Assessing the Storage Root Development of Cassava with a New Analysis Tool.

Storage roots of cassava plants crops are one of the main providers of starch in many South American, African, and Asian countries. Finding varieties with high yields is crucial for growing and breeding. This requires a better understanding of the dynamics of storage root formation, which is usually done by repeated manual evaluation of root types, diameters, and their distribution in excavated roots.

The platform - enables identification of phenotypic diversity in root and shoot growth traits of agar grown plants.

Background: Root system architecture and especially its plasticity in acclimation to variable environments play a crucial role in the ability of plants to explore and acquire efficiently soil resources and ensure plant productivity. Non-destructive measurement methods are indispensable to quantify dynamic growth traits. For closing the phenotyping gap, we have developed an automated phenotyping platform, -, for non-destructive characterization of root and shoot traits of plants grown in transparent agar medium.

Targeted Manipulation/Repositioning of Subcellular Structures and Molecules.

Technical advances in live-cell imaging have made cell biology into a highly dynamic field, allowing the visualization and quantification of complex processes in individual cells and in real time. To follow changes and to specifically manipulate factors potentially involved in processes like DNA replication, transcription or repair, we set up a universal targeting approach, allowing directed manipulation of subcellular structures and molecules therein. This strategy is based on the very strong and specific interaction of GFP and GFP-binding nanobody.

DNA replication dynamics of vole genome and its epigenetic regulation.

Background: The genome of some vole rodents exhibit large blocks of heterochromatin coupled to their sex chromosomes. The DNA composition and transcriptional activity of these heterochromatin blocks have been studied, but little is known about their DNA replication dynamics and epigenetic composition.

Results: Here, we show prominent epigenetic marks of the heterochromatic blocks in the giant sex chromosomes of female Microtus cabrerae cells.

Peripheral re-localization of constitutive heterochromatin advances its replication timing and impairs maintenance of silencing marks.

The replication of the genome is a highly organized process, both spatially and temporally. Although a lot is known on the composition of the basic replication machinery, how its activity is regulated is mostly unknown. Several chromatin properties have been proposed as regulators, but a potential role of the nuclear DNA position remains unclear.

GrowScreen-PaGe, a non-invasive, high-throughput phenotyping system based on germination paper to quantify crop phenotypic diversity and plasticity of root traits under varying nutrient supply.

New techniques and approaches have been developed for root phenotyping recently; however, rapid and repeatable non-invasive root phenotyping remains challenging. Here, we present GrowScreen-PaGe, a non-invasive, high-throughput phenotyping system (4 plants min-1) based on flat germination paper. GrowScreen-PaGe allows the acquisition of time series of the developing root systems of 500 plants, thereby enabling to quantify short-term variations in root system.

GROWSCREEN-Rhizo is a novel phenotyping robot enabling simultaneous measurements of root and shoot growth for plants grown in soil-filled rhizotrons.

Root systems play an essential role in ensuring plant productivity. Experiments conducted in controlled environments and simulation models suggest that root geometry and responses of root architecture to environmental factors should be studied as a priority. However, compared with aboveground plant organs, roots are not easily accessible by non-invasive analyses and field research is still based almost completely on manual, destructive methods.

Prevalence and course of sleep problems in childhood.

Study Objectives: The Cologne Children's Sleep Study intended to provide information on prevalence and course of difficulties of initiating and maintaining sleep in childhood.

Design: Longitudinal study.

Setting: Children of the fourth grade of elementary schools in Cologne.

Lesion bypass activity of DNA polymerase A from the extremely radioresistant organism Deinococcus radiodurans.

The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans survives extremely high exposure to ionizing radiation and extended periods of desiccation. Radiation at the survival doses is known to cause numerous DNA damage, such as hundreds of double strand breaks and single strand breaks, as well as damage of the nucleobases. The mechanisms of D.

Autocatalytic tyrosine nitration of prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase-2 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.

In the literature, biological tyrosine nitrations have been reported to depend not only on peroxynitrite but also on nitrite/hydrogen peroxide linked to catalysis by myeloperoxidase. In endotoxin-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, we have detected a major nitrotyrosine positive protein band around 72 kDa and identified it as prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase-2 (PGHS-2).