Petrology and reflectance spectroscopy of lunar meteorite Yamato 981031: Implications for the source region of the meteorite and remote-sensing spectroscopy

Combined mineralogy and reflectance spectroscopy of lunar meteorite Yamato (Y) 981031 were investigated to determine its possible source region. Mineralogical observations indicate that Y981031 is a mixture of mafic mare and feldspathic highland components. Y981031 has abundant mineral fragments and lithic clasts in a comminuted matrix. Although the most of the lithic clasts are pyroxene-dominant basaltic clasts, some plagioclase-rich lithic fragments are also present. High- and low-Ca pyroxene grains with wide compositional variations are included in the breccia. Since high-Ca pyroxene (Wo43En40Fs17 to Wo29En23Fs48) and a part of Fe-rich low-Ca pyroxene are found in pyroxene-dominant basaltic clasts, they were derived from mare materials. In contrast, abundant Mg-rich low-Ca pyroxene (approximately Wo10En63Fs27) is of highland origin because their chemical compositions resemble highland low-Ca pyroxene. Fusion crust glass compositions (TiO2=0.50-0.77wt and FeO=11.7-15.4wt) suggest that source mafic components of Y981031 have very low-Ti (VLT) affinity. In comparison with global remote-sensing data, the above TiO2 and FeO concentrations resemble those of the VLT affinity in Mare Frigoris and adjacent maria. Thus, we propose that Y981031 was launched from this area. Modified gaussian model analysis of reflectance spectrum shows absorption features of high-Ca pyroxene (mare-origin) and Mg-rich low-Ca pyroxene (highland-origin), and enables us to observe separately mineralogical characteristics of each end member of Y981031 as the soil mixture

Biallelic variants in LIG3 cause a novel mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy

none67si: Abnormal gut motility is a feature of several mitochondrial encephalomyopathies, and mutations in genes such as TYMP and POLG, have been linked to these rare diseases. The human genome encodes three DNA ligases, of which only one, ligase III (LIG3), has a mitochondrial splice variant and is crucial for mitochondrial health. We investigated the effect of reduced LIG3 activity and resulting mitochondrial dysfunction in seven patients from three independent families, who showed the common occurrence of gut dysmotility and neurological manifestations reminiscent of mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy. DNA from these patients was subjected to whole exome sequencing. In all patients, compound heterozygous variants in a new disease gene, LIG3, were identified. All variants were predicted to have a damaging effect on the protein. The LIG3 gene encodes the only mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ligase and therefore plays a pivotal role in mtDNA repair and replication. In vitro assays in patient-derived cells showed a decrease in LIG3 protein levels and ligase activity. We demonstrated that the LIG3 gene defects affect mtDNA maintenance, leading to mtDNA depletion without the accumulation of multiple deletions as observed in other mitochondrial disorders. This mitochondrial dysfunction is likely to cause the phenotypes observed in these patients. The most prominent and consistent clinical signs were severe gut dysmotility and neurological abnormalities, including leukoencephalopathy, epilepsy, migraine, stroke-like episodes, and neurogenic bladder. A decrease in the number of myenteric neurons, and increased fibrosis and elastin levels were the most prominent changes in the gut. Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficient fibres in skeletal muscle were also observed. Disruption of lig3 in zebrafish reproduced the brain alterations and impaired gut transit in vivo. In conclusion, we identified variants in the LIG3 gene that result in a mitochondrial disease characterized by predominant gut dysmotility, encephalopathy, and neuromuscular abnormalities.This work was supported by Telethon Grant GGP15171 to E.B. and R.D.G. and by a donation from Kobe city to the Department of General Pediatrics, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine (K550003302). S.C. was supported by a Dutch Cancer Foundation grant (KWF11011). V.C. and A.M. were supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (“Ricerca Corrente” funding). R.D.G. is the recipient of grants from University of Ferrara (FAR and FIR funds).openBonora, Elena; Chakrabarty, Sanjiban; Kellaris, Georgios; Tsutsumi, Makiko; Bianco, Francesca; Bergamini, Christian; Ullah, Farid; Isidori, Federica; Liparulo, Irene; Diquigiovanni, Chiara; Masin, Luca; Rizzardi, Nicola; Cratere, Mariapia Giuditta; Boschetti, Elisa; Papa, Valentina; Maresca, Alessandra; Cenacchi, Giovanna; Casadio, Rita; Martelli, Pierluigi; Matera, Ivana; Ceccherini, Isabella; Fato, Romana; Raiola, Giuseppe; Arrigo, Serena; Signa, Sara; Sementa, Angela Rita; Severino, Mariasavina; Striano, Pasquale; Fiorillo, Chiara; Goto, Tsuyoshi; Uchino, Shumpei; Oyazato, Yoshinobu; Nakamura, Hisayoshi; Mishra, Sushil K; Yeh, Yu-Sheng; Kato, Takema; Nozu, Kandai; Tanboon, Jantima; Morioka, Ichiro; Nishino, Ichizo; Toda, Tatsushi; Goto, Yu-Ichi; Ohtake, Akira; Kosaki, Kenjiro; Yamaguchi, Yoshiki; Nonaka, Ikuya; Iijima, Kazumoto; Mimaki, Masakazu; Kurahashi, Hiroki; Raams, Anja; MacInnes, Alyson; Alders, Mariel; Engelen, Marc; Linthorst, Gabor; de Koning, Tom; den Dunnen, Wilfred; Dijkstra, Gerard; van Spaendonck, Karin; van Gent, Dik C; Aronica, Eleonora M; Picco, Paolo; Carelli, Valerio; Seri, Marco; Katsanis, Nicholas; Duijkers, Floor A M; Taniguchi-Ikeda, Mariko; De Giorgio, RobertoBonora, Elena; Chakrabarty, Sanjiban; Kellaris, Georgios; Tsutsumi, Makiko; Bianco, Francesca; Bergamini, Christian; Ullah, Farid; Isidori, Federica; Liparulo, Irene; Diquigiovanni, Chiara; Masin, Luca; Rizzardi, Nicola; Cratere, Mariapia Giuditta; Boschetti, Elisa; Papa, Valentina; Maresca, Alessandra; Cenacchi, Giovanna; Casadio, Rita; Martelli, Pierluigi; Matera, Ivana; Ceccherini, Isabella; Fato, Romana; Raiola, Giuseppe; Arrigo, Serena; Signa, Sara; Sementa, Angela Rita; Severino, Mariasavina; Striano, Pasquale; Fiorillo, Chiara; Goto, Tsuyoshi; Uchino, Shumpei; Oyazato, Yoshinobu; Nakamura, Hisayoshi; Mishra, Sushil K; Yeh, Yu-Sheng; Kato, Takema; Nozu, Kandai; Tanboon, Jantima; Morioka, Ichiro; Nishino, Ichizo; Toda, Tatsushi; Goto, Yu-Ichi; Ohtake, Akira; Kosaki, Kenjiro; Yamaguchi, Yoshiki; Nonaka, Ikuya; Iijima, Kazumoto; Mimaki, Masakazu; Kurahashi, Hiroki; Raams, Anja; MacInnes, Alyson; Alders, Mariel; Engelen, Marc; Linthorst, Gabor; de Koning, Tom; den Dunnen, Wilfred; Dijkstra, Gerard; van Spaendonck, Karin; van Gent, Dik C; Aronica, Eleonora M; Picco, Paolo; Carelli, Valerio; Seri, Marco; Katsanis, Nicholas; Duijkers, Floor A M; Taniguchi-Ikeda, Mariko; De Giorgio, Robert

Two-stage Development of the Lunar Farside Highlands Crustal Formation

The correlation between the spatial patterns of surface Thorium (Th) abundance measured by SELENE GRS data and the crustal thickness from the GRAIL gravity field and LRO LOLA data is investigated in the lunar highland area. Our analysis reveals that there are several areas of local minima for Th abundance exhibiting similar values but different crustal thicknesses. To explain the result, we propose a two-stage scenario for crustal formation. In the first stage, plural thin plateaus form on the surface of the lunar magma ocean (LMO), which corresponds to the observed surface Th distribution. In the second stage, a global crust with dichotomy forms by solidification of the LMO under the plateaus