Methylation of histones on different lysine residues is dynamically added by distinct writer enzymes, interpreted by reader proteins, and removed by eraser enzymes. This epigenetic mark has widespread, dynamic roles in plant development and environmental responses. For example, histone methylation plays a key role in mediating plant responses to temperature, including alterations of flowering time. In this review, we summarize recent advances in understanding the mechanism by which histone methylation regulates these processes, and discuss the role of histone methylation in temperature responses, based on data from Arabidopsis thaliana.Polyoctopamine (POct), an amine-functionalised non-conducting polymer, as the transducer layer in an electrochemical biosensor, is presented. This polymer offers versatile covalent coupling either through thiol linker conjugation, carboxyl or aldehyde functional groups without the requirement of pre- or post-surface activation. The colorectal cancer biomarker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was selected as the target analyte, whilst an antibody and a synthetic binding protein, an Affimer, were used as distinct bioreceptors to demonstrate the versatility of polyoctopamine as a transducer polymer layer for oriented immobilisation of the bioreceptors. The electrodeposited polymer layer was characterised using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and on-sensor chemiluminescent blotting. The performance of optimised POct-based biosensors were tested in spiked human serum. Results showed that the electropolymerisation of octopamine on screen printed gold electrode generates a thin polymer film with low resistance. Close proximity of the immobilised bioreceptors to the transducer layer greatly enhanced the sensitivity detection. The sensitivity of the smaller monomeric bioreceptor (Affimer, 12.6 kDa) to detect CEA was comparable to the dimeric antibody (150 kDa) with limit of detection at 11.76 fM which is significantly lower than the basal clinical levels of 25 pM. However, the Affimer-based sensor had a narrower dynamic range compared to the immunosensor (1-100 fM vs. 1 fM - 100 nM, respectively). All electrochemical measurements were done in less than 5 min with small sample volumes (10 μl). Hence, polyoctopamine features a simple fabrication of impedimetric biosensors using amine-functionalisation technique, provides rapid response time with enhanced sensitivity and label-free detection.Whole cell biosensors (WCBs) have become prominent in many fields from environmental analysis to biomedical diagnostics thanks to advanced genetic circuit design principles. Despite increasing demand on cost effective and easy-to-use assessment methods, a considerable amount of WCBs retains certain drawbacks such as long response time, low precision and accuracy. Here, we utilized a neural network-based architecture to improve the features of WCBs and engineered a gold sensing WCB which has a long response time (18 h). Two Long-Short Term-Memory (LSTM)-based networks were integrated to assess both ON/OFF and concentration dependent states of the sensor output, respectively. We demonstrated that binary (ON/OFF) network was able to distinguish between ON/OFF states as early as 30 min with 78% accuracy and over 98% in 3 h. Furthermore, when analyzed in analog manner, we demonstrated that network can classify the raw fluorescence data into pre-defined analyte concentration groups with high precision (82%) in 3 h. This approach can be applied to a wide range of WCBs and improve rapidness, simplicity and accuracy which are the main challenges in synthetic biology enabled biosensing.Heartwater is a non-contagious tick-borne disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Data regarding the complex processes involved during pathogen-vector-host interaction during Ehrlichia ruminantium infection is lacking and could be improved with knowledge associated with gene expression changes in both the pathogen and the host. Thus, in the current study, we aimed to identify E. ruminantium genes that are up-regulated when the pathogen enters the host and before the disease is established. Identification of such genes/proteins may aid in future vaccine development strategies against heartwater.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Rapamycin.html  RNA-sequencing was used to identify E. ruminantium genes that were exclusively expressed at the tick bite site in sheep skin biopsies (SB) and in adult tick salivary glands (SG). RNA was extracted from pooled samples of the SB or SG collected at different time points during tick attachment and prior to disease manifestation. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was removed and the samples were sequenced. Several E. ruminantium genes were highly expressed in all the samples while others were exclusively expressed in each. It was concluded that E. ruminantium genes that were exclusively expressed in the SB or both SB and SG when compared to the transcriptome datasets from bovine elementary bodies (BovEBs) from cell culture may be considered as early antigenic targets of host immunity. In silico immunogenic epitope prediction analysis and preliminary characterization of selected genes in vitro using ELIspot assay showed that they could possibly be ideal targets for future vaccine development against heartwater, however, further epitope characterization is still required.This study evaluated ticks and rickettsial exposure in 220 free-ranging lowland tapirs, Tapirus terrestris, from 2006 to 2018 in selected areas of three major biomes of Brazil - Atlantic Forest, Pantanal, and Cerrado. Overall, a total of 5970 tick specimens representing the following nine species were collected from tapirs Amblyomma brasiliense, Amblyomma coelebs, Amblyomma dubitatum, Amblyomma ovale, Amblyomma parvum, Amblyomma sculptum, Amblyomma triste, Haemaphysalis juxtakochi, and Rhipicephalus microplus. Amblyomma sculptum was the most prevalent and abundant tick species in all three biomes; however, mean intensity values for A. sculptum were significantly lower in Atlantic Forest than in the Pantanal or Cerrado, and at the same time, statistically similar among tapirs from Pantanal and Cerrado. Contrastingly, mean intensity values for A. coelebs were significantly higher in the Atlantic Forest than in the other biomes. The remaining tick species were collected in lower numbers, or were exclusive for one biome, e.