8 research outputs found
Towards Solving the Blockchain Trilemma: An Exploration of Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Research on blockchain has found that the technology is no silver bullet compared to traditional data structures due to limitations regarding decentralization, security, and scalability. These limitations are summarized in the blockchain trilemma, which today represents the greatest barrier to blockchain adoption and applicability. To address these limitations, recent advancements by blockchain businesses have focused on a new cryptographic technique called Zero-knowledge proofs . While these primitives have been around for some time and despite their potential significance on blockchains, not much is known in information systems research about them and their potential effects. Therefore, we employ a multivocal literature review to explore this new tool and find that although it has the potential to resolve the trilemma, it currently only solves it in certain dimensions, which necessitates further attention and research
Identification of acetylated diether lipids in halophilic Archaea
As a hallmark of Archaea, their cell membranes are comprised of ether lipids.
However, Archaea‐type ether lipids have recently been identified in Bacteria as well,
with a somewhat different composition: In Bacillales, sn‐glycerol 1‐phosphate is
etherified with one C35 isoprenoid chain, which is longer than the typical C20 chain
in Archaea, and instead of a second isoprenoid chain, the product heptaprenylglyceryl
phosphate becomes dephosphorylated and afterward diacetylated by the
O‐acetyltransferase YvoF. Interestingly, database searches have revealed YvoF
homologs in Halobacteria (Archaea), too. Here, we demonstrate that YvoF from
Haloferax volcanii can acetylate geranylgeranylglycerol in vitro. Additionally, we
present the first‐time identification of acetylated diether lipids in H. volcanii and
Halobacterium salinarum by mass spectrometry. A variety of different acetylated
lipids, namely acetylated archaeol, and acetylated archaetidylglycerol, were found,
suggesting that halobacterial YvoF has a broad substrate range. We suppose that the
acetyl group might serve to modify the polarity of the lipid headgroup, with still
unknown biological effects
Slow Epidemic of Lymphogranuloma Venereum L2b Strain
We traced the Chlamydia trachomatis L2b variant in Amsterdam and San Francisco. All recent lymphogranuloma venereum cases in Amsterdam were caused by the L2b variant. This variant was also present in the 1980s in San Francisco. Thus, the current "outbreak" is most likely a slowly evolving epidemic