The Long-Run Phillips Curve: A Structural VAR Investigation

Both cointegration methods, and non-cointegrated structural VARs identified based on either long-run restrictions, or a combination of long-run and sign restrictions, are used in order to explore the long-run trade-off between inflation and the unemployment rate in the post-WWII U.S., U.K., Euro area, Canada, and Australia. Overall, neither approach produces clear evidence of a non-vertical trade-off. The extent of uncertainty surrounding the estimates is however substantial, thus implying that a researcher holding alternative priors about what a reasonable slope of the long-run trade-off might be will likely not see her views falsified

Primera noticia de la presencia de Opuntia robusta var. larreyi (Weber) en España

Recientemente han sido identificados en España, de forma provisional, ejemplares de la especie Opuntia robusta, variedad larreyi (Weber). Los ejemplares, ubicados en Madrid, están siendo estudiados por el Departamento de Producción Vegetal: Botánica y Protección Vegetal de la E.T.S.I. Agrónomos de Madrid con el objeto de evaluar su producción de biomasa.

Estudio sobre la influencia de la inoculación de las rizobacterias Azospirillum brasilense y Pseudomonas fluorescens sobre el desarrollo morfológico y el contenido de aceites esenciales en las especies aromáticas Ocimum basilicum var. genovesse, Ocimum basilicum var. minimum, Petroselinum sativum var. lisa y Salvia officinalis.

En el presente estudio se analiza la influencia de la inoculación con Azospirillum brasilense, con Pseudomonas fluorescens y la inoculación conjunta con ambas rizobacterias en las especies de plantas aromáticas Ocimum basilicum var. genovesse, Ocimum basilicum var. minimum, Petroselinum sativum var. lisa y Salvia officinalis. Se evaluará su desarrollo morfológico, atendiendo a tres parámetros: la longitud del tallo, el peso fresco y la superficie foliar. Así como el posible incremento en el contenido de aceite esencial que pueda tener la planta tratada. El cultivo se llevó a cabo en alveolos de ForestPot® 300, sobre mezcla de turba y vermiculita 3:1, con riego diario y sin adición de fertilizantes. Los resultados indican que en todas las especies y en todos los apartados estudiados, la inoculación de las rizobacterias produjo un incremento del desarrollo y del contenido de aceite esencial en comparación con el tratamiento Control, excepto en el caso de la longitud de las dos variedades de O. basilicum al inocularlas con P. fluorescens, en las que produjo una ligera disminución respecto al Control. En el caso de P. sativum var. lisa, solo las plantas que fueron inoculadas sobrevivieron. A partir de estos resultados, puede decirse que la inoculación con estas rizobacteras promotoras del crecimiento puede tener una gran importancia como sustitución de fertilizantes minerales, obteniéndose de este modo una producción más ecológica y respetuosa con el medio.

Further expansion of the alien seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla (Sonder) Verlaque, Huisman & Procacini (Ulvophyceae, Bryopsidales) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Date of Acceptance: 27/04/2015 We are grateful to Andreas Antoniou (Dep. of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development & Environment, Cyprus) for his assistance in the preparation of the illustrations. We would also like to thank Dr. Sotiris Orfanidis (NAGREF – Fisheries Research Institute, Kavala, Greece) for his valuable advice and both the DFMR and HSR / HCMR Rhodes crew and George Hatiris for their help in samplings. Special thanks are due to Dinos Leonidou (SeaQuest Divers Cyprus) for accompanying the deep dive for sampling Caulerpa at Cavo Greco. We are grateful to the Total Foundation (Paris) for its funding support to this study within the framework of the project “Brown algal ecology and biodiversity in the eastern Mediterranean Sea” and to the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011).

The incompatible interaction between Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae race 0 and tobacco is suppressed in transgenic plants expressing antisense lipoxygenase sequences

Nicotiana tabacum 46-8 cultivar displays an incompatible interaction with race 0 of Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae (Ppn), a fungal pathogen of most tobacco cultivars. At the plant level, incompatibility is characterized by the induction of lipoxygenase (LOX, EC = 1.13.11.12) activity and localized hypersensitive cell death before defense gene activation. To evaluate the involvement of LOX in the onset of plant defense, tobacco 46-8 plants were genetically engineered using full-length or partial-length antisense (AS) tobacco LOX cDNA constructs. AS expression strongly reduced elicitor- and pathogen-induced LOX activity. Eight independent AS-LOX lines were selected and assayed for their response to Ppn. After root or stem inoculation with race 0, all AS-LOX lines but one displayed a compatible phenotype whereas control transformed plants, not containing the AS-LOX cassette, showed the typical incompatible reaction. The presence of the fungus in transgenic lines was demonstrated by PCR amplification of a Ppn-specific genomic sequence. A linear relationship was found between the extent of LOX suppression and the size of the lesion caused by the fungus. The AS-LOX plants also showed enhanced susceptibility toward the compatible fungus Rhizoctonia solani. The results demonstrate the strong involvement of LOX in the establishment of incompatibility in plant–microorganism interactions, consistent with its role in the defense of host plants.

Use of a New Tetrazolium-Based Assay to Study the Production of Superoxide Radicals by Tobacco Cell Cultures Challenged with Avirulent Zoospores of Phytophthora parasitica var nicotianae1

The relationship between the production of reactive oxygen species and the hypersensitive response (HR) of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) toward an incompatible race of the Oomycete Phytophthora parasitica var nicotianae has been investigated. A new assay for superoxide radical (O2−) production based on reduction of the tetrazolium dye sodium,3′-(1-[phenylamino-carbonyl]-3,4-tetrazolium)-bis(4-methoxy-6-nitro) benzene-sulfonic acid hydrate (XTT) has enabled the quantitative estimation of perhydroxyl/superoxide radical acid-base pair (HO2·/O2−) production during the resistant response. Tobacco suspension cells were inoculated with zoospores from compatible or incompatible races of the pathogen. Subsequent HO2·/O2− production was monitored by following the formation of XTT formazan. In the incompatible interaction only, HO2·/O2− was produced in a minor burst between 0 and 2 h and then in a major burst between 8 and 10 h postinoculation. During this second burst, rates of XTT reduction equivalent to a radical flux of 9.9 × 10−15 mol min−1 cell−1 were observed. The HO2·/O2− scavengers O2− dismutase and Mn(III)desferal each inhibited dye reduction. An HR was observed in challenged, resistant cells immediately following the second burst of radical production. Both scavengers inhibited the HR when added prior to the occurrence of either radical burst, indicating that O2− production is a necessary precursor to the HR.

The genomic and physical organization of Ty1-copia-like sequences as a component of large genomes in Pinus elliottii var. elliottii and other gymnosperms.

A DNA sequence, TPE1, representing the internal domain of a Ty1-copia retroelement, was isolated from genomic DNA of Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii (slash pine). Genomic Southern analysis showed that this sequence, carrying partial reverse transcriptase and integrase gene sequences, is highly amplified within the genome of slash pine and part of a dispersed element >4.8 kbp. Fluorescent in situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes shows that the element is relatively uniformly dispersed over all 12 chromosome pairs and is highly abundant in the genome. It is largely excluded from centromeric regions and intercalary chromosomal sites representing the 18S-5.8S-25S rRNA genes. Southern hybridization with specific DNA probes for the reverse transcriptase gene shows that TPE1 represents a large subgroup of heterogeneous Ty1-copia retrotransposons in Pinus species. Because no TPE1 transcription could be detected, it is most likely an inactive element--at least in needle tissue. Further evidence for inactivity was found in recombinant reverse transcriptase and integrase sequences. The distribution of TPE1 within different gymnosperms that contain Ty1-copia group retrotransposons, as shown by a PCR assay, was investigated by Southern hybridization. The TPE1 family is highly amplified and conserved in all Pinus species analyzed, showing a similar genomic organization in the three- and five-needle pine species investigated. It is also present in spruce, bald cypress (swamp cypress), and in gingko but in fewer copies and a different genomic organization.