Christianson, J. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2025

A controlled environment assay for the rapid evaluation of verticillium stripe resistance in canola

Verticillium stripe disease is an emerging threat to canola production in Western Canada. Accurately assessing verticillium stripe resistance in breeding germplasm collections is crucial for identifying sources of genetic resistance. Currently, field phenotyping is the most widely used method for evaluating verticillium stripe resistance; however, achieving uniform disease pressure under field conditions presents significant challenges. Here we report a novel controlled environment (CE) soil-less assay for the rapid evaluation of verticillium stripe resistance in canola. The CE results were validated in a field trial which showed a strong correlation between the field data and the CE results. This cost-effective and time-efficient assay enables accurate assessment of verticillium stripe symptoms in a one-month testing cycle.

pathology↗

bioRxiv2017

Insular Cortex Mediates Approach And Avoidance Responses To Social Affective Stimuli

Social animals detect the affective states of others and utilize this information to orchestrate appropriate social interactions. Social affective behaviors include cooperation, reproductive acts and avoiding sick individuals. In a social affective behavioral test in which experimental adult male rats were given the choice to interact with either naive or stressed conspecifics, the experimental rats demonstrated both approach and avoidant behaviors towards the conspecific, depending upon the age of the conspecific; experimental adult rats approached the stressed juvenile but avoided the stressed adult. Optogenetic inhibition of the insular cortex, a region anatomically positioned to contribute to social cognition, disrupted these behaviors. Receptors for the social nonapeptide oxytocin (OT) are found in high density within the insular cortex and here oxytocin increased intrinsic excitability and synaptic efficacy in acute insular cortex slices. Blockade of oxytocin receptors (OTRs) in the insula eliminated the effect of conspecific stress on approach behavior, while insular administration of OT recapitulated the behaviors typically observed in response to stressed conspecifics. Network analysis using Fos immunoreactivity identified functional connectivity between the insular cortex and the network of regions involved in social decision making. These results implicate insular cortex as a novel target of OT and suggest that insula is a key component in the circuit underlying age-dependent social responses to stressed conspecifics.

neuroscience↗