Diverse Defense Research Articles

Wedded to ‘fault’: the legal regulation of divorce and relationship breakdown

In December 2005, the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force, thereby enabling same-sex couples to obtain formal legal recognition of their relationships. By modelling the provisions for dissolving such partnerships on divorce law, the government effectively transposed into the new regime both a fault-based ‘system’ and the accompanying sense that the law is vested with a role beyond that of simply ending relationships. In view of the recent, but ultimately failed, attempt to introduce no-fault divorce, this paper explores the role of law in this context. Drawing on a series of interviews with key individuals involved in the reform process, it explores how no-fault divorce was hijacked in a vain effort to provide simultaneous means of saving and ending marriage. In particular, the veto wielded by an influential group of idealistic conservatives during the latter stages of the reform process is identified. Given the inability or unwillingness of reformers to confront such conservatism with either a thoroughgoing defence of diversity, or the reality of the limited capacity of states to legislate for morality, the paper calls for a re-evaluation of the law’s role. It questions whether the Civil Partnership Act 2004 represents a missed opportunity to conduct such a re-evaluation and thus to point the way for future divorce reform.

Homology modeling and molecular dynamics studies on the tomato methyl jasmonate esterase

Jasmonic acid (JA) is a plant volatile that acts as an important cellular regulator mediating diverse developmental processes and defense responses. Not only the attacked plant but also neighboring plants are affected, becoming more attractive to herbivore predators and less susceptible to invaders. The three-dimensional (3D) model of methyl jasmonate esterase (MJE), which is only responsible for methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-cleaving activity, is constructed based on the crystal structure of salicylic acid-binding protein 2 (SABP2, PDB code 1XKL) by using InsightII/Homology module, and further refined using unrestrained dynamics simulations. With the aid of understanding the molecular interactions between the natural substrate: MeJA and MJE, a 3D model of the complex MeJA–MJE is developed by molecular docking program, and the result may be helpful to explain the experimental realization and the new mutant designs as well. The results indicate that the general 3D organization of MJE is a typical α/β hydrolase superfamily and comprises a central, parallel or mixes β sheet surrounded by α helices. The catalytic residues always constitute a highly conserved triad: Ser83, Asp211, His240, which is consistent with experimental observation. In addition, the key binding-site residues of Thr107 and Leu214 play an important role in the catalysis of MJE. One important finding is that the identification of the key binding site residues of Ser83, which plays an important role in the catalysis of MJE and this is in consistent with experimental observation. The inhibitor phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride is docked to MJE. Our results also show that His240 and His82 are important in inhibition and it may be helpful for the future inhibitor study.

Blood cell and plasma protein repellent properties of Star-PEG-modified surfaces

The implantation of biomaterials, medical devices or prostheses can instigate a rejection response or initiate an undesirable adsorption of plasma proteins, as well as blood cells on the implant surface, thus triggering diverse defense mechanisms against the supposed pathologic invader. The extent of this inflammatory reaction depends in part on the biocompatibility of the used materials or coatings. Although adsorption and coagulation responses can appear during the total in vivo lifetime of the implant, they are initially and crucially formed within the first 2–4 weeks of implantation. This early phase is of decisive importance for the consecutive in-growth and healing process. The present study was intended to elucidate the effects of blood contact to surfaces modified with reactive six-arm star-shaped poly(ethylene glycol-stat-propylene glycol) pre-polymers (Star PEG). Taken together, for Star-PEG-covered substrates we could demonstrate a profound reduction of various blood–biomaterial interactions compared to non-coated substrates, indicating the promising potential of this material as future coating for biomaterials with blood contact.

Anatomical and cellular responses of Pinus monticola stem tissues to invasion by Cronartium ribicola

SummaryWhite pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) causes extensive damage to white pines and their associated ecosystems across North America. The anatomical and cellular characteristics of C. ribicola colonization in Pinus monticola branch and stem tissues were studied as a basis for understanding host tree reactions that may be related to resistance. Samples examined showed typical fusiform swelling and some had produced aecia. The reaction of phloem and xylem tissues was compared with non‐infected tissue using light and electron microscopy. Cortical parenchyma and phloem polyphenolic parenchyma cells underwent mitotic division, cell swelling, and ca sixfold greater accumulation of phenolic compounds in colonized vs. control stems. In the cortex and secondary phloem, haustoria were common in parenchymatous cells, and hyphae were abundant in the intercellular spaces, but cell death was rare, unless aecia had ruptured the stem cortex. Hyphae were also common in xylem rays, tracheids and between tracheids. Disease‐induced changes in the cambial zone included development of cambium‐derived xylem traumatic resin ducts. Results demonstrate that diverse host defence responses were activated in the bark of apparently susceptible trees, but lack of mechanical damage by C. ribicola to the phenol‐containing host cells and the resin duct system allowed extensive colonization and development of aecia despite elicitation of these stem defences. Interactions between P. monticola and C. ribicola are discussed and compared with other conifer–fungus pathosystems.

984 POSTER Novel anti-cancer compounds — jasmonates, kill leukemic cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients: selectivity and mechanism of action

As a major immunity hormone, the jasmonate family of oxylipins promote plant defense to mechanical wounding, chewing insects, and necrotrophic pathogens. In addition, jasmonates generally repress vegetative growth while promoting reproductive development. Molecular genetic studies, mainly conducted in the model systems of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), have significantly improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying jasmonate biosynthesis and signaling. Genes encoding nearly all enzymes involved in the octadecanoid pathway for jasmonate biosynthesis have been identified. Recent discoveries have illustrated a core jasmonate signaling module consisting of the F-box protein CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1) that forms a Skp-Cullin-F-box (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, a group of jasmonate-ZIM domain (JAZ) proteins that function as transcriptional repressors, and various transcription factors that differentially regulate diverse aspects of JA responses. The COI1 protein serves as the jasmonate receptor to perceive the bioactive hormone jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) and recruit JAZ repressors for degradation, which leads to activation of JAZ-repressed transcription factors that regulate their corresponding jasmonate-responsive genes. Accumulating evidence shows that jasmonates also interact with other hormonal signals to regulate diverse plant defense responses and various developmental processes.

Isolation and characterization of a jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase gene from hot pepper(capsicum annuum L.)

Methyl jasmonate, the methyl ester of jasmonic acid, is a volatile plant hormone that acts as an important cellular regulator, mediating diverse developmental processes and defense responses. Methyl jasmonate is synthesized by methylation of jasmonic acid; this reaction is catalyzed by jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (JMT). Although JMT cDNA had previously been described only forArabidopsis thaliana, here we used PCR to isolate it fromCapsicum annuum L The 389-amino-acid sequence deduced for theJMT gene showed 92% identity to that fromA. thaliana. Southern blot analysis revealed thatJMT is present in the genome as two copies. Our preliminary northern blot detected no JMT transcript, but, through RT-PCR and subsequent Southern blot analysis of products using genespecific probes, we found that transcript levels increased after leaf-wounding. Likewise, 10 µM methyl jasmonate inducedJMT gene expression in leaves. Transcription levels began to increase 10 min after wounding, and were maintained for 1 to 4 h. Moreover, expression of theCaJMT andPIN2 genes was increased by both wounding and MeJA applications, but was not enhanced by treatment with H2O2.

Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History

Introduction: philanthropy in America: historicism and its discontents Lawrence J. Friedman Part I. Giving and Caring in Early America, 1601-1861: 1. Giving in America: from charity to organised philanthropy Robert Gross 2. Protestant missionaries: pioneers of early American philanthropy Amanda Porterfield 3. The origins of Anglo-American sensibility G. J. Barker Benfield 4. The Dartmouth College case and the legal design of American philanthropy Mark McGarvie 5. Rethinking assimilation: American Indians and the practice of Christianity, 1800-1861 Stephen Warren 6. Antebellum reform: salvation, self-control, and social transformation Wendy Gamber Part II. The Nationalisation and Internationalising of American Philanthropy, 1861-1930: 7. Law, reconstruction, and African-American education in post-emancipation South Foy Finkenbine 8. Women and political culture Kathleen McCarthy 9. From gift to foundation: the philanthropic lives of Mrs Russell Sage Ruth Crocker 10. 'Curing evils at their source': the arrival of 'scientific giving' Judy Sealander 11. Missions to the world: philanthropy abroad Emily Rosenberg Part III. Philanthropic Reconstructions, 1930-2001: 12. Failure and resilience: pushing the limits in depression and wartime David Hammack 13. Faith and good works: catholic giving and taking Mary Oates 14. In defence of diversity: Jewish thought from assimilation to cultural pluralism Stephen Whitfield 15. Waging the Cold War in the third world: the foundations and the challenges of development Gary Hess 16. Philanthropy, the civil rights movement, and the politics of racial reform Claude Clegg 17. Philanthropy, the welfare state, and the careers of public and private institutions since 1945 Peter Hall Epilogue: The European Comparison William Cohen.

La competencia literaria en la cartografía de los lineamientos del MEN

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the conceptual assumptions (the cartography) that are behind the formulations concerning the literary competence in the Ministry of Educa- tion curricular guidelines. The main conclusion is that in this document the erudite culture is assumed as a natural fact, which may bring about the exclusion, as an object of formation and study, of other cultural environments. The idea is to show the current contradiction lying between the positions expressed in the Ministry of Education guidelines and the principles concerning the respect and defense of cultural diversity of Colombia, stated in the political Constitution of Colombia.

Diverse defence

Diverse defence

Immune response characteristics following emergency vaccination of pigs against foot-and-mouth disease

Pigs were vaccinated with the emergency inactivated foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccine—water-in-oil-in-water emulsion with Montanide ISA206—known to protect after 3–5 days. Peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) sub-populations did not differ between vaccinates and controls post-vaccination. There was neither lymphopenia nor inflammatory reaction. FMDV-specific antibody and T lymphocyte activity developed in the vaccinates. Virus-induced Th1-like cytokine protein and mRNA (IFNγ and IL-2) were identified, particularly IFNγ. Th2-like cytokine protein and mRNA (IL-4 and IL-6) were also induced in an FMDV-specific manner. IL-10 was induced by both virus and mock antigen. The current emergency FMDV vaccine induces a diverse immune defence network—innate, and both Th1-like and Th2-like responses—without adverse reactions such as lymphopenia or inflammatory responses.

Inorganic cations mediate plant PR5 protein antifungal activity through fungal Mnn1- and Mnn4-regulated cell surface glycans.

Antimicrobial activities of many defense proteins are profoundly altered by inorganic cations, thereby controlling disease pathologies in a number of mammalian systems, such as cystic fibrosis in humans. Protein-based active defense systems in plants also are influenced by cations; however, little is known of how these cation effects are mediated. Cytotoxicity of the pathogenesis-related protein osmotin against the model fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae was progressively abolished by K+. By the use of S. cerevisiae mannosylation mutants, this effect was shown to require mannosephosphate residues in the cell wall. However, osmotin activity was not suppressed by even high concentrations of Ca2+. Rather, submillimolar levels of Ca2+ specifically facilitated osmotin's activity, as well as its binding to the cell surface. This effect also was dependent on mannosephosphate groups on the cell surface, and appeared to require negative charge on a portion of the osmotin protein. Results suggest that Ca2+ modulates osmotin action by facilitating its binding to the fungal cell surface, but that K+ blocks this interaction by competing for binding to mannosephosphate groups. Therefore, we have identified glycan interaction as a mechanism for antimicrobial protein activity modulation by cations, a pattern that may apply to diverse innate defense responses.

Vif Overcomes the Innate Antiviral Activity of APOBEC3G by Promoting Its Degradation in the Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway

Viruses must overcome diverse intracellular defense mechanisms to establish infection. The Vif (virion infectivity factor) protein of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) acts by overcoming the antiviral activity of APOBEC3G (CEM15), a cytidine deaminase that induces G to A hypermutation in newly synthesized viral DNA. In the absence of Vif, APOBEC3G incorporation into virions renders HIV-1 non-infectious. We report here that Vif counteracts the antiviral activity of APOBEC3G by targeting it for destruction by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Vif forms a complex with APOBEC3G and enhances APOBEC3G ubiquitination, resulting in reduced steady-state APOBEC3G levels and a decrease in protein half-life. Furthermore, Vif-dependent degradation of APOBEC3G is blocked by proteasome inhibitors or ubiquitin mutant K48R. A mutation of highly conserved cysteines or the deletion of a conserved SLQ(Y/F)LA motif in Vif results in mutants that fail to induce APOBEC3G degradation and produce non-infectious HIV-1; however, mutations of conserved phosphorylation sites in Vif that impair viral replication do not affect APOBEC3G degradation, suggesting that Vif is important for other functions in addition to inducing proteasomal degradation of APOBEC3G. Vif is monoubiquitinated in the absence of APOBEC3G but is polyubiquitinated and rapidly degraded when APOBEC3G is coexpressed, suggesting that coexpression accelerates the degradation of both proteins. These results suggest that Vif functions by targeting APOBEC3G for degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and implicate the proteasome as a site of dynamic interplay between microbial and cellular defenses.

A phylogenetic approach to assessing the targets of microbial warfare.

Bacteriocins are the most abundant and diverse defense systems in bacteria. As a result of the specific mechanisms of bacteriocin recognition and translocation into the target cell it is assumed that these toxins mediate intra-specific or population-level interactions. However, no published studies specifically address this question. We present here a survey of bacteriocin production in a collection of enteric bacteria isolated from wild mammals in Australia. A subset of the bacteriocin-producing strains was assayed for the ability to kill a broad range of enteric bacteria from the same bacterial collection. A novel method of estimating killing breadth was developed and used to compare the surveyed bacteriocins in terms of the phylogenetic range over which they kill. The most striking result is that although bacteriocin-producers kill members of their own species most frequently, some kill phylogenetically distant taxa more frequently than they kill closer relatives. This study calls into question the role these toxins play in natural populations. A significant number of bacteriocins are highly effective in killing inter-specific strains and thus bacteriocins may serve to mediate bacterial community interactions.

Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of a Hydroxyjasmonate Sulfotransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana

12-Hydroxyjasmonate, also known as tuberonic acid, was first isolated from Solanum tuberosum and was shown to have tuber-inducing properties. It is derived from the ubiquitously occurring jasmonic acid, an important signaling molecule mediating diverse developmental processes and plant defense responses. We report here that the gene AtST2a from Arabidopsis thaliana encodes a hydroxyjasmonate sulfotransferase. The recombinant AtST2a protein was found to exhibit strict specificity for 11- and 12-hydroxyjasmonate with K(m) values of 50 and 10 microm, respectively. Furthermore, 12-hydroxyjasmonate and its sulfonated derivative are shown to be naturally occurring in A. thaliana. The exogenous application of methyljasmonate to A. thaliana plants led to increased levels of both metabolites, whereas treatment with 12-hydroxyjasmonate led to increased level of 12-hydroxyjasmonate sulfate without affecting the endogenous level of jasmonic acid. AtST2a expression was found to be induced following treatment with methyljasmonate and 12-hydroxyjasmonate. In contrast, the expression of the methyljasmonate-responsive gene Thi2.1, a marker gene in plant defense responses, is not induced upon treatment with 12-hydroxyjasmonate indicating the existence of independent signaling pathways responding to jasmonic acid and 12-hydroxyjasmonic acid. Taken together, the results suggest that the hydroxylation and sulfonation reactions might be components of a pathway that inactivates excess jasmonic acid in plants. Alternatively, the function of AtST2a might be to control the biological activity of 12-hydroxyjasmonic acid.

What Remains of Jean Genet?

This essay argues that Jean Genet's critique of racism in his play The Blacks shares with his contemporaneous art theory an idealist subordination of historical particularities to what exceeds or endures beyond such particularities. Reading "The Studio of Alberto Giacometti" and "The Strange Word of . . . " together with The Blacks illuminates some otherwise cryptic images of death and ruins in the play and, in the process, indicates the distance between Genet's frequent recourse to the figure of remains in protesting social injustice throughout the late 1950s and early '60s, and subsequent multiculturalist efforts to critique racism through the historical contextualization and defense of diversity.

Improvement of the mitochondrial antioxidant defense status prevents cytokine-induced nuclear factor-kappaB activation in insulin-producing cells.

Proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1beta [IL-1beta], tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha], and gamma-interferon [IFN-gamma]) initiate a variety of signal cascades in pancreatic beta-cells that affect the expression level of genes involved in both the destruction and the protection of the beta-cell. The generation of nitric oxide (NO) via the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and oxygen free radicals play a key role in cytokine-mediated beta-cell destruction. Within these signal cascades, the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is crucial, and many cytokine-sensitive genes contain binding sites for this transcription factor in their promoter regions. The aim of this study was to characterize the cytokine-mediated activation of NF-kappaB and the subsequent expression of iNOS protein in insulin-producing RINm5F cells with an improved antioxidant defense status by overexpression of the cytoprotective enzymes catalase (Cat), glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), and the cytoplasmic Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/ZnSOD). RINm5F cells with diverse mitochondrial antioxidative defense status were generated by stable overexpression of MnSOD constructs in sense (MnSOD sense) and antisense orientation (MnSOD antisense). Cytokine-induced (IL-1beta or cytokine mix consisting of IL-1beta + TNF-alpha + IFN-gamma) activation of NF-kappaB in RINm5F cells was reduced by >80% through overexpression of MnSOD. The activity of the iNOS promoter remained at basal levels in cytokine-stimulated MnSOD sense cells. In contrast, the suppression of MnSOD gene expression in cytokine-stimulated MnSOD antisense cells resulted in a threefold higher activation of NF-kappaB and a twofold higher activation of the iNOS promoter as compared with control cells. The iNOS protein expression was significantly reduced after a 6- and 8-h cytokine incubation of MnSOD sense cells. The low activity level of MnSOD in RINm5F MnSOD antisense cells increased the iNOS protein expression in particular during the early phase of cytokine-mediated toxicity. Cat, Gpx, and the cytoplasmic Cu/ZnSOD did not affect the activation of NF-kappaB and the iNOS promoter. In conclusion, the overexpression of MnSOD, which inactivates specifically mitochondrially derived oxygen free radicals, significantly reduced the activation of NF-kappaB in insulin-producing cells. As a consequence of this protective effect in the early cytokine signaling pathways, the induction of iNOS, an important event in the beta-cell destruction process, was also significantly reduced. The results provide evidence that mitochondrially derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical role in the activation of the cytokine-sensitive transcription factor NF-kappaB. Overexpression of MnSOD may thus be beneficial for beta-cell survival through suppression of oxygen free radical formation, prevention of NF-kappaB activation, and iNOS expression.

XXIe siècle: le crépuscule des langues?

The topics on language revitalization and promotion and on cultural diversity defense, which are widely translated into some oposition to linguistic globalization, are mostly based on a set of ideas which will be known as 'politically and linguistically correct discourse' (PLC). This discourse, on its turn, generates linguistic policy claims which usually drive us nowhere. In this article we aim to show a model of analysis of the linguistic situation at the moment of globalization and to characterize the PLC discourse, assessing its effects on linguistic policies.

Induction of competence for elicitation of defense responses in cucumber hypocotyls requires proteasome activity.

The epidermal cells of hypocotyls from etiolated cucumber seedlings are not constitutively competent for elicitation of the rapid H2O2 defense response. However, elicitor competence developed while conditioning the surface-abraded seedlings by rotating them in buffer for 4 h. Competence development was greatly potentiated by inducers of systemic acquired resistance and suppressed by specific inhibitors of proteasome activity, clastolactacystin beta-lactone (LAC) and carboxybenzoyl-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-leucinal (LLL). In the freshly abraded seedlings, chitinase gene activation became evident approximately 4 h after elicitor addition. Accumulation of chitinase mRNA was enhanced upon conditioning prior to elicitation and was inhibited by LAC and LLL, indicating that the process which leads to H2O2 elicitation competence is also superimposed on the elicitation of chitinase mRNA. LAC and LLL caused an accumulation of ubiquitin-conjugated proteins and enhanced the expression of a proteasome alpha-subunit, suggesting that proteasome activity was specifically inhibited and that the effect observed on gene expression was not due to impaired gene induction in general. Together, our results suggest that the ubiquitin-proteasome system may play a crucial role in a process which switches the signaling pathway for diverse plant defense responses into a functional state, as is known for many basic cellular processes in both animals and yeast.

Transgene silencing by the host genome defense: implications for the evolution of epigenetic control mechanisms in plants and vertebrates.

Increasing evidence supports the idea that various transgene silencing phenomena reflect the activity of diverse host defense responses that act ordinarily on natural foreign or parasitic sequences such as transposable elements, viroids, RNA and DNA viruses, and bacterial DNA. Transgenes or their transcripts can resemble these cellular invaders in a number of ways, thus making them targets of host protective reactions. At least two distinct host defense systems operate to silence transgenes. One acts at the genome level and is associated with de novo DNA methylation. A second line of defense operates post-transcriptionally and involves sequence-specific RNA degradation in the cytoplasm. Transgenes that are silenced as a consequence of the genome defense are revealing that de novo methylation can be cued by DNA-DNA or RNA-DNA interactions. These methylation signals can be interpreted in the context of transposable elements or their transcripts. During evolution, as transposable elements accumulated in plant and vertebrate genomes and as they invaded flanking regions of genes, the genome defense was possibly recruited to establish global epigenetic mechanisms to regulate gene expression. Transposons integrated into promoters of host genes could conceivably change expression patterns and attract methylation, thus imposing on endogenous genes the type of epigenetic regulation associated with the genome defense. This recruitment process might have been particularly effective in the polyploid genomes of plants and early vertebrates. Duplication of the entire genome in polyploids buffers against insertional mutagenesis by transposable elements and permits their infiltration into individual copies of duplicated genes.

10.5010/JPB.2012.39.2.099

Methyl jasmonate is a plant volatile that acts as an important cellular regulator mediating diverse developmental processes and defense responses. Transgenic Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. Pekinensis) plants were successfully obtained from cotyledonary explants inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which harbored a binary vector plasmid with jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase (JMT) gene for the formation of methyl jasmonate from jasmonic acid. Through initial selection of regenerated explants by culturing on a mannose and lilacillin containing MS medium, multiple shoots were obtained after 2 months of culture. For a complementary step of selection, putative transgenic shoots were transferred to MS medium supplemented with 6 g/L mannose and 200 mg/L lilacillin. After culture and selection on MS medium a number of mannose resistant plantlets were regenerated. Polymerase chain reaction, Southern and Northern blot analysis were used to identify and characterize the transgenic plants with the integrated JMT gene. Over 10 transgenic plants have been established in soil and flowered in the greenhouse. T1 progeny of 10 transgenic Chinese cabbage inbred lines were inoculated with Erwinia carotovora. Expression of the JMT peptide in transgenic Chinese cabbage plants provides high levels of field resistance against Erwinia carotovora, causal agent of the agronomically important bacterial disease of Chinese cabbage.