The Critical Depth Hypothesis formalized by Sverdrup in 1953 posits that
vernal phytoplankton blooms occur when surface mixing shoals to a depth shallower than a
critical depth horizon defining the point where phytoplankton growth exceeds losses. This
hypothesis has since served as a cornerstone in plankton ecology and reflects the...
Transacting siRNA (tasiRNA) biogenesis in Arabidopsis is initiated
by microRNA (miRNA) –guided cleavage of primary transcripts. In
the case of TAS3 tasiRNA formation, ARGONAUTE7 (AGO7)–
miR390 complexes interact with primary transcripts at two sites,
resulting in recruitment of RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6
for dsRNA biosynthesis. An extensive screen for Arabidopsis mutants...
Restriction of long-distance movement of several potyviruses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is controlled by at least three
dominant restricted TEV movement (RTM) genes, named RTM1, RTM2, and RTM3. RTM1 encodes a protein belonging to the
jacalin family, and RTM2 encodes a protein that has similarities to small heat shock proteins....
Flowering is the primary trait affected by ambient
temperature changes. Plant microRNAs
(miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs playing an
important regulatory role in plant development. In
this study, to elucidate the mechanism of
flowering-time regulation by small RNAs, we
identified six ambient temperature-responsive
miRNAs (miR156, miR163, miR169, miR172, miR398
and...
Endogenous small RNAs (endo-siRNAs) interact with Argonaute (AGO) proteins to mediate
sequence-specific regulation of diverse biological processes. Here, we combine deep-sequencing and
genetic approaches to explore the biogenesis and function of endo-siRNAs in C. elegans. We describe
conditional alleles of the dicer-related helicase, drh-3, that abrogate both RNA interference and...
Intercellular transport of viruses through cytoplasmic connections, termed plasmodesmata (PD), is essential for systemic infection in plants by viruses. Previous genetic and ultrastructural data revealed that the potyvirus cyclindrical inclusion (CI) protein is directly involved in cell-to-cell movement, likely through the formation of conical structures anchored to and extended through...
Numerous studies have examined the evolution of sexual systems in angiosperms, but few explore the
interaction between these and the evolution of pollination mode. Wind pollination is often associated
with unisexual flowers, but which evolved first and played a causative role in the evolution of the other
is unclear. Thalictrum,...
Wallemia (Wallemiales, Wallemiomycetes) is a genus of xerophilic Fungi of uncertain phylogenetic position within Basidiomycota. Most commonly found as food contaminants, species of Wallemia have also been isolated from hypersaline environments. The ability to tolerate environments with reduced water activity is rare in Basidiomycota. We sequenced the genome of W....
• Premise of the study: Seed longevity and persistence in soil seed banks may be especially important for population persistence in ecosystems where opportunities for seedling establishment and disturbance are unpredictable. The fire regime, an important driver of population dynamics in sagebrush steppe ecosystems, has been altered by exotic annual...
Two TaqMan-based real-time One-Step RT-PCR assays were developed for the rapid and efficient detection
of Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) and Raspberry leaf mottle virus (RLMV), two of the most common
raspberry viruses in North America and Europe. The primers and probes were designed from conserved
fragments of the polymerase...
Trichodesmium, a major colonial cyanobacterial nitrogen fixer, forms large blooms in NO₃-depleted tropical oceans and enhances CO₂ sequestration by the ocean due to its ability to fix dissolved dinitrogen. Thus, its importance in C and N cycles requires better estimates of its distribution at basin to global scales. However, existing...
The diurnal fluctuations in solar irradiance impose a fundamental frequency on ocean biogeochemistry. Observations of the ocean carbon cycle at these frequencies are rare, but could be considerably expanded by measuring and interpreting the inherent optical properties. A method is presented to analyze diel cycles in particulate beam-attenuation coefficient (c[subscript...
Ethylene regulates multiple developmental processes during a plant life cycle, but the effect of ethylene on the upregulation of senescence-, stress-, and post-harvest-related genes in forage grasses is poorly understood. In this work, we used quantitative PCR to determine whether ethylene application affected the expression of selected cell-wall degradation related...
Endogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are a class of naturally occuring regulatory RNAs found in fungi, plants, and animals. Some endogenous siRNAs are required to silence transposons or function in chromosome segregation; however, the specific roles of most endogenous siRNAs are unclear. The helicase gene eri-6/7 was identified in the...
• Premise of the study: The dramatic advances offered by modern DNA sequencers continue to redefine the limits of what can be accomplished in comparative plant biology. Even with recent achievements, however, plant genomes present obstacles that can make it difficult to execute large-scale population and phylogenetic studies on next-generation...
Cenococcum is a genus of ectomycorrhizal Ascomycota that has a broad host range and geographic distribution. It is not known to produce either meiotic or mitotic spores and is known to exist only in the form of hyphae, sclerotia and host-colonized ectomycorrhizal root tips. Due to its lack of sexual...
The twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, is a worldwide pest of numerous agronomic and horticultural plants. Sulfur fungicides are known to induce outbreaks of this pest on several crops, although mechanisms associated with sulfur-induced mite outbreaks are largely unknown. Studies were conducted during 2007–2009 in Oregon and Washington hop...
Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non–lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal...
Studies of mosquito preferences for avian hosts have found that some bird species are at greater risk than others of being fed upon by mosquitoes. The ecological factors that determine this interspecific variation in avian host use by mosquitoes have been little studied, despite the possibility that such variation may...
One of the most important micronutrients for bacterial growth is iron, whose bioavailability in soil is limited. Consequently, rhizospheric bacteria such as Pseudomonas fluorescens employ a range of mechanisms to acquire or compete for iron. We investigated the transcriptomic and proteomic effects of iron limitation on P. fluorescens Pf-5 by...