A reporter gene assay (RGA) that uses a mouse liver recombinant Hepa1c1c7 containing the firefly luciferase gene was developed to screen for dioxins in human plasma. For a high-sensitivity method, the addition of cycloheximide to the culture medium brought about a fivefold increase in the sensitivity. The detection limit was 0.1 pg/microL/well. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) binding affinity f...

Anthracnose, one of the most important diseases of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. A "candidate gene" approach was used to map anthracnose resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL). Candidate genes included genes for both pathogen recognition (resistance genes and resistance gene analogs [RGAs]) and general plant defense (defense response ...

PCR amplification was previously used to identify a cluster of resistance gene analogues (RGAs) on soybean linkage group J. Resistance to powdery mildew (Rmd-c), Phytophthora stem and root rot (Rps2), and an ineffective nodulation gene (Rj2) map within this cluster. BAC fingerprinting and RGA-specific primers were used to develop a contig of BAC clones spanning this region in cultivar "Williams...

Resistance gene analog polymorphism (RGAP) markers linked to Fusarium head blight resistance (FHB) and co-localize with Qfhs.ndsu-3BS were identified using F3 plants and F3:5 lines derived from a ‘Wangshuibai’ (resistant) / ‘Seri82’ (susceptible) cross. The mapping populations were genotyped using 50 degenerate primers designed based on the known R genes. Out of the 50 designed primer combinati...

Synthetic nonsteroidal ecdysone agonists, a class of insect growth regulators (IGRs), target the ecdysone receptor (EcR), which forms a heterodimer with ultraspiracle (USP) to transactivate ecdysone response genes. These compounds have high binding affinities to the EcR-USP complexes of certain insects and their toxicity is selective for certain taxonomic orders. In the present study, we develo...

We have identified two redundant GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) - RGA-3 and RGA-4 - that regulate Rho GTPase function at the plasma membrane in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. Knockdown of both RhoGAPs resulted in extensive membrane ruffling, furrowing and pronounced pseudo-cleavages. In addition, the non-muscle myosin NMY-2 and RHO-1 accumulated on the cortex at sites of ruffling. RGA...

Soybean has become one of the most important crops to the United States, resulting in a need to improve its disease resistance. The objectives of this study were to 1) design primers and develop PCR-based markers from disease-related expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and resistance gene analogues (RGAs), 2) assess the utility of such markers by diversity analysis of 12 soybean parental lines, and ...