A novel network controller for use with a digital cable headend capable of monitoring and controlling set top terminals in a television program delivery system is described. The invention relates to methods and apparatus for a network controller that manages a configuration of set top terminals in a program delivery system. The invention is particularly useful in program delivery systems with hundreds of channels of programming, a menu driven program selection system, and a program control information signal that carries data and identifies available program choices. Specifically, the invention modifies a program control information signal at the cable headend before the modified signal is transmitted to each set top terminal. This signal is used with polling methods to receive upstream data from the set top terminals. The invention initiates such upstream data retrieval, gathers all data received and compiles viewer demographics information and programs watched information. The invention processes this data and information to generate packages of advertisements, as well as account and billing reports, targeted towards each set top terminal. The invention uses upstream data reception hardware, databases and processing hardware and software to accomplish these functions.

Network controller for cable television delivery systems

Jasmonate and salicylate as global signals for defense gene expression

An Arabidopsis thaliana line that is mutant for the R2R3 MYB gene, AtMYB4, shows enhanced levels of sinapate esters in its leaves. The mutant line is more tolerant of UV-B irradiation than wild type. The increase in sinapate ester accumulation in the mutant is associated with an enhanced expression of the gene encoding cinnamate 4-hydroxylase, which appears to be the principal target of AtMYB4 and an effective rate limiting step in the synthesis of sinapate ester sunscreens. AtMYB4 expression is downregulated by exposure to UV-B light, indicating that derepression is an important mechanism for acclimation to UV-B in A.thaliana. The response of target genes to AtMYB4 repression is dose dependent, a feature that operates under physiological conditions to reinforce the silencing effect of AtMYB4 at high activity. AtMYB4 works as a repressor of target gene expression and includes a repression domain. It belongs to a novel group of plant R2R3 MYB proteins involved in transcriptional silencing. The balance between MYB activators and repressors on common target promoters may provide extra flexibility in transcriptional control.

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Transcriptional repression by AtMYB4 controls production of UV-protecting sunscreens in Arabidopsis.

Vascular plants appeared ~410 million years ago, then diverged into several lineages of which only two survive: the euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants) and the lycophytes. We report here the genome sequence of the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii (Selaginella), the first nonseed vascular plant genome reported. By comparing gene content in evolutionarily diverse taxa, we found that the transition from a gametophyte- to a sporophyte-dominated life cycle required far fewer new genes than the transition from a nonseed vascular to a flowering plant, whereas secondary metabolic genes expanded extensively and in parallel in the lycophyte and angiosperm lineages. Selaginella differs in posttranscriptional gene regulation, including small RNA regulation of repetitive elements, an absence of the trans-acting small interfering RNA pathway, and extensive RNA editing of organellar genes.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/332/6032/960.full.pdf

The Selaginella genome identifies genetic changes associated with the evolution of vascular plants.

Lignin, one of the most abundant terrestrial biopolymers, is indispensable for plant structure and defense. With the availability of the full genome sequence, large collections of insertion mutants, and functional genomics tools, Arabidopsis constitutes an excellent model system to profoundly unravel the monolignol biosynthetic pathway. In a genome-wide bioinformatics survey of the Arabidopsis genome, 34 candidate genes were annotated that encode genes homologous to the 10 presently known enzymes of the monolignol biosynthesis pathway, nine of which have not been described before. By combining evolutionary analysis of these 10 gene families with in silico promoter analysis and expression data (from a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis on an extensive tissue panel, mining of expressed sequence tags from publicly available resources, and assembling expression data from literature), 12 genes could be pinpointed as the most likely candidates for a role in vascular lignification. Furthermore, a possible novel link was detected between the presence of the AC regulatory promoter element and the biosynthesis of G lignin during vascular development. Together, these data describe the full complement of monolignol biosynthesis genes in Arabidopsis, provide a unified nomenclature, and serve as a basis for further functional studies.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/133/3/1051.full.pdf

Genome-wide characterization of the lignification toolbox in Arabidopsis.

We have isolated a cDNA for a cytochrome P450, cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H), of Arabidopsis thaliana using a C4H cDNA from mung bean as a hybridization probe. The deduced amino acid sequence is 84.7% identical to that of mung bean C4H and therefore was designated CYP73A5. The CYP73A5 protein was expressed in insect cells using the baculovirus expression system and when reconstituted with lipid and NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase resulted in C4H activity with a specific activity of 68 nmol min-1 nmol-1 P450. Southern blot analysis revealed that CYP73A5 is a single-copy gene in Arabidopsis. C4H (CYP73A5) expression was apparently coordinated in Arabidopsis with both PAL1 and 4CL in response to light and wounding. Although the light induction of CHS followed a time course similar to that observed with C4H, no induction of CHS was detected upon wounding. On the other hand, the C4H expression patterns exhibited no significant coordination with those of PAL2 and PAL3. A C4H promoter region of 907 bp contained all of the three cis-acting elements (boxes P, A, and L) conserved among the PAL and 4CL genes so far reported as controlling expression.

Isolation of a cDNA and a Genomic Clone Encoding Cinnamate 4-Hydroxylase from Arabidopsis and Its Expression Manner in Planta

Molecular cloning and sequencing of a cDNA encoding mung bean cytochrome P450 (P450C4H) possessing cinnamate 4-hydroxylase activity.

Nitrate reductase was purified about 3,000-fold from spinach leaves by chromatography on butyl Toyopearl 650-M, hydroxyapatite-brushite, and blue Sepharose CL-6B columns. The purified enzyme yielded a single protein band upon polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nondenaturing conditions. This band also gave a positive stain for reduced methylviologen-nitrate reductase activity. The specific NADH-nitrate reductase activities of the purified preparations varied from 80 to 130 units per milligram protein. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation and gel filtration experiments gave a sedimentation coefficient of 10.5 S and a Stokes radius of 6.3 nanometers, respectively. From these values, a molecular weight of 270,000 ± 40,000 was estimated for the native reductase. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the denatured enzyme yielded a subunit band having a molecular weight of 114,000 together with a very faint band possessing a somewhat smaller molecular weight. It is concluded that spinach nitrate reductase is composed of two identical subunits possessing a molecular weight of 110,000 to 120,000.

Spinach nitrate reductase: purification, molecular weight, and subunit composition.

A compound of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R1 is a hydrogen atom, a C1 -C5 alkyl group, a C3 -C4 alkenyl group, a C3 -C4 alkynyl group, a C1 -C4 haloalkyl group, a C3 -C4 haloalkenyl group, a C3 -C4 haloalkynyl group, a C1 -C2 alkoxy(C1 -C2)alkyl group or a C1 -C2 alkoxy(C1 -C2)alkoxy(C1 -C2)alkyl group, R2 and R3 are, the same or different, each a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a C1 -C3 alkyl group or a phenyl group, X is a hydrogen atom, a chlorine atom or a fluorine atom and n is an integer of 0 or 1, which is useful as a herbicide.

Tetrahydrophthalimides and their herbicidal use

A compound of the formula:
 
wherein R 1 is a hydrogen atom, a C 1 -C 5 alkyl group, a C 3 -C 4 alkenyl group, a C 3 -C 4 alkynyl group, a C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl group, a C 3 -C 4 haloalkenyl group, a C 3 -C 4 haloalkynyl group, a C 1 -C 2 alkoxy(C 1 -C 2 )alkyl group or a C 1 -C 2 -alkoxy(C1-C 2 )-alkoxy (C 1 -C 2 )alkyl group, R 2 and R 3 are, the same or different, each a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a C 1 -C 3 alkyl group or a phenyl group, X is a hydrogen atom, a chlorine atom or a fluorine atom and n is an integer of 0 or 1, which is useful as a herbicide.

Ryo Sato

Papers

Isolation of a cDNA and a Genomic Clone Encoding Cinnamate 4-Hydroxylase from Arabidopsis and Its Expression Manner in Planta

Molecular cloning and sequencing of a cDNA encoding mung bean cytochrome P450 (P450C4H) possessing cinnamate 4-hydroxylase activity.

Spinach nitrate reductase: purification, molecular weight, and subunit composition.

Tetrahydrophthalimides and their herbicidal use

Tetrahydrophtalimides, and their production and use