Enhanced gravi- and phototropism in plant mdr mutants mislocalizing the auxin efflux protein PIN1

Many aspects of plant growth and development are dependent on the flow of the hormone auxin down the plant from the growing shoot tip where it is synthesized. The direction of auxin transport in stems is believed to result from the basal localization within cells of the PIN1 membrane protein, which controls the efflux of the auxin anion. Mutations in two genes homologous to those encoding the P-glycoprotein ABC transporters that are especially abundant in multidrug-resistant tumour cells in animals were recently shown to block polar auxin transport in the hypocotyls of Arabidopsis seedlings. Here we show that the mdr mutants display faster and greater gravitropism and enhanced phototropism instead of the impaired curvature development expected in mutants lacking polar auxin transport. We find that these phenotypes result from a disruption of the normal accumulation of PIN1 protein along the basal end of hypocotyl cells associated with basipetal auxin flow. Lateral auxin conductance becomes relatively larger as a result, enhancing the growth differentials responsible for tropic responses.     

An off-normal fibre-like texture in thin films on single-crystal substrates

In the context of materials science, texture describes the statistical distribution of grain orientations. It is an important characteristic of the microstructure of polycrystalline films, determining various electrical, magnetic and mechanical properties. Three types of texture component are usually distinguished in thin films: random texture, when grains have no preferred orientation; fibre texture, for which one crystallographic axis of the film is parallel to the substrate normal, while there is a rotational degree of freedom around the fibre axis; and epitaxial alignment (or in-plane texture) on single-crystal substrates, where an in-plane alignment fixes all three axes of the grain with respect to the substrate. Here we report a fourth type of texture--which we call axiotaxy--identified from complex but symmetrical patterns of lines on diffraction pole figures for thin films formed by solid-state reactions. The texture is characterized by the alignment of planes in the film and substrate that share the same d-spacing. This preferred alignment of planes across the interface manifests itself as a fibre texture lying off-normal to the sample surface, with the fibre axis perpendicular to certain planes in the substrate. This texture forms because it results in an interface, which is periodic in one dimension, preserved independently of interfacial curvature. This new type of preferred orientation may be the dominant type of texture for a wide class of materials and crystal structures.     

Stationary pulses of light in an atomic medium

Physical processes that could facilitate coherent control of light propagation are under active exploration. In addition to their fundamental interest, these efforts are stimulated by practical possibilities, such as the development of a quantum memory for photonic states. Controlled localization and storage of photonic pulses may also allow novel approaches to manipulating of light via enhanced nonlinear optical processes. Recently, electromagnetically induced transparency was used to reduce the group velocity of propagating light pulses and to reversibly map propagating light pulses into stationary spin excitations in atomic media. Here we describe and experimentally demonstrate a technique in which light propagating in a medium of Rb atoms is converted into an excitation with localized, stationary electromagnetic energy, which can be held and released after a controllable interval. Our method creates pulses of light with stationary envelopes bound to an atomic spin coherence, offering new possibilities for photon state manipulation and nonlinear optical processes at low light levels.     

A very energetic supernova associated with the gamma-ray burst of 29 March 2003

Over the past five years evidence has mounted that long-duration (>2 s) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)-the most luminous of all astronomical explosions-signal the collapse of massive stars in our Universe. This evidence was originally based on the probable association of one unusual GRB with a supernova, but now includes the association of GRBs with regions of massive star formation in distant galaxies, the appearance of supernova-like 'bumps' in the optical afterglow light curves of several bursts and lines of freshly synthesized elements in the spectra of a few X-ray afterglows. These observations support, but do not yet conclusively demonstrate, the idea that long-duration GRBs are associated with the deaths of massive stars, presumably arising from core collapse. Here we report evidence that a very energetic supernova (a hypernova) was temporally and spatially coincident with a GRB at redshift z = 0.1685. The timing of the supernova indicates that it exploded within a few days of the GRB, strongly suggesting that core-collapse events can give rise to GRBs, thereby favouring the 'collapsar' model.     

Hedgehog signalling in the mouse requires intraflagellar transport proteins

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) proteins were first identified as essential factors for the growth and maintenance of flagella in the single-celled alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In a screen for embryonic patterning mutations induced by ethylnitrosourea, here we identify two mouse mutants, wimple (wim) and flexo (fxo), that lack ventral neural cell types and show other phenotypes characteristic of defects in Sonic hedgehog signalling. Both mutations disrupt IFT proteins: the wim mutation is an allele of the previously uncharacterized mouse homologue of IFT172; and fxo is a new hypomorphic allele of polaris, the mouse homologue of IFT88. Genetic analysis shows that Wim, Polaris and the IFT motor protein Kif3a are required for Hedgehog signalling at a step downstream of Patched1 (the Hedgehog receptor) and upstream of direct targets of Hedgehog signalling. Our data show that IFT machinery has an essential and vertebrate-specific role in Hedgehog signal transduction.     

High diversity of unknown picorna-like viruses in the sea

Picorna-like viruses are a loosely defined group of positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses that are major pathogens of animals, plants and insects. They include viruses that are of enormous economic and public-health concern and are responsible for animal diseases (such as poliomyelitis), plant diseases (such as sharka) and insect diseases (such as sacbrood). Viruses from the six divergent families (the Picornaviridae, Caliciviridae, Comoviridae, Sequiviridae, Dicistroviridae and Potyviridae) that comprise the picorna-like virus superfamily have the following features in common: a genome with a protein attached to the 5' end and no overlapping open reading frames, all the RNAs are translated into a polyprotein before processing, and a conserved RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) protein. Analyses of RdRp sequences from these viruses produce phylogenies that are congruent with established picorna-like virus family assignments; hence, this gene is an excellent molecular marker for examining the diversity of picorna-like viruses in nature. Here we report, on the basis of analysis of RdRp sequences amplified from marine virus communities, that a diverse array of picorna-like viruses exists in the ocean. All of the sequences amplified were divergent from known picorna-like viruses, and fell within four monophyletic groups that probably belong to at least two new families. Moreover, we show that an isolate belonging to one of these groups is a lytic pathogen of Heterosigma akashiwo, a toxic-bloom-forming alga responsible for severe economic losses to the finfish aquaculture industry, suggesting that picorna-like viruses are important pathogens of marine phytoplankton.     

Size-dependent control of the binding of biotinylated proteins to streptavidin using a polymer shield

Many medical and biotechnological processes rely on controlling and manipulating the molecular-recognition capabilities of proteins. This can be achieved using small molecules capable of competing for protein binding or by changing environmental parameters that affect protein structure and hence binding. An alternative is provided by stimuli-responsive polymers that change reversibly from a water-soluble expanded coil to a water-insoluble collapsed globule upon small changes in temperature, pH or light intensity: when attached to proteins in the vicinity of their binding sites, they reversibly block and release small ligands. Here we show how this approach can be extended to achieve size-selective binding of large, macromolecular ligands. We use the thermally responsive polymer poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEAAm), and attach it to the protein streptavidin approximately 20 A from the binding site for biotinylated proteins. Below the lower critical solution temperature of PDEAAm, the polymer is in its extended state and acts as a 'shield' to block the binding of large biotinylated proteins; above this temperature, it collapses and exposes the binding site, thereby allowing binding. We find that the degree of shielding depends on both the size of the biotinylated protein and the size of PDEAAm, suggesting that 'smart' polymer shields could be tailored to achieve a wide range of size-dependent ligand discrimination for use in affinity separations, biosensors and diagnostics technologies.     

Anabolism. Low mechanical signals strengthen long bones

Although the skeleton's adaptability to load-bearing has been recognized for over a century, the specific mechanical components responsible for strengthening it have not been identified. Here we show that after mechanically stimulating the hindlimbs of adult sheep on a daily basis for a year with 20-minute bursts of very-low-magnitude, high-frequency vibration, the density of the spongy (trabecular) bone in the proximal femur is significantly increased (by 34.2%) compared to controls. As the strain levels generated by this treatment are three orders of magnitude below those that damage bone tissue, this anabolic, non-invasive stimulus may have potential for treating skeletal conditions such as osteoporosis.     

The dynamics of chromosome evolution in birds and mammals

Comparative mapping, which compares the location of homologous genes in different species, is a powerful tool for studying genome evolution. Comparative maps suggest that rates of chromosomal change in mammals can vary from one to ten rearrangements per million years. On the basis of these rates we would expect 84 to 600 conserved segments in a chicken comparison with human or mouse. Here we build comparative maps between these species and estimate that numbers of conserved segments are in the lower part of this range. We conclude that the organization of the human genome is closer to that of the chicken than the mouse and by adding comparative mapping results from a range of vertebrates, we identify three possible phases of chromosome evolution. The relative stability of genomes such as those of the chicken and human will enable the reconstruction of maps of ancestral vertebrates.