Rice is a major source of calories and mineral nutrients for over half the world's human population. However, little is known in rice about the genetic basis of variation in accumulation of copper ...(Cu), an essential but potentially toxic nutrient. Here we identify OsHMA4 as the likely causal gene of a quantitative trait locus controlling Cu accumulation in rice grain. We provide evidence that OsHMA4 functions to sequester Cu into root vacuoles, limiting Cu accumulation in the grain. The difference in grain Cu accumulation is most likely attributed to a single amino acid substitution that leads to different OsHMA4 transport activity. The allele associated with low grain Cu was found in 67 of the 1,367 rice accessions investigated. Identification of natural allelic variation in OsHMA4 may facilitate the development of rice varieties with grain Cu concentrations tuned to both the concentration of Cu in the soil and dietary needs.
IL-10 is a key pleiotropic cytokine that can both promote and curb Th2-dependent allergic responses. In this study, we demonstrate a novel role for IL-10 in promoting mast cell expansion and the ...development of IgE-mediated food allergy. Oral OVA challenge in sensitized BALB/c mice resulted in a robust intestinal mast cell response accompanied by allergic diarrhea, mast cell activation, and a predominance of Th2 cytokines, including enhanced IL-10 expression. In contrast, the development of intestinal anaphylaxis, including diarrhea, mast cell activation, and Th2 cytokine production, was significantly attenuated in IL-10(-/-) mice compared with wild-type (WT) controls. IL-10 also directly promoted the expansion, survival, and activation of mast cells; increased FcεRI expression on mast cells; and enhanced the production of mast cell cytokines. IL-10(-/-) mast cells had reduced functional capacity, which could be restored by exogenous IL-10. Similarly, attenuated passive anaphylaxis in IL-10(-/-) mice could be restored by IL-10 administration. The adoptive transfer of WT mast cells restored allergic symptoms in IL-10(-/-) mice, suggesting that the attenuated phenotype observed in these animals is due to a deficiency in IL-10-responding mast cells. Lastly, transfer of WT CD4 T cells also restored allergic diarrhea and intestinal mast cell numbers in IL-10(-/-) mice, suggesting that the regulation of IL-10-mediated intestinal mast cell expansion is T cell dependent. Our observations demonstrate a critical role for IL-10 in driving mucosal mast cell expansion and activation, suggesting that, in its absence, mast cell function is impaired, leading to attenuated food allergy symptoms.
ABSTRACT
The fast radio burst (FRB) population is observationally divided into sources that have been observed to repeat and those that have not. There is tentative evidence that the bursts from ...repeating sources have different properties than the non-repeating ones. In order to determine the occurrence rate of repeating sources and characterize the nature of repeat emission, we have been conducting sensitive searches for repetitions from bursts detected with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) with the 64-m Parkes radio telescope, using the recently commissioned Ultra-wideband Low (UWL) receiver system, over a band spanning 0.7–4.0 GHz. We report the detection of a repeat burst from the source of FRB 20190711A. The detected burst is 1 ms wide and has a bandwidth of just 65 MHz. We find no evidence of any emission in the remaining part of the 3.3 GHz UWL band. While the emission bandwidths of the ASKAP and UWL bursts show ν−4 scaling consistent with a propagation effect, the spectral occupancy is inconsistent with diffractive scintillation. This detection rules out models predicting broad-band emission from the FRB 20190711A source and puts stringent constraints on the emission mechanism. The low spectral occupancy highlights the importance of sub-banded search methods in detecting FRBs.
ABSTRACT
We present the first 2.5 yr of data from the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array (MPTA), part of MeerTime, a MeerKAT Large Survey Project. The MPTA aims to precisely measure pulse arrival times from ...an ensemble of 88 pulsars visible from the Southern hemisphere, with the goal of contributing to the search, detection, and study of nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves as part of the International Pulsar Timing Array. This project makes use of the MeerKAT telescope and operates with a typical observing cadence of 2 weeks using the L-band receiver that records data from 856 to 1712 MHz. We provide a comprehensive description of the observing system, software, and pipelines used and developed for the MeerTime project. The data products made available as part of this data release are from the 78 pulsars that had at least 30 observations between the start of the MeerTime programme in February 2019 and October 2021. These include both sub-banded and band-averaged arrival times and the initial timing ephemerides, noise models, and the frequency-dependent standard templates (portraits) used to derive pulse arrival times. After accounting for detected noise processes in the data, the frequency-averaged residuals of 67 of the pulsars achieved a root-mean-square residual precision of $\lt 1 \, \mu \rm {s}$. We also present a novel recovery of the clock correction waveform solely from pulsar timing residuals and an exploration into preliminary findings of interest to the international pulsar timing community. The arrival times, standards, and full Stokes parameter-calibrated pulsar timing archives are publicly available.
Pulsars are known to display short-term variability. Recently, examples of longer term emission variability have emerged that are often correlated with changes in the rotational properties of the ...pulsar. To further illuminate this relationship, we have developed techniques to identify emission and rotation variability in pulsar data, and determine correlations between the two. Individual observations may be too noisy to identify subtle changes in the pulse profile. We use Gaussian process (GP) regression to model noisy observations and produce a continuous map of pulse profile variability. Generally, multiple observing epochs are required to obtain the pulsar spin frequency derivative (
$\dot{\nu }$
). GP regression is, therefore, also used to obtain
$\dot{\nu }$
, under the hypothesis that pulsar timing noise is primarily caused by unmodelled changes in
$\dot{\nu }$
. Our techniques distinguish between two types of variability: changes in the total flux density versus changes in the pulse shape. We have applied these techniques to 168 pulsars observed by the Parkes radio telescope, and see that although variations in flux density are ubiquitous, substantial changes in the shape of the pulse profile are rare. We reproduce previously published results and present examples of profile shape changing in seven pulsars; in particular, a clear new example of correlated changes in profile shape and rotation is found in PSR J1602−5100. In the shape changing pulsars, a more complex picture than the previously proposed two state model emerges. We conclude that our simple assumption that all timing noise can be interpreted as
$\dot{\nu }$
variability is insufficient to explain our data set.
ABSTRACT
The Parkes telescope has been monitoring 286 radio pulsars approximately monthly since 2007 at an observing frequency of 1.4 GHz. The wide dispersion measure (DM) range of the pulsar sample ...and the uniformity of the observing procedure make the data set extremely valuable for studies of flux density variability and the interstellar medium (ISM). Here, we present flux density measurements and modulation indices of these pulsars over this period. We derive the structure function from the light curves and discuss the contributions to it from measurement noise, intrinsic variability, and interstellar scintillation. Despite a large scatter, we show that the modulation index is inversely correlated with DM, and can be generally described by a power law with an index of ∼−0.7 covering DMs from ∼10 to 1000 cm−3 pc. We present refractive time-scales and/or lower limits for a group of 42 pulsars. These often have values significantly different from theoretical expectations, indicating the complex nature of the ISM along individual lines of sight. In particular, local structures and non-Kolmogorov density fluctuations are likely playing important roles in the observed flux density variation of many of these pulsars.
Rice is an important human staple food vulnerable to heavy metal contamination leading to serious concerns. High yield with low heavy metal contamination is a common but highly challenging goal for ...rice breeders worldwide due to lack of genetic knowledge and markers.
To identify candidate QTLs and develop molecular markers for rice yield and heavy metal content, a total of 191 accessions from the USDA Rice mini-core collection with over 3.2 million SNPs were employed to investigate the QTLs. Sixteen ionomic and thirteen agronomic traits were analyzed utilizing two univariate (GLM and MLM) and two multivariate (MLMM and FarmCPU) GWAS methods. 106, 47, and 97 QTLs were identified for ionomics flooded, ionomics unflooded, and agronomic traits, respectively, with the criterium of p-value < 1.53 × 10
, which was determined by the Bonferroni correction for p-value of 0.05. While 49 (~ 20%) of the 250 QTLs were coinciding with previously reported QTLs/genes, about 201 (~ 80%) were new. In addition, several new candidate genes involved in ionomic and agronomic traits control were identified by analyzing the DNA sequence, gene expression, and the homologs of the QTL regions. Our results further showed that each of the four GWAS methods can identify unique as well as common QTLs, suggesting that using multiple GWAS methods can complement each other in QTL identification, especially by combining univariate and multivariate methods.
While 49 previously reported QTLs/genes were rediscovered, over 200 new QTLs for ionomic and agronomic traits were found in the rice genome. Moreover, multiple new candidate genes for agronomic and ionomic traits were identified. This research provides novel insights into the genetic basis of both ionomic and agronomic variations in rice, establishing the foundation for marker development in breeding and further investigation on reducing heavy-metal contamination and improving crop yields. Finally, the comparative analysis of the GWAS methods showed that each method has unique features and different methods can complement each other.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
We have used the central 44 antennas of the new 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope array to conduct a deep search for new pulsars in the core of nine globular clusters (GCs). This has led to ...the discovery of eight new millisecond pulsars in six different clusters. Two new binaries, 47 Tuc ac and 47 Tuc ad, are eclipsing ‘spiders’, featuring compact orbits (≲0.32 d), very low mass companions, and regular occultations of their pulsed emission. The other three new binary pulsars (NGC 6624G, M62G, and Ter 5 an) are in wider (>0.7 d) orbits, with companions that are likely to be white dwarfs or neutron stars. NGC 6624G has a large eccentricity of e ≃ 0.38, which enabled us to detect the rate of advance of periastron. This suggests that the system is massive, with a total mass of Mtot = 2.65 ± 0.07 M⊙. Likewise, for Ter 5 an, with e ≃ 0.0066, we obtain Mtot = 2.97 ± 0.52 M⊙. The other three new discoveries (NGC 6522D, NGC 6624H, and NGC 6752F) are faint isolated pulsars. Finally, we have used the whole MeerKAT array and synthesized 288 beams, covering an area of ∼2 arcmin in radius around the centre of NGC 6624. This has allowed us to localize many of the pulsars in the cluster, demonstrating the beamforming capabilities of the TRAPUM software backend and paving the way for the upcoming MeerKAT GC pulsar survey.
Intestinal bacteria may modulate the risk of infection and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Allo-HSCT recipients often develop ...neutropenic fever, which is treated with antibiotics that may target anaerobic bacteria in the gut. We retrospectively examined 857 allo-HSCT recipients and found that treatment of neutropenic fever with imipenem-cilastatin and piperacillin-tazobactam antibiotics was associated with increased GVHD-related mortality at 5 years (21.5% for imipenem-cilastatin-treated patients versus 13.1% for untreated patients, P = 0.025; 19.8% for piperacillin-tazobactam-treated patients versus 11.9% for untreated patients, P = 0.007). However, two other antibiotics also used to treat neutropenic fever, aztreonam and cefepime, were not associated with GVHD-related mortality (P = 0.78 and P = 0.98, respectively). Analysis of stool specimens from allo-HSCT recipients showed that piperacillin-tazobactam administration was associated with perturbation of gut microbial composition. Studies in mice demonstrated aggravated GVHD mortality with imipenem-cilastatin or piperacillin-tazobactam compared to aztreonam (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). We found pathological evidence for increased GVHD in the colon of imipenem-cilastatin-treated mice (P < 0.05), but no difference in the concentration of short-chain fatty acids or numbers of regulatory T cells. Notably, imipenem-cilastatin treatment of mice with GVHD led to loss of the protective mucus lining of the colon (P < 0.01) and the compromising of intestinal barrier function (P < 0.05). Sequencing of mouse stool specimens showed an increase in Akkermansia muciniphila (P < 0.001), a commensal bacterium with mucus-degrading capabilities, raising the possibility that mucus degradation may contribute to murine GVHD. We demonstrate an underappreciated risk for the treatment of allo-HSCT recipients with antibiotics that may exacerbate GVHD in the colon.
ABSTRACT Fast radio bursts (FRB) are millisecond-duration radio pulses with apparent extragalactic origins. All but two of the FRBs have been discovered using the Parkes dish, which employs multiple ...beams formed by an array of feed horns on its focal plane. In this paper, we show that (i) the preponderance of multiple-beam detections and (ii) the detection rates for varying dish diameters can be used to infer the index of the cumulative fluence distribution function (the logN-logF function: = 1.5 for a non-evolving population in a Euclidean universe). If all detected FRBs arise from a single progenitor population, multiple-beam FRB detection rates from the Parkes telescope yield the constraint 0.52 < < 1.0 with 90% confidence. Searches at other facilities with different dish sizes refine the constraint to 0.5 < < 0.9. Our results favor FRB searches with smaller dishes, because for < 1 the gain in field of view for a smaller dish is more important than the reduction in sensitivity. Further, our results suggest that (i) FRBs are not standard candles, and (ii) the distribution of distances to the detected FRBs is weighted toward larger distances. If FRBs are extragalactic, these results are consistent with a cosmological population, which would make FRBs excellent probes of the baryonic content and geometry of the universe.
PDF
