Fragments of the earliest land plants

The earliest fossil evidence for land plants comes from microscopic dispersed spores. These microfossils are abundant and widely distributed in sediments, and the earliest generally accepted reports are from rocks of mid-Ordovician age (Llanvirn, 475 million years ago). Although distribution, morphology and ultrastructure of the spores indicate that they are derived from terrestrial plants, possibly early relatives of the bryophytes, this interpretation remains controversial as there is little in the way of direct evidence for the parent plants. An additional complicating factor is that there is a significant hiatus between the appearance of the first dispersed spores and fossils of relatively complete land plants (megafossils): spores predate the earliest megafossils (Late Silurian, 425 million year ago) by some 50 million years. Here we report the description of spore-containing plant fragments from Ordovician rocks of Oman. These fossils provide direct evidence for the nature of the spore-producing plants. They confirm that the earliest spores developed in large numbers within sporangia, providing strong evidence that they are the fossilized remains of bona fide land plants. Furthermore, analysis of spore wall ultrastructure supports liverwort affinities

Imbibition in Disordered Media

The physics of liquids in porous media gives rise to many interesting phenomena, including imbibition where a viscous fluid displaces a less viscous one. Here we discuss the theoretical and experimental progress made in recent years in this field. The emphasis is on an interfacial description, akin to the focus of a statistical physics approach. Coarse-grained equations of motion have been recently presented in the literature. These contain terms that take into account the pertinent features of imbibition: non-locality and the quenched noise that arises from the random environment, fluctuations of the fluid flow and capillary forces. The theoretical progress has highlighted the presence of intrinsic length-scales that invalidate scale invariance often assumed to be present in kinetic roughening processes such as that of a two-phase boundary in liquid penetration. Another important fact is that the macroscopic fluid flow, the kinetic roughening properties, and the effective noise in the problem are all coupled. Many possible deviations from simple scaling behaviour exist, and we outline the experimental evidence. Finally, prospects for further work, both theoretical and experimental, are discussed.Comment: Review article, to appear in Advances in Physics, 53 pages LaTe

Retargeted adenoviruses for radiation-guided gene delivery

The combination of radiation with radiosensitizing gene delivery or oncolytic viruses promises to provide an advantage that could improve the therapeutic results for glioblastoma. X-rays can induce significant molecular changes in cancer cells. We isolated the GIRLRG peptide that binds to radiation-inducible 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78), which is overexpressed on the plasma membranes of irradiated cancer cells and tumor-associated microvascular endothelial cells. The goal of our study was to improve tumor-specific adenovirus-mediated gene delivery by selectively targeting the adenovirus binding to this radiation-inducible protein. We employed an adenoviral fiber replacement approach to conduct a study of the targeting utility of GRP78-binding peptide. We have developed fiber-modified adenoviruses encoding the GRP78-binding peptide inserted into the fiber-fibritin. We have evaluated the reporter gene expression of fiber-modified adenoviruses in vitro using a panel of glioma cells and a human D54MG tumor xenograft model. The obtained results demonstrated that employment of the GRP78-binding peptide resulted in increased gene expression in irradiated tumors following infection with fiber-modified adenoviruses, compared with untreated tumor cells. These studies demonstrate the feasibility of adenoviral retargeting using the GRP78-binding peptide that selectively recognizes tumor cells responding to radiation treatment

Antioxidant Activity of the Phenolic Leaf Extracts from Monechma ciliatum in Stabilization of Corn Oil

The total phenolic content and the antioxidan potential of methanolic extract (ME), ethyl acetate extract (EAE), and hexane extract (HE) from Monechma ciliatum leaves (MCL) were evaluated. The Folin-Ciocalteu, b-carotene bleaching, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and the accelerated oxidation methods were used for evaluation. Both the extraction yield and the antioxidant activity (AOA) were strongly dependent on the solvent. Among the extracts, ME exhibited highest total phenolic compounds (TPC) and IC50 values for DPPH, followed by EAE and HE, respectively. Peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AV) conjugated dienes (CD), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were taken as the parameters for evaluation of stabilization efficacy of MCL extracts and results revealed MCL to be a potent antioxidant for the stabilization of corn oil. As a general trend, increased AOA was observed for increased extract concentration. The predominant phenolic compounds identified by HPLC-DAD in MCL extracts were p-coumaric acid, vanillin and ferulic acid

Antioxidant Activity of the Phenolic Leaf Extracts from Monechma ciliatum in Stabilization of Corn Oil

The total phenolic content and the antioxidan potential of methanolic extract (ME), ethyl acetate extract (EAE), and hexane extract (HE) from Monechma ciliatum leaves (MCL) were evaluated. The Folin-Ciocalteu, b-carotene bleaching, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and the accelerated oxidation methods were used for evaluation. Both the extraction yield and the antioxidant activity (AOA) were strongly dependent on the solvent. Among the extracts, ME exhibited highest total phenolic compounds (TPC) and IC50 values for DPPH, followed by EAE and HE, respectively. Peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AV) conjugated dienes (CD), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were taken as the parameters for evaluation of stabilization efficacy of MCL extracts and results revealed MCL to be a potent antioxidant for the stabilization of corn oil. As a general trend, increased AOA was observed for increased extract concentration. The predominant phenolic compounds identified by HPLC-DAD in MCL extracts were p-coumaric acid, vanillin and ferulic acid

Transmission Dynamics of Schistosoma japonicum in the Lakes and Marshlands of China

Background: Schistosoma japonicum is a major public health concern in China, with over one million people infected and another 40 million living in areas at risk of infection. Unlike the disease caused by S. mansoni and S. haematobium, schistosomiasis japonica is a zoonosis, involving a number of different mammalian species as reservoir hosts. As a result of a number of published reports from China, it has long been considered that bovines, particularly water buffaloes, play a major role in human S. japonicum transmission there, and a drug-based intervention study (1998-2003) around the Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province provided proof of concept that water buffaloes are, indeed, major reservoirs of human infection in this setting. Methods and Findings: In this study we incorporated recently obtained epidemiological information to model the steady-state S. japonicum transmission as well as the impact of the removal of S. japonicum transmission attributable to water buffaloes on human infection rates across six different endemic scenarios within three villages in the Dongting (Hunan) and Poyang (Jiangxi) lakes of southern China. Similar results were obtained for all scenarios. Steady-state S. japonicum infection rates remained constant and human prevalence and incidence were predicted to fall considerably over time. The model showed that the contribution of S. japonicum water buffalo transmission to human infection ranged from 39.1% to 99.1% and predicted that the removal of water buffalo transmission would reduce parasite reproductive rates below 1. This indicates that without the contribution of water buffaloes, S. japonicum transmission is interrupted and unsustainable. These scenarios are generalizable to other endemic villages in the lake and marshland areas of China where a similar cycle of snail infection and infection/reinfection of humans and bovines occurs. Conclusions: Along with previous epidemiological data, our findings strongly support water buffaloes as an important component of the transmission cycle that affects humans in the lake and marshlands region of China, a feature which appears to differ from the situation prevalent in the Philippines where their contribution is less pronounced. Our conclusions underscore the rationale for removal, replacement or treatment of water buffaloes, and for the development and deployment of a transmission blocking buffalo vaccine against S. japonicum for this setting to achieve the goal of transmission control. The Chinese Government has recently commenced a new integrated national strategy to improve on existing approaches to control schistosomiasis in the lake and marshlands region by reducing bovines and humans as a source of S. japonicum infection to Oncomelania snails

Optimising biocatalyst design for obtaining high transesterification activity by α-chymotrypsin in non-aqueous media

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Enzymes are often used in organic solvents for catalyzing organic synthesis. Two enzyme preparations, EPRP (enzyme precipitated and rinsed with n-propanol) and PCMC (protein coated microcrystals) show much higher activities than lyophilized powders in such systems. Both preparations involve precipitation by an organic solvent. The clear understanding of why these preparations show higher catalytic activity than lyophilized powders in organic solvents is not available.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It was found that EPRPs of α-chymotrypsin prepared by precipitation with <it>n</it>-propanol in the presence of trehalose contained substantial amount of trehalose (even though trehalose alone at these lower concentrations was not precipitated by <it>n</it>-propanol). The presence of trehalose in these EPRPs resulted in much higher transesterification rates (45.2 nmoles mg^-1min^-1) as compared with EPRPs prepared in the absence of trehalose (16.6 nmoles mg^-1min^-1) in octane. Both kinds of EPRPs gave similar initial transesterification rates in acetonitrile. Use of higher concentrations of trehalose (when trehalose alone also precipitates out), resulted in the formation of PCMCs, which showed higher transesterification rates in both octane and acetonitrile. SEM analysis showed the relative sizes of various preparations. Presence of trehalose resulted in EPRPs of smaller sizes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The two different forms of enzymes (EPRP and PCMC) known to show higher activity in organic solvents were found to be different only in the way the low molecular weight additive was present along with the protein. Therefore, the enhancement in the transesterification activity in EPRPs prepared in the presence of trehalose was due to: (a) better retention of essential water layer for catalysis due to the presence of the sugar. This effect disappeared where the reaction media was polar as the polar solvent (acetonitrile) is more effective in stripping off the water from the enzyme; (b) reduction in particle size as revealed by SEM. In the case of PCMC, the enhancement in the initial rates was due to an increase in the surface area of the biocatalyst since protein is coated over the core material (trehalose or salt).</p> <p>It is hoped that the insight gained in this work would help in a better understanding for designing high activity biocatalyst preparation of non-aqueous media.</p

HIV-1 envelope, integrins and co-receptor use in mucosal transmission of HIV

It is well established that HIV-1 infection typically involves an interaction between the viral envelope protein gp120/41 and the CD4 molecule followed by a second interaction with a chemokine receptor, usually CCR5 or CXCR4. In the early stages of an HIV-1 infection CCR5 using viruses (R5 viruses) predominate. In some viral subtypes there is a propensity to switch to CXCR4 usage (X4 viruses). The receptor switch occurs in ~ 40% of the infected individuals and is associated with faster disease progression. This holds for subtypes B and D, but occurs less frequently in subtypes A and C. There are several hypotheses to explain the preferential transmission of R5 viruses and the mechanisms that lead to switching of co-receptor usage; however, there is no definitive explanation for either. One important consideration regarding transmission is that signaling by R5 gp120 may facilitate transmission of R5 viruses by inducing a permissive environment for HIV replication. In the case of sexual transmission, infection by HIV requires the virus to breach the mucosal barrier to gain access to the immune cell targets that it infects; however, the immediate events that follow HIV exposure at genital mucosal sites are not well understood. Upon transmission, the HIV quasispecies that is replicating in an infected donor contracts through a “genetic bottleneck”, and often infection results from a single infectious event. Many details surrounding this initial infection remain unresolved. In mucosal tissues, CD4+ T cells express high levels of CCR5, and a subset of these CD4+/CCR5high cells express the integrin α4β7, the gut homing receptor. CD4+/CCR5high/ α4β7high T cells are highly susceptible to infection by HIV-1 and are ideal targets for an efficient productive infection at the point of transmission. In this context we have demonstrated that the HIV-1 envelope protein gp120 binds to α4β7 on CD4+ T cells. On CD4+/CCR5high/ α4β7high T cells, α4β7 is closely associated with CD4 and CCR5. Furthermore, α4β7 is ~3 times the size of CD4 on the cell surface, that makes it a prominent receptor for an efficient virus capture. gp120-α4β7 interactions mediate the activation of the adhesion-associated integrin LFA-1. LFA-1 facilitates the formation of virological synapses and cell-to-cell spread of HIV-1. gp120 binding to α4β7 is mediated by a tripeptide located in the V1/V2 domain of gp120. Of note, the V1/V2 domain of gp120 has been linked to variations in transmission fitness among viral isolates raising the intriguing possibility that gp120-α4β7 interactions may be linked to transmission fitness. Although many details remain unresolved, we hypothesize that gp120-α4β7 interactions play an important role in the very early events following sexual transmission of HIV and may have important implication in the design of vaccine strategies for the prevention of acquisition of HIV infectio

Genome-Wide Integration on Transcription Factors, Histone Acetylation and Gene Expression Reveals Genes Co-Regulated by Histone Modification Patterns

N-terminal tails of H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 histone families are subjected to posttranslational modifications that take part in transcriptional regulation mechanisms, such as transcription factor binding and gene expression. Regulation mechanisms under control of histone modification are important but remain largely unclear, despite of emerging datasets for comprehensive analysis of histone modification. In this paper, we focus on what we call genetic harmonious units (GHUs), which are co-occurring patterns among transcription factor binding, gene expression and histone modification. We present the first genome-wide approach that captures GHUs by combining ChIP-chip with microarray datasets from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our approach employs noise-robust soft clustering to select patterns which share the same preferences in transcription factor-binding, histone modification and gene expression, which are all currently implied to be closely correlated. The detected patterns are a well-studied acetylation of lysine 16 of H4 in glucose depletion as well as co-acetylation of five lysine residues of H3 with H4 Lys12 and H2A Lys7 responsible for ribosome biogenesis. Furthermore, our method further suggested the recognition of acetylated H4 Lys16 being crucial to histone acetyltransferase ESA1, whose essential role is still under controversy, from a microarray dataset on ESA1 and its bypass suppressor mutants. These results demonstrate that our approach allows us to provide clearer principles behind gene regulation mechanisms under histone modifications and detect GHUs further by applying to other microarray and ChIP-chip datasets. The source code of our method, which was implemented in MATLAB (http://www.mathworks.com/), is available from the supporting page for this paper: http://www.bic.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pathway/natsume/hm_detector.htm

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente