Control of Cognate Sense mRNA Translation by cis-Natural Antisense RNAs.

Cis-Natural Antisense Transcripts (cis-NATs), which overlap protein coding genes and are transcribed from the opposite DNA strand, constitute an important group of noncoding RNAs. Whereas several examples of cis-NATs regulating the expression of their cognate sense gene are known, most cis-NATs function by altering the steady-state level or structure of mRNA via changes in transcription, mRNA stability, or splicing, and very few cases involve the regulation of sense mRNA translation. This study was designed to systematically search for cis-NATs influencing cognate sense mRNA translation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Establishment of a pipeline relying on sequencing of total polyA <sup>+</sup> and polysomal RNA from Arabidopsis grown under various conditions (i.e. nutrient deprivation and phytohormone treatments) allowed the identification of 14 cis-NATs whose expression correlated either positively or negatively with cognate sense mRNA translation. With use of a combination of cis-NAT stable over-expression in transgenic plants and transient expression in protoplasts, the impact of cis-NAT expression on mRNA translation was confirmed for 4 out of 5 tested cis-NAT:sense mRNA pairs. These results expand the number of cis-NATs known to regulate cognate sense mRNA translation and provide a foundation for future studies of their mode of action. Moreover, this study highlights the role of this class of noncoding RNAs in translation regulation

Kinetic and stoichiometric characterization of anoxic sulfideoxidation by SO-NR mixed cultures from anoxic biotrickling filters.

Monitoring the biological activity in biotrickling filters is difficult since it implies estimating biomass concentration and its growth yield, which can hardly be measured in immobilized biomass systems. In this study, the characterization of a sulfide-oxidizing nitrate-reducing biomass obtained from an anoxic biotrickling filter was performed through the application of respirometric and titrimetric techniques. Previously, the biomass was maintained in a continuous stirred tank reactor under steady-state conditions resulting in a growth yield of 0.328±0.045 g VSS/g S. To properly assess biological activity in respirometric tests, abiotic assays were conducted to characterize the stripping of CO2 and sulfide. The global mass transfer coefficient for both processes was estimated. Subsequently, different respirometric tests were performed: (1) to solve the stoichiometry related to the autotrophic denitrification of sulfide using either nitrate or nitrite as electron acceptors, (2) to evaluate the inhibition caused by nitrite and sulfide on sulfide oxidation, and (3) to propose, calibrate, and validate a kinetic model considering both electron acceptors in the overall anoxic biodesulfurization process. The kinetic model considered a Haldane-type equation to describe sulfide and nitrite inhibitions, a non-competitive inhibition to reflect the effect of sulfide on the elemental sulfur oxidation besides single-step denitrification since no nitrite was produced during the biological assays

Control of sulphide during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters by adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate

Sulphide generated during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters represents an environmental problem. Adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate (or nitrite) to biologically (or chemically) oxidise sulphide forms a simple process level strategy to control this problem. This short review evaluates the feasibility and limitations of this strategy on the basis of the results of bioreactor studies.Sulphide generated during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters represents an environmental problem. Adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate (or nitrite) to biologically (or chemically) oxidise sulphide forms a simple process level strategy to control this problem. This short review evaluates the feasibility and limitations of this strategy on the basis of the results of bioreactor studies.Spanish Ministry of Education and Science; AEA Technology Environment; Nova Energie; The Swedish Gas Centre; University of Southern Denmark

Quarries in Harappa

Chert was a material of major importance to the Bronze Age inhabitants of the Indus Civilizatio, The paper updates our knowledge of teh chert mines currently known in Sindh: the Rohri Hills, Ongar and Jhimpi

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Not AvailableTHE PAPER HIGHLIGHTS VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN PREPARED FOR THE CHHAJAWA WATERSHED LOCATED IN SOUTH- EAST RAJASTHAN. THE DEVELOPMENT WORKS AND GOOD RESULTS OBTAINED THEREOF HAVE BEEN PRESENTED.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableCHHAJAWA WATERSHED IN KOTA DISTRICT OF S.E RAJASTHAN IS ONE OF THE 17 WATERSHEDS TAKEN UP BY THE CSWCRTI FOR PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES . THE B:C RATIO OF THE PROJECT FOR CROP PRODUCTION WHICH WAS 1.96:1 IN 1985 -86 HAS INCREASED TO 4.1:1 IN 1989-90 , CONFIRMING THE BENEFITS OF PLANNING FOR SUSTAINED PRODUCTIVITY.Not Availabl

RNA Structure Elements Conserved between Mouse and 59 Other Vertebrates

In this work, we present a computational screen conducted for functional RNA structures, resulting in over 100,000 conserved RNA structure elements found in alignments of mouse (mm10) against 59 other vertebrates. We explicitly included masked repeat regions to explore the potential of transposable elements and low-complexity regions to give rise to regulatory RNA elements. In our analysis pipeline, we implemented a four-step procedure: (i) we screened genome-wide alignments for potential structure elements using RNAz-2, (ii) realigned and refined candidate loci with LocARNA-P, (iii) scored candidates again with RNAz-2 in structure alignment mode, and (iv) searched for additional homologous loci in mouse genome that were not covered by genome alignments. The 3’-untranslated regions (3’-UTRs) of protein-coding genes and small noncoding RNAs are enriched for structures, while coding sequences are depleted. Repeat-associated loci make up about 95% of the homologous loci identified and are, as expected, predominantly found in intronic and intergenic regions. Nevertheless, we report the structure elements enriched in specific genome elements, such as 3’-UTRs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). We provide full access to our results via a custom UCSC genome browser trackhub freely available on our website (http://rna.tbi.univie.ac.at/trackhubs/#RNAz)

Social and environmental transitions in arid zones: the North Gujarat Archaeological Project — NoGAP

The Northern Gujarat Archaeological Project (NoGAP) is a new collaborative initiative between Spain and India, and promotes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating environmental, archaeological and ethnoarchaeological data for studying social contacts, resource use and cultural landscape in a long-term perspective. The programme includes: 1.-The excavation of a set of key sites within north Gujarat to create a broad dataset from anthropic deposits. 2.-Extensive geoarchaeological and vegetation surveys. 3.-The systematic recovery of bioarchaeological remains (charred macros, charcoals, animal bones, phytoliths and starch) highlighting trajectories of domestication and human-environment interactions. 4.-Sedimentological and micromorphological analyses to unravel site formation processes and taphonomy. 5.-The study of traditional activities in contemporary pastoral and agricultural settlements to support the pattern recognition and analysis of site formation and activity signatures. Ethnoarchaeological work in north Gujarat has been carried out in Nagwada and Jhandala where crop processing and traditional building activities have been recorded and sampled for physical, chemical and residue (plant micro and macro-remains) analyses to create a signature dataset. 6.-All information to be put together in a Geographical Information System (GIS) to analyse spatio-temporal relationships.Peer reviewe

Rerouting an Organocatalytic Reaction by Intercepting its Reactive Intermediates

Reactive intermediates are key to halting and promoting chemical transformations, however due to their elusive nature, they are seldom harnessed for reaction design. Herein, we describe studies aimed at stabilizing reactive intermediates in the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalytic cycle, which enabled fully shutting down the known benzoin coupling pathway, while rerouting its intermediates toward deuteration. The reversible nature of NHC catalysis and the selective stabilization of reaction intermediates facilitated clean hydrogen-deuterium exchange reactions of aromatic aldehydes by D2O, even for challenging electron withdrawing substrates. The addition of catalytic amounts of phenyl boronic acid was used to further stabilize highly reactive intermediates and mitigate the formation of benzoin coupling by-products. The mechanistic understanding at the foundation of this work resulted in unprecedented mild conditions with base and catalyst loadings as low as 0.1 mol%, and a scalable deuteration reaction applicable to a broad substrate scope with outstanding functional group tolerance. More importantly, adopting this approach enabled the construction of a machine-learning derived guideline for identifying the appropriate catalyst and conditions for different substrates based on a logistic regression classification model. Experimental studies combined with machine learning and computational methods shed light on the non-trivial mechanistic underpinnings of this reaction