Virginia Gold Research Articles

Coupling Nicotiana tabaccum Transgenic Plants with Rhizophagus irregularis for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Polluted Areas

Several studies have shown that hairy roots (HRs) can increase the phytoextraction of organic and inorganic pollutants. In addition, microorganisms colonizing the rhizosphere of hairy roots have demonstrated the efficacy of HRs either in removing or in stabilizing of pollutants. This growth chamber study aimed to determine the effect of colonization by the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus (Rhizophagus irregularis) on the HRs of tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum L. cv. Virginia gold) under heavy metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) conditions. Seedlings of N. tabacum were grown in contaminated substrate without infection caused by Agrobacterium rhizogenes expressed in the form of HRs disease, a second one with infection, and the third treatment contained AM fungus beside the A. rhizogenes infection. In the order they have been described, these treatments were coded with C, CT and CTM. The experiment demonstrated that HRs mutants resisted better in terms of higher biomass content in the contaminated soil than the normal plants. Even more, the transgenic plants also had a very strong interaction with mycorrhizal fungi. Thus, soil respiration, biomass and some biochemical variables such as assimilating pigments, protein content and lipid peroxidation indicate a decrease in stress due to the presence of heavy metals in the CTM treatment. Furthermore, CTM treatment significantly alleviated the concentration of toxic elements in plants, compared with the CT treatment, in which a significant increase was registered when compared to treatment C.

A Preliminary Qualitative Evaluation of the Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) perform an important role in the long-term care system because they provide the majority of paid care to nursing facility residents. Unfortunately, annual CNA turnover often exceeds 100 percent nationally. Many factors account for this, including stressful working conditions, low pay, and limited benefits. The end result of high turnover is compromised continuity of care for residents, which often leads to poor quality and substandard care. In an effort to improve quality of care and staffing, the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services in 2009 implemented a pilot program, known as the Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program, which provided funding to five nursing facilities to develop projects that improved working conditions for CNAs. This study presents the results of an evaluation performed on the program toward the end of its first year using 10 CNA and resident focus groups. Eight themes emerged from the focus groups, suggesting that both quality of care and working conditions improved in the pilot facilities after the program was implemented. However, these findings are preliminary and additional research is needed to more fully understand how the program influenced conditions in the pilot facilities.

RCW: Day 0

smb, h stc, h chtm, h rodi, h stc, vg smb, vg chtm, vg rodi, vg Notice for this trial there is no sample with no seeds. Here’s some nomenclature for you: rodi – Easypure RoDI water purified in the lab chtm – deionized water produced in house at CHTM smb – purchased commerical water from Sigma that is molecular biology grade stc – purchased commerical water from Sigma that is tissue culture grade h – havanna tobacco seeds vg – virginia gold #1 tobacco seeds

RC5: Day 0

di, no seeds di water 33% d2o in di 66% d2o in di 99% d2o ddw 1% d2o in ddw 33% d2o in ddw The seeds are virginia gold #1 as mentioned in the setup. I took these pictures yesterday but didn’t have time to fill out the captions so I finished the job and am posting now. Day 1 pictures will be up in about an hour.

RC4: Live Results

This is a set of two species. The first half is arabidopsis labeled as CA (columbia arabidopsis) and the second half is tobacco labeled as VG (Virginia Gold #1). I added a second graph to chart arabidopsis growth. Since it tends to grow much faster I don’t want the data to be presented in a confusing manner, which explains having two separate charts. I love Google Docs!

RC6 DI Water: Setup Part 1

It’s time to track seed germination, and eventually growth rate (once we get some automation software going), and that means another Repeating Crumley style experiment. I really don’t like calling it that because I’m no longer repeating Crumley, but the fact remains the experimental setup is identical so I’m still going to refer to it as the RC experiments. This time I’m doing only DI water (our commercial waters compared against building purified waters), hence naming it RC6 DI Water and categorizing it RCW. Ok with that said lets get into the setup: 8 analyslides (see Experiment Product Page on top) contain 30-40 seeds of one of two different types. Either Virginia Gold #1 or Havanna type tobacco seeds. Each slide contains one of four different water origins (CHTM or RoDI purified or Sigma purchased Molecular Biology pure or Tissue Culture pure). So there is 1 seed type for each water type (hence the 8 samples). I feel like I didn’t explain that well… I poured VG#1 seeds into one of four different analyslides, then poured the Havanna seeds into the four other samples. I then pipetted 6mL of each water type into each of the slides. I closed the slides by pressing the top onto the bottom around the rim of the slide. I then put the slides into the fridge to synchronize growth. Tomorrow I will remove the samples, seal them with vaccuum grease, and then take day 0 pictures.

RC4: Time-Lapse Slide Show of Virginia Gold in 66% D2O

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RC4: Time-Lapse Slide Show of Virginia Gold in DI water

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RC4: Time-Lapse Slide Show of Virginia Gold in 99% D2O

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Something weird growing in 33% D2O: Follow Up

So yesterday I mentioned how there was hair growth in the 33% D2O tobacco seed sample. I’m not sure what to make of it because I have proof that could possibly go either way. In favor of root hairs, I have: presoaked dark viriginia in ddw and presoaked virginia gold in ddw And in favor of fungus/mold I have: 33% d2o from Trial 1 (see fuzz near top) Now you see, this last picture isn’t conclusive that it is in fact mold, but the reason I think it is is because the density of “cloud” is way thicker than in any of the root hair samples in a shorter amount of time. In a strange twist, this piece of evidence also occurs in the 33% D2O sample from RC1. I’m positive this also happened in one of the samples from Trial 3 as well, but I have no proof of the matter (and also possibly in the 33% D2O sample). I’m using the first two images as proof of root hairs, because in both of those samples, the seeds have either failed to germinate or barely germinate and there are significant root hairs. This is all very interesting indeed. Looks like a trip to UNM Biology is in order!

An Evaluation of Virginia Gold: A Medicaid Program to Improve Nursing Facility Quality of Care

A qualitative case study design employing focus groups was used to evaluate certified nursing assistant (CNA) (n = 26) and resident (n = 30) perceptions of the Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program, a Medicaid funded 2-year quality improvement intervention piloted in five nursing facilities. As part of the program, the nursing facilities implemented quality improvement projects to develop supportive work environments in an effort to reduce CNA turnover and improve quality of care. Overall, the focus group participants viewed Virginia Gold positively and reported that CNA turnover decreased, while care quality improved during the program. These findings are supported by a previous Virginia Gold evaluation as well as by the results from a quantitative analysis of nursing facility CNA turnover and quality of care data and interviews with selected nursing facility management staff (n = 7) 1-year following the program’s culmination. A key finding from the management interviews is that the quality improvement projects became self-sustaining over time allowing all five nursing facilities to continue the projects without state funding.

Increased bioethanol production from commercial tobacco cultivars overexpressing thioredoxin f grown under field conditions

Bioethanol is mainly produced from food crops such as sugar cane and maize, and this has been held partly responsible for the rise of food commodity prices. Tobacco, integrated in biorefinery facilities for the extraction of different compounds, could become an alternative feedstock for biofuel production. When grown for energy production, using high plant densities and several mowings during the growing season, tobacco can produce large amounts of inexpensive green biomass. We have bred two commercial tobacco cultivars (Virginia Gold and Havana 503B) to increase the carbohydrate content by the overexpression of thioredoxin f in the chloroplast. Marker-free transplastomic plants were recovered and their agronomic performance under field conditions was evaluated. These plants were phenotypically equivalent to their wild types yet showed increased starch (up to 280 %) and soluble sugar (up to 74 %) contents in leaves relative to their control plants. Fermentable sugars released from the stalk were also higher (up to 24 %) for transplastomic plants. After heat pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and yeast fermentation of leaf and stalk hydrolysates, an average of 20–40 % more ethanol was obtained from transplastomic plants than their wild-type controls. We propose an integral exploitation of the entire tobacco plant managed as a forage crop (harvesting sugar and starch-rich leaves and lignocellulosic stalks) that could considerably cheapen the entire production process.

Acknowledgements

Producer and editor-in-chief — Newton Lee Flash homepage design consultants — Alex Lieu, Johnny Rodriguez, Michael Borys—3-Pin Media Flash animation consultants — Jay Popeski, Jeffrey Blyseth—Axis Graphics HTML design consultant — Joe Raymond Audio-visual consultant — Eric Huff Also thanks to all authors, interviewees, reviewers, editorial board advisors, and the entire ACM staff including Mark Mandelbaum, John White, Roma Simon, Irma Strolia, Edwin Rodriguez, Jono Hardjowirogo, Maida Pacheco, Roxanne Carcaterra, Carol Wierzbicki, Craig Rodkin, Doug Meszler, Virginia Gold, and Lillian Israel for their support.

Acknowledgements

Flash homepage design volunteers—Alex Lieu, Johnny Rodriguez, Michael Borys—3-Pin Media Flash animation volunteers— Jay Popeski, Jeffrey Blyseth— Axis Graphics HTML design volunteer— Joe Raymond Video and sound editing volunteer— Newton Lee, Eric Huff Producer and editor-in-chief— Newton Lee Also thanks to all authors, interviewees, reviewers, editorial board advisors, and the entire ACM staff including Mark Mandelbaum, John White, Roma Simon, Irma Strolia, Carol Wierzbicki, Edwin Rodriguez, Jono Hardjowirogo, and Virginia Gold for their support.

Acknowledgements

Flash homepage design volunteers —Alex Lieu, Johnny Rodriguez, Michael Borys 3-Pin Media Flash animation volunteers —Jay Popeski, Jeffrey Blyseth Axis Graphics HTML design volunteer —Joe Raymond Video and sound editing volunteer —Eric Huff Producer and editor-in-chief —Newton Lee Also thanks to all authors, interviewees, reviewers, editorial board advisors, and the entire ACM staff including Mark Mandelbaum, John White, Roma Simon, Irma Strolia, Carol Wierzbicki, Edwin Rodriguez, Jono Hardjowirogo, and Virginia Gold for their support.

Components of Partial Resistance to Blue Mold in Six Tobacco Genotypes Under Controlled Environmental Conditions

Rufty, R. C., and Main, C. E. 1989. Components of partial resistance to blue mold in six tobacco genotypes under controlled environmental conditions. Phytopathology 79:606-609. Two susceptible and four partially resistant tobacco genotypes were Mutant, NC-BMR 42, and NC-BMR 90 produced fewer and smaller evaluated for components of partial resistance to blue mold. Disease lesions, had lower sporulation capacity, and exhibited longer patent efficiency, incubation period, latent period, degree of colonization, and periods than susceptible genotypes. Breeding line NC-BMR 90 was sporulation capacity were measured under high and low inoculation superior to all other partially resistant genotypes in this study. The presence density in experiments conducted at the Southeastern Plant Environmental of multiple resistance components in NC-BMR 90 makes this line a Laboratory (North Carolina State University Phytotron), Raleigh, NC. desirable source of blue mold resistance. Results obtained in these Genotypes differed significantly for all components of resistance in all experiments corroborated field observations and indicate that deployment trials. Commercial cultivars Speight G-70 and McNair 944 were of tobacco germ plasm with partial resistance to blue mold should reduce consistently the most susceptible genotypes based on all components of onset and progress of blue mold epidemics. partial resistance measured. Partially resistant genotypes Chemical Additional keywords: Nicotiana tabacum, Peronospora tabacina. Tobacco blue mold, also known as downy mildew of tobacco derived from N. velutina) and Chemical Mutant (resistance (Nicotiana tabacum L.), is caused by the fungus Peronospora obtained after treating seeds of flue-cured tobacco cultivar tabacina Adam. Occurrence of blue mold is generally sporadic, but Virginia Gold with triethylene iminotriazine) (9); two resistant severe economic losses can occur when the disease reaches breeding lines, NC-BMR 42 (derived from the cross Ovens 62 X epidemic proportions. For example, an epidemic of blue mold in McNair 944) and NC-BMR 90 (derived from the cross Ovens 62 X 1979 resulted in an estimated $250 million loss to U.S. and KY 17) (12); and two susceptible commercial cultivars, Speight

Lead isotopic patterns of galena in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge ore deposits, Southern Appalachians

Massive sulfide deposits of the southern Appalachians form two distinct groups of lead isotope ratios which correlate with their geologic settings. Piedmont massive sulfides are associated with volcanic rocks of predominantly Cambrian age. They have model lead ages which are too young, an effect of U/Pb enrichment of source rocks. Lead isotope ratios of Piedmont massive sulfide define a trend of decreasingly radiogenic values from the Mineral district, Virginia, to the Stone Hill deposit, Alabama, which probably reflects decreasingly ensialic volcanism from northeast to southwest. A regression through the data has a slope which corresponds to a secondary isochron age of about 3.7 b.y. The line is proposed to represent mixing between variable amounts of upper crustal lead (decreasing to the southwest) with lead from a source relatively depleted in U/Pb which has, however, experienced either continuous or episodic enrichment of uranium relative to lead. The occurrence of a similar trend in galenas from Kings Mountain belt ores is further evidence for such a source.Massive sulfides of the Blue Ridge geologic province occur in upper Precambrian metasedimentary sequences and are typically low in lead content. Lead isotope ratios of galenas from Ducktown and the Gossan Lead are highly enriched in 206 Pb compared to amounts expected for deposits of that age. The anomalously radiogenic component is probably the result of lead derived from the predominantly clastic sediments of the host sequences. The radiogenic component of the 206 Pb coupled with the narrow range of 207 Pb/ 204 Pb at Ducktown indicates that much older continental crustal rocks were not involved in the ore-forming process.Galenas from a vein in the Hamme tungsten district, North Carolina, form a tight grouping which is similar to lead in K-feldspars from postorogenic ( approximately 300-m.y.-old) granitic plutons. The mineralized veins of the Virginia gold pyrite belt have galenas with a wide spread of radiogenic lead isotope ratios and do not appear to be related to massive sulfide deposits of the central Virginia piedmont.

Fusarium OxysporumF. Sp.NicotianaeEnzyme Production on Cell Walls Isolated fromMeloidogyne Incognita-Infected and Healthy Tobacco Roots

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. nicotianae was grown on cell walls from the roots of the flue-cured tobacco cultivars ‘Coker 298’ (resistant to Fusarium) and ‘Virginia Gold’ (susceptible to Fusarium). Al...

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. nicotianae Enzyme Production on Cell Walls Isolated from Meloidogyne incognita-Infected and Healthy Tobacco Roots

SUMMARYFusarium oxysporum f. sp. nicotianae was grown on cell walls from the roots of the flue-cured tobacco cultivars ‘Coker 298’ (resistant to Fusarium) and ‘Virginia Gold’ (susceptible to Fusarium). All plants were grown in a split-root system and Meloidogyne incognita eggs were applied to one-half of the root system of certain ‘Coker 298’ plants. The amounts of polygalacturonase, cellulase, polygalacturonate transeliminase, pectinmethyl transeliminase, polymethyl galacturonase and amylase enzyme activities and soluble protein concentrations produced by the fungus on cell wall preparations from these roots did not differ statistically. However, there was a strong tendency for greater enzyme activity production on cell walls from the nematode-infected roots than on walls from nematode-free roots.

Effect of bicarbonate on xylem exudation from detopped tobacco and on long-distance transport in intact plants

Xylem exudation from detopped tobacco plants (Nicotiana tobacum L. var Virginia Gold) was decreased by 10-2M concentrations of bicarbonate. The bicarbonate anion or its metabolic products were not readily transported to the xylem vessels of detopped plants. In the presence of nitrate ions, which greatly stimulate xylem exudation, bicarbonate did not greatly interfere with nitrate transport. It did decrease xylem exudation in the presence of nitrate because of the added concentration of salt in the external medium without corresponding increase in transport to xylem vessels. In intact plants, K from KHCO3 was readily transported to shoots, however.