Symbiotic and genetic diversity of Rhizobium galegae isolates collected from the Galega orientalis gene center in the Caucasus

This paper explores the relationship between the genetic diversity of rhizobia and the morphological diversity of their plant hosts. Rhizobium galegae strains were isolated from nodules of wild Galega orientalis and Galega officinalis in the Caucasus, the center of origin for G. orientalis. All 101 isolates were characterized by genomic amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting and by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the rRNA intergenic spacer and of five parts of the symbiotic region adjacent to nod box sequences. By all criteria, the R. galegae bv. officinalis and R. galegae bv. orientalis strains form distinct clusters. The nod box regions are highly conserved among strains belonging to each of the two biovars but differ structurally to various degrees between the biovars. The findings suggest varying evolutionary pressures in different parts of the symbiotic genome of closely related R. galegae biovars. Sixteen R. galegae bv. orientalis strains harbored copies of the same insertion sequence element; all were isolated from a particular site and belonged to a limited range of chromosomal genotypes. In all analyses, the Caucasian R. galegae bv. orientalis strains were more diverse than R. galegae bv. officinalis strains, in accordance with the gene center theory

Developing transportation data and freight spend visibility

The global shipping environment is continuously quickly changing, which means that shippers have to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and even a step aheard to keep pace. The control of transportation costs, which is often the largest component of total logistics spend is an increasingly important area where the companies should focus when looking for competitive advantage. Managers require more accurate and focused transportation and freight spend data as well as forecasts for preserving margins and profitability as well as improving supply chain performance. A large number of companies with significant transportation spend are unable to aggregate all of their shipping data into one location for analysis by the management. It is an issue in my case company as well, which is examined in this thesis. The objective of this study is to produce an approach to improve transportation data and freight spend visibility and give an opportunity of quickly get spend information, to do a costs analysis and projections for the future. The outcome of the work is a list of recommendations for the case company to follow in order to reach the objective. The case company is chosen from the pharmaceutical industry. An action research is conducted in the organization. I have investigated the current state of the case company's transportation data and freight spend management and data sources to gain insights from strengths and weaknesses of the present process, including the experience and practices in the company’s other business units. As a theoretical background, the best practices of freight spend management were studied as well as the latest trends in modern technology – business intelligence tools solution for deploying predictive analytics and for building the necessary data visualization, to form an idea what could be improvement steps for my case company. In order to strengthen the conceptual framework I have undertaken interviews with practitioners – specialists and experts in the logistics field. Based on the analysis of the current state and the best practices in the field, a list of recommendations was prepared and some highly important issues and processes defined as needed to be refined before or in parallel with the main suggested steps towards this work objective. The recommendations were positively met by the informants and taken into use as a part of the immediate and long-term continuous improvement projects

Ensifer meliloti L6-AK89, an Effective Inoculant of Medicago lupulina Varieties: Phenotypic and Deep-Genome Screening

This paper presents a deep analysis of the accessory genome of an economically promising strain of Ensifer (Sinorhizobium) meliloti, L6-AK89, obtained as a result of next-generation high-throughput sequencing (MiSeq, MinIon). Strain L6-AK89 is a StrR mutant of the native strain CIAM1775, a symbiont of Medicago lupulina that adapted to a saline and arid habitat in NW Kazakhstan. CIAM1775 is an effective inoculant of M. lupulina cv. Mira (fodder type standard), cultivated on moderately acid soils in the NW agricultural region of Russia. Strain L6-AK89 makes it possible to obtain the expected high (>150%) increases in dry mass of the same plant variety in plant tests. The L6-AK89 genome has an increased proportion of sequences related to the accessory elements relative to reference strain Rm1021, 7.4% versus 4.8%. A set of 53 nod/noe/nol/nif/fdx/fix genes and 32 genes involved in stress tolerance together with 16S rRNA and recA–atpD–glnII–gyrB–dnaJ were evaluated. The high symbiotic efficiency of L6-АК89 with hop clover is most likely due to unique features of its genome, in combination with structural differences in its nod and stress-related genes, as well as unique clusters of quorum-sensing genes and osmoprotector synthesis

Химический состав стекла с византийского поселения Горзувиты на южном берегу Крыма. Первые результаты

International audienceThe chemical composition of the glass from Gorzuvita, a medieval site in the Southern Coast of Crimea, has been studied with SEM-EDS technique. The window glass and a series of vessel fragments, including handles of oil lamps, have a homogeneous composition. The glass was made using natron and is referred to the Foy-2.2 compositional series known at West European sites from the mid/late 7th–10th centuries; it is believed to be the result of the recycling of glass of an earlier series Foy-2.1 of the Egyptian origin. The items retrieved from the site layer included a fragment of the oil lamp made of glass of the Egyptian II group (8th–9th centuries) and three fragments of the vessels likely produced Ey mi[ing natron and plant ash glas