South Asians (from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) make up one quarter of the world's population and are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States. Although native South Asians share genetic and cultural risk factors with South Asians abroad, South Asians in the United States can differ in socioeconomic status, education, healthcare behaviors, attitudes, and health insurance, which can affect their risk and the treatment and outcomes of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). South Asians have higher proportional mortality rates from ASCVD compared with other Asian groups and non-Hispanic whites, in contrast to the finding that Asian Americans (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese) aggregated as a group are at lower risk of ASCVD, largely because of the lower risk observed in East Asian populations. Literature relevant to South Asian populations regarding demographics and risk factors, health behaviors, and interventions, including physical activity, diet, medications, and community strategies, is summarized. The evidence to date is that the biology of ASCVD is complex but is no different in South Asians than in any other racial/ethnic group. A majority of the risk in South Asians can be explained by the increased prevalence of known risk factors, especially those related to insulin resistance, and no unique risk factors in this population have been found. This scientific statement focuses on how ASCVD risk factors affect the South Asian population in order to make recommendations for clinical strategies to reduce disease and for directions for future research to reduce ASCVD in this population.

We show in bryophytes that abscisic acid (ABA) pretreatment of moss (Physcomitrella patens) cells confers desiccation tolerance. In angiosperms, both ABA and the transcriptional regulator ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE 3 (ABI3) are required to protect the seed during desiccation. ABA was not able to protect moss cells in stable deletion lines of ABI3 (DeltaPpabi3). Hence, moss has the same functional link between ABA, ABI3, and the desiccation tolerance phenotype that is found in angiosperms. Furthermore, we identified 22 genes that were induced during ABA pretreatment in wild-type lines. When their expression was compared with that of DeltaPpabi3 during ABA pretreatment and immediately after desiccation, a new target of ABI3 action appears to be in the recovery period.

Single-repeat R3 MYB transcription factors like CPC (CAPRICE) are known to play roles in developmental processes such as root hair differentiation and trichome initiation. However, none of the six Arabidopsis single-repeat R3 MYB members has been reported to regulate flavonoid biosynthesis. We show here that CPC is a negative regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis. In the process of using CPC to test GAL4-dependent driver lines, we observed a repression of anthocyanin synthesis upon GAL4-mediated CPC overexpression. We demonstrated that this is not due to an increase in nutrient uptake because of more root hairs. Rather, CPC expression level tightly controls anthocyanin accumulation. Microarray analysis on the whole genome showed that, of 37 000 features tested, 85 genes are repressed greater than three-fold by CPC overexpression. Of these 85, seven are late anthocyanin biosynthesis genes. Also, anthocyanin synthesis genes were shown to be down-regulated in 35S::CPC overexpression plants. Transient expression results suggest that CPC competes with the R2R3-MYB transcription factor PAP1/2, which is an activator of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes. This report adds anthocyanin biosynthesis to the set of programs that are under CPC control, indicating that this regulator is not only for developmental programs (e.g. root hairs, trichomes), but can influence anthocyanin pigment synthesis.

INTRODUCTIONThe moss Physcomitrella patens has been used as an experimental organism for more than 80 years. Within the last 15 years, its use as a model to explore plant functions has increased enormously. The ability to use gene targeting and RNA interference methods to study gene function, the availability of many tools for comparative and functional genomics (including a sequenced and assembled genome, physical and genetic maps, and more than 250,000 expressed sequence tags [ESTs]), and a dominant haploid phase that allows direct forward genetic analysis have all led to a surge of new activity. P. patens can be easily cultured and spends the majority of its life cycle in the haploid state, allowing the application of experimental techniques similar to those used in microbes and yeast. Its development is relatively simple, and it generates only a few tissues that contain a limited number of cell types. Although mosses lack vascular tissue, true roots/stems/leaves, and flowers and seeds, many signaling pathways found in angiosperms are intact in moss. For example, the phytohormones auxin, cytokinin, and abscisic acid, as well as the photomorphogenic pigments phytochrome and cryptochrome, are all interwoven into distinct but overlapping pathways and linked to clear developmental phenotypes. In addition, about one-quarter of the moss genome contains genes with no known function based on sequence motifs, raising the likelihood of successful discovery efforts to identify new and novel gene functions.

Sensors and regulatory circuits that maintain redox homeostasis play a central role in adjusting plant metabolism and development to changing environmental conditions. We report here control networks in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) that respond to photosynthetic stress. We independently subjected Arabidopsis leaves to two commonly used photosystem II inhibitors: high light (HL) and 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU). Microarray analysis of expression patterns during the period of redox adjustment to these inhibitors reveals that 20% and 8% of the transcriptome are under HL and DCMU regulation, respectively. Approximately 6% comprise a subset of genes common to both perturbations, the redox responsive genes (RRGs). A redox network was generated in an attempt to identify genes whose expression is tightly coordinated during adjustment to homeostasis, using expression of these RRGs under HL conditions. Ten subnetworks were identified from the network. Hierarchal subclustering of subnetworks responding to the DCMU stress identified novel groups of genes that were tightly controlled while adjusting to homeostasis. Upstream analysis of the promoters of the genes in these clusters revealed different motifs for each subnetwork, including motifs that were previously identified with responses to other stresses, such as light, dehydration, or abscisic acid. Functional categorization of RRGs demonstrated involvement of genes in many metabolic pathways, including several families of transcription factors, especially those in the AP2 family. Using a T-DNA insertion in one AP2 transcription factor (redox-responsive transcription factor 1 [RRTF1]) from the RRGs, we showed that the genes predicted to be within the subnetwork containing RRTF1 were changed in this insertion line (Drrtf1). Furthermore, Drrtf1 showed greater sensitivity to photosynthetic stress compared to the wild type.

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INTRODUCTIONThis article includes a series of methods for culturing the moss Physcomitrella patens at all stages of its life cycle. Gametophytes are axenically cultured on solid agar-based media and in shaken liquid cultures. For long-term storage of gametophytes, cultures are maintained on solid medium at 10°C in a very short day. Cryopreservation may also be used. Finally, sporophytes are generated by self-fertilization and sexual crossing.