Urban Climate Action. The urban content of the NDCs: Global review 2022

This report was prepared by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU.Resilience). It offers a global analysis of the urban content of 193 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the 19th of June 2022. For this report, more than 200 indicators were used to analyse external data (e.g., Human Development Index and income categorisation) and data within the NDCs, including climate mitigation and adaptation challenges and responses, as well as specific sectors. This analysis is instrumental to supporting Parties’ efforts in further integrating national climate policies and urban climate actions, which is considered fundamental to raising ambition and developing adequate and timely actions as required by the current climate emergency. This review can be instrumental for advocacy and direct support to countries by partner organisations. The work was supported by a group of experts from bilateral and multilateral organisations and academia. Three expert group meetings were convened, and a peer review was organised for the final report

Başkortostan Cumhuriyeti Toratau Jeoparki bal arısı (apis mellifera) popülasyonunda tergit rengi değişimi

A phenetic analysis of the honey bee population of the Toratau Geopark (Russia) was performed. Over 1,000 worker and drone bee samples were collected from 250 colonies in 59 apiaries on the territory of the Toratau Geopark (Gafuriysky, Ishimbaysky, Meleuzovsky, and Sterlitamaksky districts of the Republic of Bashkortostan). Six phenes in worker bees and four phenes in drone bees were recognized. The phenes E, 1R, 2R, and 3R in workers and Is, I, and O-gray in drones were predominant in the honey bee population of the Toratau Geopark, which were associated with subspecies of the Clineage. These phenes can be used as indicators of introgressive hybridization in the local dark European honey bee population. The phenes allow for quick evaluation of certain honey bee colonies hybridization states.Toratau Jeoparkı'ndaki (Rusya) bal arısı popülasyonunun fenetik analizi yapılmıştır. Toratau Jeoparkı topraklarındaki (Başkurdistan Cumhuriyeti'nin Gafuriysky, Ishimbaysky, Meleuzovsky ve Sterlitamaksky bölgeleri) 59 arılıktaki 250 koloniden 1.000'den fazla işçi ve erkek arı örneği toplanmıştır. İşçi arılarda altı fen ve erkek arılarda dört tergit rengi tespit edilmiştir. İşçilerde E, 1R, 2R ve 3R ve erkek arılarda Is, I ve O-gri fenleri Toratau Jeoparkı'ndaki bal arısı popülasyonunda baskındı ve bunlar C soyunun alt türleriyle ilişkiliydi. Bu tergit rengi, yerel koyu Avrupa bal arısı popülasyonunda içsel melezleşmenin göstergeleri olarak kullanılabilir. Bu tergit renkleri, belirli bal arısı kolonilerinin melezleşme durumlarının hızlı bir şekilde değerlendirilmesine olanak sağlamaktadır.The article was prepared with supporting the grant of the head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov, grant title "Study of the Bashkir bee population on the territory of the Toratau Geopark

Role of Plastid Protein Phosphatase TAP38 in LHCII Dephosphorylation and Thylakoid Electron Flow

Regulation of photosynthesis efficiency involves reversible phosphorylation of the light-harvesting complex through the activity of the newly identified phosphatase TAP38

Histone Variants and Their Post-Translational Modifications in Primary Human Fat Cells

Epigenetic changes related to human disease cannot be fully addressed by studies of cells from cultures or from other mammals. We isolated human fat cells from subcutaneous abdominal fat tissue of female subjects and extracted histones from either purified nuclei or intact cells. Direct acid extraction of whole adipocytes was more efficient, yielding about 100 µg of protein with histone content of 60% –70% from 10 mL of fat cells. Differential proteolysis of the protein extracts by trypsin or ArgC-protease followed by nanoLC/MS/MS with alternating CID/ETD peptide sequencing identified 19 histone variants. Four variants were found at the protein level for the first time; particularly HIST2H4B was identified besides the only H4 isoform earlier known to be expressed in humans. Three of the found H2A potentially organize small nucleosomes in transcriptionally active chromatin, while two H2AFY variants inactivate X chromosome in female cells. HIST1H2BA and three of the identified H1 variants had earlier been described only as oocyte or testis specific histones. H2AFX and H2AFY revealed differential and variable N-terminal processing. Out of 78 histone modifications by acetylation/trimethylation, methylation, dimethylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitination, identified from six subjects, 68 were found for the first time. Only 23 of these modifications were detected in two or more subjects, while all the others were individual specific. The direct acid extraction of adipocytes allows for personal epigenetic analyses of human fat tissue, for profiling of histone modifications related to obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, as well as for selection of individual medical treatments

The context and potential of epigenetics in oncology

Cancer has long been known to be a disease caused by alterations in the genetic blueprint of cells. In the past decade it has become evident that epigenetic processes have a function, at least equally important, in neoplasia. Epigenetics describes the mechanisms that result in heritable alterations in gene expression profiles without an accompanying change in DNA sequence. Genetics and epigenetics intricately interact in the pathogenesis of cancer (Esteller, 2007). In this review, we paint a broad picture of current understanding of epigenetic changes in cancer cells and reflect on the immense clinical potential of emerging knowledge of epigenetics in the diagnosis, prognostic assessment, treatment, and screening of cancer

Substituent Effects in the Noncovalent Bonding of SO2 to Molecules containing a Carbonyl Group. The Dominating Role of the Chalcogen Bond

The SO2 molecule is paired with a number of carbonyl-containing molecules, and the properties of the resulting complexes are calculated by high-level ab initio theory. The global minimum of each pair is held together primarily by a S···O chalcogen bond wherein the lone pairs of the carbonyl O transfer charge to the π* antibonding SO orbital, supplemented by smaller contributions from weak CH···O H-bonds. The binding energies vary between 4.2 and 8.6 kcal/mol, competitive with even some of the stronger noncovalent forces such as H-bonds and halogen bonds. The geometrical arrangement places the carbonyl O atom above the plane of the SO2 molecule, consistent with the disposition of the molecular electrostatic potentials of the two monomers. This S···O bond differs from the more commonly observed chalcogen bond in both geometry and origin. Substituents exert their influence via inductive effects that change the availability of the carbonyl O lone pairs as well as the intensity of the negative electrostatic potential surrounding this atom