University of Haifa

About: University of Haifa is a education organization based out in Haifa, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7558 authors who have published 27141 publications receiving 711629 citations. The organization is also known as: Haifa University & Universiṭat Ḥefah.

The Lexical Profile of Second Language Writing: Does It Change Over Time?

Abstract: The paper examines changes in the productive lexicon of advanced second language learners' writing over a period of one academic year. Sets of compositions of the same learners were analyzed in ter...

Microsatellite tagging of the stripe-rust resistance gene YrH52 derived from wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, and suggestive negative crossover interference on chromosome 1B

Abstract: Stripe rust caused by Puccinia striifomis West. is one of the most devastating diseases relating to wheat production. Wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, the tetraploid progenitor of cultivated wheat, has proven to be a valuable source of novel stripe-rust resistance genes for wheat breeding. For example, T. dicoccoides accessions from Mt. Hermon, Israel, are uniformly and highly resistant to stripe-rust. The main objective of the present study is to map a stripe-rust resistance gene, derived from the unique Mt. Hermon population of wild emmer, using microsatellite markers. An F2 mapping population was established by crossing stripe-rust resistant T. dicoccoides accession H52 from Mt. Hermon with the Triticum durum cultivar Langdon. The stripe-rust resistance derived from accession H52 was found to be controlled by a single dominant gene which was temporarily designated as YrH52. Out of 120 microsatellite markers tested, 109 (91%) showed polymorphism between the parental lines. Among 79 segregating microsatellite loci generated from 56 microsatellite primer pairs, nine were linked to YrH52 with recombination frequencies of 0.02–0.35, and LOD scores of 3.56–54.22. A genetic map of chromosome 1B, consisting of ten microsatellite loci and the stripe-rust resistance gene YrH52, was constructed with a total map length of 101.5 cM. YrH52 is also closely linked to RFLP marker Nor1 with a map distance of 1.4 cM and a LOD value of 29.62. Apparent negative crossover interference was observed in chromosome 1B, especially in the region spanning the centromere. Negative crossover interference may be a common characteristic of gene-rich regions or gene clusters in specific chromosomes.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and “Bilingualised” Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words

Abstract: This article examines the differences in effectiveness of 3 types of dictionaries— monolingual, bilingual, and “bilingualised” in the comprehension and production of new words by EFL learners. The participants in the research were 123 high school and university learners. The test consisted of 15 low-frequency words. Five were given with their entries from a monolingual learner's dictionary, 5 with their translations from a bilingual dictionary, and 5 with the entry from a bilingualised (or semibilingual) dictionary. The study tested participants on the comprehension of the target words and on their ability to use these words in their own sentences. The results of the experiment suggest that different dictionaries may be suitable for users with different abilities in dictionary use.

Adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing shapes transcriptome diversity in primates

Abstract: Human and chimpanzee genomes are almost identical, yet humans express higher brain capabilities. Deciphering the basis for this superiority is a long sought-after challenge. Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a widespread modification of the transcriptome. The editing level in humans is significantly higher compared with nonprimates, due to exceptional editing within the primate-specific Alu sequences, but the global editing level of nonhuman primates has not been studied so far. Here we report the sequencing of transcribed Alu sequences in humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus monkeys. We found that, on average, the editing level in the transcripts analyzed is higher in human brain compared with nonhuman primates, even where the genomic Alu structure is unmodified. Correlated editing is observed for pairs and triplets of specific adenosines along the Alu sequences. Moreover, new editable species-specific Alu insertions, subsequent to the human-chimpanzee split, are significantly enriched in genes related to neuronal functions and neurological diseases. The enhanced editing level in the human brain and the association with neuronal functions both hint at the possible contribution of A-to-I editing to the development of higher brain function. We show here that combinatorial editing is the most significant contributor to the transcriptome repertoire and suggest that Alu editing adapted by natural selection may therefore serve as an alternate information mechanism based on the binary A/I code.