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The Triassic Katberg Formation has played a central role in interpreting the end-Permian ecosystem crisis, as part of a hypothesis of aridification, vegetation loss, and sediment release in continental settings. We use drone images of an inaccessible cliff near Bethulie to investigate the Swartberg member, a braided-fluvial body 45 m thick, describing remote outcrop facies to identify geomorphic units and using spatial analysis to estimate their proportions in 2-D sections. Here the Swartberg member comprises three channel belts within shallow valleys, the lowermost of which is ∼500 m wide and incised into lacustrine deposits. The component channel bodies consist mainly of trough cross-bedded sand sheets (48%) and channel-scour fills (28%). Recognizable bars (15%) comprise unit bars with high-angle slipfaces and mounded bar cores (components of mid-channel compound bars), bars built around vegetation, and bank-attached bars in discrete, probably low-sinuosity conduits. Abandoned channels constitute 8% and 16% of flow-parallel and -transverse sections, respectively. When corrected for compaction, the average thalweg depth of the larger channels is 3.9 m, with an average bankfull width of 84 m, scaling broadly with the relief of the bars and comparable in scale to the Platte and South Saskatchewan rivers of North America. The fluvial style implies perennial but seasonably variable flow in a vegetated landscape with a humid paleoclimate. The northward paleoflow accords with regional paleoflow patterns and deposition on a megafan sourced in the Cape Fold Belt, where the Swartberg member represents the avulsion of a major transverse-flowing river.

U-Pb dating of in situ and reworked pedogenic carbonate nodules from below the base of the Swartberg member yielded Anisian to Ladinian ages (Middle Triassic), younger than the previously assumed Early Triassic age and implying that considerable gaps in time exist in the succession. An assessment of the interval spanning the lower to mid Katberg Formation is needed to reevaluate the inferred unidirectional trend in fluvial style, aridification, and fossil distributions in this condensed, disjunct succession.

 

Imaging spectroscopy has the potential to map closely related plant taxa at landscape scales. Although spectral investigations at the leaf and canopy levels have revealed relationships between phylogeny and reflectance, understanding how spectra differ across, and are inherited from, genotypes of a single species has received less attention. We used a common-garden population of four varieties of the keystone canopy tree,Metrosideros polymorpha, from Hawaii Island and four F1-hybrid genotypes derived from controlled crosses to determine if reflectance spectra discriminate sympatric, conspecific varieties of this species and their hybrids. With a single exception, pairwise comparisons of leaf reflectance patterns successfully distinguished varieties ofM. polymorphaon Hawaii Island as well as populations of the same variety from different islands. Further, spectral variability within a single variety from Hawaii Island and the older island of Oahu was greater than that observed among the four varieties on Hawaii Island. F1 hybrids most frequently displayed leaf spectral patterns intermediate to those of their parent taxa. Spectral reflectance patterns distinguished each of two of the hybrid genotypes from one of their parent varieties, indicating that classifying hybrids may be possible, particularly if sample sizes are increased. This work quantifies a baseline in spectral variability for an endemic Hawaiian tree species and advances the use of imaging spectroscopy in biodiversity studies at the genetic level.

 

Multiplex assays often rely on expensive sensors incorporating covalently linked fluorescent dyes. Herein, we developed a self-assembling aptamer-based multiplex assay. This multiplex approach utilizes a previously established split aptamer sensor in conjugation with a novel split aptamer sensor based upon a malachite green DNA aptamer. This system was capable of simultaneous fluorescent detection of two SARS COVID-19-related sequences in one sample with individual sensors that possesses a limit of detection (LOD) in the low nM range. Optimization of the Split Malachite Green (SMG) sensor yielded a minimized aptamer construct, Mini-MG, capable of inducing fluorescence of malachite green in both a DNA hairpin and sensor format. 

ABSTRACT Root hair initiation is a highly regulated aspect of root development. The plant hormone ethylene and its precursor, 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, induce formation and elongation of root hairs. Using confocal microscopy paired with redox biosensors and dyes, we demonstrated that treatments that elevate ethylene levels lead to increased hydrogen peroxide accumulation in hair cells prior to root hair formation. In the ethylene-insensitive receptor mutant, etr1-3, and the signaling double mutant, ein3eil1, the increase in root hair number or reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation after ACC and ethylene treatment was lost. Conversely, etr1-7, a constitutive ethylene signaling receptor mutant, has increased root hair formation and ROS accumulation, similar to ethylene-treated Col-0 seedlings. The caprice and werewolf transcription factor mutants have decreased and elevated ROS levels, respectively, which are correlated with levels of root hair initiation. The rhd2-6 mutant, with a defect in the gene encoding the ROS-synthesizing RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOG C (RBOHC), and the prx44-2 mutant, which is defective in a class III peroxidase, showed impaired ethylene-dependent ROS synthesis and root hair formation via EIN3EIL1-dependent transcriptional regulation. Together, these results indicate that ethylene increases ROS accumulation through RBOHC and PRX44 to drive root hair formation. 

A common challenge in developmental research is the amount of incomplete and missing data that occurs from respondents failing to complete tasks or questionnaires, as well as from disengaging from the study (i.e., attrition). This missingness can lead to biases in parameter estimates and, hence, in the interpretation of findings. These biases can be addressed through statistical techniques that adjust for missing data, such as multiple imputation. Although multiple imputation is highly effective, it has not been widely adopted by developmental scientists given barriers such as lack of training or misconceptions about imputation methods. Utilizing default methods within statistical software programs like listwise deletion is common but may introduce additional bias. This manuscript is intended to provide practical guidelines for developmental researchers to follow when examining their data for missingness, making decisions about how to handle that missingness and reporting the extent of missing data biases and specific multiple imputation procedures in publications.