Transcriptome-based identification of water-deficit stress responsive genes in the tea plant, Camellia sinensis

Tony, Maritim,Samson, Kamunya,Charles, Mwendia,Paul, Mireji,Richard, Muoki,Mark, Wamalwa,Stomeo, Francesca,Sarah, Schaack,Martina, Kyalo,Francis, Wachira The Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology 2016 식물생명공학회지 Vol.43 No.3

A study aimed at identifying putative drought responsive genes that confer tolerance to water stress deficit in tea plants was conducted in a 'rain-out shelter' using potted plants. Eighteen months old drought tolerant and susceptible tea cultivars were each separately exposed to water stress or control conditions of 18 or 34% soil moisture content, respectively, for three months. After the treatment period, leaves were harvested from each treatment for isolation of RNA and cDNA synthesis. The cDNA libraries were sequenced on Roche 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing platform to produce 232,853 reads. After quality control, the reads were assembled into 460 long transcripts (contigs). The annotated contigs showed similarity with proteins in the Arabidopsis thaliana proteome. Heat shock proteins (HSP70), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (cat), peroxidase (PoX), calmodulinelike protein (Cam7) and galactinol synthase (Gols4) droughtrelated genes were shown to be regulated differently in tea plants exposed to water stress. HSP70 and SOD were highly expressed in the drought tolerant cultivar relative to the susceptible cultivar under drought conditions. The genes and pathways identified suggest efficient regulation leading to active adaptation as a basal defense response against water stress deficit by tea. The knowledge generated can be further utilized to better understand molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance in tea.

Transcriptome-based identification of water-deficit stress responsive genes in the tea plant, Camellia sinensis

Maritim Tony,Kamunya Samson,Mwendia Charles,Mireji Paul,Muoki Richard,Wamalwa Mark,Francesca Stomeo,Schaack Sarah,Kyalo Martina,Wachira Francis 한국식물생명공학회 2016 JOURNAL OF PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY Vol.43 No.3

A study aimed at identifying putative drought responsive genes that confer tolerance to water stress deficit in tea plants was conducted in a ‘rain-out shelter’ using potted plants. Eighteen months old drought tolerant and susceptible tea cultivars were each separately exposed to water stress or control conditions of 18 or 34% soil moisture content, respectively, for three months. After the treatment period, leaves were harvested from each treatment for isolation of RNA and cDNA synthesis. The cDNA libraries were sequenced on Roche 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing platform to produce 232,853 reads. After quality control, the reads were assembled into 460 long transcripts (contigs). The annotated contigs showed similarity with proteins in the Arabidopsis thaliana proteome. Heat shock proteins (HSP70), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (cat), peroxidase (PoX), calmoduline- like protein (Cam7) and galactinol synthase (Gols4) drought- related genes were shown to be regulated differently in tea plants exposed to water stress. HSP70 and SOD were highly expressed in the drought tolerant cultivar relative to the susceptible cultivar under drought conditions. The genes and pathways identified suggest efficient regulation leading to active adaptation as a basal defense response against water stress deficit by tea. The knowledge generated can be further utilized to better understand molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance in tea.

Do satisfied employees lead to satisfied patients? An empirical study in an Italian hospital

( Hendry Raharjo ),( Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion ),( Laura Di Pietro ),( Martina Toni ) 한국품질경영학회 2015 한국품질경영학회 학술대회 Vol.2015 No.2

Purpose The purpose of the study is to understand the relationship between care providers (employees) satisfaction and patient satisfaction and to identify the key drivers of their satisfaction. It is important because it will shape the policies in improving healthcare system, for example, through raising the well-being of physicians and nurses. According to service-profit chain theory, employee satisfaction will indirectly affect customer satisfaction through employee productivity and service value. Does this also apply in healthcare context? The EFQM-based 4P model (Dahlgaard et al., 2011) and Picker□s patient experience quality dimension (Jenkinson et al., 2002) are used as the theoretical basis for understanding their satisfaction relationship along with the key drivers. Methodology A cross-sectional survey was carried out in two wards (maternity and cardiology) in an Italian hospital. The questionnaires for the employees and patients were administered in the two wards at the same time from June to August 2014. For the employee satisfaction survey, 154 questionnaires were distributed and 73 completed questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 47.4%). For the patient satisfaction survey, 200 questionnaires were distributed (125 maternity, 75 cardiology) and 130 completed questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 65%). The final sample used for patient satisfaction analysis, however, was reduced to 102 questionnaires due to various reasons. Since we are interested in identifying key drivers for prediction purpose, the results are analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method with Smart PLS software (v.3.2.1). Furthermore, the PLS importance-performance matrix analysis (PLS-IPMA) was used to compare the latent variable scores of patient and employee overall satisfaction in the two wards and to identify improvement areas for the hospital management system. Findings We posed five hypotheses and found, for all except the last one, strong evidence from the data. For the 4P model, the data showed strong support for the influence of enablers on the results and eventually on employee satisfaction. The data also showed strong support for the impact of patient experience on patient overall satisfaction and eventually on loyalty. For the last hypothesis, we found that higher patient satisfaction level in one ward is associated with higher employee satisfaction in the same ward. This is supported by the mean and median values of the latent scores, but unfortunately not by the p-value. Other findings include key drivers of patient and employee satisfaction along with improvement priorities for each ward. Originality and value Our study is probably the first study that contextually adopted the 4P model (Dahlgaard et al., 2011) and the Picker□s patient experience questionnaire (Jenkinson et al., 2002) as the theoretical foundations for measuring, respectively, employee and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, this paper proposes the use of PLS-SEM in the healthcare managerial context as a powerful statistical technique for identifying key drivers of employee and patient satisfaction and improvement priorities (PLS-IPMA).

SERVICE INNOVATION AND SCALING UP INNOVATIVE SERVICE ECOSYSTEM: THE CASE OF EATALY

( Laura Di Pietro(post Phd) ),( Bo Edvardsson(full Professor) ),( Roberta Guglielmetti Mugion(post Phd) ),( Maria Francesca Renzi(full Professor) ),( Martina Toni ) 한국품질경영학회 2015 한국품질경영학회 학술대회 Vol.2015 No.2

Purpose - The aim of the study is to identify and analyze important drivers of why and how an innovative service ecosystem scale up. In this paper “scaling up” is treated as empirical phenomena that refer to the ability of an innovative business ecosystem to attract many new actors, in particular customers, and entering in new markets to become sustainable and social responsible. This study describes a sustainable service ecosystem to be consistent with the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR), including economical, environmental, social and ethical dimensions. We selected one innovative business case (Eataly) providing rich data with explanatory power. Design/Methodology/approach - We present an in-depth case study on Eataly, a service eco-system, operating in the retail food sector, that introduced important service innovations in the traditional framework of resource integration and scaled up rapidly on national and international markets to become a global brand. Through the analysis of personal interviews carried out with the Eataly mangers and different available narratives about the company. We study and evaluate why and how a service ecosystem faced the scaling up process. Innovative service ecosystem are analyzed by using four interdependent concepts an innovative (1) value proposition, the engaged (2) actors roles responsibility, the constellation of (3) resources that enable value creation to be realize in line with value proposition and in context of (4) institutional arrangements, including social system structure. Findings - We develop a framework for analyzing scaling up innovative service ecosystems, in order to extend the existing knowledge by empirically providing the most important scaling up drivers. In this paper we use a multi-actor approach, but emphasize the perspective of the entrepreneur since we study businesses and conceptualize service innovation in the context of ecosystems that we know are sustainable financially, socially and environmentally. The identified main drivers are: 1) a distinctive customer experience; 2) actors engagement; 3) entrepreneur value proposition focus on growth; and 4) institutionalized values resonance. Originality/value - Some service ecosystems grow faster than others and thus are more successful in their scaling up; hence there is a lot to learn from such innovative service ecosystem. Nevertheless, there is no empirical study with an explicit focus on innovative service ecosystem scaling up. Hence, the present study provides new suggestions for future research on the scaling up drivers in innovative service ecosystem.