Effects of sublethal single, simultaneous and sequential abiotic stresses on phenotypic traits of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plant responses to abiotic stresses are complex and dynamic, and involve changes in different traits, either as the direct consequence of the stress, or as an active acclimatory response. Abiotic stresses frequently occur simultaneously or in succession, rather than in isolation. Despite this, most studies have focused on a single stress and single or few plant traits. To address this gap, our study comprehensively and categorically quantified the individual and combined effects of three major abiotic stresses associated with climate change (flooding, progressive drought and high temperature) on 12 phenotypic traits related to morphology, development, growth and fitness, at different developmental stages in four Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. Combined sublethal stresses were applied either simultaneously (high temperature and drought) or sequentially (flooding followed by drought). In total, we analysed the phenotypic responses of 1782 individuals across these stresses and different developmental stages. Overall, abiotic stresses and their combinations resulted in distinct patterns of effects across the traits analysed, with both quantitative and qualitative differences across accessions. Stress combinations had additive effects on some traits, whereas clear positive and negative interactions were observed for other traits: 9 out of 12 traits for high temperature and drought, 6 out of 12 traits for post-submergence and drought showed significant interactions. In many cases where the stresses interacted, the strength of interactions varied across accessions. Hence, our results indicated a general pattern of response in most phenotypic traits to the different stresses and stress combinations, but it also indicated a natural genetic variation in the strength of these responses. This includes novel results regarding the lack of a response to drought after submergence and a decoupling between leaf number and flowering time after submergence. Overall, our study provides a rich characterization of trait responses of Arabidopsis plants to sublethal abiotic stresses at the phenotypic level and can serve as starting point for further in-depth physiological research and plant modelling efforts.

C. elegans Runx/CBFß suppresses POP-1 TCF to convert asymmetric to proliferative division of stem cell-like seam cells.

A correct balance between proliferative and asymmetric cell divisions underlies normal development, stem cell maintenance and tissue homeostasis. What determines whether cells undergo symmetric or asymmetric cell division is poorly understood. To gain insight into the mechanisms involved, we studied the stem cell-like seam cells in the Caenorhabditis elegans epidermis. Seam cells go through a reproducible pattern of asymmetric divisions, instructed by divergent canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, and symmetric divisions that increase the seam cell number. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy we observed that symmetric cell divisions maintain asymmetric localization of Wnt/ß-catenin pathway components. Our observations, based on lineage-specific knockout and GFP-tagging of endogenous pop-1, support the model that POP-1TCF induces differentiation at a high nuclear level, whereas low nuclear POP-1 promotes seam cell self-renewal. Before symmetric division, the transcriptional regulator RNT-1Runx and cofactor BRO-1CBFß temporarily bypass Wnt/ß-catenin asymmetry by downregulating pop-1 expression. Thereby, RNT-1/BRO-1 appears to render POP-1 below the level required for its repressor function, which converts differentiation into self-renewal. Thus, we found that conserved Runx/CBFß-type stem cell regulators switch asymmetric to proliferative cell division by opposing TCF-related transcriptional repression.

Field-dependent DNA mobility in 20 nm high nanoslits.

The transport behavior of lambda-DNA (48 kbp) in fused silica nanoslits is investigated upon application of electrical fields of different strengths. The slit dimensions are 20 nm in height, 3 microm in width, and 500 microm in length. With fields of 30 kV/m or below, the molecules move fluently through the slits, while at higher electrical fields, the DNA molecules move intermittently, resulting in a strongly reduced mobility. We propose that the behavior can be explained by mechanical and/or field-induced dielectrophoretic DNA trapping due to the surface roughness in the nanoslits. The observation of preferential pathways and trapping sites of the lambda-DNA molecules through the nanoslits supports this hypothesis and indicates that the classical viscous friction models to explain the DNA movement in nanoslits needs to be modified to include these effects. Preliminary experiments with the smaller XbaI-digested litmus-DNA (2.8 kbp) show that the behavior is size-dependent, suggesting that the high field electrophoresis in nanoslits can be used for DNA separation.