85 research outputs found
Genomic analysis of Acidianus hospitalis W1 a host for studying crenarchaeal virus and plasmid life cycles
The Acidianus hospitalis W1 genome consists of a minimally sized chromosome of about 2.13Â Mb and a conjugative plasmid pAH1 and it is a host for the model filamentous lipothrixvirus AFV1. The chromosome carries three putative replication origins in conserved genomic regions and two large regions where non-essential genes are clustered. Within these variable regions, a few orphan orfB and other elements of the IS200/607/605 family are concentrated with a novel class of MITE-like repeat elements. There are also 26 highly diverse vapBC antitoxinâtoxin gene pairs proposed to facilitate maintenance of local chromosomal regions and to minimise the impact of environmental stress. Complex and partially defective CRISPR/Cas/Cmr immune systems are present and interspersed with five vapBC gene pairs. Remnants of integrated viral genomes and plasmids are located at five intron-less tRNA genes and several non-coding RNA genes are predicted that are conserved in other Sulfolobus genomes. The putative metabolic pathways for sulphur metabolism show some significant differences from those proposed for other Acidianus and Sulfolobus species. The small and relatively stable genome of A. hospitalis W1 renders it a promising candidate for developing the first Acidianus genetic systems
Sub-barrier capture with quantum diffusion approach: actinide-based reactions
With the quantum diffusion approach the behavior of capture cross sections
and mean-square angular momenta of captured systems are revealed in the
reactions with deformed nuclei at subbarrier energies. The calculated results
are in a good agreement with existing experimental data. With decreasing
bombarding energy under the barrier the external turning point of the
nucleusnucleus potential leaves the region of short-range nuclear interaction
and action of friction. Because of this change of the regime of interaction, an
unexpected enhancement of the capture cross section is expected at bombarding
energies far below the Coulomb barrier. This effect is shown its worth in the
dependence of mean-square angular momentum of captured system on the bombarding
energy. From the comparison of calculated and experimental capture cross
sections, the importance of quasifission near the entrance channel is shown for
the actinide-based reactions leading to superheavy nuclei.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures, Regular Articl
Experimental Microbial Evolution of Extremophiles
Experimental microbial evolutions (EME) involves studying closely a microbial population after it has been through a large number of generations under controlled conditions (Kussell 2013). Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) selects for fitness under experimentally imposed conditions (Bennett and Hughes 2009; Dragosits and Mattanovich 2013). However, experimental evolution studies focusing on the contributions of genetic drift and natural mutation rates to evolution are conducted under non-selective conditions to avoid changes imposed by selection (Hindré et al. 2012).
To understand the application of experimental evolutionary methods to extremophiles it is essential to consider the recent growth in this field over the last decade using model non-extremophilic microorganisms. This growth reflects both a greater appreciation of the power of experimental evolution for testing evolutionary hypotheses and, especially recently, the new power of genomic methods for analyzing changes in experimentally evolved lineages. Since many crucial processes are driven by microorganisms in nature, it is essential to understand and appreciate how microbial communities function, particularly with relevance to selection. However, many theories developed to understand microbial ecological patterns focus on the distribution and the structure of diversity within a microbial population comprised of single species (Prosser et al. 2007). Therefore an understanding of the concept of species is needed. A common definition of species using a genetic concept is a group of interbreeding individuals that is isolated from other such groups by barriers of recombination (Prosser et al. 2007). An alternative ecological species concept defines a species as set of individuals that can be considered identical in all relevant ecological traits (Cohan 2001). This is particularly important because of the abundance and deep phylogenetic complexity of microbial communities. Cohan postulated that âbacteria occupy discrete niches and that periodic selection will purge genetic variation within each niche without preventing divergence between the inhabitants of different nichesâ. The importance of gene exchange mechanisms likely in bacteria and archaea and therefore extremophiles, arises from the fact that their genomes are divided into two distinct parts, the core genome and the accessory genome (Cohan 2001). The core genome consists of genes that are crucial for the functioning of an organism and the accessory genome consists of genes that are capable of adapting to the changing ecosystem through gain and loss of function. Strains that belong to the same species can differ in the composition of accessory genes and therefore their capability to adapt to changing ecosystems (Cohan 2001; Tettelin et al. 2005; Gill et al. 2005). Additional ecological diversity exists in plasmids, transposons and pathogenicity islands as they can be easily shared in a favorable environment but still be absent in the same species found elsewhere (Wertz et al. 2003). This poses a major challenge for studying ALE and community microbial ecology indicating a continued need to develop a fitting theory that connects the fluid nature of microbial communities to their ecology (Wertz et al. 2003; Coleman et al. 2006). Understanding the nature and contribution of different processes that determine the frequencies of genes in any population is the biggest concern in population and evolutionary genetics (Prosser et al. 2007) and it is critical for an understanding of experimental evolution
Response to correspondence on Reproducibility of CRISPR-Cas9 Methods for Generation of Conditional Mouse Alleles: A Multi-Center Evaluation
Dark matter in archaeal genomes: a rich source of novel mobile elements, defense systems and secretory complexes
MĂŒndliches und schriftliches Argumentieren in der Sekundarstufe I: Können Eltern ihre Kinder beim Erwerb dieser SchlĂŒsselkompetenzen unterstĂŒtzen?
Quasthoff U, Wild E, Domenech M, et al. MĂŒndliches und schriftliches Argumentieren in der Sekundarstufe I: Können Eltern ihre Kinder beim Erwerb dieser SchlĂŒsselkompetenzen unterstĂŒtzen? In: Redder A, Naumann J, Tracy R, eds. Forschungsinitiative Sprachdiagnostik und Sprachförderung - Ergebnisse. MĂŒnster: Waxmann; 2015: 207-233
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