Normal locomotion of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans requires transmission of contractile force through a series of mechanical linkages from the myofibrillar lattice of the body wall muscles, across an intervening extracellular matrix and epithelium (the hypodermis) to the cuticle. Mutations in mua-3 cause a separation of the hypodermis from the cuticle, suggesting this gene is required for...

Large body surface area burns pose significant therapeutic challenges. Clinically, the extent and depth of burn injury may mandate the use of allograft for temporary wound coverage while autografts are serially harvested from the same donor areas. The paucity of donor sites in patients with burns involving large surface areas highlights the need for better skin substitutes that can achieve earl...

Vulva development differs between Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus in several ways. Seven of 12 ventral epidermal cells in P. pacificus die of apoptosis, whereas homologous cells in C. elegans fuse with the hypodermal syncytium. Vulva induction is a one-step process in C. elegans, but requires a continuous interaction between the gonad and the epidermis in P. pacificus. Here we...

Penaeus vannamei (Pacific white legged shrimp), is an exotic shrimp species introduced to India in 2009, and is currently been extensively cultured along the Southeast coastal region of the Country. The expansion of the industry had resulted in mushrooming up of unapproved hatcheries and farms which do not implement adequate biosecurity measures or good management practices required for farming...

BACKGROUND The White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and Penaeus stylirostris penstyldensovirus 1 (previously named Infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus-IHHNV) are two of the most important viral pathogens of penaeid shrimp. Different methods have been applied for diagnosis of these viruses, including Real-time PCR (qPCR) assays. A duplex qPCR method allows the simultaneous detecti...

Maize (Zea mays L.) shows a high accumulation of silicon (Si), but transporters involved in the uptake and distribution have not been identified. In the present study, we isolated two genes (ZmLsi1 and ZmLsi6), which are homologous to rice influx Si transporter OsLsi1. Heterologous expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes showed that both ZmLsi1 and ZmLsi6 are permeable to silicic acid. ZmLsi1 was ...

Meristematic activity in the bud meristem of Abies nordmanniana was visualized by ubiquitin immunohistochemical localization from before bud break and throughout shoot expansion. Ubiquitin was detected in meristematic cells either in the cytosol or nucleus, or both, depending on tissue type and developmental stage. During winter dormancy, ubiquitin was only observed in the protodermal/hypoderma...

Infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) of shrimp contains a linear single-stranded DNA genome of approximately 4.1kb with three putative open reading frames (ORFs) on the same DNA strand designated, the Left, Middle, and Right ORFs. The Left ORF codes for non-structural protein and the Right ORF codes for capsid protein, whereas the role of the Middle ORF is still unknow...

Induction of vulval fates in the C. elegans hermaphrodite is mediated by a signal transduction pathway involving Ras and MAP kinase. Previous genetic analysis has suggested that two potential targets of this pathway in the vulva precursor cells are two novel proteins, LIN-25 and SUR-2. In this report, we describe further studies of lin-25. The results of a genetic mosaic analysis together with ...

Two types of cell death have been studied extensively in Caenorhabditis elegans, programmed cell death and necrosis. We describe a novel type of cell death that occurs in animals containing mutations in either of two genes, lin-24 and lin-33. Gain-of-function mutations in lin-24 and lin-33 cause the inappropriate deaths of many of the Pn.p hypodermal blast cells and prevent the surviving Pn.p c...