Biallelic and Genome Wide Association Mapping of Germanium Tolerant Loci in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Funding: This project was partially funded by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant (BB/J003336/1) awarded to AHP. The work was also supported by a self-funded studentship (PT). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Photon-induced droplet-like bound states in one-dimensional qubit array

We consider an array of $N_e$ non-interacting qubits or emitters that are coupled to a one-dimensional cavity array with tunneling energy $J$ and non-linearity of strength $U$. The number of cavities is assumed to be larger than the number of qubits. Working in the two-excitation manifold, we focus on the bandgap regime where the energy of two excited qubits is off-resonant with the two-photon bound state band. A two-step adiabatic elimination of the photonic degrees of freedom gives rise to a one-dimensional spin Hamiltonian with effective interactions; specifically, the Hamiltonian features constrained single-qubit hopping and pair hopping interactions not only between nearest neighbors but also between next-to-nearest and next-to-next-to-nearest spins. For a regularly arranged qubit array, we identify parameter combinations for which the system supports novel droplet-like bound states whose characteristics depend critically on the pair hopping. The droplet-like states can be probed dynamically. The bound states identified in our work for off-resonance conditions are distinct from localized hybridized states that emerge for on-resonance conditions.Comment: 13 figure

Implications of surface noise for the motional coherence of trapped ions

Electric noise from metallic surfaces is a major obstacle towards quantum applications with trapped ions due to motional heating of the ions. Here, we discuss how the same noise source can also lead to pure dephasing of motional quantum states. The mechanism is particularly relevant at small ion-surface distances, thus imposing a new constraint on trap miniaturization. By means of a free induction decay experiment, we measure the dephasing time of the motion of a single ion trapped 50~$\mu$m above a Cu-Al surface. From the dephasing times we extract the integrated noise below the secular frequency of the ion. We find that none of the most commonly discussed surface noise models for ion traps describes both, the observed heating as well as the measured dephasing, satisfactorily. Thus, our measurements provide a benchmark for future models for the electric noise emitted by metallic surfaces.Comment: (5 pages, 4 figures

Studies on the growth behavior of Chlorella, Haematococcus and Scenedesmus sp. in culture media with different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate and carbon dioxide gas

Growth studies were conducted on green algae Chlorella, Scenedesmus and Haematococcus strains in batch mode cultures. In this study, the effect of sodium bicarbonate salt (NaHCO3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) gas as carbon source on microalgal cultures were investigated. For this purpose, growth response of the aforementioned three strains under varying concentrations of NaHCO3 (15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 mg/L,) and CO2 gas (7929, 4758 and 4400 mg/L,) were investigated. The best growth response showed by chlorella strain was observed at 75 mg/L (ppm) bicarbonate (% increase in biomass=82.6mg/L/day for 12 days) and 4758 mg/L CO2 gas concentration (189.1 mg/L/day for 7 days). While Haematococcus strain showed its best growth in 30 ppm bicarbonate (72.9 mg/L/day for 17 days) and 4758 mg/L CO2 gas (134.1 mg/L for 7 days), the Scenedesmus strain showed its best growth in 45 ppm bicarbonate (30.9 mg/L/day for 17 days) and 4758 mg/L CO2 gas (103.8 mg/L for 7 days). All the strains showed good growth when CO2 gas was supplied in terms of increase in cell number, biomass and lipid content compared to bicarbonate utilization as carbon source, except Haematococcus strain which fail to grow when high concentration of CO2 gas (7929 ppm) was supplied. Out of the three strains, it was Chlorella sp. which showed highest growth rate and lipid content when CO2 gas was supplied, (specific growth=0.704; 189.1% increase in biomass, g/L/day and 1.015 doubling/day, 31% lipid content in terms of dry cell weight).Key words: Microalgae, bicarbonate, biomass, lipid

CHARACTERIZATION STUDIES ON A TETRAHYDROCURCUMIN-ZINC COMPLEX

Objective: Preparation and characterization studies on tetrahydrocurcumin complexed with zinc, with particular reference to the location of zinc in the complex. Methods: Structural characteristics of tetrahydrocurcumin and its complex with zinc were compared using elemental analysis, mass spectrometry (MS), proton, and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), ultraviolet-visible (UV) absorption spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Results: MS data indicates a Zn molecule holds two THCur components together. NMR data provide evidence that the zinc ion is associated with the 1,3-diketone part of the linker region of the associated THCur. FTIR data is consistent with zinc interaction with the enol tautomer of the 1,3-diketone at the center of the linker region of THCur. UV data indicate that a zinc-dependent shift in absorbance maximum is consistent with changes in the structure of THCur resulting from complexation with zinc. Together, this data indicates the complexation of zinc with tetrahydrocurcumin is consistent with zinc linking two molecules of tetrahydrocurcumin together by binding to the enol forms of the 1,3-diketone moieties located in the linker regions between the aromatic rings. Conclusion: The spectral properties of the tetrahydrocurcumin-zinc complex are consistent with a structure in which zinc is encased in two tetrahydrocurcumin moieties. Additional studies are needed to determine if this structure results in altered bioavailability, antioxidant activity and other properties important for pharmaceutical development

On the supersymmetric nonlinear evolution equations

Supersymmetrization of a nonlinear evolution equation in which the bosonic equation is independent of the fermionic variable and the system is linear in fermionic field goes by the name B-supersymmetrization. This special type of supersymmetrization plays a role in superstring theory. We provide B-supersymmetric extension of a number of quasilinear and fully nonlinear evolution equations and find that the supersymmetric system follows from the usual action principle while the bosonic and fermionic equations are individually non Lagrangian in the field variable. We point out that B-supersymmetrization can also be realized using a generalized Noetherian symmetry such that the resulting set of Lagrangian symmetries coincides with symmetries of the bosonic field equations. This observation provides a basis to associate the bosonic and fermionic fields with the terms of bright and dark solitons. The interpretation sought by us has its origin in the classic work of Bateman who introduced a reverse-time system with negative friction to bring the linear dissipative systems within the framework of variational principle.Comment: 12 pages, no figure

Small intestinal mucosal cells in piglets fed with probiotic and zinc: a qualitative and quantitative microanatomical study

Background: Probiotics and zinc are commonly used and beneficial in pig production. This work aimed to assess the effects of probiotic and zinc on the mucosal cells of the small intestine in respect to digestive capacity and immunity in pre- and post-weaned piglets.Materials and methods: Eighteen Large White Yorkshire piglets were divided equally into control and treatment groups. The piglets were maintained in standard management conditions and were weaned at 28 days of age. The treatment group of piglets fed a mixture of probiotics orally at 1.25 × 109 CFU/day and zinc at 2000 ppm/day from birth to 10 days of age. At three different age-groups viz. day 20 (pre-weaning) and, day 30 and day 60 (post-weaning), the animals were sacrificed. For histomorphology, the tissue samples were processed and stained with Mayer’s haematoxylin and eosin for routine study, combined periodic acid-Schiff-Alcian blue for mucopolysaccharides and Masson-Hamperl argentaffin technique for argentaffin cells. The stained slides were observed under the microscope. The samples were processed as per the standard procedure for scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The statistical analysis of the data using the appropriate statistical tests was also conducted.Results: The mucosal epithelium of villi and crypts were lined by enterocytes, goblet cells, argentaffin cells, microfold (M-cell) cells, tuft cells and intraepithelial lymphocytes. The multipotent stem cells were located at the crypt base. The length of the enterocyte microvilli was significantly longer (p < 0.05) in the treatment group of piglets. The number of different types of goblet cells and argentaffin cells was more in treated piglets irrespective of segments of intestine and age. The intraepithelial lymphocytes were located in apical, nuclear and basal positions in the lining epithelium of both villus tip and base with their significant increase in the treatment group of piglets. The transmission electron microscopy revealed the frequent occurrence of tuft cells in the lining mucosa of the small intestine in treated piglets.Conclusions: Dietary supplementation of probiotic and zinc induced the number of different mucosal cells of villi and crypts in the small intestine that might suggest the greater absorptive capacity of nutrients and effective immunity in critical pre and post-weaned piglets