Communicative and Integrative Biology最新文献

It is generally assumed that what we hear in our head is what we think and that, when we tell a thought to somebody else, the other person understands what our thought has been. This paper analyzes how we think and what happens when we communicate our thoughts verbally to others and to ourselves. The assumption that we become conscious in language is erroneous: verbal communication is only an intermediary. The conscious experience of verbal communication is a sensory phenomenon. We think through sensory images (see Part I). This natural way of thinking, is a very refined and accurate method of translating thought into consciousness. It expresses our essentially unconscious neural cognitive activity in conscious sensory images: visual thinkers 'see' what they have thought. Why humans use verbal communication to express their thoughts to themselves is difficult to understand as the verbal way is extremely limited. The complex parallel cognitive activity has to be encoded into language tokens which are positioned sequentially as a string of symbols which somehow must express something comparable. Talking to oneself is directed to an imaginary person who is assumed to be the talking person himself. This imaginary person develops with the inner voice in infants and when the child grows up, that imaginary person remains there, somebody he talks to when he thinks and to which he attributes his feelings and his actions. The imaginary person is experienced as the human Self, but actually verbalizes the thoughts of the natural - animal - Self.

Morphological traits, such as white patches, floppy ears and curly tails, are ubiquitous in domestic animals and are referred to as the 'domestication syndrome'. A commonly discussed hypothesis that has the potential to provide a unifying explanation for these traits is the 'neural crest/domestication syndrome hypothesis'. Although this hypothesis has the potential to explain most traits of the domestication syndrome, it only has an indirect connection to the reduction of brain size, which is a typical trait of domestic animals. We discuss how the expensive-tissue hypothesis might help explain brain-size reduction in domestication.

We present a general discussion concerning the wholeness of what has been called infinite awareness, but here is called Omni-local consciousness. This model of consciousness has an interconnecting structure that has both local and nonlocal features, that is, the model contains local conscious human minds and locates them within an infinite (Omni) background context of consciousness. This holistic model of Omni-local consciousness is exemplified through an examination of its internal structures of meaning, evident in the exchange relations between its two polarities: local minds and nonlocal, Omni consciousness. Following David Bohm's assertion that, 'The activity of consciousness is determined by meaning' [10, p. 102], we propose that the content of consciousness in every circumstance is always defined by the metaphysical conditions of meaning.

Multicellular organisms use transcripts and proteins as signaling molecules for cell-to-cell communication. Maize KNOTTED1 (KN1) was the first homeodomain transcription factor identified in plants, and functions in maintaining shoot stem cells. KN1 acts non-cell autonomously, and both its messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein traffic between cells through intercellular nanochannels called plasmodesmata. KN1 protein and mRNA trafficking are regulated by a chaperonin subunit and a catalytic subunit of the RNA exosome, respectively. These studies suggest that the function of KN1 in stem cell regulation requires the cell-to-cell transport of both its protein and mRNA. However, in situ hybridization experiments published 25 years ago suggested that KN1 mRNA was missing from the epidermal (L1) layer of shoot meristems, suggesting that only the KN1 protein could traffic. Here, we show evidence that KN1 mRNA is present at a low level in L1 cells of maize meristems, supporting an idea that both KN1 protein and mRNA traffic to the L1 layer. We also summarize mRNA expression patterns of KN1 homologs in diverse angiosperm species, and discuss KN1 trafficking mechanisms.

A NIMA-related protein kinase, MpNEK1, directs tip growth of rhizoids through microtubule depolymerization in a liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. The Mpnek1 knockouts were shown to develop curly and spiral rhizoids due to the fluctuated direction of growth. Still, physiological roles and mechanisms of MpNEK1-dependent rhizoid tip growth remain to be clarified. Here, we developed novel culture methods to further study rhizoid growth of M. polymorpha, in which plants were grown on vertical plates. We applied the established methods to investigate MpNEK1 function in rhizoid growth. Rhizoids of the wild-type and Mpnek1 plants grew toward the gravity. The aerial rhizoids were longer in Mpnek1 than in the wild type. When the rhizoids were grown on the surface of a cellophane sheet, rhizoid length was comparable between the wild type and Mpnek1, whereas Mpnek1 developed more rhizoids compared to the wild type. We also applied gellan gum, which is more transparent than agar, to analyze rhizoids grown in the medium. Rhizoids of Mpnek1 displayed defect on entering into the solid medium. These results suggest that Mpnek1 rhizoids have the deficiency in invasive tip growth. Thus, stable directional growth is important for rhizoids to get into the soil to anchor plant body and to adsorb water and nutrients. Collectively, our newly designed growth systems are valuable for analyzing rhizoid growth.

Cutting trees removes all parts of their photosynthetic area, which affects rhizosphere assembly. However, information regarding the underground alteration process after tree cutting is insufficient. This study aimed to observe the fate of both root exudation and the rhizosphere microbial community following tree cutting. The study included 540 Calliandra calothyrsus Meissn. The experimental layout was a completely randomized block design with 3 blocks (cutting age) × 2 (cutting and not cutting) × 180 trees. Composite soil samples were collected from trees at 0-20 cm depth and stumps at 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after cutting to observe the soil sugar content, pH, and functional group population. This study demonstrated that cutting reduced the flux of sugars below ground by 80% and caused rapid acidification (pH less than 5.0) of the soil. Total soil sugar depletion is presumed to be a mechanism by which C. calothyrsus survives and regrows after cutting. Sugar depletion affects significant shifts in the size and structure of the rhizosphere microbial community. Increasing soil acidity is another survival strategy to limit close competitor populations in the rhizosphere. This study confirms that C. calothyrsus is a proper species for developing in the coppice-harvesting-system (CHS) energy estate.