SEALS, BARRIERS, AND BAFFLES OF THE NORTH MONAGAS OVERTHRUST GIANT FIELDS, EASTERN VENEZUELA: IMPLICATIONS FOR MULTI-SCALE COMPARTMENTATION OF CLASTIC RESERVOIRS

The distal deformation front of the northern Monagas overthrust belt in the Eastern Venezuelan basin is the site for multiple hydrocarbon-yielding structures, including the giant Furrial, Carito and Santa Bárbara fields. These fields are the subject of ongoing research on the potential for faults and intraformational heterogeneity to partially or completely isolate clastic reservoir compartments. The fundamental concept being tested is that structural and stratigraphic heterogeneity act at multiple, predictable scales, as seals, barriers, or baffles for fluid flow. The first giant discovery in the overthrust belt was the El Furrial field in 1986. The reservoir interval occurs in rocks of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) to Early Miocene age. Over 9000 MM barrels of recoverable reserves of medium to light oil have been documented in adjacent structures, and new opportunities are being explored both in deeper targets and in lateral field extensions. The initial discoveries are now considered mature reservoirs. Pressure maintenance and secondary recovery efforts include water and gas injection, and studies are underway for WAG (combined water and gas) and nitrogen injection. A multidisciplinary team has recently completed the sub-regional structural, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic interpretation of the three adjacent giant fields, from the integration of 980 Km 2 of 3

Evolving to an Ideal Synthesis of Molnupiravir, an Investigational Treatment for COVID-19

Molnupiravir (MK-4482) is an investigational direct-acting antiviral agent that is under development for the treatment of COVID-19. Given the potential high demand for this compound, it was critical to develop a sustainable and efficient synthesis from commodity raw materials. The three-step route that we report here embodies the shortest possible synthesis to molnupiravir, and was enabled through the invention of a novel biocatalytic cascade and final condensation step. Each step occurs in over 95% yield and only utilizes widely available commodity reagents and simple operations. Compared to the initial route, the new route is 70% shorter, and approximately seven-fold higher in overall yield. </p

Inter-kingdom conservation of mechanism of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a quality control system that degrades mRNAs containing premature termination codons. Although NMD is well characterized in yeast and mammals, plant NMD is poorly understood. We have undertaken the functional dissection of NMD pathways in plants. Using an approach that allows rapid identification of plant NMD trans factors, we demonstrated that two plant NMD pathways coexist, one eliminates mRNAs with long 3′UTRs, whereas a distinct pathway degrades mRNAs harbouring 3′UTR-located introns. We showed that UPF1, UPF2 and SMG-7 are involved in both plant NMD pathways, whereas Mago and Y14 are required only for intron-based NMD. The molecular mechanism of long 3′UTR-based plant NMD resembled yeast NMD, whereas the intron-based NMD was similar to mammalian NMD, suggesting that both pathways are evolutionarily conserved. Interestingly, the SMG-7 NMD component is targeted by NMD, suggesting that plant NMD is autoregulated. We propose that a complex, autoregulated NMD mechanism operated in stem eukaryotes, and that despite aspect of the mechanism being simplified in different lineages, feedback regulation was retained in all kingdoms