Search

The recent proliferation of broadband ocean bottom seismometer (BBOBS) deployments has generated datasets from diverse marine environments, improving our understanding of tectonics and earthquake processes. In turn, the community of scientists using this data has expanded. This growth in BBOBS data collection is likely to persist with the arrival of new seismic seafloor technologies, and continued scientific interest in marine and amphibious targets. However, the noise inherent in OBS data poses a challenge that is markedly different from that of terrestrial data. As a step towards improved understanding of the sources of variability in this noise, we present a new compilation and analysis of BBOBS noise properties from 15 years of US-led seismic deployments. We find evidence for similarity of noise properties when grouped across a variety of parameters, with groupings by seismometer type and deployment water depth yielding the most significant and interpretable results. Instrument design, that is the entire deployed package, also plays an important role, although it strongly covaries with seismometer and water depth. We find that the presence of tilt noise is primarily dependent on the type of seismometer used (covariant with a particular subset of instrument design), that compliance noise follows anticipated relationships with water depth, and that shallow, oceanic shelf environments have systematically different microseism noise properties (which are, in turn, different from instruments deployed in shallow lake environments). We discuss implications for the viability of commonly used seismic analysis techniques, and future directions for improvements in the efficiency of analysis of BBOBS data., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

We present a new compilation and analysis of broadband ocean bottom seismometer noise properties from 15 years of seismic deployments. We compile a comprehensive dataset of representative four-component (seismometer and pressure gauge) noise spectra and cross-spectral properties (coherence, phase, and admittance) for 551 unique stations spanning 18 US-led experiments. This is matched with a comprehensive compilation of metadata parameters related to instrumentation and environmental properties for each station. We systematically investigate the similarity of noise spectra by grouping them according to these metadata parameters to determine which factors are the most important in determining noise characteristics. We find evidence for improvements in similarity of noise properties when grouped across parameters, with groupings by seismometer type and deployment water depth yielding the most significant and interpretable results. Instrument design, that is the entire deployed package, also plays an important role, although it strongly covaries with seismometer and water depth. We assess the presence of traditional sources of tilt, compliance, and microseismic noise to characterize their relative role across a variety of commonly used seismic frequency bands. We find that the presence of tilt noise is primarily dependent on the type of seismometer used (covariant with a particular subset of instrument design), that compliance noise follows anticipated relationships with water depth, and that shallow, oceanic shelf environments have systematically different microseism noise properties (which are, in turn, different from instruments deployed in shallow lake environments). These observations have important implications for the viability of commonly used seismic analysis techniques. Finally, we compare spectra and coherences before and after vertical channel tilt and compliance noise removal to evaluate the efficacy and limitations of these now standard processing techniques. These findings may assist in future experiment planning and instrument development, and our newly compiled noise dataset serves as a building block for more targeted future investigations by the marine seismology community.

The traditional model of genomic data analysis - downloading data from centralized warehouses for analysis with local computing resources - is increasingly unsustainable. Not only are transfers slow and cost prohibitive, but this approach also leads to redundant and siloed compute infrastructure that makes it difficult to ensure security and compliance of protected data. The NHGRI Genomic Data Science Analysis, Visualization, and Informatics Lab-space (AnVIL; https://anvilproject.org) inverts this model, providing a unified cloud computing environment for data storage, management, and analysis. AnVIL eliminates the need for data movement, allows for active threat detection and monitoring, and provides scalable, shared computing resources that can be acquired by researchers as needed. This presents many new opportunities for collaboration and data sharing that will ultimately lead to scientific discoveries at scales not previously possible.

El presente libro recoge los desarrollos mas relevantes a nivel mundial, las experiencias de Corpoica (hoy agrosavia) y el trabajo de decadas de los coautores nacionales e internacionales que hacen parte del mismo. La documentacion sobre los avances y las perspectivas en la materia tiene la intencion de acelerar los nuevos desarrollos en aspectos aun no estudiados del control biologico y estimular el progreso en su implementacion. Esta parte comprende informacion relacionada con la Implementacion del control biologico, ademas de reflexiones y recomendaciones de los autores sobre el futuro del control biologico.

Noise exposure and hearing loss was assessed in different instrument groups of a professional ballet orchestra. Those instrument groups experiencing the highest levels of exposure also had the highest pure tone thresholds. Critically, we found that thresholds were not uniform across instrument groups. The greatest difference in thresholds was observed at test frequencies above 2000 Hz, peaking at 4000 Hz where the average difference between groups was as high as 15 dB. The differences could not be accounted for on the basis of age, years of playing, or years of playing professionally, and are thus most likely due to differences in occupational noise exposure. Nonetheless, measured losses for all instrument groups did not approach clinically significant levels. Relevance to industry By combining noise exposure and hearing loss assessment, this study provides information that extends current understanding of the occupational risks faced by professional musicians playing in orchestras. This information may be particularly useful in the design and implementation of hearing conservation programs.

In Arabidopsis, the GH3-like gene family consists of 19 members, several of which have been shown to adenylate the plant hormones jasmonic acid, indole acetic acid and salicylic acid (SA). In some cases, this adenylation has been shown to catalyze hormone conjugation to amino acids. Here we report molecular characterization of the GH3-LIKE DEFENSE GENE 1 (GDG1), a member of the GH3-like gene family, and show that GDG1 is an important component of SA-mediated defense against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Expression of GDG1 is induced earlier and to a higher level in response to avirulent pathogens compared to virulent pathogens. gdg1 null mutants are compromised in several pathogen defense responses, including activation of defense genes and resistance against virulent and avirulent bacterial pathogens. Accumulation of free and glucoside-conjugated SA (SAG) in response to pathogen infection is compromised in gdg1 mutants. All defense-related phenotypes of gdg1 can be rescued by external application of SA, suggesting that gdg1 mutants are defective in the SA-mediated defense pathway(s) and that GDG1 functions upstream of SA. Our results suggest that GDG1 contributes to both basal and resistance gene-mediated inducible defenses against P. syringae (and possibly other pathogens) by playing a critical role in regulating the levels of pathogen-inducible SA. GDG1 is allelic to the PBS3 (avrPphB susceptible) gene.

Protein kinases play important roles in relaying information from perception of a signal to the effector genes in all organisms. Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) constitute a sub-family of plant receptor-like kinases (RLKs) with more than 40 members that contain the novel C-X8-C-X2-C motif (DUF26) in the extracellular domains. Here we report molecular characterization of one member of this gene family, CRK13. Expression of this gene is induced more quickly and strongly in response to the avirulent compared with the virulent strains of Pseudomonas syringae, and peaks within 4 h after pathogen infection. In response to dexamethasone (DEX) treatment, plants expressing the CRK13 gene from a DEX-inducible promoter exhibited all tested features of pathogen defense activation, including rapid tissue collapse, accumulation of high levels of several defense-related gene transcripts including PR1, PR5 and ICS1, and accumulation of salicylic acid (SA). In addition, these plants suppressed growth of virulent pathogens by about 20-fold compared with the wild-type Col-0. CRK13-conferred pathogen resistance is salicylic acid-dependent. Gene expression analysis using custom cDNA microarrays revealed a remarkable overlap between the expression profiles of the plants overexpressing CRK13 and the plants treated with Pst DC3000 (avrRpm1). Our studies suggest that upregulation of CRK13 leads to hypersensitive response-associated cell death, and induces defense against pathogens by causing increased accumulation of salicylic acid.

Human activity recognition based on human shape dynamics was investigated in this paper. The shape dynamics describe the spatial-temporal shape deformation of a human body during its movement and thus provide important information about the identity of a human subject and the motions performed by the subject. The dynamic shapes of four subjects in five activities (digging, jogging, limping, throwing, and walking) were created via 3-D motion replication. The Paquet Shape Descriptor (PSD) was used to describe subject shapes in each frame. The principal component analysis was performed on the calculated PSDs and principal components (PCs) were used to characterize PSDs. The PSD calculation was then reasonably approximated by its significant projections in the eigen-space formed by PCs and represented by the corresponding projection coefficients. As such, the dynamic human shapes for each activity were described by these projection coefficients, which in turn, along with their derivatives were used to form the feature vectors (attribute sets) for activity classification. Data mining technology was employed with six classification methods used. Seven attribute sets were evaluated with high classification accuracy attained for most of them. The results from this investigation illustrate the great potential of human shape dynamics for activity recognition.

International audience; The tyrosine-sulfated peptides PSKα and PSY1 bind to specific leucine-rich repeat surface receptor kinases and control cell proliferation in plants. In a reverse genetic screen, we identified the phytosulfokine receptor PSKR1 as an important component of plant defense. Multiple independent loss-of-function mutants in PSKR1 are more resistant to biotrophic bacteria, show enhanced PAMP (Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern) responses and less lesion formation after infection with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. By contrast, pskr1 mutants are more susceptible to necrotrophic fungal infection with Alternaria brassicicola, show more lesion formation and fungal growth which is not observed on wild type plants. The antagonistic effect on biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogen resistance is reflected by enhanced salicylate and reduced jasmonate responses in the mutants suggesting that PSKR1 suppresses salicylate-dependent defense responses. Detailed analysis of single and multiple mutations in the three paralogous genes PSKR1, 2 and PSY1-receptor (PSY1R) determined that PSKR1 and PSY1R, but not PSKR2, have a partially redundant effect on plant immunity. In animals and plants, peptide sulfation is catalyzed by a tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase (TPST). Mutants lacking TPST show increased resistance to bacterial infection and increased susceptibility to fungal infection mimicking the triple receptor mutant phenotypes. Feeding experiments with PSKα in tpst-1 mutants partially restore the defense-related phenotypes, indicating that perception of the PSKα peptide has a direct effect on plant defense. These results suggest that the PSKR receptor subfamily integrates growth-promoting and defense signals mediated by sulfated peptides and modulates cellular plasticity to allow flexible adjustment to environmental changes.

Receptor-like kinases (RLK) are among the largest gene families encoded by plant genomes. Common structural features of plant RLKs are an extracellular ligand binding domain, a membrane spanning domain and an intracellular protein kinase domain. The largest subfamily of plant RLKs is characterized by extracellular leucine-rich repeat structures (LRR-RLK) that are known biochemical modules for mediating ligand binding and protein-protein interactions. In the frame of the Arabidopsis Functional Genomics Network (AFGN) initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG) we have conducted a comprehensive survey for and functional characterization of LRR-RLKs potentially implicated in Arabidopsis thaliana immunity to microbial infection. Arabidopsis gene expression patterns suggested an important role of this class of proteins in biotic stress adaptation. Detailed biochemical and physiological characterization of the brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1)-associated receptor kinase 1 (BAK1) revealed brassinolide-independent roles of this protein in plant immunity, in addition to its well-established function in plant development. The LRR-RLK BAK1 has further been shown to form heteromeric complexes with various other LRR-RLKs in a ligand-dependent manner, suggesting a role as adapter or co-receptor in plant receptor complexes. Here, we review the current status of BAK1 and BAK1-interacting LRR-RLKs in plant immunity.

Until recently, phytohormones were mostly studied separately. However, recent studies have suggested that the signaling pathways involved are highly interconnected. We recently reported the antagonistic effects of salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA) in the lesion mimic mutants, cpr22 and ssi4. After shifting these mutants from high humidity, where the lesion mimic phenotype is suppressed to permissive low humidity condition, both SA and ABA pathways were up-regulated. However, the increased levels of SA were able to block downstream ABA responses even though ABA signaling genes and endogenous ABA were elevated. Furthermore, these lesion mimic mutants displayed a partial ABA insensitivity with respect to germination, guard cell opening, and water loss. This increased water loss in detached mutant plants could also be mimicked by treating wild type plants with SA. An active SA analog, 5-chloro-salicylic acid also induced enhanced water loss, while an inactive analog, 4-hydroxy-benzoic acid, did not. Here, we report that the biological analogs of SA, the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) activators, BTH (benzo-(1,2,3)-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester) and BIT (1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one1,1-dioxide), did not have the same effect as SA, suggesting that SA may have additional roles to defense, and that SAR activators may not mimic all SA effects.

A number of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) lesion-mimic mutants exhibit alterations in both abiotic stress responses and pathogen resistance. One of these mutants, constitutive expresser of PR genes22 (cpr22), which has a mutation in two cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels, is a typical lesion-mimic mutant exhibiting elevated levels of salicylic acid (SA), spontaneous cell death, constitutive expression of defense-related genes, and enhanced resistance to various pathogens; the majority of its phenotypes are SA dependent. These defense responses in cpr22 are suppressed under high-humidity conditions and enhanced by low humidity. After shifting plants from high to low humidity, the cpr22 mutant, but not the wild type, showed a rapid increase in SA levels followed by an increase in abscisic acid (ABA) levels. Concomitantly, genes for ABA metabolism were up-regulated in the mutant. The expression of a subset of ABA-inducible genes, such as RD29A and KIN1/2, was down-regulated, but that of other genes, like ABI1 and HAB1, was up-regulated in cpr22 after the humidity shift. cpr22 showed reduced responsiveness to ABA not only in abiotic stress responses but also in germination and stomatal closure. Double mutant analysis with nahG plants that degrade SA indicated that these alterations in ABA signaling were attributable to elevated SA levels. Furthermore, cpr22 displayed suppressed drought responses by long-term drought stress. Taken together, these results suggest an effect of SA on ABA signaling/abiotic stress responses during the activation of defense responses in cpr22.

A gain-of-function mutation in resistance (R) gene SSI4 causes constitutive activation of defense responses, spontaneous necrotic lesion formation, enhanced resistance against virulent pathogens, and a severe dwarf phenotype. Genetic analysis revealed that ssi4-induced H2O2 accumulation and spontaneous cell death require RAR1, whereas ssi4-mediated stunting is dependent on SGT1b. By contrast, both RAR1 and SGT1b are required in a genetically additive manner for ssi4-induced disease resistance, SA accumulation, and lesion formation after pathogen infection. These data point to cooperative yet distinct functions of RAR1 and SGT1b in responses conditioned by a deregulated nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat protein. We also found that RAR1 and SGT1b together contribute to basal resistance because an ssi4 rar1 sgt1b triple mutant exhibited enhanced susceptibility to virulent pathogen infection compared with wild-type SSI4 plants. All ssi4-induced phenotypes were suppressed when plants were grown at 22°C under high relative humidity. However, low temperature (16°C) triggered ssi4-mediated cell death via an RAR1-dependent pathway even in the presence of high humidity. Thus, multiple environmental factors impact on ssi4 signaling, as has been observed for other constitutive defense mutants and R gene-triggered pathways.

In plants, the mobile signal for systemic acquired resistance (SAR), an organism-wide state of enhanced defense to subsequent infections, has been elusive. By stimulating immune responses in mosaic tobacco plants created by grafting different genetic backgrounds, we showed that the methyl salicylate (MeSA) esterase activity of salicylic acid–binding protein 2 (SABP2), which converts MeSA into salicylic acid (SA), is required for SAR signal perception in systemic tissue, the tissue that does not receive the primary (initial) infection. Moreover, in plants expressing mutant SABP2 with unregulated MeSA esterase activity in SAR signal–generating, primary infected leaves, SAR was compromised and the associated increase in MeSA levels was suppressed in primary infected leaves, their phloem exudates, and systemic leaves. SAR was also blocked when SA methyl transferase (which converts SA to MeSA) was silenced in primary infected leaves, and MeSA treatment of lower leaves induced SAR in upper untreated leaves. Therefore, we conclude that MeSA is a SAR signal in tobacco.

Background A common feature of plant defense responses is the transcriptional regulation of a large number of genes upon pathogen infection or treatment with pathogen elicitors. A large body of evidence suggests that plant WRKY transcription factors are involved in plant defense including transcriptional regulation of plant host genes in response to pathogen infection. However, there is only limited information about the roles of specific WRKY DNA-binding transcription factors in plant defense. Results We analyzed the role of the WRKY25 transcription factor from Arabidopsis in plant defense against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. WRKY25 protein recognizes the TTGACC W-box sequences and its translational fusion with green fluorescent protein is localized to the nucleus. WRKY25 expression is responsive to general environmental stress. Analysis of stress-induced WRKY25 in the defense signaling mutants npr1, sid2, ein2 and coi1 further indicated that this gene is positively regulated by the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway and negatively regulated by the jasmonic acid signaling pathway. Two independent T-DNA insertion mutants for WRKY25 supported normal growth of a virulent strain of P. syringae but developed reduced disease symptoms after infection. By contrast, Arabidopsis constitutively overexpressing WRKY25 supported enhanced growth of P. syringae and displayed increased disease symptom severity as compared to wild-type plants. These WRKY25-overexpressing plants also displayed reduced expression of the SA-regulated PR1 gene after the pathogen infection, despite normal levels of free SA. Conclusion The nuclear localization and sequence-specific DNA-binding activity support that WRKY25 functions as a transcription factor. Based on analysis of both T-DNA insertion mutants and transgenic overexpression lines, stress-induced WRKY25 functions as a negative regulator of SA-mediated defense responses to P. syringae. This proposed role is consistent with the recent finding that WRKY25 is a substrate of Arabidopsis MAP kinase 4, a repressor of SA-dependent defense responses.

Plant peptide signaling is an upcoming topic in many areas of plant research. Our recent findings show that the tyrosine sulfated peptide receptors PSKR1 and PSY1R are not only involved in growth and development but also in plant defense. They modulate salicylate- and jasmonate-dependent defense pathways in an antagonistic manner and this phenomenon might be dependent on the age and developmental stage of the plant. Here we discuss how the endogenous peptides might integrate growth, wounding, senescence and the opposing defense pathways against biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens for increased fitness of the plant.

Dynamic human shape description and characterisation was investigated in this paper. The dynamic shapes of four subjects in five activities (digging, jogging, limping, throwing, and walking) were created via 3D motion replication. The Paquet shape descriptor (PSD) was used to describe subject shapes in each frame. The unique features of dynamic human shapes were revealed from the observations of the 3D plots of PSDs. The principal component analysis was performed on the calculated PSDs and principal components (PCs) were used to characterise PSDs. The PSD calculation was then reasonably approximated by its significant projections in the eigenspace formed by PCs and represented by the corresponding projection coefficients. As such, the dynamic human shapes for each activity were described by these projection coefficients. To demonstrate potential applications of shape dynamics, a preliminary study was performed on using projection coefficients for activity classification.