Mitochondrial-Nuclear DNA Interactions Contribute to the Regulation of Nuclear Transcript Levels as Part of the Inter-Organelle Communication System

Nuclear and mitochondrial organelles must maintain a communication system. Loci on the mitochondrial genome were recently reported to interact with nuclear loci. To determine whether this is part of a DNA based communication system we used genome conformation capture to map the global network of DNA-DNA interactions between the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes (Mito-nDNA) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells grown under three different metabolic conditions. The interactions that form between mitochondrial and nuclear loci are dependent on the metabolic state of the yeast. Moreover, the frequency of specific mitochondrial - nuclear interactions (i.e. COX1-MSY1 and Q0182-RSM7) showed significant reductions in the absence of mitochondrial encoded reverse transcriptase machinery. Furthermore, these reductions correlated with increases in the transcript levels of the nuclear loci (MSY1 and RSM7). We propose that these interactions represent an inter-organelle DNA mediated communication system and that reverse transcription of mitochondrial RNA plays a role in this process

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory underground coal gasification data base. [US DOE-supported field tests; data]

The Department of Energy has sponsored a number of field projects to determine the feasibility of converting the nation's vast coal reserves into a clean efficient energy source via underground coal gasification (UCG). Due to these tests, a significant data base of process information has developed covering a range of coal seams (flat subbituminous, deep flat bituminous and steeply dipping subbituminous) and processing techniques. A summary of all DOE-sponsored tests to data is shown. The development of UCG on a commercial scale requires involvement from both the public and private sectors. However, without detailed process information, accurate assessments of the commercial viability of UCG cannot be determined. To help overcome this problem the DOE has directed the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to develop a UCG data base containing raw and reduced process data from all DOE-sponsored field tests. It is our intent to make the data base available upon request to interested parties, to help them assess the true potential of UCG

Conversion of municipal solid waste to hydrogen

LLNL and Texaco are cooperatively developing a physical and chemical treatment method for the conversion of municipal solid waste (MSW) to hydrogen via the steps of hydrothermal pretreatment, gasification and purification. LLNL`s focus has been on hydrothermal pretreatment of MSW in order to prepare a slurry of suitable viscosity and heating value to allow efficient and economical gasification and hydrogen production. The project has evolved along 3 parallel paths: laboratory scale experiments, pilot scale processing, and process modeling. Initial laboratory-scale MSW treatment results (e.g., viscosity, slurry solids content) over a range of temperatures and times with newspaper and plastics will be presented. Viscosity measurements have been correlated with results obtained at MRL. A hydrothermal treatment pilot facility has been rented from Texaco and is being reconfigured at LLNL; the status of that facility and plans for initial runs will be described. Several different operational scenarios have been modeled. Steady state processes have been modeled with ASPEN PLUS; consideration of steam injection in a batch mode was handled using continuous process modules. A transient model derived from a general purpose packed bed model is being developed which can examine the aspects of steam heating inside the hydrothermal reactor vessel. These models have been applied to pilot and commercial scale scenarios as a function of MSW input parameters and have been used to outline initial overall economic trends. Part of the modeling, an overview of the MSW gasification process and the modeling of the MSW as a process material, was completed by a DOE SERS (Science and Engineering Research Semester) student. The ultimate programmatic goal is the technical demonstration of the gasification of MSW to hydrogen at the laboratory and pilot scale and the economic analysis of the commercial feasibility of such a process

Second test of base hydrolysate decomposition in a 0.04 gallon per minute scale reactor

LLNL has built and operated a pilot plant for processing oil shale using recirculating hot solids. This pilot plant, was adapted in 1993 to demonstrate the feasibility of decomposing base hydrolysate, a mixture of sodium nitrite, sodium formate and other constituents. This material is the waste stream from the base hydrolysis process for destruction of energetic materials. In the Livermore process, the waste feed is thermally treated in a moving packed bed of ceramic spheres, where constituents in the waste decompose, in the presence of carbon dioxide, to form solid sodium carbonate and a suite of gases including: methane, carbon monoxide, oxygen, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and possibly molecular nitrogen. The ceramic spheres are circulated and heated, providing the energy required for thermal decomposition. The spheres provide a large surface area for evaporation and decomposition to occur, avoiding sticking and agglomeration of the waste. We performed a 2.5 hour test of the solids recirculation system, with continuous injection of approximately 0.04 gal/min of waste. Gasses from the packed bed reactor were directed through the lift pipe and water was not condensed. Potassium carbonate (0.356 M) was added to the hydrolysate prior to its introduction to the retort. Continuous on-line gas analysis was invaluable in tracking the progress of the experiment and quantifying the decomposition products. Analyses showed the primary solid product, collected in the lift exit cyclone, was indeed sodium carbonate, as expected. For the reactor condition studied in this test, N{sub 2}O was found to be the primary nitrogen bearing gas species. In the test, approximately equal quantities of ammonia and nitrogen bearing oxide gases were produced. Under proper conditions, this ammonia and NO{sub x} can be recombined downstream to form N{sub 2} and O{sub 2} as the primary effluent gases