Per-alkoxy-pillar[5]arenes as electron donors: Electrochemical properties of dimethoxy-pillar[5]arene and its corresponding rotaxane

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 1,4-dimethoxypillar[5]arene undergoes reversible multielectron oxidations forming stable radical cations, a property retained when incorporated in [2]rotaxanes, suggesting that pillar[5]arenes can be employed as viable, yet unreported, electron donors

Highly conserved motifs in non-coding regions of Sirevirus retrotransposons: the key for their pattern of distribution within and across plants?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Retrotransposons are key players in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes. Moreover, it is now known that some retrotransposon classes, like the abundant and plant-specific Sireviruses, have intriguingly distinctive host preferences. Yet, it is largely unknown if this bias is supported by different genome structures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We performed sensitive comparative analysis of the genomes of a large set of Ty1/<it>copia </it>retrotransposons. We discovered that Sireviruses are unique among <it>Pseudoviridae </it>in that they constitute an ancient genus characterized by vastly divergent members, which however contain highly conserved motifs in key non-coding regions: multiple polypurine tract (PPT) copies cluster upstream of the 3' long terminal repeat (3'LTR), of which the terminal PPT tethers to a distinctive attachment site and is flanked by a precisely positioned inverted repeat. Their LTRs possess a novel type of repeated motif (RM) defined by its exceptionally high copy number, symmetry and core CGG-CCG signature. These RM boxes form CpG islands and lie a short distance upstream of a conserved promoter region thus hinting towards regulatory functions. Intriguingly, in the envelope-containing Sireviruses additional boxes cluster at the 5' vicinity of the envelope. The 5'LTR/internal domain junction and a polyC-rich integrase signal are also highly conserved domains of the Sirevirus genome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our comparative analysis of retrotransposon genomes using advanced <it>in silico </it>methods highlighted the unique genome organization of Sireviruses. Their structure may dictate a life cycle with different regulation and transmission strategy compared to other <it>Pseudoviridae</it>, which may contribute towards their pattern of distribution within and across plants.</p

Open source vacuum oven design for low-temperature drying: Performance evaluation for recycled pet and biomass

Vacuum drying can dehydrate materials further than dry heat methods, while protecting sensitive materials from thermal degradation. Many industries have shifted to vacuum drying as cost-or time-saving measures. Small-scale vacuum drying, however, has been limited by the high costs of specialty scientific tools. To make vacuum drying more accessible, this study provides design and performance information for a small-scale open source vacuum oven, which can be fabricated from off-the-shelf and 3-D printed components. The oven is tested for drying speed and effectiveness on both waste plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a consortium of bacteria developed for bioprocessing of terephthalate wastes to assist in distributed recycling of PET for both additive manufacturing as well as potential food. Both materials can be damaged when exposed to high temperatures, making vacuum drying a desirable solution. The results showed that the open source vacuum oven was effective at drying both plastic and biomaterials, drying at a higher rate than a hot-air dryer for small samples or for low volumes of water. The system can be constructed for less than 20% of commercial vacuum dryer costs for several laboratory-scale applications, including dehydration of bio-organisms, drying plastic for distributed recycling and additive manufacturing, and chemical processing

Donor-acceptor dyads and triads employing core-substituted naphthalene diimides:a synthetic and spectro (electrochemical) study

Donor-acceptor dyads and triads comprising core-substituted naphthalene diimide (NDI) chromophores and either phenothiazine or phenoxazine donors are described. Synthesis combined with electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical investigations facilitates characterisation of the various redox states of these molecules, confirming the ability to combine arrays of electron donating and accepting moieties into single species that retain the redox properties of these individual moieties

Legume based plant mixtures for delivery of multiple ecosystem services: An overview of benefits

As costs for mineral fertilizers rise, legume-based leys are recognised as a potential alternative nitrogen source for crops. Here we demonstrate that including species-rich legume-based leys in the rotation helps to maximize synergies between agricultural productivity and other ecosystem services. By using functionally diverse plant species mixtures these services can be optimised and fine-tuned to regional and farm-specific needs. Field experiments run over three years at multiple locations showed that the stability of ley performance was greater in multi-species mixtures than in legume monocultures. In addition, mixing different legume species in the ley helps to suppress both early and late weeds. Further, combining complementary phenologies of different legume species extended forage availability for key pollinator species. Finally, widening the range of legume species increases opportunities to build short term leys into rotations on conventional farms via cover cropping or undersowing

The Stonehenge Altar Stone was probably not sourced from the Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin: time to broaden our geographic and stratigraphic horizons?

Stone 80, the recumbent Altar Stone, is the largest of the Stonehenge foreign “bluestones”, mainly igneous rocks forming the inner Stonehenge circle. The Altar Stone's anomalous lithology, a sandstone of continental origin, led to the previous suggestion of a provenance from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) of west Wales, close to where the majority of the bluestones have been sourced (viz. the Mynydd Preseli area in west Wales) some 225 km west of Stonehenge. Building upon earlier investigations we have examined new samples from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) within the Anglo-Welsh Basin (covering south Wales, the Welsh Borderland, the West Midlands and Somerset) using traditional optical petrography but additionally portable XRF, automated SEM-EDS and Raman Spectroscopic techniques. One of the key characteristics of the Altar Stone is its unusually high Ba content (all except one of 106 analyses have Ba &gt; 1025 ppm), reflecting high modal baryte. Of the 58 ORS samples analysed to date from the Anglo-Welsh Basin, only four show analyses where Ba exceeds 1000 ppm, similar to the lower range of the Altar Stone composition. However, because of their contrasting mineralogies, combined with data collected from new automated SEM-EDS and Raman Spectroscopic analyses these four samples must be discounted as being from the source of the Altar Stone. It now seems ever more likely that the Altar Stone was not derived from the ORS of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, and therefore it is time to broaden our horizons, both geographically and stratigraphically into northern Britain and also to consider continental sandstones of a younger age. There is no doubt that considering the Altar Stone as a ‘bluestone’ has influenced thinking regarding the long-held view to a source in Wales. We therefore propose that the Altar Stone should be ‘de-classified’ as a bluestone, breaking a link to the essentially Mynydd Preseli-derived bluestones.</p

Spatial variation in spring arrival patterns of Afro‐Palaearctic bird migration across Europe

Aim: Geographical patterns of migrant species arrival have been little studied, despite their relevance to global change responses. Here, we quantify continent-wide inter-specific variation in spatio-temporal patterns of spring arrival of 30 common migrant bird species and relate these to species characteristics and environmental conditions.Location: EuropeTime period: 2010-2019Major taxa studied: Birds, 30 speciesMethods: Using citizen science data from EuroBirdPortal, we modelled arrival phenology for 30 Afro-Palearctic migrant species across Europe to extract start and duration of species arrival at a 400 km square resolution. We related inter and intra-specific variation in arrival and duration to species characteristics and temperature at the start of the growing season (green-up) .Results: Spatial variation in start of arrival times indicates it took on average 1.6 days for the leading migratory front to move northwards by 100 km (range: 0.6—2.5 days). There was a major gradient in arrival phenology, from species which arrived earlier, least synchronously, in colder temperatures and progressed slowly northwards to species which arrived later, most synchronously and in warmer temperatures, and advanced quickly through Europe. The slow progress of early arrivers suggests that temperature limits their northward advance; this group included Aerial Insectivores and species wintering north of the Sahel. For the late arrivers, which included species wintering further south, seasonal resource availability in Africa may delay their arrival into Europe.Main conclusions: We found support for the green-wave hypothesis applying widely to migratory landbirds. Species arrival phenologies are linked to ecological differences between taxa, such as diet, and wintering location. Understanding these differences informs predictions of species’ sensitivity to global change. Publishing these arrival phenologies will facilitate further research and have additional conservation benefits such as informing designation of hunting seasons. Our methods are applicable to any taxa with repeated occurrence data across large scales. Key words: phenology, European-African migrants, bird migration, spring arrival, spatial variation, intraspecific and interspecific variation, EuroBirdPortal, citizen scientists, complete lists and casual record

Genetic diversity associated with agronomic traits using microsatellite markers in Pakistani rice landraces

Genetic diversity underlies the improvement of crops by plant breeding. Land races of rice (Oryza sativa L.) can contain some valuable alleles not common in modern germplasm. The aim here was to measure genetic diversity and its effect on agronomic traits among rice land-race genotypes grown in Pakistan. Diversity was measured using thirty-five microsatellite markers and seventy-five genotypes. Among the markers used a total of 142 alleles were detected at 32 polymorphic SSR loci, while three loci were monomorphic in Pakistani rice landraces. The number of alleles identified by each marker ranged from 2 to 13 with a mean of 4.4. Size differences between the smallest and largest alleles varied from 11bp to 71bp. Polymorphism information content ranged from 0.124 to 0.836, with an average of 0.569. At nine microsatellite loci, basmati-type landraces amplified more different alleles than those in the coarse-type. DNA markers RM70 and RM72 divided the rice landraces on the basis of days to flowering. A dendrogram based on total microsatellite polymorphism grouped 75 genotypes into four major clusters at 0.40 similarity coefficient, differentiating tall, late maturing and slender aromatic types from the short, early and bold non-aromatic ones. It inferred that Pakistani landraces have diverse genetic bases and can be utilized in future breeding programs. The DNA markers developed will assist in genotype identification, purity testing and plant variety protection

Genetic diversity associated with agronomic traits using microsatellite markers in Pakistani rice landraces

Genetic diversity underlies the improvement of crops by plant breeding. Land races of rice ( Oryza sativa L.) can contain some valuable alleles not common in modern germplasm. The aim here was to measure genetic diversity and its effect on agronomic traits among rice land-race genotypes grown in Pakistan. Diversity was measured using thirty-five microsatellite markers and seventy-five genotypes. Among the markers used a total of 142 alleles were detected at 32 polymorphic SSR loci, while three loci were monomorphic in Pakistani rice landraces. The number of alleles identified by each marker ranged from 2 to 13 with a mean of 4.4. Size differences between the smallest and largest alleles varied from 11bp to 71bp. Polymorphism information content ranged from 0.124 to 0.836, with an average of 0.569. At nine microsatellite loci, basmati-type landraces amplified more different alleles than those in the coarse-type. DNA markers RM70 and RM72 divided the rice landraces on the basis of days to flowering. A dendrogram based on total microsatellite polymorphism grouped 75 genotypes into four major clusters at 0.40 similarity coefficient, differentiating tall, late maturing and slender aromatic types from the short, early and bold non-aromatic ones. It inferred that Pakistani landraces have diverse genetic bases and can be utilized in future breeding programs. The DNA markers developed will assist in genotype identification, purity testing and plant variety protection

Prenatal Vitamin D Supplementation and Child Respiratory Health: A Randomised Controlled Trial

PMCID: PMC3691177This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited