Molecular mechanisms of transcription initiation—structure, function, and evolution of TFE/TFIIE-like factors and open complex formation

Transcription initiation requires that the promoter DNA is melted and the template strand is loaded into the active site of the RNA polymerase (RNAP), forming the open complex (OC). The archaeal initiation factor TFE and its eukaryotic counterpart TFIIE facilitate this process. Recent structural and biophysical studies have revealed the position of TFE/TFIIE within the pre-initiation complex (PIC) and illuminated its role in OC formation. TFE operates via allosteric and direct mechanisms. Firstly, it interacts with the RNAP and induces the opening of the flexible RNAP clamp domain, concomitant with DNA melting and template loading. Secondly, TFE binds physically to single-stranded DNA in the transcription bubble of the OC and increases its stability. The identification of the β-subunit of archaeal TFE enabled us to reconstruct the evolutionary history of TFE/TFIIE-like factors, which is characterised by winged helix (WH) domain expansion in eukaryotes and loss of metal centres including iron-sulfur clusters and Zinc ribbons. OC formation is an important target for the regulation of transcription in all domains of life. We propose that TFE and the bacterial general transcription factor CarD, although structurally and evolutionary unrelated, show interesting parallels in their mechanism to enhance OC formation. We argue that OC formation is used as a way to regulate transcription in all domains of life, and these regulatory mechanisms coevolved with the basal transcription machinery

Ha Baode on his family history

This interview with Ha Baode was recorded in the summer of 2009. A transcription is attached. This interview focuses on the migration of Ha Baode’s family from the clan’s home place in Huzhu, Qinghai, to Hawan in Gansu.Researchers Ha Mingzong (Sangji Zhaxi) and Ha Mingzhu (Taimei) interviewed Mongghul Ha Clan elders about clan history and digitally documented (video taped; audio-recorded) the interviews.World Oral Literature Projec

Oregon Wine History Project™ Interview Transcript: Diana Lett

This document is a transcription of the interview with winemaker Diana Lett conducted by Jeff D. Peterson on July 9, 2010 as part of the Oregon Wine History Project™. Diana Lett discusses the early days of the Oregon wine industry and gives her personal account of how she came to grow grapes and produce wines in the Willamette Valley. Assisting in the production of this interview were videographers Barrett Dahl and Mark Pederson; exhibit and collections coordinators Barrett Dahl, Sara Juergensen, and Keni Sturgeon (faculty advisor); project historical researchers Dulce Kersting and Lissa Wadewitz (faculty advisor). The duration of the interview is 49 minutes and 18 seconds

Oregon Wine History Project™ Interview Transcript: Dick Erath

This document is a transcription of the interview with winemaker Dick Erath conducted by Jeff D. Peterson on July 8, 2010 as part of the Oregon Wine History Project™. Dick Erath discusses the early days of the Oregon wine industry and gives his personal account of how he came to grow grapes and produce wines in the Willamette Valley. Assisting in the production of this interview were videographers Barrett Dahl and Mark Pederson; exhibit and collections coordinators Barrett Dahl, Sara Juergensen, and Keni Sturgeon (faculty advisor); and project historical researchers Dulce Kersting and Lissa Wadewitz (faculty advisor). The duration of the interview is 57 minutes and 42 seconds

A cost analysis of transcription systems

We compare different approaches to transcribing natural history data and summarise the advantages and disadvantages of each approach using six case studies from four different natural history collections. We summarise the main cost considerations when planning a transcription project and discuss the limitations we current have in understanding the costs behind transcription and data quality.Non peer reviewe

Oregon Wine History Project™ Interview Transcript: David Adelsheim

This document is a transcription of the interview with winemaker David Adelsheim conducted by Jeff D. Peterson on July 7, 2010 as part of the Oregon Wine History Project™. David Adelsheim discusses the early days of the Oregon wine industry and gives his personal account of how he came to grow grapes and produce wines in the Willamette Valley. Assisting in the production of this interview were videographers Barrett Dahl and Mark Pederson; exhibit and collections coordinators Barrett Dahl, Sara Juergensen, and Keni Sturgeon (faculty advisor); and project historical researchers Dulce Kersting and Lissa Wadewitz (faculty advisor). The duration of the interview is 50 minutes and 58 seconds

Oregon Wine History Project™ Interview Transcript: Dick & Nancy Ponzi

This document is a transcription of the interview with winemakers Dick and Nancy Ponzi conducted by Jeff D. Peterson in July 2010 as part of the Oregon Wine History Project™. Dick and Nancy Ponzi discuss the early days of the Oregon wine industry and give their personal account of how they came to grow grapes and produce wines in the Willamette Valley. Assisting in the production of this interview were videographers Barrett Dahl and Mark Pederson; exhibit and collections coordinators Barrett Dahl, Sara Juergensen, and Keni Sturgeon (faculty advisor); and project historical researchers Dulce Kersting and Lissa Wadewitz (faculty advisor). The duration of the interview is 56 minutes and 58 seconds

Oregon Wine History Project™ Interview Transcript: Susan Sokol Blosser

This document is a transcription of the interview with winemaker Susan Sokol Blosser conducted by Jeff D. Peterson on July 14, 2010 as part of the Oregon Wine History Project™. Susan Sokol Blosser discusses the early days of the Oregon wine industry and gives her personal account of how she came to grow grapes and produce wines in the Willamette Valley. Assisting in the production of this interview were videographers Barrett Dahl and Mark Pederson; exhibit and collections coordinators Barrett Dahl, Sara Juergensen, and Keni Sturgeon (faculty advisor); and project historical researchers Dulce Kersting and Lissa Wadewitz (faculty advisor). The duration of the interview is 47 minutes and 17 seconds

Machine Reading the Primeros Libros

Early modern printed books pose particular challenges for automatic transcription: uneven inking, irregular orthographies, radically multilingual texts. As a result, modern efforts to transcribe these documents tend to produce the textual gibberish commonly known as "dirty OCR" (Optical Character Recognition). This noisy output is most frequently seen as a barrier to access for scholars interested in the computational analysis or digital display of transcribed documents. This article, however, proposes that a closer analysis of dirty OCR can reveal both historical and cultural factors at play in the practice of automatic transcription. To make this argument, it focuses on tools developed for the automatic transcription of the Primeros Libros collection of sixteenth century Mexican printed books. By bringing together the history of the collection with that of the OCR tool, it illustrates how the colonial history of these documents is embedded in, and transformed by, the statistical models used for automatic transcription. It argues that automatic transcription, itself a mechanical and practical tool, also has an interpretive effect on transcribed texts that can have practical consequences for scholarly work

A newly-available resource for historians of early New Zealand: The Marist Missionary Letters (1838-54)

The 7000 pages of primary documents of the Lettres reçues d’Océanie constitute a vast new source for the study of the Pacific during the period 1838-54. Published in 2009 after sixteen years of transcription, the Lettres are the collected correspondence of the first French Marist missionaries to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. In the words of Pacific historian Hugh Laracy, they are ‘the single most important foundational contribution to Pacific history in its fullest extent since J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial editions of James Cook’s Journals. About 2000 of those pages are transcripts of letters written in New Zealand that open up a fresh perspective of life before the wars of the 1860’s. This paper will locate the early French Marist Māori mission within the context of New Zealand public history before exploring how the Lettres reçues d’Océanie can complement existing views of early colonial New Zealand. To better contextualise the correspondence, it would be useful to begin with a brief background of the Marists’ presence in New Zealand