			Home About us Contact

Visible Markers (visible + marker)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	40%
Humanities and Social Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

In other words: Language mixing, identity representations, and third space1

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 2 2008
Rakesh M. Bhatt
This paper analyzes the use of Hindi in English newspapers in India to argue that code-switching creates a discursive space , a third space (Bhabha 1994) , where two systems of identity representation converge in response to global-local tensions on the one hand, and dialogically constituted identities, formed through resistance and appropriation, on the other. The results of the analysis of data show that code-switching: (1) reflects a new socio-ideological consciousness; (2) yields a new way to negotiate and navigate between a global identity and local practices; and (3) offers a new linguistic diacritic for class-based expressions of cultural identity. Based on these results, I conclude that code-switching, as linguistic hybridity, is a third space where social actors (re-)position themselves with regard to new community-practices of speaking, reading, and writing. It is in this space that actors are presumed to have the capacity to synthesize, to transform: code-switching serves as a visible marker of this transformation. [source]

Proteomic analysis of rice plasma membrane reveals proteins involved in early defense response to bacterial blight

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 9 2007
Fang Chen
Abstract Plant plasma membrane (PM) proteins play important roles in signal transduction during defense response to an attacking pathogen. By using an improved method of PM protein preparation and PM-bound green fluorescent protein fusion protein as a visible marker, we conducted PM proteomic analysis of the rice suspension cells expressing the disease resistance gene Xa21, to identify PM components involved in the early defense response to bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae). A total of 20 regulated protein spots were observed on 2-D gels of PM fractions at 12 and 24,h after pathogen inoculation, of which some were differentially regulated between the incompatible and compatible interactions mediated by Xa21, with good correlation between biological repeats. Eleven protein spots with predicted functions in plant defense were identified by MS/MS, including nine putative PM-associated proteins H+ -ATPase, protein phosphatase, hypersensitive-induced response protein (OsHIR1), prohibitin (OsPHB2), zinc finger and C2 domain protein, universal stress protein (USP), and heat shock protein. OsHIR1 was modified by the microbal challenge, leading to two differentially accumulated protein spots. Transcript analysis showed that most of the genes were also regulated at transcriptional levels. Our study would provide a starting point for functionality of PM proteins in the rice defense. [source]

MATING DENSITY AND THE STRENGTH OF SEXUAL SELECTION AGAINST DELETERIOUS ALLELES IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

EVOLUTION, Issue 4 2008
Nathaniel P. Sharp
Deleterious alleles constantly enter populations via mutation. Their presence reduces mean fitness and may threaten population persistence. It has been suggested that sexual selection may be an efficient way by which deleterious alleles are removed from populations but there is little direct experimental evidence. Because of its potential role in mutational meltdowns, there is particular interest in whether the strength of sexual selection changes with density. For each of eight visible markers in Drosophila melanogaster we have compared the strength of sexual selection at two densities. We find evidence of strong sexual selection against most but not all of these alleles. There is no evidence that sexual selection tends to be stronger (or weaker) at high density relative to low density. In addition, we also measure the effects of these mutations on two key parameters relevant to population productivity,juvenile viability and female fecundity. In most cases, sexual selection is as strong or stronger than these other forms of selection. [source]

The Politics of Belonging: Complexities of Identity in the Catalan Borderlands

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2001
Jouni Häkli
The rise of the European nation,state system profoundly influenced the map of linguistic and cultural minorities. Catalonia in northeastern Spain is no exception. The consolidation of the Spanish and French kingdoms during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries left Catalan speakers without political and cultural sovereignty. Furthermore, in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, the Catalan homeland els Països Catalans was divided by the Franco,Spanish border. Today, Catalan culture and politics enjoy increasing latitude in both Spain and France. This has encouraged various forms of cross,border co,operation in the Catalan borderlands. It has also led many Catalan nationalists to expect still greater political autonomy. Some activists have voiced claims for independence and even the reincorporation of the Spanish (el Principat) and French Catalonias (Catalunya Nord). However, political tensions regarding the borderland's development exist between the local actors and the Spanish and French national governments, as well as between Catalan nationalists and the population at large. This article examines these tensions, first by looking at cross,border co,operation efforts in Catalonia, and second by assessing the visible markers of identity that Catalan nationalists have placed in the border landscapes. These are contrasted with the results of a survey charting the opinions and attitudes of ,ordinary' Catalans. The article argues that there are significant cleavages among Catalans, and that the era of the nation,states has left a legacy of complex loyalties at international frontiers. [source]

Transgenic maize lines with cell-type specific expression of fluorescent proteins in plastids

PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010
Amir Sattarzadeh
Summary Plastid number and morphology vary dramatically between cell types and at different developmental stages. Furthermore, in C4 plants such as maize, chloroplast ultrastructure and biochemical functions are specialized in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells, which differentiate acropetally from the proplastid form in the leaf base. To develop visible markers for maize plastids, we have created a series of stable transgenics expressing fluorescent proteins fused to either the maize ubiquitin promoter, the mesophyll-specific phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PepC) promoter, or the bundle sheath-specific Rubisco small subunit 1 (RbcS) promoter. Multiple independent events were examined and revealed that maize codon-optimized versions of YFP and GFP were particularly well expressed, and that expression was stably inherited. Plants carrying PepC promoter constructs exhibit YFP expression in mesophyll plastids and the RbcS promoter mediated expression in bundle sheath plastids. The PepC and RbcS promoter fusions also proved useful for identifying plastids in organs such as epidermis, silks, roots and trichomes. These tools will inform future plastid-related studies of wild-type and mutant maize plants and provide material from which different plastid types may be isolated. [source]