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20 Pág. Departamento de Medio Ambiente y Agronomía​, Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but without a global evaluation of successes and failures it is impossible to gauge feasibility. Here we examine restoration seeding outcomes across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Our findings suggest reasons for optimism. Seeding had a positive impact on species presence: in almost a third of all treatments, 100% of species seeded were growing at first monitoring. However, dryland restoration is risky: 17% of projects failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. Across projects, higher seeding rates and larger seed sizes resulted in a greater probability of recruitment, with further influences on species success including site aridity, taxonomic identity and species life form. Our findings suggest that investigations examining these predictive factors will yield more effective and informed restoration decision-making., We would like to thank the supporters of the Global Arid Zone Project. The intellectual and energetic input of the network participants made this work possible. We also acknowledge the many employers and funding agencies that supported projects and the authors’ time in preparing this work and contributing data to the GAZP database. Please note that any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government

12 Pág., The relationships that control seed production in trees are fundamental to understanding the evolution of forest species and their capacity to recover from increasing losses to drought, fire, and harvest. A synthesis of fecundity data from 714 species worldwide allowed us to examine hypotheses that are central to quantifying reproduction, a foundation for assessing fitness in forest trees. Four major findings emerged. First, seed production is not constrained by a strict trade-off between seed size and numbers. Instead, seed numbers vary over ten orders of magnitude, with species that invest in large seeds producing more seeds than expected from the 1:1 trade-off. Second, gymnosperms have lower seed production than angiosperms, potentially due to their extra investments in protective woody cones. Third, nutrient-demanding species, indicated by high foliar phosphorus concentrations, have low seed production. Finally, sensitivity of individual species to soil fertility varies widely, limiting the response of community seed production to fertility gradients. In combination, these findings can inform models of forest response that need to incorporate reproductive potential., The project has been funded continuously since 1992 by National Science Foundation grants to J.S.C, most recently DEB-1754443, and by the Belmont Forum (1854976), NASA (AIST16-0052, AIST18-0063), and the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir under project FORBIC (18-MPGA-0004)(Make Our Planet Great Again). Puerto Rico data were funded by NSF grants to M.U., most recently, DEB 0963447 and LTREB 11222325. Data from the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group were funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and NSF LTREB 1754647 to M.S. Additional funding to M.Z. came from the W.Szafer Institute of Botany of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish National Science Foundation (2019/33/B/NZ8/0134). M.B. was supported by the Polish National Science Centre grant no. 2019/35/D/NZ8/00050, and Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange Bekker programme PPN/BEK/2020/1/00009/U/00001. J.M.L. was supported by NSF grant DEB 1745496. Jerry Franklin’s data remain accessible through NSF LTER DEB-1440409. USDA Forest Service and USGS research was funded by those agencies.

Copper (Cu) is an essential element, however it's excess into the environment causes detrimental effect on plant and risks for public health. Four Cu and drought tolerant 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase producing rhizobacteria were isolated from the roots of Trifolium repens L. growing on Cu smelter contaminated soils, characterized and identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A consortium of high ACC deaminase (53.74 μM α-ketobutyrate mg−1 protein h−1) producing bacteria Pseudomonas sp. strain TR15a + siderophore producing Bacillus aerophilus strain TR15c significantly (p < 0.05) produced better results for multiple-metal tolerance including Cu (1750 mg kg−1), antibiotic resistance (ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, penicillin, tetracycline, and streptomycin) and plant growth promoting attributes (phosphate solubilization: 315 mg L−1, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production: 8 mg L−1, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide production) as compared to individual isolates. Pot scale experiment (enriched with 100 mg Cu kg−1) showed inoculation of Helianthus annuus seeds with consortium of TR15a + TR15c had significantly (p < 0.05) improved seed germination by 32%, total dry biomass by 64%, root Cu by 47% and shoot Cu by 75% as compared to uninoculated control whereas 0.2−7 fold higher results were observed for above stated parameters as compared to four individual isolates studied. The result suggests consortium of ACC deaminase producing Pseudomonas sp. TR15a and siderophore producing B. aerophilus TR15c could play a vital role in enhanced Cu uptake and improvement of biomass and may provide a better alternative for decontamination of Cu contaminated natural ecosystem than individual isolates. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. The authors acknowledge the work support by RFBR, Russia (Project No. 19-516-45006) and DST, India (INT/ RUS / RFBR /363) and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 02.A03.21.0006). We also thank Prof. Katarzyna Turnau and Rafal Wazny, Department of Bioremediation, Malopolska Center of Biotechnology, University of Jagiellonian, Krakow for giving assistance in identification of isolated rhizobacteria.

Air-conditioning systems make the most significant part of energy consumption in the residential sector. There is no denying that it is essential to produce a comfortable indoor thermal environment for residents in a building. The actual goal is to achieve thermal comfort level without putting too much cost on the ecological system by trying to conserve the amount of energy consumed. An effective way to help achieve such a goal is by incorporating thermal insulation in buildings. Thermal insulations help reduce thermal energy gained during the implementation of a desired thermal comfort level. This study aims to use an environmentally friendly nanoparticle of date pits to create thermal insulations that can be used in buildings. Different ratios of the nanoparticle of the date pits and sand composite were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the new materials. The material with nanoparticles of date pits and 50% by-volume epoxy provided good thermal insulation with thermal conductivity of 0.26 W/mK that could be used in the existing buildings. This has the potential to reduce the overall energy consumption by 4,494 kWh and thereby reduce CO2 emissions of a 570 m2 house by 1.8 tons annually. In conclusion, the future of using nanoparticles of date pits in construction is bright and promising due to their promising results. The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Scopus

Purpose To compare the accuracy and repeatability of emerging machine learning based (i.e. deep) automatic segmentation algorithms with those of well-established semi-automatic (interactive) methods for determining liver volume in living liver transplant donors at computerized tomography (CT) imaging. Methods A total of 12 (6 semi-, 6 full-automatic) methods are evaluated. The semi-automatic segmentation algorithms are based on both traditional iterative models including watershed, fast marching, region growing, active contours and modern techniques including robust statistical segmenter and super-pixels. These methods entail some sort of interaction mechanism such as placing initialization seeds on images or determining a parameter range. The automatic methods are based on deep learning and they include three framework templates (DeepMedic, NiftyNet and U-Net) the first two of which are applied with default parameter sets and the last two involve adapted novel model designs. For 20 living donors (6 training and 12 test datasets), a group of imaging scientists and radiologists created ground truths by performing manual segmentations on contrast material-enhanced CT images. Each segmentation is evaluated using five metrics (i.e. volume overlap and relative volume errors, average/RMS/maximum symmetrical surface distances). The results are mapped to a scoring system and a final grade is calculated by taking their average. Accuracy and repeatability were evaluated using slice by slice comparisons and volumetric analysis. Diversity and complementarity are observed through heatmaps. Majority voting and Simultaneous Truth and Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE) algorithms are utilized to obtain the fusion of the individual results. Results The top four methods are determined to be automatic deep models having 79.63, 79.46 and 77.15 and 74.50 scores. Intra-user score is determined as 95.14. Overall, deep automatic segmentation outperformed interactive techniques on all metrics. The mean volume of liver of ground truth is found to be 1409.93 mL ± 271.28 mL, while it is calculated as 1342.21 mL ± 231.24 mL using automatic and 1201.26 mL ± 258.13 mL using interactive methods, showing higher accuracy and less variation on behalf of automatic methods. The qualitative analysis of segmentation results showed significant diversity and complementarity enabling the idea of using ensembles to obtain superior results. The fusion of automatic methods reached 83.87 with majority voting and 86.20 using STAPLE that are only slightly less than fusion of all methods that achieved 86.70 (majority voting) and 88.74 (STAPLE). Conclusion Use of the new deep learning based automatic segmentation algorithms substantially increases the accuracy and repeatability for segmentation and volumetric measurements of liver. Fusion of automatic methods based on ensemble approaches exhibits best results almost without any additional time cost due to potential parallel execution of multiple models.

Background: Nut consumption has been inversely associated with gastric cancer incidence in US-based studies, but not with oesophageal cancer. However, there is aetiologic heterogeneity, among oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cases in low-risk vs. high-risk populations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between nut consumption and risk of ESCC in a high-risk population. Methods: The Golestan Cohort Study enroled 50,045 participants in Northeastern Iran, between 2004 and 2008. Intake of peanuts, walnuts and mixed nuts (including seeds) were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire at baseline. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals for subsequent ESCC adjusted for potential confounders. Non-consumers of nuts were used as the reference category and the consumers were categorised into tertiles. Results: We accrued 280 incident ESCC cases during 337,983 person-years of follow up. Individuals in the highest tertiles of total nut consumption, and mixed nut consumption were significantly associated with lower risk of developing ESCC compared to non-consumers (HR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.39-0.93, p-trend = 0.02, and HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.32-0.84, p trend = 0.002, respectively). Conclusions: We found a statistically significant inverse association between total nut consumption and the risk of ESCC in this high-risk population.

WOS: 000417379400002 PubMed ID: 32454617 Objectives: In recent years, the use of plants for the prevention and treatment of cancer is gaining more attention due to their diverse range of phytochemical constituents and fewer adverse effects. In this study, four medicinal plant species from the Kars province of Turkey were investigated for their cytotoxic potential against six different cancer cell lines and one normal cell line. Materials and Methods: MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-dipenyltetrazolium bromide] assay was performed to assess cytotoxic activity and apoptotic effect was determined using flow cytometry and caspase-3 analyses. Results: Significant cytotoxicity (>= 70%) was observed with the leaf extract of Artemisia absinthium on A-549, CCC-221, K-562, MCF-7, PC-3 cells,whereas seed extracts caused significant cytotoxicity (>= 70%) on CCC-221, K-562, MCF-7, PC-3 cells. Selective cytotoxicity was obtained with leaf extract on A-549 and K-562 cells; and with seed extract on K-562, MCF-7 and PC-3 cells compared with normal Beas-2B cells. The levels of cytotoxicity for both extracts were time-and dose-dependent at lower concentrations. Moreover, selective cytotoxicity (78%) was detected on A-549 cells with the seed extract of Plantago major. Cytotoxicity of extracts from Hyoscyamus niger and Amaranthus retrosa ranged between 10% and 30%. Conclusion: A. absinthium extracts and P. major seed extract have potential for development as therapeutic agents for cytotoxicity on certain cancer cells following further investigation. Scientific Research Projects (BAP) of Mugla Sitki Kocman University [13/82] This work was supported by Scientific Research Projects (BAP) of Mugla Sitki Kocman University under project number 13/82.

Reforestation of technologically polluted areas has become an increasingly important issue. In this study, seed germination capacity and survival rate and morphometric characteristics of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings grown in a magnesite-polluted soil medium were investigated in a pot experiment. Significant differences in seed field germination, sprout survival, seedling length at various growth stages, and root collar diameter of the seedling were discovered between the trial variants for the pot trial using growing media from the polluted areas and the control site. In addition, it was observed that the differences between the trial variants depended on seed origin and the level of soil pollution. The data indicate that seed germination and seedling growth were significantly reduced as the levels of pollution increased. These negative effects of the pollution tend to increase as the seedling gets older. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences Acknowledgements The work was carried out within the framework of the State task of the Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Oktay YILDIZ, Düzce University, Faculty of Forestry, in Turkey, and Prof. Dr. Sergey MENSHIKOV Botanical Garden Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia, for their contributions to the paper.

Peppers are very important foodstuffs in the world for direct and indirect consumption, so they are extensively used. The seeds of these peppers are waste materials that are disposed of from houses and factories. To evaluate the performance of this biomass in the treatment of wastewaters, a study was conducted to remove a textile dye, reactive blue 221, which is commercially used in textile mills. Raw seed materials were used without any pre-treatment. The effects of contact time, initial concentration of dye, pH and dose of biosorbent were studied to determine the optimum conditions for this biomass on color removal from wastewaters. The optimum pH value for dye biosorption was found to be 2.0. At an initial dye concentration of 217 mg L, treatment efficiency and biosorption capacity were 96.7% and 95.35 mg g, respectively. A maximum biosorption capacity of 142.86 mg g1 was also obtained. Equilibrium biosorption of dye by capia seeds was well described by the Langmuir isotherm with a correlation coefficient above 99%. The biosorption process was also successfully explained with the pseudo-second order kinetic model. This biomass was found to be effective in terms of textile dye removal from aqueous solutions. © IWA Publishing 2017.

Several epidemiological studies have shown that the consumption of finger millet (FM) alleviates diabetes-related complications. In the present study, the effect of finger millet whole grain (FM-WG) and bran (FM-BR) supplementation was evaluated in high-fat diet-fed LACA mice for 12 weeks. Mice were divided into four groups: control group fed a normal diet (10 % fat as energy); a group fed a high-fat diet; a group fed the same high-fat diet supplemented with FM-BR; a group fed the same high-fat diet supplemented with FM-WG. The inclusion of FM-BR at 10 % (w/w) in a high-fat diet had more beneficial effects than that of FM-WG. FM-BR supplementation prevented body weight gain, improved lipid profile and anti-inflammatory status, alleviated oxidative stress, regulated the expression levels of several obesity-related genes, increased the abundance of beneficial gut bacteria (Lactobacillus, Bifidobacteria and Roseburia) and suppressed the abundance of Enterobacter in caecal contents (P≤ 0·05). In conclusion, FM-BR supplementation could be an effective strategy for preventing high-fat diet-induced changes and developing FM-BR-enriched functional foods.

Globulins are an important group of seed storage proteins in dicotyledonous plants. They are synthesized during seed development, assembled into very compact protein complexes, and finally stored in protein storage vacuoles (PSVs). Here, we report a proteomic investigation on the native composition and structure of cruciferin, the 12 S globulin of Brassica napus. PSVs were directly purified from mature seeds by differential centrifugations. Upon analyses by blue native (BN) PAGE, two major types of cruciferin complexes of ∼ 300–390 kDa and of ∼470 kDa are resolved. Analyses by two-dimensional BN/SDS-PAGE revealed that both types of complexes are composed of several copies of the cruciferin α and β polypeptide chains, which are present in various isoforms. Protein analyses by two-dimensional isoelectric focusing (IEF)/SDS-PAGE not only revealed different α and β isoforms but also several further versions of the two polypeptide chains that most likely differ with respect to posttranslational modifications. Overall, more than 30 distinct forms of cruciferin were identified by mass spectrometry. To obtain insights into the structure of the cruciferin holocomplex, a native PSV fraction was analyzed by single particle electron microscopy. More than 20,000 images were collected, classified, and used for the calculation of detailed projection maps of the complex. In contrast to previous reports on globulin structure in other plant species, the cruciferin complex of Brassica napus has an octameric barrel-like structure, which represents a very compact building block optimized for maximal storage of amino acids within minimal space. Background: Cruciferin represents the most abundant protein in Brassica napus seeds where its efficient storage is essential under minimized space conditions. Results: The cruciferin complex has an octameric barrel-like structure of ∼420 kDa. Conclusion: The barrel-like structure represents a compact building block optimized for maximal storage of amino acids. Significance: Novel insights into structure and packing of seed storage proteins.

Obesity is a global health threat. OECD reported that more than half (52%) of the adult population in the European Union is overweight or obese. Obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities have deep negative effects on morbidity, mortality, professional and personal quality of life. Healthcare costs represent a negative impact of this disease, with an associated economic cost of 100 billion US$ per year in the United States. The most prescribed drugs for obesity treatment worldwide are orlistat, and phentermine/topiramate extended release, while the major prescribed drug for the same disease in the US are exenatide and dapagliflozin. The so far developed drugs, targeting weight loss, have a long history of malignant secondary effects. There is still a lack of efficient and safe drugs to treat obesity and related metabolic complications since in many cases cure cannot be reached by bariatric surgery or healthy lifestyle habits. Terrestrial and aquatic organisms are a promising source of valuable, bioactive compounds, often with interest for human health. Some of the natural compounds or organisms have been used for centuries by humans as traditional medicine foods. In this review, we give insights into the adipose tissue function and development, and the progress in traditional anti-obesity pharmacotherapy. A major focus is to highlight the state of the art of natural compounds with anti-obesity properties and their potential as candidates for drug development; an overview is given about natural compounds derived from different marine animal sources, cyanobacteria, marine phytoplankton, fungus or plants. © 2016 Bentham Science Publishers. This study was funded by the Project MARBIOTECH (reference NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000047) within the SR&TD Integrated Program MARVALOR - Building research and innovation capacity for improved management and valorization of marine resources, supported by ON.2 Program and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE - Operational Competitiveness Programme and NOVOMAR (reference 0687-NOVOMAR- 1-P), and national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, through the project UID/Multi/04423/2013. Ralph Urbatzka was supported by grant SFRH/BPD/112287/2015 (FCT).

The lack of phaseolin and phytohaemagglutinin in common bean (dry bean, Phaseolus vulgaris) is associated with an increase in total cysteine and methionine concentrations by 70% and 10%, respectively, mainly at the expense of an abundant non-protein amino acid, S-methyl-cysteine. Transcripts were profiled between two genetically related lines differing for this trait at four stages of seed development using a high density microarray designed for common bean. Transcripts of multiple sulphur-rich proteins were elevated, several previously identified by proteomics, including legumin, basic 7S globulin, albumin-2, defensin, albumin-1, the Bowman-Birk type proteinase inhibitor, the double-headed trypsin inhibitor, and the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor. A co-ordinated regulation of transcripts coding for sulphate transporters, sulphate assimilatory enzymes, serine acetyltransferases, cystathionine β-lyase, homocysteine S-methyltransferase and methionine gamma-lyase was associated with changes in cysteine and methionine concentrations. Differential gene expression of sulphur-rich proteins preceded that of sulphur metabolic enzymes, suggesting a regulation by demand from the protein sink. Up-regulation of SERAT1;1 and-1;2 expression revealed an activation of cytosolic O-acetylserine biosynthesis. Down-regulation of SERAT2;1 suggested that cysteine and S-methyl-cysteine biosynthesis may be spatially separated in different subcellular compartments. Analysis of free amino acid profiles indicated that enhanced cysteine biosynthesis was correlated with a depletion of O-acetylserine. These results contribute to our understanding of the regulation of sulphur metabolism in developing seed in response to a change in the composition of endogenous proteins. © 2012 The Author.

Pistacia L. belongs to the family of Anacardiaceae. It contains nine species and five subspecies. P. vera L. (cultivated pistachio) is the economically most important species in the genus. It has edible seeds and considerable commercial importance. Iran, the United States, Turkey and Syria are the main pistachio producers in the world. Gaziantep province is the main producer and exporter of pistachio in Turkey. Samples of leaves, branches and fruits of pistachio (P. vera L.) were collected between 2009 and 2010 from different localities in Gaziantep province. Cytospora sarothamni Sacc., Phoma pulchella (Berk. and Broome) Sacc. and Steganosporium irregulare Lambotte and Fautrey are new records for Turkish mycobiota. For the first time in literature, Bispora antennata (Pers.) E.W. Mason, Coniothecium complanatum Nees (Sacc.) and Rosellinia pulveracea (Ehrh.) Fuckel were found on P. vera L., and P. vera L. is now defined as a new host plant for these three species. Key Words: Microfungi, new record, new host, Pistacia vera L., Turkey.

In plants, gametes, along with accessory cells, are formed by the haploid gametophytes through a series of mitotic divisions, cell specification and differentiation events. How the cells in the female gametophyte of flowering plants differentiate into gametes (the egg and central cell) and accessory cells remains largely unknown. In a screen for mutations that affect egg cell differentiation in Arabidopsis, we identified the wyrd (wyr) mutant, which produces additional egg cells at the expense of the accessory synergids. WYR not only restricts gametic fate in the egg apparatus, but is also necessary for central cell differentiation. In addition, wyr mutants impair mitotic divisions in the male gametophyte and endosperm, and have a parental effect on embryo cytokinesis, consistent with a function of WYR in cell cycle regulation. WYR is upregulated in gametic cells and encodes a putative plant ortholog of the inner centromere protein (INCENP), which is implicated in the control of chromosome segregation and cytokinesis in yeast and animals. Our data reveal a novel developmental function of the conserved cell cycle-associated INCENP protein in plant reproduction, in particular in the regulation of egg and central cell fate and differentiation. � 2011. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Comparative studies on fatty acid and protein composition of the endosperm and embryo of palmito (Euterpe edulis Martius) were conducted using gas-liquid chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate– polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. On a dry weight basis, the embryo contained extremely lower amounts of lipids and proteins than did the endosperm, which was associated with the scarce lipid and protein bodies previously reported in axis and cotyledon. The fatty acid composition also exhibited differences between both tissues: (I) the fatty acid diversity was greater in embryo than in endosperm; (II) embryo and endosperm contained predominantly linoleic, palmitic, oleic and stearic acids even though the relative values were different for each tissue. As compared to other palm species, the higher fatty acid unsaturation in Euterpe edulis seed could be involved in the previously reported short longevity and recalcitrant behavior during storage. Proteins of both tissues were heterogeneous in molecular mass. Some proteins were tissue-specific, but other were common, among them a highly glycosylated protein which migrated at about 55 kDa. We hypothesize that the latter, also reported in all previously studied palm species, is one of the proteins characterizing the Arecaceae family. Estudios comparativos sobre la composición de ácidos grasos y proteínas del endospermo y el embrión de palmito (Euterpe edulis Martius) mediante cromatografía gas-líquido y dodecilsulfato de sodio– Electroforesis en gel de poliacrilamida. Sobre una base de peso seco, el embrión contenía cantidades extremadamente bajas de lípidos y proteínas que el endospermo, que estaba asociado con los escasos cuerpos de lípidos y proteínas reportado previamente en eje y cotiledón. La composición de ácidos grasos también mostró diferencias entre ambos tejidos: (I) la diversidad de ácidos grasos fue mayor en el embrión que en el endospermo; (II) embrión y endospermo contenía predominantemente ácidos linoleico, palmítico, oleico y esteárico, aunque los valores relativos eran diferentes para cada tejido. En comparación con otras especies de palmeras, la mayor insaturación de ácidos grasos en Euterpe edulis la semilla podría estar involucrada en la corta longevidad y el comportamiento recalcitrante durante el almacenamiento informados anteriormente. Las proteínas de ambos tejidos eran heterogéneas en masa molecular. Algunas proteínas eran específicas de tejido, pero otras eran comunes, entre ellos una proteína altamente glicosilada que migraba a aproximadamente 55 kDa. Nosotros hipotetizamos que esta última, también reportada en todas las especies de palmeras previamente estudiadas, es una de las proteínas que caracterizan la familia Arecaceae. Instituto de Investigación Tecnología de Alimentos (ITA) Fil: Panza, Victor. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentina. Fil: Panza, Victor. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; Argentina. Fil: Pighin, Darío Gabriel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina. Fil: Láinez, Verónica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; Argentina. Fil: Pollero, Ricardo José. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata; Argentina. Fil: Maldonado, Sara. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). CIRN. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos (IRB); Argentina. Fil: Maldonado, Sara. Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; Argentina.

Mimosine, a non-protein plant amino acid found in Mimosa pudica and certain species of Leucaena, was beneficial for the growth of seedlings of Vigna radiata germinated under selenium-deficient stressed condition (-Se stressed) despite the recognized toxicity of the allelochemical. Exposure of mimosine at 0.1 mM (Mim-0.1) promoted the growth of the seedlings and significantly enhanced mitochondrial functional efficiency. Growth-related parameters including root and shoot lengths and dry weight were increased by 44-58% in the Mim-0.1 group compared to that of the -Se-stressed group. Oxygen uptake by mitochondria of Mim-0.1 group, studied with different substrates, revealed enhanced State 3 respiratory rates with regulated State 4 rates, resulting in high respiratory control ratio (RCR) of 3.4 to 3.9 indicative of a high degree of oxidative coupling. Specific activities of mitochondrial electron transport enzymes, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (reduced form) (NADH)-cytochrome (cyt) c oxidoreductase, succinate dehydrogenase, and cyt c oxidase in the Mim-0.1 group were enhanced by 53% to threefold over those of the Se-stressed group. Marked decreases in the extent of mitochondrial lipid peroxidation ensued upon mimosine exposure, indicative of its antioxidant function. Mitochondrial 45Ca2+ uptake was notably augmented twofold in the Mim-0.1 group, compared to the Se-stressed group. Detailed kinetic analyses of Ca 2+ uptake revealed positive cooperative interactions in both -Se-stressed group and Mim-0.1 groups with Hill coefficient (nH) values of 1.7 and 2, respectively. The present study establishes the beneficial effects of mimosine exposure at 0.1 mM on the growth and mitochondrial function of the seedlings grown under selenium-deficient stressed condition and a significant physiological role can be ascribed to mimosine. � Humana Press Inc. 2007.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a complex network of neurons in the gut, regulating many local, vital functions of the gastro-intestinal tract. The ENS is also part of the bidirectional gut-brain axis. The murine immorto fetal enteric neuronal (IM-FEN) cell line was chosen as a model to study enteric neurons. This cell line can be differentiated into cells with a neuronal phenotype, although they do not produce action potentials in vitro. It was concluded that the differentiation process in our laboratory was successful, based on positive staining for neuronal proteins. Proliferating IM-FEN cells have an unstable growth rate in our laboratory. An indicator of growth rate was calculated, and this indicator was found to be related to seeding density and number of days in culture, and was unrelated to person culturing, previous overconfluency or passage number. The indicator of growth rate was also unrelated to successful use of differentiated cells in follow-up experiments. We recommend the following conditions for optimal culture of IM-FEN cells. Keep cells in culture until 80 % confluent before passaging, seed cells at a density of 0.0133 million cells per cm(2), and anticipate on unstable growth rates and the risk for overconfluency.

Pollination and soil fertility are important ecosystem services to agriculture but their relative roles and potential interactions are poorly understood. We explored the combined effects of pollination and soil fertility in sunflower using soils from a trial characterized by different long-term input management in order to recreate plausible levels of soil fertility. Pollinator exclusion was used as a proxy for a highly eroded pollination service. Pollination benefits to yield depended on soil fertility, i.e., insect pollination enhanced seed set and yield only under higher soil fertility indicating that limited nutrient availability may constrain pollination benefits. Our study provides evidence for interactions between above- and belowground ecosystem services, highlighting the crucial role of soil fertility in supporting agricultural production not only directly, but also indirectly through pollination. Management strategies aimed at enhancing pollination services might fail in increasing yield in landscapes characterized by high soil service degradation. Comprehensive knowledge about service interactions is therefore essential for the correct management of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.

The review is devoted to genetic mechanisms of regulation of plant embryonic development. Numerous families of genesidentified to date that control this phase of plant ontogenesis are presented in detail; their key role in the formation anddevelopment of plant seed is described. Data concerning important role of different classes of phytohormones such asauxins, cytokinins, gibberellic acid, brassinosteroids, abscisic acid, ethylene and jasmonic acid in the regulation of plantgrowth and development during embryogenesis are resulted.