Association of the 17-kDa extrinsic protein with photosystem II in higher plants

The structural association of the spinach 17-kDa extrinsic protein of photosystem II with other extrinsic and membrane-bound components of the photosystem was investigated by labeling the 17-kDa extrinsic protein with the amino-group-specific reagent N-hydroxysuccinimidobiotin both on intact photosystem II membranes or as a free protein in solution. After isolation of the biotinylated molecules, the modified 17-kDa proteins were allowed to rebind to photosystem II membranes which were depleted of the 17-kDa component. Differential binding of the protein biotinylated in solution compared to unmodified 17-kDa protein or 17-kDa protein modified on PSII membranes was observed. This indicated possible steric or ionic interference because of biotinylated lysyl residues present on the protein modified in solution. Biotinylated sites on the different modified 17-kDa proteins were identified by trypsin and Staphylococcus V8 protease digestion, followed by affinity chromatography enrichment of the biotinylated peptides and analysis of the peptide fragment mixture by nanospray liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Four lysyl residues that were modified when the protein was biotinylated in solution were not biotinylated when the protein was modified on the PS II membrane (90K, 96K, 101K, and 102K). These residues appear to identify a protein domain involved in the interaction of the 17-kDa protein with the other components of the photosystem. © 2005 American Chemical Society

Airborne bacterial species in indoor air and association with physical factors

The aim of this study is to obtain knowledge about which cultivable bacterial species are present in indoor air in homes, and whether the concentration and diversity of airborne bacteria are associated with different factors. Measurements have been performed for one whole year inside different rooms in five homes and once in 52 homes. Within homes, a room-to-room variation for concentrations of airborne bacteria was found, but an overlap in bacterial species was found across rooms. Eleven species were found very commonly and included: Acinetobacter lowffii , Bacillus megaterium, B. pumilus , Kocuria carniphila , K. palustris , K. rhizophila, Micrococcus flavus , M. luteus, Moraxella osloensis and Paracoccus yeei . The concentrations of Gram-negative bacteria in general and the species P. yeei were significantly associated with the season with the highest concentrations in spring. The concentrations of P. yeei , K. rhizophila and B. pumilus were associated positively with relative humidity (RH), and concentrations of K. rhizophila were associated negatively with temperature and air change rate (ACR). Micrococcus flavus concentrations were associated negatively with ACR. Overall, this study identified species which are commonly present in indoor air in homes, and that the concentrations of some species were associated with the factors: season, ACR and RH

Subfunctionalization of Duplicated Zebrafish pax6 Genes by cis-Regulatory Divergence

Gene duplication is a major driver of evolutionary divergence. In most vertebrates a single PAX6 gene encodes a transcription factor required for eye, brain, olfactory system, and pancreas development. In zebrafish, following a postulated whole-genome duplication event in an ancestral teleost, duplicates pax6a and pax6b jointly fulfill these roles. Mapping of the homozygously viable eye mutant sunrise identified a homeodomain missense change in pax6b, leading to loss of target binding. The mild phenotype emphasizes role-sharing between the co-orthologues. Meticulous mapping of isolated BACs identified perturbed synteny relationships around the duplicates. This highlights the functional conservation of pax6 downstream (3′) control sequences, which in most vertebrates reside within the introns of a ubiquitously expressed neighbour gene, ELP4, whose pax6a-linked exons have been lost in zebrafish. Reporter transgenic studies in both mouse and zebrafish, combined with analysis of vertebrate sequence conservation, reveal loss and retention of specific cis-regulatory elements, correlating strongly with the diverged expression of co-orthologues, and providing clear evidence for evolution by subfunctionalization

word~river literary review (2009)

wordriver is a literary journal dedicated to the poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction of adjuncts and part-time instructors teaching in our universities, colleges, and community colleges. Our premier issue was published in Spring 2009. We are always looking for work that demonstrates the creativity and craft of adjunct/part-time instructors in English and other disciplines. We reserve first publication rights and onetime anthology publication rights for all work published. We define adjunct instructors as anyone teaching part-time or full-time under a semester or yearly contract, nationwide and in any discipline. Graduate students teaching under part-time contracts during the summer or who have used up their teaching assistant time and are teaching with adjunct contracts for the remainder of their graduate program also are eligible.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/word_river/1002/thumbnail.jp

From working collections to the World Germplasm Project: agricultural modernization and genetic conservation at the Rockefeller Foundation

This paper charts the history of the Rockefeller Foundation’s participation in the collection and long-term preservation of genetic diversity in crop plants from the 1940s through the 1970s. In the decades following the launch of its agricultural program in Mexico in 1943, the Rockefeller Foundation figured prominently in the creation of world collections of key economic crops. Through the efforts of its administrators and staff, the foundation subsequently parlayed this experience into a leadership role in international efforts to conserve so-called plant genetic resources. Previous accounts of the Rockefeller Foundation’s interventions in international agricultural development have focused on the outcomes prioritized by foundation staff and administrators as they launched assistance programs and especially their characterization of the peoples and ‘‘problems’’ they encountered abroad. This paper highlights instead how foundation administrators and staff responded to a newly emergent international agricultural concern—the loss of crop genetic diversity. Charting the foundation’s responses to this concern, which developed only after agricultural modernization had begun and was understood to be produced by the successes of the foundation’s own agricultural assistance programs, allows for greater interrogation of how the foundation understood and projected its central position in international agricultural research activities by the 1970s.Research for this article was supported in part by a grant-in-aid from the Rockefeller Archive Center

Disease-specific survival for limited-stage small-cell lung cancer affected by statistical method of assessment

BACKGROUND: In general, prognosis and impact of prognostic/predictive factors are assessed with Kaplan-Meier plots and/or the Cox proportional hazard model. There might be substantive differences from the results using these models for the same patients, if different statistical methods were used, for example, Boag log-normal (cure-rate model), or log-normal survival analysis. METHODS: Cohort of 244 limited-stage small-cell lung cancer patients, were accrued between 1981 and 1998, and followed to the end of 2005. The endpoint was death with or from lung cancer, for disease-specific survival (DSS). DSS at 1-, 3- and 5-years, with 95% confidence limits, are reported for all patients using the Boag, Kaplan-Meier, Cox, and log-normal survival analysis methods. Factors with significant effects on DSS were identified with step-wise forward multivariate Cox and log-normal survival analyses. Then, DSS was ascertained for patients with specific characteristics defined by these factors. RESULTS: The median follow-up of those alive was 9.5 years. The lack of events after 1966 days precluded comparison after 5 years. DSS assessed by the four methods in the full cohort differed by 0–2% at 1 year, 0–12% at 3 years, and 0–1% at 5 years. Log-normal survival analysis indicated DSS of 38% at 3 years, 10–12% higher than with other methods; univariate 95% confidence limits were non-overlapping. Surgical resection, hemoglobin level, lymph node involvement, and superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction significantly impacted DSS. DSS assessed by the Cox and log-normal survival analysis methods for four clinical risk groups differed by 1–6% at 1 year, 15–26% at 3 years, and 0–12% at 5 years; multivariate 95% confidence limits were overlapping in all instances. CONCLUSION: Surgical resection, hemoglobin level, lymph node involvement, and superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction all significantly impacted DSS. Apparent DSS for patients was influenced by the statistical methods of assessment. This would be clinically relevant in the development or improvement of clinical management strategies

The Effectiveness of RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans Is Maintained during Spaceflight

PublishedJournal ArticleResearch Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tThis is the final version of the article. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Overcoming spaceflight-induced (patho)physiologic adaptations is a major challenge preventing long-term deep space exploration. RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a promising therapeutic for combating diseases on Earth; however the efficacy of RNAi in space is currently unknown. METHODS: Caenorhabditis elegans were prepared in liquid media on Earth using standard techniques and treated acutely with RNAi or a vector control upon arrival in Low Earth Orbit. After culturing during 4 and 8 d spaceflight, experiments were stopped by freezing at -80°C until analysis by mRNA and microRNA array chips, microscopy and Western blot on return to Earth. Ground controls (GC) on Earth were simultaneously grown under identical conditions. RESULTS: After 8 d spaceflight, mRNA expression levels of components of the RNAi machinery were not different from that in GC (e.g., Dicer, Argonaute, Piwi; P>0.05). The expression of 228 microRNAs, of the 232 analysed, were also unaffected during 4 and 8 d spaceflight (P>0.05). In spaceflight, RNAi against green fluorescent protein (gfp) reduced chromosomal gfp expression in gonad tissue, which was not different from GC. RNAi against rbx-1 also induced abnormal chromosome segregation in the gonad during spaceflight as on Earth. Finally, culture in RNAi against lysosomal cathepsins prevented degradation of the muscle-specific α-actin protein in both spaceflight and GC conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with RNAi works as effectively in the space environment as on Earth within multiple tissues, suggesting RNAi may provide an effective tool for combating spaceflight-induced pathologies aboard future long-duration space missions. Furthermore, this is the first demonstration that RNAi can be utilised to block muscle protein degradation, both on Earth and in space.This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and “Ground-Based Research Announcement for Space Utilization” promoted by the Japan Space Forum. TE was supported by the Medical Research Council UK (G0801271). NJS was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH NIAMS ARO54342). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

A global reference database of crowdsourced cropland data collected using the Geo-Wiki platform

A global reference data set on cropland was collected through a crowdsourcing campaign using the Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing tool. The campaign lasted three weeks, with over 80 participants from around the world reviewing almost 36,000 sample units, focussing on cropland identification. For quality assessment purposes, two additional data sets are provided. The first is a control set of 1,793 sample locations validated by students trained in satellite image interpretation. This data set was used to assess the quality of the crowd as the campaign progressed. The second data set contains 60 expert validations for additional evaluation of the quality of the contributions. All data sets are split into two parts: the first part shows all areas classified as cropland and the second part shows cropland average per location and user. After further processing, the data presented here might be suitable to validate and compare medium and high resolution cropland maps generated using remote sensing. These could also be used to train classification algorithms for developing new maps of land cover and cropland extent