Plants produce a wide variety of defensive metabolites to protect themselves against herbivores and pathogens. Non-protein amino acids, which are present in many plant species, can have a defensive function through their mis-incorporation during protein synthesis and/or inhibition of biosynthetic pathways in primary metabolism. 5-Hydroxynorvaline was identified in a targeted search for previous...

The prevalent way aphids accomplish colony defense against natural enemies is a mutualistic relationship with ants or the occurrence of a specialised soldier caste typical for eusocial aphids, or even both. Despite a group-living life style of those aphid species lacking these defense lines, communal defense against natural predators has not yet been observed there. Individuals of Aphis nerii (...

Beneficial symbioses are widespread and diverse in the functions they provide to the host ranging from nutrition to protection. However, these partnerships with symbionts can be costly for the host. Such costs, so called "direct costs", arise from a trade-off between allocating resources to symbiosis and other functions such as reproduction or growth. Ecological costs may also exist when symbio...

The harpin protein Hpa1 has multiple beneficial effects in plants, promoting plant growth and development, increasing crop yield, and inducing resistance to pathogens and insect pests. For these effects, the 10-40 residue fragment (Hpa1₁₀₋₄₂) isolated from the Hpa1 sequence is 1.3- to 7.5-fold more effective than the full-length protein. Here it is reported that the expression of Hpa1₁₀₋₄₂ unde...

The benefits of mutualistic interactions are often highly context dependent. We studied the interaction between the milkweed aphid Aphis asclepiadis and a tending ant, Formica podzolica. Although this interaction is generally considered beneficial, variation in plant genotype may alter it from mutualistic to antagonistic. Here we link the shift in strength and relative benefit of the ant-aphid ...

background defensive medicine prompts physicians not to admit high-risk patients who need intensive care. this phenomenon not only decreases the quality of healthcare services, but also wastes scarce health resources. defensive medicine occurs in negative and positive forms. hence, the present study aimed to determine frequency of positive and negative defensive medicine behaviors and their und...

We investigate the dynamics of a kicked particle in an infinite square well undergoing frequent measurements of energy. For a large class of periodic kicking forces, constant diffusion is found in such a non-Kolmogorov-Arnol'd-Moser system. The influence of a phase shift of the kicking potential on the short-time dynamical behavior is discussed. The general asymptotical measurement-assisted dif...

BACKGROUND Kicking performance is the most studied technical action in soccer and lower limbs kinematics is closely related to success in kicking, mainly because they are essential in imparting high velocity to the ball. Previous studies demonstrated that soccer leagues in different countries exhibit different physical demands and technical requirements during the matches. However, evidencewhet...