Genetic complexity of pathogen perception by plants: The example of Rcr3, a tomato gene required specifically by Cf-2

Genetic analysis of plant–pathogen interactions has demonstrated that resistance to infection is often determined by the interaction of dominant plant resistance (R) genes and dominant pathogen-encoded avirulence (Avr) genes. It was postulated that R genes encode receptors for Avr determinants. A large number of R genes and their cognate Avr genes have now been analyzed at the molecular level. R gene loci are extremely polymorphic, particularly in sequences encoding amino acids of the leucine-rich repeat motif. A major challenge is to determine how Avr perception by R proteins triggers the plant defense response. Mutational analysis has identified several genes required for the function of specific R proteins. Here we report the identification of Rcr3, a tomato gene required specifically for Cf-2-mediated resistance. We propose that Avr products interact with host proteins to promote disease, and that R proteins “guard” these host components and initiate Avr-dependent plant defense responses.

Break-induced replication: A review and an example in budding yeast

Break-induced replication (BIR) is a nonreciprocal recombination-dependent replication process that is an effective mechanism to repair a broken chromosome. We review key roles played by BIR in maintaining genome integrity, including restarting DNA replication at broken replication forks and maintaining telomeres in the absence of telomerase. Previous studies suggested that gene targeting does not occur by simple crossings-over between ends of the linearized transforming fragment and the target chromosome, but involves extensive new DNA synthesis resembling BIR. We examined gene targeting in Saccharomyces cerevisiae where only one end of the transformed DNA has homology to chromosomal sequences. Linearized, centromere-containing plasmid DNA with the 5′ end of the LEU2 gene at one end was transformed into a strain in which the 5′ end of LEU2 was replaced by ADE1, preventing simple homologous gene replacement to become Leu2+. Ade1+ Leu2+ transformants were recovered in which the entire LEU2 gene and as much as 7 kb of additional sequences were found on the plasmid, joined by microhomologies characteristic of nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ). In other experiments, cells were transformed with DNA fragments lacking an ARS and homologous to only 50 bp of ADE2 added to the ends of a URA3 gene. Autonomously replicating circles were recovered, containing URA3 and as much as 8 kb of ADE2-adjacent sequences, including a nearby ARS, copied from chromosomal DNA. Thus, the end of a linearized DNA fragment can initiate new DNA synthesis by BIR in which the newly synthesized DNA is displaced and subsequently forms circles by NHEJ.

Grasshopper crop and midgut extract effects on plants: an example of reward feedback.

Acid extracts and a resultant fraction from solid-phase extraction (SPE) of Romalea guttata crop and midgut tissues induce sorghum (Sorghum bicolor var. Rio) coleoptile growth in 24-h incubations an average of 49% above untreated controls. When combined with plant auxin, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the SPE fraction shows a synergistic reaction, yielding increases in coleoptile growth that average 295% above untreated controls and 8% above IAA standards. The interaction lowered the point of maximum sensitivity of IAA 3 orders of magnitude, resulting in a new IAA physiological set point at 10(-7) g/ml. This synergism suggests that contents in animal regurgitants making their way into plant tissue during feeding may produce a positive feedback in plant growth and development following herbivory. Such a process, also known as reward feedback, may exert major controls on ecosystem-level relationships in nature.

Asking For Help: Vulnerability within Consultative Assessment A Couples Therapy Example.

In many different ways psychologists are challenged to evaluate their work and be accountable when therapy is not progressing. One time honored approach to addressing the lack of progress is to seek formal psychological assessment to gain a better diagnostic understanding as well as treatment recommendations. The perspective on the purpose of the assessment seems to have changed however. Historically, the presumption was that there was some kind of pathology that the clinician was not seeing, where currently the perspective seems to be shifting more towards a focus on what might not be working in the therapeutic process. This shift in focus has led to new styles of collaborative and consultative assessment such as Therapeutic Assessment. Therapeutic Assessment was developed by Stephen Finn and has shown a great deal of promise helping clients and therapists gain valuable insight and move toward meaningful life changes (1998). Amidst the promise of consultative assessment also lie potential challenges for the referring clinician. This paper will explore the nature of consultative relationships in the field of mental health and the current thoughts about the advantages and challenges of these relationships. Using a case study format, it will discuss and illustrate issues of professional vulnerability that can arise during these relationships and postulate that a similar vulnerability could be present during a consultative assessment. Recommendations are made for maximizing the success of this type of assessment, and ideas for future research are reviewed. Through the lens of a couples Therapeutic Assessment case, this paper will examine what it is about this unique kind of professional relationship that garners such powerful potential and pitfalls.

Phase Transitions in Disordered Systems: The Example of the Random-Field Ising Model in Four Dimensions

By performing a high-statistics simulation of the D = 4 random-field Ising model at zero temperature for different shapes of the random-field distribution, we show that the model is ruled by a single universality class. We compute to a high accuracy the complete set of critical exponents for this class, including the correction-to-scaling exponent. Our results indicate that in four dimensions (i) dimensional reduction as predicted by the perturbative renormalization group does not hold and (ii) three independent critical exponents are needed to describe the transition.

Cu-NirK from Haloferax mediterranei as an example of metalloprotein maturation and exportation via Tat system

The green Cu-NirK from Haloferax mediterranei (Cu-NirK) has been expressed, refolded and retrieved as a trimeric enzyme using an expression method developed for halophilic Archaea. This method utilizes Haloferax volcanii as a halophilic host and an expression vector with a constitutive and strong promoter. The enzymatic activity of recombinant Cu-NirK was detected in both cellular fractions (cytoplasmic fraction and membranes) and in the culture media. The characterization of the enzyme isolated from the cytoplasmic fraction as well as the culture media revealed important differences in the primary structure of both forms indicating that Hfx. mediterranei could carry out a maturation and exportation process within the cell before the protein is exported to the S-layer. Several conserved signals found in Cu-NirK from Hfx. mediterranei sequence indicate that these processes are closely related to the Tat system. Furthermore, the N-terminal sequence of the two Cu-NirK subunits constituting different isoforms revealed that translation of this protein could begin at two different points, identifying two possible start codons. The hypothesis proposed in this work for halophilic Cu-NirK processing and exportation via the Tat system represents the first approximation of this mechanism in the Halobacteriaceae family and in Prokarya in general.

How to make a natural language interface to query databases accessible to everyone: An example

Natural Language Interfaces to Query Databases (NLIDBs) have been an active research field since the 1960s. However, they have not been widely adopted. This article explores some of the biggest challenges and approaches for building NLIDBs and proposes techniques to reduce implementation and adoption costs. The article describes {AskMe*}, a new system that leverages some of these approaches and adds an innovative feature: query-authoring services, which lower the entry barrier for end users. Advantages of these approaches are proven with experimentation. Results confirm that, even when {AskMe*} is automatically reconfigurable against multiple domains, its accuracy is comparable to domain-specific NLIDBs.

The relevance of harmonising the technical level of social housing with the urban level of the neighbourhood through the example of the 500 dwellings in Albacete

The Architecture and Household Trade Union built nearly 2,000 subsidized dwellings in Albacete from 1941 to 1971. It was the responsible entity from the end of the Civil War until the beginning of Democracy of the social policy programs in Spain. Later on, and together with the National Housing Institute, were responsible for the construction activity. Its limited budget, scarcity of technical and human resources and an urgent need for new housing developments, constituted the basis for producing a vast housing market of low construction qualities. However, thanks to the true architectonic expertise of some of the professionals, some of the developments were designed with a clear urban strategy and in direct relation with the city, which characterizes them to be studied and conserved. This is the case for the selected development for the analysis, the urban complex of the 500 dwellings in Albacete, the Hermanos Falcó Neighborhood. Designed and built between 1963, Alfonso Crespo and Adolfo Gil architects, and 1977 second reformed project by the architect Fernando Rodríguez. It is characterized by its layout on the territory, its controlled relation with the city and its different types of open blocks. Above all, its spatial and human scale strengths, directly related to the European post-war proposals, have to be emphasized; although its technical deficiencies affect the interior quality of the houses. This paper examines its virtues and failures and proposes, using current tools, its renovation. This proposal main aims are to extend its lifetime and develop the particular and urban sustainability levels.

Public health lessons for refugee reception: the example of Sidi Bulgayz

Conflicts force millions of people to abandon their homes and flee life-threatening persecution, war, and ethnic and political discrimination. From the end of World War II to the present day, more than 59 million people worldwide have become refugees and displaced persons. Displacement affects people's health, psychological well-being and economic welfare.

How to Use Cooperative Learning for Assessing Students’ Emotional Competences: A Practical Example at the Tertiary Level

Cooperative learning allows students acquisition of competences that are essential for the labour market such as leadership, critical thinking, communication, and so on. For this reason, different cooperative activities were designed in a language subject in English Studies so that students could work in groups and acquire those competences. This article describes some such activities and the emotional competences that students acquire with them. Moreover, a survey was conducted in order to establish students’ opinions about the main competences they acquired with the activities designed and their opinion about a cooperative methodology. Students’ answers were positive and they were aware of what they had learned.

An early archaeological example of tattooing from northwestern Alaska / James W. VanStone, Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology, Field Museum of Natural History, and Charles V. Lucier, Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game.

v.66:no.1(1974)

The mechanisms and qualifications of the selective permeability in transport across biological barriers : the example of kyotorphin

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

The Role of Environmental and Land Transaction Regulations on Agricultural Land Price: The example of Brittany. Factor Markets Working Document No. 52, June 2013

Using data from individual transactions for the period 1994-2010 in the French NUTS2 region Brittany, the authors investigated how environmental regulations and transaction land regulations influence the price of sold plots. Regressions on three sub-samples of buyers were performed in order to assess whether different buyers have different attitudes or plans regarding the farmland purchased: a sub-sample including only farmer-buyers, a sub-sample including non-farmer individual buyers, and a sub-sample including non-farmer non-individual buyers. Estimations were performed ignoring and accounting for spatial interactions (model SARAR). Results indicate that the price of land decreases when buyers are farmers, that the nitrate surplus area zoning increases the price of land, even more so for farmer-buyers. Regarding land transaction regulations, there is a negative effect, on land price, of the purchaser being the current tenant or being the land regulating public body SAFER. Estimating the model on different sub-samples depending on the buyers’ type shed light on the factors that are more important for each buyer.

The UN General Assembly Resolution on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings - an Example for Europe. IES Policy Brief Issue 2013/04 • May 2013

Summary. The EU’s attempts to adopt an EU-wide instrument on the right to access to legal aid in criminal proceedings have not been successful so far. The important issue was originally part of Measure C of the Roadmap for criminal procedural rights,1 but due to political difficulties legal aid was dropped from the agenda. However, on a different plane agreement was reached on this topic as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted the world’s first international instrument dedicated to access to legal aid in December 2012.2 This policy brief argues that the EU should carry on in the ‘spirit’ of these recent developments and adopt a directive providing suspects and defendants with access to legal aid. 1 Council Resolution of 30 November 2009 on a Roadmap for strengthening procedural rights of suspected or accused persons in criminal proceedings, OJ C 295/1, 4 December 2009; hereafter will be referred to this Council Resolution as the ‘Roadmap’; for further information see M. Jimeno-Bulnes, ‘The EU Roadmap for Strengthening Procedural Rights of Suspected or Accused Persons in Criminal Proceedings’, 4 EUCrim (2009), 157-161. 2 United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, A/Res/67/187, 20 December 2012; from here on will be referred to this as the ‘Resolution’.