Urochordate betagamma-crystallin and the evolutionary origin of the vertebrate eye lens

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Explosive expansion of βγ-Crystallin genes in the ancestral vertebrate

In jawed vertebrates, βγ-crystallins are restricted to the eye lens and thus excellent markers of lens evolution. These βγ-crystallins are four Greek key motifs/two domain proteins, whereas the urochordate βγ-crystallin has a single domain. To trace the origin of the vertebrate βγ-crystallin genes, we searched for homologues in the genomes of a jawless vertebrate (lamprey) and of a cephalochordate (lancelet). The lamprey genome contains orthologs of the gnathostome βB1-, βA2- and γN-crystallin genes and a single domain γN-crystallin-like gene. It contains at least two γ-crystallin genes, but lacks the gnathostome γS-crystallin gene. The genome also encodes a non-lenticular protein containing βγ-crystallin motifs, AIM1, also found in gnathostomes but not detectable in the uro- or cephalochordate genome. The four cephalochordate βγ-crystallin genes found encode two-domain proteins. Unlike the vertebrate βγ-crystallins but like the urochordate βγ-crystallin, three of the predicted proteins contain calcium-binding sites. In the cephalochordate βγ-crystallin genes, the introns are located within motif-encoding region, while in the urochordate and in the vertebrate βγ-crystallin genes the introns are between motif- and/or domain encoding regions. Coincident with the evolution of the vertebrate lens an ancestral urochordate type βγ-crystallin gene rapidly expanded and diverged in the ancestral vertebrate before the cyclostomes/gnathostomes split. The β- and γN-crystallin genes were maintained in subsequent evolution, and, given the selection pressure imposed by accurate vision, must be essential for lens function. The γ-crystallin genes show lineage specific expansion and contraction, presumably in adaptation to the demands on vision resulting from (changes in) lifestyle

Virtual currencies- Real opportunities?

The European Central Bank defines virtual currencies as ”unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community.” (European Central Bank, 2012, p. 5) The interest in virtual currencies has increased immensely over the last few years as they become increasingly prevalent in our society across many different industries. Up until now, the field of virtual currencies has been mainly uncharted land and despite interest in specific currencies, few attempts have been made at understanding or structuring the entire landscape The main research question in this thesis is related to the previously mentioned dilemma: understanding and structuring the virtual currency ecosystem, today and in the future. How can the virtual currency landscape currently be analyzed in a structured manner and what framework can be used to reflect and make predictions on the future development? The thesis is based on four different sources of information: a literature study of existing material, corporate interviews with companies dealing with virtual currencies and consumer interviews with potential early adopters, an online survey and a case study performed at Ericsson M-Commerce. The case study of Ericsson M-Commerce has provided valuable insight into understanding how companies reason when considering adopting virtual currencies into their product portfolio and greatly helped the process of structuring the virtual currency market in a comprehensive manner. In return, the thesis has also provided decision material for the department concerning virtual currencies. This thesis divides virtual currencies into five groups: Prepaid Value, Loyalty Points, Monetization Currencies, Gaming Currencies and Value Encoded Currencies. This model has been developed as a framework for the analysis of the current situation in this thesis. However, the analysis in the thesis has shown that as virtual currencies evolve, it will probably become more relevant to instead consider their functions. It is likely that virtual currencies will consolidate into three distinct functional types: virtual currency as a unit of account, virtual currency as a business model for monetization, and virtual currencies as a product that can be sold. As virtual currencies evolve, the future is not only filled with many challenges, but also many new opportunities. In this thesis, an attempt to gain an abstract understanding of how the field is developing has been made, but it remains to be seen what the real impacts of virtual currencies will be as they continue to gain traction

CCP4 Cloud for structure determination and project management in macromolecular crystallography

Nowadays, progress in the determination of three-dimensional macromolecular structures from diffraction images is achieved partly at the cost of increasing data volumes. This is due to the deployment of modern high-speed, high-resolution detectors, the increased complexity and variety of crystallographic software, the use of extensive databases and high-performance computing. This limits what can be accomplished with personal, offline, computing equipment in terms of both productivity and maintainability. There is also an issue of long-term data maintenance and availability of structure-solution projects as the links between experimental observations and the final results deposited in the PDB. In this article, CCP4 Cloud, a new front-end of the CCP4 software suite, is presented which mitigates these effects by providing an online, cloud-based environment for crystallographic computation. CCP4 Cloud was developed for the efficient delivery of computing power, database services and seamless integration with web resources. It provides a rich graphical user interface that allows project sharing and long-term storage for structure-solution projects, and can be linked to data-producing facilities. The system is distributed with the CCP4 software suite version 7.1 and higher, and an online publicly available instance of CCP4 Cloud is provided by CCP4