Relation between the deposition and petrology of Shanxi coals and the composition of their extracts

The soluble organic material present in a set of 12 coal samples representing 3 major episodes of coal deposition in Shanxi Province, North China, has been examined. Shanxi coals, like those from Gondwanaland, contain little liptinite and accordingly the material extracted by pyridine yields only small quantities of n-hexane soluble n-alkanes, steranes and hopanes identifiable by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The distribution of the n-alkanes is characteristic of the environment from which each of the Shanxi coals was formed but the distribution of the branched alkanes is generally determined by the dia- and catagenesis each coal experienced. Aromatic compounds identified in the extracts typify the small molecules present within the vitrinite lattice. Technologically significant benzene-methanol extracts deriving from vitrinite-inertinite have been characterised by proton nmr spectroscopy and partially separated by HPLC

Essential role of MCM proteins in premeiotic DNA replication.

A critical event in eukaryotic DNA replication involves association of minichromosome maintenance (MCM2-7) proteins with origins, to form prereplicative complexes (pre-RCs) that are competent for initiation. The ability of mutants defective in MCM2-7 function to complete meiosis had suggested that pre-RC components could be irrelevant to premeiotic S phase. We show here that MCM2-7 proteins bind to chromatin in fission yeast cells preparing for meiosis and during premeiotic S phase in a manner suggesting they in fact are required for DNA replication in the meiotic cycle. This is confirmed by analysis of a degron mcm4 mutant, which cannot carry out premeiotic DNA replication. Later in meiosis, Mcm4 chromatin association is blocked between meiotic nuclear divisions, presumably accounting for the absence of a second round of DNA replication. Together, these results emphasize similarity between replication mechanisms in mitotic and meiotic cell cycles