Microarray hybridization was used to assess acclimation responses to four UV regimes by near isogenic maize (Zea mays) lines varying in flavonoid content. We found that 355 of the 2,500 cDNAs tested were regulated by UV radiation in at least one genotype. Among these, 232 transcripts are assigned putative functions, whereas 123 encode unknown proteins. UV-B increased expression of stress respon...

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in the world, accounting for nearly half of the 38 million cases of blindness worldwide. Age-related cataract is a multifactorial disease, and the prevalence of cataract approximately doubles with each decade after the age of 30. For this reason, if an intervention were able to delay the onset of cataract by 10 years, the number of cataract operations ...

The current and projected terrestrial ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation affects growth and reproductive potential of many crops. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.), mostly grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions may already be experiencing critical doses of UV-B radiation due to a thinner ozone column in those regions. Better understanding of genotypic variability to UV-B radiation is a prer...

1. Despite the increasing occurrence of global environmental changes, including increases in ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B; 280–320 nm), little is known about how factors such as UV-B affect animals physiologically. Amphibians provide a good model for examining physiological effects of UV-B exposure because studies documenting both lethal and sub-lethal effects have been completed on many speci...

While a considerable amount of attention has been devoted to the effects that increased ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has on vegetative plant growth and physiological function, the impact that UV-B may have on plant fitness has been the focus of fewer studies, with attention given primarily to a few crop species. Further, the possible interactions between UV-B and additional potential stresses...

Ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation is an important environmental signal for plant growth and development, but its signal transduction mechanism is unclear. UV-B is known to induce stomatal closure via hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and to affect ethylene biosynthesis. As ethylene is also known to induce stomatal closure via H(2)O(2) generation, the possibility of UV-B-induced stomatal closure via et...

As part of an overall decline in biodiversity, amphibian populations throughout the world are disappearing. There are a number of potential causes for these declines, including those related to environmental changes such as increasing ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation due to stratospheric ozone depletion. UV-B radiation can kill amphibian embryos or can cause sublethal effects that can harm amphib...

Heterotrimeric G proteins have been shown to transmit ultraviolet B (UV-B) signals in mammalian cells, but whether they alsotransmit UV-B signals in plant cells is not clear. In this paper, we report that 0.5 Wm22 UVB induces stomatal closure inArabidopsis(Arabidopsis thaliana) by eliciting a cascade of intracellular signaling events including Gaprotein, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and nitric oxi...

The Arabidopsis radical-induced cell death1 (rcd1) mutant is sensitive to ozone fumigation and apoplastic superoxide, but tolerant to methyl viologen. In the present article, we report that the rcd1 mutant is also tolerant to supplementary UV-B radiation. The rcd1-1 mutant exhibits less accumulation of TT dimers, increased hypocotyl growth inhibition and higher accumulation of flavonoids under ...