Binding of herpes simplex virus-1 US11 to specific RNA sequences

Herpes simplex virus-1 US11 is a RNA-binding protein with a novel RNA-binding domain. US11 has been reported to exhibit sequence- and conformation-specific RNA-binding, but the sequences and conformations important for binding are not known. US11 has also been described as a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-binding protein. To investigate the US11–RNA interaction, we performed in vitro selection of RNA aptamers that bind US11 from a RNA library consisting of >10(14) 80 base sequences which differ in a 30 base randomized region. US11 bound specifically to selected aptamers with an affinity of 70 nM. Analysis of 23 selected sequences revealed a strong consensus sequence. The US11 RNA-binding domain and ≤46 bases of selected RNA containing the consensus sequence were each sufficient for binding. US11 binding protected the consensus motif from hydroxyl radical cleavage. RNase digestions of a selected aptamer revealed regions of both single-stranded RNA and dsRNA. We observed that US11 bound two different dsRNAs in a sequence non-specific manner, but with lower affinity than it bound selected aptamers. The results define a relatively short specific sequence that binds US11 with high affinity and indicate that dsRNA alone does not confer high-affinity binding

Feline Cryptococcosis

Cryptococcosis is a disease common to most animals and is produced by a yeast-like fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans. The organism is round to ovid in shape, reproduces by budding and has a characteristic mucinous capsule

Phosphonate production by marine microbes: exploring new sources and potential function

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Acker, M., Hogle, S. L., Berube, P. M., Hackl, T., Coe, A., Stepanauskas, R., Chisholm, S. W., & Repeta, D. J. Phosphonate production by marine microbes: exploring new sources and potential function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(11), (2022): e2113386119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2113386119.Phosphonates are organophosphorus metabolites with a characteristic C-P bond. They are ubiquitous in the marine environment, their degradation broadly supports ecosystem productivity, and they are key components of the marine phosphorus (P) cycle. However, the microbial producers that sustain the large oceanic inventory of phosphonates as well as the physiological and ecological roles of phosphonates are enigmatic. Here, we show that phosphonate synthesis genes are rare but widely distributed among diverse bacteria and archaea, including Prochlorococcus and SAR11, the two major groups of bacteria in the ocean. In addition, we show that Prochlorococcus can allocate over 40% of its total cellular P-quota toward phosphonate production. However, we find no evidence that Prochlorococcus uses phosphonates for surplus P storage, and nearly all producer genomes lack the genes necessary to degrade and assimilate phosphonates. Instead, we postulate that phosphonates are associated with cell-surface glycoproteins, suggesting that phosphonates mediate ecological interactions between the cell and its surrounding environment. Our findings indicate that the oligotrophic surface ocean phosphonate pool is sustained by a relatively small fraction of the bacterioplankton cells allocating a significant portion of their P quotas toward secondary metabolism and away from growth and reproduction.This work was supported in part by grants from the NSF (OCE-1153588 and DBI-0424599 to S.W.C.; OCE-1335810 and OIA-1826734 to R.S.; and OCE-1634080 to D.J.R.), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (no. 6000 to D.J.R.), and the Simons Foundation (Life Sciences Project Award IDs 337262 and 647135 to S.W.C.; 510023 to R.S.; and Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology [SCOPE] Award ID 329108 to S.W.C. and D.J.R.)

Misty, Spellbound and the lost Gothic of British girls’ comics.

This article is a case study of the 1970s British girls’ comics Spellbound (DC Thomson, 1976–1977) and Misty (IPC, 1978–1980). These mystery anthology comics followed the more famous American horror comics from publishers like EC Comics - but were aimed at pre-teen girls. The article situates these comics with respect to Gothic critical theory and within the wider landscape of British girls’ comics. Firstly, it closely considers and compares the structure and content of their stories with respect to theories of the terror and horror Gothic. It discovers that both comics offer similar fare, with a subversive streak that undercuts established horror archetypes. The article then looks closely at both titles’ aesthetics and their use of the page to draw comparisons. It uses comics theory and Gothic cinematic theory to demonstrate that the appearance of Misty is more strongly Gothic than the aesthetic of Spellbound. Finally, it considers a selection of stories from both comics and analyses their common themes using Gothic critical theory. It argues that both comics rework Gothic themes into new forms that are relevant to their pre-teen and teenage readers. It concludes by summarising the study’s findings and suggesting that these comics offer a “Gothic for Girls” that is part cautionary tale and part bildungsroman. This article is published as part of a collection on Gothic and horror

Patterning the geographies of organ transplantation: corporeality, generosity and justice

publication-status: PublishedThis is the author's post-print version of an article published in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 2006, Vol. 31, Issue 3 pp. 257 – 271 Copyright © 2006 Institute of British Geographers / Royal Geographical Society. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.comOrgan transplantation is now an established treatment for patients with end-stage organ failure, yet there are spatial inequalities in access to this procedure. This paper explores the uneven geographies of kidney transplantation in London, arguing that inequalities in access to organ transplantation are created through interlocking spatialities of corporeal difference, enacted through global movements of populations, national organ transplantation protocols and the internal immunological spaces of the body. The combination of these processes, operating at different scales, has produced a distinctive configuration in the embodiment of risk in relation to kidney transplants, particularly born by London's Black and Asian communities. Two ethical dimensions to this geography of organ transplantation are explored here: the ethical responsiveness to others shaping the generous practices of organ donation, and the medical practices categorizing difference through techniques of blood typing, tissue matching and the spatial organization of organ transplantation. In concluding, I argue both are critical to understanding the links between ethics and justice in the geographies of organ exchange in London. Further, I suggest geography is central to political debate about the exchange of biological material elsewhere, for it is only through tracing the intersection of ethical, corporeal and technological practices in situ that we can fully reflect on questions of justice within the developing bioeconomy

Uganda’s HIV Prevention Success: The Role of Sexual Behavior Change and the National Response. Commentary on Green et al. (2006)

The paper by Green et al. (vol. 10, this issue

Phosphonate production by marine microbes: Exploring new sources and potential function

Phosphonates are organophosphorus metabolites with a characteristic C-P bond. They are ubiquitous in the marine environment, their degradation broadly supports ecosystem productivity, and they are key components of the marine phosphorus (P) cycle. However, the microbial producers that sustain the large oceanic inventory of phosphonates as well as the physiological and ecological roles of phosphonates are enigmatic. Here, we show that phosphonate synthesis genes are rare but widely distributed among diverse bacteria and archaea, including Prochlorococcus and SAR11, the two major groups of bacteria in the ocean. In addition, we show that Prochlorococcus can allocate over 40% of its total cellular P-quota toward phosphonate production. However, we find no evidence that Prochlorococcus uses phosphonates for surplus P storage, and nearly all producer genomes lack the genes necessary to degrade and assimilate phosphonates. Instead, we postulate that phosphonates are associated with cell-surface glycoproteins, suggesting that phosphonates mediate ecological interactions between the cell and its surrounding environment. Our findings indicate that the oligotrophic surface ocean phosphonate pool is sustained by a relatively small fraction of the bacterioplankton cells allocating a significant portion of their P quotas toward secondary metabolism and away from growth and reproduction.</p

Direct Visualization of Laser-Driven Electron Multiple Scattering and Tunneling Distance in Strong-Field Ionization

Using a simple model of strong-field ionization of atoms that generalizes the well-known 3-step model from 1D to 3D, we show that the experimental photoelectron angular distributions resulting from laser ionization of xenon and argon display prominent structures that correspond to electrons that pass by their parent ion more than once before strongly scattering. The shape of these structures can be associated with the specific number of times the electron is driven past its parent ion in the laser field before scattering. Furthermore, a careful analysis of the cutoff energy of the structures allows us to experimentally measure the distance between the electron and ion at the moment of tunnel ionization. This work provides new physical insight into how atoms ionize in strong laser fields and has implications for further efforts to extract atomic and molecular dynamics from strong-field physics