144 research outputs found
An intracellular pH gradient in the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis as evaluated by 31P NMR
The cytoplasm of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (anammox) bacteria consists of three compartments separated by membranes. It has been suggested that a proton motive force may be generated over the membrane of the innermost compartment, the “anammoxosome”. 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was employed to investigate intracellular pH differences in the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis. With in vivo NMR, spectra were recorded of active, highly concentrated suspensions of K. stuttgartiensis in a wide-bore NMR tube. At different external pH values, two stable and distinct phosphate peaks were apparent in the recorded spectra. These peaks were equivalent with pH values of 7.3 and 6.3 and suggested the presence of a proton motive force over an intracytoplasmic membrane in K. stuttgartiensis. This study provides for the second time—after discovery of acidocalcisome-like compartments in Agrobacterium tumefaciens—evidence for an intracytoplasmic pH gradient in a chemotrophic prokaryotic cell
Implications of CP-violating transitions in hot quark matter on heavy ion collisions
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that topological charge changing
transitions will take place in hot quark matter. Such transitions induce P- and
CP-violating effects. We will show that in the presence of a magnetic field
these transitions can separate quarks according to their electric charge along
the direction of the magnetic field. This is the so-called Chiral Magnetic
Effect. We will argue that it might be possible to observe the Chiral Magnetic
Effect in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Plenary talk at the 20th International Conference
on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2008) held in Jaipur,
India on February 4-10, 200
Historical Demographic Processes Dominate Genetic Variation in Ancient Atlantic Cod Mitogenomes
Ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches have been successfully used to infer the long-term impacts of climate change, domestication, and human exploitation in a range of terrestrial species. Nonetheless, studies investigating such impacts using aDNA in marine species are rare. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), is an economically important species that has experienced dramatic census population declines during the last century. Here, we investigated 48 ancient mitogenomes from historical specimens obtained from a range of archeological excavations in northern Europe dated up to 6,500 BCE. We compare these mitogenomes to those of 496 modern conspecifics sampled across the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. Our results confirm earlier observations of high levels of mitogenomic variation and a lack of mutation-drift equilibrium—suggestive of population expansion. Furthermore, our temporal comparison yields no evidence of measurable mitogenomic changes through time. Instead, our results indicate that mitogenomic variation in Atlantic cod reflects past demographic processes driven by major historical events (such as oscillations in sea level) and subsequent gene flow rather than contemporary fluctuations in stock abundance. Our results indicate that historical and contemporaneous anthropogenic pressures such as commercial fisheries have had little impact on mitogenomic diversity in a wide-spread marine species with high gene flow such as Atlantic cod. These observations do not contradict evidence that overfishing has had negative consequences for the abundance of Atlantic cod and the importance of genetic variation in implementing conservation strategies. Instead, these observations imply that any measures toward the demographic recovery of Atlantic cod in the eastern Atlantic, will not be constrained by recent loss of historical mitogenomic variation.</jats:p
Strangelet Search in AuAu Collisions at 200 GeV
We have searched for strangelets in a triggered sample of 61 million central
(top 4%) Au+Au collisions at \sNN = 200 GeV near beam rapidities at the STAR
detector. We have sensitivity to metastable strangelets with lifetimes of order
, in contrast to limits over ten times longer in AGS studies and
longer still at the SPS. Upper limits of a few 10^{-6} to 10^{-7} per central
Au+Au collision are set for strangelets with mass GeV/c^{2}.Comment: As publishe
Enhanced strange baryon production in Au+Au collisions compared to p+p at sqrts = 200 GeV
We report on the observed differences in production rates of strange and
multi-strange baryons in Au+Au collisions at sqrts = 200 GeV compared to pp
interactions at the same energy. The strange baryon yields in Au+Au collisions,
then scaled down by the number of participating nucleons, are enhanced relative
to those measured in pp reactions. The enhancement observed increases with the
strangeness content of the baryon, and increases for all strange baryons with
collision centrality. The enhancement is qualitatively similar to that observed
at lower collision energy sqrts =17.3 GeV. The previous observations are for
the bulk production, while at intermediate pT, 1 < pT< 4 GeV/c, the strange
baryons even exceed binary scaling from pp yields.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Printed in PR
Minijet deformation and charge-independent angular correlations on momentum subspace in Au-Au collisions at = 130 GeV
First measurements of charge-independent correlations on angular difference
variables (pseudorapidity) and (azimuth)
are presented for primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum GeV/ and from Au-Au collisions at
GeV. Strong charge-independent angular correlations are
observed associated with jet-like structures and elliptic flow. The width of
the jet-like peak on increases by a factor 2.3 from
peripheral to central collisions, suggesting strong coupling of semi-hard
scattered partons to a longitudinally-expanding medium. New methods of jet
analysis introduced here provide evidence for nonperturbative QCD medium
effects in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Meta-omics approaches to understand and improve wastewater treatment systems
Biological treatment of wastewaters depends on microbial processes, usually carried out by mixed microbial communities. Environmental and operational factors can affect microorganisms and/or impact microbial community function, and this has repercussion in bioreactor performance. Novel high-throughput molecular methods (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, metabolomics) are providing detailed knowledge on the microorganisms governing wastewater treatment systems and on their metabolic capabilities. The genomes of uncultured microbes with key roles in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), such as the polyphosphate-accumulating microorganism Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis, the nitrite oxidizer Candidatus Nitrospira defluvii or the anammox bacterium Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis are now available through metagenomic studies. Metagenomics allows to genetically characterize full-scale WWTP and provides information on the lifestyles and physiology of key microorganisms for wastewater treatment. Integrating metagenomic data of microorganisms with metatranscriptomic, metaproteomic and metabolomic information provides a better understanding of the microbial responses to perturbations or environmental variations. Data integration may allow the creation of predictive behavior models of wastewater ecosystems, which could help in an improved exploitation of microbial processes. This review discusses the impact of meta-omic approaches on the understanding of wastewater treatment processes, and the implications of these methods for the optimization and design of wastewater treatment bioreactors.Research was supported by the
Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Contract Project
CTQ2007-64324 and CONSOLIDER-CSD 2007-00055) and
the Regional Government of Castilla y Leon (Ref. VA038A07).
Research of AJMS is supported by the European Research
Council (Grant 323009
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