A genome-wide view of Caenorhabditis elegans base-substitution mutation processes

Knowledge of mutation processes is central to understanding virtually all evolutionary phenomena and the underlying nature of genetic disorders and cancers. However, the limitations of standard molecular mutation detection methods have historically precluded a genome-wide understanding of mutation rates and spectra in the nuclear genomes of multicellular organisms. We applied two high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies to identify and characterize hundreds of spontaneously arising base-substitution mutations in 10 Caenorhabditis elegans mutation-accumulation (MA)-line nuclear genomes. C. elegans mutation rate estimates were similar to previous calculations based on smaller numbers of mutations. Mutations were distributed uniformly within and among chromosomes and were not associated with recombination rate variation in the MA lines, suggesting that intragenomic variation in genetic hitchhiking and/or background selection are primarily responsible for the chromosomal distribution patterns of polymorphic nucleotides in C. elegans natural populations. A strong mutational bias from G/C to A/T nucleotides was detected in the MA lines, implicating oxidative DNA damage as a major endogenous mutagenic force in C. elegans. The observed mutational bias also suggests that the C. elegans nuclear genome cannot be at equilibrium because of mutation alone. Transversions dominate the spectrum of spontaneous mutations observed here, whereas transitions dominate patterns of allegedly neutral polymorphism in natural populations of C. elegans and many other animal species; this observation challenges the assumption that natural patterns of molecular variation in noncoding regions of the nuclear genome accurately reflect underlying mutation processes

A comparison of high and low volume sprays for control of the bean aphid aphis fabae scop. On field beans

Insecticides were sprayed in different amounts of water to control Aphis fabae Scop. attacking spring-sown field beans. The single application of each insecticide was timed to coincide with the end of aphid migration from the winter host to the crop. A tractor-mounted row-crop hydraulic sprayer was used. In one experiment seven different insecticide sprays were compared at high volume ( in 140 gal. of water per acre); the most effective were nicotine at 22.4 oz. of active constituent per acre, demeton at 5.6 oz. and demeton-methyl at 11.2 oz. A further comparison was made of five insecticides for each of which a selected dose of active ingredient was applied in 60 gal. ( medium volume) and in 10 gal. of water per acre ( low volume). The amount of insecticide retained on the plant following the low-volume application was not less than that from the medium-volume spray; the efficiency of A. fabae control was not affected by the volume sprayed except with malathion which did better at the medium volume. The systemic insecticides demeton-methyl at 6 oz. of active constituents per acre, the related compound 4741 at 3 oz. and fluoroacetamide at 3 oz. stopped the aphid numbers from rising above a peak of eight per plant compared with 230 per plant for malathion ( low volume) at 12 oz. 2400 per plant for lindane at 6 oz. and 3550 per plant for check treatments sprayed with wetter only. Grain yields ranged from around 4 cwt. per acre on check treatments to around 27 cwt. per acre on plots sprayed once with the systemic insecticides. There was a curvilinear relationship between grain yield and log number of A. fabae per plant

The disappearances of six supernova progenitors

As part of a larger completed Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Snapshot program, we observed the sites of six nearby core-collapse supernovae (SNe) at high spatial resolution: SN 2012A, SN 2013ej, SN 2016gkg, SN 2017eaw, SN 2018zd, and SN 2018aoq. These observations were all conducted at sufficiently late times in each SN's evolution to demonstrate that the massive-star progenitor candidate identified in each case in pre-explosion imaging data had indeed vanished and was therefore most likely the actual progenitor. However, we have determined for SN 2016gkg that the progenitor candidate was most likely a blend of two objects: the progenitor, which itself has likely vanished, and another closely neighbouring star. We thus provide a revised estimate of that progenitor's properties: a binary system with a hydrogen-stripped primary star at explosion with effective temperature ≈6300-7900 K, bolometric luminosity ≈104.65 L⊙, radius ≈118-154 R⊙, and initial mass 9.5-11 M⊙. Utilizing late-time additional archival HST data nearly contemporaneous with our Snapshots, we also show that SN 2017eaw had a luminous ultraviolet excess, which is best explained as a result of ongoing interaction of the SN shock with pre-existing circumstellar matter. We offer the caveat, particularly in the case of SN 2013ej, that obscuration from SN dust may be compromising our conclusions. This sample adds to the growing list of confirmed or likely core-collapse SN progenitors. © 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The Lick Observatory Supernova Search follow-up program: photometry data release of 70 SESNe

We present BVRI and unfiltered (Clear) light curves of 70 stripped-envelope supernovae (SESNe), observed between 2003 and 2020, from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search follow-up program. Our SESN sample consists of 19 spectroscopically normal SNe Ib, 2 peculiar SNe Ib, six SNe Ibn, 14 normal SNe Ic, 1 peculiar SN Ic, 10 SNe Ic-BL, 15 SNe IIb, 1 ambiguous SN IIb/Ib/c, and 2 superluminous SNe. Our follow-up photometry has (on a per-SN basis) a mean coverage of 81 photometric points (median of 58 points) and a mean cadence of 3.6 d (median of 1.2 d). From our full sample, a subset of 38 SNe have pre-maximum coverage in at least one passband, allowing for the peak brightness of each SN in this subset to be quantitatively determined. We describe our data collection and processing techniques, with emphasis toward our automated photometry pipeline, from which we derive publicly available data products to enable and encourage further study by the community. Using these data products, we derive host-galaxy extinction values through the empirical colour evolution relationship and, for the first time, produce accurate rise-time measurements for a large sample of SESNe in both optical and infrared passbands. By modelling multiband light curves, we find that SNe Ic tend to have lower ejecta masses and lower ejecta velocities than SNe Ib and IIb, but higher 56Ni masses