PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Parental conflict in plants: Maternal factors silence paternal genes

Parental conflict in plants: Maternal factors silence paternal genes
2011-06-01
(Press-News.org) In flowering plants, the beginning of embryogenesis is almost exclusively governed by maternal gene activity. Maternal factors regulate the development of the embryo and silence paternal genes during early stages of development. This finding – obtained using next generation sequencing technology – was reported by an international team of researchers including plant geneticists from the University of Zurich. This newly uncovered mechanism may be involved in the maintenance of species boundaries and could play an important role in the development of novel crop varieties.

Mother and father each contribute one half of the genetic information to their offspring. Thus, it was thought that both parents contribute equally to the development of the next generation. Indeed, this holds true for late stages of embryo development in plants, but early on, things are quite different: during the earliest phase of embryo development - from the fertilized egg to the globular stage - predominantly the maternal genes are active. This phase of development is controlled largely by maternal factors, which actively repress or silence the genes inherited from the father. This surprising finding was recently published in the renowned American journal Cell, by an international team of scientists led by plant geneticists from the Universities of Zurich and Montpellier.

Silenced Paternal Genes

For their analysis, the Zürich scientists crossed two genetically distinguishable races of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (tale cress) and analyzed the relative contributions of the parental genomes shortly after the first division of the fertilized egg. Such molecular genetic analyses of plant embryos at very early stages are technically challenging, which explains why up to now researchers resorted to studying embryos at later stages. But Ueli Grossniklaus, Professor for Plant Developmental Genetics at University of Zurich, has a marked preference for tackling experimentally challenging problems, including the study of gametes and very young embryos that are hard to obtain. Using "Next Generation Sequencing", a novel and powerful technology, Grossniklaus and colleagues were able to show that in an early phase of plant embryo development, predominantly maternal genes are active. Via small ribonucleic acid molecules (siRNAs), the maternal genome controls paternal genes to ensure that, initially, most remain inactive. In the course of development, paternal genes are sucessively activated, which also requires the activity of maternal factors. This finding is surprising because it contradicts earlier findings, which suggested that these siRNAs have a specifc role in preventing "jumping genes" (transposons) to move within the genome.

According to Grossniklaus, the transient silencing of the paternal contribution during early development of the offspring is in the mother plant's best interest: the mother invests considerable resources into the formation of seeds. Before making this investment, the mother verifies the paternal contribution to the progeny for compatibility with her own genome. If the father's genome is too divergent from her own, e.g., originating from a different species, the embryo will die. In fact, the two parental plants have opposing interests with regard to their offspring. The pollen-donating father is interested in maximizing transfer of resources from the mother to the offspring. By contrast, the mother plant aims at optimizing the match with the fathers genome in order to prevent a waste of resources. „We are dealing with a classical parental conflict", Ueli Grossniklaus summarizes the opposing interests.

Maternal Control May Ensure the Maintenance of Species Boundaries

Maternally active genes direct and control early embryogenesis. Genetic incompatibility will cause embryos to abort, such that fertilization with pollen from other plant species is not successful. Therefore, the mechanism unraveled by Grossniklaus and colleagues may play an important role in the maintenance of species barriers. This may also explain why attempts to cross crop plants with their wild relatives, e.g., to transfer disease-resistance genes present in wild relatives to crops, often fail early in embryogenesis. A genetic divergence between the parents that is too large may be recognized by this novel mechanism, leading to embryo abortion. Commercial crop breeders will thus be interested in finding out how the maternal control of early plant embryo development can be circumvented in their breeding programs.



INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Parental conflict in plants: Maternal factors silence paternal genes

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Mutated muscle protein causes deafness

Mutated muscle protein causes deafness
2011-06-01
Excessive noise is not the only thing that causes damage to hearing. In many cases, genetic factors are responsible for the loss of hearing at a young age. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin together with colleagues from Nijmegen have discovered a previously unknown genetic cause of progressive hearing impairment: the disease is caused by mutations of the SMPX (small muscle protein) gene, which is located on the X chromosome. It was not previously known that this gene, which is active in the skeletal muscle and heart, also plays a role ...

Providers Seek Specific Strengths When Contracting With an IT Advisory Services Firm

2011-06-01
Information technology is now a huge part of the administration of healthcare facilities in the United States. Keeping up with new regulations, payment paradigms, and care delivery models is a daunting but necessary responsibility; providers need help to accomplish this, and there are plenty of IT advisory firms willing to offer assistance. Providers must consider ARRA funds, Meaningful Use, and the rest of the litany of technology advancements the healthcare industry will demand of them over the next few years. The new KLAS report, "Advisory Services: Navigating ...

Climate change is analyzed from the perspective of the social sciences

Climate change is analyzed from the perspective of the social sciences
2011-06-01
The researchers base their work the fact that climate change has become one of the main problems of the 21st Century, as is demonstrated by numerous studies that confirm the seriousness of its effects. In this sense, similar to what occurs in the area of energy, the issues that are raised regarding its characteristics, extent, and consequences have a decisive effect on public policy and, therefore, on the Law, which is the means of formalizing and enforcing those policies. "In this way, the Law, which has always been called upon to generate confidence and certainty by adequately ...

Link between influenza vaccination in pregnancy and reduced risk of premature birth

2011-06-01
A study published in this week's PLoS Medicine suggests that there might be an association between maternal immunization with inactivated influenza vaccine during pregnancy and reduced likelihood of prematurity and the baby being small for gestational age. The study, led by Saad B. Omer from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia, used a large surveillance dataset (the Georgia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) to analyze the relationship between receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine during any trimester of pregnancy by mothers ...

Threshold hemoglobin and mortality in people with stable coronary disease

2011-06-01
In this week's PLoS Medicine, Anoop Shah of University College London and colleagues report that, in people with stable coronary disease, there were threshold haemoglobin values below which mortality increased in a graded, continuous fashion. As well as a systematic review and statistical analysis of previous studies, the researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of patients from a prospective observational cohort. Their findings suggest that there are thresholds of haemoglobin that are associated with increased risk of mortality in patients with angina or myocardial ...

Provision of subsidized malaria drugs in shops improves uptake

2011-06-01
Reporting the findings of a cluster randomized trial carried out in rural Kenya, Beth Kangwana and colleagues find that provision of packs of the malaria therapy artemether-lumefantrine in shops at a subsidized price more than doubled the proportion of children with fever who received drugs promptly. Importantly, whilst enabling cheap and easy purchase of malaria treatment in shops enabled treatment of about 44% of children with fever, this is still much lower than the target of treating 80% of children with fever set by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. So in addition ...

The alcohol industry needs more scrutiny

2011-06-01
The influence of "Big Alcohol" in the health arena deserves as much scrutiny as Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, especially in light of evidence of bias in funded research, unsupported claims of benefit, and inappropriate promotion and marketing by the alcohol industry, says a new editorial in this week's PLoS Medicine. The PLoS Medicine editors argue that the statistics about problem drinking are troubling enough, but what also demands more attention and research is the influence of the alcohol industry on health research, government policy, and public perceptions of the harms ...

Study finds increases in rain, temperature could signal cholera outbreaks months ahead

2011-06-01
Deerfield, IL (May 31, 2011) With recent deadly cholera outbreaks in Haiti and Cameroon providing the latest indication of a menacingly resurgent disease, scientists have discovered rain and temperature fluctuations in at-risk areas could predict epidemics months in advance, according to a new study published today in the June 2011 issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. After analyzing several years of disease and environmental data from cholera-endemic areas of Zanzibar, Tanzania, scientists from the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, ...

PLoS NTDs press release -- cholera in Haiti

2011-06-01
Debate about the public health response to Haiti's cholera epidemic continues as the crisis enters its ninth month, with some experts arguing that a vaccination campaign in Haiti would be neither feasible nor cost-effective, and advocating putting forth other measures. In a viewpoint article published on May 31st in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, a coalition of medical and public health researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, led by Paul Farmer, cofounder of Partners In Health and United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti, argue that ...

From seawater to freshwater with a nanotechnology filter

2011-06-01
In this month's Physics World, Jason Reese, Weir Professor of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at the University of Strathclyde, describes the role that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could play in the desalination of water, providing a possible solution to the problem of the world's ever-growing population demanding more and more fresh drinking water. Global population projections suggest that worldwide demand for water will increase by a third before 2030. But with more than a billion people already experiencing drinking-water shortages, and with a potential 3𔃄 ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Researchers develop new technology for sustainable rare earth mining

Words activate hidden brain processes shaping emotions, decisions, and behavior

Understanding survival disparities in cancer care: A population-based study on mobility patterns

Common sleep aid may leave behind a dirty brain

Plant cells gain immune capabilities when it’s time to fight disease

Study sheds light on depression in community-dwelling older adults

Discovery of new class of particles could take quantum mechanics one step further

Cost-effectiveness of a polypill for cardiovascular disease prevention in an underserved population

Development and validation of a tool to predict onset of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer dementia

New AI predicts inner workings of cells

Scientists uncover key step in how diazotrophs “fix” nitrogen

The hidden mechanics of earthquake ignition

Scientists leverage artificial intelligence to fast-track methane mitigation strategies in animal agriculture

Researchers unravel a novel mechanism regulating gene expression in the brain that could guide solutions to circadian and other disorders

Discovery of 'Punk' and 'Emo' fossils challenges our understanding of ancient molluscs

Exposure to aircraft noise linked to worse heart function

Deans of the University of Nottingham visited Korea University's College of Medicine

New study assesses wildfire risk from standing dead trees in Yellowstone National Park

A new approach for improving hot corrosion resistance and anti-oxidation performance in silicide coating on niobium alloys

UC San Diego to lead data hub of CDC-funded pandemic preparedness network

Biomimetic teakwood structured environmental barrier coating

Low-cost system will improve communications among industrial machines

Elderberry juice shows benefits for weight management, metabolic health

A new era in genetic engineering

Study identifies coastal black pine trees resistant to tsunamis and strong winds

From gender dysphoria to special skills: decoding the link

Study advances possible blood test for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease

New international research collaboration to develop and test an improved dietary supplement for pregnant women

Presenting a path forward for future genetically-modified pig heart transplants: lessons learned from second patient

When the past meets the future: Innovative drone mapping unlocks secrets of Bronze Age ‘mega fortress’ in the Caucasus

[Press-News.org] Parental conflict in plants: Maternal factors silence paternal genes