Cancer rates are increasing dramatically, and there is currently a strong emphasis on identifying biologically active substances with anti-cancer activity from traditional herbs, as these are thought to have less adverse side-effects than conventional chemotherapy. Here, we examined the effects of extracts of Orostachys japonicus A. BERGER (O. japonicus) on cancer cell proliferation and apoptos...

A new nodulation-defective mutant of Lotus japonicus does not initiate nodule cortical cell division in response to Mesorhizobium loti, but induces root hair deformation, Nod factor-induced calcium spiking, and mycorrhization. This phenotype, together with mapping data, suggested that the mutation could be in the ortholog of the Medicago truncatula NSP1 gene (MtNSP1). The sequence of the orthol...

The current knowledge regarding transcriptomic changes induced by alkalinity on plants is scarce and limited to studies where plants were subjected to the alkaline salt for periods not longer than 48 h, so there is no information available regarding the regulation of genes involved in the generation of a new homeostatic cellular condition after long-term alkaline stress. Lotus japonicus is a mo...

Katherine N. Theken, Yangmei Deng, Robert N. Schuck, Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, Tricia M. Miller, M. Alison Kannon, Samuel M. Poloyac, and Craig R. Lee Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pen...

We determine the Chow rings of the complex algebraic groups E6 and E7, giving generators and relations in terms of Schubert classes of the corresponding flag varieties. This is a continuation of the work of R. Marlin on the computation of the Chow rings of SOn, Spinn,G2, and F4.

Most cases of ciguatera poisoning reported in the past have involved Canadians who ate fish in the Caribbean while on holiday. These cases have implicated grouper in the Dominican Republic(1,2), kingfish in Jamaica, and barracuda in Haiti(3). A fish casserole caused the illness in 57 people during a trip to Cuba(4). Ciguatera poisonings have also been reported in Canada as a result of importing...

Galactomannan biosynthesis in legume seed endosperms involves two Golgi membrane-bound glycosyltransferases, mannan synthase and galactomannan galactosyltransferase (GMGT). GMGT specificity is an important factor regulating the distribution and amount of (1-->6)-alpha-galactose (Gal) substitution of the (1-->4)-beta-linked mannan backbone. The model legume Lotus japonicus is shown now to have e...

tRNA genes are interspersed throughout eukaryotic DNA, contributing to genome architecture and evolution in addition to translation of the transcriptome. Codon use correlates with tRNA gene copy number in noncomplex organisms including yeasts. Synonymous codons impact translation with various outcomes, dependent on relative tRNA abundances. Availability of whole-genome sequences allowed us to e...

The establishment of legumes crops with phenotypic traits that favour their persistence and competitiveness in mixed swards is a pressing task in sustainable agriculture. However, to fully exploit the potential benefits of introducing pasture-based grass-legume systems, an increased scientific knowledge of legume agronomy for screening of favourable traits is needed. We exploited a short-cut ph...

Seed shape in the model legumes Lotus japonicus and Medicago truncatula is described. Based in previous work with Arabidopsis, the outline of the longitudinal sections of seeds is compared with a cardioid curve. L. japonicus seeds adjust well to an unmodified cardioid, whereas accurate adjustment in M. truncatula is obtained by the simple transformation of scaling the vertical axis by a factor ...