Mitochondrial ATP synthase genes may be implicated in cytoplasmic male sterility in Sorghum bicolor

Incompatible nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions are responsible for the phenomenon of cytoplasmic male sterility in plants. We have analysed male sterile (2077A, 296A), maintainer fertile (2077B, 296B) and fertility restored (2077R, 296R) lines of sorghum for the restriction fragment locations of various mitochondrial genes and their transcripts. We report here a polymorphism in genes related to the ATP synthase complex between two different cytoplasms from the A and B set of lines of 2077 and 296. There is also a difference in the transcript size of theatpA gene between the A and B cytoplasms. We propose that incompatibility in nuclear cytoplasmic interactions may be explained in terms of incompatible subunits being synthesized by the mitochondria and nucleus for a multisubunit complex of the mitochondrial membrane such as ATPase

Stimulation of macromolecular synthesis by ascorbate in Neurospora

Stimulation of macromolecular synthesis by ascorbat

Isolated elliptical galaxies in the local Universe

We have studied a sample of 89 very isolated, elliptical galaxies at z < 0.08 and compared their properties with elliptical galaxies located in a high-density environment such as the Coma supercluster. Our aim is to probe the role of environment on the morphological transformation and quenching of elliptical galaxies as a function of mass. In addition, we elucidate the nature of a particular set of blue and star-forming isolated ellipticals identified here. We study physical properties of ellipticals such as color, specific star formation rate, galaxy size, and stellar age, as a function of stellar mass and environment based on SDSS data. We analyze the blue star-forming isolated ellipticals in more detail, through photometric characterization using GALFIT, and infer their star formation history using STARLIGHT. Among the isolated ellipticals ~ 20% are blue, 8% are star forming, and ~ 10% are recently quenched, while among the Coma ellipticals ~ 8% are blue and just <= 1% are star forming or recently quenched. There are four isolated galaxies (~ 4.5%) that are blue and star forming at the same time. These galaxies, with masses between 7 x 10^9 and 2 x 10^10 h-2 M_sun, are also the youngest galaxies with light-weighted stellar ages <= 1 Gyr and exhibit bluer colors toward the galaxy center. Around 30-60% of their present-day luminosity, but only < 5% of their present-day mass, is due to star formation in the last 1 Gyr. The processes of morphological transformation and quenching seem to be in general independent of environment since most of elliptical galaxies are 'red and dead', although the transition to the red sequence should be faster for isolated ellipticals. In some cases, the isolated environment seems to propitiate the rejuvenation of ellipticals by recent (< 1 Gyr) cold gas accretion.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures (16 pages and 9 figures without appendices). A&A, in pres

Matter-positronium interaction: An exact diagonalization study of the He atom - positronium system

The many-body system comprising a He nucleus, three electrons, and a positron has been studied using the exact diagonalization technique. The purpose has been to clarify to which extent the system can be considered as a distinguishable positronium (Ps) atom interacting with a He atom and, thereby, to pave the way to a practical atomistic modeling of Ps states and annihilation in matter. The maximum value of the distance between the positron and the nucleus is constrained and the Ps atom at different distances from the nucleus is identified from the electron and positron densities, as well as from the electron-positron distance and center-of-mass distributions. The polarization of the Ps atom increases as its distance from the nucleus decreases. A depletion of the He electron density, particularly large at low density values, has been observed. The ortho-Ps pick-off annihilation rate calculated as the overlap of the positron and the free He electron densities has to be corrected for the observed depletion, specially at large pores/voids.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Sintering characteristics of manganese ore fines from Balaghat and Ukwa mines of Manganese Ore (India) Limited

Indian manganese ore reserves are depleting very fast Manganese ore (India) Ltd. realised that utilisation of Manganese ore fines will pave the way for conservation of lumpy high grade manganese ore. Manganese ore fines generated at Balaghat and Ukwa mines of MOIL were subjected to sintering studies at the R&D Centre of Paramount Sinters Pvt. Ltd. The studies indicated that fluxed sinter with very good strength and porosity could be produced. The sinters showed a high degree of reduction and even metalization was noticed. The chemical and physical characteristics indicated that sinters can be used in ferro manganese furnaces. Advantages of using sinter in the ferro alloy manufacture has been highlighted in this report. The authors have conc-luded that from the point of view of conservation and reduction of manufacturing cost, sintering has a vital role to play in ferro alloy industries

Genome analysis of amaranths: determination of inter- and intra-species variations

Amaranths are an important group of plants and include grain, vegetable and ornamental types. Despite the economic importance of the amaranths, there is very little information available about the extent and nature of genetic diversity present in the genus Amaranthus at molecular level. We now report the randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles of different species of Amaranthus as well as different accessions of the species. These RAPD analyses have been carried out using 65 arbitrary sequence decamer primers. From the RAPD data, an UPGMA dendrogram illustrating the inter-as well as intra-species relationships has been computed. The putative hybrid origin of A.dubious from A. hybridus and A. spinosus is also ruled out by the RAPD data. The trends of species relationships amongst the amaranths determined by RAPDs is consistent with their cytogenetic and evolutionary relationships that have already been determined

Conservation of high Phosphorous high Manganese ores by Sintering of Dephosphorised concentrate

The ores of manganese enjoy a high order of import- ance since no quality steel can be produced without the addition of small amounts of manganese. In view of its economic importance it becomes imperative to take stock of the facts about this mineral in a comprehensive manner. According to an IBM estimate, the recoverable rese-rves of manganese ore as on 1-1-1983 are 138.00 million tonnes comprising 18 million tonnes in measured category 32.00 million tonnes in indicated category and 88.00 million tonnes in inferred category

Towards integrated surveillance of zoonoses : spatiotemporal joint modeling of rodent population data and human tularemia cases in Finland

Abstract Background There are an increasing number of geo-coded information streams available which could improve public health surveillance accuracy and efficiency when properly integrated. Specifically, for zoonotic diseases, knowledge of spatial and temporal patterns of animal host distribution can be used to raise awareness of human risk and enhance early prediction accuracy of human incidence. Methods To this end, we develop a spatiotemporal joint modeling framework to integrate human case data and animal host data to offer a modeling alternative for combining multiple surveillance data streams in a novel way. A case study is provided of spatiotemporal modeling of human tularemia incidence and rodent population data from Finnish health care districts during years 1995–2012. Results Spatial and temporal information of rodent abundance was shown to be useful in predicting human cases and in improving tularemia risk estimates in 40 and 75% of health care districts, respectively. The human relative risk estimates’ standard deviation with rodent’s information incorporated are smaller than those from the model that has only human incidence. Conclusions These results support the integration of rodent population variables to reduce the uncertainty of tularemia risk estimates. However, more information on several covariates such as environmental, behavioral, and socio-economic factors can be investigated further to deeper understand the zoonotic relationship

Sulphanilamides. Part II. In vitro synergism with anionic surface-active compounds

1. The bacteriostatic properties of sulphanilamide and five N1-substituted sulphanilamides, and of three anionic surface-active compounds, have been studied, singly and together, against the organisms, S. aureus, E. coli, and E. typhosa, using peptone-broth and a synthetic medium. 2. With incubation temperatures of 37&#176; and 43&#176; the concentration of sulphanilamide for bacteriostasis in peptone medium is independent of the age of the culture and the concentration of the inoculum at the higher temperature only. In the synthetic medium, the effects of age of cells and size of inocula are less pronounced at both temperatures of incubation. 3. The minimum effective concentrations of sulpha drugs needed for growth inhibition are more in peptone broth than in the synthetic medium. Similar but less pronounced differences are seen with the surface-active compounds against S. aureus. 4. While the surface-active compounds are by themselves ineffective against the Gram-negative organisms, they have potentiating activity with the sulpha drugs. 5. The synergic effects of sulphanilamide and surface-active compound are unaltered even when the organism is rendered resistant to sulphanilamide or when the antibacterial property of the surface-active compound is neutralized by lecithin

Enhanced flight performance by genetic manipulation of wing shape in Drosophila

Insect wing shapes are remarkably diverse and the combination of shape and kinematics determines both aerial capabilities and power requirements. However, the contribution of any specific morphological feature to performance is not known. Using targeted RNA interference to modify wing shape far beyond the natural variation found within the population of a single species, we show a direct effect on flight performance that can be explained by physical modelling of the novel wing geometry. Our data show that altering the expression of a single gene can significantly enhance aerial agility and that the Drosophila wing shape is not, therefore, optimized for certain flight performance characteristics that are known to be important. Our technique points in a new direction for experiments on the evolution of performance specialities in animals