The behavior and/or internal activities of a microorganism can be simulated using a model of the microorganism. Such simulations can be used to determine the efficacy of treatments, disinfectants, antibiotics, chemotherapies, or other methods of interacting with the microorganism, or to provide some other information about the microorganism. Systems and methods are provided herein for fitting, refining, or otherwise improving such models in an automated fashion. Such systems and methods include performing whole-cell experiments to determine a correspondence between the predictions of such models and the actual behavior of samples of the microorganism. Such systems and methods also include, based on such determined correspondences, directly assessing determined discrete sets of properties of the microorganism and/or of constituents of the microorganism and updating parameters of the model corresponding to the properties of the discrete set such that the overall accuracy of the model is improved.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for screening natural products such as secondary metabolites produced by engineered microbial strains.

Methods for identifying animals that are genetically superior, drugs, nutritional strategies, or physiological manipulations that improve feed efficiency or productivity of animals, e.g., selecting animals that are genetically superior for feed efficiency or productivity based on metabolic rates of particular tissues, wherein metabolic rates of certain tissues such as skeletal muscle are inversely proportional to feed efficiency, while metabolic rates of other tissues such as mammary gland are directly proportional to milk production. Thus, animals with low skeletal muscle metabolic rates are generally more feed efficient, e.g., gain more weight per unit of food. The methods herein may be used to improve the genetics, nutrition, and handling or animals more efficiently produced animal products, e.g., meat production, milk, production, egg production, wool production, etc. The methods herein may also be used to determine estimated breeding values of animals for feed efficiency, growth, or production.

The invention relates to a method for determining the level of transgene zygosity in a poaceae seed, the transgene being genetically linked to a gene coding for a fluorescent protein (FP protein) under the control of a promoter operative in the endosperm, comprising the step of exposing the endosperm of the seed to a wavelength exciting the FP protein, and measuring the intensity of the emitted fluorescence.

The present invention pertains to plant additives capable of alleviating phosphate starvation symptoms in plants and promoting the growth of phosphate deprived plants. These plant additives are molecules comprising the group of formula. ##STR00001##

A single chirality single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), and combinations thereof, can be used to detect trace levels of chemical compounds in vivo with high selectivity.

Systems and methods are disclosed to determine that a cannabis plant has been cultivated under desired cultivation conditions. Quantitative processes are disclosed, based on stable carbon isotope ratio analysis, and using modeling constraints and Bayesian approaches to produce a likelihood that a cannabis plant was cultivated under desired conditions (e.g., indoors), and provide a quantitative estimate of the average CO.sub.2 concentration in the growth environment.

A method of screening for a plant defense activator, which enhances an immune response of a plant, from at least one candidate substance includes: contacting a plant cell in which a jasmonic acid-dependent defense pathway and a salicylic acid-dependent defense pathway of a plant defense system are capable of working independently from each other, with a candidate substance; contacting the plant cell with a trigger material that induces an immune response; and assaying the plant cell after contacting with the trigger material based on an index representing an immune response, to select a target substance that enhances an immune response of the plant. A method of enhancing an immune response of a plant includes use of a specific compound, and a plant immune response enhancer includes the specific compound.

The present disclosure relates to a method for discovering effective bioactive compounds, based on plant developmental biology, and aims to discover a lead bioactive compound for new drugs by repeating screening based on phenotypes of a plant as a marker on the basis of plant developmental biology. To this end, the present disclosure provides a method for discovering effective bioactive compounds, and includes screening candidates for developing a new drug by using unique phenotypes as a marker shown by a plant when it is grown with a specific material.

A method is provided for detecting a polypeptide of interest in a plant without the use of a reference standard. The method comprises the steps of obtaining a plant expressing the polypeptide of interest and a negative control plant that does not express the polypeptide of interest, and analyzing a sample from each in an information-dependent acquisition (IDA) method. A method is also provided for determining the relative expression level of a polypeptide of interest in a plurality of plants without the use of a reference standard. This method comprises the steps of obtaining a plurality of plants expressing the polypeptide of interest and a negative control plant that does not express the polypeptide of interest, analyzing samples from each in an IDA method, and determining the relative expression level of the polypeptide in each of the plurality of plants.