No summary available.

The plant response to sulfur deficiency includes extensive metabolic changes which can be monitored at various levels (transcriptome, proteome, metabolome) even before the first visible symptoms of sulfur starvation appear. Four members of the plant-specific LSU (response to Low SUlfur) gene family occur in Arabidopsis thaliana (LSU1-4). Variable numbers of LSU genes occur in other plant species but they were studied only in Arabidopsis and tobacco. Three out of four of the Arabidopsis LSU genes are induced by sulfur deficiency. The LSU-like genes in tobacco were characterized as UP9 (UPregulated by sulfur deficit 9). LSU-like proteins do not have characteristic domains that provide clues to their function. Despite having only moderate primary sequence conservation they share several common features including small size, a coiled-coil secondary structure and short conserved motifs in specific positions. Although the precise function of LSU-like proteins is still unknown there is some evidence that members of the LSU family are involved in plant responses to environmental challenges, such as sulfur deficiency, and possibly in plant immune responses. Various bioinformatic approaches have identified LSU-like proteins as important hubs for integration of signals from environmental stimuli. In this paper we review a variety of published data on LSU gene expression, the properties of lsu mutants and features of LSU-like proteins in the hope of shedding some light on their possible role in plant metabolism.

Nineteen projects received Design Awards from the Texas Society of Architects. Jurors: Germane Barnes, Barbara Bestor, Tom Kundig, Victor Legorreta. With essay entitled "Built to inspire" by Aline Yoldi.

Freshwater woloszynskioid dinoflagellates were collected independently in Scotland and Portugal and found to belong to a previously unknown species of the genusBorghiella, here described asB. andersenii. The new species differs in morphology and nuclear-encoded LSU rDNA and ITS sequences fromB. dodgeiandB. tenuissima, the two species presently comprising the genusBorghiella. Unusual features of the new species were observed particularly during asexual reproduction, which took place in the motile stage – as in many other dinoflagellates – or in a so-called division cyst, recalling cell division in the family Tovelliaceae. Such diversity in cell division is rarely reported in dinoflagellates. MorphologicallyBorghiella anderseniidiffers fromB. tenuissimain being only slightly compressed dorsoventrally whereas the latter species is flat. The slight compression is also visible in lateral view.Borghiella anderseniiandB. dodgeiare more challenging to discriminate but the apical structure complex is only half the length inB. anderseniicompared withB. dodgei(3–4 vs 6 µm). This difference can only be accounted for in the scanning electron microscope. At the light microscopy level the epicone inB. anderseniiis rounded whereas it is conical inB. dodgei. Sexual reproduction inBorghiella anderseniiwas homothallic by formation of planozygotes, followed by apparent resting cysts. Phylogenetic studies on woloszynskioids have recently shown that they comprise a polyphyletic assemblage, which has been divided into the three families Borghiellaceae, Tovelliaceae and Suessiaceae. New species of the three families are now being found rapidly in many parts of the world, proving that the techniques required to investigate these small, morphologically similar dinoflagellates are now in place and proving that such ‘gymnodinioids’ or ‘woloszynskioids’ comprise an often overlooked biological entity in both marine and freshwater biotopes. Based on LSU rDNA,B. anderseniiis most closely related toB. tenuissima. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No summary available.

No summary available.