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Using pea as our model crop, we sought to understand the regulatory control over the import of sugars and amino acids into the developing seeds and its importance for seed yield and quality. Transgenic peas simultaneously overexpressing a sucrose transporter and an amino acid transporter were developed. Pod walls, seed coats, and cotyledons were analysed separately, as well as leaves subtending developing pods. Sucrose, starch, protein, free amino acids, and endogenous cytokinins were measured during development. Temporal gene expression analyses (RT-qPCR) of amino acid (AAP), sucrose (SUT), and SWEET transporter family members, and those from cell wall invertase, cytokinin biosynthetic (IPT) and degradation (CKX) gene families indicated a strong effect of the transgenes on gene expression. In seed coats of the double transgenics, increased content and prolonged presence of cytokinin was particularly noticeable. The transgenes effectively promoted transition of young sink leaves into source leaves. We suggest the increased flux of sucrose and amino acids from source to sink, along with increased interaction between cytokinin and cell wall invertase in developing seed coats led to enhanced sink activity, resulting in higher cotyledon sucrose at process pea harvest, and increased seed number and protein content at maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counselling psychology in Australia has developed and matured since its emergence in the 1970s. This article provides a brief historical overview and situates counselling psychology (CP) in relation to other applied areas of psychology in Australia. A review of registration, professional organisations, work and role settings and core features is provided. Australian counselling psychologists work predominantly in private practice, as well as hospitals, counselling agencies, universities, medical practices, prisons and government departments. They provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment for mental health disorders and psychological problems related to adverse life events. In addition, they provide couple, family and group therapies. Challenges facing CP in Australia are explored, including a reduction in training programmes, inequities in funding for psychological services and tensions with the definition and description of the scopes of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Seed development largely depends on the long‐distance transport of sucrose from photosynthetically active source leaves to seed sinks. This source‐to‐sink carbon allocation occurs in the phloem and requires the loading of sucrose into the leaf phloem and, at the sink end, its import into the growing embryo. Both tasks are achieved through the function of SUT sucrose transporters. In this study, we used vegetable peas (Pisum sativum L.), harvested for human consumption as immature seeds, as our model crop and simultaneously overexpressed the endogenous SUT1 transporter in the leaf phloem and in cotyledon epidermal cells where import into the embryo occurs. Using this 'Push‐and‐Pull' approach, the transgenic SUT1 plants displayed increased sucrose phloem loading and carbon movement from source to sink causing higher sucrose levels in developing pea seeds. The enhanced sucrose partitioning further led to improved photosynthesis rates, increased leaf nitrogen assimilation, and enhanced source‐to‐sink transport of amino acids. Embryo loading with amino acids was also increased in SUT1‐overexpressors resulting in higher protein levels in immature seeds. Further, transgenic plants grown until desiccation produced more seed protein and starch, as well as higher seed yields than the wild‐type plants. Together, the results demonstrate that the SUT1‐overexpressing plants with enhanced sucrose allocation to sinks adjust leaf carbon and nitrogen metabolism, and amino acid partitioning in order to accommodate the increased assimilate demand of growing seeds. We further provide evidence that the combined Push‐and‐Pull approach for enhancing carbon transport is a successful strategy for improving seed yields and nutritional quality in legumes. Significance Statement: We demonstrate that carbon allocation from source to sink and seed carbon pools can be improved in legumes through synergistically enhancing leaf export and seed uptake of sucrose. In addition, changes in source‐to‐sink carbon transport affect seed protein levels though improved leaf metabolism and amino acid partitioning to, and uptake into, the embryo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain legumes such as pea (Pisum sativum L.) are highly valued as a staple source of protein for human and animal nutrition. However, their seeds often contain limited amounts of high-quality, sulfur (S) rich proteins, caused by a shortage of the S-amino acids cysteine and methionine. It was hypothesized that legume seed quality is directly linked to the amount of organic S transported from leaves to seeds, and imported into the growing embryo. We expressed a high-affinity yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) methionine/cysteine transporter (Methionine UPtake 1) in both the pea leaf phloem and seed cotyledons and found source-to-sink transport of methionine but not cysteine increased. Changes in methionine phloem loading triggered improvements in S uptake and assimilation and long-distance transport of the S compounds, S-methylmethionine and glutathione. In addition, nitrogen and carbon assimilation and source-to-sink allocation were upregulated, together resulting in increased plant biomass and seed yield. Further, methionine and amino acid delivery to individual seeds and uptake by the cotyledons improved, leading to increased accumulation of storage proteins by up to 23%, due to both higher levels of S-poor and, most importantly, S-rich proteins. Sulfate delivery to the embryo and S assimilation in the cotyledons were also upregulated, further contributing to the improved S-rich storage protein pools and seed quality. Overall, this work demonstrates that methionine transporter function in source and sink tissues presents a bottleneck in S allocation to seeds and that its targeted manipulation is essential for overcoming limitations in the accumulation of high-quality seed storage proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counseling psychologists in eight countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) responded to survey questions that focused on their demographics as well as their professional identities, roles, settings, and activities. As well, they were asked about satisfaction with the specialty and the extent to which they endorsed 10 core counseling psychology values. This article reports those results, focusing both on areas in which there were between-country similarities as well as on those for which there were differences. These data provide a snapshot of counseling psychology globally and establish a foundation for the other articles in this special issue of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of sink organs such as fruits and seeds strongly depends on the amount of nitrogen that is moved within the phloem from photosynthetic-active source leaves to the reproductive sinks. In many plant species nitrogen is transported as amino acids. In pea ( Pisum sativum L.), source to sink partitioning of amino acids requires at least two active transport events mediated by plasma membrane-localized proteins, and these are: (i) amino acid phloem loading; and (ii) import of amino acids into the seed cotyledons via epidermal transfer cells. As each of these transport steps might potentially be limiting to efficient nitrogen delivery to the pea embryo, we manipulated both simultaneously. Additional copies of the pea amino acid permease Ps AAP1 were introduced into the pea genome and expression of the transporter was targeted to the sieve element-companion cell complexes of the leaf phloem and to the epidermis of the seed cotyledons. The transgenic pea plants showed increased phloem loading and embryo loading of amino acids resulting in improved long distance transport of nitrogen, sink development and seed protein accumulation. Analyses of root and leaf tissues further revealed that genetic manipulation positively affected root nitrogen uptake, as well as primary source and sink metabolism. Overall, the results suggest that amino acid phloem loading exerts regulatory control over pea biomass production and seed yield, and that import of amino acids into the cotyledons limits seed protein levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paracrine interaction between tumor cells and adjacent stroma has been associated with the oncogenic activity of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway in triple-negative breast tumors. The present study developed a model of paracrine Hh signaling and examined the impact of mesenchymal cell sources and culture modalities in the oncogenicity of the Hh pathway in breast tumor cells. Studies consisted of tumor cell monocultures and co-cultures with cancer-associated and normal fibroblasts, tumor cells that undergo epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), or adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs). Hh ligand and pathway inhibitors, GANT61 and NVP-LDE225 (NVP), were evaluated in both cell cultures and a mouse xenograft model. Results in monocultures show that tumor cell viability and Hh transcriptional activity were not affected by Hh inhibitors. In co-cultures, down-regulation of GLI1, SMO, and PTCH1 in the stroma correlated with reduced tumor growth rates in xenografted tumors and cell cultures, confirming a paracrine interaction. Fibroblasts and EMT cells supported Hh transcriptional activity and enhanced tumor cell growth. Mixed and adjacent culture modalities indicate that tumor growth is supported via fibroblast-secreted soluble factors, whereas enriched tumor stemness requires close proximity between tumor and fibroblasts. Overall this study provides a tumor–mesenchymal model of Hh signaling and highlights the therapeutic value of mesenchymal cells in the oncogenic activity of the Hh pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]