1,103 research outputs found
Characterization and Crystallization of BreR, the TetR Family Member Bile Response Repressor of Vibrio Cholerae
Digitalitzat per Artypla
The Search for the Missing Baryons at Low Redshift
At low redshift, only about one-tenth of the known baryons lie in galaxies or
the hot gas seen in galaxy clusters and groups. Models posit that these
"missing baryons" are in gaseous form in overdense filaments that connect the
much denser virialized groups and clusters. About 30% are cool (<1E5 K) and are
detected in Ly alpha absorption studies, but about half is predicted to lie in
the 1E5-1E7 K regime. Gas is detected in the 2-5E5 K range through OVI
absorption studies (7% of the baryons) and possibly near 1E5 K from broad Ly
absorption (20% of the baryons). Hotter gas (0.5-2E6 K) is detected at zero
redshift by OVII and OVIII K X-ray absorption, and the OVII line strengths seem
to correlate with the Galactic soft X-ray background, so it is probably
produced by Galactic Halo gas, rather than a Local Group medium. There are no
compelling detections of the intergalactic hot gas (0.5-10E6 K) either in
absorption or emission and these upper limits are consistent with theoretical
models. Claimed X-ray absorption lines are not confirmed, while most of the
claims of soft emission are attributable to artifacts of background subtraction
and field-flattening. The missing baryons should become detectable with
moderate improvements in instrumental sensitivity.Comment: To appear in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol 45
(Sept 2007) 44 pages, including 11 figure
Chance long-distance or human-mediated dispersal? How Acacia s.l. farnesiana attained its pan-tropical distribution
Acacia s.l. farnesiana, which originates from Mesoamerica, is the most widely distributed Acacia s.l. species across the tropics. It is assumed that the plant was transferred across the Atlantic to southern Europe by Spanish explorers, and then spread across the Old World tropics through a combination of chance long-distance and human-mediated dispersal. Our study uses genetic analysis and information from historical sources to test the relative roles of chance and human-mediated dispersal in its distribution. The results confirm the Mesoamerican origins of the plant and show three patterns of human- mediated dispersal. Samples from Spain showed greater genetic diversity than those from other Old World tropics, suggesting more instances of transatlantic introductions from the Americas to that country than to other parts of Africa and Asia. Individuals from the Philippines matched a population from South Central Mexico and were likely to have been direct, trans-Pacific introductions. Australian samples were genetically unique, indicating that the arrival of the species in the continent was independent of these European colonial activities. This suggests the possibility of pre-European human- mediated dispersal across the Pacific Ocean. These significant findings raise new questions for biogeographic studies that assume chance or transoceanic dispersal 2 for disjunct plant distributions
The 40-Residue Insertion in Vibrio Cholerae FadR Facilitates Binding of an Additional Fatty acyl-CoA Ligand
FadR is a master regulator of fatty acid metabolism and influences virulence in certain members of Vibrionaceae. Among FadR homologues of the GntR family, the Vibrionaceae protein is unusual in that it contains a C-terminal 40-residue insertion. Here we report the structure of Vibrio cholerae FadR (VcFadR) alone, bound to DNA, and in the presence of a ligand, oleoyl-CoA. Whereas Escherichia coli FadR (EcFadR) contains only one acyl-CoA-binding site in each monomer, crystallographic and calorimetric data indicate that VcFadR has two. One of the binding sites resembles that of EcFadR, whereas the other, comprised residues from the insertion, has not previously been observed. Upon ligand binding, VcFadR undergoes a dramatic conformational change that would more fully disrupt DNA binding than EcFadR. These findings suggest that the ability to bind and respond to an additional ligand allows FadR from Vibrionaceae to function as a more efficient regulator
The Effect of the Cosmic Web on Cluster Weak Lensing Mass Estimates
In modern hierarchical theories of structure formation, rich clusters of
galaxies form at the vertices of a weblike distribution of matter, with
filaments emanating from them to large distances and with smaller objects
forming and draining in along these filaments. The amount of mass contained in
structure near the cluster can be comparable to the collapsed mass of the
cluster itself. As the lensing kernel is quite broad along the line of sight
around cluster lenses with typical redshifts near z=0.5, structures many Mpc
away from the cluster are essentially at the same location as the cluster
itself, when considering their effect on the cluster's weak lensing signal. We
use large-scale numerical simulations of structure formation in a
Lambda-dominated cold dark matter model to quantify the effect that large-scale
structure near clusters has upon the cluster masses deduced from weak lensing
analysis. A correction for the scatter in possible observed lensing masses
should be included when interpreting mass functions from weak lensing surveys.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. LaTeX2e, uses emulateapj.sty and
onecolfloat.st
Thermal seasons in northern Europe in projected future climate
Global warming acts to prolong thermal summers and shorten winters. In this work, future changes in the lengths and timing of four thermal seasons in northern Europe, with threshold temperatures 0 and 10 degrees C, are derived from bias-adjusted output data from 23 CMIP5 global climate models. Three future periods and two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios are discussed. The focus is on the period 2040-2069 under RCP4.5, which approximately corresponds to a 2 degrees C global warming relative to the preindustrial era. By the period 2040-2069, the average length of the thermal summer increases by nearly 30 days relative to 1971-2000, and the thermal winter shortens by 30-60 days. The timing of the thermal springs advances while autumns delay. Within the model ensemble, there is a high linear correlation between the modelled annual-mean temperature increase and shifts in the thermal seasons. Thermal summers lengthen by about 10 days and winters shorten by 10-24 days per 1 degrees C of local warming. In the mid-21st century, about two-thirds of all summers (winters) are projected to be very long (very short) according to the baseline-period standards, with an anomaly greater than 20 days relative to the late-20th century temporal mean. The proportion of years without a thermal winter increases remarkably in the Baltic countries and southern Scandinavian peninsula. Implications of the changing thermal seasons on nature and human society are discussed in a literature review.Peer reviewe
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