A multiplex polymerase chain reaction for the simultaneous detection of the virus and satellite components associated with cotton leaf curl begomovirus disease complex.

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is caused by a complex of several whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci Genn.)-transmitted begomovirus species, Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV), Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus (CLCuKoV) and Cotton leaf curl Alabad virus (CLCuAlV) by individual of mixed infection, associated with Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMB) and several alphasatellites. The disease causes major economic losses in cotton in the Indian subcontinent. For monitoring of epidemiology and development of management strategies of CLCuD, a quick, sensitive and effective method capable of detecting all the begomovirus, betasatellite and alphasatellite components associated with CLCuD is required. With this objective, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) assay was developed for the simultaneous detection of these three viral components associated with CLCuD of cotton. Primers for each component were designed based on the retrieved reference sequences from the GenBank. Each pair of primers, designed for each of the respective component, was evaluated for its sensitivity and specificity in both the component-specific simplex polymerase chain reaction (sPCR) and mPCR assay. This report identified three viral component-specific pairs of primers which, in all combinations, amplified simultaneously the CP gene (780 nts) of the begomovirus, the ßC1gene (375 nts) of the betasatellite and the Rep gene (452 nts) of the alphasatellite associated with CLCuD in the mPCR assays. The amplified products specific to each component produced by these assays were identified based on their amplicon sizes, and the identities of the viral components amplified were confirmed by cloning and sequencing the amplicons obtained in the mPCR. The mPCR assay was validated using naturally CLCuD-affected cotton plants of the fields. This assay will be useful for rapid detection of CLCuD-associated begomovirus, betasatellite and alphasatellite DNA in field samples, extensive resistance screening in resistance breeding programme, and also monitoring epidemiology for detection of virus and its components when symptoms are mild or absent in the plant.

Identifying the components of facial emotion and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenics, anxiety neurotics, and nonpatient control subjects were asked to identify the emotion expressed in partial (upper-middle-lower) and full facial expression of four negative emotions: sadness, fear, anger and disgust. Groups did not differ in the ability to identify emotions from partial facial expressions, however, schizophrenics were significantly poorer than anxiety neurotics and controls in identifying emotions from full facial expressions.

Perceptual skill in decoding facial affect.

The perceptual skill in identifying the briefly exposed photographs of facial affect was examined with 75 men and 75 women who were asked to judge six cross-culturally recognizable slides, each expressing one of the six emotions exposed at three different time intervals. Each subject was required to give six judgments and the number of correct responses was considered his score. Analysis by a 3 X 2 factorial design indicated the longer the exposure of the photograph the better the recognition. Although there was no over-all sex difference, analysis by emotions confirmed significantly better accuracy by the women judging 'sadness' than by men, and men were more accurate for 'anger' than were women.

Non-essentiality of the recA- mutation in the phenomenon of bacteriophage M13-induced elimination of F' factors.

The elimination of F' factors promoted by coliphage M13 infection can occur in recA(+) as well as recA(-) merodiploid strains of Escherichia coli K-12.