cancer markers. Exploration of protein, nucleic acid, and carbohydrate ratios indicated variations in alpha helices, asymmetric C-H stretching vibrations, and C-O stretching at 1033 cm
. Principal component analysis (PCA) successfully differentiated BrCa and HC small EVs, and heatmap analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve evaluations underscored the discriminatory power of lipid ratios. Notably, (I2960/I2929) exhibited 100% sensitivity and specificity, highlighting its potential as a robust BrCa sEV marker for breast cancer detection.
A number of pyrazole-oxadiazole conjugates were synthesized and evaluated for their ability to function as antiproliferative agents on various human cancer cell lines. These conjugates are comprised ...of pyrazole and oxadiazole scaffolds closely attached to each other without any spacer as two structural classes. The Type I class has a trimethoxy substituent and the type II class has a 3,4-(methylenedioxy) substituent on their A rings. Among these conjugates 11a, 11d and 11f manifest potent cytotoxicity with IC50 values ranging from 1.5 μM to 11.2 μM and inhibit tubulin polymerization with IC50 values of 1.3 μM, 3.9 μM and 2.4 μM respectively. The cell cycle assay showed that treatment with these conjugates results in accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase and disrupts the microtubule network. Elucidation of zebrafish embryos revealed that the conjugates cause developmental defects. Molecular docking simulations determined the binding modes of these potent conjugates at the colchicine site of tubulin.
Key message
Genomic selection is a promising tool to select for spot blotch resistance and index-based selection can simultaneously select for spot blotch resistance, heading and plant height.
A ...major biotic stress challenging bread wheat production in regions characterized by humid and warm weather is spot blotch caused by the fungus
Bipolaris sorokiniana
. Since genomic selection (GS) is a promising selection tool, we evaluated its potential for spot blotch in seven breeding panels comprising 6736 advanced lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Our results indicated moderately high mean genomic prediction accuracies of 0.53 and 0.40 within and across breeding panels, respectively which were on average 177.6% and 60.4% higher than the mean accuracies from fixed effects models using selected spot blotch loci. Genomic prediction was also evaluated in full-sibs and half-sibs panels and sibs were predicted with the highest mean accuracy (0.63) from a composite training population with random full-sibs and half-sibs. The mean accuracies when full-sibs were predicted from other full-sibs within families and when full-sibs panels were predicted from other half-sibs panels were 0.47 and 0.44, respectively. Comparison of GS with phenotypic selection (PS) of the top 10% of resistant lines suggested that GS could be an ideal tool to discard susceptible lines, as greater than 90% of the susceptible lines discarded by PS were also discarded by GS. We have also reported the evaluation of selection indices to simultaneously select non-late and non-tall genotypes with low spot blotch phenotypic values and genomic-estimated breeding values. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of integrating GS and index-based selection for improving spot blotch resistance in bread wheat.
In order to study the relative effectiveness of oil-based and graphene-based lubrications towards suppressing the friction and wear damage of zircaloy-4 during low amplitude linear reciprocatory ...wear, fretting wear tests were performed with varying normal loads (5–20 N) under unlubricated, oil-lubricated (using Castrol TDN-81) and graphene-lubricated/coated (using ∼7 layers graphene film) conditions against stainless steel ball. While the oil-based lubricant has been found to be more effective towards lowering the co-efficient of friction at lower loads, the effectiveness of the graphene-based lubricant/coating increase significantly with an increase in load. In the contexts of suppressing the extent/severity of wear damage, the graphene-based lubricant/coating has been found to be significantly more effective than the oil-based lubricant. In fact, increase in effectiveness of the graphene-based lubricant/coating with load results in the wear volume remaining nearly invariant upon increase in load; thus, causing reduction in wear rate. This is in contrast to the increase in wear volume/rate with increase in load for the unlubricated and oil lubricated conditions; such that the wear volume and rate are lower for the graphene-lubricated/coated condition by more than a factor of 2 with respect to the oil-lubricated condition at 20 N. In the unlubricated condition severe sub-surface cracking induced material removal/delamination, presumably aided by incorporation of Fe and O due to tribochemical reaction, form the major mechanisms of wear damage of zircaloy-4. By contrast, all these get suppressed in the presence of the graphene-based lubricant/coating, even at 20 N; thus, leading to significant reduction in the overall wear damage.
Display omitted
•Graphene is more effective than oil, as lubricant, towards supressing material removal during fretting wear of zircaloy-4.•Effectiveness of graphene-based lubricant increases with increase in normal load, in contrast to that of oil lubricant.•Graphene-based lubricant supresses material transfer from counterbody, tribochemical wear and sub-surface cracking.•Differential roles and importance of oil and graphene-based lubricants towards supressing friction/wear damage of zircaloy.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an understudied pathogen that causes infection through fecal contaminated drinking water and is prominently found in South Asian countries. The virus affects ~20 million ...people annually, leading to ~60,000 infections per year. The positive-stranded RNA genome of the HEV genotype 1 has four conserved open reading frames (ORFs), of which ORF1 encodes a polyprotein of 180 kDa in size, which is processed into four non-structural enzymes: methyltransferase (MTase), papain-like cysteine protease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and RNA helicase. MTase is known to methylate guanosine triphosphate at the 5'-end of viral RNA, thereby preventing its degradation by host nucleases. In the present study, we cloned, expressed, and purified MTase spanning 33-353 amino acids of HEV genotype 1. The activity of the purified enzyme and the conformational changes were established through biochemical and biophysical studies. The binding affinity of MTase with magnesium ions (Mg
) was studied by isothermal calorimetry (ITC), microscale thermophoresis (MST), far-UV CD analysis and, fluorescence quenching. In summary, a short stretch of nucleotides has been cloned, coding for the HEV MTase of 37 kDa, which binds Mg
and modulate its activity. The chelation of magnesium reversed the changes, confirming its role in enzyme activity.
The continuous ground-based microwave radiometer profiler (MRP) observations of lower atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles are used to investigate the diurnal evolution of atmospheric ...boundary layer height (BLH) over a tropical coastal station. The BLH estimated from the MRP observations is compared with concurrent and collocated measurements of mixing layer height using a Micropulse Lidar and the BLH derived from radiosonde ascends. The monthly mean diurnal variation of the BLH derived from the multiyear (2010-2013) MRP observations exhibits strong diurnal variation with the highest around the local afternoon (~12:00-15:00 IST) and the lowest during the nighttime (~100-200 m). The daytime convective BLH is maximum during the premonsoon season (March-May) with the peak value (~1300 m) occurring in April and minimum in the month of July (~600 m). This paper presents the potential of MRP observations to investigate the continuous diurnal evolution of the BLH over a tropical coastal region manifested by a thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL) at much better time resolution, which is essential for understanding the rapid growth of the boundary layer and the TIBL during the forenoon period.
Listeria adhesion protein (LAP), an alcohol acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (lmo1634), interacts with host-cell receptor Hsp60 to promote bacterial adhesion during the intestinal phase of Listeria ...monocytogenes infection. The LAP homologue is present in pathogens (L. monocytogenes, L. ivanovii) and non-pathogens (L. innocua, L. welshimeri, L. seeligeri); however, its role in non-pathogens is unknown. Sequence analysis revealed 98 % amino acid similarity in LAP from all Listeria species. The N-terminus contains acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and the C-terminus an alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Recombinant LAP from L. monocytogenes, L. ivanovii, L. innocua and L. welshimeri exhibited ALDH and ADH activities, and displayed strong binding affinity (K(D) 2-31 nM) towards Hsp60. Flow cytometry, ELISA and immunoelectron microscopy revealed more surface-associated LAP in pathogens than non-pathogens. Pathogens exhibited significantly higher adhesion (P<0.05) to Caco-2 cells than non-pathogens; however, pretreatment of bacteria with Hsp60 caused 47-92 % reduction in adhesion only in pathogens. These data suggest that biochemical properties of LAP from pathogenic Listeria are similar to those of the protein from non-pathogens in many respects, such as substrate specificity, immunogenicity, and binding affinity to Hsp60. However, protein fractionation analysis of extracts from pathogenic and non-pathogenic Listeria species revealed that LAP was greatly reduced in intracellular and cell-surface protein fractions, and undetectable in the extracellular milieu of non-pathogens even though the lap transcript levels were similar for both. Furthermore, a LAP preparation from L. monocytogenes restored adhesion in a lap mutant (KB208) of L. monocytogenes but not in L. innocua, indicating possible lack of surface reassociation of LAP molecules in this bacterium. Taken together, these data suggest that LAP expression level, cell-surface localization, secretion and reassociation are responsible for LAP-mediated pathogenicity and possibly evolved to adapt to a parasitic life cycle in the host.
The Sabarimala Temple in the South Indian state of Kerala garnered national and global attention following violent protests against the Indian Supreme Court's verdict in September 2018, allowing the ...entry of women of menstruating age to the temple. By studying popular Malayalam films released over the years, this article examines how beliefs around Sabarimala are intrinsically linked to the notion of the male householder, while simultaneously marginalizing women's religiosity. We first delineate the influence of the film Swami Ayyappan (
1975
) in establishing the role of the deity Ayyappa in the welfare of hetero-patriarchal families in Kerala. The second section studies how the film Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (
1998
) problematizes the centrality of the male householder in Kerala after liberalization and the way that the Sabarimala pilgrimage is used within the narrative to reinstate the patriarchal male. The following section examines the film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) against the backdrop of the Sabarimala protests and developments in gender regimes in Kerala post-2000. Poised at the intersections of gender and religion, we argue that this film unravels the subtle forms of everyday gender discrimination and the undesirability of patriarchal masculinity in contemporary Kerala. It concludes by discussing briefly a few other recent Malayalam films, like Malikappuram (
2022
), released after the women's temple-entry protests, to show their treatment of the Sabarimala issue and the politics of gender therein.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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