QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe

Mitochondrial Genome Transmission in Chlamydomonas Diploids Obtained by Sexual Crosses and Artificial Fusions: Role of the Mating Type and of a 1 Kb Intron

The linear mitochondrial DNAs of the two infertile algal species Chlamydomonas smithii and C. reinhardtii are co-linear with the exception of a 1 kb intron (alpha intron) located in the cytochrome b gene of C. smithii. C. smithii also possesses an additional HpaI restriction site (H marker) located in the COXI gene, about 5 kb from the intron. In reciprocal crosses, C. smithii (H+ alpha +) x C. reinhardtii (H- alpha -), the alpha intron is transmitted to all diploid progeny, whereas the H marker is frequently transmitted either biparentally or paternally depending on whether the C. smithii parent is maternal (mt+) or paternal (mt-). In diploids resulting from artificial fusion between vegetative cells, the absolute transmission of alpha is accompanied by the frequent transmission of the H+ marker, irrespective of the mating type of the parental strains. Finally, in reciprocal crosses between C. smithii (H+ alpha +) and recombinant H- alpha + clones, the transmission of the H marker is predominantly paternal or biparental. These results allow us to conclude that (1) the alpha intron behaves as a group I intron whose unidirectional conversion influences the transmission of the H marker; and (2) the mt- paternal mitochondrial genome is transmitted more often than the mt+. The mating type has no effect in diploids obtained by artificial fusion