Endothelium-dependent vasodilatation varies during the menstrual cycle. The endogenous estradiol may be involved in this menstrual cycle-related vasodilatation.

One of the most important themes in agricultural science is the identification of virulence factors involved in plant disease. Here, we show that a single virulence factor, tengu-su inducer (TENGU), induces witches' broom and dwarfism and is a small secreted protein of the plant-pathogenic bacterium, phytoplasma. When tengu was expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana plants, these plants showed symptoms of witches' broom and dwarfism, which are typical of phytoplasma infection. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lines expressing tengu exhibited similar symptoms, confirming the effects of tengu expression on plants. Although the localization of phytoplasma was restricted to the phloem, TENGU protein was detected in apical buds by immunohistochemical analysis, suggesting that TENGU was transported from the phloem to other cells. Microarray analyses showed that auxin-responsive genes were significantly down-regulated in the tengu-transgenic plants compared with GUS-transgenic control plants. These results suggest that TENGU inhibits auxin-related pathways, thereby affecting plant development.auxin ͉ disease symptom ͉ morphological change ͉ phytoplasma

Highlights d Coumarins alter the root microbiota and improve plant growth in iron-limiting soil d The microbiota improves plant iron nutrition via a coumarindependent mechanism d The iron-beneficial commensal trait is taxonomically widespread but strain specific d Coumarin-microbiota interaction resolves iron starvation and regulates immune response

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BACKGROUND: Obesity has been reported to be associated with coronary artery disease and other atherosclerotic diseases. Recently, evidence has accumulated indicating that intra-abdominal visceral fat accumulation contributes to atherogenesis; however, the mechanism underlying this remains to be determined. This study was undertaken to elucidate whether intra-abdominal visceral fat accumulation impairs vascular endothelial function in obese men. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty-eight obese men (body mass index (BMI) ! 26.0), aged 19±64 y (mean age 37.6 AE 1.8 y) and 23 age-matched non-obese subjects were examined. According to the ratio of the maximum thickness of preperitoneal fat to the minimum thickness of subcutaneous fat (Pmax/Smin) obtained by longitudinal ultrasound scanning in the subxiphoid region in obese men, we divided obese subjects into two categories; visceral (PmaxaSmin ! 1; n 23) and subcutaneous type (PmaxaSmin`1; n 15). To investigate endothelial function, we performed ultrasound measurement of the brachial artery diameter non-invasively both at rest and during reactive hyperaemia in the muscle distal to the brachial artery which causes endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. The brachial diameter change was also measured after sublingual administration of nitroglycerin, which causes endothelium-independent vasodilatation. Flow-mediated diameter (D) increase (%FMD; DDaD Â 100), in the subjects with visceral type obesity (3.09 AE 0.43%) was signi®cantly lower than those of the subjects with subcutaneous type obesity and non-obese subjects (7.90 AE 0.51%, 8.91 AE 0.44%, respectively, P`0.01). The magnitude of endothelium-independent vasodilatation by nitroglycerin was similar in all groups. On multiple regression analysis, the PmaxaSmin showed a signi®cant inverse correlation with %FMD. CONCLUSIONS: The subjects with visceral type obesity, rather than those with the subcutaneous type, are associated with impaired¯ow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation of the brachial artery.