Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A spectroscopic and computationally minimal approach to the analysis of charge transfer processes in conformationally fluxional mixed‐valence and hetero‐bimetallic complexes

Climate warming is supposed to enlarge the area climatically suitable to the naturalization of alien garden plants in temperate regions. However, the effects of a changing climate on the spread of naturalized ornamentals have not been evaluated by spatially and temporarily explicit range modelling at larger scales so far. Here, we assess how climate change and the frequency of cultivation interactively determine the spread of 15 ornamental plants over the 21st century in Europe. We coupled species distribution modelling with simulations of demography and dispersal to predict range dynamics of these species in annual steps across a 250 x 250 m raster of the study area. Models were run under four scenarios of climate warming and six levels of cultivation intensity. Cultivation frequency was implemented as size of the area used for planting a species. Although the area climatically suitable to the 15 species increases, on average, the area predicted to be occupied by them in 2090 shrinks under two of the three climate change scenarios. This contradiction obviously arises from dispersal limitations that were pronounced although we assumed that cultivation is spatially adapting to the changing climate. Cultivation frequency had a much stronger effect on species spread than climate change, and this effect was non‐linear. The area occupied increased sharply from low to moderate levels of cultivation intensity, but levelled off afterwards. Our simulations suggest that climate warming will not necessarily foster the spread of alien garden plants in Europe over the next decades. However, climatically suitable areas do increase and hence an invasion debt is likely accumulating. Restricting cultivation of species can be effective in preventing species spread, irrespective of how the climate develops. However, for being successful, they depend on high levels of compliance to keep propagule pressure at a low level

New routes to organometallic molecular junctions via a simple thermal processing protocol

Methods for forming single- and multiple-molecule junctions are key to the development of molecular electronics and the further study of allied electronic and electrical properties of molecules arising from through-molecule charge transport. The organometallic complex trans-Ru(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-3-C4H3S)(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-1,4-C6H4C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CAuPPh3)(dppe)2 forms well-ordered, densely packed self-assembled monolayers on gold and silver substrates, contacted through the sulfur atoms of the thiophenyl groups. Upon mild thermal treatment (150–200 °C, two hours) the gold moiety decomposes to liberate PPh3 and form quite uniform, disc-shaped gold nanoparticles on top of the organometallic monolayer. The resulting molecular junctions give rise to sigmoidal shaped I–V curves characteristic of through-molecule conductance, rather than linear, ohmic traces associated with metallic contacts (i.e. short circuits). This work therefore demonstrates the feasibility of thermal processing routes to form good quality molecular junctions from organometallic complexes of relatively complex molecular structure capped with uniformly-shaped nanoparticles formed in situ.P. C. is grateful for financial assistance from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain and fondos FEDER in the framework of project MAT2016-78257-R. S. M. and P. C. acknowledge support from DGA/Fondos FEDER (construyendo Europa desde Aragón) for funding PLATON research group (E31_17R). S. G. E. held a Durham Doctoral Scholarship, further supported by the University of Western Australia. S. B. held a scholarship for doctoral studies from the University of Western Australia International Research Training Scholarship Program. P. J. L. gratefully acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP140100855).Peer reviewe

Guidelines for Reporting Action Simulation Studies (GRASS): proposals to improve reporting of research in motor imagery and action observation

Researchers from multiple disciplines have studied the simulation of actions through motor imagery, action observation, or their combination. Procedures used in these studies vary considerably between research groups, and no standardized approach to reporting experimental protocols has been proposed. This has led to under-reporting of critical details, impairing the assessment, replication, synthesis, and potential clinical translation of effects. We provide an overview of issues related to the reporting of information in action simulation studies, and discuss the benefits of standardized reporting. We propose a series of checklists that identify key details of research protocols to include when reporting action simulation studies. Each checklist comprises A) essential methodological details, B) essential details that are relevant to a specific mode of action simulation, and C) further points that may be useful on a case-by-case basis. We anticipate that the use of these guidelines will improve the understanding, reproduction, and synthesis of studies using action simulation, and enhance the translation of research using motor imagery and action observation to applied and clinical settings