Interdomain competition: Arabidopsis thaliana versus Soil Bacteria

Plants in their natural habits are constantly competing with other organisms.Arabidopsis thaliana is a model plant that must germinate and grow in the presence ofcommon soil bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. A.thalianamay compete with soil bacteria such as for water, micronutrients, and the carbohydrate produced by photosynthesis. If there is competition between plants and soil bacteria, conditions that favor the growth of microorganisms will negatively impact plant development.A. thaliana was grown in petri dishes inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. Murashige and Skoog agar, a plant growth media, was used initially, to favor plant growth. The experiment was done in both warm conditions, that favor bacteria, and cool conditions, that discourage bacterial growth, and at high and low concentrations of bacteria. Later in the experiment, the growth of P. aureginosa and B. subtilis was enhanced by adding nutrient broth to the petri dishes. We found that, under these conditions, the plants are only vulnerable to bacterial competition at the earliest stages, and only with low concentration of B. subtilis under warm conditions. Bacterial growth later in plant development actually seems to promote plant growth

Visual ecology of aphids – a critical review on the role of colours in host finding

We review the rich literature on behavioural responses of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) to stimuli of different colours. Only in one species there are adequate physiological data on spectral sensitivity to explain behaviour crisply in mechanistic terms. Because of the great interest in aphid responses to coloured targets from an evolutionary, ecological and applied perspective, there is a substantial need to expand these studies to more species of aphids, and to quantify spectral properties of stimuli rigorously. We show that aphid responses to colours, at least for some species, are likely based on a specific colour opponency mechanism, with positive input from the green domain of the spectrum and negative input from the blue and/or UV region. We further demonstrate that the usual yellow preference of aphids encountered in field experiments is not a true colour preference but involves additional brightness effects. We discuss the implications for agriculture and sensory ecology, with special respect to the recent debate on autumn leaf colouration. We illustrate that recent evolutionary theories concerning aphid–tree interactions imply far-reaching assumptions on aphid responses to colours that are not likely to hold. Finally we also discuss the implications for developing and optimising strategies of aphid control and monitoring

Developing Student Engagement in China Through Collaborative Action Research

As its market and society open up, China has transformed itself from a closed agrarian socialist economy to an urban state and an economic force. This has released accumulated tourism demand, led to the development of a diversified industry, and the spread of university and vocational courses in this field. However, the industry faces challenges to recruit and retain staff, with tourism education in higher education blamed for the shortfall in numbers and quality of candidates with suitable purpose, knowledge, and passion to serve. This chapter provides a background to the development of and problems facing tourism education in China, and suggests how to support student engagement and hence the future workforce

A Mutation in Myo15 Leads to Usher-Like Symptoms in LEW/Ztm-ci2 Rats

The LEW/Ztm-ci2 rat is an animal model for syndromal deafness that arose from a spontaneous mutation. Homozygous animals show locomotor abnormalities like lateralized circling behavior. Additionally, an impaired vision can be observed in some animals through behavioral studies. Syndromal deafness as well as retinal degeneration are features of the Usher syndrome in humans. In the present study, the mutation was identified as a base substitution (T->C) in exon 56 of Myo15, leading to an amino acid exchange from leucine (Leu) to proline (Pro) within the carboxy-terminal MyTH4 domain in the proteins' tail region. Myo15 mRNA was expressed in the retina as demonstrated for the first time with the help of in-situ hybridization and PCR. To characterize the visual phenotype, rats were examined by scotopic and photopic electroretinography and, additionally, histological analyses of the retinas were conducted. The complete loss of sight was detected along with a severe degeneration of photoreceptor cells. Interestingly, the manifestation of the disease does not solely depend on the mutation, but also on environmental factors. Since the LEW/Ztm-ci2 rat features the entire range of symptoms of the human Usher syndrome we think that this strain is an appropriate model for this disease. Our findings display that mutations in binding domains of myosin XV do not only cause non-syndromic hearing loss but can also lead to syndromic disorders including retinal dysfunction

Interactions between tick-borne encephalitis virus non-structural protein 1 and blood-brain barrier tight junction proteins: potential clues to strain-specific neuropathogenicity

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) invades the central nervous system (CNS) through strain-specific mechanisms that remain poorly understood. In mosquito-borne orthoflaviviruses such as dengue and yellow fever viruses, the non-structural protein 1 (NS1) has been shown to disrupt endothelial barrier integrity by targeting tight junction proteins (TJPs), thereby facilitating viral neuroinvasion. However, comparable mechanisms in TBEV remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the potential interaction of NS1 from high (Hypr)- and low (Vs)-pathogenicity TBEV strains to different blood-brain barrier (BBB) TJPs, using AlphaFold3 (AF3) multimer modelling and in vitro binding assays. We find that NS1 from the highly pathogenic strain exhibits higher predicted interactions with multiple TJPs, including two junctional adhesion molecules (JAM-A, JAM-B) and Claudin-10, which are critical component of the paracellular barrier. In contrast, low pathogenic strain Vs interaction was limited to JAM-A and Claudin-5. Experimental validation using recombinant NS1 proteins revealed strain-specific binding profiles: Hypr NS1 displayed high-affinity, saturable direct binding to immobilized JAM-A (KD = 0.271 µg/mL), whereas Vs NS1 showed negligible interaction (KD = 0.000023 µg/mL). No binding to ZO-1, a barrier scaffold lacking an extracellular domain, was observed for either strain. This differential interaction may be modulated by 22 specific amino acid substitutions localized to the Wing and β-ladder domains, which distinguish the highly neurovirulent Hypr strain from the avirulent Vs strain. Notably, despite its weak JAM-A interaction, the Vs strain is associated with slow-progressing infections that can culminate in chronic neurological disease, highlighting the need for further investigation into noncanonical pathways of neuroinvasion