Regulator of Gene Silencing Calmodulins: Components of RNA granules and autophagy during plant stress

The central focus of this work is to understand how rgsCaM homologs regulate mRNP bodies under cellular stress. While rgsCaM is best known as an endogenous suppressor of gene silencing in tobacco, our findings for a homologous protein in Arabidopsis, CML38, suggest that a broader function in the regulation of mRNP bodies may be common to this family of calmodulin-like proteins. CML38 is induced by hypoxia stress, contributes to plant survival under hypoxia, and localizes to stress-induced mRNP bodies called stress granules (SGs), as well as to processing bodies (PBs). Members of this protein family target viral and endogenous proteins for degradation through the autophagy pathway. We propose that rgsCaM and its relatives may localize to stress-induced mRNP bodies and target them for autophagic degradation (granulophagy). In our investigations for rgsCaM, we used hypoxia stress as a means to induce stress granule formation and found that rgsCaM localizes to hypoxia-induced cytosolic granules which are both independent of and bound to SGs and PBs. We further show that rgsCaM colocalizes with the autophagosome cargo-binding protein ATG8e, and interacts with ATG8e in planta by BiFC assay. Mutations disrupting the N-terminus of rgsCaM, or ones affecting the ability of ATG8 to bind cargo adaptors caused a loss in BiFC interaction. This suggests that the N-terminus contains a site for binding to the cargo binding protein ATG8e, and which might mediate the targeting of rgsCaM and bound cargo to autophagosomes as part of the granulophagy process. For future studies, a FRET-based approach for probing rgsCaM interactions in vivo is demonstrated.In a second trust, we report the development of a novel, fluorescence-based, quantitative oxygen biosensor to facilitate the non-invasive assessment of the oxygen status of cells of living cells by fluorescent imaging

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Nest-Cavity Selection: Relationships with Cavity Age and Resin Production

ABSTRACT.--We evaluated selection of nest sites by male Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) in Texas relative to the age of the cavity when only cavities excavated by the woodpecker were available and when both naturally excavated cavities and artificial cavities we available. We also evaluated nest-cavity selection relative to he ability of naturally excavated cavity trees to produce resin, which is used by the woodpeckers to maintain a barrier against predation by rat snakes (Elaphe spp.), Longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) selected by breeding males as nest trees produced significantly greater resin yields at 2, 8, and 24 h post-wounding than cavity trees used for roosting by other group members. This preference was observed in loblolly pine (P. taeda) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata) cavity trees only at the 2-h resin-sampling period. When only naturally excavated cavities were available. red-cockaded Woodpeckers in both longleaf pine and loblolly-shorleaf pine habitat selected the newest cavities available for their nests sites, possibly as a means to reduce parasites loads. When both naturally excavated and artificial cavity for nesting in loblolly-shortleaf pine habitat, but not in longleaf pine habitat. Resin production in loblolly pine nest trees remained sufficient for continued use, whereas resin production in existing longleaf pine nest trees remained sufficient for continued use, whereas resin production in loblolly pine and shortleaf pine nest trees deceased through time, probably because of woodpecker activity at resin wells. For these latter tree species, breeding males switched to newer cavities and/pr cavity trees with higher resin yields

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Status and Management: West Gulf Coastal Plain and Interior Highlands

Red-cockaded woodpecker populations declined precipitously following European settlement and expansion and cutting of the original pine forests across the southeastern United States. By 1990 most residual populations lacked demographic viability, existed in degraded habitat, and were isolated from other populations. The primary causes of this situation were harvest of the original pine forests of the southeastern United States, conversion of forested lands to other uses, short-rotation silvicultural practices, and alteration of the fire regime in the regenerated forests. As social and legal mandates changed, management of red-cockaded woodpeckers became a higher priority. Intensive management for red-cockaded woodpeckers is currently practiced on most public and a few private lands that still support populations. Recent population trends and the current status of red-cockaded woodpeckers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana reflect historical factors and the efficacy of recent management

Role of nonhuman primate models in the discovery and clinical development of selective progesterone receptor modulators (SPRMs)

Selective progesterone receptor modulators (SPRMs) represent a new class of progesterone receptor ligands that exert clinically relevant tissue-selective progesterone agonist, antagonist, partial, or mixed agonist/antagonist effects on various progesterone target tissues in an in vivo situation depending on the biological action studied. The SPRM asoprisnil is being studied in women with symptomatic uterine leiomyomata and endometriosis. Asoprisnil shows a high degree of uterine selectivity as compared to effects on ovulation or ovarian hormone secretion in humans. It induces amenorrhea and decreases leiomyoma volume in a dose-dependent manner in the presence of follicular phase estrogen concentrations. It also has endometrial antiproliferative effects. In pregnant animals, the myometrial, i.e. labor-inducing, effects of asoprisnil are blunted or absent. Studies in non-human primates played a key role during the preclinical development of selective progesterone receptor modulators. These studies provided the first evidence of uterus-selective effects of asoprisnil and structurally related compounds, and the rationale for clinical development of asoprisnil

Overcoming leakage in scalable quantum error correction

Leakage of quantum information out of computational states into higher energy states represents a major challenge in the pursuit of quantum error correction (QEC). In a QEC circuit, leakage builds over time and spreads through multi-qubit interactions. This leads to correlated errors that degrade the exponential suppression of logical error with scale, challenging the feasibility of QEC as a path towards fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here, we demonstrate the execution of a distance-3 surface code and distance-21 bit-flip code on a Sycamore quantum processor where leakage is removed from all qubits in each cycle. This shortens the lifetime of leakage and curtails its ability to spread and induce correlated errors. We report a ten-fold reduction in steady-state leakage population on the data qubits encoding the logical state and an average leakage population of less than $1 \times 10^{-3}$ throughout the entire device. The leakage removal process itself efficiently returns leakage population back to the computational basis, and adding it to a code circuit prevents leakage from inducing correlated error across cycles, restoring a fundamental assumption of QEC. With this demonstration that leakage can be contained, we resolve a key challenge for practical QEC at scale.Comment: Main text: 7 pages, 5 figure

Measurement-induced entanglement and teleportation on a noisy quantum processor

Measurement has a special role in quantum theory: by collapsing the wavefunction it can enable phenomena such as teleportation and thereby alter the "arrow of time" that constrains unitary evolution. When integrated in many-body dynamics, measurements can lead to emergent patterns of quantum information in space-time that go beyond established paradigms for characterizing phases, either in or out of equilibrium. On present-day NISQ processors, the experimental realization of this physics is challenging due to noise, hardware limitations, and the stochastic nature of quantum measurement. Here we address each of these experimental challenges and investigate measurement-induced quantum information phases on up to 70 superconducting qubits. By leveraging the interchangeability of space and time, we use a duality mapping, to avoid mid-circuit measurement and access different manifestations of the underlying phases -- from entanglement scaling to measurement-induced teleportation -- in a unified way. We obtain finite-size signatures of a phase transition with a decoding protocol that correlates the experimental measurement record with classical simulation data. The phases display sharply different sensitivity to noise, which we exploit to turn an inherent hardware limitation into a useful diagnostic. Our work demonstrates an approach to realize measurement-induced physics at scales that are at the limits of current NISQ processors