Brown Planthopper (N. lugens Stal) Feeding Behaviour on Rice Germplasm as an Indicator of Resistance

BACKGROUND: The brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) is a serious pest of rice in Asia. Development of novel control strategies can be facilitated by comparison of BPH feeding behaviour on varieties exhibiting natural genetic variation, and then elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of resistance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: BPH feeding behaviour was compared on 12 rice varieties over a 12 h period using the electrical penetration graph (EPG) and honeydew clocks. Seven feeding behaviours (waveforms) were identified and could be classified into two phases. The first phase involved patterns of sieve element location including non penetration (NP), pathway (N1+N2+N3), xylem (N5) [21] and two new feeding waveforms, derailed stylet mechanics (N6) and cell penetration (N7). The second feeding phase consisted of salivation into the sieve element (N4-a) and sieve element sap ingestion (N4-b). Production of honeydew drops correlated with N4-b waveform patterns providing independent confirmation of this feeding behaviour. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Overall variation in feeding behaviour was highly correlated with previously published field resistance or susceptibility of the different rice varieties: BPH produced lower numbers of honeydew drops and had a shorter period of phloem feeding on resistant rice varieties, but there was no significant difference in the time to the first salivation (N4-b). These qualitative differences in behaviour suggest that resistance is caused by differences in sustained phloem ingestion, not by phloem location. Cluster analysis of the feeding and honeydew data split the 12 rice varieties into three groups: susceptible, moderately resistant and highly resistant. The screening methods that we have described uncover novel aspects of the resistance mechanism (or mechanisms) of rice to BPH and will in combination with molecular approaches allow identification and development of new control strategies

SOX9 regulated matrix proteins are increased in patients serum and correlate with severity of liver fibrosis

Extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and resultant scar play a major role in the pathogenesis and progression of liver fibrosis. Identifying core regulators of ECM deposition may lead to urgently needed diagnostic and therapetic strategies for the disease. The transcription factor Sex determining region Y box 9 (SOX9) is actively involved in scar formation and its prevalence in patients with liver fibrosis predicts progression. In this study, transcriptomic approaches of Sox9-abrogated myofibroblasts identified >30% of genes regulated by SOX9 relate to the ECM. Further scrutiny of these data identified a panel of highly expressed ECM proteins, including Osteopontin (OPN), Osteoactivin (GPNMB), Fibronectin (FN1), Osteonectin (SPARC) and Vimentin (VIM) as SOX9 targets amenable to assay in patient serum. In vivo all SOX-regulated targets were increased in human disease and mouse models of fibrosis and decreased following Sox9-loss in mice with parenchymal and biliary fibrosis. In patient serum samples, SOX9-regulated ECM proteins were altered in response to fibrosis severity, whereas comparison with established clinical biomarkers demonstrated superiority for OPN and VIM at detecting early stages of fibrosis. These data support SOX9 in the mechanisms underlying fibrosis and highlight SOX9 and its downstream targets as new measures to stratify patients with liver fibrosis

Relationships between height and yield in near-isogenic spring wheats that contrast for major reduced height genes

The effect of two major dwarfing (Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b) genes varies with environment. Near-isogenic pairs (i.e., tall and semidwarf) of six spring wheat lines, included in the International Adaptation Trial (IAT), were grown in 81 trials around the world from 2001 to 2004. Trial yields ranged from 1 to 8 t ha(-1)with a mean of ca. 4 t ha(-1). Overall, the yield advantage of the lines possessing the dwarfing gene was ca. 10% and was particularly evident in trials where the mean height of semidwarf isolines exceeded ca. 80 cm. However, the yield advantage was greater in the slightly taller and older lines (Pavon and Galvez) than in the newer lines Nesser and Kauz and the two durum lines. Sixteen pairs of semidwarf/tall near-isolines were grown in six managed drought environment trials at CIMMYT in northwestern Mexico. In these trials, height and yield differences were small and/or negligible in the most droughted environment (2.5 t ha(-1)) and the slope of yield versus height for each isoline pair became consistently negative with increase in irrigation. In the IAT, the slope of the yield versus height was much more variable at low heights or yields, presumably due to the fact that there were many more factors driving the response. Even at the point where the slope became consistently negative (ca. between 2 and 4 t ha(-1)), there were some trials where tall isolines equaled or exceeded the yield of semidwarf isolines, particularly in the most recent developed cultivar, Kauz