Ocean current connectivity propelling the secondary spread of a marine invasive comb jelly across western Eurasia

Aim: Invasive species are of increasing global concern. Nevertheless, the mechanisms driving furtherdistribution after the initial establishment of non-native species remain largely unresolved, especiallyin marine systems. Ocean currents can be a major driver governing range occupancy, but this hasnot been accounted for in most invasion ecology studies so far. We investigate how well initialestablishment areas are interconnected to later occupancy regions to test for the potential role ofocean currents driving secondary spread dynamics in order to infer invasion corridors and thesource–sink dynamics of a non-native holoplanktonic biological probe species on a continental scale.Location: Western Eurasia.Time period: 1980s–2016.Major taxa studied: ‘Comb jelly’ Mnemiopsis leidyi.Methods: Based on 12,400 geo-referenced occurrence data, we reconstruct the invasion historyof M. leidyi in western Eurasia. We model ocean currents and calculate their stability to match thetemporal and spatial spread dynamics with large-scale connectivity patterns via ocean currents.Additionally, genetic markers are used to test the predicted connectivity between subpopulations.Results: Ocean currents can explain secondary spread dynamics, matching observed range expansionsand the timing of first occurrence of our holoplanktonic non-native biological probe species,leading to invasion corridors in western Eurasia. In northern Europe, regional extinctions after coldwinters were followed by rapid recolonizations at a speed of up to 2,000 km per season. SourceJASPERS ET AL. | 815areas hosting year-round populations in highly interconnected regions can re-seed genotypes overlarge distances after local extinctions.Main conclusions: Although the release of ballast water from container ships may contribute tothe dispersal of non-native species, our results highlight the importance of ocean currents drivingsecondary spread dynamics. Highly interconnected areas hosting invasive species are crucial forsecondary spread dynamics on a continental scale. Invasion risk assessments should considerlarge-scale connectivity patterns and the potential source regions of non-native marine species

X-ray magnetic and natural circular dichroism from first principles: Calculation of K- and L-1-edge spectra

An efficient first-principles approach to calculate x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and x-ray natural circular dichroism (XNCD) is developed and applied in the near-edge region at the K and L-1 edges in solids. Computation of circular dichroism requires precise calculations of x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) for circularly polarized light. For the derivation of the XAS cross section, we used a relativistic description of the photon-electron interaction that results in an additional term in the cross section that couples the electric dipole operator with an operator sigma . (is an element of x r) that we call the spin position operator. The numerical method relies on pseudopotentials, on the gauge including projected augmented-wave method, and on a collinear spin relativistic description of the electronic structure. We apply the method to calculations of K-edge XMCD spectra of ferromagnetic iron, cobalt, and nickel and of I L-1-edge XNCD spectra of alpha-LiIO3, a compound with broken inversion symmetry. For XMCD spectra we find that, even if the electric dipole term is the dominant one, the electric quadrupole term is not negligible (8% in amplitude in the case of iron). The term coupling the electric dipole operator with the spin-position operator is significant (28% in amplitude in the case of iron). We obtain a sum rule relating this term to the spin magnetic moment of the p states. In alpha-LiIO3 we recover the expected angular dependence of the XNCD spectra

Cross Talk between Immunoglobulin Heavy-Chain Transcription and RNA Surveillance during B Cell Development

Immunoglobulin (Ig) genes naturally acquire frequent premature termination codons during the error-prone V(D)J recombination process. Although B cell differentiation is linked to the expression of productive Ig alleles, the transcriptional status of nonfunctionally recombined alleles remains unclear. Here, we tracked transcription and posttranscriptional regulation for both Ig heavy-chain (IgH) alleles in mice carrying a nonfunctional knock-in allele. We show that productively and nonproductively VDJ-rearranged alleles are transcribed throughout B cell development, carry similar active chromatin marks, and even display equivalent RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) loading after B cell stimulation. Hence, these results challenge the idea that the repositioning of one allele to heterochromatin could promote the silencing of nonproductive alleles. Interestingly, the efficiency of downstream RNA surveillance mechanisms fluctuates according to B cell activation and terminal differentiation: unspliced nonfunctional transcripts accumulate in primary B cells, while B cell activation promotes IgH transcription, RNA splicing, and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Altogether, IgH transcription and RNA splicing rates determine by which RNA surveillance mechanisms a B cell can get rid of nonproductive IgH mRNAs

Patterns of invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi distribution and variability in different recipient environments of the Eurasian seas: A review

23 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.104791Harmful invader ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi's expansions in the Eurasian Seas, its spatio-temporal population dynamics depending on environmental conditions in recipient habitats have been synthesized. M. leidyi found suitable temperature, salinity and productivity conditions in the temperate and subtropical environments of the semi-enclosed seas, in the coastal areas of open basins and in closed water bodies, where it created autonomous populations. M. leidyi changes its phenology depending on seasonal temperature regime in different environments. We assessed ranges of sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity and sea surface chlorophyll values, sufficient for M. leidyi general occurrence and reproduction based on comprehensive long-term datasets, contributed by co-authors. This assessment revealed that there are at least two eco-types (Southern and Northern) in the recipient seas of Eurasia with features specific for their donor areas. The range of thresholds for M. leidyi establishment, occurrence and life cycle in both eco-types depends on variability of environmental parameters in their native habitatsT.A. Shiganova performed this study within the framework of State assignment of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation - theme #0149-2019-0010. A.S. Kazmin performed assessment of current advection, contributing to species dispersal within the framework of State assignment of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation - theme #0149-2019-0004Peer Reviewe

Patterns of invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi distribution and variability in different recipient environments of the Eurasian seas: A review

Harmful invader ctenophore Mnemiopsis Ieidyi's expansions in the Eurasian Seas, its spatio-temporal population dynamics depending on environmental conditions in recipient habitats have been synthesized