Evaluation of a Culturally Responsive Mentorship Education Program for the Advisers of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Program Graduate Students.

Effective mentorship is critical to the success of trainees in research career pathways, significantly impacting their research productivity, academic and research self-efficacy, and career satisfaction. Research faculty may be unaware of or unprepared to address mentor-mentee dynamics in mentoring relationships, especially those that go beyond traditional scientific skill development. Addressing mentorship dynamics can be even more challenging for mentors from well-represented backgrounds working with mentees from historically excluded racial/ethnic groups. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports programmatic interventions, like the Mentorship Skills Development (MSD) course, an innovative program that aims to advance the mentorship competencies and cultural diversity awareness of mentors. Between 2015 and 2020, more than 200 faculty mentors participated in the MSD. Quantitative and qualitative data reveal significant gains in mentorship skills and cultural awareness, with mentors reporting increases in their confidence to have conversations around race and culture with their mentees. More than 85% reported actual or intended changes to their cultural responsiveness or mentorship behaviors. Importantly, behavioral changes were also observed by their mentees. These data indicate that culturally responsive mentorship education can increase knowledge and efficacy in effective mentorship practices and improve mentorship experiences of both mentors and mentees.

Effect of elevated pCO2 on metabolic responses of porcelain crab (Petrolisthes cinctipes) Larvae exposed to subsequent salinity stress.

Future climate change is predicted to alter the physical characteristics of oceans and estuaries, including pH, temperature, oxygen, and salinity. Investigating how species react to the influence of such multiple stressors is crucial for assessing how future environmental change will alter marine ecosystems. The timing of multiple stressors can also be important, since in some cases stressors arise simultaneously, while in others they occur in rapid succession. In this study, we investigated the effects of elevated pCO2 on oxygen consumption by larvae of the intertidal porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes when exposed to subsequent salinity stress. Such an exposure mimics how larvae under future acidified conditions will likely experience sudden runoff events such as those that occur seasonally along portions of the west coast of the U.S. and in other temperate systems, or how larvae encounter hypersaline waters when crossing density gradients via directed swimming. We raised larvae in the laboratory under ambient and predicted future pCO2 levels (385 and 1000 µatm) for 10 days, and then moved them to seawater at ambient pCO2 but with decreased, ambient, or elevated salinity, to monitor their respiration. While larvae raised under elevated pCO2 or exposed to stressful salinity conditions alone did not exhibit higher respiration rates than larvae held in ambient conditions, larvae exposed to elevated pCO2 followed by stressful salinity conditions consumed more oxygen. These results show that even when multiple stressors act sequentially rather than simultaneously, they can retain their capacity to detrimentally affect organisms.

Silverleaf whitefly induces salicylic acid defenses and suppresses effectual jasmonic acid defenses.

The basal defenses important in curtailing the development of the phloem-feeding silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci type B; SLWF) on Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) were investigated. Sentinel defense gene RNAs were monitored in SLWF-infested and control plants. Salicylic acid (SA)-responsive gene transcripts accumulated locally (PR1, BGL2, PR5, SID2, EDS5, PAD4) and systemically (PR1, BGL2, PR5) during SLWF nymph feeding. In contrast, jasmonic acid (JA)- and ethylene-dependent RNAs (PDF1.2, VSP1, HEL, THI2.1, FAD3, ERS1, ERF1) were repressed or not modulated in SLWF-infested leaves. To test for a role of SA and JA pathways in basal defense, SLWF development on mutant and transgenic lines that constitutively activate or impair defense pathways was determined. By monitoring the percentage of SLWF nymphs in each instar, we show that mutants that activate SA defenses (cim10) or impair JA defenses (coi1) accelerated SLWF nymphal development. Reciprocally, mutants that activate JA defenses (cev1) or impair SA defenses (npr1, NahG) slowed SLWF nymphal development. Furthermore, when npr1 plants, which do not activate downstream SA defenses, were treated with methyl jasmonate, a dramatic delay in nymph development was observed. Collectively, these results showed that SLWF-repressed, JA-regulated defenses were associated with basal defense to the SLWF.