541 research outputs found

    Structural basis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus ADP-ribose-1''-phosphate dephosphorylation by a conserved domain of nsP3.

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    The crystal structure of a conserved domain of nonstructural protein 3 (nsP3) from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has been solved by single-wavelength anomalous dispersion to 1.4 A resolution. The structure of this "X" domain, seen in many single-stranded RNA viruses, reveals a three-layered alpha/beta/alpha core with a macro-H2A-like fold. The putative active site is a solvent-exposed cleft that is conserved in its three structural homologs, yeast Ymx7, Archeoglobus fulgidus AF1521, and Er58 from E. coli. Its sequence is similar to yeast YBR022W (also known as Poa1P), a known phosphatase that acts on ADP-ribose-1''-phosphate (Appr-1''-p). The SARS nsP3 domain readily removes the 1'' phosphate group from Appr-1''-p in in vitro assays, confirming its phosphatase activity. Sequence and structure comparison of all known macro-H2A domains combined with available functional data suggests that proteins of this superfamily form an emerging group of nucleotide phosphatases that dephosphorylate Appr-1''-p

    Differences in BVOC oxidation and SOA formation above and below the forest canopy

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    Gas-phase biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are oxidized in the troposphere to produce secondary pollutants such as ozone (O3), organic nitrates (RONO2), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Two coupled zero-dimensional models have been used to investigate differences in oxidation and SOA production from isoprene and α-pinene, especially with respect to the nitrate radical (NO3), above and below a forest canopy in rural Michigan. In both modeled environments (above and below the canopy), NO3 mixing ratios are relatively small (< 0.5 pptv); however, daytime (08:00–20:00 LT) mixing ratios below the canopy are 2 to 3 times larger than those above. As a result of this difference, NO3 contributes 12 % of total daytime α-pinene oxidation below the canopy while only contributing 4 % above. Increasing background pollutant levels to simulate a more polluted suburban or peri-urban forest environment increases the average contribution of NO3 to daytime below-canopy α-pinene oxidation to 32 %. Gas-phase RONO2 produced through NO3 oxidation undergoes net transport upward from the below-canopy environment during the day, and this transport contributes up to 30 % of total NO3-derived RONO2 production above the canopy in the morning (∌ 07:00). Modeled SOA mass loadings above and below the canopy ultimately differ by less than 0.5 ”g m−3, and extremely low-volatility organic compounds dominate SOA composition. Lower temperatures below the canopy cause increased partitioning of semi-volatile gas-phase products to the particle phase and up to 35 % larger SOA mass loadings of these products relative to above the canopy in the model. Including transport between above- and below-canopy environments increases above-canopy NO3-derived α-pinene RONO2 SOA mass by as much as 45 %, suggesting that below-canopy chemical processes substantially influence above-canopy SOA mass loadings, especially with regard to monoterpene-derived RONO2

    Allergic asthma is distinguished by sensitivity of allergen-specific CD4+ T cells and airway structural cells to type 2 inflammation

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    Despite systemic sensitization, not all allergic individuals develop asthma symptoms upon airborne allergen exposure. Determination of the factors that lead to the asthma phenotype in allergic individuals could guide treatment and identify novel therapeutic targets. In this study, we utilized segmental allergen challenge (SAC) of allergic asthmatics (AA) and allergic non-asthmatic controls (AC) to determine if there are differences in the airway immune response or airway structural cells that could drive the development of asthma. Both groups developed prominent allergic airway inflammation in response to allergen. However, asthmatic subjects had markedly higher levels of innate type 2 receptors on allergen-specific CD4+ T cells recruited into the airway. There were also increased levels of type 2 cytokines, increased total mucin and increased MUC5AC in response to allergen in the airways of AA subjects. Furthermore, type 2 cytokine levels correlated with the mucin response in AA but not AC subjects, suggesting differences in the airway epithelial response to inflammation. Finally, AA subjects had increased airway smooth muscle mass at baseline measured in vivo using novel orientation-registered optical coherence tomography (OR-OCT). Our data demonstrate that the development of allergic asthma is dependent on the responsiveness of allergen-specific CD4+ T cells to innate type 2 mediators as well as increased sensitivity of airway epithelial cells and smooth muscle to type 2 inflammation

    Synergetic use of IASI and TROPOMI space borne sensors for generating a tropospheric methane profile product

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    The thermal infrared nadir spectra of IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) are successfully used for retrievals of different atmospheric trace gas profiles. However, these retrievals offer generally reduced information about the lowermost tropospheric layer due to the lack of thermal contrast close to the surface. Spectra of scattered solar radiation observed in the near and/or short wave infrared, for instance by TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) offer higher sensitivity near ground and are used for the retrieval of total column averaged mixing ratios of a variety of atmospheric trace gases. Here we present a method for the synergetic use of IASI profile and TROPOMI total column data. Our method uses the output of the individual retrievals and consists of linear algebra a posteriori calculations (i.e. calculation after the individual retrievals). We show that this approach is largely equivalent to applying the spectra of the different sensors together in a single retrieval procedure, but with the substantial advantage of being applicable to data generated with different individual retrieval processors, of being very time efficient, and of directly benefiting from the high quality and most recent improvements of the individual retrieval processors.This research has largely benefit from funds of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (provided for the two projects MOTIV and TEDDY with IDs/GeschÀftszeichen 290612604/GZ:SCHN1126/2-1 and 416767181/GZ:SCHN1126/5-1, respectively) and from support by the European Space Agency in the context the "Sentinel-5p+Innovation (S5p+I) - Water Vapour Isotopologues (H2O-ISO)" activities. Furthermore, we acknowledge funds from the Ministerio de Economía y Competividad from Spain for the project INMENSE (CGL2016-80688-P)

    Respiration driven CO2 pulses dominate Australia's flux variability

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    The Australian continent contributes substantially to the year-to-year variability of the global terrestrial carbon dioxide (CO2) sink. However, the scarcity of in-situ observations in remote areas prevents deciphering the processes that force the CO2 flux variability. Here, examining atmospheric CO2 measurements from satellites in the period 2009-2018, we find recurrent end-of-dry-season CO2 pulses over the Australian continent. These pulses largely control the year-to-year variability of Australia's CO2 balance, due to 2-3 times higher seasonal variations compared to previous top-down inversions and bottom-up estimates. The CO2 pulses occur shortly after the onset of rainfall and are driven by enhanced soil respiration preceding photosynthetic uptake in Australia's semi-arid regions. The suggested continental-scale relevance of soil rewetting processes has large implications for our understanding and modelling of global climate-carbon cycle feedbacks.Comment: 28 pages (including supplementary materials), 3 main figures, 7 supplementary figure

    Differential limit on the extremely-high-energy cosmic neutrino flux in the presence of astrophysical background from nine years of IceCube data

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    We report a quasi-differential upper limit on the extremely-high-energy (EHE) neutrino flux above 5×1065\times 10^{6} GeV based on an analysis of nine years of IceCube data. The astrophysical neutrino flux measured by IceCube extends to PeV energies, and it is a background flux when searching for an independent signal flux at higher energies, such as the cosmogenic neutrino signal. We have developed a new method to place robust limits on the EHE neutrino flux in the presence of an astrophysical background, whose spectrum has yet to be understood with high precision at PeV energies. A distinct event with a deposited energy above 10610^{6} GeV was found in the new two-year sample, in addition to the one event previously found in the seven-year EHE neutrino search. These two events represent a neutrino flux that is incompatible with predictions for a cosmogenic neutrino flux and are considered to be an astrophysical background in the current study. The obtained limit is the most stringent to date in the energy range between 5×1065 \times 10^{6} and 5×10105 \times 10^{10} GeV. This result constrains neutrino models predicting a three-flavor neutrino flux of $E_\nu^2\phi_{\nu_e+\nu_\mu+\nu_\tau}\simeq2\times 10^{-8}\ {\rm GeV}/{\rm cm}^2\ \sec\ {\rm sr}at at 10^9\ {\rm GeV}$. A significant part of the parameter-space for EHE neutrino production scenarios assuming a proton-dominated composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is excluded.Comment: The version accepted for publication in Physical Review

    Synergetic use of IASI profile and TROPOMI total-column level 2 methane retrieval products

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    The thermal infrared nadir spectra of IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) are successfully used for retrievals of different atmospheric trace gas profiles. However, these retrievals offer generally reduced information about the lowermost tropospheric layer due to the lack of thermal contrast close to the surface. Spectra of scattered solar radiation observed in the near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared, for instance by TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument), offer higher sensitivity near the ground and are used for the retrieval of total-column-averaged mixing ratios of a variety of atmospheric trace gases. Here we present a method for the synergetic use of IASI profile and TROPOMI total-column level 2 retrieval products. Our method uses the output of the individual retrievals and consists of linear algebra a posteriori calculations (i.e. calculation after the individual retrievals). We show that this approach has strong theoretical similarities to applying the spectra of the different sensors together in a single retrieval procedure but with the substantial advantage of being applicable to data generated with different individual retrieval processors, of being very time efficient, and of directly benefiting from the high quality and most recent improvements of the individual retrieval processors. We demonstrate the method exemplarily for atmospheric methane (CH4_4). We perform a theoretical evaluation and show that the a posteriori combination method yields a total-column-averaged CH4_4 product (XCH4_4) that conserves the good sensitivity of the corresponding TROPOMI product while merging it with the high-quality upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) CH4_4 partial-column information of the corresponding IASI product. As a consequence, the combined product offers additional sensitivity for the tropospheric CH4_4 partial column, which is not provided by the individual TROPOMI nor the individual IASI product. The theoretically predicted synergetic effect is verified by comparisons to CH4_4 reference data obtained from collocated XCH4_4 measurements at 14 globally distributed TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) stations, CH4_4 profile measurements made by 36 individual AirCore soundings, and tropospheric CH4_4 data derived from continuous ground-based in situ observations made at two nearby Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) mountain stations. The comparisons clearly demonstrate that the combined product can reliably detect the actual variations of atmospheric XCH4_4, CH4_4 in the UTLS, and CH4_4 in the troposphere. A similar good reliability for the latter is not achievable by the individual TROPOMI and IASI products

    Mutation discovery in mice by whole exome sequencing

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    We report the development and optimization of reagents for in-solution, hybridization-based capture of the mouse exome. By validating this approach in a multiple inbred strains and in novel mutant strains, we show that whole exome sequencing is a robust approach for discovery of putative mutations, irrespective of strain background. We found strong candidate mutations for the majority of mutant exomes sequenced, including new models of orofacial clefting, urogenital dysmorphology, kyphosis and autoimmune hepatitis
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