True Lines Research Articles

Identification of low lectin mutants in soybean

AbstractLectin is one of the known antinutritional factors that deteriorate the soybean protein quality and development of cultivars with low lectin content will help to improve nutritional quality of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]. Therefore, attempts were made to induce mutations for low lectin content in the cultivar ‘MACS 450’. Soybean cultivar ‘MACS 450’ was subjected to combination treatments of γ‐rays and ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) with an objective to induce variability for low lectin content. The treatments of different combinations of γ‐rays and EMS were 50 Gy + 0.2% EMS, 50 Gy + 0.4% EMS, 100 Gy + 0.2% EMS and 100 Gy + 0.4% EMS. Of the 3200 treated M1 seeds sown, 16 400 M2 plants were raised. In M2, 72 plants were identified for low lectin content [<40 × 105 haemagglutination unit (HAU)/mg] and were carried up to M5 generation. In M5 generation, lectin content in ‘MACS 450’ was 39.23 to 50.0 × 105 HAU/mg, and was compared with the nine true breeding lines identified having low lectin content, ranging from 2.3 × 105 to 27.46 × 105 HAU/mg. Three mutants were found to possess very low lectin content (ranging from 2.0 × 105 to 3.0 × 105 HAU/mg). Thus, the identified mutant lines with low lectin content will greatly improve soybean protein quality, thereby reducing financial burden on the soybean industry for processing soybean meal and also making it suitable for human consumption. All the mutants showed normal seed development, having soluble protein content similar or higher than that in the parent (32.0 mg/ml). This indicates that the change in lectin content does not have any negative impact on the plant growth and protein content.

Soft Tissue Cephalometric Standards based on NHP in a Sample of Iranian Adults.

Background and aims This study aimed to establish soft tissue cephalometric standards in Iranian adults based on NHP, which can be used in diagnosis of orthodontic and orthognathic patients. Materials and methods A group of 46 individuals (24 males and 22 females) with normal occlusion and proportional facial profile were chosen from a large group of dental students. For the all of the chosen sample, lateral cephalograms were obtained with head oriented in natural position. On the basis of the true horizontal and true vertical lines, the standard values of 19 soft tissue measurements were determined using McNamara, Burstone and Viazis methods. Results In this study, the mean value of SN deviation to true horizontal line was 6.6°. Comparison between two genders showed that females have more obtuse nasolabial angle and thinner soft tissue chin than males (P < 0.05). Linear measurements showed that the overall size of males was more than females (P < 0.05). Conclusion Cephalometric norms based on NHP were found to be more reliable in orthognathic pa-tients.

DEVELOPMENT OF DOUBLE HAPLOIDY IN UMBELLIFERAE

The umbelliferae species includes vegetables (e.g. carrot, celery, parsnip) as well as herb/spice crops (e.g. dill, caraway, anise). When compared to other major crop species, there has been very little breeding or genetic improvement of the umbelliferae, especially the herb/spice crops. Therefore, there is a potential for variability in crop performance and content of active ingredients. Haploidy technology can be used to develop uniform, true breeding lines as well as to accelerate breeding programs. Screening the umbelliferae species for microspore culture response has yielded embryos from anise, angelica, caraway, carrot, dill, lovage, fennel, and parsnip. Haploid and double haploid (DH) plants have also been regenerated from anise, caraway, carrot, dill, lovage, fennel, and parsnip. Field trials of the DH lines were conducted in 2003 and 2004 for anise, dill, and fennel. These trials showed that there were significant differences between the DH lines and their corresponding parental lines in terms of seed viability, plant height, rate of crop development, seed yield, and oil quantity.

Copyright, Originality, and the End of the Scenes a Faire and Merger Doctrines for Visual Works

The merger doctrine in copyright states that if an idea and the expression of the idea are so tied together that the idea and its expression are one - there is only one conceivable way or a drastically limited number of ways to express and embody the idea in a work - then the expression of the idea is uncopyrightable because ideas may not be copyrighted. The scenes a faire doctrine complements the merger doctrine by providing that certain subject matter - stock images, tried and true story lines, fables and folklore, scenes of nature, common visual and cultural references, all of which fall under the description of scenes that must be done - are not copyrightable because they are part of the public domain and no one can obtain a monopoly on such images by putting them into a fixed and tangible medium of expression. Although the courts have from time to time acknowledged that the standards for originality and creativity required for copyright are intentionally low, and that there are a myriad of ways to express themes and ideas visually, half of the circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals have applied a reductionist, dissection and filtration approach in their consideration of infringement of visual works that is driven by an expanded view of the applicability of the merger and scenes a faire doctrines to visual works. This article will argue that the merger doctrine and scenes a faire doctrine are perfectly well adapted to verbal and literary works, but they have no meaning and no proper application with regard to visual works and should be discarded in the consideration of infringement of visual works.

Uniform One-Dimensional Arrays of Tunable Gold Nanoparticles with Tunable Interparticle Distances

A new strategy to prepare and precisely assemble small gold nanoparticles in true one-dimensional lines is reported. This template-free technique allows one to control the nanoparticle size and interparticle distances, while precisely positioning the large scale 1-D assemblies on the surface.

Transplantable Tumor Lines Generated in Clonal Zebrafish

Transplantable zebrafish tumors are a novel and very promising model in cancer research. However, further progress in this field has been contained by a lack of true inbred lines in zebrafish. To overcome this problem, we generated two lines of homozygous diploid clonal zebrafish lines (i.e., CB1 and CW1), which allowed us to carry out transplantation of any tissue, including tumors, from one fish to another within a line without rejection of the graft. The primary tumors in CB1 fish were induced by N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN). The histologic analysis of these tumors revealed different types of hepatocellular carcinomas, hepatoblastomas, hepatoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and pancreatic carcinoma. Four spontaneous acinar cell carcinomas of pancreas were also found in 10- to 18-month-old CB1 fish. Small pieces of tissue or cell suspensions of either DEN-induced or spontaneous tumors were serially transplanted into the peritoneal cavity of syngeneic fish at different stages of development from 5-day-old larvae to adult fish. The development of grossly visible tumors occurred from 2 weeks to 3 months after tumor grafting and grew either as solitary smooth nodules or as an amorphous jelly-like mass infiltrating abdominal organs. The majority of tumors were also successfully transplanted to isogeneic (F1 generation from crossing CB1 x CW1) fish. At the present time, 19 transplantable zebrafish tumor lines have been generated and maintained for as long as 3 to 25 passages. This model provides a novel tool for studying experimental tumor biology and therapy and will become a cost effective system for high throughput screening of anticancer drugs.

Short Communication: Observations on false positive reactions in the rapid NOW® Filariasis card test

The NOW Filariasis card test is a useful tool for rapid field diagnosis of Wuchereria bancrofti infection, based on detection of specific circulating filarial antigen (CFA) in the patients' blood. Concern has been raised that a high proportion of infection negative individuals develop false positive reactions in these tests when the test cards are left for a prolonged period before being examined. We carried out a survey in an endemic Tanzanian village to investigate this phenomenon. Individuals who were positive in the NOW Filariasis test at 10 min after specimen application were also positive in the TropBio ELISA for CFA, and thus appeared to be truly positive. Many of the test cards that were negative at 10 min developed a positive line later, but these lines appeared to be falsely positive when the TropBio test was used as the gold standard. Close examination revealed that true and false positivity lines could be distinguished on their shape and colour. The study thus reaffirmed that test cards should be read after 10 min to avoid false positives, but it also indicated that experienced test card users should be able to make a correct diagnosis even at a later time.

Reduction of spectral ghost artifacts in high-resolution echo-planar spectroscopic imaging of water and fat resonances.

Echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) can be used for fast spectroscopic imaging of water and fat resonances at high resolution to improve structural and functional imaging. Because of the use of oscillating gradients during the free induction decay (FID), spectra obtained with EPSI are often degraded by Nyquist ghost artifacts arising from the inconsistency between the odd and even echoes. The presence of the spectral ghost lines causes errors in the evaluation of the true spectral lines, and this degrades images derived from high-resolution EPSI data. A technique is described for reducing the spectral ghost artifacts in EPSI of water and fat resonances, using echo shift and zero-order phase corrections. These corrections are applied during the data postprocessing. This technique is demonstrated with EPSI data acquired from human brains and breasts at 1.5 Tesla and from a water phantom at 4.7 Tesla. Experimental results indicate that the present approach significantly reduces the intensities of spectral ghosts. This technique is most useful in conjunction with high-resolution EPSI of water and fat resonances, but is less applicable to EPSI of metabolites due to the complexity of the spectra.

Genetic control of resistance to the aphid Brevicoryne brassicae in the wild species Brassica fruticulosa

AbstractInitial studies have shown variable resistance in Brassica fruticulosa to the aphid Brevicoryne brassicae The aim of this work was to fix high levels of resistance to B. brassicae in true breeding lines of B. fruticulosa and obtain data on the genetic control of resistance. Plants from initially variable B. fruticulosa accessions were selfed to produce inbred resistant and susceptible lines that were studied in three separate experiments to determine the extent to which resistance to B. brassicae had been fixed. Results from three experiments using successive generations of resistant and susceptible inbred lines showed that continued selection resulted in resistant inbred lines that supported an average of three aphids per plant compared with an average of 96 aphids per plant for susceptible inbred lines. Data collected from an experiment determining the resistant phenotype of lines including the selfed progenies and the F1 and F2 progeny of a cross between resistant and susceptible individual plants indicated that the resistance was not controlled by a single gene.

C-MAF Oncogene Dysregulation in Multiple Myeloma: Frequency and Biological Relevance

To investigate the frequency and possible biological consequences of c-maf dysregulation, we designed c-maf and IL-4 real-time RT-PCR assays for determination of c-maf and IL-4 mRNA levels. Using the c-maf real-time RT-PCR assay, we tested a panel of 14 B-cell lines, 135 diagnostic bone marrow (BM) samples from patients with multiple myeloma and 10 BM samples from normal donors. In B cell lines and flowsorted CD38++/CD19-/CD56++ myeloma plasma cells (N = 14) the c-maf/GAPDH and IL-4/GAPDH ratios were determined simultaneously using real time RT-PCR. All B cell lines used in the study were characterized by flow cytometry and tested for the presence of Ebstein–Barr virus (EBV). B-cell lines, that were PCR negative for EBV and had a phenotype typical for primary myeloma cells, expressed medium to high levels of c-maf mRNA. However, all EBV PCR positive cell lines, showed a more immature phenotype, lacked expression of aberrant surface markers and contained very low levels of c-maf mRNA. In 4.4% (6/135) of MM patients tested, a c-maf mRNA level comparable to the cell line RPMI 8226 containing at (16:22), translocation was found. In addition, all c-maf positive myeloma cell lines and CD38++/CD19-/CD56++ myeloma plasma cells tested were IL-4 negative. In conclusion, high levels of c-maf mRNA were observed in "true MM cell lines" and 4.4% of MM patients. Further, c-maf dysregulation in myeloma plasma cells did not cause induction of IL-4 transcription.

Kinematic analysis for sliding failure of multi-faced rock slopes

Most kinematic analyses for rock slope stability have dealt with single-faced slopes (SFS) with a planar surface of a constant strike. However, there are many slopes with non-planar surfaces along road cuts and in open pits, etc. Multi-faced slopes (MFS) consist of two or more faces with different strikes. Multi-faced slopes have different sliding conditions compared to single-faced slopes because of their geometrical characteristics, i.e. convex surface on plan view. On stereographic projection, a sliding envelope of a multi-faced slope is a union of envelopes of individual faces formed on the slope surface. Sliding modes of multi-faced slopes are divided into two types and they are subdivided into two modes, respectively; Type 1 single or double plane sliding and Type 2 single or double plane sliding. Type 1 sliding failures are controlled by the same rule as the single-faced slopes as suggested by Hocking [Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 13 (1976) 225]. Type 2 sliding failures can occur on multi-faced slopes only. A Type 2 sliding block must have two or more adjacent slope faces. Though two joint sets must be developed for Type 1 sliding, Type 2 single plane sliding can occur with only one joint plane in the multi-faced slopes. A simple Type 2 single sliding block is composed of one joint plane, two slope faces and the upper natural slope surface. If two joint planes act as sliding planes for plane failures at two adjacent faces of a multi-faced slope, they form a block of Type 2 double plane sliding in the slope. On a stereographic projection, a Type 2 sliding zone is defined as the area between the true dip lines of two side-slope faces in the sliding envelope of a multi-faced slope. If the true dip lines of one or two joint planes plot within a Type 2 sliding zone, Type 2 sliding failure can be possible.

STS and microsatellite marker-assisted selection for bacterial blight resistance and waxy genes in rice, Oryza sativa L.

DNA marker-assisted selection was employed to select Xa-21 bacterial blight resistance and waxy (Wx) genes. Genotypes with both genes were selected from four F2 populations involving indica × indica, indica × intermediate and japonica × indica crosses. With the assistance of PCR marker, 13 true breeding lines carrying Xa-21 were identified from F2 generation of IRBB 21 × G 11353 cross. Similarly ten, eleven and fifty two plants having Xa-21 gene were isolated from G 3005-4-1 × IRBB 21, IRBB 21 × HJX 74 and IRBB 21 × SY 2crosses respectively. The lines with Wx gene in both homozygous and heterozygous state were also scored from the above crosses. Twenty plants having both Xa-21 and Wx loci in homozygous state were identified. DNA-based progeny testing was conducted to ensure the selection of homozygous lines for Xa-21 and Wx genes. Finally,twenty true breeding lines with high amylose content and Xa-21 gene were isolated from four crosses. These homozygous lines are phenotypically superior and resistant to Chinese race 5 of the bacterial blight pathogen. Fifty-six germplasm sources were surveyed for PCR polymorphism in order to facilitate future PCR-based marker assisted transfer of bacterial blight resistance genes xa-5, xa-13 and Xa-21 to any desired varietal background which will be useful for selection of parents in breeding programmes.

Molecular Cytogenetic Characterization of Eb‐Genome Chromosomes in Thinopyrum bessarabicum Disomic Addition Lines of Bread Wheat

Thinopyrum bessarabicum (2n=2x=14, EbEb=JJ) is recognized for its high tolerance to soil salinity and the scab disease caused by Fusarium graminearum. Seven Triticum aestivum/T. bessarabicum disomic addition lines (2n=44=21′′ ABD + 1′′ Eb) developed at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center were assayed. Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) showed that six of the seven were true disomic alien addition lines, whereas one was a duplication‐translocation addition line in which four‐fifths of the additional chromosome was an alien chromosome segment and one‐fifth was a wheat chromosome segment. Using AFLP fragments amplified from 32 selective primer pairs, 389 fragments were assigned to T. bessarabicum chromosomes. The duplication‐translocation addition line had no unique AFLP fragments but shared 25 fragments with the 7Eb addition line, indicating that the translocation chromosome probably involved the 7Eb rather than the 3Eb, as originally described. The presumed 6Eb addition line was determined to have a pair of 4Eb chromosomes. Thus, the 3Eb and 6Eb addition lines are missing. At present, there are 48 AFLP markers for 1Eb, 67 for 2Eb, 39 for 4Eb, 59 for 5Eb, and 54 for 7Eb. In addition, two RAPD markers for 1Eb, two for 2Eb, six for 4Eb, one for 5Eb, and three for 7Eb were identified. Sixty‐eight AFLP markers were present in the amphidiploid but absent in all tested disomic addition lines, making them putative markers for 3Eb and/or 6Eb. Also, 50 AFLP and six RAPD markers occur in at least five Eb chromosomes. These molecular markers, when used in conjunction with GISH, will be useful in identifying the two missing Eb addition lines and in monitoring the introgression of Eb chromosomal segments into wheat.

Interspecific chromosomal rearrangements in monosomic addition lines of Allium

Monosomic alien addition lines (MAALs) are useful for assigning linkage groups to chromosomes. We examined whether the chromosomal rearrangements following the introduction of a single onion (Allium cepa) chromosome into the Allium fistulosum genome were produced by homeologous crossing over or by a nonreciprocal conversion event. Among the monosomic lines available, 17 were studied by fluorescent genomic in situ hybridisation, using total A. cepa genomic DNA as the probe and total A. fistulosum genomic DNA as the competitor. In this way, rearrangements such as chromosomal translocations between A. cepa and A. fistulosum were identified as terminal regions consisting of tandem DNA repeats. Homeologous crossing over between the two closely related genomes occurred in 4 of the 17 lines, suggesting that such events are not rare. On the basis of a detailed molecular cytogenetic characterisation, we identified true monosomic alien addition lines for A. cepa chromosomes 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 that can reliably be used in genetic studies.

Using the mixed model for interval mapping of quantitative trait loci in outbred line crosses.

Interval mapping by simple regression is a powerful method for the detection of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in line crosses such as F2 populations. Due to the ease of computation of the regression approach, relatively complex models with multiple fixed effects, interactions between QTLs or between QTLs and fixed effects can easily be accommodated. However, polygenic effects, which are not targeted in QTL analysis, cannot be treated as random effects in a least squares analysis. In a cross between true inbred lines this is of no consequence, as the polygenic effect contributes just to the residual variance. In a cross between outbred lines, however, if a trait has high polygenic heritability, the additive polygenic effect has a large influence on variation in the population. Here we extend the fixed model for the regression interval mapping method to a mixed model using an animal model. This makes it possible to use not only the observations from progeny (e.g. F2), but also those from the parents (F1) to evaluate QTLs and polygenic effects. We show how the animal model using parental observations can be applied to an outbred cross and so increase the power and accuracy of QTL analysis. Three estimation methods, i.e. regression and an animal model either with or without parental observations, are applied to simulated data. The animal model using parental observations is shown to have advantages in estimating QTL position and additive genotypic value, especially when the polygenic heritability is large and the number of progeny per parent is small.

Efficient production of androgenic doubled-haploid mutants in barley by the application of sodium azide to anther and microspore cultures.

The aim of this study was to establish a protocol for an efficient production of agronomical and/or physiological mutants from model (cvs. Igri and Cobra) and low-androgenic-responding (cv. Volga) cultivars of barley through the application of a mutagenic agent, sodium azide, to anthers and isolated microspores cultured in vitro. This technology offers the possibilities of screening for recessive mutants in the first generation, selecting for novel genotypes from very large haploid populations, avoiding chimerism and rapidly fixing selected genotypes as fertile true breeding lines. The mutagenic treatment, 10-3-10-5 M sodium azide, was applied during the anther induction pre-treatment or immediately after the microspore isolation procedure. Out of 616 M2 doubled-haploid lines characterised under field conditions, a total of 63 morphological and developmental independent mutant lines were identified. The percentage of M2 doubled-haploid lines carrying mutations per line analysed was 3.8% when 10-4 M sodium azide was applied to anthers from the low-responding cv. Volga; this increased to 8.6% and 15.6% when 10-5 and 10-4 M sodium azide were applied to freshly isolated microspores from model cultivars.

Parallel Fixed-Point Digital Differential Analyser with Antialiasing. PFDDAA.

This paper introduces a quick, efficient and simple algorithm for drawing straight lines with antialiasing on discrete devices like printers or CRTs. It is based on the DDA algorithm. It uses 32 bits fixed-point arithmetic. This is a pipelined, parallelized and scalable SIMD version. It may be hardware implemented. It is suitable for MMX or Streaming SIMD Pentium (Pentium is a trade mark from Intel Corporation) III instructions. The algorithm allows drawing true colour lines using a brush 3 pixels high and 1 pixel wide in parallel. The computing cost is very low and only integer arithmetic is used. This algorithm takes into account that the real width of the line remains constant always and it does not depend on its slope. Given that the total radiation emitted by a line is proportional to its real surface, total emitted light also increases with its slope.

False human hematopoietic cell lines: cross-contaminations and misinterpretations.

The risk of adventitious contamination and subsequent overgrowth of cell lines by unrelated cells is a potential and often recurring problem where cells are grown and studied. This problem of intraspecies and interspecies cross-contamination among human cell lines has been recognized for over 25 years; incidences of cell cross-contamination between 17 and 35% have been reported. The most useful methods to detect human cell cross-contamination are DNA fingerprinting and cytogenetic analysis, each complementing the other. Using this combination, we found that in total 14.8% of the human hematopoietic cell lines received either from the original investigator (n = 117 cell lines) or from secondary sources (n = 72 cell lines) were cross-contaminated with another hematopoietic cell line and were thus false cell cultures. Another problem relates to the fact that not every cell line established from a patient with a hematopoietic malignancy is a malignant cell line; unintended immortalization of non-malignant B cells by 'passenger' Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) leads to the establishment of B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (termed EBV+ B-LCLs), an event which is much more frequent than the establishment of a 'true' leukemia-lymphoma-myeloma cell line. These EBV+B-LCLs are most often (albeit not always) unrelated to the malignant clone. The misinterpretation of such EBV+ B-LCLs as true malignant hematopoietic cell lines (particularly in research areas investigating B cell-derived neoplasms such as myeloma) and the indiscriminate use of these cell lines may render some of the results of such studies irrelevant to the pathobiology of the disease concerned. However, a combination of markers commonly allows for an accurate determination of the nature of EBV+ B-LCLs: immunoprofile, cellular morphology, EBV status, and karyotype. In summary, the continuous need for vigilant quality and identity control procedures is emphasized by the high incidences of cross-contaminated cell lines. Most laboratories using cells cultured in vitro maintain multiple cell lines. Such cell lines should be monitored regularly for their identity and specific characteristics in order to prevent invalidation of research work due to incidents of cell line cross-contamination or misinterpretation.

The Search for Solar Gravity‐Mode Oscillations: An Analysis UsingUlyssesMagnetic Field Data

In 1995 Thomson, Maclennon, and Lanzerotti (TML) reported on work where they carried out a time-series analysis of energetic particle fluxes measured by Ulysses and Voyager 2 and concluded that solar g-mode oscillations had been detected. The approach is based on finding significant peaks in spectra using a statistical F-test. Using three sets of 2048 hourly averages of Ulysses magnetic field magnitude data, and the same multitaper spectral estimation techniques, we obtain, on average, nine coincidences with the lines listed in the TML paper. We could not reject the hypothesis that the F-test peaks we obtained are uniformly distributed, and further statistical computations show that a sequence of uniformly distributed lines generated on the frequency grid would have, on average, nine coincidences with the lines of TML. Further, we find that a time series generated from a model with a smooth spectrum of the same form as derived from the Ulysses magnetic field magnitude data and having no true spectral lines above 2 μHz, when subjected to the multitaper F-tests, gives rise to essentially the same number of identified lines and coincident frequencies as found with our Ulysses data. We conclude that our average nine coincidences with the lines found by TML can arise by mechanisms wholly unconnected with the existence of real physical spectral lines and hence find no firm evidence that g-modes can be detected in our sample of magnetic field data.

Development and Release of the Novel Near-oblate Butternuttype Squash Variety `Butterbowl'

`Butterbowl' (NE-RBN-4) is a novel, small-sized (0.8 to 1.36 kg), flavorful (sweet), early maturing (90–95 days), near-oblate butternut type winter squash variety (Cucurbita moschata Duch. Ex Poir). No Butternut squash variety is similar in shape to `Butterbowl'. `Butterbowl' (S6) was derived from selfing a near-oblate open-pollinated S4 line derived from a cross of two true breeding crookneck lines (allelic test) NE-BNCR-67-1-7 (mutant out of `Butternut 23') X golden Cushaw (Agway Co.). Total fruit yield and fruit weight of `Butterbowl' were nearly similar to Butternut `Ponca'. The total fruit weight of'Waltham' was greater than `Butterbowl' in two out of four trials. The vining habit of `Butterbowl' (1.7 to 2.0 m) is more compact than `Waltham' or `Ponca'. `Butterbowl' is suitable for small gardens with limited space due to its compact plant habit. No crookneck fruit developed in `Butterbowl' in all tests. `Butterbowl' is resistant to bacterial spot, black fruit rot, and vine borer while it is moderately susceptible to powdery mildew. `Butterbowl' fruit should be used for consumption up to 45 to 55 days after harvest because slight fruit shriveling occurs at that time due to moisture loss. The fruit cooks uniformally in a microwave oven due to its more uniform flesh thickness.