Rhizoremediation of residual sulfonylurea herbicides in agricultural soils using Lens culinaris and a commercial supplement.

Sulfonylureas (SU) are a popular herbicide used today for controlling weeds. While beneficial for this purpose they present a persistent problem in agricultural treated areas, with this treatment proving detrimental for successive crops. This study assessed the phytoremediative properties of lentils (Lens culinaris) grown in uncontaminated and chlorsulfuron-contaminated soil, with and without the addition of a growth supplement, PulseAider™. The results show that in the presence of lentils the degradation of chlorsulfuron is enhanced and this degradation rate is significantly increased when the PulseAider™ supplement was included during seed sowing. The supplement PulseAider™ also significantly increased shoot and root biomass, root branching, and nodule number under control conditions. While this was not so for plants grown in contaminated soils, the PulseAider™ supplement seemed to alter root branching and morphology. Most Probable Number (MPN) assays showed increased numbers of potential chlorsulfuron-degrading bacteria in soil treated with PulseAider™, although this was found to be significant only in the control soil. Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal gene showed the presence of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterial species which is a known chlorsulfuron-degrading bacterium. This study is one of the first to address the remediation of residual SU herbicides and offers an economically feasible solution that may have an impact on global food security.

Zebrafish Angiotensin II Receptor-like 1a (agtrl1a) is expressed in migrating hypoblast, vasculature, and in multiple embryonic epithelia.

The human gene AGTRL1 is an angiotensin II receptor-like gene expressed in vasculature, which acts as the receptor for the small peptide APELIN, and a co-receptor for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Mammalian AGTRL1 has been shown to modulate cardiac contractility, venous and arterial dilation, and endothelial cell migration in vitro, but no role in the development of the vasculature, or other tissues, has been described. We report the identification and expression of the zebrafish ortholog of the human gene AGTRL1. Zebrafish agtrl1a is first expressed before epiboly in dorsal precursors. During epiboly it is expressed in the enveloping layer, yolk syncytial layer and migrating mesendoderm. During segmentation stages, expression is observed in epithelial structures such as adaxial cells, border cells of the newly formed somites, developing lens, otic vesicles and venous vasculature.

Simple, directional cDNA cloning for in situ transcript hybridization screens.

Here, we describe a suppression PCR-based method for directional cloning of randomly primed cDNAs from small quantities of tissue. Synthesis of the first cDNA strand is conducted on oligonucleotide-coated magnetic beads. Synthesis of the second strand is accomplished using nonspecifically primed suppression PCR. This method is used to synthesize a cDNA library from zebrafish embryos at 6-9 h after fertilization. The sequencing of the clones and their use in an in situ hybridization screen to detect restricted patterns of gene transcription in zebrafish embryos showed that this method allows the rapid identification of genes that are important for development and genes that are expressed at levels undetectable by whole-mount in situ transcript hybridization. The random priming of cDNA alleviates the problems encountered in the identification of zebrafish genes from poly(dT)-primed cDNA clones caused by the long 3' UTRs frequently found in transcripts from this organism.