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We hypothesize that bacterial endophytes may enhance the competitiveness and invasiveness of Phragmites australis. To evaluate this hypothesis, endophytic bacteria were isolated from P. australis. The majority of the shoot meristem isolates represent species from phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. We chose one species from each phylum to characterize further and to conduct growth promotion experiments in Phragmites. Bacteria tested include Bacillus amyloliquefaciens A9a, Achromobacter spanius B1, and Microbacterium oxydans B2. Isolates were characterized for known growth promotional traits, including indole acetic acid (IAA) production, secretion of hydrolytic enzymes, phosphate solubilization, and antibiosis activity. Potentially defensive antimicrobial lipopeptides were assayed for through application of co-culturing experiments and mass spectrometer analysis. B. amyloliquefaciens A9a and M. oxydans B2 produced IAA. B. amyloliquefaciens A9a secreted antifungal lipopeptides. Capability to promote growth of P. australis under low nitrogen conditions was evaluated in greenhouse experiments. All three isolates were found to increase the growth of P. australis under low soil nitrogen conditions and showed increased absorption of isotopic nitrogen into plants. This suggests that the Phragmites microbes we evaluated most likely promote growth of Phragmites by enhanced scavenging of nitrogenous compounds from the rhizosphere and transfer to host roots. Collectively, our results support the hypothesis that endophytic bacteria play a role in enhancing growth of P. australis in natural populations. Gaining a better understanding of the precise contributions and mechanisms of endophytes in enabling P. australis to develop high densities rapidly could lead to new symbiosis-based strategies for management and control of the host.

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Tree species Oxandra acuminata, Pseudomalmea diclina, and Unonopsis matthewsii (Annonaceae) are sources of wood for people of the Amazonian Region where the trees are harvested from natural populations. With increased human population and agriculture in the Amazonian Region, forest diversity is affected. To manage the forest communities, it is necessary to understand the dynamics of regeneration of forest plants. Diseases that affect seed and seedling survival are critical in determining the ultimate species composition. During the dry season in June of 2006, rotten seeds of U. matthewsii (approximately 90% of 380 seeds) were observed in seven natural locations over an area of 150 ha in lowland tropical forest in Manu National Park, Peru. Colonized seeds were open and covered with yellow, dry, powdery, easily liberated conidia. One month later, seeds of O. acuminata in the same locations showed the same symptoms. In August of 2007, P. diclina seeds were naturally dispersed (by animals) in these plots and showed similar symptoms. The disease affecting O. acuminata was found in two other sampling sites along the river at the Los Amigos Research Station located 80 km southeast of Manu National Park. In all cases, the pathogen was identified as Aspergillus flavus based on morphological characteristics (1,2). Isolation of the pathogen was made on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with chloramphenicol (100 mg/l) and incubated at 28°C for 5 to 7 days. Single-spore isolations were made from each plant species and maintained as stock cultures. Colonies grown on PDA were granular, flat, and yellow at first, but quickly became bright to dark yellow-green. The radiate conidial heads measured approximately 400 µm in diameter. Older globose vesicles measured from 28 to 45 µm in diameter. Conidia were globose or subglobose with roughened walls and measured 3 to 5.5 µm in diameter. For pathogenicity tests, healthy seeds from the three species obtained from several trees, were previously surface sterilized by dipping in a 0.1% chlorine solution and allowed to dry. To inoculate seeds, a small scalpel was used to make a superficial cut on the seeds, after which a conidial suspension (3 × 105 conidia/ml of distilled water) was pipetted over each wound. For each plant species, 20 seeds were inoculated and 20 were used as control. This procedure was repeated twice. Each seed was maintained in a petri plate at ambient temperature in a field station lab and evaluated daily for 10 days. Inoculated seeds of all three species showed symptoms identical to those seen in field populations. Colonized seeds died after 2 to 7 days, and dry, yellow conidia were produced inside the open seed after approximately 1 to 2 days of decay. A. flavus was reisolated from colonized seeds. Control seeds remained healthy. A. flavus is ubiquitous and has been reported on numerous host plants worldwide (1,2). However, to our knowledge, this is the first report of A. flavus causing high seed mortality of species of Annonaceae in Peru. Our observations suggest that A. flavus is an important fungus affecting survival of seeds of O. acuminata, P. diclina, and U. matthewsii in the natural plant communities where we conducted this study. References: (1) B. W. Horn. Mycologia 97:202, 2005. (2) K. B. Raper and D. I. Fennell. The Genus Aspergillus. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, MD, 1965.

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Brachiaria, predominantly an African genus, contains species, such as B. brizantha, an apomictic C4 grass, that are commercially important forage grasses in tropical America, where they now cover about 55 million hectares. From B. brizantha accession CIAT 6780, we isolated an endophytic fungus that may be economically significant. The fungus was identified as Acremonium implicatum (J. Gilman & E.V. Abott). 18S rDNA and ITS rDNA sequences were used to characterize isolates of the endophyte, and showed that they belonged to the Acremonium genus, being close to A. strictum and A. kiliense. Using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique, involving arbitrary primers of 10 bases, we showed that the isolates were highly similar to each other. Antiserum produced from a monoconidial culture of A. implicatum isolated from B. brizantha 6780, differentiated the isolates consistently in line with the DNA data. When we compared endophyte-free with endophyte-infected B. brizantha CIAT 6780 plants, both artificially inoculated with the pathogenic Drechslera fungus, we found that the endophyte-infected plants had fewer and smaller lesions than did the endophyte-free plants. Sporulation of Drechslera sp. on artificially inoculated leaf sheath tissues was also much less on tissue infected with the endophyte.

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With health conditions in the "least developed countries persisting at levels that are so limiting and destructive of human potential ... as to be unacceptable to the global community", WHO has put out a call for mandates to address these problems with "new approaches ... new partnerships." One answer to this call has come from the US' Duquesne University School of Nursing, which has founded an education and service partnership with Nicaragua that can serve as a "grass roots" model others can follow.

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International educational program planning is a complex process that benefits from the use of a strategic planning framework. The NANC project is presented as a demonstration model, utilizing the concepts and principles of strategic planning as outlined in the Regis Model. Developing and following a strategic plan in international nursing education is a necessity, rather than a luxury, in order to provide the necessary direction for your future providing a suggested "Blueprint for Action." Employing an effective strategic plan as your individualized "Blueprint for Action" can mean the difference between success and failure in your international "bridge-building efforts." The extensive assessment, planning, and review process identified through the utilization of the Regis Model that preceded the implementation of the NANC project was the key factor to project success. It is hoped that utilization of a strategic planning model such as the Regis Model, used in this project, will provide a general "Blueprint for Success" for those who are committed to quality international nursing education.

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