The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), also known as the National Agricultural Research Center, is a unit of the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It is located in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, with sections within the Beltsville census-designated place. The BARC is named for Henry A. Wallace, former United States vice president and secretary of agriculture. BARC houses the Abraham Lincoln Building of the National Agricultural Library. Among its research programs are Air Quality; Animal Health; Crop Production; Crop Protection and Quarantine; Food Animal Production; Food Safety; Global Change; Human Nutrition; Integrated Farming Systems; Manure and Byproduct Utilization; Methyl Bromide Alternatives; Plant Biological and Molecular Processes; Plant Diseases; Plant Genetic Resources, Genomics, and Genetic Improvement; Quality and Utilization of Agricultural Products; Rangeland, Pasture, and Forages; Soil Resource Management; Veterinary, Medical, and Urban Entomology; and Water Quality and Management. The center's Harvest for the Hungry program donates about 75,000 pounds (34 metric tons) of fruits and vegetables each year for distribution to local charities, in conjunction with volunteers from the community who do much of the labor of harvesting. Each February, BARC hosts the Washington's Birthday Marathon, the eighth oldest marathon in the United States. During the tornado outbreak of September 24, 2001, the BARC facilities sustained extensive damage as the result of an F3 tornado.
Soybean (Glycine max) plants counteract soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines Ichinohe) infection through an impairment of soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) attachment protein (α-SNAP) - NSF interactions and vesicular trafficking leading to cellular toxicity in response to nematode feeding. Through the use of a bi-parental mapping population from a cross between the SCN-resistant soybean cultivars Pickett × Peking, a major QTL on chromosome 14 was mapped to a confidence interval containing the GmSNAP14 gene. SCN-resistant genotypes were found to carry one of two variant GmSNAP14 alleles harboring either a deletion or an insertion in GmSNAP14. Expression of full-length transcripts was absent or markedly lower in plants carrying these alleles when compared to susceptible plants. Additionally, the generation of deleted and/or alternatively spliced isoforms coding for GmSNAP14 C-terminal variant proteins was pronounced in resistant plants, suggesting that SCN resistance may result from a combination of diminished GmSNAP14 expression and GmSNAP14 protein variants. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of GmSNAP14 enhanced resistance to SCN, consistent with susceptibility gene behavior indicating GmSNAP14 as a potential nematode virulence target. Our findings can be leveraged through the use of genome editing and conventional breeding techniques utilizing native alleles to develop resistant soybean cultivars.
This study investigates green-synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) via lemon balm extract and their incorporation into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers for food packaging applications. UV-Vis spectroscopy indicates the successful formation of CuONPs, characterized by a characteristic absorption peak at 250–350 nm and minimal aggregation. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis revealed an intense emission peak at 350–450 nm, indicating the presence of oxygen vacancies that enhance photocatalytic activity and reactive oxygen species generation. FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed Cu–O stretching vibrations at 542–588 cm⁻¹ and hydroxyl groups at 3398–3451 cm⁻¹, demonstrating the role of phenolic substances as reducing and capping agents. XRD analysis confirmed phase-pure monoclinic CuONPs with the most intense peak at 2θ = 35.5° corresponding to the (200) plane. TEM revealed rod-shaped nanoparticles with diameters of 10.6–17.7 nm, while SEM showed particles of 30–50 nm. EDX spectroscopy validated elemental composition with no impurities detected. Incorporation of CuONPs into PAN nanofibers at 0.3, 0.7, and 1.0 wt.
Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic protozoan causing substantial waterborne diarrheal disease, yet its genetic diversity and population structure remain under-characterized in many endemic regions. This study examined 451 diarrheic children using qPCR targeting the SSU rRNA gene and multi-locus genotyping of the tpi , gdh, and bg loci to assess prevalence, assemblage distribution, and population-genetic patterns. G. duodenalis was detected in 10.64% of children, with significantly greater prevalence in those aged 1–5 years. Assemblages A and B occurred at nearly equal frequencies, and all assemblage A isolates belonged to the human-adapted AII sub- assemblage, while assemblage B comprised diverse BIII/BIV variants. No mixed infections were detected, and animal contact did not elevate infection risk, suggesting predominantly anthroponotic transmission. Multi-locus analyses revealed striking contrasts between assemblages: assemblage A exhibited extremely low nucleotide and haplotype diversity, complete linkage disequilibrium, absence of recombination, and a highly clonal structure, whereas assemblage B displayed substantially greater polymorphism, deeper sub-structuring, elevated haplotype richness, and reticulated phylogenetic networks. AMOVA demonstrated near-complete genetic differentiation between assemblages. These findings show that assemblages A and B follow distinct evolutionary trajectories and that giardiasis transmission in this region is driven overwhelmingly by human‑to‑human spread. The strong anthroponotic signal, coupled with the high burden in children aged 1–5 and the absence of any association with animal contact, indicates that public health efforts should prioritize interrupting transmission among young children, particularly in household and childcare settings.
Complete genome sequences were determined for three uncharacterized betabaculoviruses (Baculoviridae: Lefavirales) from noctuid moth species. These viruses included Eudryas unio granulovirus 1112 (EuunGV-1112), Eudryas unio granulovirus 1229 (EuunGV-1229), and Autographa gamma granulovirus Darmstadt (AugaGV-Darmstadt). Analysis of the features and open reading frame (ORF) contents of the genome sequences indicated that all three viruses were closely related to Helicoverpa armigera granulovirus (HearGV; Betabaculovirus helarmigerae) and Xestia c-nigrum granulovirus (XecnGV; Betabaculovirus xecnigri), two betabaculoviruses that kill larvae slowly and appear to suppress alphabaculovirus replication in coinfections. Phylogenetic inference with whole genome or core gene alignments grouped the EuunGV isolates in a clade with XecnGV. This clade was contained within a larger clade with AugaGV. Pairwise nucleotide distance estimation confirmed that AugaGV and the EuunGV isolates are viruses of Betabaculovirus xecnigri. Five ORFs were found to be unique to the EuunGV/AugaGV/HearGV/XecnGV group of betabaculoviruses, though what role the products of these ORFs play in the unusual features of their pathology remains to be determined. PCR analysis of cadavers from bioassays of AugaGV and EuunGV indicated that these viruses are able to infect and replicate in larvae of Helicoverpa zea and Spodoptera frugiperda, species which are susceptible to HearGV.
Coffee frequently experiences overlapping heat and water-deficit episodes, yet combined-stress responses are not always predictable from single-stress treatments. We reconstructed public RNA-seq data for Coffea arabica cv. Icatu and Coffea canephora cv. Conilon Clone 153 (CL153) into a balanced genotype-specific design comprising two water regimes, well-watered and severe water deficit, across T25, T37, T42, and 14-day recovery stages, with three biological replicates per condition. Transcript abundance was quantified against genotype-specific references and modeled with DESeq2 using water, stage, and water-by-stage interaction terms. Interaction statistics were combined with non-additivity scores to classify genes as synergistic positive, antagonistic or buffered, or emergent only. Icatu showed a large early interaction burst at T37, with 2,680 non-additive genes dominated by synergistic-positive responses. CL153 showed only 165 non-additive genes at T37, but delayed responses at T42 and recovery, with 650 and 668 non-additive genes, respectively. Functional summaries identified a recovery-stage photosynthesis signal in CL153, whereas Icatu candidates pointed to sugar transport, thylakoid assembly, proteostasis, autophagy, vacuolar trafficking, ubiquitin/ERAD remodeling, and hormone-related regulation. These results show that coffee heat–drought responses are genotype-specific, temporally structured, and non-additive, and recovery-stage expression retained signatures of stress history.
