Exploring the reasons why mothers do not breastfeed, to inform and enable better support.

Introduction: Infant and maternal breastfeeding benefits are well documented, globally. Despite efforts to increase global breastfeeding rates, the majority of high-income settings fall short of recommended targets. Breastfeeding rates in the UK are especially poor, and physiological difficulties (e.g., inverted nipples), fail to account for the observed breastfeeding intention-behaviour gap. Method: The current online study sought to investigate the infant feeding experiences of 624 UK formula feeding mothers, through open text survey responses. Results: A content analysis identified the following clusters of reasons for formula feeding: Feeding Attitudes, Feeding Problems, Mental Health, and Sharing the Load. Discussion: Feeding Attitudes explained a large percentage of reasons given for formula feeding. Recommendations are made to improve antenatal breastfeeding education and to develop an intervention with an aim to improve maternal breastfeeding attitudes and subsequent practice. Feeding Problems also explained a large portion of combination feeding and started but stopped infant feeding accounts. The current paper calls for more comprehensive and tailored antenatal breastfeeding education to refine practical breastfeeding skills necessary for successful breastfeeding establishment and maintenance. Mental Health explained relatively small coverage. Suggestions are therefore made to train mental health practitioners on infant feeding with an aim to provide more extensive support, which may serve to disrupt the bidirectional relationship between poor mental health and poor breastfeeding outcomes. Finally, Sharing the Load explained moderate coverage across never breastfed, combination fed, and started but stopped feeding groups. Recommendations are made, in light of these findings, to tighten workplace legislation to protect breastfeeding women.

Carbonic Anhydrases Function in Anther Cell Differentiation Downstream of the Receptor-Like Kinase EMS1.

Plants extensively employ leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs), the largest family of RLKs, to control a wide range of growth and developmental processes as well as defense responses. To date, only a few direct downstream effectors for LRR-RLKs have been identified. We previously showed that the LRR-RLK EMS1 (EXCESS MICROSPOROCYTES1) and its ligand TPD1 (TAPETUM DETERMINANT1) are required for the differentiation of somatic tapetal cells and reproductive microsporocytes during early anther development in Arabidopsis thaliana Here, we report the identification of ß-carbonic anhydrases (ßCAs) as the direct downstream targets of EMS1. EMS1 biochemically interacts with ßCA proteins. Loss of function of ßCA genes caused defective tapetal cell differentiation, while overexpression of ßCA1 led to the formation of extra tapetal cells. EMS1 phosphorylates ßCA1 at four sites, resulting in increased ßCA1 activity. Furthermore, phosphorylation-blocking mutations impaired the function of ßCA1 in tapetal cell differentiation; however, a phosphorylation mimic mutation promoted the formation of tapetal cells. ßCAs are also involved in pH regulation in tapetal cells. Our findings highlight the role of ßCA in controlling cell differentiation and provide insights into the posttranslational modification of carbonic anhydrases via receptor-like kinase-mediated phosphorylation.

Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 Alters Arabidopsis Root Development by Affecting Auxin Signaling.

Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 not only nodulates Sesbania cannabina but also can enhance rice growth; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not clear. Here, we show that Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 colonizes the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana, which leads to inhibition in the growth of main root but enhancement in the formation of lateral roots. The promotion of lateral root formation by Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 in the fls2-1 mutant, which is insensitive to flagellin, is similar to the wild-type plant, while the auxin response deficient mutant tir1-1 is significantly less sensitive to Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 than the wild type in terms of the inhibition of main root elongation and the promotion of lateral root formation. Further transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis roots inoculated with Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 revealed differential expression of 50 and 211 genes at 24 and 48 h, respectively, and a majority of these genes are involved in auxin signaling. Consistent with the transcriptome analysis results, Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 treatment induces expression of the auxin responsive reporter DR5:GUS in roots. Our results suggest that in Arabidopsis Rhizobium sp. IRBG74 colonizes roots and promotes the lateral root formation likely through modulating auxin signaling. Our work provides insight into the molecular mechanisms of interactions between legume-nodulating rhizobia and non-legume plants.