In a field experiment under rainfed conditions, reductions in cane yield over three crops due to infection by ratoon stunting disease (RSD) ranged from 41% to 19 % respectively in varieties N17, N14, N21, NCo376 and N19. Losses in Nl2 were 10%, and in N23 and N22 were 7% and 1%. In a similar trial conducted under irrigation, the greatest reductions in cane yield over two crops were 32% in varie...

East African banana ( Musa sp.) breeding efforts have focused mainly on enhancing ‘Matooke’ productivity through the development of high-yielding, pathogen-resistant cultivars with adequate stability to contribute regional food security. Before a program can recommend promising for release, they must pass sensory screens; be evaluated in target population environments; and data analyzed yield, ...

The structural gene (nifH1) encoding the nitrogenase iron protein of Clostridium pasteurianum has been cloned and sequenced. It is located on a 4-kilobase EcoRI fragment (cloned into pBR325) that also contains a portion of nifD and another nifH-like sequence (nifH2). C. pasteurianum nifH1 encodes a polypeptide (273 amino acids) identical to that of the isolated iron protein, indicating that the...

Contrails, like natural cirrus clouds, can cause a warming of the Earth-atmospheric system by absorbing longwave radiation from the surface and lower troposphere and radiating additional radiation back to the surface. They can also produce some cooling of the surface during the daytime by reflecting some sunlight back to space. Recently, Minnis et al. (2004) determined from surface observations...

Gastrin stimulates transcription of the human histidine decarboxylase (HDC) gene through binding to the G-protein-coupled cholecystokinin-B/gastrin receptor. We have explored the possibility that mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades play a role in mediating the effects of gastrin on transcription in a gastric cancer (AGS-B) cell line. Gastrin and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) treat...

BACKGROUND Integrins are signal transducer proteins involved in a number of vital physiological processes including cell adhesion, proliferation and migration. Integrin molecules are hetero-dimers composed of two distinct subunits, α and β. In humans, 18 α and 8 β subunits are combined into 24 different integrin molecules. Each of the subunit comprises a large extracellular domain, a single pas...

We have discovered that the enzyme phospholipase D2 (PLD2) binds directly to the small GTPase Rac2, resulting in PLD2 functioning as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), because it switches Rac2 from the GDP-bound to the GTP-bound states. This effect is large enough to be meaningful (∼72% decrease for GDP dissociation and 300% increase for GTP association, both with PLD2), it has a half-...

Epithelial polarity and morphogenesis require the careful coordination of signaling and cytoskeletal elements. In this paper, we describe multiple genetic interactions between the apical cytoskeletal protein β(H) and Rac1 signaling in Drosophila: activation of Rac1 signaling by expression of the exchange factor Trio, is strongly enhanced by reducing β(H) levels, and such reductions in β(H) leve...