Pollen respiratory allergies have been increasing in prevalence over the last two decades, partly as the result of the impact of climate change. For many allergenic trees, grass and weed species, increased pollen production and prolonged pollination period result in long-term increased abundance of pollen allergens in the atmosphere; earlier shifts of airborne pollen grains and prolonged exposu...

Grass pollen is one of the most important vectors of aeroallergens. Under atmospheric conditions, pollen grains can release pollen cytoplasmic granules (PCGs). The allergens associated with these intrinsic subfractions induce, in laboratory animals as well as in asthmatic patients, allergic and inflammatory responses. The objectives of this study were to characterize the PCGs' intrinsic allerge...

In parts of the world where teosinte and maize are grown in close proximity, there is concern about gene flow between them. Pollen is the primary vehicle for gene flow. Quantifying the biophysical properties of pollen, such as its settling speed and dehydration rate, is important for evaluating outcrossing potential. These properties were measured for teosinte (Zea mays subsp. parviglumis) poll...

Greenhouses are a well-accepted containment strategy to grow and study genetically modified plants (GM) before release into the environment. Various containment levels are requested by national regulations to minimize GM pollen escape. We tested the amount of pollen escaping from a standard greenhouse, which can be used for EU containment classes 1 and 2. More specifically, we investigated the ...

BACKGROUND Patients often report adverse reactions to wheat. Interpretation of sensitization to wheat pollen and flour with/without sensitization to grass pollen is a clinical problem. AIM We set out to determine the prevalence of wheat allergy in a birth cohort (10/11 year olds) and investigate the usefulness of performing skin prick tests (SPT), specific IgE tests and component resolved dia...

Nowadays, pollen allergy becomes an increasing problem for human population. Common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.) is one of the major allergenic plants in Europe. In this study, the influence of air pollution caused by traffic on the structure and chemical composition of common mugwort pollen was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),...

During fair-weather conditions, a 100Vm 1 electric field exists between positive charge suspended in the air and negative charge distributed on the surfaces of plants and on the ground. The fields surrounding plants are highly complex reaching magnitudes up to 3 10Vm . These fields possibly influence the capture of charged wind-dispersed pollen grains. In this article, we model the electric fie...

LINC (linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton) complexes play an essential role in nuclear migration by connecting the nucleus to the cytoskeleton and/or motor proteins. Plant LINC complexes have recently been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana, with the inner nuclear membrane SUN and outer nuclear membrane WIP proteins comprising the first identified complex. A recent study identified a nucl...