Rare, Threatened and Endangered Vascular Plants in Oregon: An Interim Report

This report on rare, threatened and endangered vascular plants in Oregon is a basic document in the process of inventorying the state\u27s natural areas * Prerequisite to the orderly establishment of natural preserves for research and conservation in Oregon are (1) a classification of the ecological types, and (2) a listing of the special organisms, which should be represented in a comprehensive system of designated natural areas. The necessary ecological classification was published in the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station document, Research Natural Area Needs in the Pacific Northwest, by Dyrness et al. (1975). This valuable reference also provided lists of vascular plants of special interest in each major physiographic province, based on early work by Chambers and Siddall. Under the direction of the Oregon Rare and Endangered Plant Species Taskforce, work has actively continued to expand and perfect the list of vascular plant species, to serve the needs of land management and natural area planning in Oregon, and of many other governmental and private activities. Studies of rare and endangered plants in Oregon have involved a unique coalition of professional and amateur botanists, who have systematically gathered data on the distribution, abundance, habitat, and ecological requirements of some 700 native species. Coordination and leadership have come from the Oregon Rare and Endangered Plant Species Taskforce, and specifically from the Taskforce chairman, Jean L. Siddall. The Natural Area Preserves Advisory Committee has long recognized the significance of this effort and has encouraged the Taskforce\u27s goal of assembling a list of rare, threatened and endangered plant species for the State of Oregon. In August,1979, it was decided to support the publication of an interim report, summarizing the present status of all the plants under review by the Taskforce. This list will serve as a working document for the many individuals and organizations, both public and private, needing information on the rare plants in Oregon. This list will be particularly useful to the Natural Heritage Advisory Council (replacing the Natural Area Preserves Advisory Committee) as it develops the Natural Heritage Plan required by Oregon statute. Ultimately, a detailed Oregon List of Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plants will be produced. This current interim report is a timely step toward this goal

Native interface of the SAM domain polymer of TEL

BACKGROUND: TEL is a transcriptional repressor containing a SAM domain that forms a helical polymer. In a number of hematologic malignancies, chromosomal translocations lead to aberrant fusions of TEL-SAM to a variety of other proteins, including many tyrosine kinases. TEL-SAM polymerization results in constitutive activation of the tyrosine kinase domains to which it becomes fused, leading to cell transformation. Thus, inhibitors of TEL-SAM self-association could abrogate transformation in these cells. In previous work, we determined the structure of a mutant TEL-SAM polymer bearing a Val to Glu substitution in center of the subunit interface. It remained unclear how much the mutation affected the architecture of the polymer, however. RESULTS: Here we determine the structure of the native polymer interface. To accomplish this goal, we introduced mutations that block polymer extension, producing a heterodimer with a wild-type interface. We find that the structure of the wild-type polymer interface is quite similar to the mutant structure determined previously. With the structure of the native interface, it is possible to evaluate the potential for developing therapeutic inhibitors of the interaction. We find that the interacting surfaces of the protein are relatively flat, containing no obvious pockets for the design of small molecule inhibitors. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm the architecture of the TEL-SAM polymer proposed previously based on a mutant structure. The fact that the interface contains no obvious potential binding pockets suggests that it may be difficult to find small molecule inhibitors to treat malignancies in this way

Giant crystal-electric-field effect and complex magnetic behavior in single-crystalline CeRh3Si2

Single-crystalline CeRh3Si2 was investigated by means of x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, electrical resistivity, and specific heat measurements carried out in wide temperature and magnetic field ranges. Moreover, the electronic structure of the compound was studied at room temperature by cerium core-level x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The physical properties were analyzed in terms of crystalline electric field and compared with results of ab-initio band structure calculations performed within the density functional theory approach. The compound was found to crystallize in the orthorhombic unit cell of the ErRh3Si2 type (space group Imma -- No.74, Pearson symbol: oI24) with the lattice parameters: a = 7.1330(14) A, b = 9.7340(19) A, and c = 5.6040(11) A. Analysis of the magnetic and XPS data revealed the presence of well localized magnetic moments of trivalent cerium ions. All physical properties were found to be highly anisotropic over the whole temperature range studied, and influenced by exceptionally strong crystalline electric field with the overall splitting of the 4f1 ground multiplet exceeding 5700 K. Antiferromagnetic order of the cerium magnetic moments at TN = 4.70(1)K and their subsequent spin rearrangement at Tt = 4.48(1) K manifest themselves as distinct anomalies in the temperature characteristics of all investigated physical properties and exhibit complex evolution in an external magnetic field. A tentative magnetic B-T phase diagram, constructed for B parallel to the b-axis being the easy magnetization direction, shows very complex magnetic behavior of CeRh3Si2, similar to that recently reported for an isostructural compound CeIr3Si2. The electronic band structure calculations corroborated the antiferromagnetic ordering of the cerium magnetic moments and well reproduced the experimental XPS valence band spectrum.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Effect of Solvent Degradation on the Purex Process

The combined attack of HNO/sub 3/ and HNO/sub 2/ on TBP-kerosene solvents used in the Purex Process produces degradation products that cause abnormal quantities of zirconium to be extracted along with the plutonium and uranium and thus limits the decontamination. (auth

Mesobdella lineata.

11 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. "April 22, 2011."Mesobdella lineata, a small terrestrial species of leech from southern Africa, originally placed in the family Haemadipsidae, is redescribed based on internal and external morphological characters of the holotype and of additional material collected in 1975. The placement of this species in the South American genus Mesobdella on the basis of seemingly triannulate midbody somites is found to be erroneous as midbody somites are five-annulate. Mesobdella lineata has neither the midventral nephridial pore, a synapomorphy of Xerobdellidae, nor the posteriolateral auricles of Haemadipsidae. With a caudal sucker that is wider than the four most posterior somites of the body, eight teeth per jaw, micromorphic median reproductive structures, and no postanal annuli, this species is placed in the mammalophilic family Praobdellidae. A morphological matrix of 32 characters was analyzed with parsimony and implied weighting. The new genus Parapraobdella is warranted to accommodate the unique combination of characters of the species that is morphologically similar to Neotropical representatives of the family

Phylogenomics of Reichenowia parasitica, an Alphaproteobacterial Endosymbiont of the Freshwater Leech Placobdella parasitica

Although several commensal alphaproteobacteria form close relationships with plant hosts where they aid in (e.g.,) nitrogen fixation and nodulation, only a few inhabit animal hosts. Among these, Reichenowia picta, R. ornata and R. parasitica, are currently the only known mutualistic, alphaproteobacterial endosymbionts to inhabit leeches. These bacteria are harbored in the epithelial cells of the mycetomal structures of their freshwater leech hosts, Placobdella spp., and these structures have no other obvious function than housing bacterial symbionts. However, the function of the bacterial symbionts has remained unclear. Here, we focused both on exploring the genomic makeup of R. parasitica and on performing a robust phylogenetic analysis, based on more data than previous hypotheses, to test its position among related bacteria. We sequenced a combined pool of host and symbiont DNA from 36 pairs of mycetomes and performed an in silico separation of the different DNA pools through subtractive scaffolding. The bacterial contigs were compared to 50 annotated bacterial genomes and the genome of the freshwater leech Helobdella robusta using a BLASTn protocol. Further, amino acid sequences inferred from the contigs were used as queries against the 50 bacterial genomes to establish orthology. A total of 358 orthologous genes were used for the phylogenetic analyses. In part, results suggest that R. parasitica possesses genes coding for proteins related to nitrogen fixation, iron/vitamin B translocation and plasmid survival. Our results also indicate that R. parasitica interacts with its host in part by transmembrane signaling and that several of its genes show orthology across Rhizobiaceae. The phylogenetic analyses support the nesting of R. parasitica within the Rhizobiaceae, as sister to a group containing Agrobacterium and Rhizobium species

A modeling assessment of the role of reversible scavenging in controlling oceanic dissolved Cu and Zn distributions

The balance of processes that control elemental distributions in the modern oceans is important in understanding both their internal recycling and the rate and nature of their eventual output to sediment. Here we seek to evaluate the likely controls on the vertical profiles of Cu and Zn. Though the concentrations of both Cu and Zn increase with depth, Cu increases in a more linear fashion than Zn, which exhibits a typical "nutrient-type" profile. Both elements are bioessential, and biological uptake and regeneration has often been cited as an important process in controlling their vertical distribution. In this study, we investigate the likely importance of another key vertical process, that of passive scavenging on sinking particles, via a simple one-dimensional model of reversible scavenging. We find that, despite the absence of lateral or vertical water advection, mixing, diffusion, or biological uptake, our reversible scavenging model is very successful in replicating dissolved Cu concentration profiles on a range of geographic scales. We provide preliminary constraints on the scavenging coefficients for Cu for a spectrum of particle types (calcium carbonate, opal, particulate organic carbon, and dust) while emphasizing the fit of the shape of the modeled profile to that of the tracer data. In contrast to Cu, and reaffirming the belief that Zn behaves as a true micronutrient, the scavenging model is a poor match to the shape of oceanic Zn profiles. Modeling a single vertical process simultaneously highlights the importance of lateral advection in generating high Zn concentrations in the deep Pacific. Key Points A 1-D reversible scavenging model is applied to oceanic [Cu] and [Zn]Dissolved Cu is well described by the process of reversible scavengingDissolved Zn is not, reflecting its behaviour as a true nutrient-type element ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved