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Heat stress transcription factors (HSFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate different stress and developmental networks in plants. Regulatory feedback mechanisms are at the basis of these networks. Here, we report that plants improve their heat stress tolerance through HSF-mediated transcriptional regulation of MIR169 and post-transcriptional regulation of Nuclear Factor-YA (NF-YA) transcription factors. We show that HSFs recognize tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and Arabidopsis MIR169 promoters using yeast one-hybrid/chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR. Silencing tomato HSFs using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) reduced Sly-MIR169 levels and enhanced Sly-NF-YA9/A10 target expression. Further, Sly-NF-YA9/A10 VIGS knockdown tomato plants and Arabidopsis plants overexpressing At-MIR169d or At-nf-ya2 mutants showed a link with increased heat tolerance. In contrast, Arabidopsis plants overexpressing At-NF-YA2 and those expressing a non-cleavable At-NF-YA2 form (miR169d-resistant At-NF-YA2) as well as plants in which At-miR169d regulation is inhibited (miR169d mimic plants) were more sensitive to heat stress, highlighting NF-YA as a negative regulator of heat tolerance. Furthermore, post-transcriptional cleavage of NF-YA by elevated miR169 levels resulted in alleviation of the repression of the heat stress effector HSFA7 in tomato and Arabidopsis, revealing a retroactive control of HSFs by the miR169:NF-YA node. Hence, a regulatory feedback loop involving HSFs, miR169s and NF-YAs plays a critical role in the regulation of the heat stress response in tomato and Arabidopsis plants.

Under natural environmental conditions, plants are prone to be challenged simultaneously by combination of stresses like heat and drought stress together, thus affecting their overall growth, development and reproduction. Moreover, future climatic conditions are predicted to be warmer and drier, thus, warranting deep understanding of the stress-responsive regulatory networks for developing stress-management strategies. The role of microRNAs (miRNAs) that are key regulators of different stress signalling cascades in such dual stress conditions using varieties growing in warmer climatic conditions is completely lacking. In this study, we have investigated the effect of drought, heat and the two stresses together (combined stress) on a heat-tolerant tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety by evaluating physiological parameters as well as, some stress-responsive miRNA-target modules. Taqman-based qRT-PCR miRNA expression analysis showed enhanced expression of sly-miR482d-3p, sly-miR172d-3p, sly-miR164b-3p, sly-miR398b in individual drought and heat stress with an additive upregulation effect under combined stresses. On the other hand, the expression of sly-miR397-5p and sly-miR396b-3p was less when these two stresses co-occurred than the individual stresses and an antagonistic response was observed for sly-miR166a expression in combined versus single stresses. Several high confidence miRNA targets (101) were identified in-silico using degradome data and were functionally annotated using Gene Ontology enrichment analysis into various stress regulatory networks. The comparative analysis confirmed the inverse expression regulation of the miRNA:target pairs for sly-miR398b:Solyc07g006180, sly-miR164b-3p:Solyc08g061500, sly-miR172d:Solyc04g049800, sly-miR396b-3p:Solyc01g102810 and sly-miR396b-3p:Solyc05g017930 under all the three stress conditions. Since miRNAs are highly conserved across diverse plant species, these miRNAs can be candidates for engineering climate resilient crop plants.

The tomato heat stress transcription factor A1a (Sly-HSFA1a) acts as the master regulator of the heat stress (HS) by directly regulating the transcription of Sly-HSFA2. However, it is unclear whether the activation of Sly-HSFA2 alone is sufficient to trigger the entire transcriptional cascade downstream of Sly-HSFA1a. Therefore, the present study aims to delineate the Sly-HSFA1a governed downstream HSFs cascade regulating the tomato heat stress response. The study identified several HSFs with common and specific roles in different HS regimes as well as in HS memory. Furthermore, the study established Sly-HSFA7, Sly-HSFA6b, Sly-HSFA4c, Sly-HSFB1 and Sly-HSFB2b as new downstream targets of Sly-HSFA1a during heat stress by using virus-induced-gene-silencing (VIGS) of Sly-HSFA1a. Moreover, the silencing of downstream target Sly-HSFA7 and Sly-HSFB1 revealed the orchestration of downstream transcriptional cascade of HSFs regulated individually or in a synergistic manner by Sly-HSFA1a and Sly-HSFA7 along with co-activator Sly-HSFB1. This complex transcriptional cascade of HSFs sheds light on regulatory mechanisms that enable tomato plants to respond to various heat stress conditions to maintain cellular homeostasis.

F-box genes are an integral component of the Skp1-cullin-F-box (SCF) complex in eukaryotes. These genes are primarily involved in determining substrate specificities during cellular proteolysis. Here we report that 410 members constitute the F-box superfamily in tomato. Based on the incidence of C-terminal domains, these genes fell into ten subfamilies, leucine-rich repeat domain-containing F-box members constituting the largest subfamily. The F-box genes are present on all 12 chromosomes with varying gene densities. Both segmental and tandem duplication events contribute significantly to their expansion in the tomato genome. The syntenic analysis revealed close relationships among F-box homologs within Solanaceae species genomes. Transcript profiling of F-box members identified several ripening-associated genes with altered expression in the ripening mutants. RNA-sequencing data analysis showed that phosphate (Pi) deficiency affected 55 F-box transcripts in the Pi-deficient seedlings compared to their control seedlings. The persistent up-regulation of eight members, including two phloem protein 2B (PP2–B) genes, PP2–B15, and MATERNAL EFFECT EMBRYO ARREST 66 (MEE66) homologs, at multiple time-points in the roots, shoot, and seedling, point towards their pivotal roles in Pi starvation response in tomato. The attenuation of such upregulation in sucrose absence revealed the necessity of this metabolite for robust activation of these genes in the Pi-deficient seedlings. Altogether, this study identifies novel F-box genes with potential roles in fruit ripening and Pi starvation response and unlocks new avenues for functional characterization of candidate genes in tomato and other related species.

Dentistry has come A long way in the last one and a half century; today it is ranked as one of the most respected professions. It is incumbent upon dentists everywhere to protect this hard-earned reputation by weeding out quacks among them. Dental diseases restrict activities in school, work and home and often significantly diminishes the quality of life for many children and adults, especially those who have low income or are uninsured. Quackery in dentistry has been a problem for decades. There are a large number of quacks practicing illegal dentistry in India, pretending to have skill, knowledge or qualification which they do not actually possess. It arises when there are inadequate numbers of competent and trained practitioners or when their charges appear prohibitive to a segment of the population. Poorly educated people often become gullible prey to quacks who perform dental treatment, which is often harmful to patients. It’s a time to take measures to stop such unethical practices.

Summary The footprint of tomato cultivation, a cool region crop that exhibits heat stress (HS) sensitivity, is increasing in the tropics/sub‐tropics. Knowledge of novel regulatory hot spots from varieties growing in the Indian sub‐continent climatic zones could be vital for developing HS‐resilient crops. Comparative transcriptome‐wide signatures of a tolerant (CLN1621L) and sensitive (CA4) cultivar pair shortlisted from a pool of varieties exhibiting variable thermo‐sensitivity using physiological‐, survival‐ and yield‐related traits revealed redundant to cultivar‐specific HS regulation. The antagonistically expressing genes encode enzymes and proteins that have roles in plant defence and abiotic stresses. Functional characterization of three antagonistic genes by overexpression and silencing established Solyc09g014280 (Acylsugar acyltransferase) and Solyc07g056570 (Notabilis) that are up‐regulated in tolerant cultivar, as positive regulators of HS tolerance and Solyc03g020030 (Pin‐II proteinase inhibitor), that are down‐regulated in CLN1621L, as negative regulator of thermotolerance. Transcriptional assessment of promoters of these genes by SNPs in stress‐responsive cis‐elements and promoter swapping experiments in opposite cultivar background showed inherent cultivar‐specific orchestration of transcription factors in regulating transcription. Moreover, overexpression of three ethylene response transcription factors (ERF.C1/F4/F5) also improved HS tolerance in tomato. This study identifies several novel HS tolerance genes and provides proof of their utility in tomato thermotolerance.

This interview with New Delhi–based critic and curator Geeta Kapur was conducted by Saloni Mathur, a professor of art history at UCLA. In their dialogue, Kapur reflects on her five-decade long career and speaks on a wide range of topics, including the rise of authoritarianism in India and around the world, the status of “third-world” and postcolonial criticism, the internationalism of Okwui Enwezor, and the challenges to the Euro-American canon presented by critical engagements with modern and contemporary art.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (20-24 nucleotides) non-coding ribo-regulatory molecules with significant roles in regulating target mRNA and long non-coding RNAs at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Rapid advancement in the small RNA sequencing methods with integration of degradome sequencing has accelerated the understanding of miRNA-mediated regulatory hubs in plants and yielded extensive annotation of miRNAs and corresponding targets. However, it is becoming clear that large numbers of such annotations are questionable. Therefore, it is imperative to adopt reliable and strict bioinformatics pipelines for miRNA identification. Furthermore, sensitive methods are needed for validation and functional characterization of miRNA and its target(s). In this chapter, we have provided a comprehensive and streamlined methodology for miRNA identification and its functional validation in plants. This includes a combination of various in silico and experimental methodologies. To identify miRNA compendium from large-scale Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) small RNA datasets, the miR-PREFeR (miRNA PREdiction From small RNA-Seq data) bioinformatics tool has been described. Also, a homology-based search protocol for finding members of a specific miRNA family has been discussed. The chapter also includes techniques to ascertain miRNA:target pair specificity using in silico target prediction from degradome NGS libraries using CleaveLand pipeline, miRNA:target validation by in planta transient assays, 5' RLM-RACE and expression analysis as well as functional techniques like miRNA overexpression, short tandem target mimic and resistant target approaches. The proposed strategy offers a reliable and sensitive way for miRNA:target identification and validation. Additionally, we strongly promulgate the use of multiple methodologies to validate a miRNA as well as its target.

In plants, RNA helicases play significant roles in growth, development and stress response. In a previous study, a three-fold upregulation of a DEAD-box RNA helicase in a tomato cultivar tolerant to Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) as compared to susceptible cultivar during virus infection was shown. Given this, a comprehensive study was performed to identify the members of RNA helicase family in tomato and analyze their functional properties in response to abiotic stresses, hormone treatments and ToLCNDV infection. A total of 131 genes were identified and classified into DEAD- (42), DEAH- (38), and DExD/H-box (51) RNA helicases. Expression profiling of candidate genes in response to abiotic stresses and ToLCNDV infection in contrasting tomato cultivars suggested the putative roles of SlDEAD23 and SlDEAD35 in biotic and abiotic stresses. Heterologous overexpression of these genes in yeast enhanced the tolerance of transgenic cells to salt and cold stresses. Further, virus-induced silencing of SlDEAD35 in ToLCNDV tolerant cultivar resulted in susceptibility to virus infection, thus suggesting its involvement in tolerance mechanism. Altogether, this study provides novel insights into the structure, organization and involvement of DEAD-box RNA helicase genes in biotic and abiotic stress responses in tomato.

Heat shock factors (HSFs) are at the core of heat stress (HS) response in plants. However, the contribution of HSFs governing the inherent thermotolerance mechanism in tomato from sub-tropical hot climates is poorly understood. With the above aim, comparative expression profiles of the HSF family in a HS tolerant (CLN1621L) and a sensitive cultivar (CA4) of tomato under HS revealed cultivar-biased regulation of an activator (HSFA7a) and repressor (HSFB4a) class HSF. Functional characterization of HSFA7a that was strongly up-regulated in the tolerant cultivar by VIGS-based silencing and overexpression established it as a positive regulator of HS-tolerance. While knock-down and overexpression analyses of HSFB4a that was down-regulated in CLN1621L in HS, showed it as a negative regulator of thermotolerance. Promoter:GUS reporter assays and promoter sequence analyses suggest heat-mediated transcriptional control of both the HSF genes in the contrasting cultivars. Moreover, we show HSFB4a is also regulated post-transcriptionally by microRNA Sly-miR4200 using degradome, short-tandem-target-mimic of Sly-miR4200 and transient in-planta Sly-miR4200-effector:HSFB4a-reporter assays. This miRNA is induced several folds upon HS in the tolerant variety thereby reducing HSFB4a levels. We thus propose that the alleviation of HSFB4a repressor governs thermotolerance in the tolerant cultivar by regulating downstream heat stress responsive genes.

Cultivar-biased regulation of HSFB4a and HSFA7 mediates heat stress tolerance/sensitivity in tomato. Reduced HSFB4a repressor levels and enhanced HSFA7 activator levels govern thermo-tolerance in tolerant cultivars. Heat shock factors (HSFs) are at the core of heat stress (HS) response in plants. However, the contribution of HSFs governing the inherent thermo-tolerance mechanism in tomato from sub-tropical hot climates is poorly understood. With the above aim, comparative expression profiles of the HSF family in a HS-tolerant (CLN1621L) and -sensitive cultivars (CA4 and Pusa Ruby) of tomato under HS revealed cultivar-biased regulation of an activator (HSFA7) and a repressor (HSFB4a) class HSF. HSFA7 exhibited strong upregulation while HSFB4a showed downregulation in tolerant tomato cultivar upon HS. Functional characterization of HSFA7 and HSFB4a in a tolerant-sensitive cultivar pair by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS)-based silencing and transient overexpression established them as a positive and a negative regulator of HS tolerance, respectively. Promoter:GUS reporter assays and promoter sequence analyses suggest heat-mediated transcriptional control of both the HSF genes in the contrasting cultivars. Moreover, degradome data highlighted HSFB4a is a probable target of microRNA Sly-miR4200. Transient in-planta Sly-MIR4200-effector:HSFB4a-reporter assays showed miRNA-dependent target down-regulation. Chelation of miRNA by short-tandem-target-mimic of Sly-miR4200 increased target abundance, highlighting a link between Sly-miR4200 and HSFB4a. This miRNA has induced several folds upon HS in the tolerant cultivar where HSFB4a levels are reduced, thus exhibiting the inverse miR:target expression. Thus, we speculate that the alleviation of HSFB4a and increased HSFA7 levels govern thermo-tolerance in the tolerant cultivar by regulating downstream heat stress-responsive genes.

Regulatory feedbacks are at the basis of different stress and developmental networks in plants. Here, we report that tomato and Arabidopsis plants improve their heat stress tolerance through Heat stress transcription factor (HSF)-mediated transcriptional regulation of MIR169 and post-transcriptional regulation of NF-YA transcription factors. We show that HSFs recognize tomato and Arabidopsis MIR169 promoters using yeast-one-hybrid/ChIP-qPCR. Silencing tomato HSFs using virus-induced-gene-silencing (VIGS) reduce Sly-MIR169 levels and enhance Sly-NF-YA9/A10 target expression. Further, tomato transgenic plants overexpressing Sly-MIR169 and Sly-NF-YA9/A10-VIGS knock-down tomato plants as well as Arabidopsis plants overexpressing At-MIR169d and At-nf-ya2 mutants showed a link with increased heat tolerance. In contrast, Arabidopsis plants overexpressing At-NF-YA2, or those expressing a non-cleavable At-NF-YA2 form (miR169-resistant At-NF-YA2) as well as plants inhibited for At-miRNA169d regulation (miR169d mimic plants) were more sensitive to heat stress, highlighting NF-YA as negative regulator of heat tolerance. Furthermore, post-transcriptional cleavage of NF-YA by elevated miR169 levels result in alleviating the repression of heat stress effectors HSFA7a/b in tomato and Arabidopsis revealing a retroactive control of HSFs by the miR169:NF-YA node. Hence, a regulatory feedback loop involving HSFs, miR169s and NF-YAs plays a critical role in the regulation of heat stress response in tomato and Arabidopsis plants.

Plants have to tackle daily vagaries of the environment like temperature extremes, drought, excess salt, etc. Together with nutritional imbalances present in the soil, these abiotic stresses are major obstacles in achieving sustainable food production. To mitigate the effects of harsh environmental conditions, an array of regulatory pathways has evolved in plants to coordinate gene expression and cellular signaling to maintain cellular homeostasis. This dynamic reprogramming of gene expression is majorly governed by two trans-regulators: the transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). While TFs regulate transcription by binding to the cis-regulatory elements in the promoters of various genes, the miRNAs regulate gene expression by silencing their target genes through mRNA cleavage, translational repression, or DNA methylation. Recent studies have elucidated the intricate stress responsive regulatory circuits involving TFs and miRNAs as focal nodes. Several TF:miRNA modules have been shown to be active under various environmental stress conditions like HSFA1b/A7b:miR398 (heat stress); SPL7:miR398 and HY5-SPL7:miR408 (copper starvation); PHR1:miR399 (phosphate starvation); and SLIM1:miR395 (sulfate deficiency). Since many of the miRNA targets are TFs themselves, several of these modules work as critical sub-networks in abiotic stress response including the miR156:SPL, miR159:MYB, miR169:NF-YA, and miR166:HD-ZIP. This control of plant gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels regulated by TFs and miRNAs, respectively, leads to the establishment of complex regulatory networks which are involved in abiotic stress response in plants. In this chapter, we have reviewed and discussed the detailed information available on the roles of TF:miRNA:target modules in different abiotic stress responses in various plant species including model and crop plants. This information will aid in understanding the mechanisms of action and interactions between these regulators in plant growth and development under normal as well as environmental stress conditions and pave the path to engineer more resilient plants in the future.

Comparative characterization of microRNA-mediated stress regulatory networks in contrasting rice cultivars is critical to decipher plant stress response. Consequently, a multi-level comparative analysis, using sRNA sequencing, degradome analysis, enzymatic and metabolite assays and metal ion analysis, in drought tolerant and sensitive rice cultivars was conducted. The study identified a group of miRNAs “Cultivar-specific drought responsive” (CSDR)-miRNAs (osa-miR159f, osa-miR1871, osa-miR398b, osa-miR408-3p, osa-miR2878-5p, osa-miR528-5p and osa-miR397a) that were up-regulated in the flag-leaves of tolerant cultivar, Nagina 22 (N22) and Vandana, but down-regulated in the sensitive cultivar, Pusa Basmati 1 (PB1) and IR64, during drought. Interestingly, CSDR-miRNAs target several copper-protein coding transcripts like plantacyanins, laccases and Copper/Zinc superoxide dismutases (Cu/Zn SODs) and are themselves found to be similarly induced under simulated copper-starvation in both N22 and PB1. Transcription factor OsSPL9, implicated in Cu-homeostasis also interacted with osa-miR408-3p and osa-miR528-5p promoters. Further, N22 flag leaves showed lower SOD activity, accumulated ROS and had a higher stomata closure. Interestingly, compared to PB1, internal Cu levels significantly decreased in the N22 flag-leaves, during drought. Thus, the study identifies the unique drought mediated dynamism and interplay of Cu and ROS homeostasis, in the flag leaves of drought tolerant rice, wherein CSDR-miRNAs play a pivotal role.

What are the challenges of Partition for the narratives of art history in the subcontinent today? What kinds of methods of analysis and modes of understanding are necessary to confront the indeterminate, yet proliferating forces of this experience? And what is the role of contemporary art in relation to the new critical historiography of Partition? This article responds to these questions through a consideration of two crucial themes – the status of history and the problem of the border – which signal numerous temporal and spatial dilemmas related to Partition's imprint upon the subcontinent today. By engaging with the tropes of history and the border, the article considers some of the possibilities (and limitations) of certain orientations towards Partition vis-a-vis the visual arts, and points ultimately to the intellectual necessity for a more rigorously dialectical approach.

In A Fragile Inheritance Saloni Mathur investigates the work of two seminal figures from the global South: the New Delhi-based critic and curator Geeta Kapur and contemporary multimedia artist Vivan Sundaram.

MIR169 family is an evolutionarily conserved miRNA family in plants. A systematic in-depth analysis of MIR169 family in tomato is lacking. We report eighteen miR169 precursors, annotating new loci for MIR169a, b and d, as well as four novel mature isoforms (MIR169f/g/h/i). The family has expanded by both tandem- and segmental-duplication events during evolution. A tandem-pair ‘MIR169b/b-1 and MIR169b-2/h’ is polycistronic in nature coding for three MIR169b isoforms and a new variant miR169h, that is evidently absent in the wild relatives S. pennellii and S. pimpinellifolium. Seven novel miR169 targets including RNA-binding-protein, protein-phosphatase, aminotransferase, chaperone, tetratricopeptide-repeat-protein, and transcription factors ARF-9B and SEPELLATA-3 were established by efficient target cleavage in presence of specific precursors as well as increased target abundance upon miR169 chelation by short-tandem-target-mimic construct in transient assays. Comparative antagonistic expression profiles of MIR169:target pairs suggest MIR169 family as ubiquitous regulator of various abiotic stresses (heat, cold, dehydration and salt) and developmental pathways. This regulation is partly brought about by acquisition of new promoters as demonstrated by promoterMIR169:GUS-reporter assays as well as differential processivity of different precursors and miRNA cleavage efficiencies. Thus, the current study augments the functional horizon of MIR169 family with applications for stress tolerance in crops.HighlightExpansion of MIR169 members by duplication and new mature forms, acquisition of new promoters, differential precursor-miRNA processivity and engaging novel targets increases the functional diversification of MIR169 in tomato. (29/30)

The footprint of tomato cultivation, a cool region crop that exhibits heat stress (HS) sensitivity, is increasing in the tropics/sub-tropics. Knowledge of novel regulatory hot-spots from varieties growing in the Indian sub-continent climatic zones could be vital for developing HS-resilient crops. Comparative transcriptome-wide signatures of a tolerant (CLN1621L) and sensitive (CA4) cultivar-pair short-listed from a pool of varieties exhibiting variable thermo-sensitivity using physiological, survival and yield-related traits revealed redundant to cultivar-specific HS-regulation with more up-regulated genes for CLN1621L than CA4. The anatgonisiticly-expressing genes include enzymes; have roles in plant defense and response to different abiotic stresses. Functional characterization of three antagonistic genes by overexpression and TRV-VIGS silencing established Solyc09g014280 (Acylsugar acyltransferase) and Solyc07g056570 (Notabilis), that are up-regulated in tolerant cultivar, as positive regulators of HS-tolerance and Solyc03g020030 (Pin-II proteinase inhibitor), that is down-regulated in CLN1621L, as negative regulator of thermotolerance. Transcriptional assessment of promoters of these genes by SNPs in stress-responsivecis-elements and promoter swapping experiments in opposite cultivar background showed inherent cultivar-specific orchestration of transcription factors in regulating transcription. Moreover, overexpression of three ethylene response transcription factors (ERF.C1/F4/F5) also improved HS-tolerance in tomato. This study identifies several novel HS-tolerance genes and provides proof of their utility in tomato-thermotolerance.HighlightNovel heat stress regulatory pathways uncovered by comparative transcriptome profiling between contrasting tomato cultivars from Indian sub-continent for improving thermotolerance. (20/30)

e20503 Background: Acute lymphocytopenia is associated with poor survival in solid cancers treated with multimodal therapy. A prospective analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) during multimodal treatment in inoperable stage III NSCLC patients was performed to assess a correlation of T-lymphocytes changes with 6-months progression-free survival rates (PFS6M). Methods: Twenty patients at median age of 65.5 years (range 33-77), 85% male, 55% with adenocarcinoma and 40% with squamous cell carcinoma, were prospectively enrolled in this study. Eighteen (90%) patients received platinum-based concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (cCRT); seven (35%) patients additional concurrent and/or sequential immune check-point inhibition (four patients nivolumab and three durvalumab); patients treated with nivolumab received induction chemotherapy. Thoracic irradiation (TRT) was applied in all patients with median cumulative dose in equivalent 2Gy fractions (EQD2) of 64Gy (range: 52-65Gy). Peripheral blood was collected 5-10 days before treatment begin (A1), on the last day of TRT (RTend), and during follow-up. Samples were analyzed using polychromatic flow cytometry. Results are reported for three time-points: A1, RTend, and 6 months after TRT (C3) or the last sample available before that time-point. Results: From A1 to RTend, 16 (80%) patients experienced severe T-cell (CD3+, CD3+CD4+, CD3+CD8+) depletion, including 3 (15%) patients who received two doses of concurrent nivolumab. T-lymphocyte nadir was independent of the absolute numbers of PBMCs before treatment begin. In two patients, T-cell count remained stable, and increased in two other patients. No correlation of dynamic changes from A1 to RTend with PFS6M was observed. From RTend to C3, T-lymphocytes recovered in 11 (55%) patients; in 6 (30%) T-cell count further decreased or remained at very low levels. For total CD3 T-cells, CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ subsets, progressive disease in the first six months after TRT was associated with a decrease of median values (P = 0.03 for total CD3+ and CD3+CD4+, P = 0.08 for CD3+CD8+ T-cells). In contrast, an increase of all medians was associated with PFS6M (P = 0.007 for total CD3+, P = 0.002 for CD3+CD4+, P = 0.06 for CD3+CD8+ T-cells). Conclusions: There is a significant difference between patients with regards to T-lymphocytes recovery after the end of TRT, which is predictive for PFS6M, with poor median recovery observed in patients with early progress.

e21011 Background: Lymphocytopenia is associated with deterioration of patient survival in solid cancers treated with concurrent chemo/radiotherapy (cCRT). A prospective analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells during cCRT in inoperable stage III NSCLC patients was performed to determine dynamic changes of individual lymphocyte subsets. Methods: Twenty-one patients were prospectively enrolled in this study. Eighteen patients received platinum-based cCRT, seven of them received, additionally, concurrent and/or sequential immune checkpoint-inhibition (ICI). Thoracic irradiation (TRT) was delivered with median total dose of 62Gy (31 daily fractions of 2Gy) in all patients. Peripheral blood was collected 5-10 days before treatment (A1), three weeks after start of cCRT (A3), on the last day of TRT (RTend) and during follow-up. Samples were analyzed using polychromatic flow cytometry. Results are reported for time-points A1, A3 and RTend. Results: Sixteen patients met final analysis criteria, 50% of them received concurrent and/or sequential ICI. All patients developed severe lymphocytopenia; in 81% of them lymphocyte nadir was documented at A3. Lymphocyte subsets, B cells, T cells (CD4, CD8), regulatory T cells, and NK cells, decreased with medians between 99.9% and 59%. Lymphocyte nadir was independent of the absolute numbers of immune cells that a patient had before start of cCRT or whether additional ICI was applied. From A3 to RTend, all lymphocyte subsets started to recover in patients treated with cCRT alone, while they remained low in patients who received additional ICI. The ratios of CD4/CD8 and CD8/Treg cells did not change during treatment (A1 to RTend) and was not different between the patients treated with or without ICI. However, the fraction of PD-1 cells among CD8 T-cells decreased in patients treated with ICI and remained low until RTend (range 0.55%-13.8%). In contrast, in 50% of patients treated with cCRT alone, PD-1 T-cell among CD8 T-cells increased and remained high (range 6.8%-46.3%) until RTend. Conclusions: Delayed recovery of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood was observed in patients treated with cCRT combined with concurrent or sequential ICI. A decrease of PD-1 T-cells among CD8 T-cells was described exclusively in patients treated with additional ICI.

This chapter offers a sustained investigation of the contemporary Delhi-based artist Vivan Sundaram's site-specific work of 1997, titled History Project, which was commissioned in part to mark the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence. The project, a multisensory installation inside the vast domed space of the Victoria Memorial Museum in Calcutta, a grand monument from the colonial era, presented a far-reaching examination of several key categories inaugurated by the site: “memorial,” “history,” “museum,” and “memory.” The chapter considers Sundaram's intervention in relation to the aesthetic strategy known as “institutional critique,” and through the theoretical insights of discussions within Indian historiography, and subaltern studies in particular. It further asks: What is the role of contemporary art in relation to the legacy of museums in South Asia? And how can “history” or the “past” find regeneration through the strategies deployed by a visual arts practice? Keywords: colonial history; contemporary art; historiography; imperialism and nationalism; India; institutional critique; memorial museums; postcolonial studies; site specificity; subaltern studies

Drought-tolerant rice variety, Nagina 22 (N22), has a unique spikelet miRNome during anthesis stage drought as well as transition from heading to anthesis. Molecular characterization of genetic diversity of rice is essential to understand the evolution and molecular basis of various agronomically important traits such as drought tolerance. miRNAs play an important role in regulating plant development as well as stress response such as drought. In this study, we characterized the yet unexplored dynamics of the spikelet miRNA population during developmental transition from ‘heading’ to ‘anthesis’ as well as anthesis stage drought stress in a drought-tolerant indica rice variety, N22. A significant proportion of miRNA population (~20 %) in N22 spikelets is modulated during transition from heading to anthesis indicating a unique miRNome at anthesis, a developmental stage highly sensitive to stress (drought/heat). Based on the analysis of degradome data, majority of differentially regulated miRNAs appear to regulate transcription factors, some of which are implicated in regulation of development and fertilization. Similarly, drought during anthesis leads to a global change in miRNA expression pattern including those which regulate ROS homeostasis. It was possible to identify several miRNAs that were not reported to be drought responsive in earlier studies. Interestingly, a significant proportion of the drought-regulated miRNAs co-localize within QTLs related to drought tolerance and associated traits. Comparison of the expression profiles between N22 and Pusa Basmati 1 (drought sensitive) identified miRNAs with variety-specific expression patterns during phase transition (miR164, miR396, miR812, and miR1881) as well as drought stress (miR1881) indicating an evolution of a distinct and variety-specific regulatory mechanism. The promoters of these miRNAs contain LREs (light-responsive elements) and are induced by dark treatment. It was also possible to identify 4 novel miRNAs including an intronic miRNA that was conserved in both rice varieties.

MicroRNAs regulate a spectrum of developmental and biochemical processes in plants and animals. Thus, knowledge of the entire miRNome is essential to understand the complete regulatory schema of any organism. The current study attempts to unravel yet undiscovered miRNA genes in rice. Analysis of small RNA libraries from various tissues of drought-tolerant ‘aus’ rice variety Nagina 22 (N22) identified 71 novel miRNAs. These were validated based on precursor hairpin structure, small RNA mapping pattern, ‘star’ sequence, conservation and identification of targets based on degradome data. While some novel miRNAs were conserved in other monocots and dicots, most appear to be lineage-specific. They were segregated into two different classes based on the closeness to the classical miRNA definition. Interestingly, evidence of a miRNA-like cleavage was found even for miRNAs that lie beyond the classical definition. Several novel miRNAs displayed tissue-enriched and/or drought responsive expression. Generation and analysis of the degradome data from N22 along with publicly available degradome identified several high confidence targets implicated in regulation of fundamental processes such as flowering and stress response. Thus, discovery of these novel miRNAs considerably expands the dimension of the miRNA-mediated regulation in rice.

The α-crystallin domain (ACD) is an ancient domain conserved among all kingdoms. Plant ACD proteins have roles in abiotic stresses, transcriptional regulation, inhibiting virus movement, and DNA demethylation. An exhaustive in-silico analysis using Hidden Markov Model-based conserved motif search of the tomato proteome yielded a total of 50 ACD proteins that belonged to four groups, sub-divided further into 18 classes. One of these groups belongs to the small heat shock protein (sHSP) class of proteins, molecular chaperones implicated in heat tolerance. Both tandem and segmental duplication events appear to have shaped the expansion of this gene family with purifying selection being the primary driving force for evolution. The expression profiling of the Acd genes in two different heat stress regimes suggested that their transcripts are differentially regulated with roles in acclimation and adaptive response during recovery. The co-expression of various genes in response to different abiotic stresses (heat, low temperature, dehydration, salinity, and oxidative stress) and phytohormones (abscisic acid and salicylic acid) suggested possible cross-talk between various members to combat a myriad of stresses. Further, several genes were highly expressed in fruit, root, and flower tissues as compared to leaf signifying their importance in plant development too. Evaluation of the expression of this gene family in field grown tissues highlighted the prominent role they have in providing thermo-tolerance during daily temperature variations. The function of three putative sHSPs was established as holdase chaperones as evidenced by protection to malate-dehydrogenase against heat induced protein-aggregation. This study provides insights into the characterization of the Acd genes in tomato and forms the basis for further functional validation in-planta.

The genomic sequence of an isolate of Rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV), collected from the state of Punjab (Pb), a non-endemic tungro region from North–Western India was determined. In silico comparison of the 7931-bp sequence with isolates from Southeast Asia and the three previously characterized Indian isolates, revealed not only similar genome size to other Indian isolates but also high degree of homology both at nucleotide (>93 %) and amino acid (>96 %) levels among them. On the other hand, like the other Indian isolates, RTBV-Pb showed much lower nucleotide (

The Mediator (Med) complex relays regulatory information from DNA-bound transcription factors to the RNA polymerase II in eukaryotes. This macromolecular unit is composed of three core subcomplexes in addition to a separable kinase module. In this study, conservation of Meds has been investigated in 16 plant species representing seven diverse groups across the plant kingdom. Using Hidden Markov Model-based conserved motif searches, we have identified all the known yeast/metazoan Med components in one or more plant groups, including the Med26 subunits, which have not been reported so far for any plant species. We also detected orthologs for the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Med32, -33, -34, -35, -36, and -37 in all the plant groups, and in silico analysis identified the Med32 and Med33 subunits as apparent orthologs of yeast/metazoan Med2/29 and Med5/24, respectively. Consequently, the plant Med complex appears to be composed of one or more members of 34 subunits, as opposed to 25 and 30 members in yeast and metazoans, respectively. Despite low similarity in primary Med sequences between the plants and their fungal/metazoan partners, secondary structure modeling of these proteins revealed a remarkable similarity between them, supporting the conservation of Med organization across kingdoms. Phylogenetic analysis between plant, human, and yeast revealed single clade relatedness for 29 Med genes families in plants, plant Meds being closer to human than to yeast counterparts. Expression profiling of rice (Oryza sativa) and Arabidopsis Med genes reveals that Meds not only act as a basal regulator of gene expression but may also have specific roles in plant development and under abiotic stress conditions.

The London-born artists Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh, the daughters of a Sikh doctor who immigrated to North England from the Punjab, are identical twins: they have the same DNA, they look and sound exactly alike, they wear the same clothing, and they received their training in art together. Often referred to as “The Singh Twins,” the sisters have adopted the language of Indian and Persian miniature painting to depict the complex urban and domestic landscapes of the contemporary world. The twins have exhibited their work to international audiences in Britain, Europe, India, and North America: a recent show, titled Past Modern: The Singh Twins, featured more than sixty paintings and was hosted by the University of California, Riverside, in 2003 and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool in 2005.1 Significantly, Amrit and Rabindra Singh's collaborative practice is not simply an innocent expression of an affectionate bond between sisters, but rather a self-conscious engagement with the notion of singular autho...

A photograph of the living room of the Eames house in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles has proven rather puzzling to historians of design. It depicts the famous Case Study House as full of exotic collectibles. Hopi kachina dolls, seashells, craft objects, silk textiles from Nepal and Thailand, and elaborately patterned rugs from Mexico and India all crowd and assault their modernist frame.

The nude figure in the painting Self-Portrait as Tahitian (1934) is striking in her composure; she is resolutely female, self-possessed, and full of repose (fig. 1). The artist—Amrita Sher-Gil, the part-Indian, partHungarian painter who stands at the cosmopolitan helm of modern Indian art—was apparently responding to Paul Gauguin’s stylization of the female nude, one of modernism’s master tropes for the colonial other, by inhabiting, with her own corporeality, this overburdened representational form. In her painting, “Tahitianness” takes the form of her own brown body, but it is also projected through her straight, black hair, which is tied in an unfussy ponytail, marking simplicity or indigenity as the absence of couture. I recall experiencing a sense of vertigo on first encountering this painting and the dizzying sets of questions it raised. What were the conditions that made possible such an account of Gauguin by a woman and a colonial subject in 1934? What precisely was meant by Sher-Gil’s selfconscious self-placement into the body of a Tahitian nude? How could art history have missed this painting, so deliberate a citation of art-historical precedent? And how could such far-reaching coordinates—Paul Gauguin in the 1890s, Amrita Sher-Gil in the 1930s, Paris, Tahiti, India, Hungary— be plotted onto our existing map of modernism’s unfolding in the twentieth century? Upon arriving in the subcontinent soon after completing this painting, Sher-Gil announced that “Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and many others. India belongs only to me.”1 As the first Indian to receive art

The Solanaceae is an important family of vegetable crops, ornamentals and medicinal plants. Tomato has served as a model member of this family largely because of its enriched cytogenetic, genetic, as well as physical, maps. Mapping has helped in cloning several genes of importance such as Pto, responsible for resistance against bacterial speck disease, Mi-1.2 for resistance against nematodes, and fw2.2 QTL for fruit weight. A high-throughput genome-sequencing program has been initiated by an international consortium of 10 countries. Since heterochromatin has been found to be concentrated near centromeres, the consortium is focusing on sequencing only the gene-rich euchromatic region. Genomes of the members of Solanaceae show a significant degree of synteny, suggesting that the tomato genome sequence would help in the cloning of genes for important traits from other Solanaceae members as well. ESTs from a large number of cDNA libraries have been sequenced, and microarray chips, in conjunction with wide array of ripening mutants, have contributed immensely to the understanding of the fruit-ripening phenomenon. Work on the analysis of the tomato proteome has also been initiated. Transgenic tomato plants with improved abiotic stress tolerance, disease resistance and insect resistance, have been developed. Attempts have also been made to develop tomato as a bioreactor for various pharmaceutical proteins. However, control of fruit quality and ripening remains an active and challenging area of research. Such efforts should pave the way to improve not only tomato, but also other solanaceous crops.

I. VIEWING THE PLIGHT OF IRAQI ANTIQUITIES It is undoubtedly a sign of our times that Matthew Bogdanos, the reserve Marine Corps colonel who led the investigation into the April 2003 looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, has become somewhat of a celebrity spokesperson for the cause of Iraqi antiquities. Bogdanos, who earned an M.A. in Classical Studies and a Law degree from Columbia, served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan prior to the events of September 11, 2001. Living near the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, his family narrowly escaped the devastation of the attacks, making their way on foot through the chaos and confusion uptown, like many other New Yorkers on that dreadful day. The events prompted Bogdanos to return to active military duty, and he joined a counter-terrorism force in Afghanistan, eventually becoming part of a military team that helped draft plans for the early phases of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'. 'I love the action and the challenges I experience in the military--I make no bones about that', he stated in his 2005 book describing these events, which claims to be a serious account of the investigation into the looting of the Baghdad Museum, titled Thieves of Baghdad. The book's subtitle, One Marine's Passion for Ancient Civilisations and the Journey to Recover the Worlds Greatest Stolen Treasures, however, announces the true spirit of the work: part military autobiography, part Indiana Jones-style treasure hunt, and part wartime thriller--even the Washington Post viewed the book as 'symptomatic of a new hubris in certain military and political circles'. (1) Although Bogdanos is donating the royalties from the volume (co-written with 'ghost-writer', William Patrick) to the Iraq Museum, he sold the story rights to a Hollywood production company that, in partnership with Warner Brothers, has been responsible for such contemporary releases as Terminator 3 and Superman Returns. 'This is one of the most dramatic stories of the war in Iraq', the producer of the soon-to-be-film version of Bogdanos' book explained in the showbiz journal, Variety. 'It's a compelling adventure, with intrigue, grit and pathos'. (2) Meanwhile, President Bush personally rewarded Bogdanos with the National Humanities Medal in 2005, an award that honours individuals whose work 'has deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities'. What is immediately striking about Bogdanos' book, and his range of efforts--some of them successful--to recuperate objects that were looted from the Baghdad Museum, is the way in which his mission to protect Iraqi antiquities feeds and sustains the larger premises and procedures of the American 'liberation and rescue' of Iraq. Bogdanos, paradoxically, does not oppose the conditions that gave rise to the destruction of material culture in Iraq in the first place. On the contrary, he is a loyal proponent of military culture, and he defends the American failure to protect the museum on those fateful days following the invasion on the tactical grounds that it was 'too dangerous' for American soldiers. Moreover, his personal story, proceeding from the assault on Manhattan to the retaliation in Afghanistan to the necessity of 'regime change' in Iraq, reinforces the fictional links between the events of 9/11 and the rule of Saddam Hussein, however oppressive, so actively promoted by the Bush administration. In the meantime, the real story--a human tragedy of epic proportion--remains only partially narrated: the story of damage to the ancient material culture of Iraq through looting and the destruction of archaeological sites resulting from the first Gulf War, the economic conditions caused by UN imposed sanctions, and the current occupation, now entering its sixth long year, that has unleashed a series of catastrophic civil wars in the country. Given these contexts, it seems both predictable and unacceptable that a military spokesman like Bogdanos has come to represent the face of the humanities at a national level. …

An Indian isolate of Rice tungro bacilliform virus from West Bengal (RTBV-WB) showed significant nucleotide differences in its putative promoter region when compared with a previously characterized isolate from Philippines. The transcription start site of RTBV-WB was mapped followed by assessing the activity and tissue-specificity of the full-length (FL) promoter (-231 to +645) and several of its upstream and downstream deletions by studying the expression of beta-Glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L. subsp. indica) plants at various stages of development. In addition to the expected vascular-specific expression pattern, studied by histochemical staining, GUS enzymatic assay and northern and RT-PCR analysis, two novel patterns were revealed in some of the downstream deleted versions; a non-expressing type, representing no expression at any stage in any tissue and constitutive type, representing constitutive expression at all stages in most tissues. This indicated the presence of previously unreported positive and negative cis-regulatory elements in the downstream region. The negative element and a putative enhancer region in the upstream region specifically bound to rice nuclear proteins in vitro. The FL and its deletion derivatives were also active in heterologous systems like tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and wheat (Triticum durum). Expression patterns in tobacco were different from those observed in rice suggesting the importance of upstream elements in those systems and host-specific regulation of the promoter in diverse organisms. Thus, the RTBV-WB FL promoter and its derivatives contain an array of cis-elements, which control constitutive or tissue- and development-specific gene expression in a combinatorial fashion.

Under natural conditions, plants are constantly exposed to various environmental stresses such as drought, extreme temperature, salt, UV, mechanical, or nutrient starvation. To cope with these adverse conditions, plants have evolved cascade of molecular networks to perceive and transduce the stress signals, resulting into the reprogramming of gene expression. The stress-regulated reprogramming of gene expression at post-transcriptional regulation has been emphasized with the discovery of small regulatory RNAs. Plant small RNAs represent non-coding RNAs in the size range of 20–24 nucleotides and categorized into hairpin RNAs (hpRNAs) and siRNAs. The first category includes miRNAs, lmiRNAs, and nat-miRNAs while the siRNA group includes hc-siRNA, secondary siRNAs and nat-siRNAs. Studies have shown that small RNAs, especially miRNAs, are dynamically regulated by a variety of abiotic stress conditions. Such sRNAs target a variety of downstream targets including regulatory proteins as well as metabolic enzymes and thus play pivotal role in the regulation of plant abiotic stress response. Stress appears to regulate miRNA biogenesis as well as its activity. Several miRNA gene:target pairs respond to multiple stress conditions and are conserved in various plant species indicating that miRNAs may define pivotal regulatory nodes involved in the regulation of the plant stress response. On the other hand, miRNAs also show variety-/cultivar-specific stress response indicating that they themselves are under a very dynamic regulation. The world of small RNAs is gradually unfolding and much remains to be explored, nevertheless, it has been conclusively demonstrated that small RNAs define a new dimension in the molecular regulatory network regulating the plant stress response.

It has now been almost fifteen years since Rosalind Krauss published her influential essay on the "cultural logic of the late capitalist museum" which identified a profound shift in both the identity of museums, and the increasingly corporate nature of the contexts in which they operate.1 From our vantage point today in the twenty-first century, museums appear to have completed this shift and firmly entered a new era of existence. Everywhere around us we see an increased public interest in museums, and a heightened role and renewed visibility for them in our society. Every year seems to bring either a new museum controversy, like the Sensation exhibit in Brooklyn, or a new mega-museum itself, always bigger and better than the last, like the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, or the Tate Modern in London. It is widely recognized that museums are central to urban redevelopment, and that the museum commission for an architect is considered the capstone of an architectural career. At the same time, the most recent economic downturn has led the media to increasingly speculate that museums are suffering from an identity crisis today, perched precariously at the financial brink while over-marketing their collections and sacrificing their institutional integrity.2 So what exactly is the nature of this new era, and how should we critically approach these numerous and often contradictory trends? Clearly, there is no "pure" oppositional practice vis a vis the contemporary museum, that is to say, no museological context wholly uncontaminated by the circuits of capitalism, or the history of power of the western museum. How, then, should we begin to assess the range of emergent museum practices and counter-practices within an era of globalization? What standards of judgment are appropriate for this kind of critical task? And what is the role of the museum in the new public sphere dominated by globalization? Such questions, I argue, point to the necessity of a global perspective in a critical approach to museums today, one that is not exclusive to the logic of the art museum, but rather grounded in the dynamics of a broader emergent culture of exhibiting, and situated within a historical frame. By briefly examining the international practices of the Guggenheim Museum, in particular, I offer in this essay one critical approach to the phenomenon of the "globalising museum," and suggest the value of a postcolonial perspective for a museum studies that is relevant to the twenty-first century. The McGuggenheim Effect As Krauss recognized, the new era of the late capitalist museum was perhaps best embodied by the figure of Thomas Krens, the aggressive director of the Guggenheim Museum, who became somewhat of a Donald Trump or a Bill Gates of the museum world. Krens earned this reputation during the 1990's by presiding over a major expansion of the museum, an initiative he called the "Global Guggenheim," which many feel was unprecedented in the art museum world. When Krens arrived at the Guggenheim in 1988 at the age of forty-two, with an MBA from Yale instead of the requisite doctorate in Art History, the museum consisted of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright building in New York and a small subsidiary collection in Venice. Under Krens, the Guggenheim built new branches in New York's Soho, Berlin, Las Vegas and of course Bilbao, and pursued much-hyped additional projects in Venice, Brazil, Russia, and lower Manhattan. In an interview with Forbes Magazine in 1998, Krens continued to tick off the places he wished to see more Guggenheims installed: "Two or three institutions in South America," he boasted, as well as East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.3 Such bravado also drove several blockbuster shows at the New York Guggenheim under Krens like The Art of the Motorcycle in 1998 and Giorgio Armani in 2000/2001, an exhibition consisting famously of clothing made by the fashion designer. The official sponsor of the latter was In Style magazine, but Armani himself made an individual gift-reportedly fifteen million dollars-to the museum. …