(Press-News.org) Frontiers in Plant Science
Transgenic bacteria shed light on symbiotic exchanges within the soil
Adding light-producing bacteria to soil can be a powerful method for tracking in real time how plant roots provide soil bacteria with carbohydrates, according to a new study in Frontiers in Plant Science.
Soil bacteria rely for their growth on compounds released from plant roots in the form of excretions and sloughed-off cells, while bacteria often make scarce nutrients available to roots in exchange. For the first time, researchers from Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of Connecticut visualized the fueling of bacterial growth by roots in real time by inoculating soils with a light-producing strain of the harmless, widespread soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida. Since these bacteria only produce light when they are growing rapidly, the emitted light reveals when and where plants provide nourishment to soil bacteria.
The patterns were highly complex, and differed strongly across five plant species used in the study, which included economically-important tomato, maize, and poplar. With the new method, researchers can begin to disentangle the many ecologically important relationships that exist below ground between soil bacteria and their plant hosts.
A video of luminescence around a tomato root system is available. Please contact Gozde Zorlu: gozde.zorlu@frontiersin.org
Researcher contact:
Dr Zoe G. Cardon
The Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Laboratory, USA
E-mail: zcardon@mbl.edu
Article title: Better to light a candle than curse the darkness: illuminating spatial localization and temporal dynamics of rapid microbial growth in the rhizosphere
Journal: Frontiers in Plant Science
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2013.00323
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Functional_Plant_Ecology/10.3389/fpls.2013.00323/abstract
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
A simple joystick task could reduce social stress
People who are socially anxious show a strange contradictory reaction to smiling faces: they say that these faces are pleasant, yet automatically avoid them. In a study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers report that this avoidance of smiling faces is one of the reasons for the social fear that socially anxious individuals feel.
In the experiment, 32 socially anxious participants performed a simple, short joystick task 240 times. By pulling or pushing the joystick, they pulled images on the computer screen closer to themselves or pushed them away. Half of the participants pulled smiling faces closer all the time, and the other half pushed them away all the time. Afterwards, all participants were exposed to social stress: they had to record a 1-minute self-presentation video, believing that the video would later be watched and judged by others.
The researchers show that the socially anxious participants who had received approach-smiling-faces training felt less anxious after the self-presentation than those who had received avoid-smiling-faces training. These results open up new, simple and cheap possibilities to boost cognitive behavior therapy for patients.
Researcher contact:
Prof Mike Rinck
Clinical Psychology and Behavioural Science Institute
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
E-mail: m.rinck@psych.ru.nl
Article title: Training Approach-Avoidance of Smiling Faces Affects Emotional Vulnerability in Socially Anxious Individuals
Journal: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00481
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Human_Neuroscience/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00481/abstract
Frontiers in Plant Science
Flowers get their colors through predictable genetic changes
The amazing diversity of flower colors among species is often controlled by a predictable set of genes, suggesting that evolution may be repeatable. In a review of the published literature, researchers from the University of Oregon revealed that mutations in a single gene are responsible for much of this diversity. Although mutations in at least ten genes are capable of causing similar changes in color, mutations in only one of these genes are believed to be preferentially targeted by natural selection. This is thought to occur because this gene is only active in the flower, suggesting that its mutations have fewer detrimental side effects than other genes that affect the plant more broadly. This research further explores the mechanisms that drive this diversity of floral forms and finds that experimental predictions are upheld for comparisons involving multiple evolutionary scales and histories. These results demonstrate that the convergence of flower color evolution among distantly related species is frequently the result of mutations in the same gene, which provides insight into the processes that affect how novel traits are formed.
Color images are available. Please contact Gozde Zorlu: gozde.zorlu@frontiersin.org
Researcher contact:
Dr Matthew A. Streisfeld
Institute of Ecology and Evolution
University of Oregon, USA
E-mail: mstreis@uoregon.edu
Article title: Flower color as a model system for studies of plant evo-devo
Journal: Frontiers in Plant Science
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2013.00321
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Plant_Evolution_and_Development/10.3389/fpls.2013.00321/abstract
Frontiers in Psychology
The role of scene context on object processing
Researchers from the University of Trento replicated 'scene-context' effect in two experiments by showing that participants identified pictures of objects more accurately when presented in a consistent scene background (a barbecue in a garden) compared to when presented in an inconsistent scene background (barbecue in a living room).
Current research shows that the human skill of rapidly and accurately identifying everyday objects is due in part to the context in which they are presented. This well-known scene-context effect was found to be independent of the focus of attention.
But in a third experiment, they addressed whether the consistency effect can occur without paying attention to the scene background. Results showed that the consistency effect occurred with a similar magnitude regardless of whether participants attended to the target object or the scene background.
These results indicate that a consistent context benefits object recognition independently of attentional focus. The researchers suggest that the consistency effect is driven by so-called "scene gist," (the meaning of what a scene represents), making it easier to identify objects that belong to that specific scene-type.
Color images are available. Please contact Gozde Zorlu: gozde.zorlu@frontiersin.org
Researcher contact:
Dr Jaap Munneke
Center for Mind/Brain Science
University of Trento, Italy
E-mail: Jaap.Munneke@gmail.com
Article title: The influence of scene context on object recognition is independent of attentional focus
Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00552
URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Perception_Science/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00552/abstract
###
Note to Editors
For copies of embargoed papers, please contact: Gozde Zorlu, Communications Officer: Tel: +41 (0) 21 693 9203. Interview requests should be directed to the corresponding author and appropriate contact details are provided above.
For online articles, please cite "Frontiers in xxx" followed by the name of the field and include a link to the paper; active URLs for each paper are listed.
About Frontiers
Frontiers is a community driven open-access publisher and research networking platform. Launched and run by scientists since 2007, and based in Switzerland, Frontiers empowers researchers to advance the way science is evaluated, communicated and shared in the digital era. The "Frontiers in" series of journals published 5,000 peer-reviewed articles in 2012 and is one of the largest and fastest growing open-access publishers worldwide. Frontiers joined the Nature Publishing Group family in 2013.
Frontiers is supported by over 30,000 editors and reviewers and receives 5 million monthly views. Frontiers has formed partnerships with international organizations such as the Max Planck Society and the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). For more information, please visit: http://www.frontiersin.org
Frontiers news briefs: August 20
2013-08-21
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
First pre-clinical gene therapy study to reverse Rett symptoms
2013-08-21
The concept behind gene therapy is simple: deliver a healthy gene to compensate for one that is mutated. New research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests this approach may eventually be a feasible option to treat Rett Syndrome, the most disabling of the autism spectrum disorders. Gail Mandel, Ph.D., a Howard Hughes Investigator at Oregon Health and Sciences University, led the study. The Rett Syndrome Research Trust, with generous support from the Rett Syndrome Research Trust UK and Rett Syndrome Research & Treatment Foundation, funded this work through ...
Honeyguide birds destroy own species' eggs to eliminate competition
2013-08-21
Like cuckoos, honeyguides are parasitic birds that lay their eggs in other birds' nests and dupe them into raising their young. Now scientists reveal that, unlike in cuckoos, the resemblance between honeyguide eggs and those of their bee-eater bird hosts hasn't evolved to trick hosts into accepting the imposter egg as one of their own. Rather, it appears to have evolved to trick other honeyguides who would otherwise destroy the eggs because of fierce competition for host nests. The new research is published today, 21 August, in the journal Biology Letters.
Honeyguides ...
Study implicates dopamine in food restriction, drug abuse
2013-08-21
SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 20, 2013) — Scientists today reported a possible basis for why food-restricted animals show increased susceptibility to drugs of abuse. This association has puzzled researchers since it was first observed more than three decades ago.
Senior author Michael Beckstead, Ph.D., from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, said the team found that dopamine neurons in a brain region called the substantia nigra fire bursts more than twice as frequently in chronically food-restricted mice. Cocaine significantly enhanced ...
Social giving makes us happier
2013-08-21
People usually feel good when they make a charitable donation, but they feel even better if they make the donation directly to someone they know or in a way that builds social connection. Research to be published in the International Journal of Happiness and Development investigates for the first time how social connection helps turn generous behavior into positive feelings on the part of the donor.
Lara Aknin of Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Harvard Business School, Massachusetts, ...
3D graphene: Solar cells' new platinum?
2013-08-21
One of the most promising types of solar cells has a few drawbacks. A scientist at Michigan Technological University may have overcome one of them.
Dye-sensitized solar cells are thin, flexible, easy to make and very good at turning sunshine into electricity. However, a key ingredient is one of the most expensive metals on the planet: platinum. While only small amounts are needed, at $1,500 an ounce, the cost of the silvery metal is still significant.
Yun Hang Hu, the Charles and Caroll McArthur Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, has developed a new, inexpensive ...
Epic ocean voyages of coral larvae revealed
2013-08-21
MIAMI – August 20, 2013 -- A new computer simulation conducted at the University of Bristol (UB) and University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has revealed the epic, ocean-spanning journeys travelled by millimetre-sized coral larvae through the world's seas.
The study, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, is the first to recreate the oceanic paths along which corals disperse globally, and will eventually aid predictions of how coral reef distributions may shift with climate change.
Coral reefs are under increasing threat ...
Multiple genes manage how people taste sweeteners
2013-08-21
Genetics may play a role in how people's taste receptors send signals, leading to a wide spectrum of taste preferences, according to Penn State food scientists. These varied, genetically influenced responses may mean that food and drink companies will need a range of artificial sweeteners to accommodate different consumer tastes.
"Genetic differences lead to differences in how people respond to tastes of foods," said John Hayes, assistant professor, food science and director of the sensory evaluation center.
Based on the participants' genetic profile, researchers were ...
Chromosome 21 abnormality tells oncologists to treat pediatric ALL more aggressively
2013-08-21
A recent study by members of the Children's Oncology Group reports results of a large trial showing that children whose leukemia cells have amplification of a portion of chromosome 21 may require more aggressive treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) than children without this gene amplification.
"This helps identify patients who need more therapy than they may otherwise get," says Stephen Hunger, MD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and director of the Center ...
Redesign for sudden autopilot disconnection needed, say flight safety experts
2013-08-21
Flight safety experts studying recent high-profile plane crashes found sudden autopilot disconnection to be a design flaw that creates unnecessary emergencies by surprising pilots during critical, high-workload episodes.
"The sudden disengagement of autopilot is analogous to a pilot suddenly throwing up his or her hands and blurting to the copilot, 'Your Plane!'" says Eric E. Geiselman, lead author of a recently published two-article Ergonomics in Design series, "Flight Deck Automation: Invaluable Collaborator or Insidious Enabler" (July issue) and "A Call for Context-Aware ...
New explanation for key step in anthrax infection proposed by NIST and USAMRIID
2013-08-21
A new hypothesis concerning a crucial step in the anthrax infection process has been advanced by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md.
The research teams have explored the behavior of the toxins that rapidly overwhelm the body as the often-fatal disease progresses. Their findings suggest a new possible mechanism by which anthrax bacteria deliver the protein molecules that poison victims. Anthrax is easily weaponized; the findings could ...