The ERECTA gene regulates plant transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis

Assimilation of carbon by plants incurs water costs. In the many parts of the world where water is in short supply, plant transpiration efficiency, the ratio of carbon fixation to water loss, is critical to plant survival, crop yield and vegetation dynamics. When challenged by variations in their environment, plants often seem to coordinate photosynthesis and transpiration, but significant genetic variation in transpiration efficiency has been identified both between and within species. This has allowed plant breeders to develop effective selection programmes for the improved transpiration efficiency of crops, after it was demonstrated that carbon isotopic discrimination, Delta, of plant matter was a reliable and sensitive marker negatively related to variation in transpiration efficiency. However, little is known of the genetic controls of transpiration efficiency. Here we report the isolation of a gene that regulates transpiration efficiency, ERECTA. We show that ERECTA, a putative leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) known for its effects on inflorescence development, is a major contributor to a locus for Delta on Arabidopsis chromosome 2. Mechanisms include, but are not limited to, effects on stomatal density, epidermal cell expansion, mesophyll cell proliferation and cell-cell contact.     

External factors and ecdysone release inCalliphora erythrocephala

Summary Ecdysone level is measured in the haemolymph of normal larvae and of larvae submitted to external stimulation. External stimulation delays the release of ecdysone and the formation of puparium. The adaptative value of the mechanism which connects the ecdysone titre to external stimulation is discussed.     

The Srs2 helicase prevents recombination by disrupting Rad51 nucleoprotein filaments

Homologous recombination is a ubiquitous process with key functions in meiotic and vegetative cells for the repair of DNA breaks. It is initiated by the formation of single-stranded DNA on which recombination proteins bind to form a nucleoprotein filament that is active in searching for homology, in the formation of joint molecules and in the exchange of DNA strands. This process contributes to genome stability but it is also potentially dangerous to cells if intermediates are formed that cannot be processed normally and thus are toxic or generate genomic rearrangements. Cells must therefore have developed strategies to survey recombination and to prevent the occurrence of such deleterious events. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, genetic data have shown that the Srs2 helicase negatively modulates recombination, and later experiments suggested that it reverses intermediate recombination structures. Here we show that DNA strand exchange mediated in vitro by Rad51 is inhibited by Srs2, and that Srs2 disrupts Rad51 filaments formed on single-stranded DNA. These data provide an explanation for the anti-recombinogenic role of Srs2 in vivo and highlight a previously unknown mechanism for recombination control.