In a large population of patients with SCI managed using contemporary bladder techniques the incidence of upper tract calculi was 3.5%; 30% of these stones were complete or partial staghorns. Those patients with complete cord lesions, permanent indwelling catheters and vesico-ureteric reflux were at the highest risk. Stone clearance was 87% and recurrent stones occurred in 69% of patients. Struvite renal calculi continue to be a significant problem in the spinal cord injury population.
Species in the genus Cercospora cause economically devastating diseases in sugar beet, maize, rice, soy bean and other major food crops. Here we sequenced the genome of the sugar beet pathogen C. beticola and found it encodes 63 putative secondary metabolite gene clusters, including the cercosporin toxin biosynthesis (CTB) cluster. We show that the CTB gene cluster has experienced multiple duplications and horizontal transfers across a spectrum of plant pathogenic fungi, including the wide host range Colletotrichum genus as well as the rice pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. Although cercosporin biosynthesis has been thought to-date to rely on an eight gene CTB cluster, our phylogenomic analysis revealed gene collinearity adjacent to the established cluster in all CTB cluster-harboring species. We demonstrate that the CTB cluster is larger than previously recognized and includes cercosporin facilitator protein (CFP) previously shown to be involved with cercosporin auto-resistance, and four additional genes required for cercosporin biosynthesis including the final pathway enzymes that install the unusual cercosporin methylenedioxy bridge. Finally, we demonstrate production of cercosporin by Colletotrichum fioriniae, the first known cercosporin producer within this agriculturally important genus. Thus, our results provide new insight into the intricate evolution and biology of a toxin critical to agriculture and broaden the production of cercosporin to another fungal genus containing many plant pathogens of important crops worldwide.Significance StatementSpecies in the fungal genus Cercospora cause diseases in many important crops worldwide. Their success as pathogens is largely due to the secretion of cercosporin during infection. We report that the cercosporin toxin biosynthesis (CTB) cluster is ancient and was horizontally transferred to diverse fungal pathogens on an unprecedented scale. Since these analyses revealed genes adjacent to the established CTB cluster, we evaluated their role in C. beticola to show that four are necessary for cercosporin biosynthesis. Finally, we confirmed that the apple pathogen Colletotrichum fioriniae produces cercosporin, the first case outside the family Mycosphaerellaceae. Other Colletotrichum plant pathogens also harbor the CTB cluster, which points to a wider concern that this toxin may play in virulence and human health.
Three stratified clip methods for the estimation of herbage mass and its vertical distribution in grass swards were compared. The first method used a herbage‐gripping device, which held a sample from a 2 × 9 cm area while it was harvested and cut into layers in the field. For the other two methods, turfs of herbage were dug and brought into the laboratory where areas defined by 10 × 10 cm or 2 × 9 cm quadrats were cut into layers. For the comparisons, two operators collected independent samples from a sward shortly before it was cut for silage, a sward grazed by cattle and a sward grazed by sheep.
The total mass of herbage dry matter collected depended on the method used, with the herbage‐gripping device producing greater estimates than the turf quadrats in two of the swards. The different methods produced similar estimates of the vertical distribution of mass. The larger quadrat usually produced the least variable results, while the herbage‐gripping device collected samples most quickly. There were also small differences between the estimates produced by different operators. It was concluded that because the herbage‐gripping device was the most cost‐effective it would often be the most appropriate method to use. However, when a higher level of precision per quadrat is required the large quadrat, following turf collection, would be more appropriate.
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