Biodegradation of Oil Hydrocarbons by Soil Microflora Activated with Photoluminescence Films

Stimulating effect of polyethylene photoluminescence films on the growth of autochthonous microflora population in oil-polluted soils has been determined under the laboratory conditions, where oil concentration in the soil was 50 g/kg. The increase in number of basic groups of microflora was accompanied with the increased activity of the enzymes, which catalyzed oxidizing processes. At the end of the experiment, on the 45-th day, oil content decreased to 15 g/kg. The analysis of the residual hydrocarbons by IR-spectroscopy has revealed absorption bands in the regions of 1710 cm–1 and 1600 cm–1. At the same time spectral coefficients С1, С2, А1 and А2 increased 1.5-3 times, while С3 and А3 decreased 1.5-2.5 times indicating oxidation processes of oil hydrocarbons. Chromatographic analysis proved the intensity of hydrocarbon biodegradation. Hydrocarbons С11-С14 completely eliminated in the test samples and the concentration of hydrocarbons with a high molecular weight decreased by 70-80%. At the same time hydrocarbon biodegradation index, determined as the ratio of the sum of isoprenoids (pristine + phytane) to the sum of n-alkanes (С17 + С18), increased 5-6 times due to the use of photoluminescence films

The genomic bases of morphological divergence and reproductive isolation driven by ecological speciation in Senecio(Asteraceae)

Ecological speciation, driven by adaptation to contrasting environments, provides an attractive opportunity to study the formation of distinct species, and the role of selection and genomic divergence in this process. Here, we focus on a particularly clear-cut case of ecological speciation to reveal the genomic bases of reproductive isolation and morphological differences between closely related Senecio species, whose recent divergence within the last ~200 000 years was likely driven by the uplift of Mt. Etna (Sicily). These species form a hybrid zone, yet remain morphologically and ecologically distinct, despite active gene exchange. Here, we report a high-density genetic map of the Senecio genome and map hybrid breakdown to one large and several small quantitative trait loci (QTL). Loci under diversifying selection cluster in three 5 cM regions which are characterized by a significant increase in relative (FST), but not absolute (dXY), interspecific differentiation. They also correspond to some of the regions of greatest marker density, possibly corresponding to ‘cold-spots’ of recombination, such as centromeres or chromosomal inversions. Morphological QTL for leaf and floral traits overlap these clusters. We also detected three genomic regions with significant transmission ratio distortion (TRD), possibly indicating accumulation of intrinsic genetic incompatibilities between these recently diverged species. One of the TRD regions overlapped with a cluster of high species differentiation, and another overlaps the large QTL for hybrid breakdown, indicating that divergence of these species may have occurred due to a complex interplay of ecological divergence and accumulation of intrinsic genetic incompatibilities

Seasonal changes in milk quality indicators jersey cows

The article presents the results of studies of milk quality indicators: the mass fraction of fat, the mass fraction of protein and the number of somatic cells in the Jersey breed in the Stavropol Territory in 2022-2023. In the autumn period, the indicators of the mass fraction of fat and protein were higher compared to other seasons and equal to 6.08% and 4.66%, respectively. The number of somatic cells was also increased in the autumn and spring periods of 140 and 146 thousand units/ml, respectively. A significant negative correlation of the mass fraction of protein and average daily productivity to the number of somatic cells r = -0.21 and -0.12 was established. And a significant positive correlation between the mass fraction of fat and the level of somatic cells r = 0.52

One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants

Abstract: Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000–500,000 species1, 2 of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life

Search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state in proton-proton collisions at s=13TeV

A search for new heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, ZZ, WH, or ZH boson pairs in the all-jets final state is presented. The analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS detector in 2016–2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. The search is sensitive to resonances with masses between 1.3 and 6TeV, decaying to bosons that are highly Lorentz-boosted such that each of the bosons forms a single large-radius jet. Machine learning techniques are employed to identify such jets. No significant excess over the estimated standard model background is observed. A maximum local significance of 3.6 standard deviations, corresponding to a global significance of 2.3 standard deviations, is observed at masses of 2.1 and 2.9 TeV. In a heavy vector triplet model, spin-1 Z′ and W′ resonances with masses below 4.8TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level (CL). These limits are the most stringent to date. In a bulk graviton model, spin-2 gravitons and spin-0 radions with masses below 1.4 and 2.7TeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% CL. Production of heavy resonances through vector boson fusion is constrained with upper cross section limits at 95% CL as low as 0.1 fb. © 2023 The Author(s

Search for a heavy composite Majorana neutrino in events with dilepton signatures from proton-proton collisions at √s=13 Tev

Results are presented of a search for a heavy Majorana neutrino N ⠃ decaying into two same-flavor leptons ⠃ (electrons or muons) and a quark-pair jet. A model is considered in which the N ⠃ is an excited neutrino in a compositeness scenario. The analysis is performed using a sample of proton-proton collisions at & RADIC;s = 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb-1. The data are found to be in agreement with the standard model prediction. For the process in which the N ⠃ is produced in association with a lepton, followed by the decay of the N ⠃ to a same-flavor lepton and a quark pair, an upper limit at 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction is obtained as a function of the N ⠃ mass mN ⠃ and the compositeness scale ⠄. For this model the data exclude the existence of Ne (N & mu;) for mN ⠃ below 6.0 (6.1) TeV, at the limit where mN ⠃ is equal to ⠄. For mN ⠃ N 1 TeV, values of ⠄ less than 20 (23) TeV are excluded. These results represent a considerable improvement in sensitivity, covering a larger parameter space than previous searches in pp collisions at 13 TeV.& COPY; 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons .org /licenses /by /4 .0/). Funded by SCOAP3

Comparative assessment of the productive qualities of Holstein and Jersey dairy cattle

The development of the dairy business in modern conditions is closely related to the demand for dairy raw materials in the food market. The preferences of consumers of dairy products also have an impact on the required quality of dairy raw materials. The increase in dairy productivity of cows in Russia is due both to the introduction of modern milk production technologies and to the breeding of Holstein cattle, which is the world leader in milk production. At the same time, in connection with the assessment of the quality of dairy raw materials, mainly in terms of fat and protein content, commodity producers are interested in increasing the indicators of protein and fat content in dairy cattle. A comparative study of the milk productivity of the brood stock of the Jersey and Holstein genotypes showed that Holstein cows were the best in milk yield by 39.31%. Nevertheless, analogues of Jersey cows exceeded Holstein analogues in milk fat yield by 35.24% and protein by 21.36% per 1 kg of live weight, which is possible due to a higher conversion of nutrients from feed to dairy products in Jersey cattle genotypes. The results obtained increase the attractiveness of Jersey cattle when breeding in the conditions of the North Caucasus