Deletion of ribosomal protein L32 genes resulted in a nonsexual flocculation of fission yeast. Nonsexual flocculation also occurred when two other ribosomal protein genes, rpl21-2 and rpl9-2, were deleted. However, deletion of two nonribosomal protein genes, mpg and fbp, did not cause flocculation. Overall transcript levels of rpl32 in rpl32-1Δ and rpl32-2Δ cells were reduced by 35.9% and 46.9%...

The use of high stringency selection systems commonly results in a strongly diminished number of stably transfected mammalian cell lines. Here we placed twelve different promoters upstream of an adjacent primary promoter and tested whether this might result in an increased number of colonies; this is in the context of a stringent selection system. We found that only the promoter of the human ri...

Previous mapping studies have revealed that the frequency and large size of inverted repeat junction shifts in Apiaceae plastomes are unusual among angiosperms. To further examine plastome structural organization and inverted repeat evolution in the Apiales (Apiaceae + Araliaceae), we have determined the complete plastid genome sequences of five taxa, namely Anthriscus cerefolium (154,719 base ...

The subtribe Eritrichiinae belongs to tribe Rochelieae (Borginaceae; Cynoglossoideae) which is composed of about 200 species in five genera including Eritrichium, Lappula, Hackelia, Lepechiniella, and Rochelia. The majority of the species are annual and grow in xeric habitats. The genus Lappula as an arid adapted and the second biggest genus...

BACKGROUND The regulation of ribosomal proteins in plants under stress conditions has not been well studied. Although a few reports have shown stress-specific post-transcriptional and translational mechanisms involved in downregulation of ribosomal proteins yet stress-responsive transcriptional regulation of ribosomal proteins is largely unknown in plants. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In th...

There is no easy way to identify to species, a small, vegetative leaf or culm sample of a grass and there are more than 12,000 species in this large, important family. The long-range aim of our study is to produce a standard DNA barcode library available to the public for all grasses (±1960 species) in North America (includes all Canada, Mexico and USA) that will facilitate the easy identificat...

BACKGROUND The recently proposed recircumscription of the genus Atraphaxis (incl. Atraphaxis section Ovczinnikovia O.V. Yurtseva ex. S. Tavakkoli and Polygonum sect. Spinescentia Boissier (=A. sect. Polygonoides S. Tavakkoli, Kaz. Osaloo & Mozaff.) makes this genus fairly heterogeneous and therefore almost undefinable based on morphology. A critical comprehensive reappraisal of the group is nec...

Locusta migratoria is a classic hemimetamorphosis insect and has caused widespread economic damage to crops as a migratory pest. Researches on the expression pattern of functional genes in L. migratoria have drawn focus in recent years, especially with the release of genome information. Real-time quantitative PCR is the most reproducible and sensitive approach for detecting transcript expressio...